Angela Fitzgerald

Through the viewfinder: Reflecting on the collection and analysis of classroom video data

The possibilities inherent in the collection and use of video footage point to an important innovation for classroom research. Unfortunately, researchers often experience uncertainty about incorporating video into their methodological approach as it can present a potential minefield of operational, technical, and ethical issues that require consideration and negotiation. Nevertheless, with the increased emphasis on the use of digital technologies, the timing is right to engage in more in-depth discussions about the role of video data in education research. In contributing to this discussion, this article unpacks several issues connected to the use of video technology as a tool for data collection and analysis. This article focuses on addressing some of the barriers faced by education researchers such as making sampling decisions, maintaining research authenticity, and grappling with ethical issues that arise. In terms of the advantages for researchers, this article highlights the suitability of video technology for classroom-based research because it provides a permanent and detailed record, which can be analyzed from multiple perspectives. These issues are explained through the experiences of an education researcher, who used video as the main data source for documenting and examining the practices of two effective primary science teachers in Perth, Western Australia.

Science in Primary Schools. Examining the Practices of Effective Primary Science Teachers

If the status and quality of science education in schools is to improve, efforts need to be made to better understand the classroom practices of effective science teachers. Teachers are key players in a re-imagining of science education. This book explores how two primary school teachers, identified as effective practitioners, approached science teaching and learning over a unit of work. In recording the teaching and learning experiences in their classrooms, the author highlights how the two teachers adopted different approaches, drawing on their particular beliefs and knowledge, to support student learning in science in ways that were appropriate to their contexts as well as reflected their different experiences, strengths and backgrounds. Through sharing their stories, this book illustrates, that due to the complex nature of teaching and learning, there is no one way of defining effectiveness. In documenting this research, it is hoped that other teachers and teacher educators will be inspired to think about primary school science education in innovative ways.

Embedding Assessment Within Primary School Science: A Case Study

The reluctance of primary school teachers to teach science in their classrooms is well documented with issues such as limited science content knowledge and low levels of confidence in teaching the subject matter cited as key deterrents. The barriers posed by these issues often result in primary school teachers implementing occasional science lessons that pique their students’ interest, but not extending these lessons to promote the development of strong conceptual understandings or monitoring what learning has occurred. However, this is not the case in all primary school classrooms. This chapter documents the approach used by one teacher, Lisa, to create a coherent set of science learning experiences to meet the learning needs of her students as well as piquing their interest. This case study focuses on her use of assessment. Through embedding assessment into her science teaching and learning approaches, Lisa was able to monitor the development of her students’ science ideas, use evidence gathered from her students to inform her own practice and engage her students in assessment as part of their learning experience rather than the much more common approach of treating assessment as an additional or separate process. As Lisa’s story unfolds over the chapter, the significant role that assessment can play in developing and strengthening science teaching and learning in primary classrooms is highlighted.

Tourist, Tour Guide, Traveller, Travel Agent? Reflections on Leading and Learning from International Professional Experiences

From tour guide to travel agent, tourist to traveller—what does conceptualizing who I am in these ways offer in terms of how I make sense of my experiences in leading and learning from the International Professional Experience program? To start with, it captures my imagination. At different times in the past two years, I can clearly envisage myself operating in each of these roles—as both border crosser and culture broker—and taking on the relevant identities to assist me in finding my way. So in using these four roles as a framework, this chapter explores who I am in the IPE program and what that has meant for my work in this space from these perspectives.

Learning and teaching primary science

Introduction: 1. Making sense of teaching and learning primary science Kathy Smith and Angela Fitzgerald Part I. Looking at Learners of Primary Science: 2. Breaking down the barriers to learning science Dayle Anderson and Azra Moeed 3. Engaging all learners in science Kimberly Wilson and Brian Lewthwaite 4. Making links between science and the learners world Amy Cutter-Mackenzie and Marianne Logan 5. Capturing the interest of the technologically-savvy science learner P. John Williams and Mike Forret Part II. Thinking Like a Teacher of Primary Science: 6. Grappling with teaching science as content, process and human endeavour Rena Heap 7. Tools for supporting the learning and teaching of science Karen Murcia 8. Learning and teaching science through assessment Bronwen Cowie 9. Integration and innovation in teaching science Wan Ng Part III. Putting Primary Science into Practice: 10. Living world: learning and teaching biology Prem Kurup 11. Material world: learning and teaching chemistry Gail Chittleborough and Peter Hubber 12. Planet Earth and beyond: learning and teaching Earth and space sciences Leah Moore 13. Physical world: learning and teaching physics John Kenny and Marj Colvill Conclusion: 14. Making science work in the primary classroom Dawn Garbett.

Reinvigorating Primary School Science Through School-Community Partnerships

Many primary school teachers, when supported by opportunities that assist them to reframe their thinking about the nature of science, appear to demonstrate a capacity to willingly use new perspectives to reconsider science learning and teaching. In particular the need for science to be explored as a human endeavour and the need to generate for students reason to seek understanding, to make sense of and communicate thinking about phenomena and experiences. To this end primary teachers value science learning situated within experiences that are personally meaningful and contextually relevant to their students, often producing opportunities to invite perspectives and achievements from sources outside the school to broaden science learning beyond the confines of the classroom. When established effectively such partnerships can potentially enable students to engage in and develop an understanding of science as a process of investigation and collaboration dependent upon the social construction of knowledge. Through an exploration of three case studies, we demonstrate situations where primary teachers and schools intentionally take steps to ensure their students have a sense of connectedness to their local community and environment by developing mutually beneficial learning relationships with both formal and informal science partners. By doing so these schools actively broaden the primary school science curriculum to include aspects of contemporary science with a particularly strong emphasis on social and emotional aspects of learning. The result is a wider range of learning outcomes than were ever intended or anticipated for students, teachers and the community in general. Finally, the chapter identifies the characteristics that make school-community partnerships educationally valuable for science learning and teaching.

Supporting Students to Talk About and Represent their Learning in Science

The third assertion drawn from this research was that effective primary science teachers provide opportunities for students to talk about and represent their science understandings in ways that support their science learning. This chapter will explore this statement in relation to the science teaching practices of Deanne and Lisa.

Providing Students with Concrete Experiences of Science

The second assertion drawn from this research was that effective primary science teachers provide students with concrete experiences of science to capture their interest in science and provide a context in which science understandings can be developed. This chapter will explore this statement in relation to the science teaching practices of Deanne and Lisa.

Methodological Approach and Design

The methodological approach selected for this study was designed to reveal the classroom practices of effective primary science teachers. The use of an interpretive approach was an attempt “to understand and interpret the world in terms of its actors” (Cohen, Manion, & Morrison, 2007, p. 181), or in this particular case, to understand and interpret the teaching and learning of primary science drawing on the perspectives of teachers and their students. Through this chapter, the choices that were made regarding the methodological approach for this study, the research design, and the selection of research participants are described, as well, the data sources that were used and how the data were analysed. Due to the complexities inherent with educational research, this chapter also discusses the ethical considerations that were addressed and interwoven into the design of the study.

Monitoring Students’ Learning in Science

The fourth assertion drawn from this research was that effective primary science teachers monitor and provide feedback on the development of their students’ science understandings based on their learning needs. This chapter will explore this statement in relation to the science teaching practices of Deanne and Lisa.