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1.
Understanding students’ conceptions of sustainability   总被引:2,自引:2,他引:0  
There has recently been significant emphasis placed on environmental education through, for example, the UN’s Decade of Education for Sustainable Development. Despite this, there is still considerable debate within the literature as to how the aims of environmental education can be achieved within schools. It seems likely that if there is a lack of agreement as to what education for sustainable development should include, then this will impact students’ understanding of sustainable development. This paper presents findings from research investigating how one class of 12‐ to 13‐year‐old geography students in the UK understands the concept of sustainability. The research used concept‐mapping and semi‐structured interviews to explore the students’ understandings of sustainability, within a case study framework. The substantive findings of this research suggest that there is a wide variety of understanding of sustainability among the students, but that generally they allude to three: the nature, purpose and timescale of sustainability. The paper also considers the impact of method on researching students’ subject understandings, in particular the use of context when considering abstract concepts, such as sustainability, and the different results obtained when conducting interviews versus concept maps.  相似文献   

2.
The newsvendor problem is a classic problem of decision making under risk that is taught in traditional Operations and Supply Chain Management classes as a single‐period inventory problem. We discuss the following three pedagogical points of interest to any instructor tasked with teaching this topic: a) why the newsvendor model is relevant in this day and age; b) how to make better sense of the newsvendor problem for students; and c) how to easily implement and administer an active learning exercise in either a traditional classroom, or an online setting. This active learning exercise is a quick, effective, and meaningful way of demonstrating a variety of concepts related to the newsvendor problem that include: a) the rational economic method of calculating optimal order quantity, b) the inherent risk in forecasting and ordering decisions as they relate to surpluses and shortages; and c) the cognitive limitations in decision making that often result in irrational but predictable decision‐making behavior as demonstrated by empirical research on newsvendor behavior. This exercise can help instructors and students transition into broader discussions on human behavior, cognitive limitations, and perceptions of risk. Overall, it should provide the student with an improved understanding of the operational and behavioral issues associated with decision making under risk.  相似文献   

3.
The objective of this study was to explore the ideas and reasoning students use to make a collaborative environmental management decision. Eight groups of 8th‐grade students (n = 24) considered ecological and economic information about an invasive aquatic species to make a management recommendation. In addition to discussing the exact information they were given, the groups made a variety of interpretations, elaborations, and inferences concerning ecological structure and dynamics and practical aspects of the management scenario. Value judgments and concerns with uncertainty also appeared in students' discussions, to differing degrees. The students' discussions were compared with scientists' guidelines for making environmental management decisions, and with one expert's analysis of the particular management scenario the students considered. A major finding was that whereas across groups students touched on all of the themes that scientists consider to be important for making environmental management decisions, within most groups students focused more narrowly on particular themes, giving cursory treatment to other dimensions of the problem. The results point to a need to foster students' ecological background knowledge and integrative, systems thinking skills for making principled decisions about complex environmental issues. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals Inc. J Res Sci Teach 39: 341–368, 2002  相似文献   

4.
This paper views the concept of natural capital from an economist’s perspective. It begins by drawing on historical debates in economics on the nature of capital. These serve to identify central issues to do with the relationship between theory, empirics and method in the way in which the concept of capital is deployed in economic discourse. It is suggested that these have resonance for current discussions of the concept of natural capital. Against this background, the paper then discusses the way in which natural capital figures in the analysis of sustainability, and pinpoints various incoherencies. Finally, it draws on recent analyses of technical innovation as a possible solution to the problem of sustainability. It is suggested that there may be a conflict between narrow path‐dependent solutions to the alleged problem, and more open learning‐based approaches. The latter are exemplified by building on and reinterpreting the environmental economist’s concept of a quasi‐option.  相似文献   

5.
The conservation of biodiversity is an important socio‐scientific issue that is often regarded as a precondition to sustainable development. The foundation for citizens’ understanding of conservation issues can be laid down in formal school education. This research focuses on decision‐making discussions about biological conservation issues among 131 15–16‐year‐old students, to address two main research questions:
  1. Can peer group decision‐making discussions, in a normal science lesson setting, help develop students’ personal reasoning in relation to conservation issues?

  2. Are there features common to high quality discussions about conservation which might be readily identified by classroom teachers?

