Teacher Talk Patterns in Science Lessons: Use in Teacher Education

This paper presents an innovative and useful methodology to analyze instructional talk. In teacher education, there is a lack of practical methods that the tutor teacher can use to discuss and reflect on student teachers’ lessons. The student teacher cannot remember what actually happened during the lesson, and the feedback and discussions are based on memory and are, therefore, unstructured. The purpose of this explorative and descriptive case study was to characterize the teacher talk used in the process of a teacher’s guidance of secondary school students’ acquisition of knowledge about physics. First, a classification method for classroom talk was developed. Then, using this method, the…

Yliopistofysiikkaa laatuaikaoppimalla : teknologiset työkalut yhteisöllisen tutkivan oppimisen tukena

Visualizing communication structures in science classrooms: Tracing cumulativity in teacher-led whole class discussions

Teacher-led whole class discussions are essential when it comes to guiding students' construction of knowledge, and recent studies on teaching and learning emphasize the need for more student-centered teaching methods. In previous studies, the extent to which different types of communication take place in the classroom have been extensively reported by means of lists, tables, and charts, yet these studies have not included overviews of how talk develops and progresses over time. This study addresses this aspect by presenting how different communicative approaches constitute a specific, cumulative communication structure. Within this structure, the role and temporal considerations of a dialo…

Pre-service Science Teacher Preparation in Europe: Comparing Pre-service Teacher Preparation Programs in England, France, Finland and Cyprus

A number of reports recently identify that the quality of science education in a number of European countries is lower than expected. One of the reasons for the apparent underachievement in this generally economically prosperous continent might be a pedagogy of science that lacks variety, or a pedagogy that is less engaging than other subjects. Given the diversity of European education systems, the purpose of this paper is to present aspects of four pre-service teacher preparation programs illustrating the similarities and differences that emerge. Specifically, we present the teacher preparation programs in England, Finland, France and Cyprus.

Computational thinking in programming with Scratch in primary schools: A systematic review

Computer programming is being introduced in educational curricula, even at the primary school level. One goal of this implementation is to teach computational thinking (CT), which is potentially applicable in various computational problem-solving situations. However, the educational objective of CT in primary schools is somewhat unclear: curricula in various countries define learning objectives for topics, such as computer science, computing, programming or digital literacy but not for CT specifically. Additionally, there has been confusion in concretely and comprehensively defining and operationalising what to teach, learn and assess about CT in primary education even with popular programm…

Visual understanding of divergence and curl: Visual cues promote better learning

Prior research has shown that students struggle to indicate whether vector field plots have zero or non-zero curl or divergence. In an instruction-based eye-tracking study, we investigated whether visual cues (VC) provided in the vector field plot can foster students’ understanding of these concepts. The VC were only present during instruction and highlighted conceptual information about vector decomposition and partial derivatives. Thirty-two physics majors were assigned to two groups, one was instructed with VC about the problemsolving strategy, and one without. The results show that students in VC-condition performed better, responded with higher confidence, experienced less mental effor…

Primetime learning: collaborative and technology-enhanced studying with genuine teacher presence.

Background Productive learning processes and good learning outcomes can be attained by applying the basic elements of active learning. The basic elements include fostering discussions and disputations, facing alternative conceptions, and focusing on conceptual understanding. However, in the face of poor course retention and high dropout rates, even learning outcomes can become of secondary importance. To address these challenges, we developed a research-based instructional strategy, the primetime learning model. We devised the model by organizing the basic elements of active learning into a theory-based four-step study process. The model is based on collaborative and technology-enhanced lea…

Automatic Content Analysis of Computer-Supported Collaborative Inquiry-Based Learning Using Deep Networks and Attention Mechanisms

