This dissertation is the result of a two-year ethnographic study conducted with schoolteachers, students, and public educators in Victoria, British Columbia. Using discourse analysis (DA) as a method and theory to analyze participants’ talk during interviews and other interactions in the course of their naturally occurring school-related activities, the present dissertation describes and articulates curricular and instructional implications of the observed practices to science classrooms and environmental education initiatives. The use of DA as analytical tool and the general significance of the findings to science and environmental education are what bring the individual chapters, originally written for different journal audiences, into cohesive focus. Data collection took place within two different instructional and institutional instances (or activity systems): In- and out-of schools. This, in turn, allowed for a more refined understanding of the issues those crossing the boundaries between the different activity systems might face, a point often overlooked in educational research. The conclusions amount to the complementary aspect of non-school and in-classroom activities for the improvement of science and environmental learning and instruction. Moreover, they expand the knowledge about the ways science and environmental education can be enacted in those learning settings, also introducing an alternative approach to the investigation of the learning processes in this two overlapping educational fields.

School Effectiveness Research (SER) is concerned with efforts to better understand the effectiveness enhancing relationship between student and school variables and how these variables primarily influence academic achievement (Scheerens, 2004). However, one identified methodological shortcoming in SER is the absence of cross-cultural perspectives (Kyriakides, 2006). This is a concern as what may prove effective in one nation does not necessarily mean that it can be easily and seamlessly imported into another with the same results. This study looked at the relationships between science self-beliefs and academic achievement in science across all nations who participated in the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) in 2006. It further explored the variance accounted for by cultural, social and economic capital (the elements of the PISA socioeconomic status variable) for each country in PISA 2006 when predicting scientific literacy. Lastly, it used hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) to analyze data from PISA 2006 for nations experiencing high rates of immigration (i.e., Germany, Spain, Canada, the United States, Australia and New Zealand). The outcome measures used for these countries were achievement scores in science, mathematics and reading. The variables examined at the student level were science self-efficacy, science self-concept, immigrant status and socioeconomic status. The variables examined at the school level were student level aggregates of school proportion of immigrants and school socioeconomic status. In the correlation analysis between science literacy and either science self-concept of science self-efficacy, findings suggest that at the student level, students with both higher science self-concept and higher science self-efficacy tend to achieve higher academically. However, at the country level the relationship was negative between self-concept and academic achievement in science (i.e., countries with higher science self-concept tend to achieve lower on scientific literacy). When the variables that comprised each of the cultural, social, and economic components of SES were regressed on scientific literacy for the PISA sample, cultural capital accounted for 16% of the variance in scientific literacy scores compared to 14% for social capital, 13% for the composite Economic Social and Cultural Status (ESCS), and 12% for economic capital. In the HLM null models, the intraclass correlations for the all countries except for Germany ranged from .16 to .29 (Germany’s was between .57 and .68). In the final models, at level-1 country, immigrant status tended to negatively influence achievement (i.e., non-native students are predicted to have lower performance), while science self-efficacy and science self-concept positively influenced achievement. The student level ESCS variable also impacted achievement positively. At the school level, level-2, school mean ESCS or school proportion of immigrants were found to significantly influence the level-1 predictors; however, a good deal of variability across nations was observed. The findings from this study demonstrate that there are some distinct national differences in the relationships between science self-beliefs, immigrant status and academic achievement.

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<p>This thesis was based on a larger international comparative study called the ROSE (Relevance of Science Education) project. The study investigated the affective factors pupils perceive might be of relevance for the learning of science and technology using the ROSE survey questionnaire, and was aimed at providing data that might form part of an empirical basis for local adaptation of the science curriculum.</p>

Doctor of Education / This thesis is situated in the research field of systemic functional linguistics (SFL) in education and within a professional context of multiliteracies for academic purposes. The overall aim of the research is to provide a metafunctional account of multimodal and multisemiotic meaning-making in print and electronic learning materials in first year science at university. The educational motivation for the study is to provide insights for teachers and educational designers to assist them in the development of students’ multiliteracies, particularly in the context of online learning environments. The corpus comprises online and CD-ROM learning resources in biology, physics and chemistry and textbooks in physics and biology, which are typical of those used in undergraduate science courses in Australia. Two underlying themes of the research are to compare the different affordances of textbook and screen formats and the disciplinary variation found in these formats. The two stage research design consisted of a multimodal content analysis, followed by a SF-based multimodal discourse analysis of a selection of the texts. In the page and screen formats of these pedagogical texts, the analyses show that through the mechanisms of intersemiosis, ideationally, language and image are reconstrued as disciplinary knowledge. This knowledge is characterised by a high level of technicality in image and verbiage, by taxonomic relations across semiotic resources and by interdependence among elements in the image, caption, label and main text. Interpersonally, pedagogical roles of reader/learner/viewer/ and writer/teacher/designer are enacted differently to some extent across formats through the different types of activities on the page and screen but the source of authority and truth remains with the teacher/designer, regardless of format. Roles are thus minimally negotiable, despite the claims of interactivity in the screen texts. Textually, the organisation of meaning across text and image in both formats is reflected in the layout, which is determined by the underlying design grid and in the use of graphic design resources of colour, font, salience and juxtaposition. Finally, through the resources of grammatical metaphor and the reconstrual of images as abstract, both forms of semiosis work together to shift meanings from congruence to abstraction, into the specialised realm of science.