Findings indicate the positive value of students taking part in these short decision‐making discussions guided by a structured framework and as part of their normal science classroom activities. Students increase their quality of personal reasoning, and modify their solutions to the issues. The study begins to uncover features about students both as individuals and as members of discussion groups, which can be associated with high quality decision‐making about conservation issues, and which teachers might realistically identify. The work calls for the need to cultivate these features and to integrate them appropriately with learning about the scientific concepts that underpin the theory and practice of conservation management. Such integration will facilitate the development of teaching strategies for dealing effectively with the complex topic of biological conservation; not just in terms of science content, but also in terms of how students are expected to engage with the issues.  相似文献   

6.
This article focuses on the development of decision‐making skills and environmental concern by 11‐ and 12‐year‐old students through computer‐based, scaffolded learning activities. The enacted activities provided necessary scientific information and allowed for the consideration of multiple aspects of the problem, the study of the effects of every possible solution and the formulation and balancing of criteria. The optimization strategy for decision making was adopted, because it allows for the development of compensatory thinking which is more relevant to actual situations of decision making. Twelve students participated in the pilot enactment of the proposed activities. Data collection relied on students’ reports and pre‐ and post‐ tests as well as a closed questionnaire designed to measure students’ environmental concern. The teaching intervention proved quite successful in enhancing the decision‐making skills of the participating children. Moreover, students’ performance on the environmental concern questionnaire correlated in interesting ways with the improvement of decision‐making skills.  相似文献   

7.
8.
This paper shows how concept mapping can be used to measure the quality of e‐learning. Six volunteers (all of them 3rd‐year medical students) took part in a programme of e‐learning designed to teach the principles of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Their understanding of MRI was measured before and after the course by the use of concept mapping. The quality of change in individuals' maps was assessed using criteria developed to distinguish between meaningful and rote‐learning outcomes. Student maps were also scored for evidence of conceptual richness and understanding. Finally, each map was compared directly with the content of the electronic teaching material. The results show that many of the student misconceptions were put right in the course of their learning but that many of the key concepts introduced in the teaching were ignored (or sometimes learnt by rote) by the students. This was because the teaching material locked these new ideas in structures and terminology that precluded meaning‐making among non‐experts. Our data suggest that students' prior knowledge is a key determinant of meaningful learning. We suggest that this must be acknowledged if the design and use of electronic teaching material is also to be meaningful. Ultimately, measures of student learning are the only authentic indicators of the quality of teaching through technology.  相似文献   

9.
At first glance, a refuge proposed by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) appeared to be an effective approach for protecting the habitat of migratory waterfowl. Under careful scrutiny, the proposal was predicated on false assumptions about development pressure and affected landowners exhibited a lifestyle reflecting environmental values. Residents promoted wildlife and utilized renewable resources on their land; they practiced ecological sustainability through private stewardship. Ecological sustainability is a long‐term strategy based on deep ecology and bioregionalism. Technological sustainability is a short‐term strategy based, on centralized bureaucracies, high technologies and economic markets. USFWS engages technological sustainability through acquisition and ecosystem management. While technological sustainability is urgently needed where habitat is disappearing rapidly, it can preempt ecological sustainability elsewhere, as illustrated in this case study. Environmental educators should teach concepts of ecosystem management and sustainability carefully. Private stewardship for ecological sustainability is not part of the anti‐environmental ‘wise use’ movement.  相似文献   

10.
Nine faculty from 4 counselor education departments were interviewed regarding the evaluation criteria and decision‐making processes used during selection interviews. Ten characteristics were identified that participants looked for during interviews. There was a high degree of agreement among participants on the evaluation criteria they used. However, the same homogeneity was not found in decision‐making processes. Counselor educators seemed to use selection interviews to screen out applicants who were unsuitable rather than to select the most qualified applicants. Evaluation criteria and procedures should be refined to increase the benefits of using interviews in the selection process.  相似文献   

11.
This article reports on a study concerning secondary school students’ meaning‐making of socio‐scientific issues in Information and Communication Technology‐mediated settings. Our theoretical argument has as its point of departure the analytical distinction between ‘doing science’ and ‘doing school,’ as two different forms of classroom activity. In the study we conducted an analysis of students working with web‐based groupware systems concerned with genetics. The analysis identified how the students oriented their accounts of scientific concepts and how they attempted to understand the socio‐scientific task in different ways. Their orientations were directed towards finding scientific explanations, towards exploring the ethical and social consequences, and towards ‘fact‐finding.’ The students’ different orientations seemed to contribute to an ambivalent tension, which, on the one hand, was productive because it urged them into ongoing discussions and explicit meaning‐making. On the other hand, however, the tension elucidated how complex and challenging collaborative learning situations can be. Our findings suggest that in order to obtain a deeper understanding of students’ meaning‐making of socio‐scientific issues in Information and Communication Technology‐mediated settings, it is important not only to address how students perform the activity of ‘doing science.’ It is equally important to be sensitive with respect to how students orient their talk and activity towards more or less explicit values, demands, and expectations embedded in the educational setting. In other words, how students perform the activity of ‘doing school.’  相似文献   

12.
13.
The admission procedures for identifying and selecting students in special residential schools of mathematics and science in the United States were studied through interviews with school officials and examination of the schools’ literature on admissions. The selection criteria included tests of verbal and mathematical aptitudes, home school grade‐point averages, ratings of behavioral characteristics, and interviews. The selection stages included recruitment, application file development, file reviews, interviews, and selection decision making.  相似文献   

