The “Questioning-Exploration-Experience” (QEE), a teaching and learning method underpinned by constructivist theory, was developed by Cheng and further refined by Cheng and Chan in 2001. This thesis documents and evaluates the effectiveness of five- to six-year-old children’s learning when a teacher used this method to promote children’s understanding of the concept of (air) motion. The evaluation was conducted in a preschool operated by a tertiary institution in Hong Kong, and a teacher who was experienced in using the QEE method and her 14 students participated in the study. They were observed for six days over a period of one month when children were working on a task of making a wind bell. Under the QEE method, the children began the inquiry process by posing questions about constructing the wind bell. They then formulated hypotheses, tested them through exploration, and refined their questions repeatedly. The children reflected on their learning experiences in order to generate new questions. Teacher questioning was also a critical aspect of this process. The children and teacher spent a total of 323 minutes on the task and the sessions were videotaped. There was a total of 2,927 utterances in 863 conversational turns, and these were analyzed to examine the relationship between the levels of teacher questioning and the children’s responses to reflect the levels of children thinking. There were five of these levels identified. The first three are considered to involve lower-order thinking: level 1 ("yes/no"); level 2 ("what"); and level 3 (“elaborate") questions and responses. The next two can be considered as higher-order thinking: level 4 (“logical”) and level 5 ("critical") questions and responses. The results indicated that the teacher dominated the interactions and spoke 43% of the time, while children spoke for the remaining time (57%). Of the 139 minutes during which the teacher talked, she spent 97 minutes (70% of the time) posing 887 questions: level 1 was used the most often accounting for 41% of the interactions, followed by level 5 (17%), level 2 (16%), level 3 (14%), and level 4 (12%). The total time for which the children spoke was 184 minutes with 1653 responses. Children gave level 3 responses (28%) most frequently, followed by levels 2 (27%), 1 (26%), 5 (12%), and 4 (7 %), respectively. The relationship between the teacher’s questions and children’s responses was analyzed. An exact correspondence between the level of teacher thinking and children’s responses occurred 46% of the time (398 turns). Simply put, when the teacher asked a question requiring a “what” response, the child typically gave “what” information. Within the 398 turns, 41% of this direct correspondence occurred at level 1, followed by 20% at level 2, 17% at level 5, 13% at level 3, and 9% at level 4. The greatest number of correspondences occurred with questions that required “yes/no” responses, and the least with “logical” questions. In the QEE inquiry process, the teacher’s questioning had a strong influence on the children’s scientific thinking and played a critical role in promoting children’s knowledge construction. The teacher used questioning to define an area of inquiry, specify a problem to be solved, lead children to test hypotheses, evaluate their results and determine their understanding at various points during the process. Questioning, by both the teacher and the children, was critical in promoting the children’s scientific understanding. The impact of QEE in fostering conceptual change in knowledge construction was traced along three paths. The first path in the questioning defined the central question of inquiry. The second path, exploration, was concerned with identifying the information needed to solve the problem. The third path, experience, involved restructuring the concepts of the central question to apply the new understanding in a new situation. Findings also suggest that children’s knowledge construction is signified by the achievement of four elements: identification of a central question for inquiry, evaluation of the question about learning, provision of ways in which to answer the question, and critical reasoning. / published_or_final_version / Education / Doctoral / Doctor of Education

Argumentation is being seen as increasingly important in science lessons to develop students’ argumentation skills, reinforce their learning of science, and develop scientific literacy (Driver, Newton & Osborne, 2000). This study aims to investigate whether, and to what extent, students are able to use argumentation effectively in science class and what relation there is between argumentation and interest and achievement in science and epistemic beliefs. An intervention was carried out on 45 students in their first year of secondary school in an international school in Hong Kong. Students in the intervention class (n=22) were taught using an argumentation-based learning strategy; they were compared to a control class (n=23) who were taught using a standard textbook higher-order-thinking learning strategy. Three quantitative measures were used to compare cross group difference after a two-month intervention period. Results indicated that the training group did not show any significant change in their scores of the Epistemic Belief Inventory (EBI) or science term grades. However, they showed significant gains (p<.05) in their enjoyment of and confidence in science learning as measured by the Science Questionnaire (SQ). Two qualitative measures, namely one-to-one interview and online forum discussions were also used to gain understanding of students’ use of argumentation. Results of the current study suggest that these students were not able to use or trained to use argumentation in science to achieve significant improvement in science scores. However, the teaching of an argumentation-based strategy may at least improve their enjoyment and confidence towards science learning, which may in turn lead to long-term improved learning. Limitations of the current study will be discussed and further research will be suggested. / published_or_final_version / Education / Master / Master of Education

