Science and Mathematics Education Commons^™

Implementing Resources For Reform: One Teacher’S Experience With A Standards-Based Mathematics Curriculum, Lynn Best Royer

Masters Theses

This study addresses the issue of implementation of a reform mathematics curriculum, focusing on one teacher's personal experience. Its purpose is to uncover what motivated this teacher to persist in learning new ways to teach mathematics. There is greater emphasis on discovering what discouraged this effort. Impediments to implementation are emphasized because of their potential to undermine the movement to restructure mathematics education.

This case study used common methods of qualitative data gathering and analysis. Interviews, observation, and video tapes were recorded, transcribed, and analyzed. The impediments to implementation which emerged were then compared to reports from similar reform projects. …

Public Understanding Of Science As Seen By The Scientific Community: Do We Need To Re-Conceptualize The Challenge And To Re-Examine Our Own Assumptions?, William W. Cobern

Scientific Literacy and Cultural Studies Project

My task is to address the question of how the scientific community views the public understanding of science and whether there needs to be a re-conceptualization of the challenge to foster the public understanding of science, and also whether there is a need to re-examine assumptions. I am compelled to begin by acknowledging a debt to an important book, Inarticulate Science, written by Edgar Jenkins and his colleagues at Leeds. Inarticulate Science is an outstanding contribution on the concept of the public understanding of science and I think of my contribution today on this topic as a footnote. My …

Traditional Culture And Science Education In Africa: Merely Language Games?, William W. Cobern

Scientific Literacy and Cultural Studies Project

I want to begin today with two short personal remarks. My field of research at home is the cultural study of science education. In other words, I am interested in what is commonly called the culture of science and how that becomes interpreted in science education by teacher and curriculum. I am interested in the variation of culture among American students, cultural variations grounded in family and community and brought to the classroom. I am interested in the cultural interactions that are precipitated by the meeting of cultures in the science classroom. In my current work I use worldview concepts …

Constructivism And Non-Western Science Education Research, William W. Cobern

Scientific Literacy and Cultural Studies Project

In this paper, I argue that science education research and curriculum development efforts in Nonwestern countries can benefit by adopting a constructivist view of science and science learning. The past efforts at transferring curricula from the West, and local development projects that result in curricula only marginally different from Western curricula, stem from an acultural view of science. These efforts also ground science learning in concepts of logical thinking rather than understanding. The resulting level of science learning, however, has not met expectations. Constructivism offers a very different view of science and science learning. It assumes that logical thinking is …

Leaving Elementary School With A Sense Of Order In Nature, William W. Cobern, Adrienne T. Gibson, Scott A. Underwood

Scientific Literacy and Cultural Studies Project

Ninth graders in Arizona high schools have just left their elementary, general science education and are at the start of more specialized secondary science education. They are beginning a course of study that will form the foundation for tertiary education and employment after high school graduation. The research asked, Who are these kids entering high school science courses? The researchers noted that one of the key objectives of elementary education is to foster in children the concept that nature is inherently orderly and thus amenable to scientific investigation. Since the concept of order or disorder is fundamental in one’s perception …

The Different Worlds Of High School Biology And Physical Science Teachers, William W. Cobern, Adrienne T. Gibson, Scott A. Underwood

Scientific Literacy and Cultural Studies Project

A science teacher not only presents scientific concepts, but tacitly creates a context in which scientific concepts are presented to the class. This context can be strongly influenced by teacher beliefs or worldview. In the current research, teacher worldviews with respect to the essence of nature were examined. Two biology and two physical science teachers individually sat for qualitative interviews. The same interview protocols were used in a concurrent study involving ninth graders at their high school. The analysis led to three assertions: (1) When compared with their students, the science teachers had a much more focused and less diverse …