Science Education in International Contexts

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Author: May M.H. Cheng | Winnie W.M. So

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Science Education in International Contexts

Science Education in International Contexts Edited by

May M. H. Cheng University of Oxford

Winnie W. M. So The Hong Kong Institute of Education

SENSE PUBLISHERS ROTTERDAM/BOSTON/TAIPEI

A C.I.P. record for this book is available from the Library of Congress.

ISBN: 978-94-6091-425-6 (paperback) ISBN: 978-94-6091-426-3 (hardback) ISBN: 978-94-6091-427-0 (e-book)

Published by: Sense Publishers, P.O. Box 21858, 3001 AW Rotterdam, The Netherlands www.sensepublishers.com

Printed on acid-free paper

All Rights Reserved © 2011 Sense Publishers No part of this work may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, microfilming, recording or otherwise, without written permission from the Publisher, with the exception of any material supplied specifically for the purpose of being entered and executed on a computer system, for exclusive use by the purchaser of the work.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Preface.................................................................................................................... vii Prologue: Science Education in International Contexts .......................................... ix May M. H. Cheng PART I: STUDENTS’ CONCEPTUAL UNDERSTANDING OF SCIENCE 1. Student Energy Conceptions: Empirical Results from Thailand and New Zealand ................................................................................................. 3 Chokchai Yuenyong, Alister Jones and Sunan Sung-Ong 2. What is the Thing We Call Heat? A Study on Diverse Representations of the Basic Thermal Concepts in and for School Science ................................ 17 Shu-Chiu Liu 3. Possible Pathways for Conceptual Development Related to Energy and the Human Body ......................................................................................... 29 Michael Mann and David F. Treagust PART II: MAKING SCIENCE CONCEPTS PLAUSIBLE FOR STUDENTS 4. The Infusion of Strategies for Generating High Level Thinking into the Junior Secondary Science Curriculum.................................................. 45 May M. H. Cheng and Winnie W. M. So 5. Towards the Development of an Instructional Model that Enhances Junior Secondary Students’ Understanding of the Nature of Science .......................... 63 May M. H. Cheng 6. Enhancing Students’ Understanding of the Nature of Science and the Interconnection between Science, Technology and Society Through Innovative Teaching and Learning Activities.................................................... 83 Alice S. L. Wong, Benny H. W. Yung, Jeffrey R. Day, Maurice M. W. Cheng, Eric Y. H. Yam and Se-Yuen Mak 7. Small Group Inquiry Science Learning: Developing Science Thinking and Science Processes...................................................................................... 101 Winnie W. M. So 8. Getting to Know Your Tools as Science Teachers and Students: A Reflective Exercise on Laboratory Apparatus, Equipment and Instruments..................... 113 Kok-Siang Tan v

TABLE OF CONTENTS

9. Improving Female Students’ Physics Learning in High School.................... 123 Ning Ding and Yarong Xu PART III: SCIENCE TEACHER LEARNING 10. Science Teacher Learning ............................................................................. 131 John Loughran 11. A Study of Teachers’ Beliefs and Practices of Using Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in Classrooms........................................ 143 Raymond W. H. Fong and Tony Holland 12. A Preliminary Study on Teacher’s ICT Competency Through their Use of Data-Loggers ..................................................................................... 159 Leo S. W. Fung Epilogue: Towards an Integration of Research and Classroom Practice in Science Education .............................................................................. 169 May M. H. Cheng About the Editors and Contributors ..................................................................... 175

vi

PREFACE

This book presents an international perspective on examining and putting into practice new innovations in science education. The chapters are organized into three parts, each of which addresses a key area in science education research, namely innovations in science teaching pedagogy, studies of students’ science conceptual understandings, and science teacher education. The focus is on the interaction between research and implementation, or how theory can be realized in classroom practice, with contributions from non-Western and non-English-speaking contexts. Promoting the quality of science education is a major concern of science educators and teachers in Hong Kong. The present volume is the result of a decision after a conference on science education organized at the Hong Kong Institute of Education, to appoint a team of editors to produce a volume of selected papers that reflect international perspectives on science education. It contains revised versions of about one in five of the papers presented at the conference. All of the papers published here went through multiple reviews. Their organization into the various parts of the book was based on their major themes. Taken together, the papers have a common focus on the relationship or integration of theory and practice in science education. They demonstrate a concern to address education reform directions, putting into practice recommendations from science education research, and improving the quality of science education. The editors thank all of the contributors of this book for their enthusiasm and collaboration, and the reviewers for their hard work in reviewing the papers. These contributions have been essential in making the discussions in this book multi-perspective and relevant to an international audience, thus allowing it to emerge to join the international discourse on improving science education.

vii

PROLOGUE

SCIENCE EDUCATION IN INTERNATIONAL CONTEXTS

This prologue has two aims. First, it sketches out the issues and pedagogical concerns arising from science education reforms. Second, it addresses critical challenges for science educators. The prologue provides a context for the selected contributions. ISSUES AND PEDAGOGICAL CONCERNS ARISING FROM SCIENCE EDUCATION REFORMS

Having reviewed recent educational reforms and standards-based movements in education in different countries, Wang and Odell (2002) have come to the conclusion that, although these reforms have particular objectives and specific content, they share common implications for teaching. Among the reforms, the importance of students’ deeper understanding of concepts and the relationship of concepts within and across various subjects is emphasized, while those for memorization of facts and theories are reduced (Cohen, McLaughlin, & Talbert, 1993). The second similarity conforms to Resnick’s (1987) proposal that teachers need to challenge students’ misconceptions and to connect students’ learning with personal and real-life contexts. The importance of letting students share their ideas and examine their learning through discourse (Leinhardt, 1992) is also one of the common emphases. Teaching is defined as facilitating students to actively construct their own concepts. Teachers also need to cater for the diverse needs of students, whatever their gender, race, or social, cultural or economic backgrounds. The learning theories underpinning these reform directions are the constructivist and the socio-constructivist views of learning. According to these views, the learners have prior ideas that may influence their subsequent learning. Learning is forming linkages between what the learner already knows and the new knowledge. Knowledge is actively constructed by the individual, and images of the world are formed as a result of this construction (Anderson, Reder and Simon, 1996). In personal constructivism, learning is seen as an active process as the individual learner makes linkages between existing ideas and new ones. Moreover, the learner has to assume the major responsibility in learning and mental processes. The individual is seen to have agency, that is he or she can decide or not decide to change their existing conceptions. Driver, Asoko, Leach, Mortimer, and Scott (1994) described the construction of science knowledge in the classroom, and related how the students are socialized into the community of science by the teacher. A sociocultural view considers learning as influenced by the sociocultural context, emphasizing the participation of individuals, the interactions between them, and the construction of knowledge ix

PROLOGUE

through their interactions (Salomon & Perkins, 1998). This includes the Vygotskian perspective that learning depends on interaction between the child and the more competent others (Howe, 1996). According to these perspectives, the culture and the social interactions are important parts of the learning. Learning can be seen as a socialization process into a new culture through the use of cultural tools such as signs, languages, and computers. These views redefine learning and hence pedagogical strategies to facilitate student learning. Efforts have been made by science education researchers to identify students’ alternative conceptions in science (Deadman & Kelly, 1978; Schaefer, 1979; Tamir, Gal-Choppin, & Nussinovitz, 1981) as well as ways to change them (Lyle & Robinson, 2002). Researchers (Bell, 1981; Trowbridge & Mintzes, 1985) have identified the influence of everyday understandings and language on the construction of science concepts. These findings point out the importance of social and language contexts in considering students’ prior concepts, and in identifying ways to make science concepts plausible for the students. Part I (Students’ conceptual understanding of science) of this book addresses issues related to the identification of students’ science concepts, and the influence of everyday understandings on the construction of science concepts. Part II (Making science concepts plausible for students) of this book addresses the pedagogical concerns of teachers in making science ideas plausible and logical for their students. An understanding of the era, culture and scientific community is essential for making sense of science and scientific research (Kuhn, 1996), as science itself is influenced by culture (McComas, 2004). Kumashiro (2001) observed that Western science is learnt in schools, and recommends that teachers help students to look beyond what is being learnt, and invites students to learn science in other contexts. Learning science in contexts that are relevant to students’ lives is beneficial to them as they can then consider different kinds of problems and answers using a different approach which is relevant to their experience. Consistent with these arguments, science teachers can choose to adopt a number of teaching strategies including inquiry learning, science, technology and society education (STS), and ways to enhance students’ understanding of the nature of science (NOS). Inquiry learning and STS strategies can provide students with opportunities to consider science concepts in real-life contexts. Here the contexts of non-Western societies are relevant to the construction of the teaching and learning activities. Nurturing students’ understanding of NOS helps them to make sense of scientific research, and provides them with a framework for constructing science learning. While there has been research that has evaluated the beliefs of NOS held by teachers and students, Lederman, Abd-El-Khalick, Bell and Schwarz (2002) call for studies that focus on individual classroom interventions aimed at enhancing students’ NOS views. This suggests a line of research that is formulated to identify pedagogical approaches for teaching NOS. Part II also addresses this concern with a case study of a junior secondary science class in Hong Kong, and the attempt of a group of science educators to integrate NOS and STS learning at senior secondary level. The development of learning and thinking skills is also a concern among science teachers. In Part II of this book, a study which tested out strategies to x

PROLOGUE

promote high level thinking among junior secondary science students is reported (Chapter 4). Moreover, science education researchers from Singapore work to capture students’ thinking in inquiry activities and provide practical suggestions on how the development of reflective thinking skills may be embedded in science lessons (Chapter 8). The concerns about the participation of female science learners and genderrelated differences in science learning are consistent with the socio-constructivist view of learning, which emphasizes the participation of individuals and the influence of the socio-cultural context. Chapter 9 describes the design of a teaching strategy that addresses the learning needs of female physics learners. CRITICAL CHALLENGES FOR SCIENCE EDUCATORS

The first two parts have identified important issues for science teachers to consider in facing the challenges of education reform. The analysis of conceptual changes in Part I is consistent with a personal constructivist view of learning, while the discussions in Part II are in line with a socio-cultural view of learning. Having considered conceptual changes among students, classroom innovations, different ways of mediating science learning, and addressing gender-related learning issues, the discussion cannot be complete without a consideration of concerns of the professional development of science teachers. Despite the fact that researchers have suggested a number of teaching ideas, teachers may not completely subscribe to the reform directions or the innovation suggestions due to personal or contextual constraints in their teaching. In a study on the assessment practices of science teachers (Cheng & Cheung, 2005), the findings suggested that while the teachers made attempts to address the education reform, they in fact retained their previous practices. While the teachers were ready to adopt a wider range of student work formats, they were shifting these innovations to be undertaken by the students after lessons, on top of the usual assignment of homework. Teachers are at a crossroads in determining whether they need to adopt new and old practices at the same time, or if they can integrate new ideas into their existing practices, or if they should revert to their old practices having found it too difficult to make the changes. Part III (Science teacher learning) of this book reports on science teacher learning in Australia and Hong Kong. Chapter 10 invites science teacher educators to view practice from a science teacher learning perspective, and suggests that science teachers articulate and share their professional knowledge through the use of cases. A particular area of science teacher learning is analysed in the other two chapters. Various authors from Hong Kong, where the drive to incorporate the use of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in teaching is strong, join the effort to examine teachers’ ICT competency and their beliefs in incorporating ICT into science classrooms. The contributors to this book have worked to share their experiences of researching science education and teaching science in their specific classroom contexts. These studies may provide insights for future research that addresses science education reform directions, students’ learning needs and different classroom contexts. xi

PROLOGUE

REFERENCES Anderson, J. R., Reder, L. M., & Simon, H. A. (1996). Situated learning and education. Educational Researcher, 25(4), 5–11. Bell, B. F. (1981) When is an Animal not an Animal? Journal of Biological Education, 15(33), 213–218. Cheng, M. H., & Cheung, W. M. (2005). Science and biology assessment in Hong Kong – progress and developments. Journal of Biological Education, 40(1), 11–16. Cohen, D. K., McLaughlin, M. W., & Talbert, J. E. (1993) Teaching for understanding: Challenges for policy and practice. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. Deadman, J. A., & Kelly, P. J. (1978). What do secondary school boys understand about evolution and heredity before they are taught the topics? Journal of Biological Education, 12(1), 7–15. Driver, R., Asoko, H., Leach, J., Mortimer, E., & Scott, P. (1994). Constructing scientific knowledge in the classroom. Educational Researcher, 23(7), 5–12. Howe, C. A. (1996). Development of science concepts within a Vygotskian framework. Science Education, 80(1), 35–51. Kuhn, T. S. (1996). The structure of scientific revolutions (3rd ed.). Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Kumashiro, K. K. (2001). “Posts” perspectives on anti-oppressive education in social studies, English, Mathematics and Science classrooms. Educational Researcher, 30(3), 3–12. Lederman, N. G., Abd-El-Khalick, F., Bell, R. L., & Schwarz, R. S. (2002). Views of nature of science questionnaire: Toward valid and meaningful assessment of learners’ conceptions of nature of science. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 39(6), 497–521. Leinhardt, G. (1992). What research on learning tells us about teaching. Educational Leadership, 49(7), 20–25. Lyle, K. S., & Robinson, W. R. (2002). Talking about science. Journal of Chemical Education, 79(1), 18–20. McComas, W. F. (2004). Keys to teaching the nature of science: Focusing on NOS in the science classroom. The Science Teacher, 71(9), 24–27. Resnick, L. B. (1987). Learning in school and out. Educational Researcher, 19(9), 13–20. Salomon, G., & Perkins, D. (1998). Individual and social aspects of learning. Review of Research in Education, 23, 1–24. Schaefer, G. (1979). Concept formation in biology: The concept of ‘growth’. European Journal of Science Education, 1(1), 87–101. Tamir, P., Gal-Choppin, R., & Nussinovitz, R. (1981). How do intermediate and junior high school students conceptualize living and non-living. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 18(3), 241–248. Trowbridge, J. E., & Mintzes, J. J. (1985). Students’ alternative conceptions of animals and animal classification. School Science and Mathematics, 85(4): 304–316. Wang, J., & Odell, S. J. (2002) Mentored learning to teach according to standards-based reform: A critical review. Review of Educational Research, 72(3), 481–546.

xii

PART I: STUDENTS’ CONCEPTUAL UNDERSTANDING OF SCIENCE

CHOKCHAI YUENYONG, ALISTER JONES AND SUNAN SUNG-ONG

1. STUDENT ENERGY CONCEPTIONS Empirical Results from Thailand and New Zealand

INTRODUCTION

One of the most important aspects of science teaching and learning relates to student development of conceptual scientific knowledge. According to Brown, Colin, and Duid (1989), conceptual knowledge is a function of culture and the activities of the community in which the concepts have been developed. With the development in focus towards social constructivist and sociocultural research in learning, there is a suggestion that the cognitive activities of individuals can be understood by examining the social and cultural contexts from which they are derived (Coll, France, & Taylor, 2005). The sociocultural view is that understanding science is assumed to be inherently situated with regard to cultural, historical, and institutional contexts (Packer & Goicoecha, 2000; Wertsch, 1995). This view relates to the idea of situated cognition (Hennessy, 1993). Situated cognition means that cognitive processes differ according to the domain of thinking, and the specifications of the task context (Coll et al., 2005). Energy is used in everyday life and also in different contexts; scientific conceptions of energy might be perceived in various ways. Much research has studied students’ energy concepts related to what they perceive in everyday life. Studies in the English language context (Watts & Gilbert, 1983; Solomon, 1983; Brook & Diver, 1984; Bliss & Ogborn, 1985; Gair & Stancliffe, 1988) have generally resulted in a considerable percentage of human-centred ideas of energy, and of associations with food. Findings from Germany (Duit, 1981) however, have shown that the framework of human-centred energy is very infrequent. Findings from Israel (Trumper, 1990) and the Netherlands (Lijnse, 1990) have commonly shown a high percentage of the idea of energy in terms of fuel. Findings from Thailand (Sengsook, 1997) have also shown a similarly high percentage of the idea of energy in terms of fuel. Students’ alternative frameworks of energy in different countries and cultures show that their ideas of energy are related to their experiences of society. Electrical energy is related to everyone’s experience. There are social issues that are related to electrical energy, for example, campaigns for saving electricity. Obviously, the social issues affect learning about energy in school; students seem to understand the law of energy conservation as saving energy (Duit, 1984; Solomon, 1985; Carr & Kirkwood, 1988; Trumper, 1990). It could be said that the layman’s concept of energy is related to M. M. H. Cheng and W. W. M. So (eds.), Science Education in International Contexts, 3–16. © 2011 Sense Publishers. All rights reserved.

YUENYONG ET AL

energy saving and generating power. These correspond to the concepts of the law of energy conservation, energy transformation and degradation which might be confused by the socialization process. In the scientific view, energy transformation involves the concept that energy can occur in several forms, and it can be converted from one form to another (Duit, 1984). The law of energy conservation is the concept that the total energy of an isolated system always stays the same, regardless of any processes occurring within the system. When energy is transferred from one system to another, or when energy is transformed from one form to another, the amount of energy does not change (Duit, 1984; Hobson, 1982). Energy degradation is the simple concept of entropy (Duit & Haeussler, 1994). Entropy is an energy concept that looks at the second law of thermodynamics from the atomic point of view. Using the concepts of thermal energy and temperature, entropy is given the meaning of the concept of disorganization. The disorganization in the isolated systems can easily become more disorganized, but those systems can become more organized only with outside assistance (Hobson, 1982). As with the simple concept of entropy, therefore, the concept of the degradation of energy involves the processes taking place in closed systems where the amount of energy does not change, but the usefulness of the energy inevitably declines and is hard to reverse to become more useful (Duit & Haeussler, 1994). With a focus on social constructivist and sociocultural learning, student concepts of the law of energy conservation, energy transformation and degradation may be developed by considering the social contexts in which they are embedded. This learning perspective suggests that teaching and learning have to focus on the thinking of students in different cultures and countries (Wertsch & Toma, 1995) such as Thailand and New Zealand. The students in Thailand and New Zealand, therefore, are situated to learn science by their different socialization processes. Scientific knowledge has been developed in, and is rooted in Western countries. New Zealand is a Western culture; students there might be familiar with science learning, but they might also be confused by the differences in meanings between everyday language and scientific terms (Solomon, 1985). In Thailand, a non-Western country, science learning is translated from Western languages, so there might be a gap between the translation and the culture of the development of conceptual knowledge. Perhaps comparing the ideas of New Zealand and Thai science students may give empirical evidence of how the different cultures influence their existing ideas of the teaching and learning of the law of energy conservation, energy transformation, and degradation. These findings may have implications for teaching the energy unit developed and evaluated for Thai students. METHODOLOGY

Subjects The participants were 42 Grade 9 Thai students from the city of Khon Kaen in Khon Kaen Province, and 30 Grade 9 New Zealand students from Hamilton. The New Zealand group comprised of 85% European, 12% Maori, and 3% Asian students. 4

STUDENT ENERGY CONCEPTIONS

The Development of the Research Instrument A purpose-designed instrument, the Questionnaire of Student Energy Conceptions (QSEC), and interviews were used to collect the data. The QSEC aims to explore students’ frameworks of energy concepts, and students’ existing ideas of the law of energy conservation, energy transformation and degradation. The QSEC was developed by setting the purpose, constructing the questions, having an expert panel check content validity, and piloting. The QSEC was designed to explore student energy conceptions related to their everyday understanding, in order to provide information for meaningful energy teaching. The questions were asked to explore the following areas: (1) students’ frameworks of energy concepts, (2) students’ understanding of energy formation, (3) students’ understanding of the law of energy conservation, (4) students’ understanding of energy transformation in generating power and electrical devices, and (5) students’ understanding of energy transformation and degradation. The questions in the QSEC were suggested by several research projects concerning students’ ideas about energy (Duit, 1984; Watts, 1983; Trumper, 1993; Carr & Kirkwood, 1988; Sengsook, 1997), and the questions in the physics textbook (Hobson, 1982) that was used both in Thailand and New Zealand. The questionnaire was checked by science teachers, scientists, and science educators. These experts gave suggestions to ensure that all questions were asked accurately so as to achieve the purposes for which they were designed, but some questions and choices needed to be improved. Therefore the questionnaire was piloted with Grade 9 students in schools, both in Thailand and New Zealand, in early January 2004. Piloting allowed the researcher to know the time required for students to complete the questionnaire, and how the questionnaire could be improved. The data analysis revealed that some items were confusing and so needed to be edited. Data Collection and Analysis The QSEC presented the students with tasks such as using the word ‘energy’ in three short sentences, giving forms of energy and reasons for energy saving, describing their understanding of the law of energy conservation, selecting given situations which could be described by the law of energy conservation, and explaining the energy transformation that takes place in hydro-generated power. The ideas in the QSEC were categorized. The New Zealand and Thai students’ ideas about energy were compared and contrasted by the percentages of the students’ framework descriptions in each category. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

The New Zealand and Thai students’ existing ideas of energy concepts will be discussed. The aspects of discussion include student description frameworks of energy concepts, and students’ existing ideas of the law of energy conservation, energy transformation and degradation. 5

YUENYONG ET AL

Description Framework of Energy Concepts Students were asked to use the word ‘energy’ in three short sentences. These sentences reflected the students understanding of energy. All of their sentences could be categorized into six frameworks of description concerned with: 1) the natural occurrence of energy in things and living things, 2) energy saving, 3) sources of energy, 4) types of energy, 5) transformation of energy, and 6) the mechanical use of energy. The details in each framework are discussed below. First, concerning the natural occurrence of energy in things and living things, the students’ statements below illustrate their understanding and ideas: “Energy is the most important thing for life.” “My body uses 1000 calories of energy a day.” “Eating food increases the energy in the human body.” “Working out affects the burning of energy in my body.” “Living things have energy.” (Thai students) “My friend Rebecca got a lot of energy because she drank V.” “We get energy by eating.” “Drinks like V, Red Bull etc contain energy.” “Energy is everywhere.” “Energy is part of everyday life, humans need energy to live.” (New Zealand students) In the category of saving energy are student sentences related to saving energy, worthy energy use, or an appreciation of the value of energy, as in these examples: “Every one has to use energy more than necessary.” “We should save energy because it is continually decreased.” “Energy is a valuable and useful thing.” “We should use energy carefully.” (Thai students) Student sentences related to energy sources (e.g. the sun, water, and batteries) include: “The sun’s energy is used in solar cells.” “Power plants use water energy to generate electricity.” “I played with my toy until the battery ran out.” (Thai students) “Energy is a source of light.” “Energy is a source of light can be making out of for a use of electricity.” “An easy way of energy making is using solar power.” (New Zealand students) 6


In the category of types of energy, students’ sentences are related to different forms of energy. Many Thai students did not write sentences related to types of energy; they just wrote down forms of energy such as “heat”, “electricity”, and “mechanical energy”. Following are example sentences from this category: “Energy consists of many forms.” “I can see everything because of light energy.” “My television consumes electrical energy.” (Thai students) “Static electricity is a form of energy.” “Energy comes in 2 forms, positive & negative.” “Types of energy can be categorised under positive energy or negative energy because charge of the cells in the energy.” “Energy as in electricity, lights etc.” “Energy has many different forms, kinetic, gravitational, electromagnetic, and light.” (New Zealand students) In the category of energy transformation, explain their way of thinking about energy in terms of transformation: “Energy is never lost but changes into other energy.” “The power plant changes water energy into electrical energy.” (Thai students) “Energy transforming light, heat, coldness etc….” “A push or a pull gains energy from food, water, power station etc.” “Energy can be produced in many ways.” “Energy cannot be destroyed or created, it just transforms into another kind of energy.” “Energy can be changed into different types of energy.” (New Zealand students) In the category of mechanical use of energy, students provided examples concerning the mechanical use of energy, such as: “People use machine energy in factories.” “Moving is mechanical energy.” (Thai students) “The forces used when moving objects.” “Energy makes things move.” “I think energy is a force of something, using energy to power mechanical things.” (New Zealand students) 7

YUENYONG ET AL

Table 1. Student frameworks of energy conceptions

Framework Natural occurrence Energy saving Sources of energy Types of energy Energy transformation Mechanical use of energy Total

Thai students Responses % of responses 13 18.9 15 21.7 15 21.7 8 11.6 8 11.6 10 14.5 69

100.0

New Zealand students Responses % of responses 20 43.5 0 0.0 6 13.1 10 21.7 7 15.2 3 6.5 46

100.0

In brief, the different modes of students’ description frameworks of energy concepts are summarised in Table 1. The majority of New Zealand students wrote sentences that fall into the framework of natural occurrence, which involves existing energy in living and non-living things. This finding is consistent with Watts’s study (1983). This seems to be the most fundamental idea of energy amongst the New Zealand students. Watts (1983) argues that the existing idea of stored energy within objects stems from the Western beliefs about ‘power’. The power within things that enables them to act is often called energy. In contrast, the Thai students wrote sentences which were presented across the six frameworks. However, the two most commonly mentioned areas were sources of energy, and energy saving. This focus on sources of energy is consistent with Sengsook’s prior study (1997) which indicated fuel as a common idea of energy for Thai students. This might be generated from the use of the term fuel (petrol) in common Thai usage, to represent energy. Concerns with energy saving might be related to their experience of campaigns to save electricity and other forms of energy. Existing Ideas of the Law of Energy Conservation To assess their existing ideas about the law of energy conservation, the students were asked to select two from four situations which described the law of energy conservation. The other two situations represented an idea of energy saving. Table 2 reveals that approximately 90% of the Thai students selected the situations (a) and (c) which represent the idea of energy saving, while the majority of New Zealand students selected the situations (b) and (d) which represent the concept of the law of energy conservation. It seems, therefore, that New Zealand students have a better understanding of the law of energy conservation. However, when both groups of students were probed more about their understanding of the law of energy conservation, nearly all of their descriptions were presented in the frameworks of saving or preserving energy, or appreciating the value of energy, as shown in Table 3. The New Zealand and Thai students’ descriptions of the law of energy conservation can be grouped into the following four categories: 1) saving energy sources, 2) storing up or preserving energy, 3) appreciation of the value of energy, and 4) ideas of energy transformation. 8


Table 2. Students’ responses about the law of energy conservation Choices (a) Dum (for Thai students) / Honi (for NZ students) has changed his incandescent bulbs to energy-saving fluorescent tubes. He has found them cheaper in the long run as they last longer and they are much brighter (b) Ann touches the back of a fan. She finds that it is hot, so, she understands that input energy (electrical energy) has been transformed into kinetic energy in the fan, and heat energy in the motor. (c) Daeng’s family switches off the lights and all electrical appliances, such as the television and computer, when no one is in the room, and before going to bed every night. Leaving them on stand-by mode will still use up energy. (d) The officer of the Num-pong steam power plant (for Thai students) / the engineer at the Wairaki steam power plant (for NZ students) explains to students that the power plant uses high pressure steam at 500 C° as the force for turning the turbine. The turbine then turns the electric generator. This process provides electricity, but it is not 100 percent of the input energy. The remaining input energy is transformed into the thermal energy of the low pressure water and the heat of the turbine. Total

TH students f %

NZ students f %

19

33.9

7

11.9

0

0.0

18

30.5

30

53.6

18

30.5

7

12.5

16

27.1

56

100.0

59

100.0

Students gave descriptions of the law of energy conservation as saving energy sources, as in these examples: “It means saving energy.” “It is saving energy for use in the long run.” “It means do not waste energy.” (Thai students) “Saving energy for later usage.” “Saving power when not enough is being produced in the hydro dams.” “Conservation of energy is trying to save energy resources like water from dams, petrol etc.” (New Zealand students) In the category of preserving energy, the law of energy conservation was perceived as storing up or preserving energy. Student responses included: “It is like preserving energy.” “Conservation of energy is storage and preserving energy.” 9

YUENYONG ET AL

“It is storage for the next generation.” (Thai students) “The storing and preserving of energy and sources of energy.” (New Zealand students) In the category of the appreciation of the value of energy, students gave descriptions concerning using energy sparingly, or appreciating the value of energy, such as: “Conservation of energy means understanding how to use energy effectively.” “It is using energy to gain the highest advantage.” (Thai students) “Um, well, conserving energy means you use it usefully, and only use as much as you need.” “I think conservation of energy is the smart usage of energy and no wastage of it.” “I think it means using our energy sources efficiently as so that we have energy for years to come.” (New Zealand students) Only two New Zealand students responded in the category of energy transformation, for example, “energy doesn’t disappear, it just changes”. Apart from these two students, no one used this description to explain the law of conservation. Table 3 reveals that the majority of students described the law of energy conservation in terms of saving or preserving energy, or appreciating the value of energy. The law of energy conservation states that the total energy of an isolated system always stays the same. That is, energy cannot be created or destroyed; energy can be transformed from one form to another, but the total amount of energy stays the same (Hobson, 1982). The concept of energy transformation could support student descriptions of the law of energy conservation. Only a few New Zealand students gave descriptions in this sense, while no Thai students commented on the law of energy conservation in this sense. These findings are consistent with Carr and Kirkwood’s (1988) and Trumper’s (1990) study which indicate that the law of energy conservation is understood as saving fuel or energy sources. It seems that student experiences might affect their perceptions of the concept of the law of energy conservation, because the term “conserving” is also used in everyday language. The English term “conserving” and the Thai word ‘A-nu-rak’ are used for both the law of energy Table 3. Student description categories of the law of energy conservation

Saving of energy sources Preserving energy Appreciation of energy value Energy transformation

Responses Thai students New Zealand students f % f % 21 50.0 17 56.6 10 23.8 2 6.7 11 26.2 9 30.0 0 0.0 2 6.7

