The Scientific Attitude Inventory, TSAI, was developed in an attempt to measure the Scientific Attitude of elementary teachers. Form D, the form used with the study population, was developed through a refinement technique involving three pre-test forms, Forms A, B, and C.From an original pool of items, fifty-three items were selected to constitute Form A. Form A was constructed and administered to a pre-test population for the purpose of refinement of individual items from the item pool. On the basis of an item analysis of the responses by the pre-test population, several of the items were revised.The revised items from Form A, together with newly written items constituted Form B. Form B was administered to a second pre-test population for the purpose of refinement of individual items. Several items of Form B were revised on the basis of an item analysis.The set of items which resulted from the pre-testing of Forms A and B, revised as appropriate, were submitted to a panel of judges in order to establish a response key and content validity of the items for the purpose of measuring the Scientific Attitude.Those items which were judged to have content validity constituted Form C. Form C was administered to a third pretest population in order to identify the set of items to be used in Form D, the form used with the study population.The identification of the set of items from Form C to be used in Form D was accomplished through a series of reductions in the number of items in Form C. On the basis of an item analysis, the items with the lowest item validity indices were removed from the instrument. The resultant version was scored and an item analysis made unisg the new instrument as the criterion measure. This procedure was repeated until diminishing returns were noticed in the split-halves reliability. The 45 items of Form C which produced the highest split-halves reliability were used in Form D and constituted Version 45 C.Inspection of the 45 items of Form C which were used in Form D revealed that with but one exception, the items which produced the highest item validity indices were items keyed "disagree." Therefore, in the construction of Form D, 25 additional items were uted keyed "agree" in order to achieve an apparent balance in the response key.A 70 item instrument, Form d, was administered to the study population of 224 elementary teachers in graduate study at the masters level in the Elementary Education Department of Ball State University, Muncie, Indiana, during the Summer of 1969. The administration of Form D provided data and Norms of Performance for Form D, Version 45 C. This version of TSAI yielded a split-halves reliability of 0.72 with the study population.The complete 70 item instrument was also scored and analysed. Further, a series of reductions in the number of items, refining the form as an internal criterion measure of validity, was effected in the same manner as was used with Form C. Diminishing returns in split-halves reliability was seen beyond the 45 item set, identified as Form D, Version 45. This version yielded a split-halves reliability of 0.80. Version 65 of Form D, and each subsequent version in the reduction series yielded split-halves reliabilities equal to, or exceeding, 0.70, the minimum level of reliability specified in the design of the study. Norms of performance were compiled from the administration of Form D to the study population for each of the versions which yielded a reliability equal to, or greater than, 0.70.

The primary goal of this research project was to produce and test individually paced curricular materials designed to develop basic science process skill competency in preservice elementary school teachers. The four basic science process skills of observing, measuring, classifying, and predicting were identified for the study. Evidence accumulated through three approaches substantiated preservice teachers' needs for further development of these four process skills. The need for science process skill study was based upon recommendations of The American Association for the Advancement of Science, upon the results of a science process measure for teachers administered to a population of preservice elementary school teachers, and upon nine years of personal observation by the researcher in his capacity as a public school science supervisor.In developing the project a sequence of performance steps was established, taking into consideration current trends in elementary science education, individualization of instruction, and educational accountability. This systems model embodied the development of specifically stated performance objectives for each process skill identified for the study. Eight prototype process skills tests were constructed consisting of a pre/post-test for each of the four process skill areas. The tests were validated by expert opinion. Four individualized learning guides, one for each process skill area, were created to be used with preservice elementary school teachers inelementary science methods courses. An instructors' guide was developed to accompany the student materials. The format for each student guide included a rationale, performance objectives, and a sequence of activities designed to facilitate the attainment of the objectives. A different content carrier was selected to be used in developing each of the four process skill areas. Selected content from the Elementary Science Study program was used in the development of the observation process skill. Selected content from the Science-A Process Approach program was used in the development of the measuring process skill. Selected content from the Science Curriculum Improvement Study program was used in the development of the classifying process skill. And materials of the researcher's design, problem-solving activities related to the concept of change, were used in the development of the predicting process skill. The prototype materials were tested during the Spring and Summer Quarters of 1973 and revisions were made on the basis of this testing. The revised materials were pilot tested during the Fall Quarter of the 1973-74 school year with six sections of Ball State University elementary science methods students. As a result of the pilot testing a new multiple choice process pre/post-test was created and revisions in the teachers' guide were made. Final testing of the curricular materials occurred during the Winter Quarter of the 1973-74 school year with four sections of elementary methods students.Statistical treatment of the data collected during the final testing of the materials included analysis of individual pre/post-test scores, pre/post-test variance, per cent of growth applied to an established competency criterion and the application of a one-tailed t test testing the null hypothesis that the mean of the difference between the paired measures (pre/post-test scores) is zero.The feasibility of creating individually paced, science process skill curricular materials using a systems approach and merging selected content goals of elementary science methods with science process skill acquisition goals was established in this study. The population of preservice elementary school teachers who used the curricular materials met the established competency criterion for all four process skills. Data from this study provide a model for further development of other science process skill building curricular materials for pre service elementaryschool teachers.

