Biology student teachers’ dialogic talk in inquiry-based instruction

ABSTRACT

Inquiry-based learning has generally accepted by scholars as a most effective teaching approach in biology education. The talk during inquiry-based teaching needs to be practiced. There is less evidence how student teachers talk with students during their inquiry-based biology instruction. This knowledge is needed in supporting student teachers to develop their teachership in biology education. In this qualitative case study, the dialogic talk of biology student teachers (N = 6) was studied in the context of inquiry-based lessons in lower secondary school. The student teachers’ lessons were video and audio recorded and the data was analyzed using content analysis. The student teachers used dialogic talk in their inquiry-based instruction only occasionally, mainly in the examination and the conclusion stages. During the introduction stage, dialogic talk was less used and it was mainly explaining and instructing the content. In the examination stage, student teachers also guided students and stated facts. During the conclusion stage, student teachers mainly explained and also evaluated students’ statements. The lesson’s topics and methods used in inquiry-based learning may enable the dialogic talk of student teacher to some extent. However, teacher education should focus more on scaffolding student teachers’ talk with their students in all kinds of inquiry approaches.     

“活动导学、自主互助”教学模式在中学生物教学中的初探

推进课程改革的关键是实现课堂教学的高效,而高效课堂来自于课堂教学过程中师生双方主观能动性的充分发挥,通过教师课前设计学生学习活动方案(活动单),学生在课堂上开展"自主学习、活动探究"式学习,可以实现教师的主导性和突出学生的主体地位。通过实施"活动导学、自主互助"课堂教学模式,取得了一点认识,希望能为当前普通高中生物课堂教学改革提供一点借鉴。     

融德育于植物学教学之中

德育是植物学教学的任务之一。教师要深钻教材,努力发掘其德育因素。在课堂教学中,利用科学家的生平事迹、业绩,对学生进行理想教育;介绍我国在生物科学史上所取得的讳大成就,培养学生的民族自尊心和自豪感;介绍我国丰富的植物资源,激发学生的爱国热情;介绍当前自然资源遭破坏及环境危机的现状,增强学生的社会责任感;在讲生态平衡时要注意向学生渗透质量互变的哲学原理。实验课和课外活动的德育作用不可忽视。正确处理德育与知识教学的关系,灵活多样地渗透德育内容,并注意教师自身的表率作用,是搞好德育的重要因素。     

Reflections on music teacher professional development: Teacher-generated policies and practices

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to make policy recommendations based on the authors’ experiences with, and research about, reflective, differentiated, and teacher-generated music teacher professional development (PD). By doing so, we argue for a bottom-up process that capitalizes on our music teacher and music teacher educator expertise along with the research literature in music teacher PD. We explore music teachers’ PD needs considering four career stages to explain how knowledge generated at each level informs our understanding of differentiated PD. From preservice music teachers and music teacher candidates, to in-service and veteran teachers, our discussion explores meaningful and effective ways to engage in deep, reflective thinking about the music teaching and learning process. Accordingly, we provide specific policy recommendations for music teachers at each career stage so that they might take greater ownership of their own learning, growth, and development through local, reflective, self-initiated, and differentiated PD opportunities.     

Enhancing Elementary Students’ Experiences Learning about Circuits Using an Exploration–Explanation Instructional Sequence

Using an exploration–explanation sequence of science instruction helps teachers unveil students’ prior knowledge about circuits and engage them in minds-on science learning. In these lessons, fourth grade students make predictions and test their ideas about circuits in series through hands-on investigations. The teacher helps students make connections between their hands-on experiences collecting data and new terms. This lesson shows how teachers can incorporate formative assessments such as checkpoints, self tests, and exit slips into the explanation phase of instruction so students can evaluate and self-monitor their understanding of circuits in series. These activities meet the National Science Education Standards for active, student-center learning environments that cultivate the critical thinking skills necessary to learn science.     

