Ilka Parchmann

The Model of Educational Reconstruction A Framework for improving teaching and learning science

To improve instructional practices – in schools, universities and in out of school settings has been a major concern of science education research and development. The intensive international debate on scientific literacy in the 1990s and the series of international monitoring studies like TIMSS and PISA in the 1990s and in the 2000s have fuelled this debate substantially. Various strands of science education research contribute to the stock of knowledge on more efficient means of teaching and learning science. The Model of Educational Reconstruction (MER) presented in this chapter provides a conception of science education research that is relevant for improving instructional practice and teacher professional development programs. The model is based on European Didaktik and Bildung (formation) traditions – with a particular emphasis on the German tradition. A key concern of the model is that science subject matter issues as well as student learning needs and capabilities have to be given equal attention in attempts to improve the quality of teaching and learning

Profiling interest of students in science: Learning in school and beyond

Background: Interest is assumed to be relevant for students’ learning processes. Many studies have investigated students’ interest in science; most of them however have not offered differentiated insights into the structure and elements of this interest. Purpose: The aim of this study is to obtain a precise image of secondary school students’ interest for school and out-of-school learning opportunities, both formal and informal. The study is part of a larger project on measuring the students’ Individual Concept about the Natural Sciences (ICoN), including self-efficacy, beliefs and achievements next to interest variables. Sample: Next to regular school students, a specific cohort will be analyzed as well: participants of science competitions who are regarded as having high interest, and perhaps different interest profiles than regular students. In the study described here, participants of the International Junior Science Olympiad (N = 133) and regular students from secondary schools (N = 305), age cohorts 10 to 17 years, participated. Design and methods: We adapted Holland’s well-established RIASEC-framework to analyze if and how it can also be used to assess students’ interest within science and in-school and out-of-school (leisure-time and enrichment) activities. The resulting questionnaire was piloted according to quality criteria and applied to analyze profiles of different groups (boys – girls, contest participants – non-participants). Results: The RIASEC-adaption to investigate profiles within science works apparently well for school and leisure-time activities. Concerning the interest in fostering measures, different emphases seem to appear. More research in this field needs to be done to adjust measures better to students’ interests and other pre-conditions in the future. Contrasting different groups like gender and participation in a junior science contest uncovered specific interest profiles. Conclusions: The instrument seems to offer a promising approach to identify different interest profiles for different environments and groups of students. Based on the results, further studies will be carried out to form a solid foundation for the design of enrichment measures.

Fostering today what is needed tomorrow: Investigating students’ interest in science

ABSTRACT This paper investigates the structure of German sixth‐grade students’ interest in science (N = 474; age 11–12 years) by considering different subject‐related contexts (biology, chemistry, and physics) and different activities. Confirmatory factor analysis models were designed to validate the hypothetical structure of interest, connecting the whole spectrum of early school science with Hollands RIASEC model, and revealed that students’ interest in science is best described by a cross‐classified model with latent context and activity factors. Students were most interested in investigative and hands‐on activities in all contexts. Despite the young age group, there were significant gender differences with regard to interest in contexts and interest in activities. For example, girls were more interested in artistic and realistic activities among most contexts and generally in the biological context. Surprisingly, boys were more interested in social physics activities than girls. This paper discusses implications for future research, for school science curricula as well as for how to engage students in science with particular emphasis on gender differences.

Analysing task design and students’ responses to context-based problems through different analytical frameworks

Background: Context-based learning approaches are used to enhance students’ interest in, and knowledge about, science. According to different empirical studies, students’ interest is improved by applying these more non-conventional approaches, while effects on learning outcomes are less coherent. Hence, further insights are needed into the structure of context-based problems in comparison to traditional problems, and into students’ problem-solving strategies. Therefore, a suitable framework is necessary, both for the analysis of tasks and strategies. Purpose: The aim of this paper is to explore traditional and context-based tasks as well as students’ responses to exemplary tasks to identify a suitable framework for future design and analyses of context-based problems. The paper discusses different established frameworks and applies the Higher-Order Cognitive Skills/Lower-Order Cognitive Skills (HOCS/LOCS) taxonomy and the Model of Hierarchical Complexity in Chemistry (MHC-C) to analyse traditional tasks and students’ responses. Sample: Upper secondary students (n=236) at the Natural Science Programme, i.e. possible future scientists, are investigated to explore learning outcomes when they solve chemistry tasks, both more conventional as well as context-based chemistry problems. Design and methods: A typical chemistry examination test has been analysed, first the test items in themselves (n=36), and thereafter 236 students’ responses to one representative context-based problem. Content analysis using HOCS/LOCS and MHC-C frameworks has been applied to analyse both quantitative and qualitative data, allowing us to describe different problem-solving strategies. Results: The empirical results show that both frameworks are suitable to identify students’ strategies, mainly focusing on recall of memorized facts when solving chemistry test items. Almost all test items were also assessing lower order thinking. The combination of frameworks with the chemistry syllabus has been found successful to analyse both the test items as well as students’ responses in a systematic way. The framework can therefore be applied in the design of new tasks, the analysis and assessment of students’ responses, and as a tool for teachers to scaffold students in their problem-solving process. Conclusions: This paper gives implications for practice and for future research to both develop new context-based problems in a structured way, as well as providing analytical tools for investigating students’ higher order thinking in their responses to these tasks.

Interest in science: a RIASEC-based analysis of students’ interests

ABSTRACT Considering the reported lack of interest in the STEM-domain and the consequential difficulties in recruiting talented and interested young academics, the development of effective enrichment measures is indispensable. This requires a precise picture of students’ interests. The paper presents an approach to characterize interest profiles in explicitly science-related activities. Adapting Hollands RIASEC-model, an instrument was developed and tested which allows the description of interest in activities along Hollands dimensions (and a seventh dimension networking) within the confined science domain. The findings of a study with N = 247 students (age cohorts 12–19 years) uncovered interest differences for the environments school, enrichment, and (prospective) vocation. The mutual importance of the performed activity and the environment the activity is performed in is confirmed by a cross-classified model. Contrasting different subgroups revealed multiple results, e.g., girls showed more interest in artistic and social activities within the science domain. High achieving students showed more interest in science-related activities in all dimensions. In conclusion, using our adapted model, students’ interest structure can be described in a differentiated manner. This could lay the foundation for further analyses of students’ interest profiles and thereby contribute to future development of effective and congruent enrichment measures, thus enhancing interest in science.

Attempting to predict success in the qualifying round of the International Chemistry Olympiad

The aim of this study was trying to predict success in the qualifying round for the International Chemistry Olympiad (IChO) on the basis of the expectancy-value model of achievement motivation by Eccles et al. The investigation with 52 participants, including 14 females, was conducted during the third of four qualifying rounds of the IChO in Germany. The subjects filled in a questionnaire, took an intelligence test, and participated in two theoretical chemistry exams. Male and female Olympians showed large differences in parental support, motivation, and emotion as well as test performance. Ultimately, only one female participant qualified for the fourth round of the IChO. The model of Eccles et al. was well suited for predicting test performance in the competition. The strongest predictor was found to be the participation in a previous IChO. The implications for reducing gender differences and promoting scientifically talented students are discussed.

Context characteristics and their effects on students’ situational interest in chemistry

ABSTRACT Many studies in science education acknowledge the positive effects of context-based learning on students’ interest and attitudes. However, little is known about the design criteria of contextual situations generating these effects and how facets of students’ situational interest are affected while learning in a contextualised setting. This paper ties in with this initial situation and reports results of two projects analysing the influence of context characteristics on students’ situational interest, referring to contexts as task parameters in the first project and as learning activities in the second. In the first project, everyday related and unique contexts are compared, and the effects of different contextual topics on student learning are investigated. Particularly, regarding the feeling- and value-related valence of situational interest, the results of different studies will be compared and interpreted. The second project investigated structures of interest related to activities along an adapted version of the ‘RIASEC’-model for different content areas and age groups. The chosen contents were embedded in personal as well as societal and professional context settings. Finally, we summarise the relevance of the different models, results and instruments to better understand different notions of interest and outline implications for further studies about teaching that improves student learning.

Exploring Teachers’ Concerns About Bringing Responsible Research and Innovation to European Science Classrooms

ABSTRACT The European Union pushes science education to orient toward the concept of Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI; i.e., socially and ethically sensitive and inclusive processes of science and technology). Schools should further understanding on how science interacts with society and increase students’ engagement in science. This exploratory study analysed concerns of 67 active, forward-looking teachers from 10 European countries using a questionnaire based on the concerns-based adoption model (C-BAM) and open-ended questions regarding the adoption of RRI into teaching. In the context of an international professional development programme on RRI, a pre/post comparison was also carried out for 29 of the teachers. The results showed that the forerunner teachers were willing to find information and collaborate on RRI teaching and believed that RRI can engage students and be a worthwhile part of the curriculum. Yet the respondents voiced personal concerns about their ability to teach RRI, and only a few concerns were resolved during the professional development period. Teachers need extended support and networking to contextualise RRI into their science lessons. On the basis of the results, we discuss the possibilities of teaching RRI implicitly rather than explicitly in order to foster students’ own reasoning about RRI-related values. Our results also demonstrate that the customary questionnaire used with C-BAM gives a consistent picture of teachers’ concerns but does not differentiate teachers enough in order to formulate a statistically sound clustering of concern profiles. We argue that with proper adjustments the questionnaire can provide more diverse and informative profiling of teachers’ concerns.

Using model-based scaffolds to support students solving context-based chemistry problems

ABSTRACT Context-based learning aims to make learning more meaningful by raising meaningful problems. However, these types of problems often require reflection and thinking processes that are more complex and thus more difficult for students, putting high demands on students’ problem-solving capabilities. In this paper, students’ approaches when solving context-based chemistry problems and effects of systematic scaffolds are analysed based on the Model of Hierarchical Complexity. Most answers were initially assigned to the lowest level of the model; higher levels were reached without scaffolds only by few students and by most students with scaffolds. The results are discussed with regard to practical implications in terms of how teachers could make use of context-based tasks and aligned scaffolds to help students in this activity.

The effectiveness of a project day to introduce sixth grade students to science competitions

Abstract Background: Science Olympiads and science fairs are effective instruments to foster interested and talented students. However, at most schools competitions are not systematically integrated into the school mission statement so that students are unaware of these opportunities. Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of a newly designed competition day in terms of willingness to participate in a science competition and to learn more about students’ reasons for a prospective participation. Programme description: A project day (called ‘competition day’) for students in sixth grade was designed to encourage and motivate more students to participate in science competitions. The theoretical foundations for the design are self-determination theory and an adapted version of Holland’s RIASEC-model. Sample: The sample consisted of 474 German sixth grade students from six secondary schools. Design and methods: A pre-post-follow up-study was conducted with two intervention groups; both groups participated in the competition day and either entered a fictive competition or worked on the same tasks in school lessons. One control group not participating in the competition day was also investigated. Results: The results provide information regarding students’ interests, as well as reasons for and against participating in competitions. Furthermore, the effectiveness of the competition day is shown. Conclusions: The competition day is an effective way to introduce students to competitions and raise their willingness to participate in science contests. Combining the competition day with science competitions showed even better results. This supports the call for continuous fostering strategies.