Academic literature on the topic 'Science Science teachers Educational change Curriculum planning'

It is by now common knowledge that one of the aspects upon which the survival of the University depends is how it will make the best possible use of the new technologies (e-learning). Despite the acceptance of this principle, difficulties arise when one attempts to proceed from the mere declaration to actually planning activities and putting them into effect. This research, the result of collaboration between teachers and researchers of the Educational Science and Engineering Faculties of the University of Florence, focuses on certain theoretical concepts and reference apparatus, bringing inte

This case study focuses on how students use a greenhouse effect simulation. The simulation is embedded within an inquiry-based technology-mediated science curriculum known as the Web-Based Inquiry Science Environment (WISE). For this research, students from a suburban, diverse, middle school setting were asked to use the simulation as part of a week-long class lesson on global warming and climate change. Using a combination of student interviews, focus groups, and students’ conversations while they used the simulation, the authors present evidence of shifts in student motivation, understanding of science content, and ideas about the nature of science, all connected to the use of the simulation. From this data, the authors derived ways that teachers can help students develop deeper understandings of climate science topics through educational technology. Examples of these pedagogical approaches included allowing students to conduct “extreme testing” and increasing the time for free exploration of the simulation.

This chapter highlights some issues that are critical in evaluating technology in education such that it will be implemented to meet educational goals, and it will also serve as a spotlight for policy makers and educators to make a worthwhile return on their technology investment. Schools and institutions of learning invest heavily on technology before establishing clear plans on how it will be integrated into teaching and learning to achieve educational goals. Even though many studies have reported positive impact of technology on students’ learning, few studies have been carried out to investigate whether the investment on technology in schools have been commensurate with the investment. Particularly, needs assessment on both students and teachers’ technology needs is often ignored before technology implementation. Educators and policy makers need to consider certain evaluation issues before committing huge budget percentages into technology. It is crucial to ask what can technology do that cannot be done without it, what percentage of the institution’s budget should be invested on technology, how should technology be integrated in the curriculum to achieve educational goals, and lots more before investing on educational technology to avoid resource wastage. Thus, this chapter highlights these critical issues in the light of a study conducted on the integration of information and communication technology (ICT) in the teaching and learning of science and mathematics in Malaysian secondary school (Adedokun, 2008). The research investigated some concerns that culminated from the integration of ICT in the instruction of English, mathematics, and science in Malaysia among which are: Can the teachers deliver? Do they have the strong will to deliver? Are there adequate facilities for them to carry out this new task? Do they possess the necessary skills for them to be able to deliver? Does the government provide adequate training on the integration of ICT in subject content? Are the students prepared for the change in the medium of instruction? What is the present situation in schools with regards to the use of ICT? And is better teaching and learning achieved with the integration of ICT?

How can we best understand the repeated eff orts to rationalize schools across the 20th century? Traditional approaches to explaining political phenomena—interest groups, institutions, partisan theories, and rational choice—are limited in their ability to explain this recurring impulse. Instead, a complementary set of cultural lenses—ideas, professions, fields, logics, moral power, and institutional vantage points—can shed more light on these repeated movements. Together, these perspectives also offer a different way of thinking about the nature of social and political contestation, one that is deeply cultural in its ontology and that integrates ideas, interests, and institutions, links the social and the political, and explains both continuity and change. In one sense, movements to “rationalize” schools have cycled across the 20th century. As will be discussed in more detail in the chapters to come, at three different times reformers have embraced the rationalization of schools. In the Progressive Era, a group of reformers, comprising mostly businessmen, city elites, and university professors, sought to shift power from large, local ward boards, which they viewed as parochial and unprofessional, to smaller boards controlled by professional elites. They made the superintendent the equivalent of the CEO of the school system and directed him to use the latest in scientific methods and modern management techniques to measure outcomes and to ensure that resources were being used efficiently to produce the greatest possible bang for the buck. The newly emerging science of testing was widely employed to ensure that teachers and schools were meeting standards and to sort students into appropriate tracks, with the aim of “efficiently” matching students with the curriculum appropriate to their ability. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, a second accountability movement sought to take hold of American schooling. Seeking to realize both a civil rights agenda of improving the quality of schooling and to satisfy more conservative concerns about the efficient spending of public dollars, state after state passed laws designed to inject greater accountability into the school system.

In Kenya, student performance in sciences and Mathematics is still low compared to artoriented disciplines. The poor performance has affected not only the Girl child’s interest in these disciplines but also the number of girls that take STEM-oriented programs at tertiary levels. Several mitigating measures have been enacted although the situation has not changed much. This paper reports a study that explored contextual enablers and hindrances of Girl Child participation in STEM education in a Western Kenyan county. The study employed a case study approach by administering structured questionna

Technology and the corresponding constructivism are creating an educational agenda where the process of learning is valued at least as highly as the outcome. Since technology entered the classroom, learning goals have expanded from facts and knowledge by subject to intellectual curiosity and a love of learning. Students are engaging in their own meaning-making, or knowledge production, through project-based learning that reflects their interests and abilities rather than solely seeking to meet content area standards. New learning goals for students have greatly altered the role of teachers. Th