Mark Winterbottom

Pedagogical strategies for using the interactive whiteboard to foster learner participation in school science

This study aimed to extend the currently limited understanding of how pedagogy is developing in response to the influx of interactive whiteboards (IWBs) in schools in the UK and some other countries. A case study approach was employed to investigate how experienced classroom practitioners are beginning to harness the functionality of this technology to support learning in science. The methods included focus group interviews with four secondary science departments, plus lesson observations and interviews with two teachers and their pupils. We analysed the data from a sociocultural perspective on learning, focusing on the strategies that teachers used to exploit the dynamic, manipulable objects of joint reference and annotative tools afforded by the technology to foster the cognitive, social and physical participation of learners in whole‐class activity. The case study teachers demonstrated contrasting approaches to designing and supporting activity in which pupils shared, evaluated and developed ideas using the IWB. Pupil manipulation of objects on the IWB was deemed desirable but—along with pedagogical interactivity—was constrained by systemic school and subject cultures, curricular and assessment frameworks. Observed and potential opportunities for active cognitive and social participation are outlined.

Pedagogical approaches for technology-integrated science teaching☆

The two separate projects described have examined how teachers exploit computer-based technologies in supporting learning of science at secondary level. This paper examines how pedagogical approaches associated with these technological tools are adapted to both the cognitive and structuring resources available in the classroom setting. Four teachers participated in the first study, undertaken as part of the InterActive Education project in Bristol; all of them used multimedia simulations in their lessons. The second study presented was part of the wider SET-IT project in Cambridge; 11 teachers in eight schools were observed using multimedia simulations, data logging tools and interactive whiteboards. Teachers were interviewed in all cases to elicit their pedagogical thinking about their classroom use of ICT. The findings suggest that teachers are moving away from only using ‘real’ experiments in their practice. They are exploring the use of technologies to encourage students to engage in “What If” explorations where the outcomes of ‘virtual’ experiments can be immediately accessed, for example through using a simulation. However, this type of activity can serve just as a mechanism for revealing – and indeed reinforcing – students’ informal conceptions if cognitive conflict is not generated or remains unresolved. The teachers in our studies used simulations, data logging, projected animations and other dynamic digital resources as tools to encourage and support prediction and to demonstrate scientific concepts and physical processes – thereby ‘bridging the gap’ between scientific and informal knowledge. They also integrated technology carefully with other practical activities so as to support stepwise knowledge building, consolidation and application. Research of this kind has design implications for both curriculum-related activities and emerging computer-based learning technologies, in terms of helping us to understand how teachers capitalise upon the technology available in supporting students to construct links between scientific theory and empirical evidence.

Essentials of Ecology (2nd Edition)

Colin R Townsend, Michael Begon and John L Harper. 2003. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing. 530 pp, paperback. £29.99 ISBN 1-40510-328-0 Reviewed by Chris Gay Scientific Method in Practice Hugh G Gauch Jr. 2003. Cambridge, UK: CUP. 435pp. £29.95 (paperback); £80.00 (hardback). ISBN: 0-521-01708-4 Reviewed by Dr Richard Sherburn Key Issues in Bioethics: a guide for teachers Ralph Levinson and Michael J Reiss (Ed). 2003. London: Routledge Falmer, 182pp. £19.99. ISBN: 0-415-27068-5 Reviewed by Dr Anita Shaw Revise for GCSE science: Foundation Edexcel modular Revise for GCSE science: Higher Edexcel modular Graham Booth, Bob McDuell, John Parker. 2002. Oxford: Heinemann Educational Publishers. 156pp. £6.25. ISBN: 0-435-57890-1 (foundation); 0-435-57891-X (higher). Reviewed by Dr Mark Winterbottom Nerve and Muscle (3rd Ed) R D Keynes and D J Aidley. 2003. Cambridge: CUP. £15.95 Paperback. ISBN: 0-5218-058-48 Reviewed by Steve Hall Green Plants: the inside story C J Clegg, 2003, London: John Murray (Publishers) Ltd. 96pp. £12.99. ISBN: 0-71957-553-2 Reviewed by Pam Hillier

The role of emotion in teaching: are there differences between male and female newly qualified teachers’ approaches to teaching?

Emotions play a crucial role in communication and engagement between people. This paper focuses on the extent to which new teachers consider and value the emotional component of teaching for the engagement and motivation of their students and themselves. Moreover, drawing on the literature on gender and emotion, which consistently cites females of all ages as having a greater capacity to empathise, we looked to see if female teachers are better equipped at engaging their students and whether there are differences in the emotional teaching styles of male and female newly qualified teachers. Both quantitative and qualitative approaches were employed. Analysis of questionnaires revealed significant gender difference in approaches to teaching and perceptions of it, and led us to pursue this issue further by interviewing a selection of the teachers. Teachers’ comments reflected differences between men and women in the ways they visualise the role of emotion in teaching. When faced with challenges and adversities in the classroom, such as disruptive and disengaged students, they employ different strategies to combat them, and typically, female teachers would go to greater lengths, often employing emotion tactics to re‐engage students. The research highlights the importance of focusing on emotional engagement in teaching, the consequences for teacher retention and implications for teacher training.

Peer-Tutoring: What's in It for the Tutor?.