Total

42

Categories

10

100.0

30

100.0


conservation and preserving, and for storing up or saving energy. This confusion might generate readily socialized understandings, for example, the government campaigning for energy saving, where the terms of saving and conservation are interchangeable in common usage. Existing Ideas of Energy Transformation This section discusses student descriptions of the energy transformation that occurs in the process of a hydro power plant. Students were shown the diagram of a hydro power plant operation before being asked for their descriptions of the energy transformation process. Data analysis revealed that the students’ descriptions could be categorized into three frameworks of description, namely: 1) event, 2) one step, and 3) multi-step processes of energy transformation. In the event framework, students described what happened in the hydro power plant, and what the product of the dam was (e.g. electricity and current). Their descriptions did not give ideas of changing forms of energy. Examples: “Electricity is contributed to our houses.” “The dam produces electricity.” “Current flows from the dam to houses.” In the one step framework, descriptions of energy transformation in the hydro power plant appear as transformation from one form of energy to another. Students’ descriptions can be grouped into two categories of changing forms of energy: category A, the changing of water energy into electrical energy, and category B, the changing of mechanical energy into electrical energy. In the multi-step framework, students gave step by step explanations of how hydro power plant energy transforms from water or potential energy to electrical energy. Students’ descriptions can be grouped into two categories: category C involved transforming water or potential energy into mechanical energy and, then, into electrical energy. Category D showed ideas of water or potential energy transforming into mechanical energy, heat energy, and then electrical energy. According to Table 4, the majority of Thai students held concepts of energy transformation. Approximately eighty percent of Thai students’ descriptions were concerned with energy being converted from one form to another, which can be categorized into the one step and multi-step frameworks. In contrast, the majority of New Zealand students’ descriptions were presented in the event framework. However, forty percent of the New Zealand students’ descriptions could be found in the one step and multi-step frameworks. Both groups of students preferred one step rather than multi-step descriptions. It therefore appears that the students only understand an ideal concept of energy transformation. Interestingly, there were a number of Thai students who employed a multi-step framework. Unfortunately, only one student recognized that heat spreads out, when giving the step by step description. Identifying heat as it appeared in students’ descriptions in category D may indicate that students easily understand the concept of the law of energy conservation. Recognizing that 11

YUENYONG ET AL

Table 4. Students’ responses concerning energy transformation

Framework Event One step – A One step – B Multi-step – C Multi-step – D Total

Responses Thai students New Zealand students f % f % 5 17.9 12 60.0 7 25.0 3 15.0 6 21.4 3 15.0 9 32.1 1 5.0 1 3.6 1 5.0 28 100.0 20 100.0

heat spreads out might help students make sense of why people need to save energy, even though scientific knowledge states that the total amount of energy stays the same. Existing Ideas of Energy Degradation The issue of confusion between energy saving and the law of energy conservation was raised to explore students’ ideas about the relationship between energy use and scientific knowledge. Students were asked why people try to save energy when scientific knowledge states that the total amount of energy is always constant. Students’ came up with various reasons. Their ideas can be grouped into six categories: 1) energy storage, 2) limited energy resources, 3) the difficulties of generating power, 4) saving money, 5) the difficulties of reusing energy and 6) the loss of energy. In the category of energy storage, students considered energy storage for use in the future. Examples are: “Even though we have a huge amount of energy resources, they might run out in the future.” “…we have a conserved amount for back-up so we can still work.” “To save our resources for the future generation.” In the category of limited energy resources, students gave reasons concerning limited existing energy resources, for example: “Some energy is limited.” “Energy is limited but people are continually increased.” “Even though we have an amount of energy resources, it might run out in the future.” In the category of the difficulties of generating power, students considered the difficulties of the process of generating power, for example, “We do not have enough different ways of creating energy… or we are unable to create energy”. 12


In the category of saving money, students thought that energy saving is money saving and gaining profit. Examples of students’ ideas include: “Saving electricity is saving money.” “Saving energy helps the government to gain national profit.” “Generating power is transforming energy for use … we have to pay…” In the category of the difficulties of reusing energy, students gave some ideas concerned with the difficulties of reusing energy resources. For example: “Energy will be gone when we use it and we cannot reuse it.” “Energy is used… it cannot be generated quickly.” In the category of the loss of energy, students were concerned with the loss of energy into another form, or into non-useful forms of energy. Energy transformation is a cause of the loss of useful forms of energy. Examples of student responses include: “Energy changes into other forms, we cannot use energy in everyday life.” “When we use energy it is always lost.” According to Table 5, it appears that thirty percent of Thai students and seventy percent of New Zealand students had difficulties answering questions about energy saving, because they did not answer this question. The majority of students’ responses from both groups of students gave reasons of energy storage and limited energy resources. This indicates that students’ fundamental ideas focus on the restriction of useful energy forms. As simple idea of the second law of thermodynamic, energy degradation could be viewed as spreading out energy and it is hard to become more useful energy. Students’ reasons showed some existing ideas of energy degradation. Their ideas of the difficulties of reusing energy and the difficulties of generating power could reflect that the students are aware of the difficulty of reversing energy that is not useful into useful energy. Additionally, their ideas about the loss of Table 5. Student reasons for energy saving

Categories Energy storage Limited energy sources Difficulties of generating power Saving money Difficulties of reusing energy Loss of energy No reply Total

Responses Thai students New Zealand students f % f % 9 21.4 5 16.7 10 23.8 2 6.7 1 2.4 3 10.0 4 9.5 1 3.3 4 9.5 0 0.0 2 4.8 0 0.0 12 28.6 19 70.37 42 100.0 30 100.0 13

YUENYONG ET AL

energy suggest that they might be concerned with the declining usefulness of energy. Interestingly, the categories of the difficulties of reusing energy, the difficulties of generating power, and the loss of energy appear in the Thai students’ responses, although there is only a small number of such responses. However, the New Zealand students were only concerned with the difficulties of generating power. IMPLICATIONS FOR TEACHING AND LEARNING

The fundamental New Zealand student framework of energy concepts involves the natural occurrence of energy in things and living things, but Thai students’ ideas are expressed in two modes: sources of energy and energy saving. These findings make it evident how different contexts affect students’ energy concepts. This corresponds with much research that has studied students’ energy concepts in terms of what they perceive in everyday life (Duit, 1981; Watts & Gilbert, 1983; Solomon, 1983; Brook & Diver, 1984; Lijnse, 1990; Trumper, 1990; Sengsook, 1997). Student conceptual development may involve allowing students to learn about how their existing ideas are debated and tested until there is a consensus decision within the classroom community that is similar to the scientific community (Solomon, 1983; Coll et al., 2005). This group of Thai students might begin with issues of sources of energy and energy saving. These might give ideas and knowledge about phenomena and experiences that students bring to the classroom, and might help them further understand the nature of energy. This research shows that students have difficulty understanding the nature of energy. Both New Zealand and Thai students perceive the law of energy conservation in terms of saving or preserving energy, or the appreciation of the value of energy, rather than in the sense of the total of an isolated system which always stays the same. This corresponds with much research which indicates that students seem to understand the law of energy conservation as saving energy (Duit, 1984; Solomon, 1985; Carr & Kirkwood, 1988; Trumper, 1990). This indicates that students’ existing ideas about energy are confused by the socialization process (Solomon, 1983; Trumper, 1990). Additionally, the majority of students recognize ideal concepts of energy transformation, namely, their descriptions are mostly given in the one step energy transformation framework. There are a few descriptions of energy transformation involving the concept that energy can be converted into several forms. A small number of students expressed some ideas of energy degradation, e.g. giving reasons for energy saving, ideas about the difficulties of reusing energy, the difficulties of generating power, and the loss of energy. These findings reveal that their understanding of the law of energy conservation, energy transformation and degradation are fragmented. In order to develop students’ understanding of these energy concepts, Duit and Heaeussler (1994) argue that enhancing the concept of energy spreading out would support the conceptual development of the nature of energy, because it gives reasons why a system stays the same, and reminds students to recognize energy transforming into several forms. Besides eliminating students’ misunderstandings of the law of the conservation of energy, and developing their understanding of energy transformation, there are 14


other reasons to include energy degradation in the basic aspects of the energy concept. Duit and Heaeussler (1994) argue that energy degradation could be used as a key energy teaching unit in the Science Technology and Society (STS) approach. The issues of degradation may motivate students to debate and test their ideas, and to develop their normative decision-making which is suitable for their context. For example, based on Thai students’ existing ideas of energy degradation, the STS energy unit containing issues of the price of petrol and energy use, and generating power and environmental damage, might be provided for this group of Thai students. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would like to acknowledge the Institute for the Promotion of Science and Technology Teaching (IPST), Thailand, which financially supported me during one year of study at the University of Waikato, New Zealand. I also appreciate the cooperation of students and teachers in Khon Kaen and Hamilton. REFERENCES Brown, J. S., Colin, A., & Duid, P. (1989). Situated cognition and the culture of learning. Educational Researcher, 18(1), 32–42. Bliss, J., & Ogborn, J. (1985). Children’s choices of uses of energy. European Journal of Science Education, 7, 195–203. Brook, A., & Driver, R. (1984). Aspects of secondary students’ understanding of energy. Leeds: Children’s in Science Project, University of Leeds. Carr, M., & Kirkwood, V. (1988). Teaching and learning about energy in New Zealand secondary school junior science classrooms. Physics Education, 23, 86–91. Coll, R. K., France, B., & Taylor, I. (2005). The role of models/and analogies in science education: Implications from research. International Journal of Science Education, 27(2), 183–198. Duit, R. (1981). Students’ notion about the energy concept – before and after physics instruction. In W. Jung & H. Pfundt (Eds.), Proceedings of the international workshop ‘Problems concerning students’ representation of physics and chemistry knowledge’ (pp. 268–319). Ludwigsburg, West Germany. Duit, R. (1984). Learning the energy concept in school – empirical results from the Philippines and West Germany. Physics Education, 19, 59–66. Duit, R., & Haeussler, P. (1994). Learning and teaching energy. In P. Fensham, R. Gunstone, & R. White (Eds.), The content of science: A constructivist approach to its teaching and learning (pp. 185–200). Bristol, PA: Falmer Press. Gair, J., & Stancliffe, D. T. (1988). Talking about toys: An investigation of children’s ides about force and energy. Research in Science and Technological Education, 6, 167–180. Hennessey, S. (1993). Situated cognition and cognitive apprenticeship: Implications for classroom learning. Studies in Science Education, 22, 1–4. Hobson, A. (1982). Physics and human affairs. New York: Wiley. Lijnse, P. (1990). Energy between the life – World of pupils and the World Physics. Science Education, 74(5), 571–583. Packer, M. J., & Goicoecha, J. (2000). Sociocultural and constructivist theories of learning: Ontology, not just epistemology. Educational Psychologist, 35(4), 227–241. Sengsook, R. (1997). A Study of Mathayomsuksa 1–6 Students’ Conceptions of Energy in Donchimpleepittayacom School, Amphoe Bangnumpeaw, Changwat Chachoengsao: A case study. Bangkok, Thailand: Thesis of Master Degree in Science Teaching, Kasetsart University. Solomon, J. (1983). Learning about energy: How students think in two domains. International Journal of Science Education, 5, 45–59. 15

YUENYONG ET AL Solomon, J. (1985). Teaching the conservation of energy. Physics Education, 20(4), 165–170. Trumper, R. (1990). Being constructive: An alternative approach to the teaching of the energy concept – part one. International Journal of Science Education, 12(4), 343–354. Trumper, R. (1993). Children’s energy concepts: A cross – age study. International Journal of Science Education, 15(2), 139–148. Watts, D. M. (1983). Some alternative views of energy. Physics Education, 18, 213–217. Watts, D. M., & Gilbert, J. K. (1983). Enigmas in school science: Students’ conceptions for scientifically associated world. Research in Science and Technological Education, 1(2), 161–171. Wertsch, J. V. (1995). The needs for action in sociocultural research. In J. V. Wertsch, P. D. Del Rio, & A. Alvarez (Eds.), Sociocultural studies of mind (pp. 56–74). New York: Cambridge University Press. Wertsch, J. V., & Toma, C. (1995). Discourse and learning in the classroom: A sociocultural approach. In L. P. Steffe & J. Gale (Eds.), Constructivism in education (pp. 159–174). New Jersey, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc.

Chokchai Yuenyong Department of Science Education, Faculty of Education Khon Kaen University, Thailand, email: [email protected] Alister Jones Faculty of Education The University of Waikato, Hamilton, New Zealand Sunan Sung-Ong Faculty of Education Kasetsart University, Bangkok, Thailand

16

SHU-CHIU LIU

2. WHAT IS THE THING WE CALL HEAT? A STUDY ON DIVERSE REPRESENTATIONS OF THE BASIC THERMAL CONCEPTS IN AND FOR SCHOOL SCIENCE

INTRODUCTION

Heat, like many other scientific concepts, is abstract, counterintuitive and thus difficult for students to understand. As a noun, it is frequently used in everyday life, but its meanings may, however, vary from one situation to another. In the Chinese language, the word for heat, Re, used as a noun, is a completely scientific term. In everyday life, Re means “hot”, “heated” or “to heat”, and students do not start to learn Re as a noun - heat – until in school science. It is thus little wonder that many students, and even adults, encounter difficulties in understanding the scientific concept of heat alongside its everyday multiple uses. Furthermore, heat is confusing and controversial in its own scientific meaning, as illustrated in the history of science. Early scientists for a long time conceived of heat as a basic quality of a body, and later on as a kind of substance, a material fluid, or in terms of an ethereal wave. It was as late as the 19th century that the modern concept of heat became accepted. Bearing this in mind, we should not be too surprised at the difficulties students experience while learning the concepts centered on heat. Research has provided abundant evidence that students come into the science classroom with their own knowledge, which is often different from the intended scientific information, yet makes sense to the students themselves. (Duit (2006) has conducted an extensive review of the literature in this area.) This kind of knowledge is often coherent to everyday experience, and has its own structure, and therefore is robust to change. In the last decades, research in science education had focused on the ways in which students’ preconceptions could be “changed” to the scientific form. Yet recent years have witnessed a shift of the emphasis from “conceptual change” to “conceptual recognition and appreciation” (where conceptual change is still consequently involved). Precisely speaking, the general goal of science instruction is currently directed at assisting students to recognise and appreciate their personal knowledge for its functional appropriateness in certain contexts, and to further distinguish it from the scientific knowledge intended in science instruction. These different representations of knowledge involved in science teaching and learning should therefore be identified and clarified. Especially important is to specify the underlying meanings and relations of these representations in order to assist students in understanding their own and others’ ideas. The study presented in M. M. H. Cheng and W. W. M. So (eds.), Science Education in International Contexts, 17–28. © 2011 Sense Publishers. All rights reserved.

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this paper is focused on the students, with the goal to re-examine the representations of the basic thermal concepts in science instruction. STUDENTS’ IDEAS ABOUT HEAT

Literature Review Previous research has provided evidence that students hold many intuitive ideas about heat and temperature (Clough & Driver, 1985; Erickson, 1979; Erickson & Tiberghien, 1985; Rogan, 1988; Tiberghien, 1980), and that everyday experiences play an essential role in forming these ideas. A summary of the ideas as such is listed in Table 1. Everyday, children are exposed to the colloquial term “heat” as a noun, and its related forms as a verb, adverb, and adjective, and these multiple uses may lead to confusion (Erickson & Tiberghien, 1985; Romer, 2001; Tiberghien, 1980). Typically, children hold substance-based conceptions, such as heat as a substance (Albert, 1978) or a substantive fluid (Erickson, 1979, 1980). This is predicted from an ontological perspective (Chi, 2000; Chi, 1992). Intuitive ideas do not change easily. Research shows that even after some years of instruction, students still have difficulties differentiating between heat and temperature when they explain thermal phenomena (Kesidou & Duit, 1993). Their idea of temperature as a measure of heat appears to be particularly resistant to change. Studies of students’ concepts about heat have been generally focused on primary and middle school students. It is argued that secondary students do not exhibit their Table 1. Students’ ideas about heat

Heat Temperature

Heat and material

Heat and coldness

18

Students’ ideas Heat as a substance, like air or steam (Albert, 1978; Erickson, 1979). Heat as a substantial fluid (Erickson, 1979, 1980). A measure of the mixture of heat and cold inside an object (Erickson, 1979). Temperature as a property of material. (Erickson & Tiberghien, 1985). Temperature is subject to the size of the object and the amount of stuff present. (Erickson, 1979). Temperature measures or quantifies heat (Kesidou & Duit, 1993). Temperature has a similar meaning to heat (Erickson 1979; Kesidou & Duit, 1993; Wiser & Amin 2001). Color, thickness and hardness are associated with conductivities (Clough & Driver, 1985). The speed of the heat movement explains different conductivities. (Clough & Driver, 1985; Tiberghien, 1980). “Coldness” as a substance (Clough & Driver, 1985). Heat and cold/coldness as two opposite substances (Erickson, 1979, 1980).

WHAT IS THE THING WE CALL HEAT

alternative conceptions in an obvious manner for they “are relatively quick at learning verbal labels and scientific-sounding phrases, yet the classroom interaction is normally not long enough to reveal what kind of understanding lies behind such words or phrases” (Clough and Driver, 1985, p. 181). Also, there seems to be a lack of variety of testing instruments for diagnosing students’ understanding of a specified concept or theory, with interviewing being commonly used in these studies. The study is thus intended to examine, by means of an alternative testing instrument, secondary students’ understanding of the basic thermal concepts such as heat, temperature and thermal equilibrium, which they have already learnt through formal instruction. Methodology Participants in the investigation were 252 secondary students (Grades 10–12; 15–18 years old) selected from two schools in Taiwan. Before the investigation, a pilot study using an open-ended questionnaire was carried out to elicit students’ general accounts of the nature of heat and temperature. Its purpose was to revise the questionnaire and develop items for its multiple choice questions using students’ comments. 134 students from another school participated in the pilot study, responding in a written form to several open-ended questions, such as “(After referring to obvious thermal phenomena) What is heat?” and “Why does metal generally feel colder than wood?” Students were asked to explain their ideas as clearly as possible, and were encouraged to do so by means of drawings. A testing instrument with multiple choice questions was thus developed based on the results of the pilot study. The questions, which amount to nine in all, concern basic thermal problems and phenomena to be explained or predicted. Only Question 9, for its explanatory nature, remains as an open question, whereas all other questions contain items to choose. Questions 1, 2 and 3 require the student to give a general account of heat, heat transfer and the function of a thermometer, whereas the rest of the questions are contextual, consisting of a problem or phenomenon. To give a scientifically correct answer (by choosing from the items or providing an alternative statement) requires a basic understanding of thermal knowledge. In this revised questionnaire, each question, apart from Question 9, has five items, four of which are opinions presented by four imaginary figures, whereas the other allows the student to express his (her) own opinion when (s)he disagrees with all of the stated opinions. An exemplar question and its response items are as follows: (Question 8) Suppose a metal plate, some flour, and a cup of water are kept at room temperature for a while and then put into a freezer at the temperature of -5°C. What would happen to them? – Student A: “They will keep releasing heat until they contain the same amount of heat.” – Student B: “Their temperature will all decrease and reach -5°C at the end.” – Student C: “Some things cannot reach that low temperature. They will all become very cold, but at the end the metal should have the lowest temperature, and then the water, which turns to ice, and finally the flour.” 19

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– Student D: “I also think that their temperature will all drop, but the final temperature of the ice should be the lowest, because it should feel the coldest.” – None of them are correct. My idea is__________ In order to obtain more personal views, Question 9 requires students to explain in their own words the melting process of ice cream, including why it occurs, and the difference between the particles of the already melted and the still solid parts of the ice cream. Results Pilot study. The pilot study revealed a similar pattern of students’ concepts about heat to that found in the previous studies. A considerable number of students related heat to hotness, commenting, for instance, that “Heat is, when two things have different temperatures, the one which has the higher temperature.” and “Heat is a kind of energy and it feels hot.” Some students seemed to confuse heat with temperature. Their statements include “Heat is the degree of hotness and coldness”, “Heat is a kind of temperature, which tends to be higher.” and “Heat is what one feels about the environment in terms of hotness and coldness. We use temperature to indicate it.” It is also evident that they often believe heat to be the amount of energy that a body has. One student cited, for example, “Heat moves from what has higher heat energy to lower.” It also occurred, though rather exceptionally, that the student categorised heat into material. An exemplar citation is “It is a kind of material which has energy but no form.” Data collected in the pilot study indicated that even after repetitive formal instruction on the fundamental science of heat (as part of the primary, middle, and secondary science curriculum) students still have difficulties explaining basic thermal terms and phenomena in a coherent manner. They often unconsciously switch between the learnt scientific knowledge and the common sense ideas according to the question to be answered. It seems that while responding to an open question students tend to first look for explanations based on their everyday experience instead of drawing upon what they have learnt. The observation, for example, of sun and fire is so influential that the student may easily define heat as “the kind of energy which is released from a body.” It should be noted that few students automatically mentioned particles or the particle model when explaining the concepts and phenomena of heat. As pointed out, students gave their responses primarily based on everyday experience, probably due to the fact that there was no item to choose from and thus no hint to recall their learnt knowledge, and therefore the particle model was one of the last things to emerge in their thinking, since it is anything but intuitive. Main Study Nature of heat. The students participating in the main test exhibited a familiarity with the basic thermal terms such as heat (energy), temperature, heat transfer, thermal equilibrium, and specific heat. Few students related heat directly to substance 20


(Table 21, the first item). The statement that heat is a kind of energy is easy for them to recall as it is repetitively taught. It seems that, however, in describing the movement of heat they tend to visualize it in a corporeal manner, i.e., heat transfer is often depicted as if it is an actual continuous transmission (Table 2, the third item, Table 3). Table 2. Students’ responses to Question 1: What is heat?

Heat is a substance. It has no form and no colour. Something is hotter when it has more of the heat substance. It is a kind energy that can make temperature rise. An object with more heat must be hotter. Heat is a kind of “released” energy, for example, fire can release this energy, but ice not. Heat should be a quality of an object, that is, its degree of hotness or coldness. It can be illustrated through temperature. None of them is correct. My idea is___________

Grade 10 (n=91) 5 (5%)

Grade 11 (n=80) 2 (3%)

Grade 12 (n=81) 2 (2%)

Total (n=252)

48 (53%)

33 (41%)

32 (40%)

113 (45%)

18 (20%)

14 (18%)

6 (7%)

38 (15%)

29 (32%)

22 (28%)

30 (37%)

81 (32%)

12 (13%)

24 (30%)

25 (31%)

61 (24%)

9 (4%)

Table 3. Students’ responses to question 6: What happens to the particles inside a metal stick heated at one end?

The number of particles containing heat increases. Particles speed up and the distances among them increase. Particles move away carrying heat which flows in from the source. Particles near the source take in heat and pass it onto the neighbouring particles in a similar way to the radiation of the sun. None of them is correct. My idea is___________ No response.

Grade 10 (n=91) 14 (15%) 25 (27%) 37 (41%) 22 (24%)

Grade 11 (n=80) 8 (10%) 25 (31%) 31 (39%) 14 (18%)

Grade 12 (n=81) 12 (15%) 26 (32%) 5 (6%) 2 (2%)

Total (n=252)

9 (10%)

15 (19%)

41 (51%)

65 (26%)

0 (0%)

1 (1%)

3 (4%)

4 (2%)

34 (13%) 76 (30%) 73 (29%) 38 (15%)

21

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Figure 1 shows a sketch by a 12th-grader where a metal is heated at one end and heat goes around the metal like an “infinite” circuit. Their ideas are not quite correct, I think:

unlimited circulation

Figure 1. Heat moves like a circuit in a metal heated at one end.

As mentioned previously, the students frequently used the scientific terms such as thermal equilibrium, temperature, heat transfer, specific heat and even latent heat while explaining concepts and phenomena in their answers. However, similar to the results of the pilot study, their accounts revealed confusion between heat and temperature, heat and thermal energy, and moreover, exhibited a vague understanding of energy as an essential character of heat. Temperature is often thought to be the indicator of how much heat an object contains. According to one 10th-grader, if one of the two identical objects has a higher temperature than the other, it consequently has more heat. Another 10th-grader, after stating that heat is a kind of energy, pointed out that “It is temperature, which can reflect the change of the amount of this energy.” Table 2 also shows that approximately one out of three students considered heat as “the degree of hotness or coldness” (the fourth item). The majority of the students spoke of heat as a “possessed” property similar to thermal energy. “Heat in a body” is often, directly or indirectly, present in their responses. For example, a student responding to the question of what happens to a metal and a wooden stick if being placed under the midday sun for a while, wrote “They will reach the same temperature, but they will not have the same amount of heat [at the end].” Table 4 (the first item) shows that a number of students think of heat as an internal property, which can be calculated using a simple formula. It is also noticeable that two ideas, heat transfer as a result of different temperatures, and heat radiation simply caused by an object’s temperature, seem to be incongruous for the students, and consequently led to some misconceptions. While explaining heat transfer, a student wrote “No matter what temperature (a body has), as long as it’s above 0 K, heat is sent out, and it goes from the higher amount of heat to the lower amount of heat.” It is understandable that to put “heat goes from the higher temperature to the lower temperature” will likely cause confusion, as it appears to be in contradiction to the first statement about heat radiation. 22


Table 4. Students’ responses to question 4: What can be concluded based on information of two cups of water: (A) 200 grams, 25° C; (B) 50 grams, 90° C? Grade 10 (n=91)

Grade 11 (n=80)

Grade 12 (n=81)

Total (n=252)

A has 5000 cal of heat, while B has 4500.

28 (31%)

16 (20%)

12 (15%)

56 (22%)

B has a higher temperature, so B should have more heat than A.

0 (0%)

5 (6%)

5 (6%)

10 (4%)

If we pour one cup of water into another, a final state, thermal equilibrium, will be reached where the amount of heat should be between 4500 and 5000 cal.

19 (21%)

11 (14%)

11 (14%)

41 (16%)

If two cups of water are mixed, we can predict that the temperature when thermal equilibrium is reached will be between 25°C and 90°C.

72 (79%)

68 (85%)

59 (73%)

199 (79%)

None of them is correct. My idea is___________

4 (4%)

3 (4%)

5 (6%)

12 (5%)

No response.

1 (1%)

0 (0%)

4 (5%)

5 (2%)

Heat and thermal equilibrium. Thermal equilibrium is one of the core concepts in school thermal science and thus seems to be a familiar term for the students. Most of the students know that all entities in a thermal system would approach thermal equilibrium. However, students’ responses revealed a somewhat distorted scientific concept of thermal equilibrium. Even if the student can recite the scientific definition of thermal equilibrium, they may not be able to apply it to real problems. Responding to Question 9, the students frequently stated that ice melts because of the drive to approach thermal equilibrium with the environment. Nevertheless, in a more unusual situation, the problem emerges. Most obvious is the fact that many of them turned to an intuitive answer when the situation was familiar but contained a potential conflict between a scientific explanation and a common sense idea. Table 5 (the first item) shows that many students have the scientifically correct idea of heat transfer as a result of the difference in temperature. However, the final state of this transfer, thermal equilibrium, is not understood. A considerable number of students believe that the metal stick would be eventually hotter than the wood if they are placed in the sun together, as seen in Table 6 (the first and third items), and the flour would not become as cold as the ice and the metal in the freezer, as illustrated in Table 7 (the third and fourth items). 23

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Table 5. Students’ responses to question 2: Under what condition(s) does heat transfer between two bodies?

When there is a difference in temperature. Heat transfers from higher to lower temperatures. When there is a difference in heat contained by the objects. Heat moves from a place of more heat to that of less heat. It depends on the material: Some materials take in heat more easily, while others release heat more easily. Thus, the latter tends to give out heat to the former. It depends on the size, mass, state and so on of the substances. So we cannot make a general conclusion. None of them is correct. My idea is___________

Grade 10 (n=91) 69 (76%)

Grade 11 (n=80) 40 (50%)

Grade 12 (n=81) 42 (52%)

Total (n=252)

17 (19%)

31 (39%)

17 (21%)

65 (26%)

6 (7%)

10 (13%)

5 (6%)

21 (8%)

16 (18%)

20 (25%)

20 (25%)

56 (22%)

4 (4%)

5 (6%)

6 (7%)

15 (6%)

1 (1%)

1 (0%)

No response.

151 (60%)

Table 6. Students’ responses to question 7: What would happen to a metal and a wooden stick moved from inside to outside under the midday sun?

The temperature of the metal stick will rise, but that of the wooden stick may not rise, or perhaps may only rise a little bit. Their temperatures will both rise, and eventually reach the same degree. Wood can maintain the warmth better, so at the end the wooden stick should have a higher temperature than the metal one. Both will have their temperature increased, but the metal stick will possess more heat than the other. None of them is correct. My idea is___________ No response.

24

Grade 10 (n=91) 55 (60%)

Grade 11 (n=80) 42 (53%)

Grade 12 (n=81) 37 (46%)

Total (n=252)

15 (16%) 3 (3%)

21 (26%) 3 (4%)

20 (25%) 3 (4%)

56 (22%) 9 (4%)

7 (8%)

8 (10%)

9 (11%)

24 (10%)

16 (18%)

12 (15%)

14 (17%)

42 (17%)

0 (0%)

0 (0%)

1 (1%)

1 (0%)

134 (53%)


Table 7. Students’ responses to question 8: What would happen to a metal plate, some flour and a cup of water put into a freezer at -5° C?

They will keep releasing heat until they contain the same amount of heat. The temperature of all of them will decrease and reach -5° C at the end. Some things cannot reach that low a temperature. Although they will all become very cold, at the end the metal will have the lowest temperature, and then the water, which turns to ice, and finally the flour. The final temperature of the ice should be the lowest, because it should feel the coldest. None of them is correct. My idea is___________ No response.