The present study examines science education policies in three selected developed countries and compares them with science education policies in Lebanon in order to identify their potential reform policies and practices applicable to Lebanon. The selection of the three countries, the U.S.A., U.K., and Japan, was based on the amount of time and effort devoted in these countries to improving and modernizing their science education policies and curricula. Three aspects of secondary science curriculum policy in the chosen countries were analyzed and compared with those of Lebanon. These were: aims and objectives; pattern of science program including the science curriculum, the amount of time allotted to the study of science and the content of school science subjects; and the organization of school science including science requirement for graduation from high school, teaching strategies and mode of examinations. The data collected for analysis from the three chosen countries showed that, unlike Lebanon, in the three developed countries: education is compulsory up to at least the age of 16; aims and objectives are stated clearly and carefully; science is an integrated subject in the first year of secondary level, then it becomes separated into chemistry, physics and biology. The content of science subjects emphasizes the method and process of science and its application to the society. Examinations are designed to evaluate students' learning in science in contrast to Lebanon where examinations are designed to discriminate among students.

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No description available.

An adequate understanding of the nature of science (NOS) has become increasingly important for science teachers in South Africa as comprehensive curricular reforms over the past decade include promoting informed understandings of the ontological and epistemological bases of scientific knowledge and the methods of science. The main objective of this study was to explore the NOS understandings held by a sample of science teachers in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa. Data were generated via questionnaires (n=136), semi-structured interviews (n=31), and classroom observations (n=8). The teacher interviews, which were informed by the questionnaire data, enabled further interrogation of the teachers’ philosophical positions. Their classroom practices were examined within the framework of these philosophical positions and the requirements of the new curriculum. The effect of implicit and explicit instruction in NOS on these teachers’ beliefs and classroom activities was also considered. A mixed-method approach informed by positivist and interpretivist perspectives was used for the collection and analysis of the data. The data suggests that explicit instruction in NOS resulted in more informed conceptions of science and the scientific enterprise, and that these conceptions were reflected, to a degree, in their classroom behaviours. However, it was noted that the teachers in this study often held philosophically eclectic views of the nature of scientific knowledge and how scientists develop ideas. Similarly, the South African National Curriculum Statement portrays science in contrasting ways, i.e. often within a modern/realist framework, but in other instances within postmodern/relativistic understandings (particularly in terms of indigenous knowledge systems). As such, an approach which aims at providing a firm foundation for understanding NOS ideas within a modern/realist perspective before emphasising the postmodern/relativist aspects of the scientific enterprise is suggested for teacher training and curriculum development.

This was a naturalistic investigation of the nature of elementary science teaching practice. The main purpose of the study was to portray, through description and comparison of teacher appreciations, now four elementary teachers of science perceived their worlds of practice. This study was based on the assumption that persons construct their realities and that teachers, as practitioners, also make their worlds of practice. Following Vickers (1983) and Schon (1987), "appreciation" was therefore used as a construct for examining and depicting key features of the teachers' practice. Appreciations of the teachers became the basis for exploring the nature and significance of their collaborative teaching. Findings of this exploratory study indicate that each teacher had a coherent but distinct set of appreciations of practice which included perceptions of professional identity and of preferences for practice. These appreciations appeared to colour a teacher's "style" of practice and expectations of self and of pupils. While the distinctiveness of a teacher's appreciations suggested that each teacher had a unique style of practice, teachers with similar or differing appreciations of practice engaged in productive, collaborative relationships with colleagues. Based on their appreciations of practice, teachers in the study seemed to have three major areas of concern and these were related to their instructional services to pupils, unit design and professional self-renewal. It is being suggested in this investigation that teacher collaboration was a strategy used by these teachers to enable them to handle their concerns practicably and efficiently. The implications of these findings are presented in terms of contributions to the practice of teaching and to theory and research on teaching/ in particular studies of the "culture" of teaching. / Education, Faculty of / Curriculum and Pedagogy (EDCP), Department of / Graduate