Differences in how biology teachers represent content structure in classroom discourse: a video-based analysis

Despite the importance of pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) in practical teaching and the inconsistency of teacher quality in different regions in China, there is little empirical evidence for specific differences in teachers’ PCK in different districts in China. This study attempted to address this gap through analysis of practical teaching demonstrations by three pairs of biology teachers; each pair comprised one teacher from Beijing and one from Hebei province. The teaching content was the same for each pair, including a discussion of blood, blood type, and the heart. The practical teaching demonstration was videotaped for each teacher. Analysis of the PCK focused on one aspect: content structure. Analysis of the six lessons suggested that the Beijing biology teacher presented more structured biology terms than did the Handan biology teacher in each pair. The Beijing biology teachers also performed better in connecting the new knowledge with previously learned knowledge than Handan biology teachers. The current study contributes to the methods for capturing teachers’ PCK in classroom discourse, and it indicates specific differences between Handan and Beijing teachers in the ability to make connections in students’ knowledge.     

How fieldwork-oriented biology teachers establish formal outdoor education practices

ABSTRACT

Fieldwork is an important part of biology as well as science and biology education. However, teachers perceive several reasons for the limited use of fieldwork in schools. Further, outdoor education is often organised as a single fieldtrip guided by outdoor educators, and little research has been done on fieldwork as a regular part of formal biology education. This case study explores three secondary-school biology teachers who untypically use outdoor education as a major part of their ecology courses for 8^th grade students (median age 14). Berger and Luckmann’s theory of the process of institutionalization as a theoretical background is used to interpret the pedagogical and organizational choices of the case study teachers. Analysis of the interviews of the selected three teachers revealed pedagogical and organizational means through which outdoor teaching is institutionalized into a regular activity in biology lessons. The teachers considered regularity, assessment practices and the school curriculum as major tools to legitimate outdoor learning as a formal schoolwork and foster successful learning. However, they also emphasised students’ freedom during outdoor activities. The findings are discussed in terms of how the teachers succeeded in combining the institutional order of formal schooling with students’ freedom in nature.     

Annual Review

In recent years, the science teaching community and curriculum developers have emphasised the importance of teaching inquiry and teaching science as inquiry. One way of developing learners' skills for planning and carrying out scientific research is by allowing them to perform independent research, guided by a teacher. It was recently discovered that there are considerable differences between experiments conducted by scientists and those conducted by students, with regard to the cognitive processes that the experimenters go through. Developing inquiry study activities that emphasise authentic inquiry was suggested in order to introduce students to cognitive activity that more closely resembles that of scientific professionals. This article describes the Biomind programme, intended for students of Grades 11 and 12 (ages 16 to 18 years) majoring in biology. The curriculum, developed by biology teachers, enables students to conduct independent research under teacher guidance. The curriculum emphasises the learning process, not just the outcome, and so students must reflect upon the work in progress. Moreover, the Biomind curriculum follows the principles of authentic inquiry. Biomind may improve students' scientific thinking abilities, expand the guidance aspect of teachers' work, and inspire curriculum developers to further emphasise inquiry.     

护理士官分子生物学常用实验技术备课体会

目的：通过精心备课,以提高分子生物学教学中护理士官学员的学习效果。方法：在护理士官分子生物学常用实验技术理论教学中,从备学员、备目的要求、备内容、备方法和备小结几方面做好充分准备。结果：教学准备充分,学员学习兴趣浓,热情高。结论：结合护理士官特点备课,可以提高学员学习效果。     

基于QQ平台开展微生物学项目学习的探索

将QQ平台与项目学习整合引入微生物学教学中,开展基于QQ平台的教学探索。教师首先通过QQ群文件夹发布项目学习选题,然后根据项目活动的进程利用QQ群文件夹、QQ一对一文件传输功能给学生传送项目活动相关的文档或发布学习资料,并通过QQ聊天功能解答学生的疑难问题、督促学生开展项目学习活动。问卷调查结果表明:基于QQ平台的微生物学项目学习有利于发挥学生学习的主体性,能够加强师生之间的交流,提高学生的学习兴趣、信息素养及协作学习能力。     

医学遗传学多元式教学的实践与探讨

为充分调动学生自主学习积极性,促进学生发展,我们将多元教学模式用于医学遗传学教学,内容包括精讲基本理论、专题介绍进展、应用多种媒体教学、利用病例教学,师生易位教学、指导撰写综述以及多元考核等.实践表明,多元教学提高了教学效率,有利于学生综合能力和教师素质的提升.与传统讲授式相比,学生更喜欢结合案例式、多媒体、师生易位式教学方法;学生的自主学习能力、分析问题与解决问题能力以及表达能力都得到较大提高;科研意识、团队合作意识得到加强.     