Grade 10 (n=91) 9 (10%) 46 (51%)

Grade 11 (n=80) 12 (15%) 28 (35%)

Grade 12 (n=81) 7 (9%) 34 (42%)

Total (n=252)

36 (40%)

40 (50%)

31 (38%)

107 (42%)

4 (4%)

3 (4%)

0 (0%)

7 (3%)

4 (4%)

7 (9%)

7 (9%)

18 (7%)

1 (1%)

0 (0%)

4 (5%)

4 (2%)

28 (11%) 108 (43%)

Heat and the particle model. As revealed in the pilot study, few students automatically mentioned the particle model when asked to explain heat and its motion. The reference to particles and the particle model occurred in the responses only when required. There also seems to be a tendency that the students describe particles based on the object’s macroscopic quality. In explaining differences between particles in ice and in water (Question 9), a popular answer was “density”. The fact that ice is obviously more “condensed” than water appears to have a strong impact on the student’s understanding of the particles in these two materials. A comment from a 10th-grader also illustrated such a macroscopic-oriented microscopic view: Particles in water are “looser and not fixed”, whereas those in ice “have the same distance between one another and have a fixed pattern”. RESTRUCTURING CONCEPTS OF HEAT

Scientific Explanations In science, it is wrong to speak of “heat in a body”, as heat is defined as a form of energy transferred between systems. Heat is thus an extrinsic quality. Suppose a cup of water is sitting on the counter. As a whole, the cup is at rest, but internally there is lots of action – all the molecules are in motion. It therefore has “molecular kinetic energy” which is known as “internal energy”. Because this energy is associated with the temperature of the water, it is also called “thermal energy”. 25

LIU

Heat is the flow of this energy from one system to another, through solid and fluid media by conduction, through fluid media by convection, and through empty space by radiation. This flow results from a difference in temperature or a change in phase. Temperature refers to how hot or cold an object is. Thus heat only flows from high temperatures to low temperatures. At the secondary school level, students are exposed to the explanation of heat in terms of the particle model, which suggests that all matter is made up of tiny particles too small to be seen. According to this model, these particles are always moving - they have energy. With an increase in temperature, the particles move faster as they gain kinetic energy. Thus, when something is really hot, the particles inside it are wiggling around a lot. And the colder it is, the less the particles wiggle. According to this theory, temperature indicates the average energy (speed) of the particles in motion in a substance. It is therefore closely associated with thermal energy: Temperature represents the intensity of the warmth, whereas thermal energy the totality (von Baeyer, 1999). While heat is explained as a form of energy, energy is another tricky term. One cannot understand heat correctly without grasping the meaning of energy. What is energy in a scientific sense? It is not a substance. It cannot be seen or weighed, and it cannot take up space. Energy is a condition or quality that a substance has. Energy is a property or quality of an object or substance that gives it the ability to move, do work or cause change. Instructional Reformation The results of this study revealed a feature of discrepant knowledge in the students’ representations. Although students at secondary level seem to be familiar with a number of thermal terms, their understanding of these concepts remains at a superficial level. The confusion between concepts, such as heat, thermal energy and temperature, illustrated the problem that students understand neither the underlying principles of these concepts nor their relations. They seem to deal with a number of facts and ideas without an effective conceptual map to locate and relate them. As a result, their knowledge is fragmented and shallow (Marton, Hounsell, & Entwistle, 1984). This should call for a re-examination of the instructional subject matter towards a more analytic and coherent representation of the knowledge, and efforts to develop strategies for assisting students in building conceptual maps or models that locate and relate the learnt concepts and phenomena, as well as their personal knowledge. To take heat and thermal energy as an example, students need to recognize their fundamental difference - the former is an extrinsic quality, whereas the latter is intrinsic. Suppose we have a cup of hot water at hand. Common sense tells us that it will cool down naturally. It seems thus natural to assume that something inside the cup is being released. The crucial point is that thermal energy is this “something” inside the cup, whereas the part of it being released is called heat. Therefore, the manifestation of heat is present in virtually all thermal events, when one can “feel” a change. In contrast, thermal energy is something internal and in nature is associated with motions of atoms and molecules. It is worth recommending using examples from the everyday world to illustrate the intended knowledge in a way that special 26


attention is paid to the crucial points through which students can discern one concept from another, and consequently recognize their relations. It should be of significance to explain thermal concepts in reference to the microscopic and macroscopic levels of representation. Students often get confused when we speak of heat in terms of particle motion and in terms of the moving energy from hotter substances to colder ones without explicating the microscopic and macroscopic perspectives from which the different explanations are derived. As Wiser and Amin (2001) have suggested, to foster students’ conceptual change regarding heat, we need to”encourage students explicitly to differentiate between the scientific and everyday views and then integrate them into a coherent account including both views” (2001, p. 353). In addition, instruction can involve their analogies to the historical development of thermal theories (Cotignola, Bordogna, Punte, & Cappannini, 2002); thereby students are provided with the opportunity to project their ideas onto the historical ones and to understand these ideas and the perspectives from which they are generated. NOTES 1

In all the tables illustrated in the chapter, the sum of the responses does not equal the number of students in each grade because of the multiple choices. For the same reason and rounding, the total percentage in each grade does not amount to 100. The rates are calculated by dividing the number of students providing the response by the number of students taking part in responding, and then rounding to the nearest one.

REFERENCES Albert, E. (1978). Development of the concept of heat in children. Science Education, 62, 389–399. Chi, M. T. H. (2000). Misunderstanding emergent processes as causal. Paper presented at the annual conference of the American Educational Research Association, April 2000. Chi, M. T. H. (1992). Conceptual change within and across ontological categories: Implications for learning and discovery in science. In R. N. Giere (Ed.), Cognitive models of science: Minnesota studies in the philosophy of science (Vol. 15, pp. 129–186). Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press. Clough, E. E., & Driver, R. (1985). Secondary students conceptions of the conduction of heat: Bringing together scientific and personal views. Physics Education, 20(4), 176–182. Cotignola, M. I., Bordogna, C., Punte, G., & Cappannini, O. M. (2002). Difficulties in learning thermodynamic concepts: Are they linked to the historical development of this field? Science & Education, 11, 279–291. Duit, R. (2006). Bibliography - Students’ and Teachers’ Conceptions and Science Education (STCSE). Retrieved February, 2006, from http://www.ipn.uni-kiel.de/aktuell/stcse/stcse.html Erickson, G. L. (1979). Children’s conceptions of heat and temperature. Science Education, 63(2), 221–230. Erickson, G. L. (1980). Children’s viewpoints of heat: A second look. Science Education, 64(3), 323–336. Erickson, G., & Tiberghien, A. (1985). Heat and temperature. In R. Driver, E. Guesne, & A. Tiberghien (Eds.), Children’s ideas in science (pp. 52–83). Philadelphia: Open University Press. Kesidou, S., & Duit, R. (1993). Students’ conceptions of the second law of thermodynamics: An interpretive study. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 30(1), 85–106. Marton, F., Hounsell, D., & Entwistle, N. (Eds.), (1984). The experience of learning. Edinburgh: Scottish academic press. Rogan, J. H. (1988). The development of a conceptual framework of heat. Science Education, 72, 103–133. Romer, R. H. (2001). Heat is not a noun. American Journal of Physics, 69(2), 107–109. 27

LIU Tiberghien, A. (1980). Modes and conditions of learning. An example: The learning of some aspects of the concepts of heat. In W. F. Archenhold, R. H. Driver, A. Orton, & C. Wood-Robinson (Eds.), Cognitive development research in science and mathematics (pp. 288–309). Leeds, UK: University of Leeds Printing Service. von Baeyer, H. C. (1999). Warmth disperses and time passes: The history of heat. New York: The Modern Library. Wiser, M., & Amin, T. (2001). “Is heat hot?” Inducing conceptual change by integrating everyday and scientific perspectives on thermal phenomena. Learning and Instruction, 11, 331–353.

Shu-Chiu Liu Physics Education & History of Science University of Oldenburg, Germany

28

MICHAEL MANN AND DAVID F. TREAGUST

3. POSSIBLE PATHWAYS FOR CONCEPTUAL DEVELOPMENT RELATED TO ENERGY AND THE HUMAN BODY

INTRODUCTION

Amongst more that 8,000 studies across all areas of scientific learning (Duit, 2009), there are several studies related to energy in the area of physics such as Duit and Haeussler (1994) and Finegold and Trumper (1989), who developed a framework for teaching and learning the concepts of energy in physics. There have been several further recent examples of research about the energy concept in physics (Domenech et al., 2007; Liu & McKeough, 2005; Papadouris, Constantinou & Kyratsi, 2008), but very few involving energy and the human body. One exception is the study by Lin and Hu (2003) that investigated students’ understanding of energy flow in the context of food chains, photosynthesis and respiration. Twenty five years ago, Gayford (1986) observed that the concept of energy is rarely covered adequately in biology classes, and consequently students of biology find the concept of energy difficult to comprehend. More recent research is consistent with Gayford’s findings; Lee and Liu (2010) provided evidence from a large sample across 12 schools in several states of the USA that grade eight students who took a physical science course had a significantly higher understanding of energy concepts than those students who took a life or earth science course. Many researchers have reported their findings with respect to student held conceptions, especially their misconceptions, and a number of review articles are reported providing an understanding of these conceptions within different theoretical frameworks (see for example, Anderson 2007). Usually the findings are reported at a point in time (Treagust, et al., 2010) or over a period of time using pre and post-tests following an intervention (Shymansky et al., 1997), or describe how individual learners’ conceptions develop during instructional time (Harrison et al., 1999). Shymansky et al., (1997) proposed a saw tooth pattern of concept development involving progression, regression and standing still. This form of progress facilitates the notions of the punctuated changes described by Sadler (1998), the regressions of Chi, Slotta and de Leeuw (1994), Duit and Haeussler (1994), and Cleminson (1990), as well as changes in cognitive direction (Strike & Posner, 1992). Many researchers have observed students’ resistance to conceptual change (Treagust & Duit, 2008), and learners frequently regress to previously held conceptions (Garnett, Garnett & Hackling, 1995). One avenue of advancing an understanding of student learning of science concepts, but more importantly as an aid to teachers, is to illustrate the learning problems and M. M. H. Cheng and W. W. M. So (eds.), Science Education in International Contexts, 29–42. © 2011 Sense Publishers. All rights reserved.

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the various conceptual pathways that students or a group of students may develop. In earlier work, Petri and Niedderer (1998) described learning pathways in high school level quantum atomic physics, and Duit and Treagust (1998) referred to learning pathways as being either continuous or discontinuous. Recently, learning progressions in science construed as conjectural models of learning over time needing empirical validation have been the subject of research (Duncan & Hmelo-Silver, 2009). Topics investigated are those taught across various grade levels such as the nature of matter, evolution, genetics and biodiversity. This chapter proposes possible pathways that students in Years 8–12 may follow as they develop a number of concepts that centre on the subject of energy and the human body. Research has shown that students develop a number of misconceptions during the process of developing a scientifically acceptable concept. The different pathways along which students’ concepts may develop are due to many factors in each learner’s experiences, prior knowledge, and language usage by themselves, their teachers and in everyday life. In a classroom situation, each student could be progressing towards an acceptable conception of a phenomenon via different pathways, and be at different stages of development for any number of reasons due to different experiences and their interpretation of the information provided. METHODOLOGY

The research design involved a cross-sectional study which produces “a ‘snapshot’ of a population at a particular point in time” (Cohen, Manion & Morrison, 2001, p. 175). Quantitative data based on responses to questionnaires provided the primary source of the data, which were augmented by interviews with selected students to ensure that the questions in the questionnaire were understood. Consequently, the pathways described in this chapter are based on the collation of a number of conceptions held by a group of 615 students in Years 8–12, of varying ages from 12 through to 17 years, all of whom were enrolled in a school whose members were predominantly Caucasian, middle class and who all spoke English as their first language at home. The site selected for this study was the first author’s school where he was Head of the Science Department and where he had taught for 15 years. Although a convenience sample, the school has no selective entry requirements and was considered to be representative of high schools in suburban Perth in Western Australia. Each of the student respondents was studying at least one science subject at the time of the data collection; the questionnaires were administered during the sciencesubject time. The purpose of the first phase of the study was to identify students’ conceptions of energy with regards to the human body across all secondary school classes by developing a modified two-tier pencil and paper test. In this modified two-tier test, the students responded as to whether or not they agreed with statements about energy and the human body (such as ‘We get energy from the food we eat’ or ‘In the process of respiration, energy in fats is converted into energy that the cells can use to do things’) and then supplied reason(s) for their agreement or not. Twenty-six items, developed for the instrument “What do you know about energy and the human body?” 30

PATHWAYS FOR CONCEPTUAL DEVELOPMENT

Item 7

In the process of respiration, energy in sugars is converted into energy that the cell can use to do things.

AGREE / DISAGREE REASON

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Figure 1. Example of a questionnaire item used to diagnose student conceptions and their underpinning reasons.

Consisted of statements about energy and the human body. An illustration of how to respond to Item 7 is shown in Figure 1. Students responded to the content statements with Agree or Disagree, and gave a reason for their choice. An advantage of the instrument designed in this way is that the items themselves do not prompt or lead students to make a commitment. The 26 items were divided into two groups of 14 items with one item common to both questionnaires. Approximately half of the total respondents answered one of the questionnaires. Respondents had as much time as was needed to complete their responses within one lesson period of 50 minutes, with the expectation that this would prevent rushed or omitted reasons being given. The data used to identify student-held conceptions were obtained from the students’ reasons given in support of why they agreed or not with the item statements. These data were collated firstly for each year cohort, and then each cohort’s data were pooled to form one large data set. By analysing the data from each year cohort and then comparing this data with that from the years either side of it, a trend in any conceptions and their changes over the years was noted. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

The initial analysis of these data described a number of students’ conceptions along with their relationship to some of the facets in the broad study area of energy and the human body (Mann, 2003). From this study, the analysis showed that conversions and transmission of energy and respiration were poorly understood, and involved the identification of many alternative conceptions at all year levels. The conceptions held by the respondents that were consistent with those identified by previous researchers included the particulate nature of energy, useful or not useful energy in food, energy obtained from air or oxygen, energy not being conserved when used, and fat not used as a source of energy by the body. While many conceptions have been previously reported in the literature, a number of new findings were identified, 31

MANN AND TREAGUST

including: carbohydrates perceived as being different to sugars; the energy that the body could use believed to be converted into useable energy when food is digested, or at a later time (not via respiration); and food energy being considered as having a variety of different energy types used by the body to carry out a range of different tasks, with each task matching a specific energy type. In summary, from the analysis of the responses to the questionnaires and to the small number of follow-up interviews, three broad assertions were derived: 1) Students’ perceptions of energy availability in food varied according to their perception of the type of food eaten; 2) Students had limited understanding of energy use, conversion and transfer in the body; and 3) Students viewed energy when involved with the body as being of a variety of types and existing in packets. Student Pathways for Conceptual Development From the total database of student responses, a set of identified student-held conceptions was compiled. To see how these conceptions changed over the student-cohort age, a number of potential pathways were created. These pathways formed the second phase of the study which is reported here. Subsequently, we propose some possible conceptual pathways which students may follow as they progress in the development of their own concepts about energy and the human body. It was not the intention of the original data collection process, or its subsequent interpretation, to track individual students or to identify a number of students as they developed a concept or a set of concepts. Rather, based on the collective responses of students across year levels, we created the developmental pathways based on identified student-held conceptions provided by the responses from the 615 student participants. These pathways are not differentiated by students’ age and are mainly based on students’ commonly held different conceptions; those students with more experience and exposure to the phenomena in later year levels were more likely to not hold as many misconceptions. From the data for the reasons given in the responses to the 26 items, a number of areas where student-held conceptions have changed with increasing student age were identified. These areas include (a) sources of energy used by the body; (b) the nature and location of energy in food, (c) the types of energy in food, (d) how energy is obtained from food, and (e) energy conversion and food. The chapter is structured around these five areas. It should be noted that a student may follow a logical conceptual growth pathway as proposed here, or one that is random in its pattern, because notions are formed through the interaction of many factors that may or may not include logical or rational factors. It is not proposed that a student will follow any suggested pathway from the beginning to the formulation of an acceptable concept. Unless each individual is personally investigated during the conceptual development of each concept, it is impossible to say which pathway a learner will take to arrive at his or her own concept. In this study, we have chosen to develop potential pathways that could be followed by a learner based upon an experts’ knowledge of the concepts and using logical pathways based on data from selected responses from learners of different ages and experiences related to the areas discussed. Our aim in this chapter is 32


E x e r c is e

S le ep

Food

A ir

S o u rc e s o f E n e rg y

L ig h t

U s e d b y t h e B od y

S ound

Figure 2. Student ideas about external sources of energy used by the body to function.

to indicate only that there are pathways that could be developed through instruction which lead to students’ scientific conceptions. Once students’ conceptual positions have been identified, especially if this position is on the pathways illustrated here, the teacher can decide which conceptual pathway needs attention to reach a scientific conception. An important point is that biology teachers become cognizant of those aspects contributing to acceptable learning outcomes. In this chapter, a number of possible conceptual growth pathways are presented in six figures where an oval shape indicates an unacceptable notion, while a rectangle indicates an acceptable notion. These acceptable notions may not necessarily be interconnected in a scientific way by individual students, but they are scientifically acceptable within the overall diagram. Similarly, arrows indicate possible connections between notions, and indicate a possible pathway where one idea could lead onto another (Figure 2). Sources of Energy Used by the Body A number of external sources of energy that the body uses to enable it to adequately function were examined by the questionnaires, and included food, light and sound, which students considered as energy sources. Students also thought there were a number of other phenomena such as air, oxygen, sleep and exercise or activity that were sources of energy. A small number of students (n = 10) wrote that light and sound were not energy. Further to these energy sources was the notion that energy which the body uses comes in a number of different forms which include energy that is good or bad, quickly or slowly available, useful or not useful, as well as needed or not needed. In addition to these forms of energy was the notion that energy in food comes in a number of different varieties, each of which matches a specific use by the body. This contrasts with there being only the one variety of energy in food that the body can use, namely, chemical bond energy. While all students agreed that food was a source of energy, only 20 students wrote that food was the only source of energy used by the body. Despite this being 33

MANN AND TREAGUST

an acceptable notion, a variety of other energy sources were also given. Air or oxygen was seen as a source where students claimed either that air contains energy – “we get energy from air all the time” or “we receive energy from the air we breathe”. Other students stated that we use air to convert or burn with sugars to produce energy – “Oxygen in the air we breath (sic) is used to release the energy from food ”, “oxygen from the air is involved in the chemical reactions that release energy”, or “true, however we also need oxygen from the air we breathe to fulfill the equation of respiration”. Evidence was given implying that air supplies energy because if we do not breathe we die – “because we will die if we do not inhale and exhale to keep our energy going”, “without air we would die or be weak so we must get energy from air”, and “without it we would die”. While 50% of students stated that while we are asleep energy is replenished, a group of 25 students wrote that they thought sleep produced energy (as previously identified by Carr, Kirkwood, Newman, and Birdwhistel (1987) and Boyes and Stanisstreet (1991)), and they frequently gave evidence of a gain in energy as the reason for this notion – “we can have drinks and vitamins to get energy too, and also sleeping”, “we absorb some energy through food and other through sleep and drink”, “you get energy from when you sleep”, and “you get energy from sleeping”. The questionnaire items investigating the role of the eye and ear showed that most students understood that light and sound were forms of energy but that they did not understand the role the eye or ear play in converting this form of energy into nervous or electrical impulses that are sent to the brain. This information builds on the data on vision discussed by Boyes and Stannisstreet (1991), Collis, Jones, Sprod, Watson, and Fraser (1998), Guesne (1985) and Osborne, Black, Meadows, and Smith (1993). The Nature and Location of Energy in Food In association with these forms and varieties of energy, many students held the notion of energy being particulate as an ingredient of food found between the food molecules. The students’ views of the nature of energy varied, in that they saw it as being particles, bundles, packets, atoms of energy, or even undefined in its nature. Approximately 25% of students in each year cohort wrote that energy was found as packets between the food particles. Many of the Year 8 students (30%) and a lesser percentage of Year 9 students held this notion, though it was not held by most Year 10 students, but the reasons given were of a general nature. Parallel to the particulate notion of energy in food was the notion that energy was an ingredient of food similar to sugars, fats or vitamins. Both of these notions considered that energy was outside the food molecules and so could be released during digestion. This particulate notion of energy declined with student age, being replaced by the concept of the energy being within the food molecules. Nevertheless, some Year 11 and 12 students still retained the particulate notion (n = 8 in each year), though 85% in these two year cohorts showed an increasing awareness of the role of the cell in converting energy into useful forms, such that there were a number of reactions involved in obtaining energy from food, and finally that respiration played a 34


role in obtaining energy from food. A minimum of 50% of the students in each year group wrote that the energy was within the food molecules: “the energy is only found in certain molecules”, “in molecules found in small bundles. These are broken down for energy.” A total of only three students in Years 10, 11 and 12 wrote that the energy in food was in the chemical bonds. The various notions held by students on the nature of energy can be represented diagrammatically in Figure 3.

Between the Molecules

Particulate

Energy in Food

Within Molecules

In Chemical Bonds

Figure 3. Possible conception pathways showing students’ perceptions of the nature of energy found in food.

Types of Energy in Food In analysing the student responses across the year levels, it was found that many students wrote that there are a variety of types of energy found within food, and that each food type has a different energy type; the numbers ranged from 60% in Year 8 to 20% in Year 12, with a total of 198 responses. Students stated that the variety of energy types match particular functions of the body that require energy. For example, there is a type of energy to run, another to think and yet another to supply heat for the body. This belief in a variety of types of energy in food persisted through all the year cohorts, but did decline with student age to be replaced by the notion of there being only one type of energy within food. Associated with the decline in different types of energy was an increasing awareness that there is only one type of energy in food, that energy in food is found within the molecules, and of the role of respiration. The concept of energy within food molecules was described by 34% of the Year 8 and Year 9 students and 23% of those in Year 10. Only two Year 12 students indicated that the chemical energy was in the bonds of the molecules. A more generalized set of notions that centre on the usability of energy were held particularly by the Year 8 students. These notions consider energy as being either good or bad, needed or not, useful or not and rapidly available or not. The use of these notions was most commonly found within the reasons given for items that examined the absorption of energy by the gut, the usefulness of energy, and the different types of energy in food. These notions which relate to the types of energy found in food are summarized in Figure 4. 35

MANN AND TREAGUST

Needed/ Uneeded

Useful/ Unuseful

Good/ Bad

Types of Energy in Food

Specific Energy Requiring

One Type Per Use

In Food Molecules

Bond Within Molecule

Fast/Slow

Figure 4. Possible conception pathways showing students’ perceptions of the types of energy found in food.

Obtaining Energy from Food All of the students agreed upon food being the main energy source for the body, but the location of the energy within the food was uncertain. Although there was a trend with increasing student age to be more specific as to the location of energy within food and the manner of its release, many reasons given showed that the majority of students held few scientifically based or acceptable notions of where energy is found and how it is obtained from food – “different foods have different amounts of energy because of the different molecules”, “the energy in our food is in tiny molecules that our body fluids break down”, and “in molecules found in small bundles. These are broken down for energy”. If the students perceive energy as being particulate in nature then how is energy used to explain other conceptions such as heat particles being carried out in sweat? If energy is not held to be particulate but to be within the molecules itself, then a different set of conceptions is needed to account for energy transfer from food and its subsequent conversion and use elsewhere in the body. The results of this research do not show any links between either of these two conceptions and other explanations or the reasons given by students. These connections may exist, but were not tested directly nor revealed in this research. The Year 8 and 9 students had little knowledge of the role of digestion other than the misconception that it released the energy in the food – “because digestion is the process used to break down food, not respiration”. Eight percent of the Year 10 and 11 students similarly held this notion – “because the food is transferred into energy through the process of digestion”, “energy is found after the digestion of food as energy”, and “food releases molecules of energy during digestion”. The more accurate process of digestion breaking up the food into smaller molecules, which are used elsewhere for energy, increased from the low percentages in Years 8–10 (3–6%) to higher percentages in Years 11–12 (Year 11–23%). All percentages are,

36


Separate Entity

Particulate

Energy in Food

Energy Formed or Created

In Molecules of Food

Into Cells

In Bonds of Molecules

Respiration

Figure 5. Possible conception pathways showing students’ perceptions of the processing of energy in food for use in respiration.

however, very low (except Year 11) showing a lack of knowledge about the role of digestion and respiration in the production of energy useable by the body or cells of a body. In Years 11 and 12, 25 students stated that energy was released through a set of reactions that occur away from the gut (and digestion), and that the cells are involved in some way, but the manner of this involvement was not specified. Ninety six percent of students from all year levels generally had little or no detailed conception of how energy is obtained from food. Those notions held were disjointed and still in the formative stages of knowledge acquisition and understanding. From the information gleaned from the student responses about the nature and location of energy in food, its transfer to the cell and use by the cell in respiration, a number of pathways of the processes involved in obtaining the raw materials for respiration can be created. These possible pathways for the supply of energy for cellular respiration are shown in Figure 5. Energy Conversions While there are many energy conversion processes that take place in the human body, the roles of respiration and of the eye and the ear in producing nervous energy were investigated in this study. The students showed that they had a number of nonscientific notions regarding a variety of energy conversion processes, in particular with respect to digestion and sleep, and had little knowledge of the process of respiration. While the majority of students in each year level showed that they understood the area of energy conversion, their responses revealed a dearth of knowledge about the role of the eye and ear. Students from all year cohorts expressed various views about the actual role of digestion and, while these improved slightly with student year level, scientific views were low. The scientifically accepted notion replaced the notions of digestion 37

MANN AND TREAGUST

as either creating energy from food – “energy in food is changed into workable energy by digestion”, and “digesting food changes it into energy” or releasing energy from food so it can be absorbed into the blood. “digestion breaks down food, not respiration” and “digestion releases this energy”. Across all year groups, there was a dearth of knowledge about respiration, with a number of non-scientific notions that decreased with student age. Ten percent of the students thought respiration and breathing were synonymous. In Year 8, there were no valid notions about respiration shown in the responses, and this was despite the students having studied the process of respiration at a simple chemical reaction level. Students from Years 9 to 12 showed an increasing awareness of the processes involved in respiration and where it occurred; the responses ranged from the general – “we also get energy from respiration” or “we use the food we eat for respiration” to the very specific “enzymes break down the food releasing lipids, sacarides (sic) and amino acids. The mitochondria within the cells turn this into useable energy”. The responses that were scientifically acceptable were usually found in isolation and did not form part of a detailed response to a question. Some examples of these isolated responses are illustrated in the following quotes – “respiration involves oxygen”, “respiration uses fat” or “within cells the mitochondria converts sugars into energy” and the general equation for respiration “because the equation for respiration states: food + O2 —> H2O + CO2 + energy”. While the written responses varied in their precision from general to specific in nature and were in isolation, they formed the pieces of a jigsaw representing the whole process of respiration. No student’s response showed that they were able to place many of the pieces together to form a scientifically accurate and detailed picture.

Light

Exercise

Sources of Energy

Sound

Separate Entity

Air

Particulate

Energy Formed or Created

Into Cells

Sleep

Food Useful/ Unuseful

Fast/Slow

In Molecules of Food

In Bonds of Molecules

Respiration

Types of Energy In Food One Type Per Use

Good/Bad Needed/ Unneeded

Figure 6. Possible conception pathways showing students’ notions of the relationship between the sources, types, location and nature of energy in external energy sources used by the human body (based on figures 2, 4, 5). 38


Reasons given in response to an item which required an Agree or Disagree response, “In the process of respiration, energy in sugars is converted into energy that the cell can use to do things” were as follows: “enzymes break down the food releasing lipids, sacarides (sic) and amino acids. The mitochondria within the cells turn this into useable energy”, “within cells the mitochondria converts sugars into energy”, “The bits of food have been broken down by enzymes into smaller particles which include lipids, saccharides and amino acids. They then travel to the cells & mitochondria change it into energy.”, “take energy as glucose then release it in cell cytoplasm then in mitochondria and used by cell”. A student who can write such detailed information as the role of the mitochondria in respiration does have a reasonable (if simple) grasp of the overall process of respiration. One combination of the pieces of knowledge held by a number of students of different ages based on the responses given is shown in Figure 6. These combined responses give an overall picture of how students may perceive the process of respiration. Part of this figure derives from the discussion on the processing of food, and so could be joined onto the end of Figure 5. A number of potential pathways that students’ notions could take as they develop the conception of how the body obtains the energy in food are shown in Figure 7. These pathways form a spectrum of notions that compose the overall student cohort’s conceptions of how a person obtains energy from food. The conceptual pathway in Figure 7 shows the accuracy of the notion(s) or overall conceptions that may be held by students, and the progression towards the attainment of the scientifically acceptable conceptions of respiration. It also shows the conceptual development and changes needed for a student to form a more accurate conception of energy conversions and the ontological shifts required before obtaining an accurate concept of the place of energy in food through to the conversions which occur in the process of respiration. As student age increased, more students appeared to hold notions other than just that food processing results in energy. However, no individual student in this study showed an accurate or detailed set of notions involving the breaking of the chemical bonds within the absorbed food molecules to release utilizable energy. Releases Energy

Not Give Energy

FOOD

RESPIRATION PROCESS

Breathing

Equation of Respiration

CELL

MITOCHONDRIA

chemical reactions release energy

break bonds to release energy

ENERGY/ form ATP

Oxygen + Food

Figure 7. Possible conception pathways showing the notions held by students about respiration.

