How do scientists use analogies and other processes to break away from old theories and generate new ones? This book documents such methods through the analysis of video tapes of scientifically trained experts thinking aloud while working on unfamiliar problems. Some aspects of creative scientific thinking are difficult to explain, such as the power of analogies, and the enigmatic ability to learn from thought experiments. This book is a window on that world.
Consistent with international trends, there is an active pursuit of more engaging science education in the Asia-Pacific region. The aim of this book is to bring together some examples of research being undertaken at a range of levels, from studies of curriculum and assessment tools, to classroom case studies, and investigations into models of teacher professional learning and development. While neither a comprehensive nor definitive representation of the work that is being carried out in the region, the contributions—from China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Korea, Japan, Singapore, Australia, and New Zealand—give a taste of some of the issues being explored, and the hopes that researchers have of positively influencing the types of science education experienced by school students. The purpose of this book is therefore to share contextual information related to science education in the Asia-Pacific region, as well as offering insights for conducting studies in this region and outlining possible questions for further investigation. In addition, we anticipate that the specific resources and strategies introduced in this book will provide a useful reference for curriculum developers and science educators when they design school science curricula and science both pre-service and in-service teacher education programmes. The first section of the book examines features of science learners and learning, and includes studies investigating the processes associated with science conceptual learning, scientific inquiry, model construction, and students’ attitudes towards science. The second section focuses on teachers and teaching. It discusses some more innovative teaching approaches adopted in the region, including the use of group work, inquiry-based instruction, developing scientific literacy, and the use of questions and analogies. The third section reports on initiatives related to assessments and curriculum reform, including initiatives associated with school-based assessment, formative assessment strategies, and teacher support accompanying curriculum reform. The Open Access version of this book, available at http://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/e/9781315717678, has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 license.
The main idea of this book is that to comprehend the instructional potential of simulation and to design effective simulation-based learning environments, one has to consider both what happens inside the computer and inside the students' minds. The framework adopted to do this is model-centered learning, in which simulation is seen as particularly effective when learning requires a restructuring of the individual mental models of the students, as in conceptual change. Mental models are by themeselves simulations, and thus simulation models can extend our biological capacity to carry out simulative reasoning. For this reason, recent approaches in cognitive science like embodied cognition and the extended mind hypothesis are also considered in the book.. A conceptual model called the “epistemic simulation cycle” is proposed as a blueprint for the comprehension of the cognitive activies involved in simulation-based learning and for instructional design.
This book argues that modelling should be a component of all school curricula that aspire to provide ‘authentic science education for all’. The literature on modelling is reviewed and a ‘model of modelling’ is proposed. The conditions for the successful implementation of the ‘model of modelling’ in classrooms are explored and illustrated from practical experience. The roles of argumentation, visualisation, and analogical reasoning, in successful modelling-based teaching are reviewed. The contribution of such teaching to both the learning of key scientific concepts and an understanding of the nature of science are established. Approaches to the design of curricula that facilitate the progressive grasp of the knowledge and skills entailed in modelling are outlined. Recognising that the approach will both represent a substantial change from the ‘content-transmission’ approach to science teaching and be in accordance with current best-practice in science education, the design of suitable approaches to teacher education are discussed. Finally, the challenges that modelling-based education pose to science education researchers, advanced students of science education and curriculum design, teacher educators, public examiners, and textbook designers, are all outlined.
"This book provides young scientists with tools to assist them in the practical aspects of theory construction. We take an informal journey through the cognitive heuristics, tricks of the trade, and ways of thinking that we have found to be useful in developing theories-essentially, conceptualizations-that can advance knowledge in the social sciences. This book is intended to provide the instructor with a useful source for helping students come up with ideas for research and for fine-tuning the resultant theories that emerge from such thinking. An objective of this book is to move toward a needed balance in the emphases given to theory construction and theory testing"--
Approaches and Strategies in Next Generation Science Learning examines the challenges involved in the development of modern curriculum models, teaching strategies, and assessments in science education in order to prepare future students in the 21st century economies. This comprehensive collection of research brings together science educators, researchers and administrators interested in enhancing the teaching and learning of next generation science.
Anyone involved in science education will find that this text can enhance their pedagogical practice. It describes new, model-based teaching methods that integrate social and cognitive perspectives for science instruction. It presents research that describes how these new methods are applied in a diverse group of settings, including middle school biology, high school physics, and college chemistry classrooms. They offer practical tips for teaching the toughest of key concepts.
This edited volume brings forth intriguing, novel and innovative research in the field of science education. The chapters in the book deal with a wide variety of topics and research approaches, conducted in various contexts and settings, all adding a strong contribution to knowledge on science teaching and learning. The book is comprised of selected high-quality studies that were presented at the 11th European Science Education Research Association (ESERA) Conference, held in Helsinki, Finland from 31 August to 4 September, 2015. The ESERA science education research community consists of professionals with diverse disciplinary backgrounds from natural sciences to social sciences. This diversity provides a rich understanding of cognitive and affective aspects of science teaching and learning in this volume. The studies in this book will invoke discussion and ignite further interest in finding new ways of doing and researching science education for the future and looking fo r international partners for both science education and science education research. The twenty-five chapters showcase current orientations of research in science education and are of interest to science teachers, teacher educators and science education researchers around the world with a commitment to evidence-based and forward-looking science teaching and learning.
This book explores new findings on the long-neglected topic of theory construction and discovery, and challenges the orthodox, current division of scientific development into discrete stages: the stage of generation of new hypotheses; the stage of collection of relevant data; the stage of justification of possible theories; and the final stage of selection from among equally confirmed theories. The chapters, written by leading researchers, offer an interdisciplinary perspective on various aspects of the processes by which theories rationally should, and descriptively are, built. They address issues such as the role of problem-solving and heuristic reasoning in theory-building; how inferences and models shape the pursuit of scientific knowledge; the relation between problem-solving and scientific discovery; the relative values of the syntactic, semantic, and pragmatic view of theories in understanding theory construction; and the relation between ampliative inferences, heuristic reasoning, and models as a means for building new theories and knowledge. Through detailed arguments and examinations, the volume collectively challenges the orthodox view’s main tenets by characterizing the ways in which the different “stages” are logically, temporally, and psychologically intertwined. As a group, the chapters provide several attempts to answer long-standing questions about the possibility of a unified conceptual framework for building theories and formulating hypotheses.