Drawing on role theory and socio‐constructivist ideas about learning, this study explores how peer‐tutoring can support tutors’ learning. The sample comprised ten 16–17‐year‐old biology tutors, working with twenty‐one 14–15‐year‐old students from a science class over eight weeks. Data were collected through an online wiki, tutor interviews, paired tutor discussions and video recordings. Tutors’ perceptions of their role motivated them to learn the material, and their learning was supported by discussion and explanation, revisiting fundamentals, making links between conceptual areas, testing and clarifying their understanding, and reorganising and building ideas, rehearsing them, and working through them repeatedly, to secure their understanding. When tutors employed long answer questions, there was evidence of reflection on their learning and links made between conceptual areas. When preparing to tutor, tutors could focus on key points and engage with basic ideas from alternative perspectives. Mental rehearsal of peer‐tutoring episodes helped them appreciate weaknesses in their own subject knowledge.

Developing a user guide to integrating new technologies in science teaching and learning: teachers’ and pupils’ perceptions of their affordances

This paper reports outcomes of a project in which five teachers developed a web‐based user guide to integrating new technologies in secondary science teaching. The guide aimed to support the initial education of trainee teachers, and the professional development of mentors, in working with, and understanding the affordances of, new technologies. In developing the guide, each teacher researched, trialled in their lessons, and wrote about, a different technology, namely wikis, digital video, podcasts, personal digital assistants, and games consoles. By collecting data alongside this process, this paper examines teachers’ and pupils’ perceptions of the affordances of such technologies in the science classroom. The authors undertook individual interviews with teachers and focus group interviews with students. Pupils’ and teachers’ perceptions clustered around four main themes: construction and social construction of learning, differentiation, assessment, and motivation and engagement.

Examining the association between empathising, systemising, degree subject and gender

Systemising is the drive to analyse or construct systems, and can be assessed by a systemising quotient (SQ). Empathising is the drive to identify mental states and respond with an appropriate emotion, and can be assessed by an empathising quotient (EQ). Previous evidence suggests that: (1) males are more drawn to systemise than females, and females are more drawn to empathise than males; and (2) males are more likely to work in science and engineering, or to study science subjects at university. This study found: (1) males score more highly on the SQ, and females score more highly on the EQ; (2) controlling for age and gender, there is an association between degree subject and SQ and EQ scores, with “scientists” scoring higher on the SQ and “artists” scoring more highly on the EQ; and (3) individuals’ scores on EQ and SQ were better predictors of degree subject than gender.

Formative Conceptions of Assessment: Trainee Teachers' Thinking about Assessment Issues in English Secondary Schools.

This paper explores the developing thinking about assessment of graduate trainees preparing for secondary teaching in England. For some years teachers in English schools have worked in a context where the outcomes of formal testing have been used to judge school and teacher performance as well as student achievement. Research evidence that formative modes of assessment contribute more to student learning has in recent years led to strong recommendations that most classroom assessment should be ‘Assessment for Learning’ (AfL). In reality the new orthodoxy of AfL is being championed in a context where high‐stakes testing retains its perceived role in ensuring ‘accountability’. Interviews with a sample of trainee teachers at an early stage of preparation for teaching suggest that their preconceptions about the nature and purpose of assessment, and their interpretations of classroom observations on school placement, offer a confused and complex basis for adopting recommended assessment practices in their own teaching.

Understanding differences in trainee teachers' values and practice in relation to assessment

This study uses cluster analysis to examine groupings of trainee teachers against dimensions underpinning their values and practice in relation to assessment. Our sample comprised 220 trainees, studying for a Postgraduate Certificate in Education, an initial teacher training and education course, at the University of Cambridge, UK. The survey instrument derives from D. Pedder and M. James, and aimed to discover how trainee teachers value and implement different classroom assessment practices in their teaching. Cluster analysis of factor scores from varimax rotated principal components analysis revealed four clusters of trainees in relation to their practice responses, and two clusters in relation to values responses. Similarities and differences between clusters are discussed, as are similarities and differences with corresponding solutions for qualified teachers. Membership of clusters was found to be associated with membership of particular subject disciplines. The implications for initial teacher education and training are discussed.

Experimental design for the life sciences (3rd edn)

I reviewed the first edition of this book, and I thought it was brilliant. Has the third edition changed? Yes – it’s even more brilliant! The first two chapters lay out the basics required to understand the need for design. The second chapter in particular provides a general model for designing a research study, highlighting the importance of a research question, a hypothesis and prediction(s), and considering the strengths and weaknesses of a manipulative or correlational study. The ideas of random variation and confounding factors are introduced here, but built upon and considered again in chapter 3, when the reader is introduced to a better framework to make sense of them. In chapter 3, there is also an extended section on power analysis; rather than talking about this in an abstract way, the authors provide almost a ‘worked example’ which both makes the process clear and provides the reader with a very good understanding of power and effect size. The utility of chapters 4 and 5 cannot be underestimated; they are detailed, clear and pragmatic. It is these chapters which will sit open on the desk when particular experiments are discussed. Chapter 4 provides a number of model designs, engaging with the complexity of the idea of ‘control’, and introducing a number of useful concepts such as blocking and randomisation. Chapter 5 pushes students to think hard about the process of actually collecting their data, considering the ideas of accuracy and precision effectively, and identifying problems which could affect the validity and reliability of their data. The movement of a number of topics to chapter 6 is sensible, and provides extension material for the more advanced student. Separating them off into chapter 6 also ensures the storyline in the rest of the book is clear and straightforward. Using examples to illustrate their ideas is a real strength of the book, and there are a number of textual devices to draw attention to ‘key definitions’ and ‘take-home messages’. There are also questions to help students track their understanding, as well as resources available on an accompanying website. The authors deliberately avoid statistics, with the stated aim of encouraging clear thinking in experimental design. This book achieves that aim, providing a practical, articulate, comprehensive handbook, which is accessible to everyone (from undergraduate to university lecturer). It makes sense reading it from front to back, and it makes sense as a reference book to ‘dip into’. I wish it had been written when I did my own PhD. Buy it today!