A decade of scientific and engineering practices: A scoping review
Scientific and engineering practices (SEP) are an integral part of major science education reforms launched in the United States of America in 2012. The SEP have arguably caught the attention of many science educators, researchers and policymakers as evidenced in the literature. A decade after, we are interested to examine how SEP have influenced science teaching and learning, and what has been done to advance scholarly knowledge and implementation of SEP. In this scoping review, we identified, selected and reviewed 229 relevant journal articles published between 2011 and 2021. These articles were subsequently mapped based on main target audience of their outlets, geographical location of their authors and/or research sites, types of study participants involved, associated academic level(s) , specific spheres of scientific and engineering activity that were being investigated and their trends, as well as the main themes that characterised these studies and their trends. These findings offer insights into the patterns of SEP-based research as well as some possible gaps to be addressed.
Development of program for “Global Lesson Study” in mathematics education
Purpose
The purpose of this exploratory study was to develop Global Lesson Study (GLS) defined as an international collaborative lesson study through international exchange of teachers using ICT. Its purpose is to nurture teachers from different countries with intercultural competence to conduct lesson study.
Design/methodology/approach
We developed an initial program for GLS in the subject of mathematics education between elementary school teachers in Japan and Singapore. The qualitative analysis of activities at each stage of the Pilot GLS was conducted from two perspectives: (1) intercultural competence for lesson study and (2) teacher's competency for subject instruction.
Findings
Through GLS, a new lesson was created that was only possible with discussions from teachers from different locations. It was clarified that GLS was not only useful for training teachers with intercultural competence for lesson study but also has led to the improvement of teacher's competency for subject instruction in mathematics.
Originality/value
The GLS is a new attempt in the sense of developing a high-quality lesson study method for creating new lessons as well as improving qualities and abilities of teachers through international exchange.
Scissors, paper, stone: How students' deal with conceptual conflicts in an inquiry-based activity
One of the goals of inquiry-based teaching and learning of science is for students to learn the processes of inquiry and to apply these processes in new situations to construct new knowledge for themselves. Very often, students who are exposed to inquiry activities encounter conceptual conflicts that do not align with their pre-conceived ideas. How these conflicts are resolved provide different types of learning experiences for the learners. Interaction talk during hands-on science inquiry activities provides a good source of information on how students deal with conceptual conflicts and, in particular, how they apply inquiry skills to resolve these conflicts. The analysis of talk in interaction amongst a group of six grade five students in a Singapore school has surfaced at least three ways whereby students construct and shape their learning in an inquiry-based science activity through the ways they deal with conceptual conflicts: (a) domineering voices in a group can prematurely curtail alternative ideas and concepts in dealing with a conceptual conflict; (b) a peer expert in a group can scaffold learning for a student facing a conceptual conflict; and (c) learners draw on inquiry skills to resolve cognitive conflicts arising from anomalous results or behaviours during hands-on investigations.
Building improvised microbial fuel cells: A model integrated STEM curriculum for middle-school learners in Singapore
Working out work: Learning, identity, and history from the perspective of cultural-historical activity theory
This dissertation builds upon and extends theorizing in cultural-historical activity theory (CHAT), which is a recent addition to the sociocultural analysis of learning, identity, and history. Drawing largely on longitudinal fieldwork conducted in a salmon hatchery in British Columbia, specifically, and the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, more generally, the present studies affirm the possibility of learning in mundane work environments as well as discovering what it means to learn and be an expert in the workplace. In addition, the results show how institutions that aspire to be learning organizations have to provide access to participation to all its members. The findings reported here also sensitize workplace researchers to issues of identity inherent during the process of interviewing besides articulating a new, non-dualistic conception of organizational identity and organizational identification. The necessity of examining the cultural-historical dimensions of work activity situates the activity of salmon enhancement in context in a final study. All these different but related investigations of work indicate that unless a strongly dialectical stance is maintained throughout activity theoretic analysis, cultural-historical theories will not advance. This important methodological and theoretical principle has manifested itself in the following dialectical tensions underlying this dissertation: subject object, individual collective, and agency structure.
How scientific literacy is conceptualized in tasks from junior secondary physics textbooks
This study examined how scientific literacy had been conceptualised in textbook tasks based on the PISA 2018 science framework. Specifically, a total of 3888 tasks from four versions of Chinese junior secondary physics textbooks were coded on the three PISA dimensions of competencies, knowledge, and contexts. It was found that about 70% of tasks were de-contextualized and those tasks involving real contexts focused on content related to the frontiers of science and technology. More significantly, tasks testing ‘explaining scientific phenomena’ were predominant while those involving ‘interpret data and evidence scientifically’ and especially ‘evaluate and design scientific enquiry’ competencies were rare. Tasks requiring content knowledge were also overemphasised whereas the use of epistemic knowledge was downplayed. It therefore appeared that tasks in these physics textbooks emphasised the recall, understanding and verification of scientific knowledge. More meaningful task contexts related to sustainable development should be designed to develop students’ epistemic knowledge as well as promote their understanding of the nature of scientific inquiry are among the implications from this study.
Disciplinary emphasis and coherence of integrated science textbooks: A case study from Mainland China
Integrated science is a ubiquitous school subject that is found in primary and middle-school levels around the world. Being a hybrid subject comprising several science disciplines, it poses many challenges to teachers as they are obliged to teach beyond their disciplinary comfort zones. In addition, this subject is prone to a lack of coherence, which helps people see how a small number of key ideas in a discipline can build upon each other to deepen understanding. Using integrated science textbooks from mainland China since 1990 as a case study, their (i) disciplinary emphasis (i.e. which topics & disciplines were emphasised) and, (ii) coherence of topics were therefore examined. The results showed that physical science topics were heavily and consistently emphasised in these textbooks, which likewise corresponded with the high number of buttress topics found in this discipline. Life science topics were the next most emphasised followed by earth science ones, a trend present since the 1990s in this country. We conclude with implications for improving science teacher training/professional development as well as student scientific literacy from this study of disciplinary emphasis and coherence in integrated science textbooks.
Basic education in Singapore
This chapter explains key educational policies, programs, and structures in Singapore and some of their socio-political underpinnings. It provides an overview of the primary, secondary, and post-secondary education structures and how they are designed to offer multiple pathways, particularly with the introduction of subject-based banding. The chapter discusses access to education and how different agencies work together to support disadvantaged learners. In addition, we describe the system-wide recalibration toward valuing a holistic education, including character and citizenship education, and describe the process involved in continually reviewing and refining the national academic curriculum. We also provide examples of school and teacher agency within a prescribed national curriculum. The chapter explains our unique cluster support structure, and the School Excellence Model, a self-assessment model for schools to improve their capacity to engage in self-appraisal and school improvement. With the conviction that an education system is only as good as its school leaders, middle managers and teachers, information is included on how teachers are developed during pre-service and the various professional development opportunities in-service teachers have access to, within and beyond their schools. There is also a section on how teachers with leadership competencies are given opportunities to lead and are developed to become school leaders, guided by a Leader Growth Model and a set of ten Leadership Competencies for Principals. We conclude by reporting six key interrelated thrusts from the current educational reform.