Indigenous student success in science

Declining interest and engagement in science and science-related courses and careers has been well documented and widely noted across Australia and similar highly developed countries. For Australia to successfully navigate the transition from a mostly resource-dependant economy to one that is knowledge-based and competitive, every effort needs to be made to help all students engage in science at the secondary and tertiary level. For a variety of historical and social reasons, Indigenous Australians, while expert in traditional ecological knowledge, are arguably vulnerable with regard to school science, reflected by longstanding lower achievement in science compared to their nonIndigenous peers..

Outcomes of a chemistry content professional learning session: Teachers' perspectives

The national curriculum for chemistry includes topics that have not previously been taught at secondary level. In response to requests for teacher professional learning (PL) covering these topics, a course called 'Divide and Analyse' was developed. Investigations into the PL needs of chemistry teachers were carried out in conjunction with the pilot session. Pre- and post-PL survey responses and focus group discussions provided a wealth of information about the needs of chemistry teachers and how university chemists can support them. Three themes of support for chemistry teaching were identified: resources for chemistry teaching, content PL for chemistry teachers and enrichment excursions/incursions for school students. Teachers explained that this type of support may contribute to making the study of chemistry more interesting and relevant for their students. A partnership between chemistry teachers and university chemists can facilitate the provision of the identified support for chemistry teaching. It was concluded that a community of practice partnership had developed from the Divide and Analyse PL. A model that brings together the major findings of the study is proposed

Female senior secondary physics students’ engagement in science: a qualitative study of constructive influences

Background: Prompted by fewer females compared to males enrolling in physics and advanced mathematics at both secondary and university levels, our research investigated the views and experiences of female students currently studying upper secondary school physics. We interviewed 18 female students about influences they considered important to their own science education, interest in science, and future science-related aspirations. Our purpose was to identify the experiences that these students most strongly associated with the generation and maintenance of their engagement in science, particularly represented in this research by their enrolment in upper secondary physics. Results: The research team used a systematic, iterative process to identify the main themes in the transcribed interview data. We identified the influence each girl reported as the strongest (ranked first). We also combined all influences that the participants had nominated, regardless of their ranking, to further examine all factors participants suggested as influential in their sustained engagement in school science (represented by their decision to study upper secondary physics). Systematic analysis of the interview data confirms that the influences on these females’ choices to study physics at upper secondary originate from a combination of their teachers, their school’s science culture, members of their family, the participants themselves and their peers. Conclusions: The interviews highlighted the idiographic complexities in understanding the wide range of important influences on these students studying physics at upper secondary school and their engagement in science. The unique contribution of this work is giving voice to the participants and reflecting on what these high achieving females have to say about the influential factors in their decisions to pursue science. Supportive teachers and the school science culture play essential roles, and other cultural and/or social factors such as family members and peers are identified as important. References to the culture and expectations of the school, family holidays, and conversations with siblings are support factors that seem to interact and overlap. At the same time, the importance of policy-amenable factors such as competent and caring science teachers, and science-supportive school cultures should be emphasised and encouraged

Inquiry-based, Teacher directed and adaptive instruction in secondary science: A cross-national analysis of associations with science literary and interest using PISA 2015

In science education, and STEM more generally, inquiry based teaching and learning has been a dominant pedagogical approach, particularly in Western countries, for at least half a century (e.g., Furtak, Seidel, Iverson, & Briggs, 2012; Minner, Levy, & Century, 2010). In Europe, inquiry-based teaching has become part of science education orthodoxy, receiving policy support and funding from the EU following the Rocard report (2007) recommendation that “the introduction of inquiry-based approaches in schools ... should be actively promoted” (p. 17). Recently, however, the availability of large-scale, high-quality international assessment data in science and mathematics—like Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) and Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA)—has allowed scaled-up analysis of associations between various pedagogical approaches, and students’ achievement and engagement in science (e.g., Areepattamannil, 2012; Kang & Keinonen, 2017; McConney, Oliver, Woods-McConney, Schibeci, & Maor, 2014). In this study, we report research that builds on previous investigations of inquiry-based teaching in science that used PISA 2006 (McConney, et al., 2014). Our previous study found that in Australia, Canada and New Zealand, students who reported high levels of inquiry also showed above-average levels of interest in science, but below-average levels of science literacy. We also found the corollary to be true. These findings ran counter to orthodox views about the efficacy of inquiry-based teaching in science. In the current study, using PISA 2015, we extend our analysis of teaching and learning in science to six countries, and ask two research questions: RQ1: To what extent is the variability observed in science literacy (as measured in PISA 2015) associated with the frequencies of three distinct approaches to teaching science, reported by students from their science classrooms? To what extent does this vary by country and/or gender? RQ2: To what extent is the variability in students’ interest in science associated with the frequencies of three distinct approaches to teaching science, as reported by students? To what extent does this vary by country and/or gender? Consistent with the primary analysis of PISA 2015 as well as our previous analysis of PISA 2006, this study shows that the frequency of inquiry-based teaching is negatively associated with students’ science literacy. For students in six countries (Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, the UK and the USA), the more frequently students experienced inquiry-based activities, the weaker their literacy in science, on average. This negative relationship between science literacy and inquiry-based activities was strongest for students in the USA and Canada, but was also evident to varying degrees in all six countries. In contrast, our analysis also revealed a moderately strong positive association between inquiry and students’ interest in science. This was consistent for all six countries. With increasing focus on effective, evidence-informed practice in teacher education, our obligation is to prepare teachers based on the strongest research available regarding the efficacy of various pedagogical approaches in science. At a minimum, the findings reported in this analysis demand examination and discussion of how “inquiry” might be best conceived and applied in helping students to learn and like science

