The purpose of this study was three-fold: to measure the ability of the Medical Explorers case-based curriculum to improve higher order thinking skills; to evaluate the impact of the Medical Explorers case-based curriculum to help students be self directed learners; and to investigate the impact of the Medical Explorers case-based curriculum to improve student attitudes of the life sciences. The target population for this study was secondary students enrolled in advanced life science programs. The resulting sample (n = 71) consisted of 36 students in the case-based experimental group and 35 students in the control group. Furthermore, this study employed an experimental, pretest-posttest control group research design. The treatment consisted of two instructional strategies: case-based learning and teacher-guided learning. Analysis of covariance indicated no treatment effect on critical thinking ability or Motivation and Self-regulation of Learning. However, the Medical Explorers case-based curriculum did show a treatment effect on student attitudes toward the life sciences. These results seem to indicate that case-based curriculum has a positive impact on students’ perspectives and attitudes about the study of life science as well as their interest in life science based careers. Such outcomes are also a good indicator that students enjoy and perceive the value to use of case studies in science, and because they see value in the work that they do they open up their minds to true learning and integration. Of additional interest was the observation that on average eleventh graders showed consistently stronger gains in critical thinking, motivation and self-regulation of learning strategies, and attitudes toward the life sciences as compared to twelfth grade students. In fact, twelfth grade students showed a pre to post loss on the Watson-Glaser and the MSLQ scores while eleventh grade students showed positive gains on each of these instruments. This decline in twelfth grade performance is an endemic indicator of underlying problems that exists in this transitional year of education and supports the need to strengthen the transitional connections between high schools and institutions of higher learning. / Department of Biology

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xiii, 139 p. : ill. (some col.) / The purpose of this study was to explore the effectiveness of training in decision-making on U.S. history content knowledge and on decision-making competence. All sophomores (<italic>n</italic> = 387) in one Pacific Northwest high school were randomly assigned for two trimesters to one of two groups: (a) U.S. history instruction integrated with decision training or (b) traditional U.S. history instruction. During the study, Experimental Group participants were trained to use a decision-making tool to sort, process, and analyze the facts, events, and concepts of history in the context of solving a historically relevant problem. By applying the decision-making tool to problems and decisions of the past, students utilized a schema for critical, analytical, and creative thinking about U.S. history content. Students also analyzed current problems and decisions they face. Dependent measures were (a) NAEP U.S. History questions, (b) Decision-Making Competence Index (DMC), (c) NAEP item analysis using knowledge forms and intellectual operations, and (d) Experimental Group follow-up interviews. Results indicated statistically significant differences between groups favoring the Experimental on both the NAEP U.S. History test and on the DMC. Experimental Group participants scored higher on NAEP items requiring concept or principle knowledge forms and on items requiring summarization or illustration. Follow-up interview scores positively correlated with DMC posttest scores. Results are discussed in terms of (a) the application of NAEP and DMC scores to curricular interventions and (b) item analysis and interviews in relation to the environmental and physical constraints of the current high school structure. / Committee in charge: Dr. Gerald Tindal, Chairperson; Dr. Keith Hollenbeck, Member; Dr. Paul Yovanoff, Member; Dr. Jean Stockard, Outside Member

