Teachers Creating Context Based Learning Environments In Science

"Context-based science education has led to the transformation of science education in countries all over the world, with changes also visible in learning environments and how these are being shaped. These changes involve authentic problems on research and design, new types of interactions within communities of practice, new content areas and also new challenges for teachers in teaching, motivating, scaffolding and assessing their students, among other things.This book focuses on context-based science education and its resulting changes in the perspective of research on learning environments. It also focuses on the implications for the teachers and the professional development of their competencies and beliefs.The book consists of eleven chapters by experts in various themes surrounding learning environments research and science education, preceded by and concluded with a chapter with reflections on context-based learning environments in science by the editors of this book. The conclusion they draw is that professional development of science teachers may be the most important and the most difficult part of the process of teachers creating context-based learning environments in science, as is the focus in the title of this book."

This textbook tackles the matter of contemporary learners’ needs, and introduces modern learning, teaching, and assessment methods. It provides a deeper understanding of these methods so that the students and teachers can create teaching and learning opportunities for themselves and others. It explores the meaning of ‘pedagogy’, why it is essential, and how pedagogy has evolved to take 21st-century skills and learning into account. This textbook showcases various modern learning, teaching, and assessment methods for contemporary learners in an increasingly digital environment. Each chapter presents insights and case studies that show how such modern methods can be applied to classrooms, and how they can support the existing curriculum. It shows students, educators, and researchers alike how to effectively make sense of and use modern learning, teaching, and assessment methods in everyday practice.

Internet Environments for Science Education synthesizes 25 years of research to identify effective, technology-enhanced ways to convert students into lifelong science learners--one inquiry project at a time. It offers design principles for development of innovations; features tested, customizable inquiry projects that students, teachers, and professional developers can enact and refine; and introduces new methods and assessments to investigate the impact of technology on inquiry learning. The methodology--design-based research studies--enables investigators to capture the impact of innovations in the complex, inertia-laden educational enterprise and to use these findings to improve the innovation. The approach--technology-enhanced inquiry--takes advantage of global, networked information resources, sociocognitive research, and advances in technology combined in responsive learning environments. Internet Environments for Science Education advocates leveraging inquiry and technology to reform the full spectrum of science education activities--including instruction, curriculum, policy, professional development, and assessment. The book offers: *the knowledge integration perspective on learning, featuring the interpretive, cultural, and deliberate natures of the learner; *the scaffolded knowledge integration framework on instruction summarized in meta-principles and pragmatic principles for design of inquiry instruction; *a series of learning environments, including the Computer as Learning Partner (CLP), the Knowledge Integration Environment (KIE), and the Web-based Inquiry Science Environment (WISE) that designers can use to create new inquiry projects, customize existing projects, or inspire thinking about other learning environments; *curriculum design patterns for inquiry projects describing activity sequences to promote critique, debate, design, and investigation in science; *a partnership model establishing activity structures for teachers, pedagogical researchers, discipline experts, and technologists to jointly design and refine inquiry instruction; *a professional development model involving mentoring by an expert teacher; *projects about contemporary controversy enabling students to explore the nature of science; *a customization process guiding teachers to adapt inquiry projects to their own students, geographical characteristics, curriculum framework, and personal goals; and *a Web site providing additional links, resources, and community tools at www.InternetScienceEducation.org

This conference proceedings focuses on enabling science and mathematics practitioners and citizens to respond to the pressing challenges of global competitiveness and sustainable development by transforming research and teaching of science and mathematics. The proceedings consist of 82 papers presented at the Science and Mathematics International Conference (SMIC) 2018, organised by the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, Universitas Negeri Jakarta, Indonesia. The proceedings are organised in four parts: Science, Science Education, Mathematics, and Mathematics Education. The papers contribute to our understanding of important contemporary issues in science, especially nanotechnology, materials and environmental science; science education, in particular, environmental sustainability, STEM and STEAM education, 21st century skills, technology education, and green chemistry; and mathematics and its application in statistics, computer science, and mathematics education.

This edited volume brings together innovative research in the field of Science Education, fostering scientific citizenship in an uncertain world. The nineteen chapters presented in this book address diverse topics, and research approaches carried out in various contexts and settings worldwide, contributing to improving and updating knowledge on science education. The book consists of selected high-quality studies presented at the 14th European Science Education Research Association (ESERA) Conference, held online (due to the Covid-19 pandemic) by the University of Minho, Portugal, between August 30th and September 3rd, 2021. Being of great relevance in contemporary science education, this book stimulates reflection on different approaches to enhance a deeper understanding of how better prepare the coming generations, which is of great interest to science education researchers and science teachers.

Many projects in recent years have applied context-based learning and engagement tools to the fostering of long-term student engagement with chemistry. While empirical evidence shows the positive effects of context-based learning approaches on students' interest, the long-term effects on student engagement have not been sufficiently highlighted up to now. Edited by respected chemistry education researchers, and with contributions from practitioners across the world, Engaging Learners with Chemistry sets out the approaches that have been successfully tested and implemented according to different criteria, including informative, interactive, and participatory engagement, while also considering citizenship and career perspectives. Bringing together the latest research in one volume, this book will be useful for chemistry teachers, researchers in chemistry education and professionals in the chemical industry seeking to attract students to careers in the chemical sector.

Problem solving is central to the teaching and learning of chemistry at secondary, tertiary and post-tertiary levels of education, opening to students and professional chemists alike a whole new world for analysing data, looking for patterns and making deductions. As an important higher-order thinking skill, problem solving also constitutes a major research field in science education. Relevant education research is an ongoing process, with recent developments occurring not only in the area of quantitative/computational problems, but also in qualitative problem solving. The following situations are considered, some general, others with a focus on specific areas of chemistry: quantitative problems, qualitative reasoning, metacognition and resource activation, deconstructing the problem-solving process, an overview of the working memory hypothesis, reasoning with the electron-pushing formalism, scaffolding organic synthesis skills, spectroscopy for structural characterization in organic chemistry, enzyme kinetics, problem solving in the academic chemistry laboratory, chemistry problem-solving in context, team-based/active learning, technology for molecular representations, IR spectra simulation, and computational quantum chemistry tools. The book concludes with methodological and epistemological issues in problem solving research and other perspectives in problem solving in chemistry. With a foreword by George Bodner.

Currently, many states are adopting the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) or are revising their own state standards in ways that reflect the NGSS. For students and schools, the implementation of any science standards rests with teachers. For those teachers, an evolving understanding about how best to teach science represents a significant transition in the way science is currently taught in most classrooms and it will require most science teachers to change how they teach. That change will require learning opportunities for teachers that reinforce and expand their knowledge of the major ideas and concepts in science, their familiarity with a range of instructional strategies, and the skills to implement those strategies in the classroom. Providing these kinds of learning opportunities in turn will require profound changes to current approaches to supporting teachers' learning across their careers, from their initial training to continuing professional development. A teacher's capability to improve students' scientific understanding is heavily influenced by the school and district in which they work, the community in which the school is located, and the larger professional communities to which they belong. Science Teachers' Learning provides guidance for schools and districts on how best to support teachers' learning and how to implement successful programs for professional development. This report makes actionable recommendations for science teachers' learning that take a broad view of what is known about science education, how and when teachers learn, and education policies that directly and indirectly shape what teachers are able to learn and teach. The challenge of developing the expertise teachers need to implement the NGSS presents an opportunity to rethink professional learning for science teachers. Science Teachers' Learning will be a valuable resource for classrooms, departments, schools, districts, and professional organizations as they move to new ways to teach science.