“图启”教学模式在细胞生物学教学中的构建*

"图启"教学模式是以"图"为主线,培养教师的制图能力、学生的识图能力和学生的绘图能力,并将三者有机结合,即将教师的备课、理论授课、实践教学三个环节融为一体,最大限度地提高教学质量,提升学生的综合能力。本文论述了在细胞生物学教学中构建"图启"教学模式的方法和意义,为"图启"教学模式在生物学教学中的推广与实施奠定基础。     

Teacher candidates in the garden

Recent science education reform has led to an increased emphasis on engaging students in inquiry and science practices rather than having them simply memorize scientific facts. However, many teachers of elementary science may themselves have had more traditional science learning experiences, and may therefore be unsure about inquiry-based teaching methods. One way to enhance preservice teachers' comfort with and desire to teach science using a hands-on approach might be to engage them in science learning experiences alongside children during their educator preparation program. The purpose of this article is to share how one faculty member and a cooperating teacher from a partner school involve teacher candidates in working with children in the school's garden, allowing them to personally experience inquiry while witnessing firsthand the potential benefits to children of authentic science learning through garden based activities.     

Trends in Biological Education-An International Review

We examined selected situational emotions (interest, well-being and anxiety) experienced by 291 secondary school tenth graders during a hands-on gene technology lesson. Two different instruction groups (I-1, I-2) participated in the same teaching unit, in which four basic gene technology experiments were performed. Using a modified ‘constructivist teaching sequence’, a teacher confronted group I-2 with the alternative conceptions of their peers regarding central issues and processes of gene technology in addition to providing the scientific concepts. The pupils within the I-2 group scored higher in the positive emotions of interest and well-being. The negative emotion anxiety was almost absent in both instruction groups. Furthermore, our results indicate a potential influence of interest and well-being upon learning success. Pupils who felt fine and worked with interest in the experimental lessons scored significantly higher on the cognitive achievement test. Eliciting pupils’ alternative conceptions and using them in a wide variety of teaching contents is therefore advisable. By doing so, teachers could help create a classroom environment where pupils feel safe and confident. Also, a pupil’s interest regarding the choice of material needs to be taken into account if positive emotions need strengthening and the learning achievement needs improvement.     

Using human case studies to teach evolution in high school A.P. biology classrooms

Background

While recent research indicates that using human examples can be an engaging way to teach core evolutionary concepts such as natural selection and phylogenetic thinking, teachers still face potential conflicts and challenges that arise from cultural barriers to teaching and learning about evolution. The “Teaching Evolution through Human Examples” (TEtHE) project developed (1) a set of four curriculum mini-units for advanced placement (A.P.) biology that use human examples to teach evolutionary principles (Adaptation to Altitude, Evolution of Human Skin Color, Malaria, and What Does It Mean To Be Human?), and (2) a cultural and religious sensitivity (CRS) teaching strategies resource that includes background materials and two in-class activities to help teachers create a classroom environment to increase student willingness to engage the topic.

Methods

This paper reports on the development and field test of the TEtHE materials in A.P. biology classes in 10 schools in 8 states during the 2012–2013 school year using a design-based research framework (cf. Anderson and Shattuck in Educ Res 41:16–25, 2012). We chose A.P. classrooms to study the potential impacts of the materials in a “best case scenario” and analyzed data about understanding and acceptance of evolution from pre-post assessments in the 10 classrooms separately to mitigate potential validity concerns arising from the design (Anderson and Shattuck in Educ Res 41:16–25, 2012; Shadish et al. in Experimental and quasi-experimental designs for generalized causal inference. Houghton Mifflin, Boston, 2002). These data were treated as a secondary source of formative data to add additional perspective to teacher self-reports, observations, student and teacher questionnaires, teacher interviews, and student focus groups.

