Malka Gorodetsky

Misconceptualization of the chemical equilibrium concept as revealed by different evaluation methods

Three evaluation methods were applied to examine students’ mastery of the ‘chemical equilibrium’ concept: (i) a school achievement test, (ii) a misconception test specifically designed to pinpoint possible misconceptions regarding eight central features (ideas) of the chemical equilibrium concept, and (iii) the free sorting of 18 concepts related to chemical equilibrium that served as a tool for cognitive structure mapping. An attempt was made to correlate the information derived from these methods. Students’ performance on the misconception test was poorer than on school tests. It was found that low achievements on the misconception test are reflected in the latent categories of the free sorting of the appropriate group. The reflection is judged by comparing the latent categories derived from the free sorting to theoretical groupings based on the relatedness of the 18 concepts to the eight features. The combination of the data from the evaluative methods can serve to provide teachers with useful informat...

Understanding of energy in biology and vitalistic conceptions

The concept of energy is considered difficult to teach and some of its possible misconceptions have been addressed in the literature. There are grounds for assuming that this concept is particularly problematic in the study of biology owing to the difficulty in grasping that principles which govern the non‐living world are capable of explaining the mystery of life. The present study addressed the possible connection between misconceptions regarding energy in biological systems and a vitalistic notion of biology. Specifically, 76 high school seniors and 28 biology teachers were assessed with regard to: their conception of biological phenomena (scientific vs. vitalistic); their understanding of the concept of energy in a biological context; and the correlation between the two conceptions. The results point to a strong correspondence between the ability to understand energy in biological phenomena and adherence to scientifically oriented conceptions of biology. They suggest that the conception of energy infl...

Synthesis and biological effects of aromatic analogs of abscisic acid

Abstract Thirty six different 3-methyl-5-aryl-2,4-pentadienoic acids and esters were synthesized using the Reformatsky and Wittig reactions. The different geometrical isomers were conveniently separated by the dry column technique. Assignment of configuration of the pentadienoic side chain was based on NMR and UV properties. The biological activities of the aromatic analogs of ABA were determined in four bioassays. Most of the analogs were less active than the natural hormone. Only 3-methyl-5- p -chlorophenyl Δ 2 - trans , Δ 4 - trans -pentadienoic acid exhibited high ABA-like activity in all four bioassays.

Back to Schooling: Challenging Implicit Routines and Change.

Engestrom and others have suggested that major barriers towards school change are rooted in the hidden, implicit aspects of daily school life that are taken for granted. These constitute the school’s taken‐for‐granted routines, which mold teachers’ affordances and constraints within the school, without their awareness. The present paper provides insight into the processes that afford the exposure of taken‐for‐granted school behavior and the emergence of alternative pedagogical context. It portrays the nature of a participative edge community that serves as a fertile ground for the initiation of such processes, and analyzes the change in the tools—boundary objects—that were instrumental in the emergence of teachers’ professional development. This process of schooling conveys the intertwining nature of school change and professional development as complementary processes that form an inseparable duality.

Curriculum Development in Science, Technology and Society (STS) as a Means of Teachers' Conceptual Change

ABSTRACT The approach to science education known as Science, Technology and Society (STS) has recently been widely adopted. An STS school‐based project, initiated by a pilot group of teachers and two science‐educational researchers, served as a case study for this paper. This collaborative group was responsible for the planning and implementation of an inservice course for science and technology teachers, that aimed to develop an STS rationale. Teachers conceptual change, the process of constructing their STS content and pedagogical knowledge, is explored in terms of our model of conceptual change. Finally, we suggest that STS should be viewed as a learning orientation rather than as a specific content or subject matter.

Contextual Pedagogy: Teachers' journey beyond interdisciplinarity

The paper describes a collaborative reflective inquiry of teachers and researchers that was aimed at bridging the gap between the school-internal and school external cultures. It suggests that the inquiry into current social problems has the potential to bridge between the social-political zeitgeist and the schools, through the exposure of possible different conceptions of knowledge and different approaches to the nature of learning. The paper addresses some milestones along this process that led to the development of a formal model of contextual pedagogy. This pedagogy claims that content, didactics and world views, are all molded into the learning situation and concurrently emerge from it. The unique nature of this pedagogy is described by the different understanding of concepts that are associated with the process of learning and knowledge construction such as: initiation (locus of control), orientation of the process, sources of legitimate knowledge, scope and boundaries of the inquiry issues, responsibility as well as ambiguity and uncertainty, as intrinsic to the process and the nature of the emerging knowledge.

Generating Connections and Learning in Biology

In this chapter we examine the impact of teaching strategies designed to promote conceptual understanding among prospective elementary school teachers enrolled in a senior level college biology course. Instructional strategies include hands-on experiments and demonstration tasks designed to challenge naive conceptions. Activities utilize everyday materials so that they can be readily adapted to elementary classrooms. There is relatively little lecture, with strong emphasis on small group collaboration and whole class discussions. Students are prompted through questioning and example to develop runnable mental models of the topics being studied. These are comparable to the situation models proposed by Kinstch and van Dijk [18, 19] and discussed in this book by Otero (Chap. 3) and Scardemalia (Chap. 4). Students use a computer-based tool, SemNet™, to make their thinking explicit and visible, to reflect upon their understandings, and to share their thinking with their peers. The chapter describes studies to measure changes in student learning habits, metacognitive processes, retention and retrieval, and learning. SemNet students exhibited significant increases in deep processing. The volume of information retained and retrieved about a topic (the digestive system) by SemNet students was nearly twice that of the Comparison Group. SemNet students acquired certain cognitive skills (such as identifying main ideas and tying ideas together) that carried over into their other courses, according to students’ self-reports. There is evidence for a low level of metacognition among SemNet students (that is, awareness about thinking processes is elicited with specific prompts but not generated spontaneously). Neither Group exhibited transfer skills.

Conceptual change and environmental cognition

Environmental cognition is defined in terms of conceptual development regarding the dimensions of complexity, dynamism, interaction and involvement in conjunction with socio‐environmental problems. The development of environmental cognition, as a result of a university course in environmental education (EE) with an emphasis on system analysis, was followed through reflection on the above‐mentioned dimensions in definitions provided by the students of ten major concepts in EE. It was found that the dimensions of complexity, dynamism and interaction developed significantly as a result of the course. It is felt that concept analysis is a useful method for formative evaluation, by providing information as to the direction of change in environmental cognition.

Participative Learning and Conceptual Change

Conceptual Change is a research tradition that relates to the learning of scientific concepts and theories that are anchored in the conception of learning as the acquisition of knowledge. This chapter attempts to illuminate another side of learning that of learning as a participatory process. The latter adheres to the learning process of a team of learners and illuminates the interactions that shape and drive the evolving dialogue and the process of knowledge construction. A conceptual framework for analysis of the process is offered. It is based on the analysis provided by Meyer and Woodruff (1997) that suggest three mechanisms involved in the process of consensus building; Mutual knowledge; Convergence; and Coherency, and on that suggested by Park (1999) that is using the concepts of representational, relational and reflective knowledge. On the basis of these a process related vocabulary is suggested, i.e. Interpretive learning, Relational learning, and Reflective learning.

Conceptions, Practice and Change

Abstract This article proposes a model of teachers’ conceptual change that is based on the interrelationship between conception and practice, and uses reflective processes. The model is based on a school project that aimed to change teachers’ conceptions regarding their role in the learning processes of their students. The project involved reflective learning groups that dealt with dialectical analysis of alternative preconceptions. A specific example of how science and math head teachers developed a ‘new’ concept of assessment is provided.