Scientific literacy has been recognized internationally for its importance as a goal of science education. Lying at the core of scientific literacy is understandings of nature of science (NOS). A desired outcome from a scientifically literate populace is – critical evaluation of reports and discussions about science in the media. It is generally assumed that an informed conception of NOS will lead to this desired outcome of scientific literacy. Yet this assumption remains untested. The purpose of this research study was to examine the relationship, if any, between NOS understandings and the quality of evaluating science in the media. Sixty-four non-science majors from a local community college participated in the study. Participants were asked to evaluate on three health-related news articles reporting scientific claims by completing the Health News Evaluation Questionnaire. Their NOS understandings were assessed by the Views about Science Questionnaire. Participants were invited for a follow-up interview to further probe their NOS conceptions and quality of evaluating science news articles. The quality of evaluation, and the application and prioritization of criteria by each participant were analyzed. These were compared with the level of NOS understandings. Reasons for applying or not applying and for prioritizing or not prioritizing the NOS-related criteria were also examined in the follow-up interview. No correlation was identified between the non-science majors’ understanding on the targeted aspects of NOS and their frequency of application of these concepts in evaluating the science news except the followings where significant correlations, though weak, were identified. These include understanding of the peer view process and its frequency of application in evaluating (i) Article 2 on the effect of calorie on body weight and memory (r=0.325, p<0.05), (ii) Article 3 on cell phone controversies (r=0.326, p<0.05) and (iii) all the 3 news articles as a whole (r=0.381, p<0.05). Correlations are also identified between understanding of the peer review process and the level of sophistication with its application in the evaluation of Article 2 (r=0.345, p<0.05) and all the three articles as a whole (r=0.39, p<0.05). Another intriguing finding was that understanding of the tentative NOS was found to be correlated with the stance adopted in the evaluation of Article 3 (r=0.434, p<0.05). The poor performance of the participants in evaluating science in the media was attributed to the lack of awareness for the important role of NOS understandings, unfamiliarity with the application of NOS understandings, and compartmentalization among various NOS aspects. These were possible culprits for successful transformation of NOS understandings to critical evaluation of science in the media. Based on the findings, it is argued that NOS understandings are a necessary, but not sufficient, condition for critical evaluation of science in the media. Three additional conditions are suggested: (1) awareness towards the importance and the need in making reference to NOS understandings, (2) ability to apply NOS understandings, and (3) understanding the interconnectedness among various NOS aspects would aid successful transformation of NOS understandings to critical evaluation of science in the media. / published_or_final_version / Education / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

This study aims to find out the influences of science teachers’ teaching implementations in addressing the students’ common misconceptions on their conceptual understanding on photosynthesis. The study was conducted in a school in Hong Kong with an international setting. A total of thirty-one Year 9 students participated in this study. Eighteen students were taught by Teacher A, the intervention group, who carried out the intervention to identify the common students’ misconceptions on photosynthesis and attempt to change the students’ misconceptions by carrying out different teaching activities. On the other hand, thirteen students were taught by Teacher B, the control group, who taught according to the Year 9 Science curriculum plans of their school and had focussed on delivering the expected concepts to be acquired by the students. Students’ conceptual understanding was assessed through the use of 4 different instruments, including the two-tier multiple choice question developed by Haslam and Treagust (1987) and the cartoon concept developed by Naylor and Keogh (2000), before and after the teaching of the topic. Results showed that the intervention group had better conceptual understandings on the plants’ food and the harnessing the Sun’s energy by plants during photosynthesis while the control group had better conceptual understandings on respiration in plants and the limiting factors on photosynthesis in plants. Overall, the intervention group had not developed a better conceptual understanding nor less misconception compared to the control group. Open ended teaching strategies (self-exploration, whole class or group discussions etc.) had limited the conceptual understanding amongst the lower achievers and the formation of misconception ‘plants respire only at night’ in the intervention group. / published_or_final_version / Education / Master / Master of Education

