Reforming and Assessing Undergraduate Science Instruction Using Collaborative Action‐Based Research Teams

Faculty members at Purdue University in the departments of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, Biological Sciences, and Chemistry conducted a reform effort for the undergraduate curriculum utilizing action‐based research teams. These action‐based research teams developed, implemented, and assessed constructivist approaches to teaching undergraduate science content in each department. This effort utilized a partnership of scientists, science educators, master teachers, graduate students, and undergraduate students. Results indicated that the project partners were able to (a) implement more inquiry‐based teaching that emphasized conceptual understanding, (b) provide opportunities for cooperative learning experiences, (c) use models as an ongoing theme, (d) link concepts and models to real‐world situations, e.g., field trips, (e) provide a more diverse range of assessment strategies, and (f) have students present their understandings in a variety of different forms. Further, we found that we were able to (a) involve graduate and undergraduate students, classroom teachers, scientists, and science educators together to work on the reform in a collaborative manner, (b) bring multiple perspectives for teaching and for science to support instruction and, (c) provide scientists and graduate science students (who will become university professors) with more effective teaching models. We also found that the collaborative action‐based research process was effective for contributing to the reform of undergraduate teaching.     

Trust and relational capital

Trust can be viewed at the same time as an instrument both for an agent selecting the right partners in order to achieve its own goals, and for an agent of being selected from other potential partners in order to establish with them a cooperation/collaboration and to take advantage from the accumulated trust. In this paper we will analyze trust as the agents’ relational capital. Starting from the classical dependence network with potential partners, we introduce the analysis of what it means for an agent to be trusted and how this condition could be strategically used from it for achieving its own goals, that is, why it represents a form of power. The idea of taking another agent’s point of view is especially important if we consider the amount of studies in social science that connect trust with social capital related issues. Although there is a big interest in literature about ‘social capital’ and its powerful effects on the wellbeing of both societies and individuals, often it is not clear enough what is it the object under analysis. Individual trust capital (relational capital) and collective trust capital not only should be disentangled, but their relations are quite complicated and even conflicting. To overcome this gap, we propose a study that first attempts to understand what trust is as capital of individuals. In which sense “trust” is a capital. How this capital is built, managed and saved. In particular, how this capital is the result of the others’ beliefs and goals. Then we aim to analytically study the cognitive dynamics of this object.     

Trust and relational capital

Trust can be viewed at the same time as an instrument both for an agent selecting the right partners in order to achieve its own goals, and for an agent of being selected from other potential partners in order to establish with them a cooperation/collaboration and to take advantage from the accumulated trust. In this paper we will analyze trust as the agents’ relational capital. Starting from the classical dependence network with potential partners, we introduce the analysis of what it means for an agent to be trusted and how this condition could be strategically used from it for achieving its own goals, that is, why it represents a form of power. The idea of taking another agent’s point of view is especially important if we consider the amount of studies in social science that connect trust with social capital related issues. Although there is a big interest in literature about ‘social capital’ and its powerful effects on the wellbeing of both societies and individuals, often it is not clear enough what is it the object under analysis. Individual trust capital (relational capital) and collective trust capital not only should be disentangled, but their relations are quite complicated and even conflicting. To overcome this gap, we propose a study that first attempts to understand what trust is as capital of individuals. In which sense “trust” is a capital. How this capital is built, managed and saved. In particular, how this capital is the result of the others’ beliefs and goals. Then we aim to analytically study the cognitive dynamics of this object.     

Construction and Validity of Geometry Attitude Scales

The purpose of this study was to develop and establish the validity and reliability of an instrument to measure students' attitudes toward geometry. Participants consisted of 264 undergraduate students from two universities, one in the Midwest and one in the Southwest. The instrument is a 5‐point Likert‐scaled survey consisting of 32 statements and 3 subscales. The internal consistency using Cronbach's coefficient alpha was 0.95 for the confidence subscale, 0.93 for the usefulness subscale, and 0.92 for the enjoyment subscale. For the overall instrument using the 32 items that comprised the three subscales, internal consistency reliability analysis revealed a Cronbach's coefficient alpha of 0.96. Additionally, this article reports on the content, criterion, and construct validity of the instrument.     

