The Transparent and the Invisible in Professional Pedagogical Vision for Science Teaching

Science teacher educators use examples of practice to support teacher candidates (TCs) learning to engage in new forms of science teaching. However, interpretation of these examples assumes a level of expertise about practice TCs lack. This article describes a study designed to determine some of the differences between expert teachers' and TCs' professional pedagogical vision for science teaching. Specifically, the study examines what each group attends to (highlights) in examples of science teaching and how they interpret the events they attend to (codes). Both groups were asked to analyze video of classroom science teaching. Differences were found between TCs and expert teachers in terms of both highlighting and coding of science teaching practice. Four key areas of difference are described in detail: actor focus, questions, grain size, and enactment. The implications for science teacher education are discussed, in particular a set of tools and teacher education practices to support acculturating TCs into more a sophisticated professional pedagogical vision for science teaching. This article features a Research to Practice Companion Article . Please click on the supporting information link below to access.     

Teacher Mentoring as a Community Effort

This article presents the findings from a study of a mentoring program for novice mathematics and science teachers, which was provided by their teacher education program. This study reports the findings of interviews with novice math and science teachers, their mentors, and the mentoring program administrators to explore stakeholder perceptions of mentoring support. Findings suggest the importance of using multiple mentoring strategies to develop, support, and retain high‐quality math and science teachers in the teaching profession. This study contributes to what is known about the role that teacher education programs may play in mentoring novice math and science teachers who have graduated from their programs.     

Instructors’ use of technology in post-secondary undergraduate mathematics teaching: a local study

In this study, instructors of undergraduate mathematics from post-secondary institutions in Newfoundland were surveyed (N = 13) and interviewed (N = 8) about their use of, experiences with, and views on, technologically assisted teaching. It was found that the majority of them regularly use technologies for organizational and communication purposes. However, the use of math-specific technology such as computer algebra systems, or dynamic geometry software for instructional, exploratory, and creative activities with students takes place mostly on an individual basis, only occasionally, and is very much topic specific. This was even the case for those instructors who use technology proficiently in their research. The data also suggested that familiarity with and discussions of examples of technology implementation in teaching at regular and field-oriented professional development seminars within mathematics departments could potentially increase the use of math-specific technology by instructors.     

Using the Tower of Hanoi puzzle to infuse your mathematics classroom with computer science concepts

This article suggests that logic puzzles, such as the well-known Tower of Hanoi puzzle, can be used to introduce computer science concepts to mathematics students of all ages. Mathematics teachers introduce their students to computer science concepts that are enacted spontaneously and subconsciously throughout the solution to the Tower of Hanoi puzzle. These concepts include, but are not limited to, conditionals, iteration, and recursion. Lessons, such as the one proposed in this article, are easily implementable in mathematics classrooms and extracurricular programmes as they are good candidates for ‘drop in’ lessons that do not need to fit into any particular place in the typical curriculum sequence. As an example for readers, the author describes how she used the puzzle in her own Number Sense and Logic course during the federally funded Upward Bound Math/Science summer programme for college-intending low-income high school students. The article explains each computer science term with real-life and mathematical examples, applies each term to the Tower of Hanoi puzzle solution, and describes how students connected the terms to their own solutions of the puzzle. It is timely and important to expose mathematics students to computer science concepts. Given the rate at which technology is currently advancing, and our increased dependence on technology in our daily lives, it has become more important than ever for children to be exposed to computer science. Yet, despite the importance of exposing today's children to computer science, many children are not given adequate opportunity to learn computer science in schools. In the United States, for example, most students finish high school without ever taking a computing course. Mathematics lessons, such as the one described in this article, can help to make computer science more accessible to students who may have otherwise had little opportunity to be introduced to these increasingly important concepts.     

