Visual and spatial thinking is an integral part of doing and learning science: explanations of complex (often nonvisible) phenomena involve visual and symbolic modes as well as text. To bring about meaningful learning, we need to find out how best to combine semantic content with visual representations.
This study utilized digital media in the form of still photographs and video-clips of students’ visits to a science centre to stimulate recall of the visit and to explore the extent to which students were cognitively engaged, specifically looking at the meaning they constructed. Students were asked what was happening in the clip or photo, how the exhibit “worked” what they thought the exhibit was trying to show them, and whether or not they enjoyed the exhibit. The study found that the visits to science centres were highly memorable experiences for students and that students were highly
If you are using or considering using video as a research tool in informal settings, this paper provides multiple perspectives on approaches to video-clip selection, video data analysis, video data management and sharing, and the ethics of using video. It raises fundamental questions that can guide your use of video in informal settings.
A review of 94 studies indicates that small group science discussions function more purposefully and understanding improves most when leadership is strong, specific roles are allocated, and clear tasks set. A diversity of views is important, while single sex (generally friendship) groups work best. Training in leadership and argumentation is recommended.
In this paper, the authors advocate the use of narrative (fictional written text) as a way of making science meaningful and accessible. They note that conventional scientific language can be off-putting to learners, but that content delivered through a story or narrative format can be more familiar and more memorable. This paper will be of interest to ISE educators exploring different modes of science engagement.
Dorion’s research, exploring the use of drama in science teaching, puts forth the concept of mime and role-play to help students to explore abstract scientific models. In addition, drama may support visualization of complex models. Drama can also change the dynamics within classroom talk and support a sense of community amongst students fostered by collaboration, social interaction, and fun.
This paper will be of value to ISE professionals interested in designing communication strategies to influence visitor behaviour. The author draws on persuasive communication theory to discuss the design and delivery of messages to target behaviours. This study reflects on the difficulties encountered during a process of identifying and prioritising behaviours to target in zoo contexts.
Presence of authoritative sources in the learning environment could mediate students’ refinement of scientific understanding from everyday knowledge to theoretical knowledge, deconstructed knowledge, reconstructed knowledge, and reflexive knowledge. For effective meaning-making in science the dialectical process needs both abstract knowledge and a meaningful context: meaning made of, for, with authoritative sources.
To meet the challenge of facilitating STEM learning in the future, the authors reflect on 20 years of past research to formulate and propose a new unit of analysis—the Total Life of a person—and three attendant concepts: knowledgeability, the disposition of a d´ebrouillard/e, and the collective nature of knowledgeability.
Cross-country student achievement data rank the United States near the bottom when comparing affluent nations. This international ranking is often cited as cause for school reforms. The author of this paper examines PISA (Programme for International Student Assessment) mathematics data to explore the relationship between widening economic inequalities in the United States and its international performance on standardized tests. The author suggests that structural economic inequalities may have a larger influence than schools on student performance.
The relevance of this study to ISE educators lies primarily in the theoretical ideas about what the researchers call “transformative experience” in science education. A transformative experience was defined as one in which students are engaged and actively applying science concepts in their everyday life in new and meaningful ways; it is taking what is learned through formal science instruction and integrating it into everyday life so that students understand the world in a new way.
In this study, the authors consider the pros and cons of providing structures that focus inquiry at exhibits. Their research examined visitor behaviors with and without specific prompts at an exhibit. They found that the provision of additional materials and textual explanations limited visitor engagement at the exhibit to the express purpose defined by the added materials/text. Without the additional props, visitors were more exploratory and inventive in their uses of the exhibits; however, in these cases visitors often did not focus on a particular conceptual idea that the exhibit developers