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MANN AND TREAGUST

At the time the instruments were administered, it was not expected that any student should know about the role of ATP, as this had not been taught in any science class in the schools surveyed. CONCLUDING REMARKS

While these suggested pathways are the authors’ interpretations of the data, the findings are intended to stimulate research into this area of conceptual development within groups of learners. The pathways are not intended to be the complete set of pathways that all students will follow. Rather, they are a set of possible pathways that students may follow if the students in a class face educational and lived experiences similar to those students in this study. But, as noted in the introduction, different students in different education systems and cultures with different experiences may develop different conceptual pathways as they work towards similar acceptable conceptions of a phenomenon such as energy and the human body. With this proviso, biology teachers could use these pathways when planning a learning sequence for a group of students. Teachers should be aware of potential inaccurate conceptions that could arise, and hence plan learning experiences which could challenge these inaccurate notions or misconceptions as they are forming. In this way, non-scientific notions are not consolidated as a result of the class learning sequence. The identification of pathways of conceptual development can be an aid for teachers in their attempts to plan a learning sequence to help students correctly develop a concept or concepts of energy and the human body. These pathways are in contrast with the listing of static or singular conceptions identified from the literature that a group of students may hold. Also, during the lesson sequences’ progression, the teacher can be aware of possible misconceptions or alternative conceptions that their students develop, and so teach to reduce the chances of these misconceptions being retained by the learner. We recommend further research with individual and groups of students to substantiate the conceptual pathways identified in this study. REFERENCES Anderson, C. W. (2007). Perspectives on science learning. In S. K. Abell & N. G. Lederman (Eds.), Handbook of research on science education (pp. 3–30). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum. Boyes, E., & Stannisstreet, M. (1991). Development of pupils’ ideas about seeing and hearing - the path of light and sound. Research in Science and Technology Education, 9(2), 223–245. Carr, M., Kirkwood, V. M., Newman, B., & Birdwhistel, R. (1987). Energy in three New Zealand secondary school junior science classrooms. Research in Science Education, 17, 117–128. Chi, M., Slotta, J, & de Leeuw, N. (1994). From things to process: A theory of conceptual change for learning science concepts. Learning and Instruction, 4(special issue), 27–43. Cleminson, A. (1990). Establishing and epistemological base for science teaching in the light of contemporary notions of the nature of science and of how children learn science. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 27, 429–445. Cohen, L., Manion, L., & Morrison, K. (2001). Research methods in education (5th ed.). London: RoutledgeFalmer.

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PATHWAYS FOR CONCEPTUAL DEVELOPMENT Collis, K. F., Jones, B. L., Sprod, B. L., Watson, F. M., & Fraser, S. P. (1998). Mapping development in students’ understanding of vision using cognitive structural model. International Journal of Science Education, 20, 45–66. Domenech, J. L., Gil-Perez, D., Gras-Marti, A., Guisasola, J., Torregrosa, J. M., Salinas, J., et al. (2007). Teaching of energy issues: A debate proposal for global reorientation. Science & Education, 16, 43–64. Duit, R. (2009). STCSE - Bibliography: Students’ and teachers’ conceptions and science education. Kiel, Germany: IPN Leibniz Institute for Science Education. Retrieved from http://www.ipn.unikiel.de/aktuell/stcse/stcse.html Duit, R., & Haeussler, P. (1994). Learning and teaching energy. In P. Fensham, R. Gunstone, & R. White (Eds.), The content of science (pp. 185–200). London: The Falmer Press. Duit, R., & Treagust, D. F. (1998). Learning in science- from behaviourism towards social constructivism and beyond. In B. Fraser & K Tobin (Eds.), International handbook of science education, Part 1 (pp. 3–25). Dordrecht, The Netherlands: Kluwer. Duncan, R. V., & Hmelo-Silver, C. E. (2009). Editorial: Learning progressions: Aligning curriculum, instruction and assessment. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 46(6), 606–609. Finegold, M., & Trumper, R. (1989). Categorizing pupils’ explanatory frameworks in energy as a means to the development of a teaching approach. Research in Science Education, 19, 97–110. Garnett, P. J., Garnett, P. J., & Hackling, M. W. (1995). Students’ alternative conceptions in chemistry: A review of research and implications for teaching and learning. Studies in Science Education, 25, 69–95. Gayford, C. G. (1986). Some aspects of the problems of teaching about energy in school biology. European Journal of Science Education, 8, 443–450. Guesne, E. (1985). Light. In R. Driver, E. Guesne, & A. Tiberghien (Eds.), Children’s ideas in science (pp. 10–32). Milton Keynes, England: Open University Press. Harrison, A. G., Grayson, D. J., & Treagust, D. F. (1999). Investigating a grade 11 student’s evolving conceptions of heat and temperature. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 36, 55–87. Lee, H. S., & Liu, O. L. (2009). Assessing learning progression of energy concepts across middle school grades: The knowledge integration perspective. Science Education, 94(4), 665–688. Lin, C. Y., & Hu, R. (2003). Students’ understanding of energy flow and matter cycling in the context of the food chain, photosynthesis, and respiration. International Journal of Science Education, 25(12), 1529–1544. Liu, X., & McKeough, A. (2005). Development growth in students’ concept of energy: Analysis of selected items from the TIMSS database. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 42(5), 493–517. Mann, M. F. (2003). Students’ use of formal and informal knowledge about energy and the human body. Unpublished PhD thesis, Curtin University of Technology, Western Australia. Osborne, J. F., Black, P., Meadows, J., & Smith, M. (1993). Young childrens’ (7–11) ideas about light and their development. International Journal of Science Education, 15(1), 83–89. Papadouris, N., Constantinou, C. P., & Kyratsi, T. (2008). Students’ use of the energy model to account for changes in physical systems. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 45(4), 444–469. Petri, J., & Niedderer, H. (1998) A learning pathway in high school level quantum atomic physics. International Journal of Science Education, 20(9), 1075–1088. Sadler, P. M. (1998). Psychometric models of student conceptions in science: Reconciling qualitative studies and distracter-driven assessment instruments. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 35(3), 265–296. Shymansky, J. A., Yore, L. D., Treagust, D. F., Thiele, R. B., Harrison, A., Waldrip, B. G., et al. (1997). Examining the construction process: A study of changes in level 10 students’ understanding of classical mechanics. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 34, 571–593. Strike, K. A., & Posner, G. J. (1992). A revisionist theory of conceptual change. In R. A. Duschl & R. J. Hamilton (Eds.), Philosophy of science, cognitive psychology, and educational theory and practice (pp. 147–176). Albany, NY: State University of New York Press. 41

MANN AND TREAGUST Treagust, D. F., & Duit, R. (2008). Conceptual change: A discussion of theoretical, methodological and practical challenges for science education. Cultural Studies of Science Education, 3(2), 297–328. Treagust, D. F., Chandrasegaran, A. L., Crowley, J., Yung, B. H. W., Cheong, I. P-A., & Othman, J. (2010). Evaluating students’ understanding of kinetic particle theory concepts relating to the states of matter, changes of state and diffusion: A cross national study. International Journal of Science and Mathematics Education, 8(1), 141–164.

Michael Mann Department of Education and Training Perth, Australia David F. Treagust Science and Mathematics Education Centre Curtin University of Technology, Perth, Australia

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PART II: MAKING SCIENCE CONCEPTS PLAUSIBLE FOR STUDENTS

MAY M. H. CHENG AND WINNIE W. M. SO

4. THE INFUSION OF STRATEGIES FOR GENERATING HIGH LEVEL THINKING INTO THE JUNIOR SECONDARY SCIENCE CURRICULUM

INTRODUCTION

This chapter reports on the effectiveness and practicality of abstracting essential pedagogical methods that aim to promote high level thinking among junior secondary science students. Strategies include intensive professional development programmes and the design of lesson materials that can be integrated into the existing science curriculum in Hong Kong schools. The professional development workshops focus on the distinction between the “Cognitive Skills Enhancing Lessons” (CSE) and regular science lessons. Teachers were stimulated to discuss ways in which to get students to discuss, think about and respond to teachers’ questions, and how to stimulate students to ask questions. Classroom implementations of the CSE teaching materials tailor-made for the Hong Kong junior secondary science curriculum were initiated for three secondary two classes. This chapter reports on the findings from the pre and post interviews, as well as interviews during the classroom implementations with all the participating teachers and a sample of six students from each class. Findings report on what teachers think about the CSE method, their general feelings about using CSE, their comments on the materials, the difficulties (if any) they met, the benefits to students, and the perceived feasibility of implementing CSE-infused science activities designed by the project team in local classrooms. BACKGROUND

There are more and more voices from employers, as well as from parents, demanding that our students should think well and think for themselves. It seems that education, in any discipline and at any level, ought to enable students to think “smarter”. With the development of the knowledge-based economy in the 21st century, educating students for the global workplace means equipping them with skills and the ability to use ideas, instead of relying on the use of physical abilities and the application of technology (World Bank, 2003; Spring, 2008). Cheng and Yip (2006) pointed out that while both Hong Kong and Shanghai are facing challenges from the ‘knowledge society’, the curriculum has shifted its orientation from concrete knowledge and skills to generic abilities. Higher order thinking skills is one of the nine generic abilities emphasized in the Hong Kong curriculum reform (Education Commission, 2000). M. M. H. Cheng and W. W. M. So (eds.), Science Education in International Contexts, 45–61. © 2011 Sense Publishers. All rights reserved.

CHENG AND SO

Nisbet (1993) also predicted that, by the end of this century, any curriculum which does not show a contribution to the teaching of thinking will be regarded as unacceptable. McGuinness (1999) suggested that interventions delivering thinking skills could be infused across the curriculum by systematically identifying opportunities within the normal curriculum for the development of thinking skills and the promotion of learning transfers beyond the context in which they occur. The Cognitive Acceleration through Science Education (CASE) Experience One of the most successful and well-evaluated programmes is Cognitive Acceleration through Science Education (CASE) (Adey, 1992; Adey & Shayer, 1993; Adey, Robertson, & Venville, 2002) which is directed towards scientific-type thinking for 11–14 year olds. It consists of two components: (1) content/teaching materials provided by researchers; (2) teaching skills and strategies. During the lessons, students are not listeners but participate actively, and they are always asked to think and express their thoughts. CASE was developed based on Piaget’s (1983) and Vygotsky’s (1978) theories of cognitive development, in which both agreed that cognitive development might be stimulated by cognitive conflict, a discrepancy between what one believes the state of the world to be and what one is experiencing (Piaget, 1983; Lee & Kwon, 2001). Both also agreed that language plays an important role in cognitive development, so communicating peers can exchange ideas and thus regulate each other’s cognitive process (Vygotsky, 1978). Therefore CASE stresses teaching strategies which induce cognitive conflict and encourage social construction. Moreover, teachers are required to inhibit their desire to give out “model answers” to prevent “short-circuits” (being instructed so that one’s reasoning is overridden.). Students are given chances to collect information through social construction in order to resolve their cognitive conflict. CASE-infused lessons were introduced into only one lesson each week so that the original teaching schedules would not be significantly disrupted. Studies of CASE have found that it has had significant effects in raising pupils’ grades in GCSE examinations (on average an increase of 1 grade) two to three years after the programme had been completed (Adey, 1992; Adey & Shayer, 1993; Adey et al., 2002). Education Reform in Hong Kong In 2001, the Education Commission made a revolutionary change in the Hong Kong Education System – the implementation of the “Reform of Education System in Hong Kong”. The Reform stressed “Learning for life, Learning through life”. It was expected that the students would then be more competent to cope with challenges from the globalizing and developing knowledge-based society. Critical thinking skills are included as one of the nine generic learning skills in the curriculum reform, and one of the short-term targets of the junior level of secondary school was “to demonstrate fundamental scientific knowledge, creativity, basic communication and critical thinking skills in science and technology learning activities (p. 10)” 46

THE INFUSION OF STRATEGIES

(Curriculum Development Council, 2002). The document also suggests ways to facilitate students’ development of thinking skills, as follows: (i)

create an open atmosphere for discussion, and infuse process and thinking skills into science lessons (P. 10); (ii) (incorporation of open-ended questions in tests and examinations could help evaluate students’ creativity and critical thinking skills (P. 67); (iii) construction of well-designed practical assessment provides opportunities for students to develop problem-solving and thinking skills… Students’ perseverance, confidence, creativity and participatory attitudes are also cultivated (P. 87). With these emphases in the local curriculum reform and in meeting the needs of the future society, attempts for implementing lessons that facilitate students’ development of higher-order thinking skills are worthwhile. As CASE was designed for the UK, teachers may find it difficult and may feel insecure about teaching something that does not match the local curriculum directly. Hence, modifications need to be made before CASE can be applied in local secondary classrooms. The aim of this project was to design and test out a new teaching strategy, Cognitive Skills Enhancing Lessons (CSE), that is relevant to the local secondary science curriculum. Defining Higher Order Thinking Activities such as analyzing, synthesizing, and evaluating were included as forms of higher order thinking skills in the recent definition of such by Barak and Shakhman (2008) and the most historical definition from Bloom (1956). Zohar (2004) defined higher order cognitive activities as constructing arguments, asking research questions, making comparisons, solving non algorithmic complex problems, dealing with controversies, identifying hidden assumptions, classifying, and establishing causal relationships. Moreover, most of the classical scientific inquiry strategies, such as formulating hypotheses, planning experiments, controlling variables, or drawing conclusions, are also classified as higher order thinking strategies (Zohar, 2004). Teachers’ Knowledge Supporting the Development of Higher Order Thinking Skills Zohar (2006) defined six types of teachers’ metastrategic knowledge which supports students’ development of higher order thinking skills, of which three are relevant to our study. These three types of knowledge are: (i)

knowledge of how to provide opportunities for students to articulate the cognitive processes they apply during problem solving; (ii) knowledge of how to first design and then teach careful and thoughtful learning activities in which thinking goals are made explicit; (iii) knowledge of how to engage in long-term and systematic planning of thinking activities across several sections of the science curriculum. 47

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Instead of expecting teachers to possess and be able to apply this knowledge within the short period of time of one school term, the project team provided support to the participating teachers in achieving the purpose of getting students to articulate the cognitive processes, implementing thoughtful learning activities which span different science topics. The project team has thus applied coaching strategies as suggested in Adey, Hewitt, Hewitt and Landau (2004), and Joyce and Showers (1995). Teaching Approaches and Strategies that Promote the Development of Higher-Order Thinking Skills There have been debates on the effectiveness of different teaching approaches for developing thinking skills. Supporters for direct instruction of thinking skills (eg. Freseman, 1990) emphasize the need to teach thinking skills directly, with interactive discussions, substantive feedback, control and self-monitoring. They argue that thinking skills need to be taught before they can be applied to content areas. Transfer of thinking skills to unfamiliar materials will only happen after students have developed competencies using familiar events and ideas. The teaching approach advocated by CASE is in line with the suggestion of the infusion approach from Swartz and Parks (1994), and Barak and Shakhman (2008). The infusion approach aims to support the development of critical and creative thinking skills in science lessons by helping students to develop their abilities to engage in complex thinking tasks, clarify ideas, generate ideas, and assess the reasonableness of ideas. The science content provides students with a subject to think about, and scientific problems in the control of experimental variables provide a context for problem solving. The importance of having a context for thinking is in line with the analysis by Perkins and Salomon (1989) who maintained that cognitive skills are context bound. Interaction with others in a contextually rich environment provides learners with an opportunity to observe the behaviour of others, practice the skills and receive advice. While context is important for the development of thinking skills, Zohar (2006) reminds us that thinking patterns need to be repeated over and over again in different scientific topics to prevent the “welding” of the thinking strategy into a specific context. Cotton (1991) provided suggestions of how to implement this idea, and encouraged teachers to consider thinking strategies as explicit educational objectives, and plan instructions in a way that the same thinking strategy is repeated in different contexts and with different types of tasks. Barak and Doppelt (1999) elaborated on the teaching approaches for the development of intellectual skills. Firstly, peer-based learning provides opportunities for learners to compete, cooperate, collaborate, and negotiate meanings. Secondly, activity-based learning means providing active experiences with objects as a means to develop thinking. During the process, students experience identifying variables, hypothesizing, determining criteria, taking constraints into account, and operating and detecting laws. Finally, active reflection is beneficial to students, and teachers need to teach directly and explicitly the concept of metacognition and the use of metacognitive processes. In a similar vein, Zohar (2006) invited teachers to coach 48


students to articulate their thinking processes in solving certain problems, and further asked them to find a common denominator or pattern to make generalizations and formulate rules for certain thinking patterns. Students may then develop the knowledge of how, when, where and why certain thinking strategies should be employed. Cotton (1991) summarized three instructional strategies as recommended by a number of researchers (Cotton, 1988; Pearson, 1982; Robinson, 1987; Tenenbaum, 1986; Baum, 1990; Herrnstein, Nickerson, de Sanchez, & Swets, 1986; Matthews, 1989; Sternberg & Bhana, 1986; Hudgins & Edelman, 1986; Pogrow, 1988) for higher-order thinking skills, and these include redirection or probing or reinforcement, asking higher-order questions, and lengthening wait-time. Swartz (1991) suggested an IRET model (Introducing, Engagement, Reflection, Transfer) which aligns with an infusion approach. Others (Swartz & Parks, 1994; Zohar & Dori, 2003) suggested methods including drawing concept maps, asking students to make estimations of the results of a scientific enquiry, and engaging students in open tasks. Barak and Shakhman (2008) investigated teachers’ use of instructional strategies which aimed at fostering higher-order thinking in physics, and the ten most commonly adopted strategies in the list of 22 were: 1. presenting data in diverse formats, i.e. graphs, tables or texts; 2. guiding students systematically to justify their solutions to a problem or their decisions; 3. teaching diverse problem-solving methods; 4. generalizations based on experimental results; 5. asking for student explanations before teachers’ explanations; 6. stating the strong and weak points of different solutions to a problem; 7. linking what is learned in physics class to other scientific fields; 8. predicting the results of an experiment or a theoretical solution to a problem, and providing justification; 9. asking students to verbally present the thinking stages they used in solving a problem; and 10. guiding students to add their own examples. Apart from teaching strategies, supportive classroom climate is also essential for the development of higher order thinking skills. Zohar (2006) reminded us about teacher warmth and encouragement, as well as about letting students feel free to explore, express opinions, examine alternatives, justify beliefs, and participate in orderly classroom discourses. Creating an atmosphere of security for students to make trials, take risks in problem solving, express unusual ideas, and predict results of experiments also constitute a positive classroom atmosphere supporting the development of higher-order thinking (Barak & Shakhman, 2008). METHOD

Three junior secondary science teachers from three secondary schools in Hong Kong were invited to participate in the CSE program, in which modified materials and corresponding teaching methods were introduced into selected topics in junior 49

CHENG AND SO

secondary 1 science lessons. The selected topics were “Electricity”, “Acid and Alkaline”, and “Friction”, all for Secondary 2 classes. The research team had gone through the textbooks being used by the participating schools for suitable class activities, which could be replaced and modified using the activities in the CASE teaching guides Thinking Science (Third Edition) and Let’s Think Through Science. The teaching materials for CSE were a combination of the existing topics in the local junior secondary science curricula and the styles of CASE. The questioning and teaching styles of CASE were incorporated into the teaching guidelines and worksheets in order to initiate cognitive conflicts so that there was a certain level of cognitive stimulus. Peer discussions (in groups or as a whole class) were intensively built in to promote social constructions. Factors such as linkage with the usual lessons, relevance, schemata covered, characteristics of local classes, possible responses from students and time requirements were considered in the replacements and modifications, and then the drafts were examined for suitability and feasibility by a consultant from King’s College, Professor Adey, who was one of the original developers of CASE. Professional development workshops were provided to participating teachers so that they would be able to make full use of the materials to plan CSE lessons. During the lessons, teachers had to manage class conduct and rational discussion without providing “formal answers”. Lesson materials were fine-tuned referring to the comments or feedback from teachers during or after the workshops. The CSE lessons conducted by the teachers were recorded by the research team. The CSE lessons were also video recorded and samples of students’ work were collected for further analysis. Interviews with teachers were performed before and after the implementation of the CSE lessons to collect their expectations and feedback on the implementation of the lessons. The interviews were to find out teachers’ understanding of the CSE rationale, their perceptions of the benefits for the students of implementing CSE lessons, the difficulties encountered, and their thoughts about the feasibility of implementing CSE lessons in local classrooms. The interview questions are as follows: – What is CSE in your understanding and experience? – Did you encounter any difficulties in teaching CSE lessons? What are they? – Have you noticed any benefits of CSE for your students? – What were the barriers for you to fully apply CSE in your teaching? Did you need more support? What are they? – Did the materials provide sufficient information or guidelines? – Did you make any modification or amendment on these materials? What did you modify? – Would you recommend CSE to other teachers? The responses quoted are typical examples in the findings section is representative of most of the replies received. Background of the Schools Three male secondary teachers from three different schools participated in the project. One was a CMI (Chinese as the Medium of Instruction) school and the other two 50


were EMI (English as the Medium of Instruction) schools. The background information of the teachers is summarized in Table 1. Table 1. Background of secondary teachers participating in CSE Andrew2 School Teacher Qualifications No. of years of teaching experience Subjects taught

A Boy’s school EMI Certificate in Education Master’s Degree

Bob B Boy’s school EMI

Cliff C Co-ed CMI

Certificate in Education

Bachelor of Education Completing a Master’s degree 12

3

10

Secondary 1 to 3 Science Chemistry Biology

Secondary 2 Science Secondary 3 to 7 Chemistry Secondary 1 Maths

Secondary 1 and 2 Science

FINDINGS

In this chapter, the findings summarized from the interviews with the teachers and samples of the students’ work can be categorized into five areas. The first two areas relate to the teachers’ perceptions of the benefits for the students of implementing CSE lessons, and their understanding of the CSE rationale. The third and fourth areas summarize the difficulties that the teachers encountered, and their remarks about the feasibility of implementing CSE lessons in local classrooms. The last area provides the teachers’ suggestions for the modification of the CSE materials. Benefits to Students The three teachers identified benefits to students including: providing opportunities to engage students in thinking (Andrew and Bob), clarifying their concepts (Cliff), raising their interest in science (Bob), and providing a challenge to high ability students (Bob). Relevant responses in the interviews include, “The CASE method is good, as students have more experiments to work on, so it is fun. It can also train them to think a bit more. The outcome was generally positive.” (Andrew) “It guided them to think and consider more relationships. For students with high ability, it is worth trying.” (Bob) 51

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“It lets students think; even if the guess is wrong, or the experiment does not work as expected, it is good to motivate students and raise their interest.” (Bob) “This can bring out the issue, to let students think about what is meant by acid and base, and bring out the concept and characteristics of acid and base, and also neutral.” (Cliff) Teachers’ Understanding of the CSE Rationale The three teachers have a good understanding of the CASE rationale, as Cliff suggested how CASE is adapted to meet the needs of local classrooms, “Teaching materials…need to be adapted according to students’ abilities, and to be suitable for Hong Kong classrooms. In fact, I know that the project team has put in a lot of effort. Each school is different with its own characteristics. I also need to look at things from different perspectives and get students thinking. This is the gist of the project.” (Cliff) Andrew was aware of the use of questions to guide students to think, “It involves the use of questions to guide students to think. It is somewhat similar to an investigative approach.” (Andrew) An example of an activity which can illustrate Andrew’s comment of using an investigative approach can be found in Figure 1. Students were invited to suggest or predict factors influencing the force of friction, and were then involved in an investigation to find out the actual influence. Figure 2 provides an example of the concept map drawn by a group of students in School C. Cliff has guided his students to engage in the activity and recorded the factors they identified on the concept map. Bob provided a more in-depth description of ways to stimulate students to think, as follows, “I think that the main concept of CASE is to stimulate students to think, analyse something and then test it out in the experiment. There is an emphasis on having students analyse their findings themselves. Before the experiment they need to think, they need to predict something, then after the experiment they need to engage in critical thinking as they analyse the results. The teacher may not explain all the background information or the knowledge required, but let the students think. They may discuss with their classmates; this can help them to consider different possibilities and views. The teacher may not provide a definite answer or concept from the book after the experiment. The intention is to let students use their intellectual ability and engage in the process of thinking during the investigation.” (Bob) Figure 3 illustrates what Bob referred to as an activity that requires students to test out ideas in an experiment after having made their predictions. Bob has a good 52


understanding of the CASE rationale of not providing students with answers, which is very different from the usual classroom practice in Hong Kong. The emphasis on process is a contrast to how teachers encourage students to remember science knowledge or concepts. Activity 1 Frictional force and surface area

When an object is pulled along, what are the factors that will affect friction?

Friction

2. Predict the force of friction.

9

9

9

Which do you think will have the greatest friction when the block is pulled along the table? Lying on its flat face (largest contact area) Lying on its end Both the same If you think that the friction is not the same, can you guess the degree of difference? Minor Significant Explain your reason.

Figure 1. Example of an activity that invites students to predict the factors affecting friction.

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Figure 2. Example of a concept map drawn by a group of students from School A. Activity 2 Designing an experiment to investigate the effect of acid erosion at different concentrations Experimental design – If you are provided with different concentrations of hydrochloric acid (1M, 3M, 5M), design an experiment to investigate the effect of acid erosion at different concentrations using an egg. (On a group basis) Students are also encouraged to include the design of the results table, and the expected results should be discussed. – Ask one group to present their design and ask for comments from the other groups. (Encourage groups to compare their designs for improvement.) (Note: The teacher may promise the class the final design of the experiment will be used for next year’s students so that it is worth the effort of doing it. The experimental results could be compared with the expected results at that time.) (Text in italics is notes for teachers.) Figure 3. An activity inviting students to design an experiment after having made their predictions.

