Thesis (Ph.D.)--Indiana University, Dept. of Currulum and Instruction, 2005. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 66-06, Section: A, page: 2093. Adviser: William J. Boone. "Title from dissertation home page (viewed Nov. 27, 2006)."

The transfer of learning is arguably the most enduring goal of education. The history of science reveals that numerous theories transfer from natural-science to the socio-political realm, but educational practitioners often deem such transfers romantic and rhetorical, ignoring the opportunities and challenges such transfers may hold. In terms of opportunities, romantic transfer encourages students to relate science to events in social life and further to discover new ways to understand social issues and propose social hypotheses. In terms of challenge, romantic transfers are often based on superficial and even imprecise understandings of science and depend on oversimplified labels and metaphors. In many cases, the romantic transfers are imaginative. Although logically romantic transfers are based on analogical resonance, empirically they are hardly proven to be valid. Nevertheless, when students imagine social and ideological implications of the hard science terminologies and theorems, they are at risk for considering the emergent ideologies as proven by hard sciences that are often considered authoritative, objective, and universal. Literal understanding of science-inspired by still unexamined ideologies can lead to maladaptive and even dangerous social actions. Because many of the romantic transfers are interdisciplinary and controversial, teachers may avoid explicit discussion about romantic transfer with students, and do not wish to assume responsibility of doing so. However, the question remains whether avoiding explicit discussion and debates about romantic transfer would inhibit students from spontaneously romanticize science concepts. This dissertation presents four studies that systematically investigate questions of romantic transfer—informal, emergent, and metaphorical boundary transections from natural science to social ideologies that often occur unexpectedly. My first study shows that participants who scored high in transferential thinking style also scored high in scientism beliefs and that participants who scored high on both tend to give literal interpretations to (religious) text. Following, my second study shows that students who reviewed the conservation of energy in physics are more likely to believe that luck is conserved, a naïve karmic religious idea. My third study shows that students are able to transfer spontaneously from theories in physics to more politically charged contexts. Specifically, students who learned the theory of entropy are more likely to prefer tightened social control, whereas students who learned self-organization theory are more likely to prefer stronger individual agency and relaxed social control. Study-4 involved interviews with the participants from Study-3 and shows that students’ narratives about social control are largely consistent with the thermodynamic concepts they have learned. Occasionally, students can critically evaluate the plausibility of their romantic transferences. This dissertation shows that science instruction implicitly empowers students to make social hypotheses and to engage in moral-civic-political discourse. To consider pedagogies that respond to such an opportunity without falling victim to hasty generalizations, we need both science and civic educations to equip students with the methods to examine self-generated social hypothesis. We also need pedagogies that promote the awareness and tolerance of metaphors to offset the dangers of literalism.

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Abstract not available.

Unlike textual description, pathfinder network (an algorithm that results in a kind of concept map) provides a visual way to describe the knowledge structure of a student. It often provides a clear measure of the student's understanding and highlights the student's misconceptions. The traditional approaches of assessment such as multiple-choice questions and word problems often fail to identify these misconceptions. The following steps were carried out for this study. 1. The study assessed the knowledge structures of grade 11 physics students of a public high school of Ottawa and their instructor using pathfinder networks. The work concept (a subset of links around the concept of work) in the students' pathfinder networks was compared to the work concept in the referent network and the similarity between them was calculated. 2. During the intervention phase of the study, individualized instructions and exercises based on the misconceptions about the concept of work, shown by their knowledge structures, were given to the students. 3. The study again assessed the knowledge structures of the students for a change in work concept in their pathfinder networks by comparing it with the referent network. The study also analyzed the control concepts of "mass" and "gravity" in the pathfinder networks of the students and found no significant change in those. In addition to pathfinder networks' utility as a global measure of conceptual knowledge of the students, which is useful for summative assessment, this research is a step forward to provide evidence that an individual node in the pathfinder network can be explored to study a particular concept in the network. Therefore, the research demonstrates the potential utility of pathfinder networks for formative assessment. This offers the possibility of providing the students with extremely comprehensive feedback. Results revealed that the similarity index of work concept in the pathfinder networks of the students increased from pre- to post-intervention phase. Most likely, the major reason for this change was that individualized instructions were given to each student about the concept of work which stimulated and probably changed some of their misconceptions. To address validity, the similarity indices of mass and gravity concepts in the pathfinder networks of the students were also checked for improvement. The result shows that there is no significant improvement in mass and gravity concepts as the individualised instructions were not given to the students about mass and gravity concepts. Findings support the use of structural assessment of knowledge with pathfinder scaling technique for formative assessment as a way to enhance learning.

This study was conducted to determine behavior patterns of the jumping spider Habronattus oregonensis. Time budgets show spiders spend their time out and about, eating, interacting with other spiders, and in hidden behaviors with out and about behaviors dominating. Agonistic encounters occur in the field and were staged in the laboratory. Whether a spider keeps control of the area is determined differently for males than females. In male-male interactions, the size of the spider as measured by weight is important in winning a skirmish regardless of familiarity with an area (residency). For female-female agonistic interactions, however, residency does affect the outcome. In interactions between male-female pairs, the male readily courts the female. Mature virgin females readily accept a mate; other females do not. Finally, experiences from university research were used to develop lesson plans for student study at the secondary level in biology classrooms.

