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Descriptors:
Literacy Education; English (Second Language); Second Language Learning; English Language Learners; Classrooms; Elementary School Science; Science Curriculum; Literacy; Science Education; Science Instruction; Grade 2; Grade 3; Elementary School Students; Instructional Materials; Teaching Methods; Scientific Concepts

Abstract:
Although literacy plays a large role in elementary science classrooms, one thing that offers a challenge for educators is meeting the linguistic needs of English language learners (ELLs) while also meeting their content needs. An additional challenge is ensuring that academic literacy extends beyond the classroom. This article presents ways of extending classroom literacy into the home. The suggestions and activities emphasize literacy strategies appropriate for ELLs as well as English-speaking students. (Contains 4 figures and 9 resources.) Note:The following two links are not-applicable for text-based browsers or screen-reading software. Show Hide Full Abstract

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Descriptors:
Indigenous Populations; Elementary School Science; Foreign Countries; Socialization; Comparative Analysis; Elementary School Students; Science Curriculum; Hidden Curriculum; Science Instruction; Underachievement; Science Achievement; Cultural Influences; Teaching Methods

Abstract:
The tacit messages transmitted to indigenous learners in the science classroom provide a lens through which indigenous disengagement with school science can be better understood. In this paper, the findings of a cross-national comparative study conducted with indigenous Maori students in New Zealand and Seediq/Atayal students in Taiwan are discussed from a sociological perspective. The purposes of the present study were to explore the ways in which indigenous elementary school students in two industrialized nations experience the science curriculum and to identify the socialization processes through which patterns of indigenous under-achievement in science are maintained and reproduced. The findings suggest that the peripheral positioning of indigenous culture and knowledge within the science curriculum in developed nations underpins a series of tacit pedagogical codes that contribute to indigenous student disengagement with the subject. Note:The following two links are not-applicable for text-based browsers or screen-reading software. Show Hide Full Abstract

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Descriptors:
Preservice Teachers; Elementary School Teachers; Elementary School Science; Science Instruction; Knowledge Level; Elementary School Students; Expertise

Abstract:
In this manuscript, we use a "learning to notice" framework to suggest that preservice elementary teachers bring a range of interpretations and responses to their students' funds of knowledge and science teaching and learning. By examining data from three sections of an elementary methods course, we find that preservice teachers recognized students' funds of knowledge, assigned value to them, and took account of these resources for science learning in their planning. While preservice teachers most often described funds of knowledge as a "hook" to gain and sustain students' interest in the science classroom, they also interpreted and utilized funds of knowledge in other ways, including as substantive contributions to meaning making and positioning students as having expert knowledge. Note:The following two links are not-applicable for text-based browsers or screen-reading software. Show Hide Full Abstract

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Descriptors:
Preservice Teachers; Elementary School Teachers; Undergraduate Students; Elementary School Science; Inquiry; Active Learning; Mixed Methods Research; Instructional Materials; Media Adaptation; Reflective Teaching; Case Studies; Regression (Statistics); Influences

Abstract:
In this nested mixed methods study I investigate factors influencing preservice elementary teachers' adaptation of science curriculum materials to better support students' engagement in science as inquiry. Analyses focus on two "reflective teaching assignments" completed by 46 preservice elementary teachers in an undergraduate elementary science methods course in which they were asked to adapt existing science curriculum materials to plan and enact inquiry-based science lessons in elementary classrooms. Data analysis involved regression modeling of artifacts associated with these lessons, as well as in-depth, semester-long case studies of six of these preservice teachers. Results suggest that features of the existing science curriculum materials, including measures of how inquiry-based they were, have a relatively small influence on the preservice teachers' curricular adaptations, while teacher-specific variables account for a much greater percentage of the variance. Evidence from the case studies illustrates the critical impact of the preservice teachers' field placement contexts as an explanatory, teacher-specific factor in their curricular adaptations. These findings have important implications for science teacher educators and science curriculum developers, in terms of not only better understanding how preservice teachers engage with curriculum materials, but also how programmatic features of teacher education programs influence their ability to do so. Note:The following two links are not-applicable for text-based browsers or screen-reading software. Show Hide Full Abstract