Computer-supported collaborative inquiry-based learning (CSCIL) represents a form of active learning in which students jointly pose questions and investigate them in technology-enhanced settings. Scaffolds can enhance CSCIL processes so that students can complete more challenging problems than they could without scaffolds. Scaffolding CSCIL, however, would optimally adapt to the needs of a specific context, group, and stage of the group's learning process. In CSCIL, the stage of the learning process can be characterized by the inquiry-based learning (IBL) phase (orientation, conceptualization, investigation, conclusion, and discussion). In this presentation, we illustrate the potential of a…

Eye-Movement Study of Mechanics Problem Solving Using Multimodal Options

We used an eye-tracking method to investigate students’ approaches to solving a physics task using various representations. Eight upper-secondary school students from Finland took part in the study. We found that students who preferred either the text or graph representations watched the options differently, but they used both representations to be sure of their solution. Transitions between text and graph alternatives were different for students preferring either text or graph representations. Interviews revealed typical misconceptions about the concept of force. Implications for physics instruction are presented. peerReviewed

Introducing Dialogic Teaching to Science Student Teachers

It is commonly believed that science teachers rely on language that allows only minor flexibility when it comes to taking into account contrasting views and pupil thoughts. Too frequently science teachers either pose questions that target predefined answers or simply lecture through lessons, a major concern from a sociocultural perspective. This study reports the experiences of science student teachers when introduced to the Communicative Approach to science education drawing on dialogic teacher-talk in addition to authoritative teacher-talk. This approach was introduced to the students in an interventional teaching program running parallel to the student teachers’ field practice. The pract…

Finnish Secondary Students’ Mental Models of Magnetism

We examined Finnish lower secondary students’ mental models of magnetism through their drawings, written explanations and interviews. Secondary students in Finland (N=12) engaged in six lessons designed specifically to target three key concepts in understanding magnetism: structure and organization (magnetic domains), magnetic fields and magnetic interactions. We describe how, with a finite number of key concepts introduced, students reflected upon and revised their mental models of magnetism and magnetic interactions towards more sophisticated and normative scientific views. We found two new categories of students’ models: the pole model and pole/field model. The critical moments in evolvi…

Instruction-based clinical eye-tracking study on the visual interpretation of divergence : how do students look at vector field plots?

Relating mathematical concepts to graphical representations is a challenging task for students. In this paper, we introduce two visual strategies to qualitatively interpret the divergence of graphical vector field representations. One strategy is based on the graphical interpretation of partial derivatives, while the other is based on the flux concept. We test the effectiveness of both strategies in an instruction-based eye-tracking study with N = 41 physics majors. We found that students’ performance improved when both strategies were introduced (74% correct) instead of only one strategy (64% correct), and students performed best when they were free to choose between the two strategies (88…

Challenging Transmission Modes of Teaching in Science Classrooms : Enhancing Learner-Centredness through Dialogicity

There is an ongoing reform towards more inquiry-based teaching in school curriculum policy in South Africa. Reform towards more inquiry-based approaches is already integrated in pre-service teacher education programmes. As inquiry-based approaches have been gaining momentum worldwide, there is an increasing concern that dialogic interaction in classroom communication is being neglected. This is especially within teacher-orchestrated classroom interactions that should foster greater learner centredness and thus authentic scientific inquiry. In learner-centred teaching approaches, student contributions should be explicitly taken into account as part of classroom interactions in science. Learn…

Analyzing science teachers’ support of dialogic argumentation using teacher roles of questioning and communicative approaches

The purpose of this study is to investigate how teachers use different types of discourse to support dialogic argumentation. Dialogic argumentation is a collaborative process in which students construct arguments together and examine arguments presented by their peers. Science teachers can use argumentation as a vehicle to help students gain a working understanding of science content and the nature of science and its practices. Whole-class closing discussions from video-recorded lessons are analyzed to study the discourse used to support argumentation by two physics teachers in lower secondary schools. Analysis of discourse includes coding of communicative approach at the episode level and …

Pathways Through Peer Assessment: Implementing Peer Assessment in a Lower Secondary Physics Classroom

AbstractPeer assessment has been shown to advance learning, for example, by improving one’s work, but the variance of learning benefits within or between studies has not been explained. The purpose of this case study was to examine what kinds of pathways students have through peer assessment and to study which factors affect them when peer assessment is implemented in the early stage of physics studies in the context of conducting and reporting inquiry. Data sources used include field notes, audio recordings of lessons, student lab reports, written peer feedback, and student interviews. We examined peer assessment from the perspective of individual students and found 3 profiles of peer asse…

Does using a visual-representation tool foster students’ ability to identify forces and construct free-body diagrams?