"I didn't always perceive myself as a science person": Examining efficacy for primary science teaching

Teacher efficacy has become an important field of research especially in subjects teachers may find challenging, such as science. This study investigates the sources of teachers’ efficacy for teaching science in primary schools in the context of authentic teaching situations with a view to better understanding sources of teachers’ efficacy beliefs. Twenty-four teachers participated in focus group interviews to enable in-depth exploration of the sources of efficacy for teaching science. Data was analysed using a content analysis approach guided by a conceptual framework for efficacy in science teaching. Findings show efficacy to be influenced by mastery experiences, vicarious experiences, physiological and affective states as well as prior beliefs and experiences of science. Most notably, efficacy for science teaching was found to be enhanced through particular aspects of the teaching context such as opportunities for collaboration and successful participation in science teaching practice. Implications for teaching and teacher educators are discussed

Fast track teacher education: A review of the research literature on Teach For All schemes

This review of the literature was commissioned by the New Zealand Post-Primary Teachers Association (PPTA) Te Wehengarua as a means of informing the decision-making of the Association and its members about the Teach For All (TFA) scheme seeking to prepare teachers for New Zealand’s schools

The efficacy of Inquiry-Based instruction in science: A comparative analysis of six countries using PISA 2015

This study is a comparative analysis of 15-year-old students’ scientific literacy, and its association with the instructional strategies that students experience, across six OECD countries that participated in PISA 2015. Across the six countries, the study investigates the efficacy of inquiry-based instruction in science in contrast with two other instructional approaches to teaching secondary science: adaptive and teacher-directed teaching. The analysis shows that students who reported experiencing high frequencies of inquiry strategies in their classrooms consistently evidenced lower levels of scientific literacy across the six countries. Benchmark analysis also showed, common to all six countries, a strongly positive association between the frequency of teacher-directed and adaptive teaching strategies and students’ scientific literacy. Additionally, the study disaggregates PISA’s composite variable representing inquiry-based instruction and shows that different components of inquiry are differentially associated with students’ scientific literacy. We discuss the implications of these analyses for science teacher educators, science teachers, and educational policy makers. In doing so, we add nuance to our understanding of the efficacy of inquiry-based instruction in science, suggesting that some components, as conceptualised and assessed in PISA, seem to suggest greater attention and use, and others more moderated use

Academy for technology excellence

No abstract availabl

Nature or nurture? On the trail of determining variables that influence environmental behavior

In this research we describe and discuss a path analysis of an hypothesized model of environmental behavior. In formulating the model, we used variables that had previously been empirically linked to environmental behavior (e.g., knowledge of issues, attitudes) but also included others that had not been assessed in the context of a model explaining environmental behavior (e.g., gender, ethnic affinity, age). Our findings support hypothesized direct influences on environmental behavior of knowledge and skill in environmental action, the opinions of others, fear of environmental catastrophe, environmental sensitivity, locus of control with regard to environmental problem solving, and environmental attitudes. Further analyses demonstrated the chief influence of knowledge and skill in environmental action, the opinions of others, and fear. We discuss the importance of these findings for building the knowledge base undergirding program and curriculum development efforts in environmental education

Inquiry-based teaching and learning in Primary STEM

This chapter describes the evolution of an inquiry-based activity in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM), Ball of Fear, that was developed and used in a primary classroom setting and then further developed as an inquiry-based activity in a first-year university context with pre-service teachers enrolled in a science content unit. Inquiry-based teaching and learning in primary STEM is well aligned with modern learning theory, allowing an in-depth exploration of the nature, principles and concepts of STEM disciplines. Because cooperative groups ranging from two to five members are prevalent in primary STEM and ‘almost all inquiry-learning approaches make use of group work’, the chapter highlights cooperative inquiry-based teaching and learning in primary STEM. High-level interactions among the students in the cooperative groups occurred without explicitly teaching inquiry or cooperative skills, which supports the rationale for including inquiry-based activities in primary STEM