Students' science perceptions and enrollment decisions in differing learning cycle classrooms

Abstract

This investigation examined 10th‐grade biology students' decisions to enroll in elective science courses, and explored certain attitudinal perceptions of students that may be related to such decisions. The student science perceptions were focused on student and classroom attitudes in the context of differing learning cycle classrooms (high paradigmatic/high inquiry, and low paradigmatic/low inquiry). The study also examined possible differences in enrollment decisions/intentions and attitudinal perceptions among males and females in these course contexts. The specific purposes were to: (a) explore possible differences in students' decisions, and in male and female students' decisions to enroll in elective science courses in high versus low paradigmatic learning cycle classrooms; (b) describe patterns and examine possible differences in male and female students' attitudinal perceptions of science in the two course contexts; (c) investigate possible differences in students' science perceptions according to their decisions to enroll in elective science courses, participation in high versus low paradigmatic learning cycle classrooms, and the interaction between these two variables; and (d) examine students' explanations of their decisions to enroll or not enroll in elective science courses. Questionnaire and observation data were collected from 119 students in the classrooms of six learning cycle biology teachers. Results indicated that in classrooms where teachers most closely adhered to the ideal learning cycle, students had more positive attitudes than those in classrooms where teachers deviated from the ideal model. Significantly more females in high paradigmatic learning cycle classrooms planned to continue taking science course work compared with females in low paradigmatic learning cycle classrooms. Male students in low paradigmatic learning cycle classrooms had more negative perceptions of science compared with males in high paradigmatic classrooms, and in some cases, with all female students. It appears that using the model as it was originally designed may lead to more positive attitudes and persistence in science among students. Implications include the need for science educators to help teachers gain more thorough understanding of the learning cycle and its theoretical underpinnings so they may better implement this procedure in classroom teaching. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 38: 1029–1062, 2001

Model Based Inquiry in the High School Physics Classroom: An Exploratory Study of Implementation and Outcomes

“…While investigations into the effectiveness of inquiry as an instructional strategy have shown promise for increasing students' understanding of science (Chang and Mao 1999;Ertepinar and Geban 1996;Hakkarainen 2003), the nature of science (Schwartz et al 2004), and increasing students' interest and attitudes toward science (Cavallo and Laubach 2001;Chang and Mao 1999;Paris et al 1998), there remains debates, as well as problems of enactment. One example of the debates that can be found emerge as Settlage (2007) Johnston (2008) challenges these ideas in a response to Settlage (2007) as he argues that Settlage seemed to neglect that inquiry is not simply a teaching tool, but a teaching goal… It is a scientific endeavor in itself, allowing students to be themselves within a culture of scientific inquiry… The processes embraced by science that allow us to extract explanation from evidence are paramount to a citizen's understanding of science… Alas, in an era of highstakes testing in which much of science is stripped of its inquiry processes in favor of content factoids, it must be our obligation to make open inquiry a learning objective in our classrooms.…”

Self-Report and Academic Factors in Relation to High School Students’ Success in an Innovative Biotechnology Program

“…Thus, when the goal of classroom teaching shifts from teaching content for the purpose of test preparation to making sense of the scientific theories and laws through instructional practices informed by the epistemologies of constructivism and inquiry, there is the potential that these students will develop positive attitudes towards science (Kaya & Geban, 2011). This is the case, because when students understand the material presented to them, they are more likely to develop self-efficacy to pursue advanced educational opportunities in science (Cavallo & Laubach, 2001;Kan & Akbas, 2006). Kan and Akbas (2006) found self-efficacy to be a strong predictor of chemistry achievement.…”

“…high school and college) (Osborne, Simon, & Collins, 2003). Some scholars have looked at the difference between male and female students' attitudes towards science, some have looked at the influence of instruction on students' attitudes towards science (Altinok & Un-Acikgoz, 2006;Cavallo & Laubach, 2001;Kaya & Geban, 2011) and some have looked at the impact of curriculum on students' attitudes towards science (Lyons, 2006;Millar & Osborne, 1998;Osborne & Collins, 2001).…”

“…He concluded that, "what the teacher says and does in the classroom may override any effects produced by new textbooks, experiments or films" (p. 35). Cavallo and Laubach (2001) looked at the impact of instruction on high school students' attitudes towards science by analyzing their enrollment decisions in elective science courses. Cavallo and Laubach (2001) compared the attitudes of two groups of students who were taught by two different instructional methods: high pragmatic/high inquiry methods and low pragmatic/low inquiry methods.…”

“…Cavallo and Laubach (2001) looked at the impact of instruction on high school students' attitudes towards science by analyzing their enrollment decisions in elective science courses. Cavallo and Laubach (2001) compared the attitudes of two groups of students who were taught by two different instructional methods: high pragmatic/high inquiry methods and low pragmatic/low inquiry methods. The results show that students who were enrolled in high inquiry classrooms developed more positive attitudes towards science than those who were enrolled in low inquiry classrooms.…”