Earlier research has shown that after physics instruction, many students have difficulties with the force concept, and with constructing free-body diagrams (FBDs). It has been suggested that treating forces as interactions could help students to identify forces as well as to construct the correct FBDs. While there is evidence that identifying interactions helps students in quantitative problem solving, there is no previous research investigating the effect of a visual-representation tool—an interaction diagram (ID)—on students’ ability to identify forces, and to construct the correct FBDs.We present an empirical study conducted in 11 Finnish high schools on students (n ¼ 335, aged 16) takin…

What do we do when we analyse the temporal aspects of computer-supported collaborative learning? A systematic literature review

To better understand the premises for successful computer-supported collaborative learning (CSCL), several studies over the last 10 years have analysed the temporal aspects of CSCL. We broadly define the temporal aspects of CSCL as focusing on the characteristics of or interrelations between events over time. The analysis of these aspects, however, has been loosely defined, creating challenges regarding the comparability and commensurability of studies. To address these challenges, we conducted a systematic literature review to define the temporal analysis procedure for CSCL using 78 journal papers published from 2003 to 2019. After identifying the key operations to be included in the proce…

Visual attention while solving the test of understanding graphs in kinematics: an eye-tracking analysis

This study used eye-tracking to capture students' visual attention while taking a test of understanding graphs in kinematics (TUG-K). A total of N = 115 upper-secondary-level students from Germany and Switzerland took the 26-item multiple-choice instrument after learning about kinematics graphs in the regular classroom. Besides choosing the correct alternative among research-based distractors, the students were required to judge their response confidence for each question. The items were presented sequentially on a computer screen equipped with a remote eye tracker, resulting in a set of approx. 3000 paired responses (accuracy and confidence) and about 40 h of eye-movement data (approx. 500…

Learning About Forces Using Multiple Representations

We present two research-based interventions to measure upper secondary student learning of forces using multiple representations (MRs). The first intervention is the Representational Variant of the Force Concept Inventory (R-FCI) – a multiple-choice test for evaluating students’ representational consistency in answering triplets of isomorphic items in the context of forces. The second intervention is an interaction diagram (ID) – a visual representation that helps students to identify forces resulting from interactions between two objects. Students’ representational consistency on the R-FCI pre-test correlated with their normalised learning gain on the Force Concept Inventory (FCI) suggesti…

The potential of temporal analysis: Combining log data and lag sequential analysis to investigate temporal differences between scaffolded and non-scaffolded group inquiry-based learning processes

This paper contributes to the ongoing discussion about analysing the temporal aspects of learning processes in the educational technology research field. Our main aim was to advance methods for analysing temporal aspects of technology-enhanced learning (TEL) processes by introducing the temporal lag sequential analysis (TLSA) technique and by combining TLSA with temporal log data analysis (TLDA). Our secondary aim was to illustrate the potential of these two analysis techniques to reveal the differences between the face-to-face technology-enhanced collaborative inquiry-based learning (CIBL) processes of three different conditions (non-scaffolded, writing scaffolded and script scaffolded gro…

English

We propose a method that automatically describes teacher talk. The method allows us to describe and compare classroom lessons, as well as visualizing changes in teacher discourse throughout the course of a lesson. The proposed method uses a machine learning model to infer topics from school textbooks. Certain topics are related to different contents (e.g. kinematics, solar system, electricity), while others are related to different teaching functions (e.g. explanations, questions, numerical exercises). To describe teacher talk, the machine learning method measures the appearance of the inferred topics throughout each lesson. We apply the proposed method to a collection of transcripts from p…