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Descriptors:
Educational Technology; Discourse Communities; Discourse Modes; Teaching Methods; Instructional Effectiveness; Technology Uses in Education; Computer Mediated Communication; Computer Assisted Instruction; Courseware; Classroom Techniques; Discussion (Teaching Technique); Foreign Countries; Elementary School Science

Abstract:
Previous research into enhancing children's educational dialogues during group work has recognised the role of teachers in modelling dialogue and guiding their students' engagement in reasoning. Whole-class plenaries also offer teachers such opportunities but the technological support of dialogue in plenaries remains relatively unexplored. The authors' comparative study evaluated teachers' use of Talk Factory--innovative software designed to model and represent students' engagement with the ground rules of exploratory talk in science plenaries. Their qualitative analysis compares the dialogue during lessons taught by two teachers where Talk Factory was used, with previous lessons by the same teachers where it was not used. They found that the nature of the dialogue in the intervention classes changed considerably: instead of plenaries characterised by unsubstantiated responses from students, the teachers used TF to mediate their students' exploration, and challenge, of each other's ideas. The authors explore the significance of these findings in respect of practice-based implications and future research. (Contains 3 figures and 1 note.) Note:The following two links are not-applicable for text-based browsers or screen-reading software. Show Hide Full Abstract

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Descriptors:
Preservice Teachers; Elementary School Teachers; Undergraduate Students; Student Attitudes; Elementary School Science; Elementary School Students; Science Activities; Selection; Self Efficacy; Phenomenology

Abstract:
This study examined the beliefs and rationale pre-service elementary teachers used to choose activities for upper-elementary students in a 1-week intensive science camp. Six undergraduate elementary pre-service teachers were observed as they took a semester-long science methods class that culminated in a 1-week science camp. This qualitative, phenomenological study found that counselors chose activities with the possibility of fun being a priority rather than teaching content, even after they were confronted with campers who demanded more content. Additionally, all six of the counselors agreed that activities involving variable manipulation were the most successful, even though content knowledge was not required to complete the activities. The counselors felt the variable manipulation activities were successful because students were constructing products and therefore getting to the end of the activity. Implications include building an awareness of the complexity of self-efficacy of science teaching and outcome expectancy to improve teacher education programs. Note:The following two links are not-applicable for text-based browsers or screen-reading software. Show Hide Full Abstract

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Descriptors:
Science Achievement; Scoring Rubrics; Foreign Countries; Elementary School Students; Science Activities; Classification; Gender Differences; Prior Learning; Elementary School Science; Grade 4; Grade 5; Grade 6; Scores

Abstract:
Categorization is one of the main mental processes by which perception and conception develop. Nevertheless, categorization receives little attention with the development of critical thinking in Taiwan elementary schools. Thus, the present study investigates the effect that individual differences have on performing categorization tasks. Same-object and Different-object identification and categorizing activities were conducted with students asked to perceive various chemical properties by comparing touch before and after washing hands with laundry soap and cosmetic soap. 135 fourth and sixth-grade elementary students from a Taipei County elementary school participated in this experiment. For the purposes of this study, students completed worksheets describing their perception and categorization activities. We then used a scoring rubric to convert data on the learning sheets into quantitated data, which we plotted on a mapping tree. The results of this study indicated that firstly, overall perception performance by female students was significantly superior to that of the male students. Secondly, students who had achieved higher scores in prior science activities displayed better overall categorization performance than those students with low prior science scores did. Teachers could apply our method to cultivate elementary student cognitive processing in science by assigning practice categorization practice to students. (Contains 2 tables.) Note:The following two links are not-applicable for text-based browsers or screen-reading software. Show Hide Full Abstract

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Descriptors:
Inquiry; Science Instruction; Elementary School Science; Teaching Methods; Instructional Design; Cooperative Learning; Peer Teaching; Technology Uses in Education; Telecommunications; Learning Processes; Science Activities; Elementary School Students; Elementary School Teachers