14.
Today’s society is continuously coping with sustainability‐related complex issues in the Science‐Technology‐Environment‐Society (STES) interfaces. In those contexts, the need and relevance of the development of students’ higher‐order cognitive skills (HOCS) such as question‐asking, critical‐thinking, problem‐solving and decision‐making capabilities within science teaching have been argued by several science educators for decades. Three main objectives guided this study: (1) to establish “base lines” for HOCS capabilities of 10th grade students (n = 264) in the Israeli educational system; (2) to delineate within this population, two different groups with respect to their decision‐making capability, science‐oriented (n = 142) and non‐science (n = 122) students, Groups A and B, respectively; and (3) to assess the pre‐post development/change of students’ decision‐making capabilities via STES‐oriented HOCS‐promoting curricular modules entitled Science, Technology and Environment in Modern Society (STEMS). A specially developed and validated decision‐making questionnaire was used for obtaining a research‐based response to the guiding research questions. Our findings suggest that a long‐term persistent application of purposed decision‐making, promoting teaching strategies, is needed in order to succeed in affecting, positively, high‐school students’ decision‐making ability. The need for science teachers’ involvement in the development of their students’ HOCS capabilities is thus apparent.  相似文献   

15.
Skills in clinical decision‐making are integral to the efficiency and effectiveness of health‐care delivery. This article describes the use of case‐study method in order to develop skills in clinical decision‐making in students of nursing. A model of topic development is described. Aspects of topic development included: the selection of appropriate cases; the use of guidelines for analysis of cases and the development of interrelated formats for teaching. Data from student surveys on topic and lecturer evaluation indicated that, generally, students were satisfied with the teaching methodology. Student responses to a pre‐ and post‐test showed that they developed skills in clinical decision‐making.  相似文献   

16.
Preparing students to achieve the lofty goal of functional scientific literacy entails addressing the normative and non‐normative facets of socioscientific issues (SSI) such as scientific processes, the nature of science (NOS) and diverse sociocultural perspectives. SSI instructional approaches have demonstrated some efficacy for promoting students' NOS views, compassion for others, and decision making. However, extant investigations appear to neglect fully engaging students through authentic SSI in several ways. These include: (i) providing SSI instruction through classroom approaches that are divorced from students' lived experiences; (ii) demonstrating a contextual misalignment between SSI and NOS (particularly evident in NOS assessments); and (iii) framing decision making and position taking analogously—with the latter being an unreliable indicator of how people truly act. The significance of the convergent parallel mixed‐methods investigation reported here is how it responds to these shortcomings through exploring how place‐based SSI instruction focused on the contentious environmental issue of wolf reintroduction in the Greater Yellowstone Area impacted sixty secondary students' NOS views, compassion toward those impacted by contentious environmental issues, and pro‐environmental intent. Moreover, this investigation explores how those perspectives associate with the students' pro‐environmental action of donating to a Yellowstone environmental organization. Results demonstrate that the students' NOS views became significantly more accurate and contextualized, with moderate to large effect, through the place‐based SSI instruction. Through that instruction, the students also exhibited significant gains in their compassion for nature and people impacted by contentious environmental issues and pro‐environmental intent. Further analyses showed that donating students developed and demonstrated significantly more robust and contextualized NOS views, compassion for people and nature impacted by contentious environmental issues, and pro‐environmental intent than their nondonating counterparts. Pedagogical implications include how place‐based learning in authentic settings could better prepare students to understand NOS, become socioculturally aware, and engage SSI across a variety of contexts.  相似文献   

17.
This study examines changes in the academic self‐concepts of a group of community college students who succeeded or failed according to their own standards for success. Over a 16‐week semester, the students who did as well or better than they wanted or expected to showed increased academic self‐concepts and higher standards for success. Students who did not succeed showed no changes in academic self‐concept, but lowered their criteria for success.  相似文献   

18.
19.
Upon completion of a science unit on heat and temperature, the students in a Canadian 9th grade science class wrote two different achievement tests. On a unit test which required students to answer questions that were based on facts students had studied, grades obtained by girls and boys were not significantly different. Conversely, on a post‐test, which required that students apply their knowledge to novel situations, boys achievement was significantly greater than that of the girls, particularly on higher level questions. Classroom observations revealed that few girls contributed to class discussions, whereas most of the boys participated in discussions. It is suggested that the more active class participation by boys may have contributed to their making greater gains in the understanding of heat and temperature concepts.  相似文献   

20.
Making decisions regarding the selection of a business major is both very important and challenging for students. An understanding of this decision‐making process can be valuable for students, parents, and university programs. The current study applies the Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA) consumer decision‐making model to examine factors that influence college students’ intentions to choose a business major. A total of 670 undergraduate students enrolled at a large midwestern university participated in the study. Social image, job availability, and aptitude were found to be significant factors that impact students’ decisions to select a business major. The results also reveal that family, high‐school counselors, and professors have a major influence on students’ decisions. Furthermore, some unique differences were found related to gender and decided/undecided status of students. The implications of these results for promoting different majors and future research are discussed.  相似文献   

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