Inquiry-Based Approaches in Primary Science Teacher Education

This chapter introduces an interactional graphic tool together with a model for inquiry-based science teaching (abbreviated as IBST). The combination of the graphic tool and model offers an approach to support the planning, implementation, reflection and analysis of dialogic IBST. The potential use is illustrated here using a case study in which student teachers used IBST to develop their teaching. The interactional graphic and the model are fundamentally related to three established approaches to science teaching: inquiry-based science teaching, dialogic teaching and the communicative approach. Together, these approaches draw attention to learner participation in inquiry-based science teac…

Students’ approaches to solving R-FCI tasks observed by eye-tracking method

This study sought to assess the representational format of task options in the representational variant of the force concept Inventory (R-FCI) test, namely its impact on students’ problem-solving approaches. This was done with the help of eye-tracking equipment. 35 high-school students solved four tasks, mainly from the R-FCI test, which sought to assess the student’s understanding of Newton’s 1st and 2nd Law of Motion. As they were trying to solve the problems, their gazes were tracked by TobiiTX300. A comparison between students who provided the correct and incorrect answer was subsequently carried out. The correctly answering students very quickly found the correct solution both in verba…

Guidance Provided by Teacher and Simulation for Inquiry-Based Learning: a Case Study

Current research indicates that inquiry-based learning should be guided in order to achieve optimal learning outcomes. The need for guidance is even greater when simulations are used because of their high information content and the difficulty of extracting information from them. Previous research on guidance for learning with simulations has concentrated on guidance provided by the simulation. Little research has been done on the role of the teacher in guiding learners with inquiry-based activities using simulations. This descriptive study focuses on guidance provided during small group investigations; pre-service teachers (n = 8) guided third and fifth graders using a particular simulatio…

Visualising the temporal aspects of collaborative inquiry-based learning processes in technology-enhanced physics learning

This study presents new ways of visualising technology-enhanced collaborative inquiry-based learning (CIBL) processes in an undergraduate physics course. The data included screen-capture videos from a technology-enhanced learning environment and audio recordings of discussions between students. We performed a thematic analysis based on the phases of inquiry-based learning (IBL). The thematic analysis was complemented by a content analysis, in which we analysed whether the utilisation of technological tools was on a deep-level, surface-level, or nonexistent basis. Student participation was measured in terms of frequency of contributions as well as in terms of impact. We visualised the sequen…

Attending to and fostering argumentation in whole class discussion

Prior studies highlighted the importance of whole class discussion after student activities and have focused, for example, on teacher moves in supporting discussion. We characterize two processes in teacher-students interaction in argumentation discussions: attending to and fostering. These processes describe how student argumentation feeds teacher talk that in turn feeds student argumentation. We analysed video recordings of one whole class 7th grade lesson when students made geometric constructions and engaged in argumentation discussion. We elaborated on four themes in how the teacher talk attended to and fostered student argumentation. We argue that the concepts of attending to and fost…

Force Concept Inventory-based multiple-choice test for investigating students’ representational consistency

This study investigates students' ability to interpret multiple representations consistently (i.e., representational consistency) in the context of the force concept. For this purpose we developed the Representational Variant of the Force Concept Inventory (R-FCI), which makes use of nine items from the 1995 version of the Force Concept Inventory (FCI). These original FCI items were redesigned using various representations (such as motion map, vectorial and graphical), yielding 27 multiple-choice items concerning four central concepts underpinning the force concept: Newton's first, second, and third laws, and gravitation. We provide some evidence for the validity and reliability of the R-FC…

Visual cues improve students’ understanding of divergence and curl: Evidence from eye movements during reading and problem solving

The coordination of multiple external representations is important for learning, but yet a difficult task for students, requiring instructional support. The subject in this study covers a typical relation in physics between abstract mathematical equations (definitions of divergence and curl) and a visual representation (vector field plot). To support the connection across both representations, two instructions with written explanations, equations, and visual representations (differing only in the presence of visual cues) were designed and their impact on students’ performance was tested. We captured students’ eye movements while they processed the written instruction and solved subsequent c…

