Theories-in-Action: Some Theoretical and Empirical Issues in the Study of Students' Conceptual Frameworks in Science

Driver, Rosalind; Erickson, Gaalen

doi:10.1080/03057268308559904

Cited by 434 publications

(244 citation statements)

References 43 publications

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“…Particular attention was directed toward the solar system's principal components, their spatial arrangement and motions, and the solar system's age and origin. A combination of verbal and nonverbal elicitation techniques was considered the most reliable and nonthreatening way of penetrating cognitive structure, ensuring some degree of methodological triangulation, and providing children with opportunities to respond according to their own explanatory strengths (Driver & Erickson, 1983). This included productive questioning, producing annotated drawings, identifying objects in pictures, and to a lesser extent, word association and concept mapping (White & Gunstone, 1992).…”

Section: Methods and Methodologymentioning

confidence: 99%

Children's ideas about the solar system and the chaos in learning science

Sharp

Kuerbis

2005

Sci. Ed.

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ABSTRACT:Findings from a quasi-experimental study of children's ideas about the solar system and how these ideas changed in response to a 10-week intervention period of formal astronomy teaching at a single primary school in England are presented in detail. Initial interviews with all of the 9-to 11-year-olds involved revealed a relatively poorly developed prior knowledge base, and this was reflected in the predominantly intuitive and transitional nature of the different mental models expressed and used when answering questions and completing tasks. Following intervention, progression was evident in many different forms and this could be described and measured both qualitatively and quantitatively. The routes and pathways toward scientific conceptualization were often direct, and most changes could be attributed largely to the processes of weak and radical knowledge restructuring. Together with the retention of newly formed ideas over time, learning outcomes were considered particularly encouraging. In order to explain findings more fully, evidence is presented which lends some support to the notion of chaos in cognition.

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Section: Methods and Methodologymentioning

confidence: 99%

Children's ideas about the solar system and the chaos in learning science

Sharp

Kuerbis

2005

Sci. Ed.

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“…After the ideographic analysis of the students' responses, the following coding schemes are applied as a means to analyse students' responses using the nomothetic approach (Driver & Erickson, 1983).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Designed Teaching Sequence as a Tool to Improve Students’ Conceptual Understanding of the Conductivity in the Electrolytic Cell

Ahmad¹,

Lah²

2013

ASS

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This paper reports on a study to determine the efficacy of a teaching sequence following the Leeds model framework designed for a specific content of learning in electrochemistry. The design of the teaching draws upon theoretical insights into perspectives on learning and empirical studies to improve the teaching of this topic, specifically 'Electrolytic Cell'. A case study involving two classes, the Experimental and Baseline classes was carried out for 16-year-old Malaysian upper secondary school students. Also, eight classes of similar age in eight different schools who served as convenience samples (reference groups) were selected in order to compare the differences on their conceptual understanding in a wider sample. The evaluation of students' responses in one of the items in the post diagnostic test shows that there were significant differences in the experimental class students' performances in comparison to the baseline class students and the convenience samples. The experimental class students who followed the designed teaching sequence demonstrated better conceptual scientific understanding regarding the roles of ions and electrons in the conductivity of the electrolytic cell.

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“…There is a significant body of research (Driver & Erickson, 1983;Driver, Squires, Rushworth, & Wood-Robinson, 1994;Gilbert & Watts, 1983) that has uncovered students use of non-scientific ideas in explanations but as these ideas seem to perpetuate is it is likely that teachers pass these on to their students as theirs did to them as there is evidence that science teachers teach as they were taught (Trumper, 2001). Therefore in order to make further progress developing science teaching, preservice teachers need to be made aware of the non-scientific ideas that they hold so that these can be replaced with the scientific ones.…”

Section: Ck For Science Teachingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Improving preservice chemistry teachers’ content knowledge through intervention activities

Wheeldon

2017

International Journal of Science Education

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The effect of intervention activities on the chemistry content knowledge of 92 preservice chemistry teachers (PSCT) was examined via a pre and post true/false with confidence level test focusing on ionisation energy values and the use of a common alternative conception (AC). Data were collected from three cohorts of PSCT each engaged in a one year full-time universitybased teacher education programme. Comparison of pre-and post-test responses and discrimination differences between responses for each PSCT were used to identify the use of the AC and hence the efficacy of the intervention activities. Interviews with 14 of these PSCT allowed triangulation of the data. Findings suggest that the activities allow 71% of PSCT to identify this AC as non-scientific or become more confident in doing so. Interview data indicate that this rejection of this AC is sustained for 9 of the 11 PSCT whose test data indicated improvement. These data have implications for teacher education such that 2 hour intervention sessions can offer the opportunity for PSCT to develop their subject matter knowledge. As the accurate application of electrostatic concepts to electrons has wider application to bonding, these interventions offer PSCT more accurate chemical subject knowledge resources to draw on in their teaching. ARTICLE HISTORY

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Theories-in-Action: Some Theoretical and Empirical Issues in the Study of Students' Conceptual Frameworks in Science

Cited by 434 publications

References 43 publications

Children's ideas about the solar system and the chaos in learning science

Children's ideas about the solar system and the chaos in learning science

A Designed Teaching Sequence as a Tool to Improve Students’ Conceptual Understanding of the Conductivity in the Electrolytic Cell

Improving preservice chemistry teachers’ content knowledge through intervention activities

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