This dissertation is the result of a two-year ethnographic study conducted with schoolteachers, students, and public educators in Victoria, British Columbia. Using discourse analysis (DA) as a method and theory to analyze participants’ talk during interviews and other interactions in the course of their naturally occurring school-related activities, the present dissertation describes and articulates curricular and instructional implications of the observed practices to science classrooms and environmental education initiatives. The use of DA as analytical tool and the general significance of the findings to science and environmental education are what bring the individual chapters, originally written for different journal audiences, into cohesive focus. Data collection took place within two different instructional and institutional instances (or activity systems): In- and out-of schools. This, in turn, allowed for a more refined understanding of the issues those crossing the boundaries between the different activity systems might face, a point often overlooked in educational research. The conclusions amount to the complementary aspect of non-school and in-classroom activities for the improvement of science and environmental learning and instruction. Moreover, they expand the knowledge about the ways science and environmental education can be enacted in those learning settings, also introducing an alternative approach to the investigation of the learning processes in this two overlapping educational fields.

Este estudo parte da problematização sobre as possibilidades de se ensinar em sala de aula, o conteúdo químico de Soluções, relacionado ao cotidiano dos alunos, de forma a proporcionar a Alfabetização Científica e Tecnológica (ACT) por meio do enfoque Ciência-Tecnologia-Sociedade (CTS). O objetivo geral desta pesquisa consiste em desenvolver e analisar o ensino do conteúdo químico Soluções relacionando-o ao cotidiano dos alunos por meio do enfoque CTS contribuindo para a Alfabetização Científica e Tecnológica (ACT). O estudo foi desenvolvido com 55 alunos, da 2ª série do Ensino Médio, do curso Técnico em Agropecuária de um Centro Estadual de Educação Profissional, da cidade de Rio Negro, no Paraná. A abordagem metodológica foi a qualitativa de natureza interpretativa, com observação participante. A coleta de dados se deu por meio de fotos e vídeos das atividades, observação das próprias atividades realizadas pelos alunos, arguições orais, relatórios e anotações em diário de campo. As atividades desenvolvidas nesta pesquisa foram organizadas em quinze (15) momentos, nos quais se buscou discutir e contextualizar as relações sociais da Ciência e da Tecnologia por meio do estudo de Soluções químicas, de forma interdisciplinar. Os principais resultados evidenciaram que o enfoque CTS no ensino de Soluções, contribuiu para a apropriação dos conceitos químicos, pelos alunos, sendo possível transpor questões que os envolvem dia a dia. No decorrer das aulas os alunos se mostraram mais críticos e reflexivos acerca das implicações sociais em relação às questões científicas e tecnológicas. Outro resultado obtido neste estudo consistiu na elaboração de um guia didático, que poderá ser utilizado como sugestão metodológica pelos professores de Química do Ensino Médio. / This study is the questioning about the possibilities of teaching in the classroom, the chemical content of solutions, related to the daily life of students, to provide the Scientific and Technological Literacy (ACT) by focusing Science-Technology-Society (CTS). The overall goal of this research is to develop and analyze the chemical content of education solutions relating to the daily lives of students by focusing CTS contributing to the Scientific and Technological Literacy (ACT). The study was conducted with 55 students from 2nd grade of high school, the course of an Agricultural Technician in State Center for Professional Education, the city of Rio Negro, Parana. The methodological approach was qualitative interpretative, with participant observation. Data collection occurred through photos and videos of activities, observation of activities performed by the students themselves, Pleas oral reports and notes in a field journal. The activities developed in this research were organized into fifteen (15) times in which it was sought to discuss and contextualize the social relations of science and technology through the study of chemical solutions, in an interdisciplinary way. The main results showed that the CTS approach in teaching Solutions, contributed to the appropriation of chemical concepts, students, and can transpose issues that involve day to day. During the classes students were more critical and reflective about the social implications in relation to science and technology issues. Another result obtained in this study consisted of developing a teaching guide that can be used as a methodological suggestion by teachers of high school chemistry.