ASR in Classroom Today : Automatic Visualization of Conceptual Network in Science Classrooms

Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR) field has improved substantially in the last years. We are in a point never saw before, where we can apply such algorithms in non-ideal conditions such as real classrooms. In these scenarios it is still not possible to reach perfect recognition rates, however we can already take advantage of these improvements. This paper shows preliminary results using ASR in Chilean and Finnish middle and high school to automatically provide teachers a visualization of the structure of concepts present in their discourse in science classrooms. These visualizations are conceptual networks that relate key concepts used by the teacher. This is an interesting tool that gives…

Design and development of a microscopic model for polarization

As research shows that the knowledge and use of models and modelling by teachers is limited, particularly for predicting phenomena, we developed and applied a sequence of three representations of a simulated model focusing on polarization and specifically showing the behaviour of an atom, and forces exerted on a dipole and an insulator, when a charged particle is placed anywhere near them. The sequence was tested with beginning student teachers. They worked with specially developed worksheets in which the simulated model was treated, before carrying out hands-on experiments embedded in a model-based instructional unit which aimed to help the student teachers understand polarization and beco…

Conceptual network of teachers' talk : Automatic analysis and quantitative measures

Educational field can take advantage of the improvements of Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR), since we can apply ASR algorithms in non-ideal conditions such as real classrooms. In the context of QuIP project, we used ASR systems to translate audio from teachers’ talk into text to study conceptual networks based on what the teacher says during his/her lecture, particularly the key concepts mentioned and their temporal co-occurrence. In the present study, quantitative metrics are provided, such as centrality measures and PageRank, which can be used to analyse the conceptual networks in a broaden way. With a case-study design, two teachers’ talk are described quantitatively and qualitatively…

Eye-tracking the Effects of Representation on Students' Problem Solving Approaches

This study used an eye-tracking method to explore students’ approaches to solving the same task in different representations and the differences between students who answered correctly and those who answered incorrectly when solving the problems. Thirty-one upper secondary students took part in the study. According to the results of this study, the representation has a slight effect on students’ problem solving processes. Students with the incorrect answers paid more attention to the parts of the tasks with information irrelevant to determining the solution to the task. peerReviewed

Enriching primary student teachers’ conceptions about science teaching: Towards dialogic inquirybased teaching

Inquiry-based teaching has been at the heart of science education since it was first outlined in national standards over a decade ago. The general idea behind the inquiry guidelines is that pupils would adopt ways of conducting science, in addition to conceptually learning, thus attaining also the epistemological dimension of science. Although curricula are based on these ideas of inquiry, all too often authentic inquiry is hindered by overly authoritative approaches and teacher directions. To avoid this, the communicational ways in which teachers can encourage pupil reasoning during different phases of inquiry should be explicitly addressed. This paper addresses this gap by introducing a d…

Enhancing Dialogic Argumentation in Mathematics and Science

This paper reports on a teacher professional development (PD) programme addressing dialogic argumentation in mathematics and science classrooms. While argumentation skills are becoming more and more important in an increasingly polarised society, the social aspect of argumentation is often neglected in secondary education. Moreover, it is agreed that genuine argumentation requires time and space in classroom dialogue. There have been calls for research delving into how teachers could be familiarised with dialogic argumentation so that they could foster such dialogue in students. The described PD programme features versatile and continuous cooperation between scholars and participating teach…

Forms and functions of on-the-fly formative assessment conversations in physics inquiry lessons

This case study examined teachers’ on-the-fly formative assessment conversations, that is, how teachers collect information from students’ thinking and use that information to support their learnin...

