Primary and secondary teachers shaping the science curriculum : the influence of teacher knowledge

This thesis reports on how primary and secondary teachers' knowledge influenced the implementation of a Year 1-10 science syllabus which was introduced into Queensland in 1999. The study investigated how the teachers' knowledge of the primary and secondary teachers differed and how teachers' knowledge impacted on the implementation of the science curriculum. Teacher knowledge otherwise referred to as teacher beliefs and practices has been acknowledged as an influence in the implementation of curriculum. Yet, a considerable portion of curriculum evaluation has focused on measuring the successful implementation of the intended curriculum and not the enactment. As a result, few studies have investigated how the curriculum has been influenced by teacher knowledge or have compared primary and secondary teacher knowledge. Furthermore, in order to provide a seamless grade one to ten science syllabus it is necessary to compare primary and secondary teacher beliefs and practices to determine whether or not the beliefs and practices held by these two groups of teachers is similar or dissimilar and how these beliefs and practices in turn, impact on the implementation of a curriculum. The research adopted Eisner's (1991) methodology of educational criticism and used a comparative case study approach to investigate the teacher knowledge of four primary and three secondary teachers. Data were presented as a dialogue between three composite characters, a lower primary, a middle/upper primary and a secondary teacher. The results revealed that teachers utilised three sets of beliefs to shape the implementation of the science curriculum. These were categorised as expressed, entrenched and manifested beliefs. The primary and secondary teachers did possess similar sets of beliefs and knowledge bases but their strategies for implementation in some instances were different. Furthermore, these sets of beliefs and knowledge bases served as motivator or an inhibitor to teach science in the manner that they did. A theoretical model was developed to explain how these sets of beliefs influenced the curriculum. This study provides professional developers with a framework to observe teacher beliefs in action and thereby to assist in the facilitation of curriculum change

Finishing the euchromatic sequence of the human genome

The sequence of the human genome encodes the genetic instructions for human physiology, as well as rich information about human evolution. In 2001, the International Human Genome Sequencing Consortium reported a draft sequence of the euchromatic portion of the human genome. Since then, the international collaboration has worked to convert this draft into a genome sequence with high accuracy and nearly complete coverage. Here, we report the result of this finishing process. The current genome sequence (Build 35) contains 2.85 billion nucleotides interrupted by only 341 gaps. It covers ∼99% of the euchromatic genome and is accurate to an error rate of ∼1 event per 100,000 bases. Many of the remaining euchromatic gaps are associated with segmental duplications and will require focused work with new methods. The near-complete sequence, the first for a vertebrate, greatly improves the precision of biological analyses of the human genome including studies of gene number, birth and death. Notably, the human enome seems to encode only 20,000-25,000 protein-coding genes. The genome sequence reported here should serve as a firm foundation for biomedical research in the decades ahead

Critical Science Plan for the Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope (DKIST)

Open Access funding provided by the National Solar Observatory (NSO). The NSO is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc., and is funded by the National Science Foundation.The National Science Foundation’s Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope (DKIST) will revolutionize our ability to measure, understand, and model the basic physical processes that control the structure and dynamics of the Sun and its atmosphere. The first-light DKIST images, released publicly on 29 January 2020, only hint at the extraordinary capabilities that will accompany full commissioning of the five facility instruments. With this Critical Science Plan (CSP) we attempt to anticipate some of what those capabilities will enable, providing a snapshot of some of the scientific pursuits that the DKIST hopes to engage as start-of-operations nears. The work builds on the combined contributions of the DKIST Science Working Group (SWG) and CSP Community members, who generously shared their experiences, plans, knowledge, and dreams. Discussion is primarily focused on those issues to which DKIST will uniquely contribute.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe