Kathrin Otrel-Cass

Exploring the value of ‘horizontal’ learning in early years science classrooms

In contrast to a focus on vertical learning experiences where the emphasis is on progression up a scale of complexity, this article explores the value of horizontal learning experiences. These aim to provide learners with a variety of opportunities and spaces to participate, thereby expanding the entry points for them into school science. The process of horizontal learning is illustrated using data generated within a new-entrant (children aged five) classroom. The findings show that young children can engage with and develop proficiency with sophisticated science ideas when teachers provide a variety of multimodal learning opportunities that expand on their existing and developing ideas and experiences. It is argued that the provision of horizontal learning experiences is worthy of consideration in science education where student interest in science is known to decline over the school years.

Cultural, Social, and Political Perspectives in Science Education

This book presents a collection of critical thinking that concern cultural, social and political issues for science education in the Nordic countries. The chapter authors describe specific scenario ...

Emotions, Aesthetics and Wellbeing in Science Education: Theoretical Foundations

This internationally edited collection on emotions, aesthetics, and wellbeing emerged following an exploratory research workshop held in Luxembourg associated with the journal Cultural Studies of Science Education (CSSE). The workshop was entitled ‘Innovation and collaboration in cultural studies of science education: Towards an international research agenda.’ Authors were invited to articulate the theoretical and philosophical underpinnings of their research, offering empirical elaborations to illustrate applications of these conceptual and methodological foundations. An outcome of this international collaboration is the rich and diverse range of perspectives represented in this collection. This book will serve as a useful reference for those seeking to study emotions, aesthetics and wellbeing, and others who wish to develop deeper engagement with theoretical and philosophical traditions informing such research. Possibilities for future research are elaborated within the collection generating scope for further collaborative and international studies informed by perspectives represented in the collection. In the present chapter, we outline the origin of this edited collection against the background of existing research interest in the field of science education. We then provide an overview of each chapter in the collection.

Exploring Emotions, Aesthetics and Wellbeing in Science Education Research

This book addresses new research directions focusing on the emotional and aesthetic nature of teaching and learning science informing more general insights about wellbeing. It considers methodological traditions including those informed by philosophy, sociology, psychology and education and how they contribute to our understanding of science education. In this collection, the authors provide accounts of the underlying ontological, epistemological, methodological perspectives and theoretical assumptions that inform their work and that of others. Each chapter provides a perspective on the study of emotion, aesthetics or wellbeing, using empirical examples or a discussion of existing literature to unpack the theoretical and philosophical traditions inherent in those works. This volume offers a diverse range of approaches for anyone interested in researching emotions, aesthetics, or wellbeing. It is ideal for research students who are confronted with a cosmos of research perspectives, but also for established researchers in various disciplines with an interest in researching emotions, affect, aesthetics, or wellbeing.

The Standard Child

National testing is an institutionalised practice that has been the subject of much debate, including how it can be used by students, parents, and teachers as well as how outcomes affect decision making of principals, local authorities and policy makers. Testing of this kind has been reported to shape students’ motivation for learning.

Scaffolding Science Learning: Promoting Disciplinary Knowledge, Science Process Skills, and Epistemic Processes

Current, prominent approaches to science education, such as inquiry-based science education and problem-based learning, pose unique challenges for learners and educators. Although inquiries or problems may be designed for learners to approach independently, learners often lack the requisite understanding and skills. Such challenges are best met with scaffolded supports. Selecting appropriate scaffolds requires careful attention to the educational context, including instructional goals and learner needs. Consistent with prior literature and international trends, we identify three primary categories of learner needs and instructional goals relevant to science education—disciplinary or conceptual knowledge, science process knowledge or skills, and epistemic or reflective processes. In this section, we set the stage for embedding simulations as scaffolds by defining what is meant by scaffolding and identifying science education-specific learner needs within three overarching categories.

Computer Simulations on a Multidimensional Continuum: A Definition and Examples

Computer simulations exist on a multidimensional continuum with other educational technologies including static animations, serious games, and virtual worlds. The act of defining simulations is context dependent. In our context of science education, we define simulations as algorithmic, dynamic, often simplified models of real-world or hypothetical phenomenon that contain features that not only allow but promote the exploration of ideas, manipulation of parameters, observation of events, and testing of questions. The origin and components of this definition are described in further detail with emphasis on simulations’ algorithmic, dynamic, and simple features. Defined as models, simulations can be computational or conceptual in nature and may reflect hypothetical or real events; such distinctions are addressed. Examples of programs that demonstrate the features of simulations emphasized in our definition are introduced throughout the current chapter.

The Implementation of e-Networks to Support Inquiry Learning in Science

The successful implementation of an e-networked and information and communication technology (ICT)-supported science inquiry learning approach in secondary classrooms is dependent on a range of factors within the milieu of teacher, school and students. The teacher must have a clear understanding of the goals of the activity, the school leadership must provide effective technological infrastructure and sympathetic curriculum parameters, and the students need to be carefully scaffolded to the point of engaging with the inquiry process.

Theorizing Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge to Support Networked Inquiry Learning in Science: Looking Back and Moving Forward

The notion that teachers and students can incorporate digital technology to support science investigations and enhance learning experiences has received considerable interest from researchers, practitioners, and policymakers (Loveless & Ellis, 2001; New Zealand Ministry of Education, 2007; Somekh, 2007). For instance, the World Wide Web offers easy access to multimodal and up-to-date information and opportunities to interact with people and information, compared to facilitating face-to-face meetings or using standard texts (Cowie, Moreland, Jones, & Otrel-Cass, 2008; Slotta & Linn, 2000). Careful orchestration of digital technology in classrooms has the potential to enhance understanding of science ideas, promote learners’ independence, motivation and engagement in science, and support visualizing investigations and science learning. However, this requires that teachers and students have sandpit time, which means time to practice, and reflect for, the use of digital technology (Otrel-Cass, Cowie, & Khoo, 2011). It has been argued that if teachers want their students to learn about what it means to think and work as a scientist, then they should be involved in activities that are authentic and meaningful. This means that students should get opportunities to apply their growing scientific literacy, practice decision making (Roth, van Eijck, Reis, & Hsu, 2008), and learn about social practices and discourses that contribute to the way scientists generate knowledge (Kovalainen & Kumpulainen, 2009). This demand for authenticity is challenging the traditional school environment, because activities that involve students as self-directed learners, who investigate, interpret, and assess the trustworthiness of information from a variety of sources, for the purpose of answering their own questions, are not easily achieved (Duschl, 2008; Otrel-Cass et al., 2011). Although Information and Communication Technology (ICT) has been identified to provide a suite of tools that support such endeavors, digital technology alone will not change teacher practices in science classrooms. If digital technology is to contribute to transforming science learning, those involved with shaping teacher pedagogy, including researchers and teacher educators, need to explore how teachers can use the creative, collaborative, experimental, and evaluative possibilities ICT may have to offer (Somekh, 2007). It is also not enough to assume that twenty-first century students may be digitally literate in using technology for recreational purposes, such as social networking, and to then believe that they can, or want, to automatically transfer those skills into educational settings (Kennedy, Judd, Churchward, Gray, & Krause, 2008). Such oversimplifications of digital technology use and practices in science, or other subjects, may lead to less productive teaching and learning outcomes, and alienate both teachers and students from using digital technology in class.

Finding out about Fossils in an Early Years Classroom

In this chapter we draw on our classroom-based research on assessment for learning (AfL) to develop a “practical explanatory theory” (Nuthall, 2004) for student engagement in learning and how it might be supported. Our practical explanatory theory has three dimensions: disciplinary agency, material agency and student conceptual agency.