Assessment On-the-Fly: Promoting and Collecting Evidence of Learning Through Dialogue

International audience; Inquiry activities generate rich opportunities for STEM learning and for assessment. When teachers pay attention to assessment information collected during the course of learning, they are able to interpret and make decisions about such assessment data in a timely fashion that can drive future planning and support student learning, for example through feedback. This chapter focuses on how classroom talk can generate evidence of learning and how teachers can utilise this to enable assessment to guide inquiry learning. It looks at several vignettes from different countries of on-the-fly interactions in inquiry settings and unpacks how teachers organised, facilitated an…

Automatic content analysis in collaborative inquiry-based learning

In the field of science education, content analysis is a popular way to analyse collaborative inquiry-based learning (CIBL) processes. However, content analysis is time-consuming when conducted by humans. In this paper, we introduce an automatic content analysis method to identify the different inquiry-based learning (IBL) phases from authentic student face-to-face discussions. We illustrate the potential of automatic content analysis by comparing the results of manual content analysis (conducted by humans) and automatic content analysis (conducted by computers). Both the manual and automatic content analyses were based on manual transcriptions of 11 groups’ CIBL processes. Two researchers …

Using tablets as tools for learner-generated drawings in the context of teaching the kinetic theory of gases

Even though research suggests that the use of drawings could be an important part of learning science, learnergenerated drawings have not received much attention in physics classrooms. This article presents a method for recording students’ drawings and group discussions using tablets. Compared to pen and paper, tablets offer unique benefits, which include the recording of the whole drawing process and of the discussion associated with the drawing. A study, which investigated the use of drawings and the need for guidance among Finnish upper secondary school students, is presented alongside ideas for teachers on how to see drawing in a new light. peerReviewed

Proceedings of the 2012 Annual Conference of Finnish Mathematics and Science Education Research Association = Matematiikan ja luonnontieteiden opetuksen tutkimusseuran konferenssijulkaisu 2012

Assessing Teacher’s Discourse Effect on Students’ Learning: A Keyword Centrality Approach

The way that content-related keywords co-occur along a lesson seems to play an important role in concept understanding and, therefore, in students’ performance. Thus, network-like structures have been used to represent and summarize conceptual knowledge, particularly in science areas. Previous work has automated the process of producing concept networks, computed different properties of these networks, and studied the correlation of these properties with students’ achievement. This work presents an automated analysis of teachers’ concept graphs, the distribution of relevance amongst content-related keywords and how this affects students’ achievement. Particularly, we automatically extracted…

The connection between forms of guidance for inquiry-based learning and the communicative approaches applied : a case study in the context of pre-service teachers

Recent research has argued that inquiry-based science learning should be guided by providing the learners with support. The research on guidance for inquiry-based learning has concentrated on how providing guidance affects learning through inquiry. How guidance for inquiry-based learning could promote learning about inquiry (e.g. epistemic practices) is in need of exploration. A dialogic approach to classroom communication and pedagogical link-making offers possibilities for learners to acquire these practices. The focus of this paper is to analyse the role of different forms of guidance for inquiry-based learning on building the communicative approach applied in classrooms. The data for th…

Pre-Service Primary Teachers' Beliefs of Teaching Science With Simulations

Although the benefits of the use of simulations in science education have been extensively documented, research on pre-service teacher education related to the use of simulations in science teaching remains limited. The aim of this study was to investigate the beliefs of pre-service primary teachers in two teacher training programs of two different universities (n = 36 and n = 18) related to teaching science with simulations. The teachers participated in an intervention where they planned and gave a science lesson where simulations were used. The effect of the two different types of interventions on the beliefs was also studied. The Interconnected Model of Professional Growth by Clarke and …

Teacher orchestration of classroom interaction in science: exploring dialogic and authoritative passages in whole-class discussions

Whereas science is fundamentally a result of a dialogic debate, the authoritative approach has been conceived of as a fundamental part of school science. Dialogic interactions encompass the mutual appreciation of different ideas manifested in teacher supportiveness toward students and, in authoritative interactions, the focus is more on the science’s or teacher’s point of view. Whereas dialogic and authoritative interactions have been viewed as oppositional in recent educational research, authoritative interactions could well be the seed for and give strength and meaning to dialogic interactions, and thus, to the overall dialogue. The focus in this study is on the interplay between authorit…

