Quantitative Reasoning in Environmental Science: A learning progression     

Robert Lee Mayes  Jennifer Harris Forrester  Jennifer Schuttlefield Christus  Franziska Isabel Peterson  Rachel Bonilla  Nissa Yestness 《International Journal of Science Education》2013,35(4):635-658

The ability of middle and high school students to reason quantitatively within the context of environmental science was investigated. A quantitative reasoning (QR) learning progression was created with three progress variables: quantification act, quantitative interpretation, and quantitative modeling. An iterative research design was used as it is the standard method for the development of learning progressions. The learning progression was informed by interviews of 39 middle and high school students from 5 schools in the Western USA using QR assessments. To inform the lower anchor, intermediate levels, and upper anchor of achievement for the QR learning progression, an extensive review of the literature on QR was conducted. A learning progression framework was then hypothesized. To confirm the framework, three QR assessments within the context of environmental literacy were constructed. The interviews were conducted using these QR assessments. The results indicated that students do not actively engage in quantitative discourse without prompting and display a low level of QR ability. There were no consistent increases on the QR learning progression either across grade levels or across scales of micro/atomic, macro, and landscape.  相似文献   

Responsible research and innovation indicators for science education assessment: how to measure the impact?     

Maria Heras  Isabel Ruiz-Mallén 《International Journal of Science Education》2013,35(18):2482-2507

ABSTRACT

The emerging paradigm of responsible research and innovation (RRI) in the European Commission policy discourse identifies science education as a key agenda for better equipping students with skills and knowledge to tackle complex societal challenges and foster active citizenship in democratic societies. The operationalisation of this broad approach in science education demands, however, the identification of assessment frameworks able to grasp the complexity of RRI process requirements and learning outcomes within science education practice. This article aims to shed light over the application of the RRI approach in science education by proposing a RRI-based analytical framework for science education assessment. We use such framework to review a sample of empirical studies of science education assessments and critically analyse it under the lenses of RRI criteria. As a result, we identify a set of 86 key RRI assessment indicators in science education related to RRI values, transversal competences and experiential and cognitive aspects of learning. We argue that looking at science education through the lenses of RRI can potentially contribute to the integration of metacognitive skills, emotional aspects and procedural dimensions within impact assessments so as to address the complexity of learning.  相似文献   

What Predicts Older Adults’ Adjustment to Aging in Later Life? The Impact of Sense of Coherence,Subjective Well-Being,and Sociodemographic,Lifestyle, and Health-Related Factors     

Sofia von Humboldt  Isabel Leal  Filipa Pimenta 《Educational gerontology》2013,39(9):641-654

The aim of this study was to build a structural model to explore the predictors of adjustment to aging (AtA) in a community-dwelling older population. A community-dwelling sample of 1,270 older adults aged between 75 and 102 years answered a questionnaire to determine sociodemographic (sex, age, professional and marital status, education, household, adult children, family's annual income, living setting, and self-reported spirituality), lifestyle, and health-related characteristics (perceived health, recent disease, medication, and leisure). Several instruments were used to assert psychological variables, namely AtA, sense of coherence, and subjective well-being. Structural equation modeling was used to explore a structural model of the self-reported AtA, encompassing all variables. Significant predictors are self-reported spirituality (β = .816, p < .001); perceived health (β = .455, p < .001); leisure (β = .322, p < .001); professional status (β = .283, p < .001); income (β = .230, p = .035); household (β = –.208, p = .007); sense of coherence (β = ?.202, p = .004); and adult children (β = .164, p = .011). The variables explain, respectively, 60.6% of the variability of AtA. Self-reported spirituality is the strongest predictor of AtA. Other predictors are perceived health, leisure, professional status, income, household, sense of coherence, and adult children. This study emphasizes the need for deepening the variables that influence older adults’ AtA—in particular, perceived health and further lifestyle-related characteristics—as being relevant for promoting aging well in later life, within a salutogenic context for health care.  相似文献   

El aprendizaje significativo de la segunda ley de la termodinámica     

José Otero  Isabel Brincones 《Infancia y Aprendizaje》2013,36(38):89-107

Resumen

El currículum de ciencias, especialmente en los niveles secundario y terciario, ha sido estructurado tradicionalmente de modo que refleja una visión estática del conocimiento científico. En este trabajo, se exploran las limitaciones que tiene tal estructuración del contenido conceptual, en el aprendizaje significativo de los alumnos. Se enseñó una lección sobre la Segunda Ley de la Termodinámica a alumnos de tercer curso de bachillerato, usando estructuraciones conceptuales alternativas, «estática» y «evolutiva». Las conclusiones que se obtienen ponen de manifiesto, por una parte, el efecto sobre el aprendizaje de las preconcepciones de los alumnos y, por otra, la influencia de la organización conceptual general de los materiales de enseñanza.  相似文献   

La integración del niño sordo en la escuela normal     

Isabel Martínez  Nuria Silvestre 《Infancia y Aprendizaje》2013,36(12):48-53

RESUMEN

El niño con un déficit sensorial se encuentra con dos dificultades: el déficit en sí mismo y el hándicap social, que son las dificultades con las que se encuentra a la hora de su integración social. Una opción educativa válida no sólo debe incidir en el déficit, sino también en el hándicap social simultáneamente. Se realiza un programa de integración en la escuela con niños sordos incidiendo en dos aspectos: la adquisición del lenguaje oral y la interacción con el mundo de los oyentes. Se trabaja en el ámbito escolar y familiar. Aparte del esperado progreso en el desarrollo del lenguaje, se dio un paso adelante en la socialización y en la aceptación de los niños sordos por parte de los oyentes.  相似文献   