From Scientists to Teachers: The Role of Student Epistemology in Lesson Plans of Career Switchers

Professional scientists who pursue a teaching credential bring a great deal of background to students in a classroom, but they may have barriers to the ways they portray the field of science. This study used a multiple‐case replication design to determine the role of epistemology in lesson plans of seven scientists becoming teachers. Data sources for this study included: (a) written assignment addressing student scientific epistemology at the beginning of the course, (b) fully‐developed written lesson plans for a one‐month period, and (c) interviews with participants three months after the course was completed. Two major types of instructional designers, schema‐centered teachers and activity‐centered teachers, emerged from the data. The schema‐centered teachers believed teaching to be a process of developing ideas and approached lesson planning initially from a general perspective and worked to a more specific orientation. The activity centered teachers expressed the need to show students how to think about science rather than allowing students to construct their own conception, and viewed teaching knowledge about the scientific enterprise as an activity to be undertaken only at the beginning of the year.     

不同信任环境下在线知识社区知识系统演化研究

信任作为在线知识社区中的社会影响因素,对社区中的成员进行沟通学习、知识共享有着重要的作用。不同的在线知识社区有着不同的信任环境,而信任环境的不同会影响社区中用户的学习模式和观点传播。基于此,本文提出了基于信任与Deffaunt的组合观点影响模型。信任模型主要将社区中的信任分为认知信任和情感信任,通过调节参数结构,对应不同信任环境中信任的动态演化过程。Deffaunt模型作为基本观点影响模型,模拟了不同信任环境下的在线知识社区的知识观点的演化过程。实验结果发现,信任环境的高低决定了社区中的观点是否收敛,并且社区中的群体理性人占比和信任程度都能影响观点的收敛速度。     

Investigating Essential Characteristics of Scientific Practices in Elementary Science Learning Environments: The Practices of Science Observation Protocol (P‐SOP)

Within the field of science education, there remains little agreement as to the definition and characteristics of classroom inquiry. The emerging emphasis on scientific practices in science education reform discourse is underpinned by a need to better articulate the constituent elements of inquiry‐based science. While a small number of observation‐based instruments have been developed to characterize science learning environments, few are explicitly aligned with theoretical constructs articulated by the National Research Council and/or have been substantially field‐tested. We employ a newly developed instrument, the Practices of Science Observation Protocol (P‐SOP), to investigate essential features of inquiry and scientific practices in which early learners engage in elementary classrooms. This research is part of a multiyear professional development program designed to support elementary teachers (K‐5) in a large, urban school district to learn to better engage students in scientific practices. Project teachers video‐recorded enacted science lessons (n = 124) which were used as data. Findings illustrate both essential features of inquiry and scientific practices observed in elementary classrooms, as well as establish the P‐SOP as a valid and reliable observation protocol. These findings have important implications for the design of elementary science learning environments and associated research and development efforts in the field.     

Model‐Based Inquiry and School Science: Creating Connections

Much has been made in recent years of inquiry approaches to science education and the promise of such instruction to alleviate some of the ills of science education, yet in some ways this construct is still unclear to many in the field. In this paper we explore one view of inquiry in science that is based on the development, use, assessment, and revision of models and related explanations. Because modeling plays a central role in scientific inquiry it should be a prominent feature of students’ science education. We present a framework based on this view that can serve as a guide to curriculum development and instructional decision‐making with the goal of creating classroom environments that mirror important aspects of scientific practice. Specifically, the framework allows us to emphasize that scientists: engage in inquiry other than controlled experiments, use existing models in their inquiries, engage in inquiry that leads to revised models, use models to construct explanations, use models to unify their understanding, and engage in argumentation. Here, we discuss how these practices can be incorporated into science classrooms and illustrate that discussion with examples from our research classrooms.     

Development and Field Test of the Modified Draw‐a‐Scientist Test and the Draw‐a‐Scientist Rubric

Even long before children are able to verbalize which careers may be interesting to them, they collect and store ideas about scientists. For these reasons, asking children to draw a scientist has become an accepted method to provide a glimpse into how children represent and identify with those in the science fields. Years later, these representations may translate into students' career choices. Since 1995, children's illustrations of scientists have been assessed by the Draw‐a‐Scientist Checklist (DAST‐C). The checklist was created from the common aspects or features found in illustrations from previous studies and were based initially on the scientists, broken down into “stereotypical” and “alternative” images shown in the drawings. The purpose of this article is to describe the development, field test, and reliability of the modified DAST Test and the DAST Rubric designed as an improvement of the DAST‐C to provide a more appropriate method of assessing students' drawings of scientists. The combination of the modified DAST and the DAST Rubric brings more refinement as it enables clarities to emerge and subsequently increased detail to what one could ascertain from students about their mental images of scientists.     

