The Intersection of Inquiry-Based Science and Language: Preparing Teachers for ELL Classrooms     

Molly Weinburgh  Cecilia Silva  Kathy Horak Smith  Judy Groulx  Jenesta Nettles 《Journal of Science Teacher Education》2014,25(5):519-541

As teacher educators, we are tasked with preparing prospective teachers to enter a field that has undergone significant changes in student population and policy since we were K-12 teachers. With the emphasis placed on connections, mathematics integration, and communication by the New Generation Science Standards (NGSS) (Achieve in Next generation science standards, 2012), more research is needed on how teachers can accomplish this integration (Bunch in Rev Res Educ 37:298–341, 2013; Lee et al. in Educ Res 42(4):223–233, 2013). Science teacher educators, in response to the NGSS, recognize that it is necessary for pre-service and in-service teachers to know more about how instructional strategies in language and science can complement one another. Our purpose in this study was to explore a model of integration that can be used in classrooms. To do this, we examined the change in science content knowledge and academic vocabulary for English language learners (ELLs) as they engaged in inquiry-based science experience utilizing the 5R Instructional Model. Two units, erosion and wind turbines, were developed using the 5R Instructional Model and taught during two different years in a summer school program for ELLs. We analyzed data from interviews to assess change in conceptual understanding and science academic vocabulary over the 60 h of instruction. The statistics show a clear trend of growth supporting our claim that ELLs did construct more sophisticated understanding of the topics and use more language to communicate their knowledge. As science teacher educators seek ways to prepare elementary teachers to help preK-12 students to learn science and develop the language of science, the 5R Instructional Model is one pathway.  相似文献   

Pre-school children’s agency in learning for sustainable development     

Cecilia Caiman  Iann Lundegård 《Environmental Education Research》2014,20(4):437-459

In recent years, there has been a growing interest in pre-school children’s meaning-making and learning in education for sustainability. Young children should be recognized as ‘agents for change’ and active participants in their own day-to-day practices. Such issues are thoroughly discussed in the early childhood education for sustainability field. However, only a few research reports are presented on the subject. In this paper, our purpose is to examine empirically how agency is constituted when pre-school children explore science-related issues in a context of education for sustainability. The empirical material consists of video-recording sequences of four- to five-year-olds. In the analysis, we use a methodological approach based on Dewey’s pragmatist philosophy. We describe what a small group of children are doing and their ‘course of action’ towards ‘fulfilment’. In view of this, agency is explained as something that children achieve together in transactions rather than something they possess. Furthermore, the findings show the significance of the aesthetic relations in the constitution of agency. At the end of the article, we also discuss agency in relation to the ongoing debate on participation in young children’s meaning-making for sustainability.  相似文献   

Understanding parental views of adolescent sexuality and sex education in Ecuador: a qualitative study     

Elena Jerves  Silvia López  Cecilia Castro  William Ortiz  María Palacios  Peter Rober 《Sex education》2014,14(1):14-27

Parents' contribution to sex education is increasingly receiving research attention. This growing interest stems from recognition of the influence that parental attitudes may have both on young people's sexual attitudes and behaviour, and on school-based sex education. Studies regarding parental attitudes towards sexuality are, however, still rare. The two main objectives of this study were to explore parental views about sexuality and to understand parental attitudes towards sex education. Four focus group discussions were conducted with parents from high schools in Cuenca, Ecuador. Data were analysed using thematic analysis. The study revealed that parents held a restricted view about sex education, grounded in traditional religious ideas about sexuality, which led parents to understand it as a morally and physically dangerous activity. Although parents expressed a willingness to make good quality sex education available to their children, they reported having insufficient personal resources to fulfil that objective. The results of this study provide important information about the need to develop and adapt sex education to each specific cultural context, thereby confirming the importance of knowing about the cultural traditions and religious beliefs that may form obstacles to effective sex education for young people in Ecuador.  相似文献   

Theoretical beliefs and instructional practices used for teaching spelling in elementary classrooms     

