McGregor, Debra

Oversby, John

Woodhouse, Fiona

University of Huddersfield Repository

University of Huddersfield RepositoryMcGregor, Debra, Oversby, John and Woodhouse, FionaReflections on science education research presentations at ASE 2012Original CitationMcGregor, Debra, Oversby, John and Woodhouse, Fiona (2012) Reflections on science education research presentations at ASE 2012. Education in Science, 247. pp. 24­25. ISSN 0013­1377 This version is available at http://eprints.hud.ac.uk/id/eprint/33772/The University Repository is a digital collection of the research output of theUniversity, available on Open Access. Copyright and Moral Rights for the itemson this site are retained by the individual author and/or other copyright owners.Users may access full items free of charge; copies of full text items generallycan be reproduced, displayed or performed and given to third parties in anyformat or medium for personal research or study, educational or not­for­profitpurposes without prior permission or charge, provided:• The authors, title and full bibliographic details is credited in any copy;• A hyperlink and/or URL is included for the original metadata page; and• The content is not changed in any way.For more information, including our policy and submission procedure, pleasecontact the Repository Team at: E.mailbox@hud.ac.uk.http://eprints.hud.ac.uk/24 EiS  ■ April 2012This article aims to highlightsome of the events in the ScienceEducation Research series ofpresentations at the 2012 ASEAnnual Conference. The original call for research paperswent out in the summer of 2011 and, by September, there were over thirtyabstracts returned for review, from manycountries including Hong Kong, Nigeria,Poland, Jamaica, Malta, the UnitedStates, Japan, Ireland and, of course,Britain. Of the proposals reviewed andaccepted, 21 were finally presented atLiverpool over three days in January.Many of these 30-minute presentationsproffered interesting findings, thoughtfulinterpretations and virtually allsuggested ways to develop and improvescience education. A key aim of the research series wasto share useful and informative studieswith practitioners and educators so theycould engage more meaningfully inreflective discussion about what we doin science education, and why. Thedifferent approaches taken to researchvarious aspects of science educationranged from small-scale pilot studies toextensive national investigations,illustrative and exploratory case studies,action research projects demonstratingeffects of teaching, learning andassessment interventions and criticalreviews of current policy and/or practice.The focus of the papers included: thenature of training in primary andsecondary science teaching; the ways inwhich primary children can besupported to carry out researchthemselves; current concerns regardingassessment policy and practices, types ofpractical work, alternate conceptionsand ways of teaching to address them;issues in teacher preparation; andspecific teaching topics such asmagnetism and enquiry skills. Some ofthe presentations are reported onfurther here, to provide readers withsome illuminating insights into currentor recent science education research. One fascinating paper focused onthirty Year 6 (age 11) children in aprimary school developing their ownresearch projects in June 2011. Thesestudents completed a 5-weekprogramme during which they weretaught qualitative and quantitativeresearch methods. During theprogramme, the students developedresearch questions on the topic of theirchoice and conducted research in smallgroups to answer the questions.Questionnaire and interview data werecollected to evaluate students’motivation and engagement with theprogramme. It was impressive how farthese youngsters had engaged withresearch processes and outcomes,illustrating that it is never too early toembark on a research career! Colleagues from Malta focused onteacher subject knowledge andconfidence in primary schools. As in theUK, few have science qualifications, withteachers expressing the least confidencein teaching physics and the most inbiology. A questionnaire was given to arepresentative sample of 257 primaryschool teachers teaching in all (state,Church and independent) school sectorsin Malta. Information was gatheredregarding the teachers’ qualifications inscience, the frequency of science lessonsdelivered, assessment practices,confidence in teaching science andparticular pedagogical skills, as well asspecific attitudes towards science andscience teaching. Twelve individualinterviews with Headteachers andprofessionals holding prominentpositions in the education sectorsupported the survey findings. Focusgroup discussions with all the scienceperipatetic teachers (responsible forsupporting teachers in science in stateprimary schools) were also held toenable the corroboration of findingsfrom different sources. This issue ofteacher knowledge was pursued furtherwith research involving secondarystudent teachers answering GCSEquestions across the sciences, in anattempt to explore the correlationbetween degree and classroom subjectknowledge. The results demonstratedimprovement on tests carried out at theonset and end of the training course,albeit from relatively weak positions. A startling result was that physicsgraduates performed better than biologygraduates on biology questions at thecourse end, and that biologists did notimprove to the highest levels comparedwith physical science graduates, whodid. A paper on student teachers’ abilityto enhance pupil motivation providedevidence to demonstrate that femaleswere more effective but, perhaps moresignificantly, that images and beliefsabout teaching had an important impacton quality of pupil feelings. A session onmisconceptions in physics was led bythe organisers in place of a delegatewho could not attend. It also focused onteachers’ knowledge, in this case,explanations of thermal expansion andcontraction, based in an A-level