Alternative Concepts in the Teaching of Photosynthesis: A Literature Review 2000-2021

The acquisition of abstract concepts in science education is a major challenge as acquisition of accurate scientific knowledge depends on a complexity of processes, including teachers’ capability to adopt a generative co-inquiry stance. In a previous article in Higher Education of Social Science we proposed a ‘good enough’ practice approach to this ‘problem’: an iterative pedagogical cycle of 3Rs: Recognition, Reduction and Removal within an understanding that affordances for conceptual conflict are often necessary and can increase the probability of reduction and possible removal of alternative concepts (details with Editor). We advance processes of deep meaning making and (re)construction that support affordances for productive pedagogies beyond deficit discourses of didactic failure or seeking some form of elusive perfection. In this article, we continue this reasoning to conduct a literature review of alternative concepts, often referred to as misconceptions in the teaching of photosynthesis inclusive of primary education, secondary (high school) education and higher education within the timeline 2000 to 2021. Photosynthesis was chosen as it is a prevalent biology topic that students and teachers often find conceptually challenging. Findings indicate approaching the problem of acquisition of accurate scientific knowledge in the teaching of photosynthesis requires a multiplicity of pedagogical strategies and a rich variety of professional supports. A productive engagement with alternative concepts is already underway in the literature, seeking a co-inquiry stance within an understanding of the crucial role of teacher upskilling in subject matter knowledge in science education (Bevins & Price, 2016; Greca, 2016; Karakaya, Yilmaz & Aka, 2021; Windschitl, 2002). It is a hypothesis worthy of further consideration and research.

Identification of misconceptions in the teaching of biology

peer-reviewedTo date research into how young people acquire accurate higher-order scientific knowledge, and gain an understanding of abstract and challenging concepts in science, has occupied much of the science education literature across countries and across continents. In previous studies, we identified that biology teaching that involves the diagnosis, reduction and elimination of misconceptions can be one effective pedagogic approach, particularly if positioned within a “good enough” model of pedagogic practice1 . In this study, we investigate the use of one diagnostic testing approach to the identification of misconceptions in the teaching of respiration and photosynthesis in a small sample of secondary school students (n=139) and pre-service teachers (n=43) in the Republic of Ireland. Photosynthesis and respiration were chosen as they are prevalent biology topics that students find conceptually challenging. The study used test items to elicit the extent of misconceptions among this cohort – a paper-and-pencil test for students and a survey instrument for pre-service teachers. The findings show unacceptably high level of misconceptions among all pre-service teachers and students and suggest that diagnostic tests of this type can be a useful entry point to a pedagogical cycle for the recognition, reduction and removal of misconceptions. The findings have wider implications than this small scale study and are primarily directed toward new understandings in relation to more effective models of biology teaching and teacher education.PUBLISHEDpeer-reviewe

The fast globalizing gendered construction of teacher education: A critical feminist research policy analysis of the contemporary reform movement

Gendered narratives of teacher education often rely on research studies that examine the living contradictions of practice in a fast globalizing educational reform ensemble. Here, I argue that it is equally important for women in the academy of teacher education to conduct critical feminist research into the gendered construction of teacher education in macro policy landscapes to reveal, challenge, and change the new hegemonic masculinities at play in higher education in contemporary times. In this study, I conduct a critical feminist scrutiny of this macro policy problem, structures, strictures, and cultural symbols that increasingly contain the gendered construction of teacher education in an ecosystem in higher education imbued with patriarchy and elite conservativism. I selected for scrutiny two recent OECD policy texts, concerned with the problem of inclusion and the framing of gendered relations. A critical feminist discourse analysis of the policy documents in relation to the problem of gender justice shows that the gendered construction of teacher education in this fast globalizing reform ensemble fails to trouble a new consciousness for egalitarian gender relations. The study found that constraints and failures can be explained, if not fully, by the privileging of new hegemonic masculinities in the framing of teacher education at the macro policy level. My argument is centered on a reflexive view of teacher education as an academic and ethical study of human development and change that needs to foreground egalitarian gender relations for emancipatory practices that can offer hope and solidarity in transformative ways that can inspire deep learning and deep democracy

The policy implementation process in the upper secondary education system (senior cycle) and videregaende skolen in science and mathematics in the Republic of Ireland and the Kingdom of Norway from 1960 - 2005

THESIS 9376The substantive issue at the heart of this thesis is identifying the key changes in science and mathematics mandated by the state, in upper secondary academic education, and seeing the extent to which these are translated into school praxis, through the perspectives of management and teachers and, of equal importance, through the organisational and structural reforms taking place at the level of the school. The reform process is regarded as a complex social phenomenon and like all top-down educational change has a history of being robustly resisted at the school site

