Education Commons^™

Theory Guided Professional Development In Early Childhood Science Education, Soo-Young Hong, Julia Torquati, Victoria J. Molfese

Soo-Young Hong

The importance of early and developmentally appropriate science education is increasingly recognized. Consequently, creation of common guidelines and standards in early childhood science education has begun (National Research Council (NRC), 2012), and researchers, practitioners, and policy makers have shown great interest in aligning professional development with the new guidelines and standard. There are some important issues that need to be addressed in order to successfully implement guidelines and make progress toward accomplishing standards. Early childhood teachers have expressed a lack of confidence in teaching science and nature (Torquati, Cutler, Gilkerson, & Sarver, in press) and have limited science and pedagogical …

Measure For Measure : A Review Of Outcomes Of School Education In Australia, John Ainley, Eveline Gebhardt

Dr John Ainley

There have been a plethora of research reports providing information about the achievements of students in Australian schools and how those achievements differ among jurisdictions and among groups of students. However, each report has often been viewed in isolation from other similar studies. This report is intended to provide an integrated appraisal of the results of the international and national achievement surveys conducted since 1994 but with some references to earlier studies. In addition to limiting the task to manageable proportions, this time span corresponds to the widespread introduction of modern measurement methods so that there is a better basis …

Monitoring Australian Year 8 Student Achievement Internationally : Timss 2011, Sue Thomson, Kylie Hillman, Nicole Wernert

Nicole Wernert

The Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS 2011) is an international study directed by the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA). In Australia, TIMSS was managed by the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER), and funded by the Australian and state and territory governments.

The goal of TIMSS is to provide comparative information about educational achievement across countries to improve teaching and learning in mathematics and science. It also provides comparative perspectives on trends in achievement in the context of different educational systems, school organisational approaches and instructional practices and to enable this, TIMSS collects …

Scientific Skateboarding And Mathematical Music: Edutainment That Actively Engages Middle School Students, William H. Robertson, Larry Lesser

William H. Robertson

Edutainment has recently been a major growing area of education, showing great promise to motivate students with relevant activities. The authors are among innovators who have developed cutting-edge fusions of popular culture and STEM concepts to engage and to motivate middle school students, using vehicles such as music/song and skateboarding. The importance of using relevant and practical methods of instruction and curriculum delivery that build on student interests and increase enjoyment in the learning process are critical at the middle school level, especially in the STEM fields. The use of edutainment in this manner is meant to inspire broader interest …

Edutainment: Using Media And Video Instruction As Methods Of Disseminating Content In Science, Technology, Engineering And Mathematics (Stem) Instruction, William H. Robertson

William H. Robertson

Teacher Design Using Online Learning Resources: A Comparative Case Study Of Science And Mathematics Teachers, Mimi Recker

Mimi Recker

Using a comparative case study design, this paper explores the impacts of a technology-related professional development (TTPD) design aimed at helping science and mathematics teachers design classroom activities using the wealth of resources available on the Internet. Using the lens of curricular adaption and the notion of teachers’ varying pedagogical design capacity, we analyzed the experiences of four teachers in terms of the kinds of instructional activities teachers designed, how these were supported with online resources, and teachers’ perceptions of impacts on student learning. Findings suggested that participants used a variety of personally relevant design strategies when applying TTPD concepts …

Transition Or Lack Of It? Looking At The Changes In Students' Attitudes To, And Interest In, Science Over The Primary/Secondary Interface, Marianne Ruth Logan

Dr Marianne R Logan

The science education literature reveals a crisis in school science in Australia, and a number of other countries (Tytler, 2007a), relating to a decrease in positive attitude in science as students move from primary school into secondary school (Braund & Driver, 2005; Ferguson & Fraser, 1998; James & Smith 1985; Jarman, 1990; Keogh & Naylor, 2004; Simpson & Oliver, 1985) and as students progress through secondary school (Baird, Gunstone, Penna, Fensham, & White, 1990; Simpson & Oliver, 1990; Yager & Yager, 1985) as well as declining numbers of students choosing science subjects in senior secondary school (Goodrum et aI., 2001) …