Exploring Middle School Girls’ Science Identities: Examining Attitudes and Perceptions of Scientists when Working “Side‐by‐Side” with Scientists

This article is the culmination of an extensive inquiry‐focused interactive experience involving female middle school students and five university scientists, which demonstrated that middle school girls ‘perception of science and scientists can be successfully improved. The study exposed students to adult professional scientists over a period of a few days in laboratory and field exercises. Based on student journal entries and pictorial illustrations, as well as attitude surveys, the experience resulted in a keen appreciation of the sciences among the majority of participants and both a heightened and broadened awareness of Science as a Human Endeavor. The students’ resulting perceptions reinforce the importance for science educators to expose their students to adult professional scientists in order for students, especially female students, to develop a better understanding of science and the role of scientists. Engaging scientists in helping promote science as a positive, exciting and satisfying career goal will help debunk common myths in the minds of young students about science and drive students, especially female students, to consider science careers.     

Pulling Back the Curtain: Uncovering and Changing Students' Perceptions of Scientists

Although there have been numerous scientists‐in‐the‐classroom initiatives in recent years, there is little research that documents whether or not these initiatives make an impact on students. This study examined 27 seventh‐grade and 27 tenth‐grade students' perceptions of scientists before and after a weeklong educational experience on nanotechnology, where students interacted with scientists. The data from this project included student interviews (pre and post intervention), field notes, student stories, and follow‐up interviews conducted 1 year after the project. Results showed that fewer than 10% of participants reported ever interacting with scientists in school settings prior to this project, despite attending schools in areas surrounded by a high density of scientists. Students' perceptions of scientists changed as a result of the project. The implications for science instruction are discussed.     

关于求解随机用户均衡问题的截断拟牛顿型信赖域法研究

信赖域法是一种保证全局收敛性的优化算法,为避免Hessian矩阵的计算,基于拟牛顿校正公式构造了求解带线性等式约束的非线性规划问题的截断拟牛顿型信赖域法.首先给出了截断拟牛顿型信赖域法的构造过程及具体步骤;然后针对随机用户均衡模型中变量和约束的特点对算法进行了修正,并将多种拟牛顿校正公式下所得结果与牛顿型信赖域法的结果进行了比较,结果发现基于对称秩1校正公式的信赖域法更为合适.最后基于数值算例结果得到了一些在算法编程过程中的重要结论,对其它形式信赖域法的编程实现具有一定的参考意义.     

A Partnership Approach to Improving Student Attitudes About Sharks and Scientists

This article describes the methods and impact of a student–teacher–scientist research partnership on student attitudes. The partnership objective was to teach students about the diverse roles of sharks in the marine environment while personally connecting students with scientific study. Students (N = 229) participated in lessons about shark biology and helped the partnering scientist design experimental protocols and analyze data. A self‐selected subset of students also volunteered (n = 82) for a field component working with live hammerhead sharks (Sphyrna lewinii). Student surveys before and after the partnership suggested that negative attitudes about sharks are due largely to lack of exposure, and direct attention to students' stereotypes about sharks resulted in significant attitude improvement. Change in students' attitudes toward scientists, however, was minimal. Students' negative views of scientists did decline significantly, but their overall views of scientists were relatively positive to begin with. Also of interest was the students' unremitting association of scientists with specialized equipment and the students' lack of personal connection to scientific ways of examining the world, suggesting that partnerships may be more effective at personally connecting students with scientific process if they explicitly incorporate activities designed to improve students' view of themselves as scientists.     

Further Development and Validation of the Teaching Science as Inquiry (TSI) Instrument

The purpose of this study was to further develop and validate the Teaching Science as Inquiry (TSI) Instrument, an instrument designed to measure the self‐efficacy beliefs of preservice teachers in regards to the teaching of science as inquiry. Based on the validation processes and the associated data analysis, the TSI demonstrates continued content and construct validity with high internal reliability when used with prospective elementary science teachers.     

Comparing Science Teaching Styles to Students' Perceptions of Scientists

Many educational researchers seem to concur with the idea that, among other factors, the teacher's teaching style has some impact on student learning and the perceptions students develop about science learning and the work of scientists. In this study, nine middle grades teachers' teaching styles were assessed using the Draw‐a‐Science‐Teacher‐Teaching Test Checklist (DASTT‐C) and categorized along a continuum from didactic to inquiry/constructivist in orientation. Students' (n = 339) perceptions of scientists were determined using the Draw‐a‐Scientist‐Test Checklist (DAST‐C). Teachers' teaching styles and their students' perceptions of scientists were then compared using nonparametric correlational methods. Results showed that no significant correlation existed between the two measures for the population studied. Although the study provides no understanding about when or how relationships developed between teachers' teaching styles and students' perceptions of scientists, trends in the results give rise to some concerns regarding the preparation of future science teachers and the in‐service development of practicing teachers.     