Teacher Design Teams (TDTs) - building capacity for innovation, learning and curriculum implementation in the continuing professional development of in-career teachers

From October to December 2005, six biology associates were employed to progress the connection between curriculum implementation and the continuing professional development of teachers at regional level. The associates worked with one hundred biology teachers in Teacher Design Teams (TDTs) and together they produced eighteen innovative classroom resources, which have now been made available for the teaching of biology nationally. This article considers the merits of the TDT approach as a form of curriculum implementation and continuing professional development with reference to international literature in the area and the reported experiences of biology associates in working with biology teachers in one region. Findings indicate the benefits which accrue, when teachers are actively engaged in the process of curriculum implementation through TDTs, as well as the challenges they face when inadequate curriculum support is provided

The gendered construction of teachers’ identities and practices: feminist critical discourse analysis of policy texts in Ireland

While gender and education studies abound, there are fewer studies examining how the gendered construction of teachers’ identities and practices are enabled, and constrained, in policy and research. Here, I conduct a Feminist Critical Discourse Analysis of this gendered construction in four policy texts in teacher education in Ireland, set within a neoliberal imaginary playing-out across OECD countries, and in mainstream research of teacher effectiveness. The analysis uses a metaphor of confinement to trouble the problem, and to generate wider representations and emancipatory possibilities. The findings reveal how this reform ensemble in Ireland acts more often than not in sync with a global education reform movement in gender-blind ways to constrain, if not actively confine (mostly women) teachers’ voices and agency, often in assumed, theory-weak and patriarchal ways. The study foregrounds the gendered politics of teacher education within a pressing need for egalitarian rather than conservative gender discourses.</p

Teacher professional learning: a holistic and cultural endeavour imbued with transformative possibility

In this article, I conduct a critical scrutiny of how best to frame Teacher Professional Learning (TPL) in a time of uncertainty, to what extent, contemporary mainstream literature provides a complete description of this construct and, if not, what might be missing, hidden, unintended or otherwise overlooked. I draw from critical feminist perspectives as a novel lens to theorise TPL differently, taking a holistic, emancipatory and nuanced perspective that goes beyond a “what works” and “what counts” approach and the certainty implied by preset norms and empirical consensus. I then use this lens to conduct a critical scrutiny of a select literature, a mainstream framing of TPL using best-evidence syntheses, reports from one transnational policy influencer, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and counter-narrative studies concerned with reductionist analytics. Findings reveal two limitations with the current mainstream framing of TPL as a data-driven system of performance management. The first limitation concerns TPLs reified from the many unsolvable dilemmas and contradictions of teachers’ developmental practices when framed as linear processes of adoption, integration and problem solving. The second limitation is the ethico-political question of whose knowledge counts in an evidence-based practice that under-plays, and often denies, other ways of knowing. The study contributes to a novel theorisation of TPL and raises important questions for teacher professional learning and development worthy of further research and consideratio

Reflections on themes and concerns at the heart of practice: towards cultivating student learning: stories of professional development in action

Teaching and Learning: Insights from Irish Schools is the on-line journal of the Second Level Support Service. Editor: Alec Mac Alister. Issue Number 2 published in Summer 2010 contains a series of articles based on practitioner's innovative pedagogical practices. The Forword to this edition is written by Dr. Geraldine Mooney Simmie, a former member of the Second Level Support Service, and Transition Year Support Team, and now a Lecturer in Education at the Faculty of Education and Health Sciences, University of Limerick

The positioning of moral leadership in primary education: perspectives and contextual understandings of school principals in Ireland

In the study reported here, we explore the positioning of moral leadership in primary education through critical scrutiny of a select literature and the contextual understandings and perspectives of a purposive sample of 103 primary school principals in Ireland. The cultural context is unique in Europe given that primary education is a largely state funded system of denominational education with almost 90% of schools under the patronage of the Catholic Church. We draw from a number of theoretical perspectives as a critical feminist heuristic device to broaden the problem beyond any reductionist view of exchange value and to advocate for educational leadership as an emancipatory and transformative practice. Data analysis involved policy analysis of four reform documents and critical scrutiny of an empirical dataset, a regional survey and twelve indepth interviews with school principals. The findings reveal tensions and contradictions between policy documents mandating the uncritical adoption of a model of distributive leadership and the perspectives of school principals advocating for servant leadership. The study has implications beyond Ireland for educational and moral leader-ship in primary education and is presented here as a hypothesis worthy of further research and consideration</p