Orientador: Maria Cristina Motta de Toledo / Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Instituto de Geociências / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-21T12:44:56Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Araujo_EliasProfetaRamosde_M.pdf: 6460301 bytes, checksum: 5d1fc49ea63dfc0fb058bd949191d285 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2012 / Resumo: Esta pesquisa teve como principal objetivo analisar o desenvolvimento de temas de Ciências da Terra em cursos de Ciências Biológicas que habilitam ao ensino de Ciências Naturais na educação básica, a fim de compreender a preparação desses acadêmicos para o ensino de Ciências da Terra, ao assumirem seus cargos de professores, além de propor ações que aprimorem essa formação. No Brasil, os cursos de Ciências Biológicas destinam-se a formar a) profissionais que exercerão atividades técnicas nas áreas biológicas e b) professores de Biologia ou Ciências Naturais. A atual preparação de professores de Ciências Naturais para o ensino fundamental de escolas da cidade de São Paulo, a partir de cursos de Ciências Biológicas de universidades do mesmo município, não se mostra apropriada em conteúdos de Ciências da Terra, conforme resultados desta pesquisa. Os currículos dos cursos de Ciências Biológicas analisados dedicam apenas 1% das suas cargas horárias à disciplina de Geologia, enquanto as provas de conhecimentos específicos, de recentes concursos de admissão de professores para a rede municipal de ensino da citada cidade, realizados pela Fundação Carlos Chagas, nos anos de 2009 e 2011, são compostas por pelo menos 10% de questões relacionadas às Ciências da Terra, além de abordarem também temas de Astronomia, que não são desenvolvidos nos cursos de Ciências Biológicas. Para identificar o conhecimento em Ciências da Terra dos acadêmicos de Ciências Biológicas, foram aplicadas provas com questões relacionadas ao eixo temático Terra e Universo, previsto nos Parâmetros Curriculares Nacionais, de Ciências Naturais para o terceiro e quarto ciclos do ensino fundamental, tendo sido essas questões elaboradas durante esta pesquisa e também selecionadas das citadas provas de admissão de professores para a rede de ensino da cidade de São Paulo. O desempenho insatisfatório obtido pelo grupo de universitários nessa prova, de 46,7%, indica conhecimento insuficiente em Ciências da Terra e sugere a revisão dos currículos dos cursos de Ciências Biológicas e dos métodos e planos de ensino das suas disciplinas de Geologia. A preparação ou seleção dos professores universitários de Geologia também merece destaque. Seus conhecimentos não foram avaliados, mas constatou-se que são formados em Geografia ou Biologia, cursos que não possuem, necessariamente, o interesse em preparar professores de Geologia, mas sim profissionais das suas áreas específicas / Abstract: This research aimed to analyze the development of themes of Earth Science in Biological Sciences courses that enable the teaching of Natural Sciences in basic education, in order to understand the academic preparation of these professionals in teaching Earth Sciences, when assuming their positions as teachers, and proposing actions that will improve their training, either. In Brazil, the Biological Sciences courses are intended to form: a) professionals who will be dealing with technical activities in biological areas, b) teachers of Biology and natural sciences. The current preparation of teachers in natural sciences for elementary schools in the city of São Paulo, considering courses of Biology from universities in the same town, considering its contents, is not suitable in terms of Earth Sciences, according to the results of this study. The syllabus of Biological Science analyzed dedicated only 1% of their contents to the Geology subjects, meanwhile, the evidence of expertise in recent selections for teacher's admission in public schools in this city, conducted by Carlos Chagas Foundation in 2009 and 2011 involved at least 10% of questions related to Earth Sciences, and also focused on Astronomy, which are not a part of Biological Science courses. In order to identify the applicants' knowledge in Earth Sciences, they were asked to answer questions about thematic issues related to the earth and the universe, set out in the "PCN's" - The National Curriculum Parameters of Natural Sciences for the third and fourth cycles of basic education, and these questions were elaborated while this research was being developed, being also selected from the previous mentioned test of selection of new teachers to the school employment system in the city of São Paulo. The poor performance obtained by the group of university students evaluated was 46.7%, indicating insufficient knowledge in Earth Sciences and suggesting a revision of the Biological Science syllabus and also in the teaching plans and methodologies of their subjects in Geology, indeed. The training and selection of university professors of Geology is also relevant. Their levels of expertise weren't evaluated, but it's a fact they have got degrees in Geography or Biology courses, in which there aren't any interest in preparing teachers of Geology, but professionals in their specific areas / Mestrado / Ensino e Historia de Ciencias da Terra / Mestre em Ensino e Historia de Ciencias da Terra

Ph.D. / Evolution of life as a scientific theory was introduced officially into the South African life sciences grade twelve curriculum in 2008. This presented an opportunity to investigate how teachers could incorporate teaching strategies, involving the use of narratives and concept cartoons, into their pedagogical content knowledge to encourage the use of higher-order thinking skills and deep learning about evolution, a new topic in the curriculum. Little research has been done on how narratives and concept cartoons contribute to the development of higher-order thinking skills in teachers and their ability to use these teaching strategies to effect a better conceptualization of evolution. A mixed methods research design was adopted to establish generalizations about the teachers’ higher-order thinking skills as well as to explore their individual worldviews about evolution as a scientific theory and their perceptions about the controversy between science and religion. The quantitative and main part of the study involved a (quasi)experimental format based on interventions focusing on workshop presentations using either narratives or concept cartoons. A pre-test and post-test format was used to measure the effect of the treatments. A rubric, based on the Piagetian levels of concept development, was designed to transform qualitative responses into quantitative data. The responses to five open-ended questions of a questionnaire were analyzed using the Wilcoxon Signed Rank test and the Mann-Whitney U test. The smaller and supportive phase of the study involved categorizing and then analyzing qualitative data, derived from different artifacts and responses to the questionnaire, in order to establish how the teachers’ worldviews influenced their perceptions of the evolution of life, the nature of science and religion. An embedded concurrent mixed methods design allowed for the simultaneous generation and collection of quantitative and qualitative data. The findings were integrated and mixed to give a clearer and more global picture not only of the teachers’ ability to use higher-order thinking skills but also to reflect their conceptual ecologies of evolution.

