Search results for "Inquiry"

Inquiry-based science education in primary school in Spain : teachers’ practices

2017

Teaching science by inquiry allows students to develop scientific skills, which is key during primary school, and enhances learning. In this study we present the results of a survey to 63 primary school teachers in Spain about their practices in science class and their knowledge about inquiry-based science education (IBSE). Our results show that concept-based paradigm of science is predominant. Scientific skills, besides observation, are not developed, and the concept of research is restricted to bibliographic search. Teachers believe that IBSE is feasible in the Spanish educative system, although they identify the length of the curriculum and the lack of time are the main obstacles.

Timing Motherhood: Experiencing and Narrating the Choice to Become a Mother

2005

The decision to become a mother is a multilayered process that is not wholly rational, clear-cut, or conscious. The aim of this study is to present four different stories about the choice of becoming a mother collected from pregnant women living in heterosexual relationships. The women’s stories are explored through the desires and ambivalences of embodied, relational and emotional female subjects. Crucial to the choice of becoming a mother are: first, the timing of motherhood, which is attached to social and cultural narratives concerning ‘good’ mothering and a ‘reasonable’ female life course; second, the ambivalences encountered in choosing to become a mother; and, third, the link betwee…

“How Did Child of Light Save Me?” Engagement with a Children’s Multimodal Game Narrative as Adult Play and Self-Therapy

2021

This chapter investigates the online reception of the Canadian video game Child of Light (Ubisoft, Child of Light. Montreal: Ubisoft Studios. Video Game, 2014) as a space of encounter between imaginary childhoods and experienced adulthoods. Child of Light is a well-selling video game involving a conventional fairy-tale narrative about a young princess Aurora battling against darkness with a party of companions. The game contains narrative elements typical of children’s stories but has been popular among adult players. The focus of this chapter is on a specific case study: an adult male professional game reviewer and his publicly shared online life narrative, in which he discusses his real-l…

A Comparative Analysis of Hospital Readmissions in France and the US

2015

International audience; Policymakers in the US and France are struggling to improve coordination among hospitals and other health care providers. A comparison of hospital readmission rates, and the factors that may explain them, can provide important insights about the French and US health care systems. In addition, it illustrates a methodological approach to comparative research: how an empirical inquiry along a single indicator can reveal broader issues about system-wide differences across health care systems and policy. Using data from three French regions, the article extends a previous national-level comparison indicating that rates of hospital readmission for the population aged 65+ a…

Teacher Agency and Futures Thinking

2022

Problems encountered in top-down school reforms have repeatedly highlighted the significance of teachers’ agency in educational change. At the same time, temporality has been identified as a key element in teachers’ agency, with teachers’ beliefs about the future and experiences of the past shaping their agentic orientations. However, research on teachers’ future orientations is typically limited to short-term trajectories, as opposed to long-term visions of education. To address this, we draw on a futures studies perspective to give more explicit attention to teachers’ long-term visions of their work. We argue that the method of future narratives, already well…

Exploring the Coherence of Student Reasoning when Responding to Questionnaires on Thermally Activated Phenomena

2021

Many research results show that students often highlight “mixed-type” reasoning when tackling problematic situations and problems. This reasoning is based on the simultaneous use of common-sense and mere descriptions of facts, perceived as sufficient to build an “explanation” of observed or proposed situations and problems. This fact can be interpreted as a lack of coherence. In this paper, we study the coherence of responses that a sample of undergraduate chemical engineering student give when they are asked to face real-life situations, to create explanations, and to use models in different contexts. We administered open-ended questionnaires before and after a twenty-hour Inquiry-Based wo…

Efficacia didattica della connessione tra concetti fondanti della chimica e temi della moderna ricerca scientifica

Analyzing the Contextual Nature of Collaborative Activity

2010

This chapter discusses a methodology designed to explore the ­contextual nature of collaborative activity. The methods that can be generally considered to be based on ‘socio-cultural’ discourse analysis are discussed as a means to explore how different aspects of a situation mediate students’ shared meaning-making. First, an analysis is demonstrated, illustrating how different immediate and mediated contexts are embedded in students’ discourse as they are engaged in face-to-face collaborative activity in a computer-mediated context. Second, a multidimensional coding scheme is presented for analyzing the contextualized process of collaborative knowledge construction in an asynchronous web-ba…

A Performance-Based Test for Assessing Students’ Online Inquiry Competences in Schools

2018

In this paper, we introduce a performance-based test for measuring adolescents’ competences in online inquiry. The test covers four competence dimensions: (1) searching and selecting relevant sources, (2) identifying the main ideas presented in the sources, (3) evaluating the credibility of the sources, and (4) synthesizing information across the sources. We implement a technological solution called NEURONE to carry out this routine. The scoring of the test data is demonstrated by presenting preliminary results of a case study. Finally, we discuss the strengths and limitations of the test.

Open-inquiry driven overcoming of epistemological difficulties in engineering undergraduates: A case study in the context of thermal science

2014

This paper addresses the efficacy of an open-inquiry approach that allows students to build on traditionally received knowledge. A sample of thirty engineering undergraduates, having already attended traditional university physics instruction, was selected for this study. The students were involved in a six- week long learning experience of open-inquiry research activities within the highly motivating context of developing a thermodynamically efficient space base on Mars. They designed and carried out their own scientific investigations, which involved gathering information, collecting and analyzing data, providing explanations, and sharing results. A questionnaire containing fifteen open-e…