Systematic reviews of research in science education: rigour or rigidity?

ABSTRACT:Context-based and science -technology -society (STS) approaches to teaching science in high school have become widely used over the past two decades. They aspire to foster more positive attitudes to science while, at the same time, provide a sound basis of scientific understanding for further study. This paper reviews the detailed research evidence from 17 experimental studies undertaken in eight different countries on the effects of context-based and STS approaches, drawing on the findings of two systematic reviews of the research literature. The review findings indicate that context-based/STS approaches result in improvement in attitudes to science and that the understanding of scientific ideas developed is comparable to that of conventional approaches. The approaches also result in more positive attitudes to science in both girls and boys and reduce the gender differences in attitudes. The paper also considers issues emerging from work in the area in relation to study design and the constraints which may militate against the use of experimental research designs when gathering evidence of impact of interventions. A fundamental constraint is the extent to which it is possible to make comparisons between existing methods and interventions when the aims are overlapping but also differ in significant ways.

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“…A more detailed account and critique of systematic review methods may be found in Bennett, Lubben, Hogarth, and Campbell (2005).…”

Section: Systematic Review Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Bringing science to life: A synthesis of the research evidence on the effects of context‐based and STS approaches to science teaching

2007

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“…Therefore, it was decided to restrict this review to article abstracts, so matching initial phases of both 'systematic review' [5] and 'qualitative synthesis' [13]. Use of abstracts is characteristic of surveys aspiring to be large-scale [2] and a feature of other content analyses [3,[14][15][16].…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Types, Topics and Trends: A Ten-Year Review of Research Journals in Science Education

O’Toole¹,

Freestone²,

McKoy³

et al. 2018

Education Sciences

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Such broad reviews provide a useful spur to expert reflection while also mapping the field for novices attempting to enter it. A discussion of the themes of this Special Issue: Interactive Simulations and Innovative Pedagogy for Conceptual Understanding in Science Education provides one example of such use. The paper closes with a comparison with existing reviews and suggestions for further work. This research literature has claims to wider relevance because of its location on the boundary between Science and the Humanities.

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“…Given the standardized test-driven culture of today's schools, the allocation of scarce instructional time and resources is a major concern for both teachers and administrators (Sadler, Amirshokoohi, Kazempour, & Allspaw, 2006). Furthermore, research on science teachers has found that they feel underprepared and lack the confidence necessary to implement and manage socio-scientific inquiry (Bartholomew, Osborne, & Ratcliffe, 2004;Bennett , Lubben, Hogarth, & Campbell, 2005;Levinson & Turner, 2001). So, while it appears that we know what to do in science to boost achievement, we simply are not doing it as often as we should or could.…”

Section: National Trends In Science Education and Student Performancementioning

confidence: 99%

Promoting Positive Academic Dispositions Using a Web-based PBL Environment: The GlobalEd 2 Project

Brown¹,

Lawless²,

Boyer³

2013

Interdisciplinary Journal of Problem-Based Learning

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Problem-based learning (PBL) is an instructional design approach for promoting student learning, understanding and knowledge development in context rich settings. Previous PBL research has primarily focused on face-to-face learning environments, but current technologies afford PBL designers the opportunities to create online, virtual, PBL environments. The GlobalEd 2 Project is an example of a PBL environment that combines the positive characteristics of both face-to-face and online environments in a 14-week simulation of international negotiations of science advisors on global water resource issues. The GlobalEd 2 PBL environment is described examining the impact it has had on middle school students' interest in future science education experiences, self-efficacy related to writing in science and self-efficacy related to technology use for academic purposes using a pre-test post-test design. Analyses using ANOVAs of gain scores and ANCOVAs of subgroup differences demonstrate a positive impact on the science interest and self-efficacy of 208 middle-grade students from urban and suburban schools.

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Systematic reviews of research in science education: rigour or rigidity?

Cited by 83 publications

References 10 publications

Bringing science to life: A synthesis of the research evidence on the effects of context‐based and STS approaches to science teaching

Bringing science to life: A synthesis of the research evidence on the effects of context‐based and STS approaches to science teaching

Types, Topics and Trends: A Ten-Year Review of Research Journals in Science Education

Promoting Positive Academic Dispositions Using a Web-based PBL Environment: The GlobalEd 2 Project

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