Early childhood has been proven critical for science learning and development, but there is a dearth of empirical research comparing the effects of different teaching approaches in the Chinese context. This study had three main objectives: (1) to observe early science teaching systematically in urban kindergartens in Mainland China; (2) to develop three different teaching approaches (constructivist, instructivist and combined) for a science curriculum for 5-year-olds based on these observations and current views on appropriate early science pedagogy; (3) to implement and examine the effectiveness of the differing approaches to early science teaching. In Study 1, classes in three kindergartens rated as good, average and unsatisfactory by the government regulatory body were video-recorded in their science classrooms with 6 lessons on appointed topics and 6 on self-chosen topics. Teaching behaviors were analyzed in terms of the instructional approach and its effectiveness. The results indicated variations in teaching approaches across the kindergartens. The teacher from the unsatisfactory kindergarten adopted a typical instructivist approach in science teaching, whereas the other two teachers gave children hands-on experiences as well as group discussions and direct instructions; nevertheless, there was poor connectedness among them. All three teachers were weak in considering the scientific conceptions embedded in the topics as well as the children’s prior conceptions when planning their teaching. To examine the appropriateness of teaching approaches in a Chinese context, the researcher developed three sets of early science programs for 5-year-olds, each of which contained three topics: ants, trees, and shadows. The three programs adopted instructivist, constructivist, and combined approaches. Employing the above programs, Study 2 was conducted in another kindergarten rated as average by the regulatory body. The participants were 4 qualified teachers and their 117 five-year-old students. The children were assigned randomly to four groups, one using an instructivist approach, one a constructivist approach, one combined approaches, and a control group. During the 15-week intervention, each group had science lesson once a week. Three teachers were invited to implement the provided programs and accepted ongoing training. The fidelity of their implementation of the curricula was also assessed. Pretest, posttest, and follow-up (12 weeks delayed) tests were administered to the children, covering three aspects of their science learning: content (curriculum-related and general knowledge about science), process (observation, scientific thinking, and problem-solving skills), and attitude (scientific interest and curiosity as well as approaches to learning). A repeated measures ANOVA yielded a significant main effect of time but no effect of group. Further analyses indicated that the combined approach was more effective than the control group’s approach in promoting children’s development of conceptual knowledge and curiosity. These findings provide empirical evidence about the teaching and learning of science in kindergartens in a Chinese context. The study has implications for the reform in early science teaching approach and corresponding in-service teacher training in Mainland China. / published_or_final_version / Education / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

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This investigation examines how Ms. Jones scaffolds students' science language development. The study closely investigates the instructional strategies she used to help her students move from "informal Science talk" to "formal Science talk," and looks at the strategies she implemented under the scope of the anticipated themes of verbal cues, nonverbal cues, and praise. "Informal science talk" is defined in this study as a limited domain of discourse with little or no science vocabulary, while "formal science talk" is defined as an extended discourse that included the appropriate uses of science-specific vocabulary. In Ms. Jones' classroom the goal is to teach for understanding and lifelong learning, in accordance with the book How People Learn (National Research Council 2000), which contains implications for the teaching of Science. According to the standards of that book, Ms. Jones has the required subject knowledge, and an understanding of how students learn and the short- and long-term outcomes of such learning. She has created a classroom environment that fosters student thinking through participation in high-quality lessons and laboratory experiments. Through an iterative process of questioning and answering, students are given the opportunity to think about what they are learning and to also self- assess and be able to understand what they do not know. The research method used was a case study, that allowed the researcher to study, interpret and present an in-depth investigation of one teacher and how she scaffolded her students' language of school Science (LSS) development with technical vocabulary as an integral part of that process. The method of analysis was developed from a sociocultural perspective of learning. Classroom observations were conducted, and recorded via fieldnotes and videotaping of lessons for five weeks during the Spring of 2005 and four weeks during the Spring of 2006. The themes that emerged showed that the teacher's instructional designs were embedded in the Inquiry Model (Data Set II--Spring 2005) and the Science Process Skills Model (Data Set II--Spring 2006). The findings of the study reveal the characteristics of a superior type of learning environment organized around the instructional designs that Ms. Jones used. Her technique promoted the development of rich science language integrated with the vocabulary of the domain. Ms. Jones' medium of instruction was "talk." She overtly used verbal cues to promote her students science language development, which was the language of school science and reflected the different domains of the subject at the elementary grades (the Nature of Science, Life, Earth, and Physical Sciences). This study shows that a knowledgeable teacher not only knows the subject matter; she also knows how to give the right feedback, what demonstrations or analogies to use, and how to engage students in scientific investigations while providing appropriate support (scaffolding). / text

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