Verbal explanations given by science teachers: Their nature and implications

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to explore the nature of explanations used by science teachers in junior high school classrooms. Studies on explanation in education, philosophy of science, and everyday discourse were consulted. Twenty public school teachers participated in the study. The analysis was based on observations of 40 class periods during which the classroom discourse was audiotaped and later transcribed. Using the constant comparative method in analyzing the transcripts, 10 types of explanations were generated. These explanations were labeled analogical, anthropomorphic, functional, genetic, mechanical, metaphysical, practical, rational, tautological, and teleological. These 10 types were conceptually related to one another by subsuming them under more encompassing literature‐based categories.

Understanding students' explanations of biological phenomena: Conceptual frameworks or p‐prims?

“…However, later questioning of the student suggests that this was not the form of reasoning the student had intended to employ. Past researchers have demonstrated that teleological and anthropomorphic explanations are commonly used by biology teachers, texts, and popular educational programming because of the value of such explanations as a heuristic device and not as a true reflection of the causal mechanism (Dagher & Cossman, 1992;Halldèn, 1988;Jungwirth, 1975). Thus, there is a potential discrepancy between an individual's understanding of causal mechanism and their written or oral explanations.…”

“…This role as p-prim explains why teleological formulations are so prevalent in the explanations provided by students in each of the grade levels sampled here and in other related studies (Bishop & Anderson, 1992;Demastes-Southerland et al, 1996;Tamir & Zohar, 1991) in addition to explaining why the use of teleological reasoning is so embedded in students' reasoning despite years of formal schooling. It also helps understand the heuristic value of such explanations (Dagher & Cossman, 1992;Halldèn, 1988;Jungwirth, 1975); teleological explanations are useful means to explain biological relationships because they make sense on a deep, intuitive level.…”

Diseño De Actividades Para El Aprendizaje De La Radiactividad en Bachillerato

“…Como señalan Brown y Clement (1989) no se logrará un aprendizaje significativo si la enseñanza no se organiza sobre el conocimiento existente. En este contexto, las analogías, en las que se utiliza una situación familiar para explicar un concepto nuevo (Dagher y Cossman, 1992) son de especial importancia en la enseñanza.…”

An Empirical Method for the Study of Exemplar Explanations

“…Zoubeida Dagher and George Cossman have categorized explanations given by science teachers in junior high schools, based on extensive empirical material (Dagher & Cossman, 1992). In an earlier article (Dagher, 1991) Dagher provides insight into how these explanations were identified and classified.…”