Changes in Elementary Student Perceptions of Science,Scientists, and Science Careers After Participating in a Curricular Module on Health and Veterinary Science

This study examined to what extent a curriculum module that uses animal and human health scientists and science concepts to portray science and scientists in a relevant and authentic manner could enhance elementary students' aspiration for science careers, attitudes to science, positive perceptions of scientists, and perceived relevance of science. The curriculum was developed by a research‐based university program and has been put into practice in two early elementary classrooms in an urban school in the Midwest. An attitudinal rating survey and the Draw‐A‐Scientist Test were used to assess pre to post changes in student attitudes toward science, perceptions of scientists, perceived relevance of science, and aspiration for science careers. Findings indicated that the implementation of this curriculum contributed positively to student attitudes toward science, decreased students' stereotypical images of scientists, and increased student aspirations to become a scientist.     

Development and Initial Validation of the Beliefs About Reformed Science Teaching and Learning (BARSTL) Questionnaire

This article describes the development and the initial validation of an instrument that can be used to assess teachers' beliefs about science teaching and learning. The instrument, which is called the Beliefs About Reformed Science Teaching and Learning (BARSTL) questionnaire, draws on the current national science education reform efforts in order to define a traditional‐reformed teaching and learning belief continuum that can be used to map teachers' beliefs. The reliability and validity of the instrument were examined using a multiple perspective approach. The psychometric properties of the BARSTL suggest that it is a valid and reliable instrument for measuring prospective elementary teachers' beliefs about science education.     

基于混沌理论的创新网络中组织间信任演化研究

以往关于信任的研究是在稳定均衡的假设下进行的,然而信任演化过程中会表现出非线性的混沌状态,具有复杂系统的特征。基于演化博弈理论和混沌理论,建立了创新网络中组织间信任演化模型,分析了创新网络中组织间信任的复杂性、初值敏感性、分岔行为及内随机性等混沌特性,推导出信任演化方程与Logistic映射之间的关系,采用Lyapunov稳定性理论进行混沌性判定,证明创新网络中组织间信任通过倍周期分岔通往混沌,得到了信任从有序进入混沌的一般条件,运用算例进行仿真展示信任演化通往混沌的过程,分析创新网络中信任演化进入混沌区的实际意义,并选择硅谷和筑波科技城两个实例做对比分析,验证了该研究的实用性和有效性。创新网络中组织间信任的混沌演化反映出信任发展的非线性特点,为创新网络中组织间信任的混沌利用和控制提供理论指导。     

Practicing Reform‐Based Science Curriculum in an Urban Classroom: A Hispanic Elementary School Teacher's Thinking and Decisions

This study explores the thinking and decisions of Vera (pseudonym), a Hispanic elementary teacher, while she enacted a reform‐based science curriculum in an urban school in the southern United States. Vera's thinking, decisions, experiences, and practices were documented over a 2‐year period. Using the data collected from semistructured interviews, participant observations and classroom documents, a rich and complex case study of Vera is developed in this paper. This case study describes how Vera makes curricular choices from reform‐based science curricula such as the LiFE curriculum; how she enacts those choices to empower poor urban minority students; how Vera believes that preparing students for the high‐stakes test is empowering because it ensures continued schooling for students; how, for Vera, teaching connected science using students' lived experiences is a risky act; and how she uses negotiation in her science teaching.     

Models are a “metaphor in your brain”: How potential and preservice teachers understand the science and engineering practice of modeling

We investigated beginning secondary science teachers’ understandings of the science and engineering practice of developing and using models. Our study was situated in a scholarship program that served two groups: undergraduate STEM majors interested in teaching, or potential teachers, and graduate students enrolled in a teacher education program to earn their credentials, or preservice teachers. The two groups completed intensive practicum experiences in STEM‐focused academies within two public high schools. We conducted a series of interviews with each participant and used grade‐level competencies outlined in the Next Generation Science Standards to analyze their understanding of the practice of developing and using models. We found that potential and preservice teachers understood this practice in ways that both aligned and did not align with the NGSS and that their understandings varied across the two groups and the two practicum contexts. In our implications, we recommend that teacher educators recognize and build from the various ways potential and preservice teachers understand this complex practice to improve its implementation in science classrooms. Further, we recommend that a variety of practicum contexts may help beginning teachers develop a greater breadth of understanding about the practice of developing and using models.