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Difficulties Encountered During the Implementation of CSE Lessons Time is a concern among the teachers, as they found that they had a lot of content to cover in a limited amount of lesson time. Bob was conscious of his control of the lesson time and the teaching progress, “The timing control is not as good, maybe this is the first time. Too much time was used at the beginning.” (Andrew) Apart from lesson time, classroom management is an issue for Andrew and Cliff. They need to adapt to the CASE method of getting students to discuss while being guided by the questions, and sustaining their interest in the questions. Cliff reflected on how students need to develop social skills for group discussion, “The students do not know what to do, they are a bit confused…it was particularly noisy today. The questions seemed to be too long, so the students were a bit impatient.” (Andrew) “Some places are arguable. There is some problem with classroom management, you see them chatting among themselves. But this is not a problem. The most important thing is that there is room for them to discuss; discussions can get the classroom a bit out of control. The key is to gain control when necessary, and students know how to respect others.” (Cliff) These teachers realized the method of engaging students in CASE discussions during which their interest needs to be sustained. In addition, the expectations of the questions or tasks need to be clear so that they will not drift off topic and chat among themselves. The biggest challenge for CSE lessons as reflected by the teachers was to get students adapted to the expectation of designing experiments and thinking in the science lessons, “The students are not asked to design (experiments) normally; they have not really tried this before, and so they do not know (how to do it).” (Andrew) “Some questions are really difficult; if they are not willing to think, there are many blanks left.” (Bob) “A lot of adaptation is required by both the teachers and the students.” (Bob) “For most of the students, it was not easy to push them to think. They would rather sit and listen.” (Teacher Professional Development Workshop) These reflections showed the significant difference between the CSE method and the teachers’ usual practice of just requiring students to “sit and listen”. Both the teachers and the students need to adapt to the new expectations of requiring students to think in class. Feasibility of Implementation in Local Classrooms The concern about time management appears again when teachers were asked about the feasibility of CSE lessons in local classrooms, 55

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“I see that this can work once or twice, but there would not be sufficient time if all the lessons were like this.” (Andrew) Bob identified with the CASE rationale but provided a realistic concern for many secondary teachers, “A bit more preparation, I have to save more time and space, e.g. guide them to think a bit more, ....in fact, the teacher can allow more discussions among the students, ....if it works well, the teacher will need to revise, get the students to think more intensively. Students will be interested in working on CASE materials; they can try out the unknown factors, or encourage them to engage in thinking.” (Bob) “For the time being, the ratio of lessons using CASE needs to be considered. Even if it is junior secondary, and students are not going to take public examinations, there is still a limit of time for application. Although I will teach these concepts, there is a concern about the time available. The rationale itself is good and I think it is feasible, but lesson time needs to be considered.” (Bob) Bob perceived the need to prepare students for public examinations as a priority. Although the examination pressure is less influential at the junior secondary level, teachers still feel compelled to prepare their students well so that they can progress smoothly or build up their concepts for senior secondary school. Cliff was the most enthusiastic teacher among the three, and would recommend the implementation of CSE to more topics at the junior secondary level. He also perceived this as a better way to prepare students for their exams at the senior secondary level, “We have got acid and there is some development on the topic force. I hope to see more teaching materials in related topics, and that there will be lesson preparation together with the project team. I hope to see this promoted to other secondary two teachers, and see if they can train students how to think, consider knowledge and prepare for the senior secondary exams.” (Cliff) Comments Regarding Further Modifications of the Materials Three main directions for modifications were provided by the teachers. Firstly, they demanded more guidelines on engaging students in thinking, such as, “I would prefer clear guidelines…some procedures to follow.” (Andrew) “The notes need to be clearer… Some were dreaming, some did not catch it, and only those in the front rows knew what was going on.” (Andrew) “Some more guidelines in some places, e.g. on the part about how to get students thinking, more guidelines can be provided to us. At present, I think some of the materials designed are of good quality, especially for the part about acids and bases.” (Cliff) As engaging students in thinking is one of the important challenges for both the teachers and the students, the research team will focus on this aspect in the coming 56


Metacognition – What have you learned? Did you get three groups straight away? If not, what made you change from two groups (or more) to three groups? Were any substances difficult to classify? What was difficult about them? How did you overcome the difficulty? – More questions: What might happen if you mixed something from the acid group with something from the alkali group? [Let students mix 10mL diluted hydrochloric acid and 10mL sodium hydroxide and test the mixture with litmus paper.] (Text in italics is notes for teachers.) Figure 4. Examples of metacognitive questions in the topic acid and bases. Activity 1b The orange: Why is one sourer? Another problem on taste (sourness) of oranges: Why is one sourer even though they are both juicy? Salt solution, explaining the concept of concentration / acidity / alkalinity. Figure 5. An activity that involves discussion about acidity and concentration.

round of modifications. Figure 4 is an illustration of the good example referred to by Cliff. There are questions that guide students to reflect on their thinking process, identify the difficulties, and guide them to further deduce their conclusions from their observations and findings. The second suggestion for modification was to establish a stronger linkage between the CSE materials and the local curriculum. For example, Andrew found that the materials need to link with key concepts in the curriculum to allow a smooth transition from the discussion about acidity and concentration. Figure 5 illustrates the activity that he is referring to in his response, “I found this a bit chaotic, not very smooth, but I could not tell what the problem was. It was just not as focused. For example, the questions ask about one thing and then go to another; the linkage is not obvious. For the question about oranges, the students could not link it to concentration, then something about base was introduced; it is hard to link with concentration.” (Andrew) Balancing the need to diversify students’ thinking and the need to adhere to topics covered in the local curriculum poses a challenge to the teachers and the designer of the materials, and thus the comments below are challenges that remain to be addressed, 57

CHENG AND SO

“It depends on the nature of the topic…we have to find something that links them together.” (Andrew) “I think CASE can be better integrated with the content of the lessons.” (Cliff) The third suggestion was less challenging comparatively as the teachers reflected the need to provide technical details of the activities, such as, “It was hard to prepare a neutral solution... how do you make this? Our laboratory technician could not succeed. We had to rely on using the graph, to find the end point.” (Cliff) Figure 6 below is an illustration of the activity referred to by Cliff. Information about ways to prepare a neutral solution would be useful for the teachers. Activity 1a Classifying “chemicals” You have some red litmus paper and some blue litmus paper. Litmus is an “indicator” – it can be used to indicate what sort of chemical we have. You have a variety of substances to test. Your teacher will demonstrate how to use the litmus paper. 9Record your results in the table: Red litmus goes:

Blue litmus goes:

Coke Sprite/ 7-up Water Ketchup Tea Lemon tea Diluted hydrochloric acid Diluted sulphuric acid Sodium hydroxide Saline / salt water

Figure 6. An activity involving the use of solutions at different levels of acidity. 58


CONCLUSION

According to Barak and Shakhman’s (2008) classification of the three types of users in fostering high level thinking during physics teaching, the three teachers in this study belong to the category of instrumental (content-oriented approach) or intended users (process-oriented approach). They were not false users who have an idea of the instructional strategies but apply them contrary to the spirit of the approach. As both Andrew and Cliff expressed their preference to link CSE lessons with the concepts to be covered in the curriculum, their concerns were in line with the instrumental users who regard ways to enhance students’ thinking skills as related to raising students’ achievement in the science subject. All three of the teachers in the study reflected concerns that were related to those of the intended users, as they were actively identifying ways to enhance the students’ thinking skills, and attempted to have them reflect on their thinking. The concerns of the teachers in this study about their own abilities to adapt to the new method, as well as the lack of confidence in their students’ abilities to acquire higher-order thinking skills were also reflected by Barak and Shakhman (2008). In a similar way as that described by Barak and Shakhman (2008), the teachers in the present study attributed limitations to realizing teaching beliefs to contextual factors such as lack of time, and mandatory exams. With the experience of this first attempt to infuse CSE at local junior secondary levels, a number of suggestions for further investigation can be identified. Firstly, a cognitive level assessment would be important to monitor students’ cognitive development. Secondly, a larger sample size with students from various academic abilities can be included in the project so as to test out the influence or relationship between student abilities and the CSE method. Thirdly, to align the study with an experimental design, the setting up of control group(s) would be necessary. Finally, in order to reflect students’ development in higher-order thinking skills and science achievement longitudinally, and hence to identify the types of students who are suitable (or not suitable) for CSE methods, the development of cognitive level assessment to quantify cognitive levels for comparison and setting benchmarks is essential. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

The authors would like to acknowledge the support and advice provided by Prof. Philip Adey on the project, Dr. Eric Tsang for securing the funding for this project, and the Croucher Foundation for funding this project. NOTES 1 2

Junior secondary refers to secondary 1 to 3 and students are aged from 12 to 15. The teachers are represented by pseudonyms.

REFERENCES Adey, P. (1992). The CASE results: Implications for science teaching. International Journal of Science Education, 14(2), 137–146. Adey, P., & Shayer, M. (1993). An exploration of long-term far-transfer effects following an extended intervention programme in the high school science curriculum. Cognition and Instruction, 11(1), 1–29. 59

CHENG AND SO Adey, P., Hewitt, G., Hewitt, J., & Landau, N. (2004). The professional development of teachers: Practice and theory. Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic. Adey, P., Robertson, A., & Venville, G. (2002). Effects of a cognitive acceleration programme on year 1 pupils. British Journal of Educational Psychology, 72, 1–25. Barak, M., & Doppelt, Y. (1999). Integrating the Cognitive Research Trust (CoRT) programme for creative thinking. Research in Science and Technological Education, 17(2), 13–139. Barak, M., & Shakhman, L. (2008). Fostering higher-order thinking in science class: Teachers’ reflections. Teachers and Teaching, 14(3), 191–208. Baum, R. (1990). Finishing touches—10 top programs. Learning, 18(6), 51–55. Bloom, B. (1956). Taxonomy of educational objectives: Handbook I. Cognitive domain. New York: McKay. Cheng, K., & Yip, H. (2006). Facing the knowledge society: Reforming secondary education in Hong Kong and Shanghai. Washington, DC: World Bank. Cotton, K. (1988). Classroom questioning: Close-up No.5. Portland, OR: Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory. Cotton, K. (1991). Teaching thinking skills. Retrieved July 28, 2008, from Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory’s School Improvement Research Series Web site: http://www.nwrel.org/scpd/sirs/6/cu11.html Curriculum Development Council. (2002). Science education: Key learning area curriculum guide (Primary 1 – Secondary 3). Hong Kong: Printing Department of the HKSAR Government. Education Commission. (2000). Reform proposals for the education system in Hong Kong. Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People’s Republic of China: Printing Department. Freseman, R. D. (1990). Improving higher order thinking of middle school geography students by teaching skills directly. Fort Lauderdale, FL: Nova University. Herrnstein, R. J., Nickerson, R. S., de Sanchez, M., & Swets, J. A. (1986). Teaching thinking skills. American Psychologist, 41, 1279–1289. Hudgins, B., & Edelman, S. (1986). Teaching critical thinking skills to fourth & fifth graders through teacher-led small-group discussions. Journal of Educational of Educational Research, 79(6), 333–342. Joyce, B., & Showers, B. (1995). Student achievement through staff development (2nd ed.). New York: Longman. Lee, G., & Kwon, J. (2001). What do we know about students’ cognitive conflict in science classroom: A theoretical model of cognitive conflict process. In Proceedings of the annual meeting of the association for the education of teachers in sciences (19p). Costa Mesa, CA, January 18–21, 2001, ED 453 083. Matthews, D. B. (1989). The effect of a thinking-skills program on the cognitive abilities of middle school students. Clearing House, 62(5), 202–204. McGuinness, C. (1999). From thinking skills to thinking classrooms. A review and evaluation of approaches for developing pupils' thinking. London: HMSO. Nisbet, J. (1993). The thinking curriculum. Educational Psychology, 13, 281–290. Pearson, P. D. (1982). A context for instructional research on reading comprehension. Champaign, MA: Bolt, Beranek & Newman, Inc. Perkins, D. N., & Salomon, G. (1989). Are cognitive skills context-bound? Educational Researcher, 18(1), 16–25. Piaget, J. (1983). Piaget’s theory. In P. Mussen (Ed.), Handbook of child psychology (4th ed., Vol. 1). New York: Wiley. Pogrow, S. (1988). A thinking skills program for at risk students. Principal, 67(4), 19–24. Robinson, I. S. (1987). A program to incorporate High-Order thinking skills into teaching and learning for grades K-3. Fort Lauderdale, FL: Nova University. Spring, J. (2008). Research on globalization and education. Review of Educational Research, 78(2), 330–363. Sternberg, R. G., & Bhana, K. (1986). Synthesis of research on the effectiveness of intellectual skills programs: Snake-Oil remedies or miracle cures? Educational Leadership, 44(2), 60–67. Swartz, R. J. (1991). Infusing the teaching of thinking into content instruction. In A. L. Costa (Ed.), Developing minds: A resource book for teaching thinking. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development. 60

THE INFUSION OF STRATEGIES Swartz, R. J., & Parks, S. (1994). Infusing the teaching of critical and creative thinking into content instruction. Pacific Grove, CA: Critical Thinking Books & Software. Tenenbaum, G. (1986). The effect of quality of instruction on higher and lower mental processes and on the prediction of summative achievement. Journal of Educational Research, 80(2), 105–114. Vygotsky, L. S. (1978). Mind in society: The development of higher psychological processes. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. World Bank. (2003). Lifelong learning in the global knowledge economy: Challenges for developing countries. Washington, DC: Author. Zohar, A. (2004). Elements of teachers’ pedagogical knowledge regarding instruction of higher-order thinking. Journal of Science Teacher Education, 15(4), 293–312. Zohar, A. (2006). The nature and development of teachers’ metastrategic knowledge in the context of teaching higher-order thinking. Journal of the Learning Sciences, 15(3), 331–377. Zohar, A., & Dori, Y. (2003). Higher-order thinking skills and low-achieving students: Are they mutually exclusive? Journal of the Learning Sciences, 12(2), 145–181.

May M. H. Cheng Department of Education University of Oxford Winnie W. M. So Department of Science and Environmental Studies The Hong Kong Institute of Education

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5. TOWARDS THE DEVELOPMENT OF AN INSTRUCTIONAL MODEL THAT ENHANCES JUNIOR SECONDARY STUDENTS’ UNDERSTANDING OF THE NATURE OF SCIENCE

INTRODUCTION

Promoting students’ understanding of the Nature of Science (NOS) has become a core element in science education. The understanding of NOS is emphasized both in the junior and the new senior science curricula in Hong Kong. This chapter reports the outcomes of a project which was a collaboration between the Hong Kong Institute of Education and a local secondary school. This chapter provides a summary of experience gained from a series of learning and teaching activities designed with an intention to raise junior secondary students’ understanding of NOS. The teaching strategies adopted followed an explicit approach to the teaching of NOS, and included the use of science stories, newspaper articles, an activity using a black box, and an activity inviting students to analyse some experimental data. These strategies were designed to stimulate students to consider the processes involved in a scientific investigation, the relationship between science and society, and the objective and subjective elements of data analysis. The chapter describes the considerations for designing, performing, and assessing science experiments, and the problems that teachers or students encountered in the process. Findings reflect what students have learnt, how their views of NOS may have changed, and whether the teaching activities can achieve the aims. The chapter concludes with teachers’ and students’ feedback, and recommendations for future development of teaching approaches that enhance students’ understanding of NOS. Nature of Science (NOS) There are concerns about the inclusion of NOS ideas in school science curricula; in the United States, the National Science Teachers Association has issued position statements defining relevant aspects of NOS (NSTA 2000), and NOS standards (AAAS 1990, 1993) are included in the science standards which guide the teaching of science in schools. NOS is not a separate entity that distinguishes what science is and what it is not. On the contrary, it is related to and influenced by history, culture and society (McComas, 2004). Lederman (1992) refers to NOS as the epistemology of science, or the beliefs underpinning the development of scientific knowledge. The National Science Teachers Association (NSTA, 2000) describes 7 NOS M. M. H. Cheng and W. W. M. So (eds.), Science Education in International Contexts, 63–81. © 2011 Sense Publishers. All rights reserved.

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areas which teachers and students should know about. These areas are: (a) scientific knowledge is both reliable and tentative; (b) no single scientific method exists, but there are shared characteristics of scientific approaches to science; (c) creativity plays a role in the development of scientific knowledge; (d) there is a relationship between theories and laws; (e) there is a relationship between observation and inferences; (f) though science strives for objectivity, there is always an element of subjectivity in the development of scientific knowledge; (g) social and cultural contexts also play a role in the development of scientific knowledge. These seven areas match with the suggestions from Ryan and Aikenhead (1992) as they describe NOS from both epistemological and sociological perspectives. Their description includes the meaning of science, as in area (a), method, as in area (b), and the characteristics of the knowledge produced, as in areas (f) and (g). The characteristic of science knowledge being subjective as it is a human endeavour, as in area (f), being influenced by theory and culture, as in area (g) and being subject to change, as in area (a) are also in accordance with other researchers (for example, Chalmers, 1982; Kuhn, 1970). McComas (2004) summarized core NOS ideas which may help to shape science teaching in schools. The core NOS ideas (McComas, 2004, p. 24–27) are as follows: – Science demands and relies on empirical evidence. – Knowledge production in science includes many common features and shared habits of mind. However, in spite of such commonalities there is no single stepby-step method by which all science is done. – Scientific knowledge is tentative but durable. This means that science cannot prove anything because the problem of induction makes “proof” impossible, but scientific conclusions are still valuable and long lasting because of the way the knowledge eventually comes to be accepted in science. – Laws and theories are related but distinct kinds of scientific knowledge. – Science is a highly creative endeavor. – Science has a subjective element. – There are historical, cultural, and social influences on science. – Science and technology impact each other, but they are not the same. – Science and its methods cannot answer all questions. These nine core areas can also be identified with the seven areas suggested by the NSTA, as well as the analysis by Ryan and Aikenhead (1992) above. A comparison of the areas and core ideas defined by these studies is summarized in Table 1. The areas and ideas proposed are highly comparable apart from the fact that the core ideas suggested by McComas (2004) also include statements about the mutual impact of science and technology, and that science cannot answer all questions. The nine core ideas proposed by McComas (2004), however, provide an added advantage of summarizing the key ideas in a concise manner that provides easy reference for science teachers and students. The document that describes science education in Hong Kong (Curriculum Development Council, 2002) emphasizes the importance of the development of science process skills and an enhanced understanding of NOS. Understanding NOS has also become an important component in the formulation of the new senior secondary 64

DEVELOPMENT OF AN INSTRUCTIONAL MODEL

Table 1. A comparison of the areas and core ideas of NOS as suggested by three different sources in the literature Key areas of NOS as defined by Ryan and Aikenhead (1992) from epistemological and sociological perspectives

Seven areas of NOS as defined by the NSTA (2000)

Summary of core NOS ideas by McComas (2004)

Method of science

There is a relationship between observation and inferences.

Science demands and relies on empirical evidence

Method of science

No single scientific method exists, but there are shared characteristics of scientific approaches to science.

Knowledge production in science includes many common features and shared habits of mind. However, in spite of such commonalities, there is no single step-by-step method by which all science is done.

The meaning of science – science is subject to change

Scientific knowledge is Scientific knowledge is tentative both reliable and tentative. but durable. This means that science cannot prove anything because the problem of induction makes “proof ” impossible, but scientific conclusions are still valuable and long lasting because of the way the knowledge eventually comes to be accepted in science.

The meaning of science There is a relationship Laws and theories are related but between theories and laws. distinct kinds of scientific knowledge. Characteristics of the science method

Creativity plays a role in the development of scientific knowledge.

Characteristics of the knowledge produced being subjective as it is a human endeavour

Though science strives for Science has a subjective element. objectivity, there is always an element of subjectivity in the development of scientific knowledge.

Characteristics of the knowledge produced influenced by theory and culture

Social and cultural There are historical, cultural, and contexts also play a role in social influences on science. the development of scientific knowledge.

Science is a highly creative endeavour.

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Table 1. (Continued) Characteristics of science knowledge

No comparable area

Science and technology impact each other, but they are not the same.

The method of science No comparable area

Science and its methods cannot answer all questions.

(NSS) curriculum in recent years in Hong Kong. For example, the understanding of NOS has been made a section of the NSS Biology curriculum, and teachers have been reminded to adopt pedagogies that enhance students’ learning related to the nature and history of biology (Curriculum Development Council and the Hong Kong Examinations and Assessment Authority, 2006). With this emphasis on enhancing students’ understanding of NOS, the identification of effective pedagogical approaches that may serve this is of paramount importance. Teaching Approaches that Promote NOS Understanding Learning science is defined to include developing the practice of using science as a language, and applying this language to understand and analyse genuine questions (Tobin & McRobbie, 1997). Based on this definition, teachers need to develop in students a motivation to ask genuine questions as well as the ability to use the language of science. Using the language of science is related to an understanding of NOS, as students would not be able to use the language effectively if they cannot tell the difference between fact, theory and law, or are unable to distinguish between observation and inference. While there has been research that has evaluated the beliefs of NOS held by teachers and students, Lederman, Abd-El-Khalick, Bell and Schwarz (2002) call for studies that focus on individual classroom interventions aimed at enhancing students’ NOS views. This suggests a line of research that is formulated to identify pedagogical approaches for teaching NOS. Schwartz, Lederman and Crawford (2004) summarize two major pedagogical approaches relevant to the teaching of NOS, namely the implicit and the explicit approaches. The implicit approach assumes that “an understanding of NOS is a natural consequence of engaging in inquiries”. The explicit approach gives special attention to the discussion of issues related to NOS through investigations, activities, discussions, and questions in class, and may stimulate students to actively reflect on questions related to NOS through the use of guided questions, historical examples or assessment tasks. The implicit approach implies that the teacher plays a pivotal role and plans for opportunities for students to reflect on questions related to NOS. Researchers suggest that NOS is a cognitive learning outcome in elementary and secondary science courses (Abd-El-Khalick & Lederman, 2000; Akerson, Abd-El-Khalick & Lederman, 2000; Smith, et al., 2000). In a similar vein, researchers (Bell et al., 2003) argue that explicit attention to NOS in inquiry activities is required in order to change learners’ views of NOS. Having established the position that employing an explicit approach is necessary to change students’ views of NOS, the next question to be explored is the relationship 66


between the discussions of NOS and that of the science content. Khishfe and Lederman (2006) distinguish the integrated versus the nonintegrated approach to teaching NOS. These approaches refer to the context in which NOS is introduced. The teacher will embed NOS within the science content using an integrated approach and discuss questions related to NOS explicitly with the students. In the nonintegrated approach, NOS is introduced separately without connection to the science content. With the identification of the different approaches to teaching NOS, the effectiveness of these approaches needs to be examined. Studies (Clough, 2003; Brickhouse, Dagher, Letts & Shipman, 2000) have suggested that the teaching of NOS with an integrated approach in relation to the context of science content led to greater improvements in students’ conceptions of NOS. Khishfe and Lederman (2006) found it not valid to claim that the integrated approach is more effective than the nonintegrated approach, though their findings suggest a slightly higher improvement in students’ understanding of NOS when NOS is integrated within the content. With these inconclusive findings, Khishfe and Lederman (2006) suggest considering two factors in the design of NOS teaching. The first factor is a “distributed” model where NOS teaching is dispersed across the science content to be taught. This implies that students have multiple opportunities to examine NOS issues, and time to assimilate and reflect on their NOS understandings. This idea is also considered by Leach, Hind, and Ryder (2003) as a “drip feed” model. The second factor suggested by Khishfe and Lederman (2006) is to relate the discussion of NOS with controversial topics, in particular when science/technology-based issues involve the consideration of values, assumptions and conceptions of NOS. The discussion of science-technologyand-society (STS) issues is found to be conducive to the development of students’ understanding of NOS (Sadler, Chambers, & Zeidler, 2002; Bell & Matkins, 2003). The above discussion of pedagogical approaches is inconclusive, though there are some recommendations for an explicit and integrated approach, the “distributed” model and the inclusion of STS issues in the discussion of NOS. Moreover, there is little evidence that indicates the effectiveness of these approaches and their impact on students’ NOS beliefs. The present study is designed to test out an effective model that may enhance students’ change in NOS beliefs, and to identify the link between the pedagogical elements and the change of NOS ideas. METHOD

The study reported in this chapter is a collaboration project between the Hong Kong Institute of Education and a secondary school in Hong Kong. Based on suggestions in the literature, the project team designed three teaching activities in relation to the topic “electricity” at secondary 2 level, with an intention of promoting students’ understanding of NOS. The teaching was implemented by the science teacher of the class, who also participated in the design of the teaching activities. There were 15 male and 27 female students in the class. The activities were integrated into the normal teaching schedule of the topic. The teaching activities were designed with three principles in mind. The principles are illustrated below with extracts of the investigation activities. 67

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Adopting an Integrated and Explicit Approach to the Discussion of NOS Scientific inquiry activities allowed the students to experience the questions related to NOS while they were studying the topic of electricity. There were questions and opportunities for students to reflect on NOS. Figures 1a to 1c illustrate a set of worksheets stimulating students to consider if the Nature of Science is subjective or objective by inviting them to write down their own views and others’ views, and suggest why different individuals come up with different interpretations. By identifying the variables, the method of analysis, and the conclusion of an experiment, students were guided to realize that different conclusions may be drawn from the same set of results due to the influence of personal views and understandings.

Figure 1a. Considering if science is subjective or objective (extracts of activity 1). 68


Figure 1b. Considering if science is subjective or objective (extracts of activity 1).

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Figure 1c. Considering if science is subjective or objective (extracts of activity 1).

Making Use of STS Issues The introduction of STS issues may help students to realize how science is related to cultural and social contexts. Students may be guided to consider social values, assumptions made by different scientists and the community, and the different conceptions of NOS. STS issues are often debated or reported in the media, which use emotive language, focus on controversial problems, or take certain political stances in the reporting. Ratcliffe and Grace (2003) recommend that teachers need to enable 70


students to interpret socio-scientific issues reported by the media. Students need to interpret data from scientific research which are reported in a scattered manner without reference to the method of the study or how the data were collected. Having considered controversial reports or scattered data sources, students should be guided to discuss the issue, consider opinions from different perspectives, and make their own decisions. Figure 2 illustrates an attempt to introduce STS issues into the teaching

Figure 2. Different perspectives regarding the research of alternative sources of energy (activity 3). 71

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of NOS. The three newspaper clippings presented different points of view regarding the research of alternative sources of energy. Students were then asked to consider the commonalities from the three sources, and identify the relationship between science, technology and society. Introducing the history of science and providing opportunities for reflection Solomon (1993:38–44) proposed using the history of science to facilitate students’

Figure 3. Stimulating discussions about NOS with a story about Edison (activity 2).

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understanding of the social relations and fallibility of science. Teachers will guide students through some historical information which can be conceptual and chronological, or related to scientists, or social and imaginative. Students were then asked to explain their understanding of the history of a scientific discovery. Students can acknowledge the present lack of scientific knowledge in humans and realize that what we now call scientific theories are attempts to explain and predict what may be subjected to further changes. In Figure 3, students read about the invention of light bulbs by Edison and were then asked to discuss to what extent (i) science inventions involve repeated trials and experiments and (ii) creativity plays a role in the development of scientific knowledge. All the students in the class were asked to complete a questionnaire before and after the series of lessons on NOS were taught. There were a total of nine statements expressing different points of view in relation to NOS. Students needed to indicate if they agreed or disagreed with each of the statements. The items were adapted from McComas (2004). The analysis compared the percentage of students agreeing or disagreeing with the statements. A high percentage of agreement meant that students possess a more informed view of NOS. Apart from the quantitative findings, eight students were randomly sampled from the class to participate in an interview after the teaching was completed. The interviews were conducted during lunch or after school and were recorded. The questions included: – What did you learn in terms of knowledge and skills through the activities? – What do you think is the relationship between the statements in the questionnaire and the activities conducted in the energy classes? – Can you compare how your thinking about science has changed before and after the teaching of NOS? FINDINGS

The first part of the findings was drawn from the responses of the questionnaire before and after the teaching of NOS. A total of 41 students answered both the preand the post-tests. Table 2 summarizes the percentage of students agreeing and disagreeing with the nine statements. All the statements except one were responded to with a higher level of agreement in the post-test, showing that students held a more informed view of NOS after the teaching activities. The percentage differences were higher for two of the statements, viz. science has a subjective element and science and technology impact each other, but they are not the same. The higher percentage of difference can be explained by the inclusion of inquiry activities that specifically addressed these concepts in the teaching sequence. As discussed above, there were discussions about the subjectivity or objectivity of science investigations (Figure 1) and an examination of STS issues (Figure 2). Students remained confused about whether scientific knowledge is tentative but durable as the percentage of students agreeing to this statement decreased by 17.1% after experiencing the teaching activities. This may be due to the fact that the wording “tentative and durable” suggests opposite meanings and so confused the students.

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Table 2. Students’ views of NOS before and after experiencing the teaching activities Before the teaching % agree

After the teaching % agree

% Difference

Science demands and relies on empirical evidence.

85.4

100

+14.6

There is no single step-by-step method by which all science is done.

43.9

63.4

+19.5

Scientific knowledge is tentative but durable.

63.4

46.3

-17.1

Laws and theories are related but distinct kinds of scientific knowledge.

82.9

90.2

+7.3

Science is a highly creative endeavor.

92.7

97.6

+4.9

Science has a subjective element.

26.8

100

+73.2

There are historical, cultural, and social influences on science.

65.9

80.5

+14.6


58.5

85.4

+29.6

Science and its methods cannot answer all questions.

85.4

90.2

+4.8

Statement

Students were asked in the interview to summarize what they had learnt in the series of activities. Their responses are summarized in Table 3. On the whole, the activities adopted in this topic have succeeded to bring about positive learning outcomes regarding the development of investigation skills and views about NOS, knowledge about science, as well as attitudes related to science. The nature of observation, inference, and inquiry were most frequently mentioned. Students succeeded in identifying the role of subjective judgment, and thinking in observation as well as the importance of repeated trials in scientific investigations. Apart from raising students’ awareness about NOS, the activities also brought about gains in knowledge about science. Seven students were able to relate the concepts they learnt about circuits, resistance, and current. Four students pointed out the relationship between the environment and pollution, and the energy crisis. Changes in attitude were least frequently mentioned compared to the other two domains of investigation skills/ views about NOS, and science knowledge above. Three students found changes in their attitude towards environmental protection, and one mentioned continuous learning and development of scientific knowledge. Students were asked to explain the relationship between the statements in the questionnaire and the teaching activities that they experienced in the topic about electricity. Besides the parts shown in Figure 1, activity 3 also included a black box experiment. Students were invited to put forward their predictions and record their 74


Table 3. The areas of learning reported by the students Area of learning

Investigation skills/ views about NOS Observation and inference e.g. listening to the sound is not sufficient to have a full picture, observation and thinking have a role to play. Inquiry e.g. it requires repeated trials, deduction of the conclusion based on the findings. The concept of fair test The subjective nature of science e.g. everyone has different opinions and thinking, we have different experiences The objective nature of science e.g. we cannot depend on personal opinion, we need to consider if it is supported by data. Science Knowledge Electricity in general Circuits/ Current/ Resistance including parallel circuit, series circuit; smaller resistance will lead to a larger current and a brighter light bulb; using ammeters to measure the brightness of a light bulb; reading an ammeter; metals are good conductors; with more cells, the bulbs are brighter Environment Advancement in technology will influence the environment; the environment is polluted and there is a green house effect; the production of electricity and its relationship with air pollution. Energy Energy crisis; the advancement of technology will make the problem of the energy crisis more serious. Attitude Protecting the environment The continual learning and development of scientific knowledge

Number of students mentioning this learning outcome 7 7 1 3 2

2 7

4

4

3 1

classmates’ predictions. The second part of activity 3 provided 2 sets of data related to the brightness of three light bulbs and three ammeters in a closed circuit. Students were asked to identify different interpretations regarding the data, and compare each others’ interpretations. From the results in Table 4, six of the students recognized the importance of empirical evidence, and two highlighted the role of creativity in science. Two students also pointed out the subjective element in the study of science. 75

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Table 4. Relationship between activity 1 and the statements Statement

Science demands and relies on empirical evidence. There is no single step-bystep method by which all science is done. Scientific knowledge is tentative but durable. Science is a highly creative endeavor. Science has a subjective element.

Science and its methods cannot answer all questions. Other comments

Students’ explanation

Students mentioning this relationship

Science requires the support of experimental evidence.

S1, S2, S3, S5, S6, S7

We cannot follow only one set of procedures to study science.

S3

Science is experimental, but the conclusion is long-lasting. If we have the evidence, the conclusion will become durable. Creativity is a necessary condition for science investigations. Science is subjective, because we can convince others when we follow the procedure. Science is subjective because it relies on our observations. Science or scientific methods cannot answer all the questions.

S7

We need a lot of testing to arrive at a fair conclusion. Results can be obtained in many different ways.

S5, S6 S1, S5

S3 S5

Activity 2 engaged students in a discussion about the work of Edison by showing them a short extract of the process of how the light bulb was invented. Five of the students succeeded in pointing out the main concept suggested by this activity, saying that scientific knowledge is tentative but durable (Table 5). Students used expressions like “experimental”, “many trials”, and “conclusion is durable” to relate their ideas. Two students also pointed out that creativity is a necessary condition for scientific investigations, which relates well to the content of the extract provided that the invention of the light bulb involved creativity. Activity 3 provided students with three newspaper articles on the topic of environmental protection, the energy crisis and the release of harmful gases into the atmosphere. In the questions following the activity, students were asked to reflect on their views concerning the three articles and the relationship between them, as well as to propose factors that they think may influence the development of science. As suggested in Table 6, five of the students were able to point out the crux of these articles which demonstrate the influences of historical, cultural and social factors on science, and that science and technology impact each other. 76


Table 5. Relationship between activity 2 and the statements Statement


Science demands and relies on empirical evidence. There is no single step-bystep method by which all science is done. Scientific knowledge is tentative but durable.