Brigid McNeill  Cecilia Kirk 《Reading and writing》2014,27(3):535-554

The current study aimed to examine teachers’ reported spelling assessment and instruction practices. Analysis of the match between teachers’ theoretical beliefs about spelling and their reported pedagogy was conducted to elucidate factors that may support or impede the use of evidence-based teaching strategies in the classroom. An electronic survey was completed by 405 randomly selected (stratified by region and socioeconomic status) elementary school teachers in New Zealand. The survey examined the following areas: spelling assessment, spelling instruction, beliefs about spelling, preparing teachers to teach spelling, and teachers’ perceived strengths and weaknesses of their spelling program. There was large variability in spelling assessment and instructional practices across teachers. Most respondents reported implementing some aspects of a developmental approach to spelling instruction through analysis of children’s spelling errors (64 %) and/or individualization of the spelling program (60 %). There was a large dissociation between teachers’ beliefs about spelling and their frequency of use of specific instructional practices associated with those beliefs (e.g., phonological awareness, orthographic knowledge). The mismatch between beliefs and reported practice appeared to be due to lack of professional knowledge regarding implementing explicit spelling instruction and finding time to teach spelling within the curriculum. Increasing teachers’ knowledge about language structure, practical implementation of key assessment and instruction activities, and the links between spelling and other areas of the curriculum are important factors in improving spelling pedagogical practices.  相似文献   

Family resources and mid‐life level of education: a longitudinal study of the mediating influence of childhood parental involvement          下载免费PDF全文

Cecilia von Otter 《British Educational Research Journal》2014,40(3):555-574

This paper draws on the concept of parental involvement, popular among educators and policy‐makers, in investigating differences in level of attained education by family background. The question is if parental involvement in children's schooling at age 14 acts as a mediator between family resources and mid‐life level of attained education. Using structural equation modeling we analyze longitudinal survey and register data of a Swedish metropolitan cohort born in 1953 (n = 3300). Several of the commonly used indicators of involvement are investigated, distinguishing between parents' involvement beliefs, such as educational aspirations and agreement with school curriculum, and involvement practices, such as reading children's schoolbooks and helping with homework. We find that parents' educational aspirations are an important mediator between family resources and attained level of education, while other involvement forms are related to academic performance only. We also find that parental involvement is greater in families with more resources, which leads us to warn against developments turning more responsibility for children's schooling over to parents. Unless sensitive to the diverse family contexts this might increase the importance of family resources for children's educational outcomes.  相似文献   

The effects of a history‐based instructional material on the students' understanding of field lines     

M. Cecilia Pocoví 《科学教学研究杂志》2007,44(1):107-132

Many students in physics courses fail to achieve a desired conceptual change because they assign an incorrect ontology to the to‐be‐learned concept. This situation has been detected in previous research for the case of field lines: many college students assign material properties to the lines and describe them, for example, as tubes that contain or transport charges. The historical evolution of this concept shows that early scientists like Faraday assigned material properties to these lines in some occasions. In the present work a history‐based instructional material was designed to foster the analysis of the ontology of field lines to help students at an Argentinean university achieve conceptual change. The predicates used by the students to describe physical situations were used as evidence of the assigned ontological status. Conceptual change was measured by the change in the proportion of geometrical predicates that students used when referring to the lines in a written questionnaire. This change was significantly higher for the students learning with the history‐based material compared to those that learned in the regular class. Some characteristics of the material and geometrical ideas that students hold about the field lines were determined through an oral interview. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach  相似文献   

Education for Sustainable Development and Community Life in the Twenty-First Century     

Cecilia Braslavsky 《Prospects》2003,33(3):247-248

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Some aspects of the educational change dynamic: Setting school autonomy and evaluation in context     

Cecilia Braslavsky 《Prospects》2001,31(4):465-466

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Science centres,gender and learning     

Rodéhn  Cecilia 《Cultural Studies of Science Education》2019,14(1):157-167

Cultural Studies of Science Education - This forum article discusses learning and teaching in Science Centres in relation to gender. The starting point of this discussion is Eva Silfver’s...  相似文献   

How do L2 learners and L1 writers differ in their reliance on working memory during the formulation subprocess?     

Gunnarsson-Largy  Cecilia  Dherbey  Nathalie  Largy  Pierre 《Reading and writing》2019,32(8):2083-2110

Reading and Writing - L1 and L2 writers attend to different aspects of the formulation subprocess of writing. L2 writers devote more time and attention to low-level aspects such as grammar...  相似文献