Maria Kallery

Astronomical Concepts and Events Awareness for Young Children

In the present study, we test the effectiveness of a teaching intervention aiming at acquainting children aged four to six years with the concept of the sphericity of the earth and the causes of the phenomenon of day and night. The treatment comprised three units of activities that were developed collaboratively by a researcher and early years teachers employing action research processes. In the present study, student knowledge is considered context specific. The selected approach to learning can be characterized as socially constructed. In the activities, children were presented with appropriate information along with conceptual tools, such as a globe and an instructional video. The activities were implemented in a sample of 104 children of the above age group. Children’s learning outcomes were assessed two weeks after the activities. Assessment tasks comprised children’s construction and handling of concrete 3‐D material models, children’s use of pictures and the globe, and children’s verbal explanations. Results revealed awareness of the concepts and events that the activities dealt with in high percentages of children and children’s storage of new knowledge in the long‐term memory and easy retrieval from it. The outcomes suggest that the approach adopted in the present study is fruitful and promising for helping very young children develop their understanding of fundamental astronomical concepts and events considered difficult for their age and for raising their motivation for astronomy. The approach used in the present study could also find application in other areas of science.

Typical Didactical Activities in the Greek Early-Years Science Classroom: Do They Promote Science Learning?.

This paper presents an epistemological analysis of typical didactical activities noted in early‐years science lessons, which was carried out in an attempt to diagnose the extent to which the teaching practices adopted by early‐years educators are successful in supporting young children’s understanding in science. The analysis of didactical activities used a framework that allowed us to discover whether they promoted desired connections between theoretical ideas, evidence and the material world. Theoretical ideas, evidence and the material world are entities internal to scientific inquiry and, in educational contexts, connections between them are considered essential in assisting the development of young children’s scientific thinking. The results indicated that in the early‐years science classroom scientific activity was mainly confined to the representational level. Intervention practices into the material world were limited, and were based on collected evidence. No interventions based on ideas were identified in the science lessons. Missing links between evidence and theory and between ideas and the material world suggest that the didactical activities analysed did not promote scientific understanding.

A Study on the Exploratory Use of Microscopic Models as Investigative Tools: The Case of Electrostatic Polarization

The present chapter focuses on the use of a submicroscopic model as an investigative tool by students in their study of electrostatic polarization. The aim of the research was to investigate whether students are able to use the model in order to predict electrical interactions between charged and uncharged objects, whether students gain awareness of the use of the model as an investigative tool, and which features of the model helped them to predict the phenomenon. Simulated models showed multiple representations of the structural and behavioral aspects of atoms. The teaching unit was used with one group of lower secondary students (ages 12–15) and one group of student teachers. In the teaching unit, students, initially, were asked to predict the phenomenon, and then they were introduced to the model, they were asked to predict again the same phenomenon, and afterward they observed the real experiment and participated in a metacognitive phase in order to reflect on the way they have worked with the model. Data were obtained from the analysis of written answers and related transcribed group interviews conducted during the course of instruction. Results showed that both university and lower secondary school students cited and identified different elements of the model that helped them to predict the electrostatic polarization phenomena under study. Both groups seem to have developed an understanding of aspects of the function of submicroscopic models as investigative tool.

The Iterative Evolution of a Teaching-Learning Sequence on the Thermal Conductivity of Materials

An innovative inquiry-oriented teaching-learning sequence (TLS) has been developed aiming at introducing secondary education students in Greece to inquiry as well as to a comprehensive treatment of thermal conductivity in materials. The focus of the paper is the iterative evolution of this TLS following cycles of iterative evolution from an initial TLS1 towards TLS2 and subsequently to TLS3. The social and educational reasons for selecting conductivity as a content and introducing inquiry as pedagogical strategy to a traditional context are discussed. Design principles, content, and selection of a strategy for gradual implementation of an integrative inquiry in the TLSs are outlined. Multiple sources of data from students and teachers were used for evidence-based modifications of the content and activities of these TLS. Their selective presentation is based on a reflective ex post facto approach focusing on the analysis of relevant data. Improved results following TLS2 and TLS3 in relation to TLS1 support the effectiveness of modifications. The product of this work is twofold: a well-documented TLS on thermal conductivity and a model for gradual introduction of innovative inquiry-oriented TLS in traditional contexts.

Learning science in small multi-age groups: the role of age composition

ABSTRACT The present study examines how the overall cognitive achievements in science of the younger children in a class where the students work in small multi-age groups are influenced by the number of older children in the groups. The context of the study was early-years education. The study has two parts: The first part involved classes attended by pre-primary children aged 4-6. The second part included one primary class attended by students aged 6-8 in addition to the pre-primary classes. Students were involved in inquiry-based science activities. Two sources of data were used: Lesson recordings and children’s assessments. The data from both sources were separately analyzed and the findings plotted. The resulting graphs indicate a linear relationship between the overall performance of the younger children in a class and the number of older ones participating in the groups in each class. It seems that the age composition of the groups can significantly affect the overall cognitive achievements of the younger children and preferentially determines the time within which this factor reaches its maximum value. The findings can be utilized in deciding the age composition of small groups in a class with the aim of facilitating the younger children’s learning in science.

The Coconstruction of Scientific and Nonscientific Belief Systems in Educators

This work sets out to indicate whether certain beliefs, be they religious convictions or pseudoscientific beliefs, are related in some way and contribute to poor scientific understanding. Educators were probed for their understanding of natural phenomena in the form of a questionnaire, and correlations were determined between specific questions. There were more interquestion significant correlations in the Greek sample but not in the Irish sample. We found a range of beliefs and abilities concerning answers on evolution, genetics, alternative medicine, and cosmology. However, the ability to answer scientific questions well was not linked significantly to holding religious beliefs.

A European Project on Materials Science: The Case of Thermal Conductivity Teaching—Learning Sequence

In the context of the European Project on Material Science we have developed a Teaching Learning Sequence (TLS), which is composed by units for teaching thermal conductivity in depth to students. The scientific content has been adapted to students’ conceptions taking into account research results. Units follow the Predict‐Observe‐Explain strategy and students conduct guided investigations using an enriched learning environment, which consists of extensive use of ICT based tools. Didactically transformed microscopic models depict thermal interactions in iconic, graphic and symbolic forms. Students working in groups, solve problems, explore models and are engaged in classroom discussion on the problem under study, constructing links between evidence and explanations. In this paper the structure of such innovative units is presented and results showing students’ development in scientific understanding are reported.