Social representations of the development of intelligence, parental values and parenting styles: a theoretical model for analysis     

Isabel Miguel  Joaquim Pires Valentim  Felice Carugati 《European Journal of Psychology of Education - EJPE》2013,28(4):1163-1180

Within the theoretical framework of social representations theory, a substantial body of literature has advocated and shown that, as interpretative systems and forms of knowledge concurring in the construction of a social reality, social representations are guides for action, influencing behaviours and social relations. Based on this assumption, the primary goal of the current study was to investigate the relationship between social representations of the development of intelligence and parenting styles while also examining the role played by the values that parents desire for their children. The sample included 466 subjects with educational responsibilities (117 fathers, 227 mothers and 122 mother–teachers). Participants completed a self-administered survey on their representations of the development of intelligence, values desired for their children and parenting styles. A theoretical model which examined the relations among these variables was tested. Structural equation modelling procedures indicated, as hypothesised, that dimensions which emphasise the role of parents and the importance of constant accompaniment of children for the development of intelligence influence the authoritative parenting style, while dimensions which outline the role of school and teachers relate to authoritarian and permissive parenting styles. Additionally, although in some cases values were seen both to be determined by social representations and to influence parenting styles, the meditational hypothesis of values was not fully confirmed. Overall, the results obtained suggest that social representations, styles and values tend to build up a potentially significant organisation for parental activities. Theoretical and practical implications of these findings in research and educational intervention are discussed.  相似文献   

Sexuality and human reproduction: a study of scientific knowledge,behaviours and beliefs of Portuguese future elementary school teachers     

Luísa Veiga  Filomena Teixeira  Isabel Martins  António Meliço‐Silvestre 《Sex education》2013,13(1):17-29

Sex education in Portugal has become a right and an obligation starting in the first years of school. However, despite being required by legislation, this is not easy to achieve, partly because of weaknesses in the training of teachers, which need to be identified. In this study, data were collected about the knowledge, behaviours and beliefs of 148 teacher trainees of elementary education (6–10 years old) from two Portuguese public higher education institutions. The topic of sexuality and human reproduction had been covered by almost all of them during their initial training and was considered important by most of them. Nevertheless, about 85% asserted they are not confident enough to teach this topic to small children in a classroom and committed scientific errors about physiological‐anatomical aspects of the human body. All subjects felt that there is a lack of specific didactic materials, which does not help to overcome those obstacles. It was also possible to identify in these future teachers risky sexual practices resulting, in part, from their beliefs, which could have implications about the way the topic will be approached in the classroom. These findings show how essential it is for training institutions to pay greater attention to the education of future elementary school teachers in this area.  相似文献   

Teacher perception of professional skills in a project-led engineering semester     

N. van Hattum-Janssen  D. Mesquita 《European Journal of Engineering Education》2011,36(5):461-472

This study explores the perceptions of teachers with regard to professional skills in project-led engineering education experiences for first year engineering students at the University of Minho, Portugal. Their perception on which professional skills to include, how to develop these skills and how to assess them is studied through six semi-structured interviews with experienced teachers of the first year programme, who served as tutors as well as teachers in at least four projects. Analysis of their perceptions reveals a strong commitment to professional skills for engineering students, and also a lack of confidence in the support they can offer to help students develop these skills.  相似文献   

A longitudinal developmental analysis of students’ causality beliefs about school performance     

Isabel Roque  Marina Serra de Lemos  Teresa Gonçalves 《European Journal of Psychology of Education - EJPE》2014,29(1):159-173

This study examined the development of school-related causality beliefs which are children’s generalized perceptions of the utility or power of different categories of specific means in producing school outcomes. Based on the action theory perspective, we analyzed the developmental model of these beliefs as well as the trajectories of the five perceived causes of school success and failure: ability, effort, luck, teacher’s help, and unknown causes. On a 5-year longitudinal study, following a group of 63 students over an 8-year period (from the second to the ninth grades), using hierarchical linear models, intraindividual changes and interindividual differences in these changes were identified; also, factors that might account for this variability were tested. The results showed a decrease of the effectiveness attributed to the various causes, but their differentiated trajectories, and a relative independence of gender and achievement factors (engagement and school grades) in the evolution of these beliefs. School children in the lower grades value most highly ability and effort as causes of school success. Student’s beliefs about the causes of school performance become both more conservative and more differentiated along schooling, which is probably a normative general tendency. Findings from this longitudinal study corroborate, to a large extent, a consistent set of important developmental findings based on previous cross-sectional designs.  相似文献   

Effects of vocabulary instruction on measures of language processing: Comparing two approaches     

Margaret G. McKeown  Isabel L. Beck 《Early childhood research quarterly》2014

This study examined effects on kindergartners (n = 131) of two approaches to vocabulary instruction, repetition and interactive, and a control condition, along a progression of language processing, using a within subject design. The repetition condition featured repeated readings of a story and practice with definitions. The interactive condition featured multiple contexts and active processing of the words. Students were assessed with experimenter-designed measures of meaning recognition, comprehension, and production. Repetition and interactive approaches enabled students’ recognition of word meanings and higher-order processing compared to the control. Two measures of higher-order processing showed advantage for interactive instruction relative to repetition instruction.  相似文献