The role of practical work is crucial to the learning and teaching of science (Woolnough and Allsop, 1985). Depending on the design of the activity it can become a powerful tool for making concrete a subject which is abstract and inherently difficult to understand. The current practice in developing countries (including South Africa), for providing practical work experience for learners studying science through distance education, is a week long session where learners are bombarded with activities after activities the whole day long. This divorces the activity from the theory and thus one aim of practical work, the understanding of a particular theory or concept is not achieved. The microscience system, developed at RADMASTE (Research and Development in Maths, Science and Technology Education) Centre, Wits University, may be an answer to the problem mentioned above. This system uses small-scale equipment which is cost-effective, versatile, convenient and robust, and demands no special infrastructure. Working on a small scale is now the norm in many branches of science: it costs less, it is safer, there is less damage to the environment, etc. It is accompanied with worksheets (written using a guided enquiry approach) as well as chemicals that would be required for the activities. To see its effectiveness as a tool for providing practical work experience for students studying science through distance education, it was used by educators who had registered for the ACE (Advanced Certificate in Education) for FET (Further Education and Training) level program at Wits University. This is an inservice training course for educators, most of whom qualified with a 3 year educators diploma from an educators training college. The ACE program uses a mixed delivery approach. That is, 4 contact sessions (usually 5 days each, during the school holidays) are spaced throughout the year where educators come to the workshop. During the workshop, course workbook, assignments and portfolio activities for a particular course are given to the educators. For the rest of the period educators are required to work independently or with fellow students. The portfolio tasks and assignments are sent by post to the University by the educators, whereupon they are marked and resent to educators. During each year educators complete 3 specialisation courses (either in Maths or Science) and 2 education courses. The microchemistry kit (part of the microscience system) was used by educators at home for performing practical work activities for the science specialization course entitled, Chemical Reactions. The current research aims to report on the use of the RADMASTE Advanced microchemistry kit by two groups of secondary school educators at home during their independent study. A questionnaire was designed to look at how the educators managed to use the kit on their own. To gain insight into their experiences an in-depth interview was conducted by visiting four educators at home when they were performing the practical activity. Another questionnaire was designed to ascertain the attitude of these educators towards practical work. A questionnaire was also answered to gain understanding of what the educators learnt after using the kit at home. The results obtained for this study will inform the future for providing practical work experience for students studying science through distance education.

No description available.

Submitted by Matheus Almeida Bauer Zytkuewisz (matheus.bauer@unesp.br) on 2019-01-29T13:12:00Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertação_Matheus_Almeida_Bauer_Zytkuewisz.pdf: 5568207 bytes, checksum: c6747256bad7b516b287fd10aa92c0ed (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Ana Carolina Gonçalves Bet null (abet@iq.unesp.br) on 2019-01-31T12:11:11Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 zytkuewisz_mab_me_araiq_int.pdf: 5431251 bytes, checksum: 6c4f196e54624f6719164e31587bd433 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2019-01-31T12:11:11Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 zytkuewisz_mab_me_araiq_int.pdf: 5431251 bytes, checksum: 6c4f196e54624f6719164e31587bd433 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2018-12-17 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) / O presente trabalho de mestrado teve como temática geral a experimentação no ensino de Química, especificamente o emprego da perspectiva investigativa de ensino no nível superior. A pesquisa visou verificar como a inserção de um erro proposital em uma atividade experimental possivelmente suscitaria no amadurecimento e formação do Espírito Científico dos alunos do curso da licenciatura. A metodologia de pesquisa teve abordagem qualitativa do tipo Estudo de Caso, e as fontes de informação foram compostas de sujeitos e documentos. Os sujeitos foram os alunos do curso de licenciatura cursando no ano de 2017 na disciplina de Laboratório de Ensino de Química Geral, e os documentos textuais foram um roteiro alterado, um formulário de proposição de hipóteses adido de um roteiro provisório, e um relatório final, no qual os alunos também propuseram um roteiro retificado para a realização da atividade experimental. Ainda, foi realizado um grupo focal com os participantes da atividade, e os alunos também responderam a um questionário, o qual providenciou suporte para a conseguinte entrevista individual. O tratamento e análise das informações coletadas se deu pela Análise de Conteúdo, para a qual foram utilizadas categorias a priori para o questionário e entrevista reflexiva, e categorias a posteriori para o grupo focal e documentos textuais. Como conclusão do estudo, concebe-se que a intervenção aqui proposta, a qual é dotada de um elemento inédito, por si só, em ação pontual, não foi capaz de suscitar a níveis significativos características do espírito científico nos sujeitos. Porém, a mesma se revelou como excelente pedra angular para o início da construção do espírito científico e de noções mais adequadas de ciência nos sujeitos. / The work herein presented had as general theme practical work regarding chemical education, and had its scope on the employment of inquiry-based activities at the undergraduate level. This research intended to unveil how the interposition of a purposeful error on a experimental activity could promote the formation and maturation of the scientific spirit on undergraduate students. The research methodology had used a qualitative approach, on the manners of a case study, and the information sources regarded subjects and documents. The subjects were the students undergoing the “Laboratório de Ensino de Química Geral” course, and the textual documents were a modified script, a hypothesis form coupled with a provisional script and a final report, in whose the students should add a rectified script that would allow them to perform the activity without issues. In addition, the students composed a focus group with the groups that participated in our intervention, as well as an individual questionnaire regarding aspects of nature of science. The latter provided support for the accomplishment of individual interviews with the students. The data gathering and treatment of collected data was done in the ways of the content analysis, for whose we employed a priori analytical categories for the questionnaire and individual interview, and established a posteriori categories for the focus group and textual documents. As a conclusion, we conceived that the intervention proposed on this work, which features a brand-new tool for inquiry, by itself was unable to achieve significant aspects of the scientific spirit on the subjects. However, the intervention unraveled excellent potentialities as cornerstone for the scientific spirit and more informed notions of science on the subjects. / 001