Acompanha: Manual de orientações: o filme como recurso didático nas aulas de ecologia / Esta dissertação apresenta sugestões metodológicas de ensino utilizando filmes de animação, documentários e educativos como recurso pedagógico para o processo de ensinoaprendizagem nas aulas de Ciências, com o tema de Ecologia. Para a realização desta pesquisa, inicialmente foram realizados estudos bibliográficos, destacando-se a Teoria Histórico-Cultural, a Interdisciplinaridade, a Alfabetização Científica, as Diretrizes Curriculares para o Ensino de Ciências na Educação Básica do Estado do Paraná e o Uso do Filme como Recurso Didático. Por meio dessa fundamentação teórica, norteou-se a organização da Sequência Didática para os acontecimentos de ensino. A presente pesquisa tem como objetivo verificar as contribuições do uso de filmes como recurso didático pedagógico nas aulas de Ciências no processo de ensino-aprendizagem, descrevendo uma Sequência Didática para auxiliar os docentes para o uso deste recurso. Quanto à coleta e análise de dados, a pesquisa foi qualitativa e os sujeitos envolvidos neste trabalho foram alunos do 9º ano do Ensino Fundamental matutino de um colégio da rede estadual de ensino, da região noroeste do Estado do Paraná. Os dados foram coletados a partir de Portfólios - registro contínuo dos alunos das atividades desenvolvidas durante as aulas - e pela observação do professor pesquisador por meio de um portfólio - registro dos diálogos na interação discursiva para cada Acontecimento de Ensino. Como produto final dessa pesquisa, foi elaborado um “Manual de Orientações: O filme como recurso didático nas aulas de Ecologia” que se constituiu uma referência que possibilita a utilização de filmes de animação, documentários e educativos, para o desenvolvimento do trabalho docente no processo de ensino-aprendizagem. / This dissertation presents methodological suggestions on teaching with the aid of documentaries, animation and educative films as a pedagogical resource for the educational process in Science classes, with the subject “Ecology”. To fulfill the research, bibliographical studies were performed at first, with highlights to the Historical-Cultural Theory, Interdisciplinarity, Scientific Education, the Curricular Directives for the Teaching of Science in Basic School in the State of Paraná, and the Use of Movies as Didactic Resources. By means of this theoretical ground, a Didactic Sequence was organized for the teaching events. This research aims at verifying the contributions of movies when used as a pedagogical didactic resource in Science classes in the teaching process, describing a Didactic Sequence to assist the teachers for the use of this resource. Concerning the collection and analysis of data, the research was qualitative and the individuals involved were students from the 9th year of a matutinal Elementary School from a public institution in the northwest region of Paraná. The data were collected from portfolios – continuous records of the students on the activities developed during the classes – and by watching the teacher researcher through a portfolio – record of the dialogues in the discursive interaction for each Teaching Event. The research resulted in the elaboration of a “Manual of orientations: The film as a didactic resource in the Ecology classes” which became a reference that enables the use of documentaries, animation and educative movies for the development of teaching in the educational process.

In this research, I investigated the extent to which language versions (English, French and Arabic) of the same science test were comparable in terms of item difficulty and demands. I used PISA science 2006 data from three countries (respectively, UK, France and Jordan). I argued that language was an intrinsic part of the scientific literacy construct, be it intended or not by the examiner. The tight relationship between the language element and the scientific knowledge makes the language variable inextricable from the construct. This argument has considerable implications on methodologies used to address this question. I also argued that none of the available statistical or qualitative techniques were capable of teasing out the language variable and answering the research question. In this thesis, I adopted a critical evaluation and empirical methods, using literature from various fields (cognitive linguistics, psychology, measurement and science education) to analyse the test development and design procedures. In addition, I illustrated my claims with evidence from the technical reports and examples of released items. I adopted the same class of models employed in PISA, the Rasch model, as well as differential item functioning (DIF) techniques to address my question empirically. General tests of fit suggested an overall good fit of the data to the model with eleven items out of 103 showing strong evidence of misfit. Various violations to the requirements of the Rasch model were highlighted. The DIF analysis indicated that 22% of the items showed bias in the selected countries, but bias balanced out at test level. Limitations of the DIF analysis to identify the source of bias were discussed. Qualitative approaches to investigating question demands were examined and issues with their usefulness in international settings were discussed. A way forward incorporating cognitive load theory and computational linguistics is proposed.

No description available.