class inMalta. This session distinguishedbetween modelled behaviour of particlesin a metal solid using different models(hard spheres and clouds) and thedifficulties in finding out what is ‘reallygoing on’ in the sub-microscopiccontext. Those present found thissession challenged some of their basicthinking. Much of the research onteachers’ ideas is carried out withstudent teachers, which is unsurprisingsince student teachers are readilyaccessible on set courses, and areusually willing to take part in suchresearch. Parallel research withexperienced teachers is a relativelyunexplored area, yet would be veryuseful, not least because it would■ Deb McGregor■ John Oversby■ Fiona WoodhouseResearchF   CUSReflections on scienceeducation researchpresentations at ASE 2012EiS April 2012_EiS September 2005 Issue  10/03/2012  17:34  Page 2425EiS  ■ April 2012unearth the rich learning that takesplace during the teaching process.Assessment for Learning (AfL) hasbeen a major area for development,largely influenced by the Kings’ Collegeseminal study of the impact of formativeassessment. One paper, from a memberof this study, offered insight into howassessment is perceived by traineeteachers and critically examined howthey make sense of learning, in relationto school practice and their ownassessment journey within the PGCEcourse. As both assessor and assessee,PGCE trainees are placed in a uniqueposition where they can viewassessment practices through differentlenses, with the interplay of these twoexperiences likely to challenge theirbeliefs and attitudes towardsassessment. The paper presentedclarified some of the ideas about AfL andreported on a successful medium termengagement with teachers, emphasisingthe importance of a persistent andcontinuing approach if CPD is tosuccessfully support teachers developingtheir practice. Another study exploringthe nature of Afl strategies found thattrainees fell into four broad categories:the struggler; the mechanic; the inspirerand the all-rounder, indicating theirapplication of Afl techniques. Colleagues at Liverpool have beeninvestigating the impact of the variedways that ICT can be used to supportlearning across different curriculumareas. They reached the conclusion thata holistic assessment for foundationphase pupils can provide richer evidenceof science achievement in enquiry andprocess skills such as observing, thansimply focusing on what would betraditionally seen as science activities. Recruitment of secondary sciencespecialists was presented as a currentconcern. Identification of those likely toneed support, and provision of suchsupport, was the subject of aninteresting paper. There wereunsurprising patterns coming out of the data, with males and physicistsrequiring more help, but they sharedtheir toolkit for recognising thesestudent teachers, rather than leaving itto unsystematic chance. Their findingsfound agreement from delegates whowere in similar positions. Investigating trainees’ views of waysto ‘motivate’ learners indicated that,from two institutions, they show somesophistication in their understanding ofthe tasks that will motivate pupilstowards science, and the importance ofthe relationship that they have withtheir pupils. There is evidence thattrainees begin to develop their teacheridentity when focusing on ways tomotivate students. They are beginningto see the teaching tasks that are givento the pupils through a pupils’perspective, rather than through theirown based on prior experience. Initialfindings suggested that there areimplications for initial teacher educationprogrammes in the way they supporttrainees in the development of a pupil-centred perspective to motivate learnerstowards science. Exploring thereflectivity of trainees and the impact ofreflection, another study indicated thatlearner teachers are not always able todiscern objective and subjectiveperspectives of their own professionallearning journey. Another studyindicated how pedagogy and the type oflearning planned for by trainees appearsto change over the course of the PGCEyear, with students generallyencouraging more collaborative andsocially interactive learning later in their teaching.Finally, the paper from NorthernIreland on cross-level peer tutoring ofprimary teachers in science found muchto commend this for both the tutors andthe tutees in developing knowledge andconfidence. It changes the position fromone ‘Sage on the Stage’, i.e. the tutor, toone of many ‘Sages on Stages’, withimprovement for all. This brief overview sets out to provide a flavour of the research carried out by some of the delegates,often small-scale, but nonethelesshaving a significant impact on theteachers/researchers involved and theirwork in their classrooms.The Research Committee would like tothank the other sponsors of theResearch Paper Series. This successfulnew strand of the Annual Conferencewas also supported by the InternationalCommittee, The British EducationResearch Association, The InternationalOrganisation for Science and TechnologyEducation, The International Council ofAssociations for Science Education, andThe Early Years Special Interest Group ofThe European Science EducationResearch Association. We would like to invite readers tobegin thinking, now, about how theymight share their stories of researchendeavours to a wider audience at theReading 2013 Annual Conference. Deb McGregor and FionaWoodhouse are members of the ASEResearch Committee and John Oversbyis Committee Chair.■ Deb McGregor■ John Oversby■ Fiona WoodhouseResearchF   CUSReflections on scienceeducation researchpresentations at ASE 2012ASE members do you have an e-mail address?We would like to contact you about ASE’s region meetings andnational events. E-mail us at info@ase.org.ukincluding your name andmembership number (see the address sheetaccompanying this EiS)  as the subject. EiS April 2012_EiS September 2005 Issue  10/03/2012  17:34  Page 25

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