No description available.

No description available.

The purpose of this study was to find out how teachers in primary school implement practical work in their classrooms and what experiences they have of Naturvetenskap och Teknik för Alla (NTA). To find out the answers I used semi structured interviews and a poll inquiry. In the study there were four interviews that were recorded with sound and 31 polls that were done by Survey & Report through Karlstad University. The study refers to prior studies about inquiries and practical works in classroom practice. The study shows that the majority of the teachers in this study work regularly with inquiry in their science teaching. The study also shows that the majority of the group has a positive experience of NTA and appreciates the structure and the opportunity to further educate themselves in the science subjects. The study also shows inquiries outside of what NTA can offer. They are mainly done in biology and physics for example as observations of animal and nature or playground physics where teeters and slides are used to study different physics phenomena.

Orientador: Amadeu Moura Bego / Banca: Denis Ricardo Martins de Godoi / Banca: Luiz Henrique Ferreira / Resumo: O presente trabalho de mestrado teve como temática geral a experimentação no ensino de Química, especificamente o emprego da perspectiva investigativa de ensino no nível superior. A pesquisa visou verificar como a inserção de um erro proposital em uma atividade experimental possivelmente suscitaria no amadurecimento e formação do Espírito Científico dos alunos do curso da licenciatura. A metodologia de pesquisa teve abordagem qualitativa do tipo Estudo de Caso, e as fontes de informação foram compostas de sujeitos e documentos. Os sujeitos foram os alunos do curso de licenciatura cursando no ano de 2017 na disciplina de Laboratório de Ensino de Química Geral, e os documentos textuais foram um roteiro alterado, um formulário de proposição de hipóteses adido de um roteiro provisório, e um relatório final, no qual os alunos também propuseram um roteiro retificado para a realização da atividade experimental. Ainda, foi realizado um grupo focal com os participantes da atividade, e os alunos também responderam a um questionário, o qual providenciou suporte para a conseguinte entrevista individual. O tratamento e análise das informações coletadas se deu pela Análise de Conteúdo, para a qual foram utilizadas categorias a priori para o questionário e entrevista reflexiva, e categorias a posteriori para o grupo focal e documentos textuais. Como conclusão do estudo, concebe-se que a intervenção aqui proposta, a qual é dotada de um elemento inédito, por si só, em ação pontual, não foi ca... (Resumo completo, clicar acesso eletrônico abaixo) / Abstract: The work herein presented had as general theme practical work regarding chemical education, and had its scope on the employment of inquiry-based activities at the undergraduate level. This research intended to unveil how the interposition of a purposeful error on a experimental activity could promote the formation and maturation of the scientific spirit on undergraduate students. The research methodology had used a qualitative approach, on the manners of a case study, and the information sources regarded subjects and documents. The subjects were the students undergoing the "Laboratório de Ensino de Química Geral" course, and the textual documents were a modified script, a hypothesis form coupled with a provisional script and a final report, in whose the students should add a rectified script that would allow them to perform the activity without issues. In addition, the students composed a focus group with the groups that participated in our intervention, as well as an individual questionnaire regarding aspects of nature of science. The latter provided support for the accomplishment of individual interviews with the students. The data gathering and treatment of collected data was done in the ways of the content analysis, for whose we employed a priori analytical categories for the questionnaire and individual interview, and established a posteriori categories for the focus group and textual documents. As a conclusion, we conceived that the intervention proposed on this work, w... (Complete abstract click electronic access below) / Mestre

