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.     

fungi4schools - the new BMS education website

The one place it's almost impossible to find fungi is in the UK National Curriculum for schools. The state of the National Curriculum (NC) is a real concern because the current specifications all contain material on animal and plant comparisons with little or no consideration for the largest group of higher organisms on Earth: Kingdom Fungi. This means that children are missing out on being taught about the importance of an entire Kingdom of higher organisms. To try to compensate for this educational deficiency, the British Mycological Society has taken up the challenge by devising resources teachers can use within the current NC because they address NC topics and also give proper representation to fungi. These resources include specially-produced and ready-to-use lessons and classroom activities, teacher's guides and pupil class sheets, all classroom tested and well received by pupils. But the resources also feature articles published over many years in the Society's journals that need to be brought out of the library archives and made immediately accessible to schools. These resources are available now for free download from the British Mycological Society's new education website at www.fungi4schools.org, which is described in this article.     

Children’s knowledge and contact with native fauna: a comparative study between Portugal and Spain

ABSTRACT

The present study compared Portuguese and Spanish children in the 6^th year of primary school in terms of their knowledge and live experience of animals from the Iberian Peninsula (IP) and the African savannah. A questionnaire was administered to 420 children from state schools, 215 from Portugal and 205 from Spain. The questionnaire included photos of eleven mammals from each region. The pupils had to identify them, to say if they had observed them live and where, and if they are native in the IP. The results showed a greater knowledge of both groups of the savannah species, also the ones most had seen live. However, the Spanish children had a better performance in the identification of the native mammals and which animals are native on IP, probably because these children are from a less urban zone, with more direct contact with some of the species presented. The school does not seem to play, in either group, an important role in the learning about native species. Boys from both countries performed better than girls on the issues under study. A high percentage of children from both countries think that several of the savannah species occur wild on the IP.     

Leaf detective: using evidence of damage on mangrove leaves to measure the effects of different herbivores

Abstract

Herbivores are important to ecosystems because they transfer energy stored in plant matter to other organisms. However, when herbivores occur in high abundances, they can become pests and harm the plants that form the basis of food webs. Mangroves are saltwater tolerant trees found along most tropical and subtropical shorelines. Because mangroves live between land and sea, a wide range of herbivores and other organisms, such as pathogens and parasites, affect them. Many of these organisms leave distinctive marks on the leaves that they eat or infect; scientists can use those marks to help identify the organisms that caused the damage. In this activity, students will take on the role of “Leaf Detectives” and examine patterns of leaf damage on red mangrove leaves (Rhizophora mangle) to infer which organism(s) are harming the mangroves on fictional Lobster Island. Students will collect data from their sample leaves, summarize the results with a graph, and then make a conclusion based on the scientific evidence. By classifying and measuring different damage patterns on leaves, students will learn how different organisms affect plants and food webs, develop pattern recognition skills, and practice using the scientific method to make evidence-based conclusions.     

Making Fun out of Difference: Ethnicity–Race and Humour in a London School

This article highlights the importance of humour and laughter in analyses of ethnicity and race in everyday life, and contributes to the growing anthropological engagement with the role of the ludic in social life. Focusing on pupil interaction in an ethnically and racially diverse London school, it argues that while peer classification practices can lead to reification of ethnic and racial differences, ludic interactions have cross-cutting, counter-balancing or liquefying effects. In interactions of humour, ethnic and racial differences can become the very material from which banter and laughter are created, constituting a convivial sociality that manifests closeness at the same time as difference. Such interactions enable peers to address their racial and ethnic differences, and a wider context of prejudice and racism, lightly, ‘making fun out of’ what could potentially divide and distance them.     

Density distribution and size sorting in fish schools: an individual-based model

In fish schools the density varies per location and often individualsare sorted according to familiarity and/or body size. High densityis considered advantageous for protection against predatorsand this sorting is believed to be advantageous not only toavoid predators but also for finding food. In this paper, welist a number of mechanisms and we study, with the help of anindividual-based model of schooling agents, which spatial patternsmay result from them. In our model, schooling is regulated bythe following rules: avoiding those that are close by, aligningto those at intermediate distances, and moving towards othersfurther off. Regarding kinship/familiarity, we study patternsthat come about when agents actively choose to be close to relatedagents (i.e., ‘active sorting’). Regarding bodysize, we study what happens when agents merely differ in sizebut behave according to the usual schooling rules (‘sizedifference model’), when agents choose to be close tothose of similar size, and when small agents avoid larger ones(‘risk avoidance’). Several spatial configurationsresult: during ‘active sorting’ familiar agentsgroup together anywhere in the shoal, but agents of differentsize group concentrically, whereby the small agents occupy thecenter and the large ones the periphery (‘size differencemodel’ and ‘active sorting’). If small agentsavoid the risk of being close to large ones, however, smallagents end up at the periphery and large ones occupy the center(‘risk avoidance’). Spatial configurations are alsoinfluenced by the composition of the group, namely the percentageof agents of each type. Furthermore, schools are usually oblongand their density is always greatest near the front. We explainthe way in which these patterns emerge and indicate how resultsof our model may guide the study of spatial patterns in realanimals.     

Teaching Density with a Little Drama

This article provides an example of an innovative science activity applied in a science methods course for future elementary teachers at a small university in northeastern Turkey. The aim of the activity is to help prospective elementary teachers understand the density concept in a simple way and see an innovative teaching example.     

An artificial bird nest experiment in urban environments: Lessons from a school‐based citizen science programme

Maintaining suitable vegetation within urban environments is crucial for wildlife conservation in the face of anthropogenic habitat change. Here, we report on a citizen science project, involving students from seven schools across south‐eastern Australia, that investigated the effectiveness of urban vegetation as habitat for bird nests. The ‘nest concealment hypothesis’ posits that vegetation should obscure the nest from predator detection, thus reducing the likelihood of predation. To test this, participating school‐aged citizen scientists constructed artificial nests, which were placed in garden trees within school grounds and monitored for signs of predation. We found no evidence to support the nest concealment hypothesis, with no relationship between the density of vegetation immediately surrounding a nest and its likelihood of predation (binomial model:  = 1.714, P = 0.190). It was observed that 80% of the nests experienced predation. This aligns with mounting evidence suggesting that other factors, such as olfaction and adult defence, may be more important factors in the protection of bird nests. It is important to note that artificial nests are unreliable, and therefore, the veracity of the overall conclusions is limited. However, in conducting this experiment, we demonstrate the suitability of this method as a school‐based citizen science activity. This study exemplifies that field‐based experiments can used to engage future generations with conservation science.