<p> In 2007 Pioneer High School, a public school in Whittier, California changed the sequence of its science courses from the Traditional Biology-Chemistry-Physics (B-C-P) to Biology-Physics-Chemistry (B-P-C), or "Physics Second." The California Standards Tests (CSTs) scores in Physics and Chemistry from 2004-2012 were used to determine if there were any effects of the Physics Second sequencing on student achievement in those courses. The data was also used to determine whether the Physics Second sequence had an effect on performance in Physics and Chemistry based on gender.</p><p> Independent <i>t</i> tests and chi-square analysis of the data determined an improvement in student performance in Chemistry but not Physics. The 2x2 Factorial ANOVA analysis revealed that in Physics male students performed better on the CSTs than their female peers. In Chemistry, it was noted that male and female students performed equally well. Neither finding was a result ofthe change to the "Physics Second" sequencing.</p>

This study explores the way a group of chemistry teachers in Costa Rica construct themselves as professionals. This is a preliminary study on the issue of teachers' professionalism in Costa Rica from a perspective other than salary. The intention was to explore how a group of eight chemistry teachers set up situations to interact among themselves as well as with other teachers and professionals in the school system as the basis to generate collaboration and autonomy. Two chemistry teachers participated in an in-depth analysis of their life histories as professionals. The teachers set up situations for interaction with others. These include students, colleagues, parents and members of the community. Content programs and regulations for evaluation were explored as part of the aspects that influence teachers' actions in the school culture. / As an interpretive study, data were constructed from school setting observations, personal life histories as told by chemistry teachers, interviews with school system participants and documents from which teachers defined their roles in school. The findings of the study are categorized as they relate to the following: (1) chemistry teachers, (2) teacher unions, (3) policy mediators, (4) principals, (5) colleagues, (6) students, (7) teacher educators, and (8) content programs and evaluative regulations. / From this study it is inferred that the professional actions of teachers are not strongly supported in the school system. Thus, the construction of professional identity is a lifelong process for which teachers need to interact with others on a permanent basis. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 54-07, Section: A, page: 2439. / Co-Major Professors: Kenneth Tobin; Alejandro J. Gallard. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1993.

The dissertation is based on an ethnographic study of a college instructor, Dr. Smith, involved in the process of developing the curriculum of a new physics course for prospective K-6 school teachers. It adopts a model of curriculum that assumed different levels of participation, and different players in the curriculum development process (Goodson, 1990). Using this model, the instructor who participates at all levels (the planning, the translation, and the implementation) of the restructuring process provides the unifying thread that connects the various levels of the process together. / The study attempts to answer one fundamental question: What was the role of the instructor in the process of developing the curriculum of this restructured physics course? In the process of inquiry other questions emerged and also assumed importance. One such question was: what were the students' perceptions of the classroom learning environment created by the new physics course and how did that compare to what the students would have preferred? The dissertation discusses the findings related to these questions, and their implications for college science curriculum reform. / The findings of the study suggest that when students feel ownership of a science course, learning or personal sense making, instead of grades, become their primary focus. Hence, the role of the instructor in the process of developing a restructured science curriculum for prospective teachers is to ensure that the students become involved in the mediation of the curriculum at all levels. This includes the mediation of the curriculum at the level of activities and themes, and to ensure that the students have a voice in creating a vision of the course, particularly, at the level of curricular planning and the setting of course goals. The instructor is also the person to bring students, colleagues, educators, and planners together in a way that would provide a context for the education, and learning of each other to support cultural change. Most importantly, the science instructor must make a special effort on behalf of the prospective teachers to connect the science content and processes covered in the college course, to the science that the prospective teachers will be required to teach in K-6 classrooms, since college science instructors have a significant impact of how prospective teachers will teach science in elementary schools. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 54-02, Section: A, page: 0474. / Major Professor: Kenneth G. Tobin. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1993.

The curriculum integration between algebra II and chemistry was investigated during a unit on gas laws. High school students enrolled in both algebra II and chemistry and their teachers participated in the qualitative study. Data were analyzed using a scheme developed from the findings of Lemke and Lampert. Important to the study were linguistic register findings, integration barriers and perceptions held by students. / The study examined three areas of analyses of linguistic registers including cognitive (personal and within each course), interactive (personal between courses) and negotiation (interactive between students) as questions of how students constructed meaning using their registers were explored. / Eleven assertions were constructed that identified areas of problem solving approaches, perceptions of course applications, possibilities of and barriers to course integration, linguistic register findings and student perceptions of curriculum. The assertions were used to enhance understanding of student difficulty in relating knowledge constructed in algebra II for use in construction of knowledge in chemistry. / The assertions were used to identify applications and implications for the results of this study that may be applied to teaching and learning algebra II and chemistry. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 54-12, Section: A, page: 4402. / Major Professor: Kenneth G. Tobin. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1993.