This study explores the issues involved in the theoretical bases, rationale and implementation of practical work in junior secondary science programs. The part that practical work has played in science education, both internationally and in Australia, is reviewed. Links are made between statements made by science educators more than 200 years ago to those made by modern day researchers into science teaching and learning. The study draws together the research traditions of the philosophy of science, science curriculum development, learning environments, and educational psychology. The researcher has carried out a multi-stage field study using both qualitative and quantitative methods to achieve the objectives of the study. Developments in the philosophy of science as they impinge on science education are reviewed. Science practicals are defined for the purposes of this study and a new Theoretical Model for Science Practicals is proposed. The model enables the description and statement of purpose of eight types of science practicals. The target population of the study is Australian science teachers and students. The model provides a theoretical basis for the development of the survey instrument, Science Practicals Inventory (SPI), to investigate students’ perceptions of the use of practicals in science learning. The eight types of practicals described in the model were used as the scales for the SPI. Qualitative data collected during separate group interviews of science teachers and students supported the development of the SPI together with quantitative data from three pilot studies. The SPI was validated using samples of high school students from Tasmania and Western Australia. / Using statistical procedures involving factor analyses, alpha reliability, discriminant validity, and ANOVA, a valid, reliable, efficient, eight scale, 50 item instrument has been developed. Analysis of the quantitative and qualitative data in this study enabled issues involved in the theoretical bases, rationale and implementation of practical work in junior secondary science programs to be clarified and better understood. The results of this study include implications for science curricula and recommendations for further research and are generalizable to science teachers and students in Australia. The SPI is available for further application in action research, science program evaluation, science teacher professional learning and science program renewal.

Title: Experiments for Interactive Physics Laboratory: experiments and theory Author: RNDr. Zdeněk Šabatka Department: Department of Physics Education Supervisor: doc. RNDr. Leoš Dvořák, CSc. Supervisor's e-mail address: DvorakL@plk.mff.cuni.cz Abstract: The present doctoral thesis is concerned with practical work of students in physics education. More specifically, it focuses on preparation and implementation of practical seminars for high school students in the Interactive Physics Laboratory at Faculty of Mathematics and Physics, Charles University in Prague. The thesis describes practical work as one of the teaching methods with a focus on its goals, effectiveness and different types of assignment. Furthermore, the concept of the Interactive Physics Laboratory based also on Czech teachers' opinions gained from a small-scale survey is described. The main part of the thesis consists of activities organized into four topics suitable for the Interactive Physics Laboratory. The topics were processed both theoretically and experimentally and all prepared activities were tested on high school students. The current thesis describes the outcomes of two surveys that concentrated on students' and teachers' opinions. Data were collected using questionnaires. One survey focused on students' subjective experience with...

Practical work plays an important role in the teaching and learning of science. This study was conducted to determine whether the methods and practices employed by physics teachers in Zimbabwe as required by the Zimbabwe School Examination Council (Zimsec) ‘A’ Level Physics Syllabus (9188) on the assessment of practical work skills assist the students in developing other crucial practical skills like manipulation, observational, planning and designing apart from presentation and analysis skills. The convergent parallel mixed methods approach of Creswell (2014) was used to collect, present and analyse data. Quantitative data were collected using the structured observation schedule to get assessment marks for a student using both methods of indirect assessment of practical work skills (IAPS) and direct assessment of practical work skills DAPS for the same practical work activity. Qualitative data were obtained from interviews with the physics teachers and Focus Group Discussion (FGD) with the ‘A’ level physics students. Pearson’s correlation coefficient (r) of the percentage rating of marks obtained by the student as observed during practical work sessions compared to the obtained mark from the submitted practical work report for the same practical work activity was calculated and found to be 0.135 with a Pvalue of 0.432. Both the narrative approach (Creswell, 2007) and conservation analyses (Gray, 2011) were used to present and analyse data from focus group discussions with ‘A’ level physics students and interviews with the physics teachers. The major finding from the analysis of quantitative data was that there was no association between the grades obtained by the student from DAPS as compared to IAPS for the same practical work activity as the value of r was found to be very low. This implied that passing practical work through the assessment of practical work report did not necessarily mean that the student could have mastered the basic skills of manipulation, designing, observation and planning. The views of physics teachers and students who participated in the study were that, the current method of practical work assessment used by Zimsec is not relevant in encouraging students to develop a variety of practical work skills as students concentrated on mastering presentation and analysis skills in order to pass practical work examinations. The study recommends that an alternative model of practical work assessment that integrates both DAPS and IAPS should be used to ensure valid and reliable assessment of practical work skills of ‘A’ level physics students. / Curriculum and Instructional Studies / D. Ed. (Didactics)