The purpose of this study is to provide insight into short‐term professionalization of teachers regarding teaching socioscientific issues (SSI). The study aimed to capture the development of science ...teachers' pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) for SSI teaching by enacting specially designed SSI curriculum materials. The study also explores indicators of stronger and weaker development of PCK for SSI teaching. Thirty teachers from four countries (Cyprus, Israel, Norway, and Spain) used one module (30–60 min lesson) of SSI materials. The data were collected through: (a) lesson preparation form (PCK‐before), (b) lesson reflection form (PCK‐after), (c) lesson observation table (PCK‐in‐action). The data analysis was based on the PCK model of Magnusson, Krajcik, and Borko (1999). Strong development of PCK for SSI teaching includes “Strong interconnections between the PCK components,” “Understanding of students' difficulties in SSI learning,” “Suggesting appropriate instructional strategies,” and “Focusing equally on science content and SSI skills.” Our findings point to the importance of these aspects of PCK development for SSI teaching. We argue that when professional development programs and curriculum materials focus on developing these aspects, they will contribute to strong PCK development for SSI teaching. The findings regarding the development in the components of PCK for SSI provide compelling evidence that science teachers can develop aspects of their PCK for SSI with the use of a single module. Most of the teachers developed their knowledge about students' understanding of science and instructional strategies. The recognition of student difficulties made the teacher consider specific teaching strategies which are in line with the learning objectives. There is an evident link between the development of PCK in instructional strategies and students' understanding of science for SSI teaching.
In early 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic emerged, which resulted in global lockdowns. As a result, education could no longer be provided in its current form and was therefore provided online. This study ...discusses the consequences of online instruction in secondary education and how students perceived this new way of learning. Specifically, this research focuses on how online education was facilitated, how this differs from regular education and how students and teachers experienced these practices. In this study, qualitative and quantitative data were collected from teachers and students. Our findings revealed that the students were missing a proper structure in the lessons. There was a decline in the understanding and enjoyment by students in all courses. This study also shows that the variety of instructional strategies that the teachers used increased during the lockdown period. However, teachers were lacking in other aspects that define good instruction. Moreover, teacher data demonstrate that the teachers needed guidance from the schoolboard. It is remarkable that the schoolboard plays a key role in improving this situation. This research suggests that if the schoolboard provides guidelines on planning education, teachers could focus more on other aspects of a good instruction.
The aim of this study was to explore how the design of this chemistry lesson for citizenship influences students’ use of different perspectives in decision-making about ‘the use and sale of laughing ...gas’. In this study, ‘the use and sale of laughing gas among youth’ was chosen as a socio-scientific issue. This chemistry lesson for citizenship was designed according to the 5E instructional approach, and activating pedagogical methods and tools (i.e., group discussion, reading the information cards, taking notes, watching instructional videos) were used. Both the types of perspectives used and the effectiveness of the pedagogies implemented were explored. Twenty-three students from two classes participated in the study. The data were collected through five tools (four worksheets and a questionnaire). The students mainly used ‘scientist’ perspective by focusing on what research says about the possible consequences of inhaling laughing gas. The students also focused on ‘health’; principally, they referred to the relation between the amount of laughing gas used and the damage it may cause. As to the influential pedagogical elements of the lesson, the ‘videos’ were found to be the most effective and informative. In addition, the ‘group discussion’ was also found to be an influential activity of the lesson on making decisions about the use and sale of laughing gas. Therefore, our results suggest that the lesson design supported the students to recognize and use different perspectives to make informed decisions about the sale and use of laughing gas.
Teaching algorithmic thinking enables students to use their knowledge in various contexts to reuse existing solutions to algorithmic problems. The aim of this study is to examine how students ...recognize which algorithmic concepts can be used in a new situation. We developed a card sorting task and investigated the ways in which secondary school students arranged algorithmic problems (Bebras tasks) into groups using algorithm as a criterion. Furthermore, we examined the students’ explanations for their groupings. The results of this qualitative study indicate that students may recognize underlying algorithmic concepts directly or by identifying similarities with a previously solved problem; however, the direct recognition was more successful. Our findings also include the factors that play a role in students’ recognition of algorithmic concepts, such as the degree of similarity to problems discussed during lessons. Our study highlights the significance of teaching students how to recognize the structure of algorithmic problems.
In responding to the global problems facing humankind, there is great value in equipping science and engineering students with skills to function well in multidisciplinary teams. Little attention has ...been paid into the factors that influence multidisciplinary collaboration and teamwork of science and engineering students.
This research describes multidisciplinary teamwork of applied physics and mechanical engineering students in a challenge-based learning (CBL) course. The study aimed to: a) identify the facilitators and barriers to multidisciplinary teamwork and b) explore learning outcomes connected to working in multidisciplinary teams.
30 students registered to the course, two teachers, and three tutors participated in this research.
An instrumental case study was conducted in the context of a pilot CBL course. Data included interviews, reflection reports, observations, and design posters. Transcribed video recordings were searched in an attempt to demonstrate the codes revealed with the qualitative content analysis of interview transcripts and reflection reports.
The results indicated knowledge acquisition, application, and an awareness of other disciplinary approaches as the learning outcomes with some differences for engineering and physics students. The findings also yielded individual (e.g. knowledge of control theory), team (e.g. disciplinary perspectives), and course factors (e.g. disciplinary connections to the challenge) that influenced multidisciplinary teamwork.
Multidisciplinary teamwork is supported by the unique ways of thinking and approaching problems of the two disciplines. Implications contribute to future research and thinking for similar learning environments while improving student learning in multidisciplinary teams.
Background and Context: Computing education is expanding, while the teaching of algorithms is less well studied.
Objective: The aim of this study was to examine teachers' pedagogical content ...knowledge (PCK) for teaching algorithms.
Method: We conducted semi-structured interviews with seven computer science (CS) teachers in upper secondary education (students aged 15-18). The data were analyzed qualitatively.
Findings: We found two patterns of variation in teachers' PCK. First, we detected variation in the teachers' goals related to their view of algorithms: they either focused on "thinking" about the algorithm as an object, or focused on "thinking and making", where the algorithm is also regarded as a program. Second, we found variation in teachers' knowledge about responding to differences between students, which may be generic or topic-specific. Furthermore, our findings reveal that teachers consider class discussions to play a significant role as an instructional method for provoking reflection.
Implications: Our findings regarding PCK may be beneficial for the development of teacher education and professionalization activities for CS teachers.
Although context-based teaching and learning has been investigated extensively in science education, little is known regarding the use of contexts for teaching CS in secondary education.
The aim of ...this study was to examine the characteristics of contexts suitable for teaching algorithms and to investigate teachers' considerations regarding those contexts.
This study examines teachers' practices and reasoning concerning the use of contexts and is based on explorative, empirical research. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews with seven CS teachers and analyzed qualitatively.
The results of this study reveal several characteristics of effective contexts for teaching algorithms and show teachers' ambitions to address the variation within the student population when selecting contexts that advance students' algorithmic thinking.
The found characteristics may serve as recommendation for designing contexts. Development of teacher education and professionalization activities may benefit from the discussion of teachers' motives and concerns.
The article reports the opinions’ of the educationalists about the method of historical recreation. The working group consists of the participants of the in-service training course which was ...organized at the end of the project entitled “Historical Recreation as a Pedagogical Project: from Training to Action”. The opinions of the participants were collected by the questionnaire. The data analysis was conducted by thorough content analysis. It is found that the participants have different knowledge and ideas on historical recreation. The majority of the participants had heard of the method of historical recreation before but they had not used this method.
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