Science is a highly creative endeavour. There are historical, cultural, and social influences on science. Science and technology impact each other, but they are not the same.


Science relies on the support of experimental evidence.

S5

Scientific research cannot follow a single procedure, because scientific investigations do not happen in one day, but require continual effort. It is experimental. Science testing is experimental but the conclusion is durable. It requires may trials to make a success. Creativity is a necessary condition for scientific investigations. The development of science is influenced by society, history and culture. Science and technology influence each other but they are not the same.

S6

S1 S2, S5, S6 S6 S2, S4 S3 S4

Table 6. Relationship between activity 3 and the statements Statement Laws and theories are related but are distinct kinds of scientific knowledge. There are historical, cultural, and social influences on science.




Laws and theories are related but they are different things.

S4, S7

Science is influenced by society, history and cultural background. Because we cannot use the light bulbs invented by Edison forever, with the development of human history and culture, better light bulbs will be invented. Science and technology influence each other and they are related, though different.

S4, S6, S7 S7

S1, S4, S6, S8

Six of the students were able to articulate the changes in their views about NOS after having completed the activities (Table 7). The responses from the students suggest that the changes took place as a result of their experiences of engaging in the experiments e.g. Student 8 described how the current and brightness of the light 77

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bulbs changed his view of the importance of empirical evidence, while Student 6 mentioned the black box activity and the view of the creativity of science. The reading Table 7. Students compared how their thinking had changed after experiencing the NOS activities Statement

Science demands and relies on empirical evidence. Scientific knowledge is tentative but durable. Laws and theories are related but distinct kinds of scientific knowledge. Science is a highly creative endeavour. Science has a subjective element.

There are historical, cultural, and social influences on science.

Science and technology impact each other, but they are not the same. Science and its methods cannot answer all questions. 78

Students’ explanation of how their views have changed

Students mentioning this change

Evidence is required to convince people about science, for example, like for electric current, you need to tell people that the larger the current, the brighter the light bulb, but there must be some evidence, before others will believe you. I used to think that experiments are correct, but now I do not think so. For example, many astrologists believed that the stars do not move, but after a few hundred years, other scientists disproved this with experiments. Because our teacher has explained to us about theory and law.

S8

This is due to my experience in the black box activity. We have to be subjective to see the changes, if it is objective, we cannot see the changes when they occur. After the experiment in activity 1, I feel this. For example, many people used to think that the earth is upright, but Copernicus suggested that the axis of the earth is tilted. Only those who are subjective will engage in this debate. I used to think that science is very independent, not influenced by other things, but after the activities, I changed my mind. After watching a video clip which says that scientists are influenced by society, history, and culture, I now feel that scientists rely on their own observations. Because our teacher has explained this to us. They are influencing each other though they are different things.

S6

I learned a lot of knowledge and answered many questions that I did not understand. Only some of the science methods can answer some questions.

S5

S4

S2

S2 S5 S8

S1 S5

S2 S8

S6


of the newspaper articles also facilitated changes of views about NOS. This is evident from Students 1, 2 and 8 who talked about how historical, cultural and social factors influence science as well as the mutual impact of science and technology. Reading science stories or the history of science is the third strategy that is found to be effective in helping students change their views of NOS. As shown in Table 6, Students 4 and 8 were able to recall science stories that the teacher had told in class, and related them to their changing views about NOS. These students illustrated their views about the tentativeness and durability of science with ancient astrologists’ beliefs that stars do not move, and the argument about the axis of the earth, with Copernicus’ suggestions and persistence in arguing for his view. With these changes in students’ views about NOS, and their ability to relate the teaching activities they experienced in the science classroom, the strategies employed in this study can be seen as effective in stimulating changes of views of NOS among junior secondary students. CONCLUSION

Findings from the questionnaires completed by the students before and after the teaching activities, and the interviews, both indicated that students held a more informed view of NOS after the teaching activities. The teaching activities have helped students to experience positive gains concerning science knowledge, science inquiry methods as well as attitudes towards science. The changes in students’ views of NOS did not occur as wholesale changes, instead they took place gradually, or the influence was accumulated through a series of activities. With the findings in this study, a model that can shape the key instructional conditions that enhance changes in students’ views of NOS can be constructed. The choice of topic is of primary concern; one that encompasses society, technology and cultural concerns would be recommended. It would also be best if the topic is one that is included in the school curriculum. In the case of Hong Kong, teachers would not be ready to attempt topics that are not included in textbooks or the curriculum documents. The addition of new topics would mean giving up precious teaching time. The second principle of design suggests the adoption of an explicit and integrated approach which is completed in a series of activities. Findings in the present study provide evidence that students realized their changes in views of NOS after experiencing the series of teaching activities which were structured using the explicit and integrated approach. The third principle of design provides advice on the types of activities that are likely to effect changes in students’ views of NOS. Engaging students in experiments during which they are engaged in planning, interpreting data, considering alternative explanations or analysis helps them to understand the importance of empirical evidence, the different possibilities of design in science, the tentative nature of science, and the creativity involved. Reading newspaper articles that describe the impact of science and or technology on humans and / or the environment offers students an opportunity to reflect on the historical, cultural and social influences of science, as well as how science and technology are different but impact each other. Science stories or incidents from the history of science let students realize the tentativeness and durability 79

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of science, the importance of perseverance in scientific investigations, and the place for creativity in the course of the development of scientific knowledge. The findings in this study are drawn from only one class of junior secondary students and the teaching of the topic “electricity”. While the aim was to test out approaches or strategies that may bring about changes in students’ views of NOS, the findings will have wider applications for different teaching contexts if more students are involved and / or repeated trials on other topics are included. Future research projects may enrich the data collected in this study, thus improving the generalizability of the results. Despite the limitation described, this study adds to the knowledge in the literature regarding the way a comprehensive model for designing teaching activities that enhance students’ changes in views of NOS is described. Moreover, the findings provide answers to the “how” questions concerning the impact of the various types of activities which are found to be absent in traditional questionnaire studies of NOS. REFERENCES Abd-El-Khalick, F., & Lederman, N. G. (2000). Improving science teachers’ conceptions of the nature of science: A critical review of the literature. International Journal of Science Education, 22(7), 665–701. Akerson, V., Abd-El-Khalick, F., & Lederman, N. G. (2000). Influence of a reflective activity-based approach on elementary teachers’ conceptions of nature of science. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 37(4), 295–317. American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). (1990). Science for all Americans. New York: Oxford University Press. American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). (1993). Benchmark for science literacy: A project 2061 report. New York: Oxford University Press. Bell, R. L., Blair, L., Crawford, B., & Lederman, N. G. (2003). Just do it? Impact of a science apprenticeship program on students’ understanding of the nature of science and scientific inquiry. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 40(5), 487–509. Bell, R. L., & Matkins, J. J. (2003, March). Learning about the nature of science in an elementary science methods course: Content vs context. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the National Association for Research in Science Teaching, Philadelphia, PA. Brickhouse, N. W., Dagher, Z. R., Letts, W. J., & Shipman, H. L. (2000). Diversity of students’ views about evidence, theory, and the interface between science and religion in an astronomy course. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 37, 340–362. Chalmers, A. (1982). What is this thing called science? New York: University of Queensland Press. Clough, M. P. (2003). Explicit but insufficient: Additional considerations for successful NOS instruction. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the association for the education of teachers, St. Louis, MO. Curriculum Development Council. (2002). Science education: Key learning area curriculum guide (Primary 1 - Secondary 3). Hong Kong: The Education Department, The Hong Kong SAR Government. Curriculum Development Council & the Hong Kong Examinations and Assessment Authority. (2006). Science education key learning area: New senior secondary curriculum and assessment guide (Secondary 4–6), biology (Provisional final draft of curriculum part). Retrieved from http://www.emb.gov.hk/ index.aspx?nodeid=2824&langno=1 Khishfe, R., & Lederman, N. (2006). Teaching nature of science within a controversial topic: Integrated versus nonintegrated. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 43(4), 395–418. Kuhn, T. S. (1970). The structure of scientific revolutions (2nd ed.). Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Leach, J., Hind, A., & Ryder, J. (2003). Designing and evaluating short teaching interventions about the epistemology of science in high school classrooms. Science Education, 87, 831–848.

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DEVELOPMENT OF AN INSTRUCTIONAL MODEL Lederman, N. G. (1992). Students’ and teachers’ conceptions about the nature of science: A review of the research. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 29, 331–359. Lederman, N. G., Abd-El-Khalick, F., Bell, R. J., & Schwartz, R. S. (2002). Views of nature of science questionnaire (VNOS): Toward valid and meaningful assessment of learners’ conceptions of nature of science. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 39(6), 497–521. McComas, W. F. (2004). Keys to teaching the nature of Science. The Science Teacher, 71(9), 24–27. National Science Teachers Association. (2000). NSTA position statement: The nature of science. Retrieved December 6, 2006, from http://www.nsta.org/159&psid=22 Ratcliffe, M., & Grace. M. (2003). Science education for citizenship. USA: Open University Press. Ryan, A. G., & Aikenhead, G. S. (1992). Students’ preconceptions about the epistemology of science. Science Education, 76, 559–580. Sadler, T. D., Chambers, W. F., & Zeidler, D. (2002, April). Investigating the crossroads of socioscentific issues, the nature of science, and critical thinking. Paper presented at the annual meeting of National Association for Research in Science Teaching. New Orleans, LA. Schwartz, R. S., Lederman, N. G., & Crawford, B. A. (2004). Developing views of nature of science in an authentic context: An explicit approach to bridging the gap between nature of science and scientific inquiry. Science Teacher Education, 88(4), 610–645. Smith, C., Maclin, D., Houghton, C., & Hennessey, M. G. (2000). Sixth-grade students’ epistemologies of science: The impact of school science experiences on epistemological development. Cognition and Instruction, 18(3), 349–422. Solomon, J. (1993). Teaching science, technology and society. UK: Open University Press. Tobin, K., & McRobbie, C. J. (1997). Beliefs about the nature of science and the enacted science curriculum. Science and Education, 6, 355–371.

May M. H. Cheng Department of Education University of Oxford

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ALICE S. L. WONG, BENNY H. W. YUNG, JEFFREY R. DAY, MAURICE M. W. CHENG, ERIC Y. H. YAM AND SE-YUEN MAK

6. ENHANCING STUDENTS’ UNDERSTANDING OF THE NATURE OF SCIENCE AND THE INTERCONNECTION BETWEEN SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY AND SOCIETY THROUGH INNOVATIVE TEACHING AND LEARNING ACTIVITIES

INTRODUCTION

International and Local Trends Understanding the nature of science (NOS) and the interconnection between science, technology and society (STS) has been a prominent objective of science curricula worldwide (e.g. American Association for the Advancement of Science, 1993; Council of Ministers of Education, 1997; Millar & Osborne, 1998). Research confirms the contention that sound knowledge of the NOS and STS will enhance students’ learning of science content, interest in science, and ability to make informed decisions based on evidence (Driver, Leach, Miller, & Scott, 1996; McComas, Clough, & Almazroa, 1998; Aikenhead, 1994). In Hong Kong, the Junior Science Curriculum implemented since 2000, and the S4-5 Physics, Chemistry and Biology curricula implemented since September 2003, have followed the world trend and placed explicit emphasis on the understanding of NOS and STS in their objectives and content. Stated in newly reformed Physics, Chemistry, Biology and Senior Science Curricula (CDC-HKEAA, 2007), which has just been implemented in 2009, the overarching aim is to provide science-related learning experiences for students to develop scientific literacy and become life-long learners in science and technology. Among the broad aims under this overarching aim, understanding NOS and STS continue to be spelt out explicitly, namely, Students should be able to – appreciate and understand the nature of science in science-related contexts – make informed decisions and judgments on science-related issues – be aware of the social, ethical, economic, environmental and technological implications of science, and develop an attitude of responsible citizenship These new emphases are particularly important when more and more social issues in our daily lives demand a populace which is scientifically literate in following new developments in science and scientific debates. M. M. H. Cheng and W. W. M. So (eds.), Science Education in International Contexts, 83–99. © 2011 Sense Publishers. All rights reserved.

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Urgent Need in Teacher Training and Provision of Curriculum Resources Research conducted in different countries has consistently come up with the disappointing result that science teachers themselves do not have an adequate understanding of NOS (Lederman, 1992) and the interrelationship of STS (Rubba & Harkness, 1993). Furthermore, various studies, including a study in Taiwan where rapid reform in science education is also taking place, report that the implementation of teaching of NOS and STS is impeded by the limited availability of relevant curriculum resources, particularly those in local contexts and language (Tsai, 2001). Similar limitations have also been found among the Hong Kong science teachers, in a recent study on teachers’ understanding of STS and beliefs about its implementation (Wong, 2004). The main concerns of teachers in this study include limited curriculum time, inadequate supporting resources and lack of necessary pedagogical skills. The above findings and the fact that Hong Kong teachers have not themselves experienced this kind of learning, underscore the urgent need of enhancing both their understanding in NOS and STS and the pedagogical knowledge and skills that are necessary for this kind of teaching. Timely Response to Education Reform In response to the science education reform which demands new goals and new types of teaching approaches, and the concerns and difficulties expressed by Hong Kong science teachers, the authors of this paper have launched a curriculum innovation project supported by the Quality Education Fund1 (QEF) of Hong Kong. Through the development of a series of innovative teaching and learning activities, the project team aims to help teachers to foster students’ understanding of NOS and the interconnection of STS. In addition, the wide range of activities developed in this project also aim to develop the various generic and transferable skills including, problemsolving, creativity, critical thinking, numeracy, communication as well as collaborative skills. These knowledge and skills are essential for students to develop into sensible and responsible citizens who participate actively in a dynamically changing society, and contribute towards a scientific and technological world. In this paper, we first give a brief summary of the two-year QEF project plan to achieve the above goals. We then focus on reporting the curriculum materials we developed in this project. Findings about teachers’ experience in classroom implementation of the materials will be reported in an independent article. THE QEF PROJECT

Project Plan High quality curriculum or teaching materials do not naturally result in student learning. Such materials have to be mediated by teachers with necessary content knowledge, beliefs and intention (Schwartz & Lederman, 2002; Lumpe, 84

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Haney, & Czerniak, 1998). Thus we attempted to achieve the above goals and objectives through two phases: First phase – production of curriculum materials and teacher training (i)

Designed and developed 12 sets of curriculum materials of a range of innovative activities related to the teaching and learning of NOS and STS in the form of practical work, scientific investigation, case studies, model-making, critical analysis of news/scientific articles, explanatory stories of science, etc. Each activity would be furnished with comprehensive teacher’s guides. (ii) Ran training workshops for about 70 participating teachers from about 40 schools, who are enthusiastic about learning and practising the pedagogical skills required for implementing the innovative activities. (iii) Obtained comments and feedback from the participating teachers to further refine the quality of the teaching materials. (iv) Recorded classroom implementation of the innovative activities. The video recordings would help participating teachers to reflect on the lessons through self and peer evaluations. Second phase – wider dissemination of curriculum materials and exemplary implementation (i) (ii)

Produced CD-ROMs consisting of all sets of teaching materials and videos of exemplary lessons in which participating teachers implement the innovative activities in their own classrooms. Disseminated the above output to all science teachers in Hong Kong and encourage them to implement the innovative activities in their own classroom teaching for effective learning of NOS and STS.

The lesson videos which document the implementation of the innovative activities aimed to serve as an invaluable tool for in-service teacher professional development, pre-service teacher training and school staff development, through interactive collaboration in one of the following ways (Black & Atkin, 1996): – Exposure to other ideas broadens teachers’ awareness of possibilities for change and fosters a sense that alternatives are available. – Existence of proof of new methods under normal classroom conditions gives moral support to teachers and challenges them. – Demonstration of actions, reflecting the new ideas, in a real context deepens teachers’ understanding. Also, such modeling strengthens the proof of existence. Exemplary case teaching has been found particularly appropriate in preparing teachers for reform-based teaching (Putnam & Borko, 1997) because the opportunity for teachers to experience workable alternatives to conventional practice in actual classroom settings is often quite limited. Unlike live observations, videos allow for multiple and repeated opportunities to replay, analyze and re-analyze. It also provides the opportunity to study the fast-paced, complicated world of classroom teaching and to reflect on it. Thus in addition to the 85

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infusion of the non-traditional teaching approaches to the community of teachers, we also hoped to promote the habit of reflection which is an essential element for the teaching profession. Curriculum Materials In this section we elaborate on three sets of teaching packages showing how we integrate content knowledge with innovative activities in promoting NOS and STS. We give a description of the rationale, highlights of each set of materials and the expected student learning outcomes of each sample activity. Greater details are given in the first set of teaching resources to provide a more complete picture of the formats and style of the teaching packages we developed. (I) Understanding LASIK Rationale. Traditionally the science curricula have focused more on science content (e.g. refer to the curriculum documents of Physics, Chemistry, Biology and Integrated Science in Hong Kong before or in the 90s). Its application and implication to society are often provided as add-on information. Even practical work or demonstrations are mostly “cookbook” type experiments and are designed to demonstrate scientific principles rather than relating science to the technological applications, as reported in Angell, Guttersrud, Henriksen, and Isnes (2004). The decrease in students’ interest in science is often due to the lack of appreciation of the relevance of science principles to daily life (Reid & Skryabina, 2002). LASIK which stands for ‘Laser in situ keratomileusis’, is an example of modern technology where a laser beam is used to correct vision by reshaping the cornea of the eye. As short-sightedness is very common among Chinese populations and the demand for LASIK surgery is increasing, this is a highly relevant topic in combining science, technology and their effects on society for students. LASIK involves fundamental scientific principles in Optics which is a topic in the Physics curriculum of the proposed new senior secondary level. It also fits in with one of the Electives, Medical Physics. Additionally, it relates to the topic Organisms and Environment in the Biology curriculum and highlights the interdisciplinary nature of modern science and technology. In this teaching package (Figure 1–8), we introduce the medical operation as a practical task for students to perform like eye surgeons. This practical work can be integrated with the physics principles of the correction of short- and long-sightedness by the use of concave and convex lenses. Unlike conventional practical work, students will not follow a traditional “cookbook” protocol closely so as to obtain wellestablished results. We then make use of the history of the scientific development of LASIK to raise some elements of the nature of science. Lastly LASIK is a typical STS topic. Societal issues including the pros and cons of a surgical procedure, the associated risks, and the issue of informed consent can be discussed in the classroom. 86


Extracts of the curriculum package Below we present two key activities in this curriculum package. Let’s do “eye surgery” in the laboratory! LASIK operation – a form of eye surgery in which the cornea of a patient is reshaped so that the image formed is adjusted back onto the retina. Now you are going to simulate this eye surgery. List of equipment and materials you will find useful for your ‘surgery’ Lamp housing with a letter F as an illuminated object Convex lens covered with a black plastic sheet with a centre opening to simulate our eye lens “Cornea” made from gelatin Clamps and a stand to fix the position of the lamp house and the ‘eye’ Lens holder to fix the position of the ‘lens’ and the ‘eye’ Movable stand with a piece of paper attached to its top surface to act as a screen to simulate the retina Lighter or Hot water to heat up tools for reshaping the cornea Any tools that can reshape the ‘cornea’, e.g. spatula, deflagrating spoon, combustion spoon, scalpel, stirrer with ring handle, a ring made from metal wire, etc to reshape the cornea You could ask for other tools you think are necessary for your “surgery”! Figure 1. Activity: Modelling LASIK.

Investigation Setup – The cornea is placed over the eye lens. – A lamp house with an illuminated letter “F” acts as the object in front of the eye. – A movable stand with a screen on it is used to capture the image. 87

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Figure 2. Investigation setup.

Simulation of correcting short-sightedness 1. In the case of short-sightedness, we simulate it by forming the image of an object in front of the retina. For correction of short-sightedness, you have to reshape the cornea and move the image backward onto the retina (downward in the simulation set-up).

Figure 3. Simulation of correcting short-sightedness.

Procedure: Locate the image (illuminated letter “F”) on the movable stand sharply, this is the image formed by the short-sighted eye. (a) Think about how to reshape the cornea to correct the short sightedness Describe with the aid of a simple diagram how you can do so. Now try out your idea. 88


Teacher’s notes: Use the lighter to heat up the spatula. -

As shown in the picture, use the heated spatula to flatten the cornea to refocus the image back to the retina surface. (The cornea becomes more concave.)

Remark for 1(a) & 1(b): Teachers should not tell the answers to students directly. Guiding questions like “What kind of tool do you need to reshape the cornea?”, “Will you need to increase or decrease the converging power of the lens?”, “What shape will you make for the correction?” should be asked.

Figure 4. Procedure of correcting short-sightedness.

(b) Are your ideas successful? Please illustrate how, with the aid of a diagram. Teacher’s notes: After the flattening of the cornea, it is found that the new position of the image is below the original one. As the lens is made more concave, the image is shifted backward to the retina. (As shown by the red arrow)

Figure 5. Explanation of correcting short-sightedness.

Simulation of correcting long-sightedness 2. In the case of long-sightedness, we simulate it by forming the image of an object behind the retina. For correction of long-sightedness, you have to reshape the cornea and move the image forward onto the retina (upward in the simulation set-up). 89

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Figure 6. Simulation of correcting long-sightedness.

Procedure: Locate the image (illuminated letter “F”) on the movable stand sharply, it is the image formed by the long-sighted eye. (a) Think about how to reshape the cornea to correct the long sight - Describe with the aid of a simple diagram how you think you can do so. Now try out your idea. Teacher’s notes: Reshape the cornea with heated metal ring. The donut shape on the topmost of the cornea effectively increases the curvature of the cornea and increases the converging power of the eye (Please see the remark in 1(a))

Figure 7. Procedure of correcting long-sightedness.

(b) Are your ideas successful? Please illustrate how, with the aid of a diagram. Teacher’s notes: After the reshaping of the cornea, it is found that the new position of the image is above the original one. It is shown that the lens becomes more convex and the image is shifted towards the retina. (As shown by the red arrow)

Figure 8. Explanation of correcting long-sightedness. 90


3. Doctors suggest that the thickness of the patient’s cornea is an important factor for whether a patient is suitable for doing LASIK. Can you suggest a reason? Teacher’s notes: The correction requires removal of corneal tissues. For serious shortsightedness or long-sightedness, many tissues have to be removed. Possible rupture of the cornea may result if it is too thin. After the investigation, you should have learnt that the lens is not the only part that refracts light in our eyes. Common Misconception Many students have a wrong concept that only the lens refracts the light in our eyes. Apart from the lens, the cornea, aqueous humour and vitreous humour also play a role in refracting the light in our eyes. Activity: Learning about the Nature of Science through the History of Development of Refractive Surgery The long pursuit of correction of eye defects. The quest for the correction of eye defects could be dated back to early Chinese civilization. Folklore states that people with short-sightedness put sandbags on their eyes at night. The pressure effect of the sandbags on the cornea changed the curvature, which focused the eyes for a short period the next morning.

Technology can come before the understanding of the related science. (Q.1) Q1. Suggest possible reason(s) why the sandbags help to correct short-sightedness. Teacher’s notes: The pressure effect of the sandbags may cause two changes to the eyes: 1) Shorten the eye ball 2) Cornea may become less convex (Do you think those ancient people understood the scientific principle behind their practice?)

Technology is driven by societal demand and human’s need. (Q.2 & Q.3)

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Q2. Before the invention of LASIK, we already had contact lenses and spectacle lenses. What encouraged scientists and technologists to invent LASIK? Teacher’s notes: Our need for good vision, society’s demands and health issues all encourage scientists to use theory to invent better ways to correct vision, since the existing technology (spectacles and contact lenses) could not satisfy our needs. E.g. It wastes time to clean up contact lenses. The pressure that the spectacles exert on nose makes people feel not comfortable. Teacher can bring out the point that human’s pursuit of better life and being unsatisfied with the existing situation are always one of the drives for new invention and applications of scientific knowledge. Q3. Can you list some occupations in which the use of spectacles/contact lenses is potentially? Teacher’s notes: Fireman: The intense heat can deform the contact lenses. Professional drivers: Crushing may damage the spectacle lenses. (Any other reasonable answers are accepted) Remarks: In fact this is another example of societal demand which drives the development of technology. How were the ideas of refractive surgery developed 55 years ago? In 1960, a Russian scientist, Dr. Fyodorov, gave birth to the idea of refractive surgery. One day he was treating a young boy who had fallen, and his glasses had broken and cut into his cornea. The damage simply shaved a layer off of the outer surface of the eye. The boy, previously having serious short-sight, now had improved vision in that eye! Dr. Fyodorov was surprised and studied the matter. He published his discoveries, but it was not until later that American doctors, who read about it, had enough funding to begin serious research. How did the application of refractive surgery start in the U.S.? Dr. Leo Bores brought the procedure to the United States. Americans also thought of using a laser. In 1978 an ophthalmologist successfully incorporated a high intensity laser which allowed extremely high precision in cutting the cornea during refractive surgery. Since then “laser assisted refractive surgery” has become popular and over 10 million people have benefited from the surgery.

Development in science can advance technology. Likewise progress in technology can advance science. (Q. 4) 92


Q4. What critical technology enabled extreme high precision in refractive surgery? Comment on the influence of technology on science? Teacher’s notes: The Laser is the critical technology that enabled extremely accurate cutting of the cornea in refractive surgery. Notes: Teachers help the students to build up the concept that sometimes science leads technology, but also technology may lead science. E.g. the invention of the electron microscope enabled biologists to study biological tissues deeply which led to the advancement of biology and medical science.

Science and Technology are affected by social factors. (Q.5) Q5. A Russian scientist first discovered the potential of curing eye defects by refractive surgery, but American scientists made it popular. Why? What other factors were also critical for this scientific development? Teacher’s notes: The American scientists, not the Russians, had enough funds to do serious research on refractive surgery. (Teachers help the students to build up the concept that government policy and availability of research funds are also critical for development of scientific knowledge. Brilliant or inventive ideas often require manpower and resources to support the subsequent scientific research investigation). (2) Infectious Disease Rationale. This teaching package aims to help students to learn about the general structure of a virus, the lytic cycle for virus reproduction, and basic concepts of virus and flu. Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) and bird flu are used as the contexts to interweave the subject knowledge with several key concepts of the nature of science. Instructional materials including an exercise in making informed decisions, an investigation game and in particular videos of interviews with local scientists who fought against the SARS diseases are included to illustrate some aspects of nature of science as demonstrated in the authentic scientific research. Extracts of the Curriculum Package Below we present one of the activities (Figure 9–11) in this curriculum package: 93

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Activity – What does the search for the virus causing SARS tell us about science? In this activity, the episode of how the SARS scientists searched for the causative agent of SARS is used to highlight some important key elements of NOS which most teachers and students may not be aware of. <Mother and Son>

Describe this picture?

Describe this picture?

Figure 9. Explanation of correcting long-sightedness.

The two slide2 above act as a set to bring up one of the key elements of the nature of science – theory laden observation, i.e. what one observes is affected by one’s background knowledge and what one wants to see. In the above picture, people tend to observe very different things, for example, rock with a lake, a crocodile, lava after volcanic explosion, etc. However, when the title is given, most people will start seeing a mother with her son lying horizontally across the page. The pair of slides on the next page illustrates how the theory laden observation can also occur in authentic scientific research. The upper one shows that on March 18, 2003, scientists in the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) and Germany announced that the virus was a member of the paramyxovirus family, a human metapneumovirus. Shortly after their announcement, scientists from Singapore and Canada also announced they had found evidence of paramyxovirus. The lower slide shows that only four days after the CUHK announcement, on March 21st, 2003, the scientists of the University of Hong Kong announced that they had found new evidence that identified coronavirus as the pathogen causing SARS. After they made the announcement on the World Health Organization (WHO) network, scientists from Rotterdam, Frankfurt, and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta also reported finding evidence of coronavirus. The two slides are used to invite students to identify and describe the theoryladen observation as evident in the search for the virus causing SARS. Additionally, the above episode, showing the rapid shift from the acceptance of paramyxovirus to the coronavirus as the casual agent of SARS, also demonstrated that scientific knowledge is not static but tentative – another nature which is not immediately apparent to students as they are used to taking scientific knowledge as established facts. 94


Bernhard Nocht Institute,

Institute for Medical Virology,

Pathology Department Singapore General Hospital National Microbiology Laboratory,

Singapore

Figure 10. Slide 1. On March 21, 2003 Institute for Medical Virology, Goethe University, Frankfurt

HK Government Virology Lab

Coronavirus

CDC, Atlanta, Georgia

HKU

National Influenza Centre, Erasmus University, Rotterdam

Figure 11. Slide 2.