Mathematics teachers’ conceptions and constraints for changing teaching practices in Brazilian higher education: an analysis through activity theory

In recent years, changes in the Brazilian economic and social scenario have generated a growing demand for higher education in the country. In response to this new context, the federal government launched in 2007 a programme aiming at expansion of the enrolment to public higher education. In such environment of changes, several proposals have emerged to adapt the Brazilian federal universities to a new reality. Taking this context into account, the focus of our study is on proposals from the Mathematics Department of the Federal University of Minas Gerais. Their aim is to create a new model of teaching practices for the freshman lessons of the Exact Sciences area, which at first were being experimented in special classrooms of students attending their first course on differential and integral calculus. The data were collected from interviews with students and professors from the mathematics department. They were analyzed and systematized using an activity theory approach. We became instigated by a model developed by Engeström in his study on the changes in the Finnish public health system, considering it as a test (testbench) for activity theory in its application to a particular case. Following Engeström's footsteps when developing his research, we arrived at our own model showing the internal tensions in the activity of reformulation of the courses offered by the Department of Mathematics and in the conceptions of teachers that promote – and constraint – the proposals for change.     

近代化学巨匠:尤斯图斯?冯?李比希

尤斯图斯?冯?李比希是近代化学史上最杰出的化学家之一。李比希的人生经历中蕴含着许多教学元素,如教育报国,创新改革化学教育模式;不畏艰难,开拓学科新领域;开放创新,创建基于大学的自然科学学派;辩证唯物,坚持真理的科学态度;学以致用,联系实际的实践精神等值得我们深入分析,并将其精华在新时代的教学育人和学科建设中实践应用。     

A data-oriented approach to making new molecules as a student experiment: artificial intelligence-enabling FAIR publication of NMR data for organic esters

The lack of machine-readable data is a major obstacle in the application of nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) in artificial intelligence (AI). As a way to overcome this, a procedure for capturing primary NMR spectroscopic instrumental data annotated with rich metadata and publication in a Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Reusable (FAIR) data repository is described as part of an undergraduate student laboratory experiment in a chemistry department. This couples the techniques of chemical synthesis of a never before made organic ester with illustration of modern data management practices and serves to raise student awareness of how FAIR data might improve research quality and replicability. Searches of the registered metadata are shown, which enable actionable finding and accessing of such data. The potential for re-use of the data in AI applications is discussed.     

化工类专业课教学中开展爱国主义教育的探索*——以“节能减排与国家利益”专题教学为例

在“课程思政”背景下,如何在化工类专业课教学中开展爱国主义教育,是一大挑战。将节能减排所涉及的专业知识作为载体,引入“碳排放”议题作为思政素材,引导学生运用专业知识来解读该议题,将爱国主义元素“无声”地融入专业课教学中。通过解析美国在该议题背后的真实目的和我国的应对策略,激发学生的爱国热情,并使之认识到党在维护国家发展利益方面的决心和能力;通过探寻新中国不同时期的重大历史事件与“碳排放”走势的关联性,使学生深刻认识中国共产党带领中国人民选择了一条正确的道路。本专题教学将专业知识与“思政”元素深度融合,实现了爱国、爱党和爱社会主义3者的统一,对同行教育工作者具有一定的借鉴意义。     

复杂高分子材料工程问题解决方案对安全影响的评价方法

系统理论指导下安全影响评价是从系统整体、系统结构、系统要素等方面由整体到局部的"探究问题方法";解决工程问题则是从问题影响因素的不确定性分布分析、因素关联的动态变化分析、问题整体表现趋势分析等方面的"系统思维模式"。本文通过系统理论和工程问题的映射和逆映射,建立了复杂高分子材料工程问题解决方案对安全影响的评价方法,并以高分子材料火灾事故致死概率评估为例,详细阐述了具体工程问题解决方案对安全影响的评价方法设计及应用。     

课程思政背景下大学基础有机化学实验教学探索与实践*

从大学基础有机化学实验“课程思政”建设背景出发,讨论了课程思政的育人目标、实验教学中如何融入课程思政、课程思政的建设策略以及课程思政实施与考核评价方式等方面。结合实验教学过程探讨了基础有机化学实验教学中融入课程思政的教学探索和实践。