Mehmet Aydeniz

A National Survey of Middle and High School Science Teachers' Responses to Standardized Testing: Is Science Being Devalued in Schools?.

This study explored American high school and middle school science teachers’ attitudes toward the use of standardized testing for accountability purposes, their justification for the attitudes they hold and the impact of standardized testing on their instructional and assessment practices. A total of 161 science teachers participated in the study. Analyses were based on teachers’ responses to a questionnaire including nine-item likert-scale questions and two-item open-ended questions. The analyses revealed that science teachers have mixed reactions to the administration of standardized tests and its use for accountability purposes. The findings also reveal that standardized testing has a significant influence on science teachers’ instructional and assessment practices in ways that are counter to the learning goals promoted by science education reformists. Our discussion focuses on the implicit and explicit influences of the NCLB Act on science curriculum, teaching and assessment, and how the NCLB driven policies undermine the goals of science education reform.

Exploring Challenges of Assessing Pre-Service Science Teachers' Pedagogical Content Knowledge (PCK).

The purpose of this paper is to report on the challenges we faced in designing an instrument aimed at measuring pre-service science teachers’ topic-specific pedagogical content knowledge (PCK). After the instrument was conceptualised and developed, it was administered to 30 pre-service chemistry teachers. The findings suggest that the instrument can be used as a teaching tool to enhance pre-service science teachers’ topic-specific PCK along with some limitations. The discussion focuses on the implications of the aforementioned PCK assessment tool for enhancing pre-service science teachers’ topic-specific PCK and the challenges associated with measuring and enhancing pre-service science teachers’ PCK. Finally, our discussion focuses on the ways in which science-teacher educators can engage in transforming the concept of PCK and its use for research and professional development.

Computational thinking and impacts on K-12 science education

Jeannette Wings seminal computational thinking (CT) paper, published in 2006, set forth CT as not just a way of looking at computational problems, but as an alternative approach to solving everyday problems. We strongly support Wings assertion. Accordingly, we report the results of our meta-analysis of CT curricular implementations since 2006. Our principle interest is in CT framings and implementations for K-12 audiences in disciplines other than computer science, thus fulfilling the broad appeal and utility originally prescribed by Wing. We break CT down into its constituent characteristics, and split these characteristics into two principle groups: mechanistic (inextricably tied to and limited by computer science) and humanistic (separable from and adaptable beyond computer science). We use this conceptual bifurcation as a basis for selecting and analyzing implementations of CT for subsequent reporting. We summarize our CT meta-analytical results by distributional themes including grades, disciplinary foci, equity groups, and programming paradigms. In conclusion, we make recommendations for improving K-12 CT curricular implementations. Our hope is that utilization of CT characteristics and principles will become more commonplace in public education, be utilized more continuously through primary and secondary grades, and be inventively applied across a more inclusive range of academic disciplines.

Assessing quality of pre-service physics teachers’ written arguments

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to assess the quality of scientific arguments developed by pre-service physics teachers. Sample: The participants were 171 pre-service physics teachers recruited from two universities: 86 from University A and 85 from University B. Design and method: Participants were prompted to develop a written argument to either support or challenge the Turkish government’s decision to invest in nuclear power plants. Data consist of written arguments developed by the participants and information on participants’ knowledge of the topic, their confidence in their knowledge and the source of their knowledge related to the topic. Data were analyzed using the CER framework. Results: The results show that participants did not perform at the expected level. The majority of students failed to develop strong scientific arguments. While almost all of the participants provided evidence to justify their claims, they failed to effectively coordinate evidence, claim and theory to develop an argument. Students struggled the most in the warrant/reasoning category of the CER framework. We also identified several misconceptions that students held related to nuclear power plants. Conclusions: In our discussion we problematize college science teaching and advocate integration of instructional strategies such as argumentation that can effectively engage students in construction, evaluation and justification of knowledge.

Integrating Computational Thinking in School Curriculum

Computational thinking (CT) has received significant and growing attention from the computing industry, politicians, and STEM researchers and educators alike across the globe. The motivation to integrate CT into science and mathematics curriculum comes from the fact that computing concepts and practices have become an integral part of the work that professional scientists, mathematicians, and engineers do and is a necessary skill desired by twenty-first century economies. If implemented effectively, CT has the potential to significantly advance students’ problem-solving and analytical thinking skills and data analysis and modeling skills. Despite increasing interest in CT and the potential academic benefits of integration for students, integration of CT into school science and mathematics has proved to be problematic for schools and educators. The first section of this chapter provides an overview of developments that gave rise to the integration of computational thinking into K-12 education, an in-depth discussion of computational thinking, and its connection with professional science and mathematical practices. The second section of this chapter focuses on current issues around integration of CT into school curricula. These issues include curriculum, teacher education, and equity in computer science education. Then, we move into discussing the challenges STEM educators face in integrating CT into school curriculum and potential strategies to address these challenges. We then move onto discussing the place of CT in STEM curriculum and challenges of teaching CT in schools. Finally, we review programs designed to integrate CT into STEM curriculum. Next, we discuss and expand on pedagogy of CT and future directions by drawing from relevant literature. Finally, we discuss potential challenges for STEM education community and opportunities that we need to tap on.

Maximizing Science Teachers’ Pedagogical Potential for Teaching Science Literacy to ELLs: Findings from a Professional Development Program

This chapter reports findings from a state-funded professional development program designed to increase high school science teachers’ pedagogical knowledge/skills of teaching Common Core State Standards (CCSS)-aligned informational texts to English language learners (ELLs). Teachers’ year-long reflections on their own teaching and peers’ pointed to the importance of teachers constructing their own pedagogical knowledge by figuring out classroom applications that made sense to them. Teachers discussed that learning about second language acquisition was pivotal for them to understand ELLs’ struggles as learners and the effect of English proficiency on informational text comprehension in science. As a result, they deepened their understanding about their role as teachers in helping ELLs access informational texts. Follow-up interviews a year later revealed that teachers developed and sustained new instructional practices and assisted their peers to adopt the newly acquired instructional strategies.

Exploring pre-service science teachers’ pedagogical capacity for formative assessment through analyses of student answers

Abstract Background: There has been an increasing emphasis on empowering pre-service and in-service science teachers to attend student reasoning and use formative assessments to guide student learning in recent years. Purpose: The purpose of this study was to explore pre-service science teachers’ pedagogical capacity for formative assessment. Sample: This study took place in Turkey. The participants include 53 pre-service science teachers in their final year of schooling. All but two of the participants are female. Design and methods: We used a mixed-methods methodology in pursing this inquiry. Participants analyzed 28 responses to seven two-tiered questions given by four students of different ability levels. We explored their ability to identify the strengths and weaknesses in students’ answers. We paid particular attention to the things that the pre-service science teachers noticed in students’ explanations, the types of inferences they made about students’ conceptual understanding, and the affordances of pedagogical decisions they made. Results: The results show that the majority of participants made an evaluative judgment (i.e. the answer is correct or incorrect) in their analyses of students’ answers. Similarly, the majority of the participants recognized the type of mistake that the students made. However, they failed to successfully elaborate on fallacies, limitations, or strengths in student reasoning. We also asked the participants to make pedagogical decisions related to what needs to be done next in order to help the students to achieve academic objectives. Results show that 8% of the recommended instructional strategies were of no affordance, 64% of low-affordance, and 28% were of high affordance in terms of helping students achieve the academic objectives. Conclusion: If our goal is to improve pre-service science teachers’ noticing skills, and the affordance of feedback that they provide, engaging them in activities that asks them to attend to students’ ideas and reasoning may be useful.