Engaging students in the process of argumentation is a productive way to help them deeper the understanding of socio-scientific issues (SSI). This study examined the effect of computer supported collaborative argumentation (CSCA) on Secondary school students’ SSI learning and the behavioral patterns of students’ CSCA. 122 secondary school students participated in this study. They were randomly divided into 29 groups. Through statistical analysis and epistemic network analysis, results showed that CSCA was effective in supporting secondary school students’ evidence-based argumentation skills on socio-scientific issues. The implications of this study are discussed.

This chapter elaborates role of brokers in scaling educational innovations in a system through partnership models. School leaders make decisions for school change and improvement, and they are encouraged to collaborate beyond their school boundaries. Partnerships are integral to scaling and reform. Three models that illustrate students, teachers, and steering committee as brokers within the partnerships are presented. They are brokers who function vertically and laterally at levels of the system, establishing working relationship with stakeholders and negotiating to diffuse innovations. The models emphasize students, teachers, and steering committee can form partnership beyond school boundaries to aid in the process of mediation to scale innovations. They are positioned as leaders, sustaining innovations beyond seeded schools, negotiating with multiple stakeholders toward consensus, and extending relationships across schools for improvement.

The tremendous development of technology has significant contributions in the educational field. Education becomes ubiquitous, as the interconnectivity between teacher and students across geographical and time constraints is plausible. Another essential part of instructional strategy is evaluation. It is important for the teacher to get feedback from students to evaluate whether the materials explained are understood. A system called “PDA-Based Real-Time Evaluation Media”, is proposed in this paper to permit the teacher to solicit each student’s online-feedback during class and evaluate them in real-time. Because of their affordability, versatility, and mobility, it is predicted that PDAs will be very popular tools that most of students can have.

This study seeks to address the problem of providing additional support to pupils with reading difficulties by raising teacher competence in providing high quality reading instruction so that teachers can address the needs of struggling readers as early as possible. If classroom teachers assume active responsibility for delivering reading instruction consistently prior to referring pupils for psycho-educational assessment, struggling readers can be helped before their difficulties impede their learning.
Results of a pilot study conducted in 2013 by the principal investigator of the current proposed study using a Start-Up Grant (SUG) provide further insights into the current situation in school. A peer tutoring programme was modified from the Peer-Assisted Learning Strategies (PALS) programme (Fuchs, Fuchs, Mathes, & Simmons, 1997 ) based on feedback from teachers. It was implemented in three classes using STELLAR (or Strategies for English Language Learning and Reading) materials in a pilot school. Findings from the study suggested that peer tutoring generally benefitted pupils who were able to read fairly independently. However, for pupils whose reading ability was significantly below that of their peers, another tier of support was needed. Based on the results of SUG study, a two-tiered approach was proposed as a framework to support pupils with reading difficulties. What is unique about the current study compared to other learning support programme available in schools in Singapore is the application of academic problem solving. The LSP and Reading Remediation Programme use a standard protocol approach. While the standard protocol approach is generally effective, the data-based decision making component of the academic problem solving allows teachers to provide interventions which are targeted to address individual students’ reading difficulties based on their progress monitoring data. Using academic problem solving, we were able to use progress monitoring data to determine students’ reading difficulties and the extent to which they were responding to interventions. Interventions which were targeted to address specific reading difficulties were then delivered and monitored.

The main study consisted of two progressive stages. The primary purpose of the first stage of the study was to investigate the extent to which visual-spatial ability affects students’ achievement in the Visual-Spatial Electricity and Electromagnetism Test (VSEMT). The study was conducted in Singapore with 233 grade 10 students from two secondary schools and 195 grade 11 students from two junior colleges.

The results from the first stage of the study revealed that students’ visual-spatial ability was significantly correlated with their achievement in the VSEMT. Statistically significant mean score differences in the Visual-Spatial Ability Test (VSAT) as well as VSEMT were found among students with low, moderate, and high physics achievements (categorized based on the physics scores they obtained in the school tests), in favour of the higher achievers. Students with high visual-spatial skills were more successful in the VSEMT than those with low visual-spatial skills. Therefore, there may be merit in using visualization techniques in teaching and learning the abstract concepts of electromagnetic induction. This led to the conduction of the second stage of the study.

The main purposes of the second stage of the study were to design a multimedia aided instructional package and to develop a visualization-based interactive instruction using the designed instructional package. The effectiveness of the instructional strategy in remediating students’ conceptual difficulties and enhancing students’ scientific reasoning ability and conceptual understanding of electromagnetic induction was also evaluated. The study was conducted in Indonesia with 300 grade 12 students from three high schools. The instructional package was designed by focusing on visualization to make sense of abstract and non-observable scientific concepts of electromagnetic induction to facilitate students and teachers. The instructional strategy, which acknowledged a constructivist view, was developed to provide scaffolding for students’ conceptual learning, to remediate conceptual and reasoning hurdles, and to enhance students’ scientific reasoning ability and conceptual understanding through multiple visual representations. A qualitative test instrument, Electromagnetic Induction Conceptual Test (EICT), was developed to identify students’ prior knowledge, conceptual knowledge, conceptual difficulties, conceptual changes, and scientific reasoning ability in electromagnetic induction.

The results from the administration of the EICT showed that after normal instruction, many students did not recognize the phenomena of electromagnetic induction. Students shared common conceptual difficulties about the topic, regardless of which schools they came from. Students who had learned the concepts of electromagnetic induction encountered the same difficulties and held some of the same alternative conceptions as those who had not learned the concepts at all. The visualization-based interactive instruction using the multimedia-aided instructional package is an important improvement over normal instruction as has been illustrated by the results of the post- and delayed- EICT.

The results from the post-test and delayed-test indicated that after the visualization-based interactive instruction, students in all experimental groups performed significantly better than, during the pre-test and significantly outperformed, those in the control group. The experimental instruction supported students at all physics achievement levels (low, moderate, and high). Through instruction that emphasized visualization of the electromagnetic induction phenomena, students with low physics achievement were able to attain a higher level of conceptual understanding compared to those who seemed to have a stronger background in physics in the control group. A substantial number of students in the control group still encountered many difficulties in understanding fundamental concepts of electromagnetic induction (including Faraday’ s law of electromagnetic induction and Lenz’ s law), even after additional normal instruction. This indicates that normal instruction often does not help students understand the scientific concepts of electromagnetic induction.

The results from the administration of the Physics Motivation and Attitude Test (PMAT) demonstrated a shift in attitudes with students becoming more motivated and interested in physics after the experimental instruction. The benefits of the multimedia aided instructional package and the visualization-based interactive instruction were widely acclaimed by students and teachers. They perceived the visualization-based interactive instruction as valuable and useful, and they reported a higher perceived choice compared with normal instruction.

This study has strong implications for physics education: (1) to construct a databank of the nature of students’ conceptions of electromagnetic induction in order to facilitate physics educators, researchers, curriculum designers, and textbook authors in improving instructional tools and strategies to promote physics learning quality; and (2) to develop instructional packages and strategies to remediate students’ conceptual difficulties and enhance students’ conceptual understanding and scientific reasoning ability. The development of the EICT in this study can also serve as an example by which teachers can evaluate student conceptions with regard to electromagnetic induction, both prior to and after instruction.