Results

Results indicate that the use of the three curriculum mini-units which focus on natural selection and the CRS classroom activities generally increased A.P. biology students’ understanding and acceptance of evolution. Students whose teachers used one of the CRS activities showed generally larger increases in understanding of evolution than those whose teachers did not use one of the CRS activities.

Conclusions

Although the utility of using human examples to teach evolution in college-level classes has been demonstrated in a few previous studies, this is the first national project of which we are aware to systematically explore the effect of a similar approach in high school biology classes. While we recognize that the results may be mitigated by the limitations of design-based research, particularly the absence of a comparison or control group, the general effectiveness of this approach suggested by qualitative and quantitative data in increasing student understanding and acceptance of evolution suggests that using human examples and explicitly creating a classroom environment to help students engage the topic of evolution are worth considering for further development and more robust testing.

     

Model eliciting activities: another tool for the elementary teaching toolbox

Abstract

Maximizing classroom time to include meaningful content-based learning with fun engaging activities that simultaneously challenge and encourage students is a hallmark of a successful school day. This article shares one instructional approach that does a model eliciting activity (MEA). A MEA is a real-world, problem-based scenario framed around a fictitious client who writes a letter in which the client poses a problem for students to address. Students use the engineering design process to brainstorm, create, and test models, then compose written and oral responses to the client citing evidence to justify their solution. The content of the client letter is created by the classroom teacher and based on the Next Generation Science Standards, the teacher wishes to address. The depth of the content addressed is at the teacher’s discretion and may vary depending on sequence of lessons within the unit of study, developmental readiness of students, and standard(s) selected.     

Bioinformatics Projects Supporting Life-Sciences Learning in High Schools

The interdisciplinary nature of bioinformatics makes it an ideal framework to develop activities enabling enquiry-based learning. We describe here the development and implementation of a pilot project to use bioinformatics-based research activities in high schools, called “Bioinformatics@school.” It includes web-based research projects that students can pursue alone or under teacher supervision and a teacher training program. The project is organized so as to enable discussion of key results between students and teachers. After successful trials in two high schools, as measured by questionnaires, interviews, and assessment of knowledge acquisition, the project is expanding by the action of the teachers involved, who are helping us develop more content and are recruiting more teachers and schools.     

基于专业定位的野生动物学教学改革探索

高校课程教学基于专业定位,是建立课程教学体系与提高教学效果的先决条件。高等林业院校对非生物类专业开设的野生动物学课程,需要根据专业培养目标与学生特点确定教学内容、方法与评价体系。在对旅游管理专业开设的野生动物学教学改革中,基于专业培养目标,通过对教学内容调整,开展趣味教学、研究性学习、案例讨论等教学方法的探索,总结了教学经验与教训,提出从学校、学院和教师3个层面共同努力以促进野生动物学教学改革的建议。     

Teaching and Learning with Mobile Technology: A Qualitative Explorative Study about the Introduction of Tablet Devices in Secondary Education

This paper investigates teachers’ and students’ perceptions concerning the impact of using tablet devices for teaching and learning purposes. An explorative focus group study was conducted with teachers (n = 18) and students (n = 39) in a secondary school that has implemented tablet devices since 2012. The general finding of this study shows that the use of tablet devices in the classroom setting has an impact on both teaching and learning practices. The results suggest that teachers can be divided into two categories: the innovative teachers and the instrumental teachers. Innovative teachers attempt to shift from a teacher-centered to a learning-centered approach. They have changed their teaching style by transforming lessons in accordance with the advantages tablet computers can offer. Instrumental teachers seem to use the device as a ‘book behind glass’. The distinction between the two groups has consequences for both the way courses are given and how students experience them. In general, the introduction of tablet devices entails a shift in the way students learn, as the devices provide interactive, media-rich, and exciting new environments. The results of this study indicate that policy makers should consider introducing technical and pedagogical support in order to facilitate both teachers’ and students’ understanding of the full potential of this kind of technology in education.