The general problem was to investigate theoretical and empirical relationships between student attitude toward Grade 10 science and classroom learning environment variables and to use these findings interpretively to design a teaching/learning strategy which could be used to improve student attitudes. This investigation sought to answer three questions: 1. How is student attitude toward the subject science acquired, changed, and related to variables within a science classroom learning environment? A description of these associations was based upon an analysis of the writings of Ajzen and Fishbein (1980) and Haladyna et al. (1983). 2. What is the nature and strength of the empirical relationship between student attitude toward Grade 10 science and classroom learning environment variables? This determination was accomplished in two ways. The first way involved the possibility of obtaining a linear relationship between a dependent measure of student attitude toward Grade 10 science and a composite of independent learning environment variables. The second way involved the gathering and analysis of student ideas about this relationship using an interview technique. 3. How can the results of this study be used interpretively to improve student attitudes toward Grade 10 science? The focus here was to design a teaching/learning strategy which could be used by the classroom teacher in order to improve student attitudes based upon some of the theoretical and empirical relationships revealed in this study. In the first question it was found that the Haladyna model of variables that could influence student attitudes and the Ajzen and Fishbein view of attitude and attitude change could be interpreted and applied in an educational context to assist in the provision of a perspective on a problem in teaching practice -mainly how can learning environment variables be manipulated in an attempt to improve student attitudes. In the empirical question it was found that a linear relationship existed between measures of student attitude toward Grade 10 science and student beliefs about their classroom learning environment. A forward regression analysis revealed that three variables accounted for 28.9% of the measured variance in student attitude. These variables, in decreasing order of significance of contribution, were: a) Satisfaction (extent to which students are satisfied with the work of the class; b) Apathy (extent to which students care about the class); and c) Difficulty (extent to which students find the class difficult). Personal interviews of 16 Grade 10 science students revealed other learning environment variables which were related to student attitude toward Grade 10 science. These variables, in order of salience, were the: a) extent to which there are hands on activities, b) clarity and organization of teacher explanations, c) perceived usefulness of the science knowledge d) degree of difficulty of the subject and e) quality of interpersonal relationships in class. Interviews of teachers and students also provided additional suggestions as to how to promote more positive student attitudes. Some of the more frequently mentioned suggestions were: a) more labs and hands on activities, b) less teacher talk, c) more emphasis on the practical/social/personal aspects of science content, d) more teacher enthusiasm to promote science as a valuable activity, and e) to have as great a variety of science activities as possible. The third question involved design of a teaching/learning strategy based on a format for the application of theory to educational practice suggested by Joyce and Weil (1980). This strategy, which involved the manipulation of the learning environment in accordance with the Ajzen and Fishbein theory, was illustrated by a sample lesson from a unit of instruction developed by the researcher. / Education, Faculty of / Curriculum and Pedagogy (EDCP), Department of / Graduate

The purpose of this study was to determine whether or not the use of a programmed instruction booklet, as the basic instructional material, could be considered as more appropriate for limited learners than traditional teaching methods. An attempt was made to measure the success that limited learners have in attaining general science concepts through programmed instruction. The study collected evidence to show if there was any significant difference between normal learners and limited learners in academic science achievement (as measured by pre-test and post-test results), when taught using this methodology. The investigation provided evidence to support increased development and use of programmed materials for modified and regular science classrooms. To assess the achievement in general science concepts, an author-developed examination was implemented as a pre-test and later as a post-test following the experimental treatment. The mean scores in achievement were calculated for distinct groups thus enabling a comparison of gains in achievement. A non-equivalent control group with a fixed effects factorial design was used in the investigation. The fixed effects analysis of covariance, using the pre-test as the covariate, permitted the separate analysis of learning ability, methods of instruction and a two-way interaction between these variables. The analysis of covariance produced significant differences for the two main effects. In terms of learning ability normal learners achieved higher than limited learners and the difference was significant at the 0.05 level. For the methods of instruction, students using programmed instruction scored significantly higher than those students taught with the traditional approach. Since there was a significant difference for programmed instruction and no interaction between learning ability and instruction mode, it follows that programmed instruction was better for both groups of students. The results of the study are that both limited and normal learners were more successful, in terms of acquisition of science knowledge, with programmed instruction than with traditional teaching in terms of post-test mean achievement scores. / Education, Faculty of / Curriculum and Pedagogy (EDCP), Department of / Graduate

The purpose of this study is to explore and document the nature of children's participation in elementary school science in British Columbia, Canada. Using an ethnographic approach, extensive fieldnotes provide the foundation addressing the question "What is the activity of science in an elementary school?" Although current science curriculum documents continue to cast science at school as a possible mirror of science in the 'real' world, this is a thesis about elementary school science and a community of inquiry that evolves at school. Instead of separating process and content, this thesis emphasizes their co-emergence. Drawing upon sociocultural and enactivist perspectives, the focus is on learning and context, learner and content as they co-evolve. This study was conducted in one elementary class at the intermediate level (Grade 6/7) across one school year. The teacher and I collaborated to plan and teach science with a focus on creating opportunities for children to participate. Children embarked on three extensive science adventures with their teacher, working in teams of four or five and learning as a community of inquiry. Using audio taped records of children's and the teacher's comments, children's creations, as well as my fieldnotes, I construct a narrative of one year of school science. Researcher, children, and teacher describe what it means to participate in a diversity of ways and, if we wish to understand how children learn science it is important to listen. Data analysis reveals the importance of contexts for participation in elementary school science. In particular, I identify "spaces of inquiry" that afforded students diverse opportunities to participate with science content in a community of inquiry. They are generative spaces, rehearsal spaces, and performative spaces. Spaces of inquiry are important because they provide an alternative way to think about learning and teaching science, they provide opportunities for designing collaborative group work, and they challenge educators to consider children's contributions to their science learning. Overall, this ethnographic study illustrates a dynamic interdependence of learners and their environment in this open-ended, creative adventure in and through school science. / Education, Faculty of / Curriculum and Pedagogy (EDCP), Department of / Graduate