(3) Bleaching shark fin with hydrogen peroxide Rationale. ‘Reading to learn’ has been advocated for quite a long time (Davies & Greene, 1984; Wellington & Osborne 2001). Reading forms a significant part of our learning. Scientists devote much of their time to scrutinizing research papers. For the general public, they receive much information through newspapers, magazines, pamphlets and the Internet. Hence, training our students to read carefully and critically, as part of the communicative skill, becomes essential – no matter whether we want our students to be scientists or citizens who can make informed judgments based on written sources of information. 95

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However, it has been found that teachers in general only allocate a small part of their teaching sessions for students’ reading. Also, teaching resources on reading, particularly those that have local relevance, are scarce. In the light of this, the materials suggested here aim at illustrating an example of how teachers can make use of newspaper clippings to enlighten students about how to become critical readers of science-related information in the context of a social issue. In order to make the reading more active, critical and effective, Davies and Greene (1984) proposed that in a reading activity students need (i) a purpose, (ii) coach and (iii) collaboration. The three criteria have been taken into the planning of the activity. There was an incident at the end of 2003 in which officials in mainland China discovered the use of industrial hydrogen peroxide for bleaching shark fins in a factory. Concerns have been raised over the territory (see a report in the box below). Almost all of the newspaper reports widely discussed the harmful effects of hydrogen peroxide, yet some reports diverted the focus away from the crux of the issue – it is the use of industrial hydrogen peroxide which contains some toxic impurities that matters, not hydrogen peroxide per se. While individual reports mentioned the toxic impurities, much of the attention has been on hydrogen peroxide. It is believed that this is an opportunity in which we can help students to see the relationship between science, technology and society (STS) and how the science knowledge that they have learnt in their lessons can help them to make sense of news reporting. With some purposeful guidance, students will be able to evaluate the validity of science-related newspaper reports. Extracts of the Curriculum Package Below we present one of the activities (Figure 12) in this curriculum package: Activity – Critical review and analysis of newspaper articles with follow up investigation in verifying their claim At the end of the lesson, students should be able to, (1) (2) (3) (4)

critically review newspaper reports based on their science knowledge, practice verbal communicative skills with their fellow classmates understand that news reporters can misrepresent a socio-scientific issue, appreciate the interconnection between science, technology and society

In this activity, students will be asked to read a newspaper report individually (see one of the examples in the box below) on the issue and to identify the problem associated with the bleached shark fin. This sets the ‘purpose’ for the reading. As most of the students can easily be misguided by the newspaper report – this was confirmed in our pilot study – the teacher will then provide some guidelines for them to rethink and discuss the issue (coaching) in groups (collaboration). The guiding questions include what the differences between the properties of hydrogen peroxide and industrial hydrogen peroxide are, and how these two substances can affect the body. Also, students will be asked to think about the usual way in which 96


shark fin is cooked. It is hoped that these guiding questions can help students to relate the effect of washing and prolonged cooking on shark fin and its residual hydrogen peroxide, and hence reach the conclusion that, in contrast to some of the newspaper reports, using hydrogen peroxide itself does no harm to the body. Rather, it is the impurities in industrial hydrogen peroxide that can cause harm. To further verify the stability of hydrogen peroxide (decomposes to water and oxygen gas), students can be asked to plan a scientific investigation to determine its decomposition rate. Over-consumption can cause cancer and deform foetuses Sing Tao Daily 2003-12-05 Guangdong government officials have discovered a factory using industrial grade hydrogen peroxide to treat sharks fins. It might upset people to know that this delicacy is potentially carcinogenic. A pharmacist and a doctor pointed out that industrial grade hydrogen peroxide is very concentrated. Also, it is manufactured carelessly and may be mixed with quite large amounts of heavy metals and other toxins. They may cause gastrointestinal ulcers if consumed. Medical literature has also pointed out that hydrogen peroxide may cause cancer. If a pregnant woman takes the substance, she might give birth to a deformed fetus. The colourless liquid may lead to stomach ulcers Like water, hydrogen peroxide is a colourless liquid. It is used as a bleach, oxidizer or germicide in industry. Industrial grade hydrogen peroxide has a high oxygen content. However, our body will accumulate toxic substances from the industrial product after excessive use, which changes body cells and may even cause cancer. A doctor stated that if our body absorbs too much oxygen, it can damage cell membranes and speed up aging. Hence, it is generally not recommended. But it is used by some naturopathic medicine specialists for treating diseases. Still toxic after boiling Professor Lee Kwing-chin of The School of Pharmacy, CUHK indicated that diluted hydrogen peroxide bleach is not very harmful to humans. However the concentration of industrial grade hydrogen peroxide is so high that it may damage the digestive system. Also, prolonged absorption or massive absorption could cause ulcer. He said that medical literature has indicated an association between hydrogen peroxide and cancer. Legislator Lo Wing-lok, who represents the medical constituency, said boiled bleaching solution would do no serious harm to the human body, but industrial grade hydrogen peroxide would affect our health. Dr Lo explained that industrial grade peroxide demands a low purity and may be mixed with other substances like organic and inorganic toxins, heavy metals like lead and biotoxins like arsenic. If they were absorbed into the shark’s fin, they could cause various problems. Figure 12. Newspaper report. 97

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CONCLUDING REMARKS

Throughout the development of the teaching resources, we sought comments and feedback from teachers who participated in our training workshops and in particular teachers who tried out the activities in their own classrooms. The final form of the each activity has been revised many times based on the exchange with these enthusiastic teachers who are keen to contribute towards the development of the teaching resources for students to learn about NOS and STS. We concur with the view of Derek Hodson (Hodson, 2006) that “curriculum materials need to have a ‘street credibility’ that can only be gained when they are developed by teachers for teachers.” (p. 305). The instructional packages and the classroom practices have been disseminated to all secondary schools in Hong Kong in the form of CD-ROMs. The instructional packages are also available in the website http://learningscience. edu.hku.hk/. We believe that we have demonstrated in the teaching packages, the principles of how NOS and STSE could be integrated smoothly into the teaching of subject content knowledge. The classroom implementations of these teaching resources have demonstrated that students have the ability to learn the concepts of NOS and STSE and that they have enjoyed the various non-traditional classroom activities. We have found no evidence that the learning of the subject knowledge intended in the packages has been compromised. We hope that teachers will be encouraged by these findings and position themselves to take on the new initiatives in teaching about NOS and STSE. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

The project reported in this article was supported by the Quality Education Fund 2004–05 (2004/0819). The authors are grateful to the participating teachers who kindly agreed to take part in the project. NOTES 1

2

The project is funded by the Quality Education Fund of the Hong Kong SAR Government which finances worthwhile projects for the promotion of quality education in Hong Kong. The slides are modified from the picture http://timepass1.wordpress.com/2009/01/21/lake-in-burmapraying-mountain-another-hoax

REFERENCES Aikenhead, G. S. (1994). Consequences to learning science through STS: A research perspective. In J. Solomon & G. Aikenhead (Eds.), STS education: International perspectives on reform (pp. 169–186). New York: Teachers College Press. American Association for the Advancement of Science. (1993). Benchmarks for scientific literacy. New York: Oxford University Press. Angell, C., Guttersrud, O., Henriksen, E., & Isnes, A. (2004). Physics: Frightful, but fun. Pupils’ and teachers’ views of physics and physics teaching. Science Education, 88, 683–706. Black, P., & Atkin, J. M. (Eds.), (1996). Changing the subject: Innovations in science, mathematics and technology education. London: Routledge.

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ENHANCING STUDENTS’ UNDERSTANDING OF THE NATURE Council of Ministers of Education. (1997). Common framework of science learning outcomes. Toronto: CMEC Secretariat. Curriculum Development Council – Hong Kong Examinations and Assessment Authority (CDC – HKEAA). (2007). Physics/Chemistry/Biology/Integrated science curriculum guide and assessment guide (Secondary 4–6). Hong Kong: Curriculum Development Council and Hong Kong Examinations and Assessment Authority. Davies, F., & Greene T. (1984). Reading for learning in the sciences. Edinburgh: Oliver and Boyd. Millar, R., & Osborne, J. (Eds.). (1998). Beyond 2000: Science education for the future. London: King’s College. Driver, R., Leach, J., Miller, A., & Scott, P. (1996). Young peoples images of science. Buckingham: Open University Press. Hodson, D. (2006). Why we should prioritize learning about science. Canadian Journal of science, Mathematics and Technology Education, 6(3), 293–311. Lederman, N. G. (1992). Students’ and Teachers’ conceptions of the nature of science: A review of the research. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 29(4), 331–359. Lumpe, A. T., Haney J. J., & Czerniak, C. M. (1998). Science teacher beliefs and intentions to implement science-technology-society (STS) in the classroom. Journal of Science Teacher Education, 9(1), 1–24. McComas, W., Clough, M., & Almazroa, H. (1998). The role and character of the nature of science. In W. F. McComas (Ed.), The nature of science in science education: Rationales and strategies (pp. 3–39). Dordrecht: Kluwer. Putnam, R. T., & Borko, H. (1997). Teacher learning: Implications of new views of cognition. In B. Biddle, T. L. Good, & I. F. Goodson (Eds.), International handbook of teachers and teaching (Vol. II, pp. 1223–1296). Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers. Reid, N., & Skryabina (2002). Attitudes towards physics. Research in science and technological education, 20(1), 67–81. Rubba, P. A., & Harkness, W. L. (1993). Examination of preservice and inservice secondary science teachers’ beliefs about science-technology-society interactions. Science Education, 77, 407–431. Schwartz, R. S., & Lederman, N. G. (2002). “It’s the nature of the beast”: The influence of knowledge and intentions on learning and teaching nature of science. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 39, 205–236. Tsai, C. C. (2001). A science teacher’s reflections and knowledge growth about STS instruction after actual implementation. Science Education, 86, 23–41. Wellington, J., & Osborne, J. (2001) Language and literacy in science education. Buckingham; Phildelphia: Open University Press. Wong, S. C. (2004). Hong Kong science teachers’ understandings about science-technology-society and their beliefs concerning the implementation of STS into the classrooms. Unpublished MEd dissertation, The University of Hong Kong.

Alice S. L. Wong, Benny H. W. Yung, Jeffrey R. Day, Maurice M. W. Cheng, Eric Y. H. Yam and Se-Yuen Mak Faculty of Education The University of Hong Kong

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7. SMALL GROUP INQUIRY SCIENCE LEARNING Developing Science Thinking and Science Processes

INTRODUCTION

Over the years, primary science education has played the role of equipping learners with the knowledge, skills and attitudes for personal development to face the demands of the contemporary world, and to contribute towards a scientific and technological world (Curriculum Development Council, 2002; National Research Council, 1996; National Research Council, 2000). Now, in the 21st century, learning can no longer be satisfied by mere acquisition of knowledge and skills (Serret, 2006), and the recognition of learning to think is becoming increasingly important for learners in the field of education. In the area of science learning, it has long been agreed that understanding the scientific aspects of the world requires more than just knowledge there is a need to provide opportunities for children to engage in science through the use of science processes and skills for ideas and explanation of things around them. However, Ogborn, Kress, Martins, and McGillicuddy (1996) cautioned that ideas and explanations are not there to be ‘discovered’ from hands-on activities. They arise from thinking and trying out ideas, and are ‘talked into existence’ with and by the children. Similarly, Klahr and Nigam (2004) have found that many children who learn about experimental design from direct instruction perform as well as those few children who discover the method on their own. These results challenge the predictions derived from the presumed superiority of discovery approaches in teaching young children basic procedures for early scientific investigation. Mayer (2004) also proposed that the constructivist view of learning may be best supported by methods of instruction that involve cognitive activity rather than behavioural activity, instructional guidance rather than pure discovery, and curricular focus rather than unstructured exploration. Recent research has added emphasis to science thinking through discussion and reflection on learning in primary school science (Harlen, 2006). Besides, sociocultural researchers have claimed that the learning of science is a process with scientific concepts and ways of reasoning being learned through engagement in practical enquiry and social interactions (Mercer, Dawes, Wegerif, & Sams, 2004). To this end, developing science thinking through social interaction seems integral to the process of developing science understanding. In Hong Kong, due to the focus of science education on knowledge, process skills, values and attitudes (Curriculum Development Council, 2002), how to develop and integrate thinking into science learning is still an unexplored area. This is particularly M. M. H. Cheng and W. W. M. So (eds.), Science Education in International Contexts, 101–111. © 2011 Sense Publishers. All rights reserved.

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true for learners at the primary level, the most important foundation of a child’s education. The lack of discussion and systematic research on developing science thinking has hindered our understanding of how science thinking can be promoted in basic school education. In response to the insufficient investigations on developing science thinking in inquiry tasks, and the lack of a comprehensive theoretical base for such investigation, this research attempts to build a conceptual framework to investigate the development of learners’ science thinking and science processes in small group inquiry. The outcome of this research is a new understanding of learners’ development of science thinking in collaborative group work. This understanding will be of value to teachers and teacher educators for their future development of quality science inquiry activities for primary pupils. The theoretical framework underpinning the conceptualization of the study on developing science thinking in the context of the primary science education system is related to the following categories of literature of science learning at the classroom level: (1) integration of thinking and processes in science; (2) collaborative learning through group work; (3) social interaction and discussion in science classrooms. This framework is comparable to the characteristics of an inquiry classroom as described by Carin, Bass, and Contant (2005), namely that learning takes place within classrooms characterized by student discourse, cooperative group activities, and teacher scaffolding. INTEGRATION OF THINKING AND PROCESSES IN SCIENCE

There has been widespread agreement among science teachers and educators that developing the ability to carry out a scientific investigation is an important part of learning science (Millar, Gott, Lubben, & Duggans, 1996). Fleer and Hardy (1996) argued that science as a process is gradually being understood to be a complex and dynamic process of thinking, conceptualizing, theorizing, observing, experimenting, and interpreting. These processes can involve hunches, guesswork and the development of alternative models. Warwick (2000) also suggested that the scientific way of working may be thought of as being constructed from a few central processes: hypothesizing, devising an investigation, carrying out the investigation, recording, interpreting and communicating – each of which is underpinned by essential practical and intellectual skills. It seems that science educators are quite consistent in their description of science processes as involving not only practical skills but also intellectual abilities in thinking. Serret (2006) argued that providing a list of thinking skills might only help to reinforce a view that knowledge and understanding are neatly packaged into discrete boxes that bear no relationship to one another. Since the major aim of scientific inquiry for primary learners is to find ways of gathering and interpreting evidence to answer unanswered questions or to explain unexplained phenomena, in this sense, integrating science thinking naturally into science processes through scientific inquiry seems a possible way of developing science thinking. Adey, Nagy, Robertson, Serret, and Wadsworth (2003) illustrated how thinking can be developed in a primary science context, highlighted with key thinking processes, relevant scientific processes 102

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and attitudes. McGuiness (1999) reviewed the thinking approaches used in the UK, and proposed that the generic features used, collectively with some understanding of the underpinning theory, can potentially stimulate children’s thinking when working on tasks in a science context. Besides, the Cognitive Acceleration through Science Education (CASE) programme that draws on Piagetian and Vygotskian perspectives on cognitive development has been successfully implemented for years to improve children’s thinking in the context of science. Though the British experiences have opened a new direction for developing science thinking, the lack of similar research in the local primary curriculum may hinder our understanding of how to get primary pupils to work on intellectually challenging tasks. COLLABORATIVE LEARNING THROUGH GROUP WORK

Vygotsky’s (1978) theory of the ‘zone of proximal development’ is always referred to in terms of collaborative learning through group work. Krajcik, Czerniak, and Berger (2003) think of collaboration as a joint intellectual effort of a community of learners to investigate a question or problem to build understanding. In the literature, although a few researchers (Kuech, 2004) have tried to distinguish between them, cooperative learning and collaborative learning have both been used with a similar connotation of learners working together to accomplish shared learning goals, and the fostering of a classroom climate in which learners interact in ways that promote each other’s learning (Johnson & Johnson, 1999; Slavin, 2003; Kagan, 1997). To avoid confusion, collaborative learning will be used in the forthcoming discussion with the understanding that collaborative work requires all members of the group to engage in cognitive interactions that help to promote conceptual understanding (Dillenbourg, 1999). Koch (2005) emphasized that collaborative learning, as defined by the researchers in this field, is not just any small-group instruction, but is a particular way of organizing the social interaction among students, and that each learner in a collaborative learning group is responsible for his or her own learning and the group’s learning. Krajcik, Czerniak, and Berger (2003) found that collaboration almost always works better than individual learning. Koch (2005) further proposed that science learning groups can help to create an environment for collaborative learning. Koch (2005) further suggested that scientific inquiry, whether undertaken by young learners or by adult scientists, benefits greatly from the collaboration of several people, with interchange and teamwork that are essential for scientific problem solving. This also helps to eliminate the false stereotype of the lonely scientist in a remote laboratory. However, Lee (2002) stressed that the key ingredient needed to accommodate scientific inquiry at the children’s level is the teacher who plans, prepares, poses, presents, hints, prompts, questions, informs, guides, directs, scaffolds, tells and explains—all in the context of children’s hands-on engagement with the objects, organisms, and activities of the real world. Bransford, Brown, and Cocking (2000) suggested that there is a need for both explicit teaching that scaffolds thinking, and indirect instruction that allows students to exercise those skills when thinking about specific subject matter. Being sensitive to both the explicit and directive functions 103

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of teaching, as well as the indirect and facilitative functions of teaching, a teacher is able to create an atmosphere with the correct scientific knowledge, critical thinking and inquiry (Flick, 2003). Ward, Roden, Hewlett and Foreman (2005) proposed that with careful long-term planning from the first level of primary education, teachers might only need to provide support when needed at upper primary levels. RESEARCH METHOD

This study did not attempt to make comparisons because there were variables that could not be controlled. The study was conducted in a local primary school which adopted small class teaching1 with classes of around 25 pupils. A small class of primary 3 pupils aged 8–9 was studied in a session of science inquiry on “keeping a bottle of water warm”. The group of pupils selected for study was randomly chosen by the researcher who had little knowledge of the pupils’ behaviour, interests or level. Harlen (2005) suggested that many studies involved observation of class interactions because the differences in learning processes and opportunities might have a longer-term impact on attainment. Harlen’s suggestion was heeded in this study, with pupils’ conversations and work observed and video-taped. This was to enable the analysis of dialogues and discourse between the teacher and pupils, and among pupils to capture their science thinking, process skills performance, collaboration between group members, and the teacher’s role. An interview with the pupils being observed was conducted after the lesson to collect their views on collaborative group work. The research questions were: – What is the science thinking involved in group science inquiry? – To what extent do primary pupils use science processes in group science inquiry? – What are the roles of the teacher in group science inquiry? – What are the factors deemed important for primary pupils’ group inquiry? ANALYSIS AND RESULTS

The video-taped lessons were transcribed, and pupils’ dialogues and discourses were studied carefully. The following transcriptions are episodes of pupil’s science thinking, use of process skills, pupil’s collaborative learning, and the roles of the teacher in the whole process of the science inquiry. The teacher started the inquiry lesson with a scenario, where a bottle of warm water was needed to be kept warm for some time. The teacher posed a thoughtprovoking question, “What materials from our daily life can be used to keep the bottle of water warm?” to stimulate pupils’ group discussion. Pupil 1 responded quickly to the question with an idea of a vacuum flask to keep the water warm, but this idea was challenged by Pupil 3 and Pupil 4 that a vacuum flask was not the kind of material required by the teacher. The interaction between the members in the group continued with Pupil 3 providing a new idea of cotton which was challenged by Pupil 1: – P1: Vacuum flask. – P3 & 4: We’re talking about materials!! – P3: How about cotton? 104


– P1: What do you mean? Almost everything is made of cotton! – P2, 3, & 4: Yes, yes. When the teacher introduced the experiment to find out which materials were better for keeping the bottle of water warm, she asked the class to discuss in groups what they would use for testing. There was constructive discussion among the group of pupils about the design of the test, with suggestions from different pupils about what to do for the test. During the discussion Pupil 1 seemed to be able to propose a design of the experiment, to which Pupil 3 responded with an alternative suggestion. Since there were different views, Pupils 1 and 2 tried to seek opinions and consensus from the group. – P3: Are we suggesting the use of cotton? – P2 replied P3: By cotton, do you mean a cotton blanket? – P3: A cotton blanket is very big! – P1: A cotton blanket is too big, we’d better use a smaller one (uses hands to represent the size) – P3: How can we use it if it’s so small? – P1: I know how big the bottle is, it’s also very small! (uses hands to represent the size) – P1 to P4 & 3: Get me two thermometers, and 2 bottles wrapped in different materials. Put in the thermometers, then you’ll find out which material keeps the water warmer. – P3 to P4: We can test for several things, not necessarily with 2 bottles! – P1: Then what do we decide to do? – P4: Why ask me? I don’t know! – P2: Are we going for the way suggested? – P4: Yes! During the group experiment, Pupil 1 was able to manage the group by reminding the fellow group members to listen to what the teacher said. Pupil 4 and Pupil 1 were able to use appropriate equipment to cut the material. Both Pupil 4 and Pupil 1 sought peer support from group members to hold the materials. Pupil 3 and Pupil 1 also managed the group by reminding Pupil 4 and Pupil 2 to cut the materials to the same size. There was also negotiation among the group members about the appropriate size of the materials. – P3: There are 2 thermometers. – P1: Please listen to what the teacher said, and don’t start working yet. – P4 to P2 & 1: Use scissors to cut the materials! – P1 to P2: Do you have scissors? – P1: Here comes one bottle for each of us. – P4 to P2: Please help to hold the material. – P1 to 2: I’ve finished cutting one, next, please help to support it! – P1 to P3: I can’t cut it. Can we use the small scissors? – P1 to P3: The small scissors can’t do it. – P3 to P1: They can. – P3 to P4: You’d better make it the same size as the one that is finished. – P1 to P2: This seems a bit bigger. 105

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– P2 to P1: It doesn’t matter. – P1: It’s too big. In conducting the experiment, there were continuous interactions within the group. Pupil 3 sought opinions from the teacher to see if he could have one more bottle for the experiment, and the teacher provided advice. However, the division of work was not obvious here with Pupil 1 doing all the tasks. Fortunately, we could see that other pupils like Pupils 2 and 4 were involved in the process by their recognition of no water in the bottle and by providing challenging views to their peers: – P3: Can I have one more bottle for wrapping? – Teacher: You need to wrap one bottle only! – P1: I have finished wrapping the bottle, let me put in the thermometer. – P2 & P4 to P1: There’s no water! – ……. The teacher helped with the pouring of boiling water into the bottles at the teacher’s bench. This was deemed important as teacher’s support to a group of junior primary pupils. There were discussions and sharing among pupils on the “low” temperature recorded from the thermometer reading because of no water. Besides, Pupil 3 was able to manage the group by checking whose turn it was to get the hot water, and by asking group members to help with this: – P1 to P4: The temperature is so low! (reads out the thermometer reading) – P3 to 1: Of course, there’s no water!! – P3: Whose turn is it to get the boiling water? – P2 & P1: play “paper, scissors, rock” to decide whose turn it is to get the boiling water from the teacher’s bench. – P3 to P1: It’s our group’s turn to get boiling water! Please go get it. From the conversation during the group experiment, there was evidence of division of work among members, with one getting the water and putting in the thermometer, and the other member setting the timer. There was also teacher supervision of the group. – P1: I got the water ( P1 put the thermometer into water), have you got the timer ready? – P4 to P1: Yes, I’ve set the timer already. – P1: What is the temperature? (no one answers) – T: Have you started the experiment? – P1 to T: Yes. I’ve got the thermometer ready. But I don’t know whether they’ve set the timer. In making observations of the reading of the thermometer, there was negotiation among members about the time for the next reading, and the teacher advised the pupils to be patient. Besides, there was support among the group members to solve the problem of fixing the timer. Moreover, Pupil 4 and Pupil 3 were more observant about the safety issue of handling hot water: – P4: I cannot read it (what’s the temperature)? – P1 to P4: Not yet! We need to wait for 10 more seconds. – T to group: We need to wait until ‘2’ appears on the timer before taking the temperature. 106


– T to group: Be patient, don’t press any buttons (on the timer). – P1: Do you have a magnet to fix the timer? (P2 and P1 work together to use a pencil box to fix the timer on the table) – P4 to P1: The water is very hot, don’t touch the bottle. – P2 to P4: It’s not so hot!!! – P3 to P2: You’d better not touch it. During the experiment, there was seeking of opinions among the group members on the time to take the next reading for observing changes during time intervals. Pupil 2 could make a firm decision on this matter which received no objection from the group. Besides, there was visibly division of work among the group members to watch the timer: – P1: It is 1 minute 9 seconds!! (no one responds) – P2: Not ready yet ( for taking the temperature) – P1: It is 1 minute 9 seconds!! – P2 to P1: We need to wait for 2 minutes. – P2: Only one of us needs to watch the timer, don’t crowd together; get away from this. (the other group members count down together) The discussion on taking readings to observe changes of temperature continued throughout the experiment. Not all pupils in this group managed to read the temperature, and there was peer support and suggestions from group members to help pupils who claimed not to have learned the reading of temperature on the thermometer. – P4: It’s time to read the temperature. – P1 to P4: You can’t read it like this. – P4: How should I read it? – P4 to P3: I have never been taught to read it. – (P1 is reading the temperature) – P4 to P1: What is the temperature? – P1 to group: Almost 106 degrees. – P4 & 3: It should not be 106 degrees!! – P3 to P1: You should read the Celsius side. – P4: What temperature is it? Miss Lee, we don’t know how to read the thermometer. From the conversation, we can see that Pupil 1 and Pupil 2 did not possess the skill required to read the temperature on the thermometer, but that the other pupils seemed helpful with providing peer support. This involved Pupil 1 in the process of experimentation, and eventually he could confirm the view of using the Celsius scale to read the temperature. Besides, Pupil 3 could also make a conclusion from his observation of the temperature of the 2 thermometers; that is, he was using the evidence to draw a conclusion. – P1 to P3: I can’t see the scale. – P3 to P1: It’s there, the brown scale. – P2 to P3: You watch! (But get the thermometer back for watching.) – P4 & 3 to T: P1 does not know how to read the temperature from the thermometer. – P1 to P4 & 3: It is 41 degrees Celsius. – P2 to T: I don’t know how to read it either. 107

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– P3 & 4: Which one should we read, Fahrenheit or Celsius? – P1 to 4 & 3: I think we should read Celsius. – P3 to P1: (watching the 2 thermometers) The one wrapped with cloth can keep warm better, it’s temperature is higher. Though this group of pupils could make a conclusion from the evidence collected, there was continuous negotiating among the group members about the interval of time for taking readings. This time Pupil 1 was able to decide what to do next. There was evidence of pupils’ possessing of skills in observing changes and recording observations with peer support. The challenging views also showed that pupils were able to observe changes during time intervals with justifications: – P2 to P1: Why don’t you count from ‘1’ at the beginning? You are now counting down. – P4 to P1: It doesn’t matter! – P1 to P3: Let’s start from ‘3’ (gets the timer from the other members) – P3: records the observations, but not in the appropriate space. (P2 points it out and P3 corrects it). – P4: Let’s continue, it’s the 8th minute. – P1 to P4: No, it should be the 6th minute instead of the 8th minute. – P4 to P1: I mean 2 minutes later is the 8th minute, we’re working for the next 2 minutes, please press the timer. In addition to the video analysis which was used to identify pupils’ science thinking and science processes, the collaboration of the group and the role of the teacher in the science inquiry, an analysis of the transcriptions of the interviews with the pupils was also carried out to obtain a better understanding of factors contributing to primary pupils’ group science inquiry. Pupils’ responses to the interview questions could be grouped into five areas: the advantages of group discussion; the help of the teacher to the group; the role of group members; the preference for types of inquiry activities; and the formation of the group. First, regarding the advantages of group discussion, all pupils agreed that discussion during small group inquiry supports thinking, with more ideas from the group members. This facilitated their thinking and made their thinking more effective and efficient. Second, in discussing the help of the teacher to the group, the pupils also responded that their teacher supported their thinking and working during the science inquiry by answering questions, providing guidance and giving safety support. Third, in discussing the role of group members, most of them claimed that there was no assignment of roles in the group, and that their roles were flexible. One pupil said that there was the role of recording and observation, and another pupil said there were multiple roles for individual members. In asking pupils to think about their own identity in the group, one said that he could lead the group to work, while the majority said that they were followers in the group. Fourth, in expressing their preferences for types of inquiry activities, most pupils said they preferred to have teacher demonstrations like they usually had, followed by group inquiry activities. They did not want to have individual inquiry or group inquiry activities as in this study. The reasons provided were that teacher demonstrations 108


could help to answer some of their queries about the science inquiry, while group work could allow more opportunities for creative thinking and sharing of ideas. Lastly, the majority of the group reported that they liked the existing grouping because they could learn from the group. Only one pupil said he did not like the existing grouping because he did not have any responsibility in the group. When pupils were asked to form their own groups freely, they chose to have best friends and pupils who were of high ability as group members. Besides, pupils of the same gender were also one of their criteria in forming groups. Most of the pupils being interviewed were willing to accept pupils who were of low ability in order to provide more opportunities for them to participate. Lastly, the majority of the group reported that they liked the existing grouping because they could learn from the group. Only one pupil said he did not like the existing grouping because he did not have any responsibility in the group. When pupils were asked to form their own groups freely, they chose to have best friends and pupils who were of high ability as group members. Besides, pupils of the same gender were also one of their criteria in forming groups. Most of the pupils being interviewed were willing to accept pupils who were of low ability in order to provide more opportunities for them to participate. CONCLUSION

Hollins and Whitby (1998) stated that practical work is not necessarily investigative, and that investigating is not always ‘hands-on’; the other side of investigation is that there are processes which are ‘minds-on’ rather than ‘hands-on’. The analysis of pupils’ conversation during the inquiry shows evidence that pupils were interacting among themselves by proposing ideas, responding to and making their own suggestions, sharing/challenging/confirming/justifying views, negotiating, seeking opinions/advice, making decisions, and using evidence to come to conclusions. The science thinking of the group of junior primary pupils in the inquiry process was identified as important; for example, Green (2001) stated that one indicator of higher level thinking is the extent to which children are able to use evidence when drawing conclusions. Besides, Uxzynska-Jarmoc’s (2005) study of seven-year-old children also found that practical thinking is particularly important in solving real-world problems – problems that are practical, natural and familiar to the child. Moreover, Osborne, Erduran and Simon (2006) suggested that providing some space for pupils to work in small groups, discussing and evaluating the evidence both for and against a scientific idea, will not only give them opportunities to “talk science” but will also add some much-needed variety to their science lessons. This group of junior primary pupils was also actively engaged in science process skills, like designing an experiment, proposing an alternative design, using simple instruments for measurement, observing changes during time intervals, recording observations, and observing safety. This is coherent with Koch’s (2005) observation that the processes of investigation, reflection and further investigation, whether undertaken by third graders or by adult scientists, benefits greatly from the collaboration of several people. The varieties of science process skills observed from the lesson 109

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analysis were up to the first 2–3 levels of the 5 levels of Hollins and Whitby’s (1998) progression in experimental and investigative science. The opinions of the pupils in this study about having group collaboration to solve a task/problem echo the views of Krajcik, Czerniak and Berger (2003) that collaboration always works better. Koch’s view of science inquiry as being helpful in creating an environment for collaborative learning was established, too. Besides, the teacher’s role of advising and providing support was conducive to the science inquiry of the junior primary pupils. We can say that there is much to be gained by pupils working in groups, but only if there is real collaboration (Harlen, 2005). Besides, Koch (2005) argued that the assignment of a particular job or role to each member of the group is important, not just to promote group efficiency, but to make sure that everyone participates fully. However, the question remains: “What is the best way to structure the group?” To conclude, though there is no magic formula for automatically improving attainment through grouping (Harlen, 2005), the findings of this study of small group science inquiry show that an environment which nurtures collaboration, and which provides opportunities for pupil-pupil and teacher-pupil dialogue has a significant effect on the children’s learning. The availability of teachers’ guidance and safety advice, and the construction of a collaborative group structure can build communities of inquiry. NOTES 1

Small class teaching has been implemented in Hong Kong public sector primary schools by phases from the 2009/10 school year. It is hope that small class teaching will facilitate the interaction between students and teachers, and amongst students, and will provide the platform for a more diversified teaching and learning culture.