Primary Student-Teachers’ Practical Knowledge of Inquiry-Based Science Teaching and Classroom Communication of Climate Change

A teacher’s practical knowledge contains the teacher’s beliefs about the goals, values and principles of education that guide his or her actions in the classroom. There is still a lack of knowledge about how teachers’ practical knowledge influences their teaching. The present study examines student teachers’ practical knowledge in the context of teaching climate change in elementary schools. Participating student-teachers planned their lessons using the principles and ideas of inquiry-based science teaching and the communicative approach. The same two approaches were applied in analysing the lessons, providing a broader basis on which to study student-teachers’ beliefs about teaching scienc…

Evaluating similarity measures for gaze patterns in the context of representational competence in physics education

The competent handling of representations is required for understanding physics' concepts, developing problem-solving skills, and achieving scientific expertise. Using eye-tracking methodology, we present the contributions of this paper as follows: We first investigated the preferences of students with the different levels of knowledge; experts, intermediates, and novices, in representational competence in the domain of physics problem-solving. It reveals that experts more likely prefer to use vector than other representations. Besides, a similar tendency of table representation usage was observed in all groups. Also, diagram representation has been used less than others. Secondly, we evalu…

A methodological approach to exploring the rhythm of classroom discourse in a cumulative frame in science teaching

The purpose of this study was to characterise the nature and purpose of different types of classroom discourse and to explore how the rhythm of classroom discourse provides a cumulative frame for the teaching of science. The overall data consisted of a teaching sequence of eight lessons on the moment of force as taught to physiotherapy students at a Finnish University of Applied Sciences. Our in-depth multiple timescale analysis of two episodes illustrated in this study shows examples how cumulation was instantiated by the different types of classroom discourse. The methodology and findings of this study have implications both for teacher education and further research. peerReviewed

Assessing 4th Grade Students’ Computational Thinking through Scratch Programming Projects

Computational thinking (CT) has been introduced in primary schools worldwide. However, rich classroom-based evidence and research on how to assess and support students’ CT through programming are particularly scarce. This empirical study investigates 4th grade students’ (N = 57) CT in a comparatively comprehensive and fine-grained manner by assessing their Scratch projects (N = 325) with a framework that was revised from previous studies to aim towards enhancing CT. The results demonstrate in detail the various coding patterns and code constructs the students programmed in assorted projects throughout a programming course and the extent to which they had conceptual encounters with CT. Notab…

Physics alive : proceedings : GIREP-EPEC Conference 2011, August 1-5, Jyväskylä, Finland

In Search of Dialogicity: A Comparison of Curricular Documents and Classroom Interactions from Finland and Hong Kong

The prevailing consensus is that science teaching should be more student-centered and guide learners towards more phenomenon-based and authentic problem-solving activities. This approach is reflected in educational policies and recently reformed curricula. However, there is limited research on how these frameworks actually manifest in curricula and how to facilitate student-centered pedagogy. In this study, we examine the student-centered features of the curricula of two countries: Finland and Hong Kong. Student-centeredness in the classroom can be assessed using the principles of dialogicity. Dialogic principles underpin student-centeredness, particularly in teacher-orchestrated whole-clas…

Relations between representational consistency, conceptual understanding of the force concept, and scientific reasoning

Previous physics education research has raised the question of “hidden variables” behind students’ success in learning certain concepts. In the context of the force concept, it has been suggested that students’ reasoning ability is one such variable. Strong positive correlations between students’ preinstruction scores for reasoning ability (measured by Lawson’s Classroom Test of Scientific Reasoning) and their learning of forces [measured by the Force Concept Inventory (FCI)] have been reported in high school and university introductory courses. However, there is no published research concerning the relation between students’ ability to interpret multiple representations consistently (i.e.,…