Real science and school science : endless wonder versus the drive to explore

Science may be simply defined as a way of finding out about how the world works. It is often viewed as objective and being built on a step-wise procedural base. The question arises as to whether school science needs to be different to cutting-edge (&lsquo;real&rsquo;) science since the outcomes have different purposes, one requiring scientific breakthroughs, the other being imitative and simple. The divergence between these two realities of science impacts on the development of science curricula in that relevance for students, rather than purely imitating real science, steers science curricula.<br /

Making mathematics and science relevant through story

The article examines the relevance of mathematics and science to story. It aimed to explore how mathematics and science teachers experienced its subject cultures, to identify the pedagogies that appeared to be subject culture\u27s representative, and to know the ways in which pedagogy was shaped. The result has identified four categories such as illustrations of relevance, explorations of contexts, humanising stories of historical and contemporary heroes, and representations of human endeavour

Characterising secondary school teacher imperatives as subject (signature) pedagogies : a pedagogy of support in maths and a pedagogy of engagement in science

The ideas of Lee Shulman have played a major role in reconceptualising pedagogical description. In 2005, Shulman described a construct called &ldquo;signature pedagogies&rdquo; in order to describe recognisable and distinctive pedagogies used to prepare future practitioners for their profession. As a broader application of Shulman&rsquo;s ideas, this paper asks, what is the efficacy of describing pedagogies that have become entrenched in secondary school subjects as signature pedagogies? Approached from a cultural perspective these questions are examined by comparing the subject cultures of junior school maths and science as experienced by, and represented in the classrooms of, a small number of teachers from two secondary schools in Victoria, Australia. In this research, subject culture is underpinned by shared basic assumptions that govern the dominance of certain &ldquo;subject paradigms&rdquo; (what should be taught) and &ldquo;subject pedagogies&rdquo; (how this should be taught) (Ball &amp; Lacey, 1980). In this secondary school setting, the term signature pedagogies can be equated to the term subject pedagogies on the basis that both aim to characterise practice across the subject, or discipline, based on what was perceived as central to the task of teaching and learning. The paper draws on classroom observation and teacher interview data to show how six teachers positioned two aspects of their teaching in relation to what they believed was central in shaping their maths and science teaching: the effect of the arrangement of curriculum content on teachers&rsquo; conceptualisations of the teaching task; and a pedagogical imperative to engage students through activity-based learning experiences. The cultural expectations surrounding these two aspects of teaching appear to have a strong influence on practice, and in some senses teachers&rsquo; pedagogical responses were clear. These common responses are what I am calling &ldquo;subject pedagogies&rdquo; (see Ball &amp; Lacey, 1980) because there was general agreement about what was central to the teaching task. Two subject pedagogies were seen to represent strong discourses occurring in both subjects: a &ldquo;Pedagogy of Support&rdquo; in maths, and &ldquo;Pedagogy of Engagement&rdquo; in science. Their established and shared character resembled Shulman&rsquo;s posited &ldquo;signature pedagogies&rdquo; (Shulman, 2005). The data shows that by evaluating cultural practices that teachers have in common, and assumptions underpinning these, there is potential for highlighting imbalances, strengths and weaknesses, and connections and disconnections, associated with prevailing subject pedagogies

Finding a common story : synthesising findings from two research programs

In this research the authors tackled the issue of synthesising the findings of two independent research programs with common themes into a coherent analysis of teaching and learning across disciplines and school sectors. Through an ongoing dialogue and iterative exploration of emerging themes a synthesis generated new understandings of the use of narrative pedagogies in maths, science and technology, and the aesthetic nature of such learning experiences. This process demonstrates how a comparative lens enables a higher level of analysis of both research programs and generates broader narratives that can be applied to contexts beyond the original research foci

Focusing on the science teacher

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Movement and force

How &ndash; and why &ndash; do things move? How do we describe how they move? This chapter looks at ideas and activities concerning movement and force. It deals with two major issues: firstly, ideas children have about&nbsp;motion and the strategies for teaching about motion in the primary school program. This will include some discussion of the different contexts in which movement and force can be studied. Secondly, it looks at the wider context of studying movement and force, linking it with technology and science as a human endeavour