REFERENCES Adey, P., Nagy, F., Robertson, A., Serret, N., & Wadsworth, P. (2003). Let’s think through science! London: nferNelson. Bransford, J. D., Brown, A. L., & Cocking, R. R. (2000). How people learn: Brain, mind, experience, and school. Washington, DC: National Academy Press. Carin A. A., Bass, J. E., & Contant, T. L. (2005). Activities for teaching science as inquiry. New Jersey, NJ: Pearson. Curriculum Development Council. (2002). Science education: Key learning area curriculum guide (Primary 1-Secondary 3). Hong Kong: Printed Department. Dillenbourg, P. (1999). Collaborative learning: Cognitive and computational approaches. Amsterdam: Pergamon. Fleer, M., & Hardy, T. (1996). Science for children: Developing a personal approach to teaching. Sydney: Prentice Hall. Flick, L. B. (2003). Teaching science as inquiry by scaffolding student thinking. Science Scope, 26(8), 34–38. Green, S. (2001). Using evidence in practical science: Children’s thinking. Primary Science Review, 69, 23–27. Harlen, W. (2005). What does research say about different ways of grouping pupils? Education in Science, 214, 25–27. 110

SMALL GROUP INQUIRY SCIENCE LEARNING Harlen, W. (2006). ASE guide to primary science. Hatfield, Herts: The Association for Science Education. Hollins, M., & Whitby, V. (1998). Progression in primary science: A guide to the nature and practice of science in key stages 1 and 2. London: David Fulton Publishers. Johnson, D. W., & Johnson, R. T. (1999). Learning together and alone: Cooperative, competitive, and individualistic learning (5th ed.). Boston: Allyn and Bacon. Kagan, S. (1997). Cooperative learning. San Clemente, CA: Kagan Cooperative Books. Klahr, D., & Nigam, M. (2004). The equivalence of learning paths in early science instruction. Psychological Science, 15(10), 661–667. Koch, J. (2005). Science stories: Science methods for elementary and middle school teachers (3rd ed.). Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co. Krajcik, J. S., Czerniak, C. M., & Berger, C. F. (2003). Teaching science in elementary and middle school classrooms: A project-based approach. Boston: McGraw-Hill. Kuech, R. (2004). Collaborative and interactional processes in an inquiry-based, informal learning environment. The Journal of classroom interaction, 39(1), 30–41. Lee, O. (2002). Promoting scientific inquiry with elementary students from diverse cultures and languages. In W. C. Secada (Ed.), Review of research in education (Vol. 26, pp. 23–69). Washington, DC: American Education Research Association. McGuiness, C. (1999). From thinking skills to thinking classrooms: A review and evaluation of approaches for developing pupil’s thinking. London: Department for Education and Employment. Mayer, R. E. (2004). Should there be a three-strikes rule against pure discovery learning? American Psychologist, 59(1), 14–19. Mercer, N., Dawes, L., Wegerif, R., & Sams, C. (2004). Reasoning as a scientist: Ways of helping children to use language to learn science. British Educational Research Journal, 30(3), 359–377. Millar, R., Gott, R., Lubben. F., & Duggans, S. (1996). Children’s performance of investigative tasks in science: A framework for considering progression. In M. Huges (Ed.), Progression in learning (pp. 82–108). Clevedon: Multilingual Matters Ltd. National Research Council. (1996). National science education standards. Washington, DC: National Academy Press. National Research Council. (2000). Inquiry and the national science education standards. Washington, DC: National Academy Press. Ogborn, J., Kress, G., Martins, I., & McGillicuddy, K. (1996). Explaining science in the classroom. Buckingham: Open University Press. Osborne, J., Erduan, S., & Simon, S. (2006). Ideas, evidence and argument in science education. Education in science, 216, 14–15. Slavin, R. E. (2003). Educational psychology: Theory and practice (7th ed.). Boston: Allyn and Bacon. Serret, N. (2006). Developing children’s thinking in primary science. In Harlen (Ed.), ASE guide to primary science (pp. 191–197). Hatfield, Herts: The Association for Science Education. Uxzynska-Jarmoc, J. (2005). Different types of thinking of seven-year-old children and their achievements in school. Early Child Development and Care, 175(7 & 8), 671–680. Vygotsky, L. S. (1978). Mind in society: The development of higher psychological processes. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. Ward. H., Roden. J., Hewlett, C., & Foreman, J. (2005). Teaching science in the primary classroom: A practical guide. London: Paul Chapman Pub. Warwick, P. (2000). Developing a scientific way of working with young children. In P. Warcick & R. S. Linfield (Eds.), Science 3–13: The past, the present, and possible futures (pp. 49–63). London: Routledge Falmer.

Winnie W. M. So Department of Science and Environmental Studies The Hong Kong Institute of Education

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8. GETTING TO KNOW YOUR TOOLS AS SCIENCE TEACHERS AND STUDENTS A Reflective Exercise on Laboratory Apparatus, Equipment and Instruments

INTRODUCTION

Coyne (1997) wrote in his book, The Laboratory Companion – A Practical Guide to Materials, Equipment, and Technique, that “the most dangerous person in the laboratory, to both equipment and other personnel, is the person who through pride, ego, or ignorance, claims knowledge that he or she does not have (pp. xviii)”. Most people working in a school laboratory setting are learners (teachers, technical staff and students) and are therefore unlikely to claim “knowledge that he or she does not have”. It is not a crime if we do not know some facts or information. However, if we do not make an effort to know what we should know in our studies, or to do our work properly, then that would not be a good learning or work attitude. This is especially so in the science laboratory. Such an attitude would put everyone working in the laboratory on the path of danger. Hence, as science teachers and students, we should make an effort to know our “tools of the trade” – the laboratory apparatus, equipment and instruments. We should try to know more about the hardware we are working with for the safety of all, including ours. By knowing our tools we can make the best use of them in a given learning situation. When things go wrong, we could then have the basic knowledge to fall back on and be able to explain why things went wrong. Obviously none of us want to be the bad workman who blames his tools at the first sign of a fault. A fault can arise from a defective hardware, or it may be due to an honest human error. It takes an observant laboratory worker with a sound knowledge of the tools to accurately identify the fault, or the source, of error and rectify it professionally. As science lessons are being encouraged to be inquiry-based (Anderson, 2002; Green & Elliott, 2004; Selby, 2006), it makes good sense that teachers offer ample opportunities for themselves and their students to learn through a process of observing and asking questions that would lead them to meaningful learning outcomes. M. M. H. Cheng and W. W. M. So (eds.), Science Education in International Contexts, 113–121. © 2011 Sense Publishers. All rights reserved.

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The old adage that “knowledge is power” certainly justifies the need for us to know more about the tools we use. Coyne’s comment may not have originated from users of school laboratories. It is more likely the result of his observation of what goes on in research, commercial and industrial laboratories. However, as science educators we have a duty to start our young charges off on the right track. Getting to know our “tools of the trade” is not only a good way to learn about laboratory hardware up close and personal, it is also a good opportunity for teachers to develop students into more observant learners of science. Inquiry learning activities in school experimental science often start with an informed source, thus one such source could very well be that piece of hardware itself. WHAT IS REFLECTIVE LEARNING AND WHY REFLECT ON OUR LEARNING?

Before discussing the teachers’ reflective learning experiences, it is helpful to discuss the “software” they used to learn more about the laboratory hardware. Science educators and teachers must have heard about Reflective Learning, talked about it and hopefully also applied it in the course of their professional work in class and in the laboratory. It is not a new learning approach. Well known educationist Dewey (1933) proposed it as a means of developing in an individual a reflective thinking habit. He argued that reflective thinkers are also more likely independent learners. Reflective Learning is also about distilling useful details from a past learning experience that can be applied immediately or in the near future. The Experiential Learning Cycle by Kolb and Fry (1975) clearly and aptly highlights the experiential element in reflective learning. The literature has volumes of academic and scholarly work on reflective and experiential learning and the application of these in various learning situations (Atkins & Murphy, 1993; Ellis, 2001; Moon, 2004; Tan, 2002; Whitaker, 1995; Wilson & Jan, 1993). In practice, the frequently asked questions about reflective learning are “How do I know my students are indeed reflecting and not day dreaming?” and “How should I go about conducting Reflective Learning activities for my students?” Like thinking, reflecting is a mental process that is invisible and non-concrete to the observer. Even the learner is often unaware that he or she is reflecting. It is therefore important to conceptualize Reflective Learning and to address that question about whether “my students are indeed reflecting and not day dreaming.” A model of reflective learning (Figure 1) was developed by Tan and Goh (2002). The model aims to identify what reflection requires and the possible evidences showing a learner has indeed been reflecting. It may therefore be considered an attempt to make reflecting a more “visible” process. In this model, any reflective learning opportunity should provide both time and relevant experiences for the learner to reflect upon. Then, to ascertain if the learner has made an effort to reflect on the given task or issue, the output from the reflective learning exercise should have evidences of the learner’s ability to generate a list of alternative or related ideas and also to make some sense of the list of ideas. A person who is less inclined to reflect 114

GETTING TO KNOW YOUR TOOLS

Figure 1. A model of reflective learning in the classroom (Tan & Goh, 2002).

would probably find it more difficult or less spontaneous in generating such a list. Perhaps, he or she may also find it difficult to make much sense of the list of ideas generated. Scientific inquiry involves reflection and there are many examples of historical discoveries to illustrate this fact. A good example is the discovery of gravity which resulted from Newton’s reflection on an apple falling from a tree. The concept of relative density surfaced from Archimedes’ reflection when he got into his bathtub. Then, there was Frederick Kekule’s discovery of the structure of benzene when he reflected on his dream about a snake trying to bite its own tail. Although some people may call these events the result of great intuition connected to the intellectual minds of the discoverers (Physics Discovery and Intuition, 2003), it is reasonable to suggest that intuitive thinkers are also habitual reflective learners. They need to first observe a situation, and then relate it to their own learning experiences (the questions that they have been asking). Finally, they generate the possible answers before making sense of these to arrive at their great discoveries The main task of educators is not to turn out great scientists and discoverers but to provide opportunities for students to lean towards being habitual reflective learners. Hopefully some of these learners will make it big later in life. For the majority, picking up the reflective learning habit in school will definitely help them survive better in a demanding and an everchanging world of work.

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THE REFLECTIVE LEARNING EXERCISE FOR SCIENCE TEACHERS

As part of an in-service workshop on “Student-designed Chemistry Experiments”, 50 secondary school chemistry teachers (in two separate 12-hour workshops) were asked to each reflect on a piece of apparatus or equipment. An apparatus may be referred to as a piece of laboratory glassware (like a beaker and a pipette) and nonglassware (like stoppers and test tube holders). Equipment refers more to tools that help us perform simple procedures like heating and handling materials (like the metallic tripod with wire gauze, tongs and retort stand). Instruments, on the other hand, are largely those electronic, electrical or mechanical gadgets and machines that are used for making measurements or observations (for example, electronic balances, pH meters, spring or beam balances and light microscopes). While these may not be exact definitions of the terms used to describe the various types of hardware in the laboratory, they served as convenient references to the various pieces of hardware used in the teachers’ reflective exercise. Since the workshop dealt with aspects of teaching students how to design setups and conduct chemistry experiments, the ability to choose and use appropriate laboratory hardware and materials is an essential experimental skill. Therefore the objective of the reflective exercise is to impress upon the teacher participants the importance of this skill by giving them a first-hand experience of reflecting on the laboratory hardware. Method Used in the Reflective Activity – Teachers were grouped into fives or sixes and given a set of laboratory hardware. – Individually, each teacher picked up a piece of hardware and was instructed to observe it “at all angles” for about five to ten minutes. – They then noted down a list of features they could observe about that piece of hardware. At this stage the teacher need not offer an explanation for their observation. [It is also at this stage that teachers reported about their observations of rather “unsual” aspects of common laboratory apparatus. These are things that they had taken for granted in the course of their work. As one participant commented in her workshop reflective journal, “nobody ever asked me about it”. Table 1 shows a list of typical observations made by teachers on some laboratory hardware.] – Teachers then shared their observations with group members. [That was when the “discoveries”, or “re-discoveries”, of knowledge were made. Participants expressed amazement about not knowing that such-and-such a piece of apparatus is shaped this way. For example, the measuring cylinder “had these buds jutting out (sic) on the underneath (sic, meaning the base)”. Enlightened responses like “now I know why a tripod is called a tripod!” were also common (Table 1).] – Each group then presented their findings to the class, and all these observations were recorded in their workshop reflective journals. 116


Table 1. Observed features of some common laboratory glassware and equipment Apparatus /equipment

Observed feature/explanation

(1) Measuring cylinder

Feature - “these had buds jutting out (sic) on the underneath (sic, meaning the base) of the cylinder” Explanation - Prevent the base of the measuring cylinder from getting stuck to a wet bench top.

(2) Beaker, 250 ml

Feature - “there are two sets of volume markings – one ascending, the other descending (from the base of the beaker)” Explanation - Ascending markings are for monitoring the amount of liquid being poured into the beaker, while descending markings are for pouring liquid out of the beaker.

(3) Tripod

Feature - It has three bent legs (from a question asked “why a tripod cannot be four legged?”) Explanation - For stability. With three legs, even if any leg is shorter by one or a few millimetres, the tripod remains stable because all three legs are in firm contact with the surface. With four legs, it becomes wobbly if one leg is shorter by one or a few millimetres, like an “unbalanced” four-legged chair or stool.

Learning Experiences Following the Exercise As the teachers took turns to share their findings about their own piece of hardware, they naturally took on the role of explaining to the rest of the group members what each of their observations meant. In less than half an hour, each group had learnt 117

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and shared at least five to six pieces of common laboratory apparatus and equipment. The reflective exercise had therefore provided the teachers with an opportunity to get to know more about their “tools of the trade”. Many participants lamented that the tight curricular schedule in schools had deprived them of such an opportunity to reflect. To many of them this was an eyeopening learning experience (Table 2). While teachers had an enjoyable and exciting time handling and observing the laboratory hardware there were also comments about the difficulties and problems met in such an exercise, like (1) “time is needed to reflect and it is not practical or possible to run the same activity in school”, (2) “we have big classes to handle” and (3) “a lack of apparatus and equipment for the students to reflect upon”. Such problems may be common but teachers were advised to provide their students with whatever opportunities that may arise during their lessons. Going by the feedback from the teachers in this exercise, even a short and simple reflective exercise would probably give learners a good and impactful learning experience. The benefits of this exercise, as explained to the participants, were more for the teachers themselves. These include getting to know the “tools of the trade” and experiencing first-hand the entire reflective learning process. The reflective process basically involves three steps: observing, generating and relating, or the OGR approach (Tan, 2004). The exercise also served as a teaching model which teachers can use in a science class to provide students with opportunities to reflect. This may help ignite the students’ passion in learning science and perhaps contribute positively to the community as science-related professionals in later life. Although it may not be easy to conduct similar reflective exercises in class or in the laboratory during curriculum time, teachers who have undergone this exercise would have the relevant learning experience to share with students or fellow colleagues on how they can be more observant about the hardware. Being observant is a very helpful skill, especially in experimental set-up design classes. Table 2. Some feedback from participants on reflective learning and design of set-ups Theme of feedback

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Expectations of pupils by participating teachers

On reflective learning

– Reflective learning is very useful but pupils need to be given time to do it. – A reflective habit of learning is part of experimental science.

On the exercise of reflecting on apparatus

– Spending time to reflect on glassware was educational. It actually helped (me) understand and appreciate the apparatus that we use. – Reflection on apparatus and sharing with colleagues were enriching (learning experiences).

On Experimental Design and Experimental Chemistry

– Pupils must acquire some basic skills and knowledge before they can do the experiments. – Experimental Chemistry involves not just the hands but also the mind.


SOME ACTIVITIES FOR SCIENCE TEACHERS AND STUDENTS

The reflective learning exercise was focused on the “tools of the trade” (the hardware) but teachers can borrow the idea to provide similar practical reflective learning activities for students. One possible activity is to ask students, after a short lesson on a topic like experimental techniques or rate of reaction, to observe (either by looking at a diagram of an experimental set up, or eyeballing a set of data) and then generate a list of trends, patterns or questions pertaining to the topic discussed (Tan, 2007). Asking questions or getting students to pose questions are also very effective and impactful reflective learning strategies (Chin, 2007; Chin & Osborne, 2008; Fogarty, 1994; Tan, 2007). The teacher may then present the list to the class to generate more discussion, more questions and more ideas. Active participation among students would very likely follow. It is also useful to get students to reflect on the various materials that they may be handling in the laboratory – like chemicals in powder form, metallic materials, aqueous solutions, liquids of different flow or volatility properties and even gases, vapour or vapour-like matter, like smoke or steam. It would be interesting to let students observe these matters at close (but safe) range, then to generate as many descriptors as they can from their observations, and finally to make sense of the list generated. In experimental set-up design classes, originality and creativity are two frequently cited criteria. Very often students either get stuck in a task requiring them to design an experimental procedure, or they could probably just regurgitate an experimental set-up that is a copy of textbook information. Students need to know that there is usually more than one way to conduct an experiment or perform an experimental skill or procedure, for examples, to find (a good estimate of) the density of clean dry air, to measure the volume of a piece of cork and perhaps even to mount a microscope slide with some cells. What learners need is the opportunity to experience the learning, to make the initial mistakes, to reflect on the possibilities and to generate and make sense of the ideas arising from their observations. Issues like constraints of time, how applicable may reflection be used to teach a topic and how relevant the learning experience is with respect to curricular requirements should also be considered. However, when an opportunity arises for students to reflect, it is almost certain that many unexpected and valuable learning experiences can be gathered by both the teacher and the students. Not letting students reflect (perhaps, by having the teacher tell students the important facts, say, of an experimental set-up) would be a valuable learning opportunity missed. CONCLUSION

The reflective exercise is a good application of the reflective learning model (Figure 1). Despite the packed schedule planned for the 12-hour in-service workshop, teachers were (1) given time to observe the various hardware, (2) relying on their observation and past experiences in using that hardware to generate a list of features and then (3) trying to explain how these features are related to its expected functions (that is, relating the features of the hardware to its uses). 119

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Feedback from the participants (Table 2) indicates a sense of satisfaction in their learning experiences and an approval of reflective learning as a teaching-learning approach. Even the most experienced teachers among them made comments like “reflection is a good way to make students become more thinking learners” and “although it is time consuming, I will encourage my students to reflect ”. Participants also cited reflective learning strategies as appropriate and interesting ways to teach school experimental science. Although several revisions have been made to the reflective tasks and the choice of hardware, the reflective learning exercise has been a staple introductory activity in the “Student-designed Chemistry Experiments” in-service workshops (first conducted in 2004 and twice yearly since then). Other workshop activities may include similar reflective exercises on experimental skills and techniques. These may require live demonstrations or video-captured sequences of experimental procedures. Comments and suggestions arising from such reflective exercises provide very valuable information for budding scientists-to-be and science teachers to better design, extend or improve on their experimental set-ups. REFERENCES Anderson, R. D. (2002). Reforming science teaching: What research says about inquiry. Journal of Science Teacher Education, 13(1), 1–12. Atkins, S., & Murphy, K. (1993). Reflection: A review of the literature. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 18, 1188–1192. Chin, C. (2007). Teacher questioning in science classrooms: Approaches that stimulate productive thinking. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 44(6), 815–843. Chin, C., & Osborne, J. (2008). Students’ questions: A potential resource for teaching and learning science. Studies in Science Education, 44(1), 1–39. Coyne, S. G. (1997). The laboratory companion – a practical guide to materials, equipment, and technique. New York: John Wiley and Sons, Inc. Dewey, J. (1933). How we think. A restatement of the relation of reflective thinking to the educative process. Massachusetts, MA: Heath and Company. Ellis, A. K. (2001). Teaching, learning, and assessment together. The reflective classroom. New York: Eye on Education, Inc. Fogarty, R. (1994). Teach for metacognitive reflection. Illinois, IL: Skylight Professional. Green, W. J., & Elliott, C. (2004). “Prompted” inquiry-based learning in the introductory chemistry laboratory. Journal of Chemical Education, 81(2), 239–241. Kolb, D. A., & Fry, R. (1975). Towards an applied theory of experiential learning. In C. L. Cooper (Ed.), Theories of group processes (pp. 33–58), London: John Wiley. Moon, J. (2004). A handbook of reflective and experiential learning. Theory and practice. London: RoutledgeFalmer. Physics Discovery and Intuition. (2003, April-June). Connections through time. Issue 19. Retrieved November 7, 2009, from http://www.p-i-a.com/Magazine/Issue19/Physics_19.htm Selby, C. C. (2006). What makes it science? A modern look at scientific inquiry. Journal of College Science Teaching, 35(7), 8–11. Tan, K. S. (2002). Reflective learning in the classroom. Review of Educational Research and Advances for Classroom Teachers, 21(2), 101–110. Tan, K. S. (2004). Keeping reflective journals. In S. K. Chang, J. A. Shek, & B. T. Ho (Eds.), Managing project work in schools: Issues and innovative practices (pp. 41–57). Singapore: Pearson Education Asia. 120

GETTING TO KNOW YOUR TOOLS Tan, K. S. (2007). Using “What if..” questions to teach science. Asia-Pacific Forum on Science Learning and Teaching, 8(1), Article 16. Retrieved November 7, 2009, from http://www.ied.edu.hk/apfslt/ Tan, K. S., & Goh, N. K. (2002, November). Reflective learning and the school science curriculum. Paper presented at the ERAS 2002 conference, Singapore. Whitaker, P. (1995). Managing to learn. Aspects of reflective and experiential learning in schools. London: Casell. Wilson, J., & Jan, L. W. (1993). Thinking for themselves: Developing strategies for reflective learning. Australia: Eleanor Curtain Publications.

Kok- Siang Tan Natural Sciences and Science Education Academic Group National Institute of Education Nanyang Technological University Singapore

121

NING DING AND YARONG XU

9. IMPROVING FEMALE STUDENTS’ PHYSICS LEARNING IN HIGH SCHOOL

INTRODUCTION

The gendered achievement in physics always bothers high school teachers, especially when problem-solving learning is involved. The lag in female students’ learning achievement in physics is reflected by the low enrolment of females in physics-related subjects at grade 12. For years, the most common method adopted by teachers was to instruct female students using repetitious exercises. Schoenfeld’s (1992) problem-solving strategy in mathematics has sparked numerous studies addressing how students benefit from the strategy in maths, physics and other scientific subjects. This five-episode strategy can be converted into five “hints” as just-in-time instruction for female students while solving problems. Having “hints” at hand makes them confident of their problem-solving abilities, and triggers their willingness to try their own solutions. The major aim of this article is to introduce an individual learning strategy for female students to improve their problem-solving skills, and to further minimize the gender gap. THE MORE, THE BETTER?

Successful problem-solving is crucial to academic success in all stages of school (Roberts, Gilmore, & Wood, 1997). In physics, however, males far outnumber females in exams, and they also “outvoice” female students in classroom discussion. Howe (1997) asserts that males make more contributions than females in whole-class instruction. It has been revealed that female students lose their interest as they leave elementary school (Jones, Howe, & Rua, 2000). Since then, the waning enthusiasm in physics among female students is quite noticeable. A meta-analysis conducted by Weinberg (1995) revealed a less positive attitude among female students in physics. For them, physics is a field dominated by males (Keller, 1985). Such a belief leads to a reluctance to get interested in physics. The turning point emerges in high school and becomes dramatic when problem solving is involved (Hyde, Fennema, & Lamon, 1990). There is a higher problem-solving achievement among males than females (Adigwe, 1992; Casey, 2001). To improve female students’ problem-solving learning in physics, some teachers believe in a rule of thumb: the more, the better. Generally, teachers suggest that female students repeat as many physics exercises as possible, because they believe that the more problems they solve, the better achievement in physics they will have. M. M. H. Cheng and W. W. M. So (eds.), Science Education in International Contexts, 123–128. © 2011 Sense Publishers. All rights reserved.

DING AND XU

On the one hand, doing so puts the least demand on the teacher, while on the other hand, it is based on the hypothesis that female students can deepen their understanding of concepts, memorize equations and transfer the knowledge to outside the classroom setting through repetitious exercises. It is assumed that solving more problems will automatically lead to a better achievement in physics problem-solving learning. DIFFERENT LEARNING STYLE

However, obstacles to females’ underrepresentation in physics seem to stem from their different learning style, despite the stereotype embedded in society. There is a gender-related difference in learning styles in science (Versey, 1990). Some researchers speculate that females may shy away from physics. There is a decrease in confidence and academic risk-taking as girls get older (Orenstein, 1995). Compared with male cohorts, female students are quite unassertive during the process of problemsolving. Even if they consistently receive the same scores as boys, they show less confidence and greater self-doubt in problem solving. If they do not know the answer female students will not raise their hands. They even have great difficulties with problems that are simply concatenations of several exercises they have already done (Gabel & Sherwood, 1984, p. 849; Plants, 1980, p. 26). Unlike their male counterparts who are always ready to try every idea they can think of, female students are more inclined to flip through pages of the textbook trying to find some seemingly similar equations. Females find it difficult to locate the right equation or theorem. Therefore, the individual problem-solving exercises run counter to the intuitive learning style of females which is featured as more interdependent in nature. COMPREHENSIVE SKILLS FOR PROBLEM-SOLVING

Furthermore, problem-solving skills are not a single set of several sub-skills. They include higher order cognitive processes and involve a series of abilities, such as “visualization, association, abstraction, comprehension, manipulation, reasoning, analysis, synthesis, generalization, each needing to be ‘managed’ and ‘coordinated’” (Garofalo & Lester, 1985). Problem-solving is not a linear process, and physics expertise involves more flexible understanding and application of principles. Therefore, regardless of how many problems females solve, blind exercises will not result in an improvement in their problem-solving skills. SOLVING PROBLEMS WITH “HINTS”

This idea of solving problems with strategic “hints” grew out of the realisation that successful problem-solving involves conscious qualitative analysis, paraphrasing the problem information, mapping the solution, and a conscious review of equations or theorems that fit the problem. Schoenfeld’s (1992) five-episode strategy developed in mathematics is: read and analyse the problem (analyse); activate relevant knowledge to solve the problem (explore); make a plan (plan); carry out the plan (implement); and check the answer (verify). Based on these episodes, “hints” are developed to help students solve problems (See Table 1). 124

IMPROVING FEMALE STUDENTS’ PHYSICS LEARNING

Table 1. Sample problem and its “hints”—conceptual hints Problem Calculating Elasticity The dynamometer in the figure shows 15 N now leading in two directions. Calculate the elasticity of the cord and the force of the load. Hint 1

Survey Problem

Picture all the forces, including the force of the cord and the force of the dynanometer, and picture the resultant force.

Hint 2

Explore Knowledge

You can use the trigonometric method to calculate two forces.

Hint 3

Make a Plan

1. If you know the angle α and the adjacent, you will get … 2. What is the magnitude of Fres? 3. Then the force of the cord is coming.

Hint 4

Calculate It

Sin37o=3/5 & Cos37o=4/5 So, 25*Cos37 o =?

Hint 5

Verify Answer

Do you have a better solution?

Table 2. Means and standard deviations of female and male students’ pre- and posttest

female Learning with Hints

Learning without Hints

pretest (scale 0 – 20)

Std.

posttest (scale 0 –20)

Std.

4.54

3.69

14.68

6.39

male

4.50

4.74

11.58

9.20

Total

4.52

3.90

13.75

7.23

female

2.90

3.47

4.44

6.06

male

4.37

4.16

11.42

4.38

Total

3.74

3.87

8.43

6.14

The major goal of using “hints” is to provide just-in-time instruction for female students who are not as assertive in solving problems as males. There is no rulebending in using or choosing “hints” because problem-solving is not a linear process. “Hints” can also be provided to male students, but our empirical data (Ding & Xu, 2005) shows that there is no significant improvement between those learning with and without “hints” (See Table 2). On the contrary, after a three-week experiment female students who learnt with “Hints” significantly outperformed females learning without “Hints” in a posttest, p

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