Abstract:
This design experiment aimed to answer the question of how to mediate the practices of authentic science inquiries in primary education. An instructional approach based on activity theory was designed and carried out with multi-age students in a small village school. An open-ended learning task was offered to the older students. Their task was to design and implement instruction about the Ice Age to their younger fellows. The objective was collaborative learning among students, the teacher, and outside domain experts. Mobile phones and GPS technologies were applied as the main technological mediators in the learning process. Technology provided an opportunity to expand the learning environment outside the classroom, including the natural environment. Empirically, the goal was to answer the following questions: What kind of learning project emerged? How did the students' knowledge develop? What kinds of science learning processes, activities, and practices were represented? Multiple and parallel data were collected to achieve this aim. The data analysis revealed that the learning project both challenged the students to develop explanations for the phenomena and generated high quality conceptual and physical models in question. During the learning project, the roles of the community members were shaped, mixed, and integrated. The teacher also repeatedly evaluated and adjusted her behavior. The confidence of the learners in their abilities raised the quality of their learning outcomes. The findings showed that this instructional approach can not only mediate the kind of authentic practices that scientists apply but also make learning more holistic than it has been. Thus, it can be concluded that nature of the task, the tool-integrated collaborative inquiries in the natural environment, and the multiage setting can make learning whole. Note:The following two links are not-applicable for text-based browsers or screen-reading software. Show Hide Full Abstract

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Descriptors:
Foreign Countries; Elementary School Teachers; Science Teachers; Teacher Attitudes; Beliefs; Teaching Methods; Elementary School Science; Science Instruction; Interviews; Differences; Time on Task; Teacher Student Ratio; Educational Resources

Abstract:
This study explored Saudi elementary school science teachers' beliefs about the process of teaching and learning science. This involved the exploration of their views about the new Saudi science curriculum, which emphasizes critical thinking and problem solving. Comprehensive interviews were held in 8 schools with 4 male and 6 female--2 of whom were from private schools--science teachers. The interviews were analyzed to identify and assess common themes among their beliefs as well as associations between their beliefs and self-reported classroom practices. The findings revealed perceptual differences between teaching the old and the new science curricula and also that these science teachers were challenged by available class time, the student-teacher ratio, and the lack of laboratory space, equipment, and administrative support. It appears that the more interactive and group-oriented activities that formed the instructional foundation of the new curriculum have increased enjoyment for teaching science and led students to better comprehension of scientific concepts. Note:The following two links are not-applicable for text-based browsers or screen-reading software. Show Hide Full Abstract

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Descriptors:
Foreign Countries; Elementary School Science; Textbooks; Role; Visual Aids; Attitudes; Physical Environment; Ecology; Comparative Analysis; Natural Sciences; Syntax; Rhetoric; Scientific Principles; World Views

Abstract:
This paper explores the function of the visual syntax of images in Greek primary school textbooks. By using a model for the formal analysis of the visual material, which will allow us to disclose the mechanisms through which meanings are manifested, our aim is to investigate the discursive transition relating to the view of nature and the human-nature relationship between two series of natural science textbooks. The model is applied to a total of 635 pictures; 434 coming from the old series of textbooks introduced in the early 1980s and 201 from the new introduced in 2006. The results show that a) no differences in the codes of the visual representation of nature or human-nature relationship were recorded between the two series of textbooks, b) the environmental rhetoric mediated by the pictorial material of the textbooks appears closer to its lay counterpart than to scientific rhetoric, c) both series of textbooks favor a viewer-picture relation which diverges from the epistemological (subject/object) ideas of the romantic worldview and comes closer to the baroque one that depicts the world as non-linear and disconnected, while gives more freedom to the viewer to proceed to subjective interpretations. Thus, we assert that the baroque approach adopted by both series of textbooks does not aim at the initiation of students to the highly conventionalized ways of expression, and ultimately to the formalized and scientific rhetoric. On the contrary, within a constructionist context, the textbooks' visual mode allows students to equally share power with a quite familiar world. Note:The following two links are not-applicable for text-based browsers or screen-reading software. Show Hide Full Abstract

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