M.Ed. (Science Education) / South Africa is one of the global hotspots of both biological and ethnic diversity. Southern Africa is rich in angiosperm species, and the angiosperm species count is considered to be 21,817. The traditional medicinal systems of different cultural groups and their herbal, animal and mineral materia medica have ancient origins which may date back to Palaeolithic times. Indigenous knowledge (lK) and cultural practices in many areas of the country provide learners with a good "entry" into the scientific world. A true constructivist teacher will realise the importance of building new knowledge on learners' existing knowledge. This will show the learners how relevant science is to our daily lives. It might also open future career opportunities, and develop learners' entrepreneurial skills. This fact is acknowledged by the new curriculum (the National Curriculum Statement), and Life Sciences teachers are expected to infuse their teaching with indigenous knowledge. When these new policies were created, policy makers focused on the what of desired educational change, and unfortunately neglected the how (Rogan & Aldous, 2009). Teachers often have limited understanding of the curriculum changes. The textbooks used in class give little or even no proper information about indigenous knowledge. Whereas some textbooks still provide information on IK in the form of examples, hardly any attention is given to teaching strategies and practical work that can be done in the classroom. My study highlights the problem that many teachers simply ignore IK, due to their lack of Pedagogical Content Knowledge (PCK) in this regard, and the lack of guidance and support from the Department of Education. As many teachers were trained in the "old method" of teaching and not in the pedagogy prescribed by the National Curriculum Statement (NCS), many of them do not have specific knowledge about the indigenous knowledge that they need to impart to learners. Those who are fortunate enough to have sufficient knowledge of indigenous knowledge systems (IKS), often lack the pedagogy. Once again, we need to go back in history to understand why teachers find it so difficult to teach IK. In the apartheid era it was a taboo to mention traditional medicine in the classroom. Our traditional medicine was often replaced by Western medicine. Black South Africans were robbed of their identity. Under the Suppression of Witchcraft Act, indigenous belief systems were undermined and in most cases referred to as pagan (heathen) belief systems. As a result, indigenous belief systems were viewed as something that derails society. This study focuses on a number of issues related to the incorporation of indigenous knowledge in the classroom. One of the main concerns is teachers' pedagogical content knowledge (PCK). Two additional factors also make the introduction of indigenous knowledge difficult in the classroom: (a) the multicultural South African society (whose IK should be entertained?), and (b) the nature of science, and many teachers' perception that the introduction of IK would constitute pseudo-science. The question arises whether it is possible to introduce indigenous knowledge in a scientific way in the Life Sciences classroom. Is an IK focus compliant with the syntactical nature of Life Sciences, namely an emphasis on inquiry-based approaches? A second question arises: Are South African teachers able to teach IK in such a context? As mentioned above, many Life Sciences teachers find it difficult to follow heuristic approaches where learners engage with discovery learning making observations, formulating hypotheses, developing experimental designs, collecting and interpreting data, and making conclusions. Now, in addition to this challenge, teachers need to follow such a pedagogy to investigate indigenous knowledge claims. It is just so much easier for teachers to rely on "chalk and talk" approaches, as a study of Petersen (2010) reveals...

Formal curricula, official curriculum documents and recommended resources, are revised periodically and have the opportunity to reflect feminist scholarship available at the time of writing. This feminist project analyzes the treatment of women's history in British Columbia's Social Studies 8-10 Integrated Resource Package 1997, the Social Studies 11 Integrated Resouces Package 1997, and the History 12 Integrated Resource Package 1997, all of which are due to be implemented in September, 1999. Informed by feminist historiography and pedagogy, the above curricula are analyzed using the following thematic organizers: degree of representation; segregation versus integration; experience, diversity and voice; and the construction and deconstruction of gender knowledge. A sampling of recommended learning resources found in the above Integrated Resource Packages are also examined for their treatment of women's history. The outcome of the research suggests that while limited gains have been made in the degree to which women are addressed in the new curricula, the manner of representation largely reflects her-story approaches that have been considered problematic by most feminist historians since the mid-1970s. Recommendations for future revisions are also included. / Education, Faculty of / Graduate

During the past two decades, one of the positive developments in academia has been the emergence of a sizable literature pertaining to ecological education-the theory and practice of preparing children and adults alike for ecologically responsible citizenship. Gregory A. Smith, David W. Orr, and C. A. Bowers are three of the more prolific writers in the field. Smith critiques modern primary and secondary education and argues for, and paints a picture of, an alternative "green pedagogy" that seeks to inculcate in students strong community and ecological values. Orr focuses on the social and ethical problems associated with the environmental crisis and the changes that colleges and universities need to make in order to become propagators of, rather than impediments to, a widespread diffusion of ecological literacy. Bowers emphasizes the role that ecologically problematic modern cultural assumptions play in blinkering the ecological vision of most educational theorists and in preventing the flowering of an eco-justice pedagogy. Each writer seeks the transformation of both education and culture with a view toward realizing ecological sustainability, strong communities, social justice, and moral edification. They neglect or ignore some important subjects, including animal welfare ethics, politics, and corporate influence on governments.