Onno De Jong

A research approach to designing chemistry education using authentic practices as contexts

We discuss how to reduce the incongruence between the outcomes (both cognitive and affective) of the conventional secondary chemistry curriculum and what is to be attained: the meaningful connection of students’ learning to daily life and societal issues. This problem is addressed by a design study with one curriculum unit about “Water Quality”. With several research cycles using developmental research, we developed an emergent understanding about an instructional framework for curriculum units that embodies a coherent “need‐to‐know” principle and is based on authentic practices. Using this framework we show with some other examples how a context‐based chemistry curriculum can be constructed based on the developed “need‐to‐know” principle.

Exploring the development of students' conceptual profiles of chemical change

A naturalistic small-scale study was carried out, involving a class from a senior high school in Spain over two years. The students were requested on two occasions to write an essay about chemical change. The essays were subjected to text analysis techniques. Four conceptual profiles were identified: the interactive, the meccano, the kitchen, and the incoherent. The development of these profiles is reported and the implications of our research for the process of teaching the concept of chemical change are given.

Scaffolding science teachers in open-inquiry teaching

The present study deals with a school‐based professional development trajectory for secondary science teachers, aiming at scaffolding teachers in open‐inquiry teaching for the topic of water quality. Its design was based on the leading principle of ‘guiding by scaffolding’. Seven experienced teachers participated in institutional meetings and teaching at school. The research focused on designing scaffolding tools, addressing these tools in the meetings, and implementing them in the classroom. The main research data were obtained from meetings, classroom discussions, and observations. The results indicated that the professional development trajectory has promoted teachers’ learning of scaffolding students in open inquiry, especially the ability to know when and how to give students a well‐balanced combination of ‘structure’ for open‐inquiry learning and sufficient ‘space’ for that. The implications for science teacher education are discussed.The present study deals with a school‐based professional development trajectory for secondary science teachers, aiming at scaffolding teachers in open‐inquiry teaching for the topic of water quality. Its design was based on the leading principle of ‘guiding by scaffolding’. Seven experienced teachers participated in institutional meetings and teaching at school. The research focused on designing scaffolding tools, addressing these tools in the meetings, and implementing them in the classroom. The main research data were obtained from meetings, classroom discussions, and observations. The results indicated that the professional development trajectory has promoted teachers’ learning of scaffolding students in open inquiry, especially the ability to know when and how to give students a well‐balanced combination of ‘structure’ for open‐inquiry learning and sufficient ‘space’ for that. The implications for science teacher education are discussed.

Towards a Framework for a Professional Development Programme: Empowering Teachers for Context-Based Chemistry Education.

The aim of this study is to develop a framework for professional development programmes that empowers chemistry teachers to teach and design context-based chemistry curricula. Firstly, teachers’ involvement, their concerns and their professional development in several context-based curriculum innovations is discussed. Secondly, to develop such a framework, a theory for (teacher) learning is needed. From an overview of several theories for (teacher) learning, an adapted version of Galperin’s theory for the internalisation of mental actions is selected. Thirdly, this theory is combined with four strategies for professional development, five events for teacher-based curriculum design, and specific goals into a framework for this kind of professional development programmes. This framework will contribute to a better understanding of the relations between the goals of such professional development programmes, the intended learning processes of the teachers and the sequence of events in such programmes. Empirical research with this framework is recommended.

Strategies for a professional development programme: empowering teachers for context-based chemistry education

The aim of this study is to understand the design of professional development programmes in teacher-based and context-based chemistry curriculum innovations. Firstly, the goals of these programmes are discussed and related to the concept of empowerment. Next, in a selection of empirical studies, four general strategies for professional development are analysed (providing access to innovative units, organising reflection, collaboration and organising the design of innovative units by teachers). This analysis results in two outcomes: (1) a sequence of events for teacher-based and context-based curriculum design and (2) the conclusion that in these studies explicit relations between the goals, the strategies and the activities in these programmes are lacking; they should be made more explicit. It is recommended that a theory for teacher professional development should be used to describe these relations.

Research and Development for the Future of Chemical Eeducation

John K. Gilbert1; Onno De Jong2; Rosaria Juste; David F. Treagust4; Jan H. Van Driel5 1 Institute of Education, The University of Reading, UK; 1Centre for Science and Mathematics Education, Utrecht University, The Netherlands; 3Department of Chemistry, University of Minas Gerais, Brazil; 4 National Key Centre for School Science and Mathematics, Curtin University of Technology, Australia; 5 ICLON Graduate School of Education, Leiden University, The Netherlands

Exploring Science Teachers’ Pedagogical Content Knowledge

In this keynote, the development of pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) within (prospective) science teachers is explored and discussed. First of all, the meaning of the term ‘pedagogical content knowledge’ is examined and some core elements of this concept are described. Secondly, several methods and techniques to explore PCK are reported. Thirdly, important sources for the development of PCK are described. Finally, a naturalistic case study of the development of PCK within a group of prospective science teachers (all M. Sc.) is presented. The group has taken a post-graduate course module, incl. some teaching practice, on a central issue in science education: teaching models. The results indicate that the prospective teachers’ knowledge of students’ conceptions of models was promoted. Besides, the prospective teachers became aware of their own limited knowledge of appropriate models, and ways to teach this issue. This absence of this knowledge can have caused the observed discrepancy between their teaching intentions (models as constructs) and their teaching practice (models as facts). Implications for (prospective) science teacher courses are discussed.

The Development of Prospective Teachers’ Concerns about Teaching Chemistry Topics at a Macro-micro-symbolic Interface

This paper describes an exploratory study of prospective teachers’ concerns about teaching a major topic in science education, i.e., linking macroscopic phenomena with microscopic particles and symbolic representations such as formulas and equations. Teaching this topic is often associated with conceptual difficulties for students and, for that reason, may evoke pedagogical content concerns (PCC) among prospective teachers.

Evaluating a Professional Development Framework to Empower Chemistry Teachers to Design Context-Based Education

Even experienced chemistry teachers require professional development when they are encouraged to become actively engaged in the design of new context-based education. This study briefly describes the development of a framework consisting of goals, learning phases, strategies and instructional functions, and how the framework was translated into a professional development programme intended to empower teachers to design context-based chemistry education. The programme consists of teaching a pre-developed context-based unit, followed by teachers designing an outline of a new context-based unit. The study investigates the process of teacher empowerment during the implementation of the programme. Data were obtained from meetings, classroom discussions and observations. The findings indicated that teachers became empowered to design new context-based units provided they had sufficient time and resources. The contribution of the framework to teacher empowerment is discussed.

Teaching Concepts in Contexts: Designing a Chemistry Teacher Course in a Curriculum Innovation

This paper focuses on the professional development of school chemistry teachers in the context of curriculum reform in The Netherlands. An important aim of this reform is the implementation of teaching chemistry concepts in contexts, which requires substantial changes in current teaching practice. The aim of our research was to develop an empirically validated course design and design principles for courses, on teaching concepts in contexts. A developmental research approach was used with several cycles of an in-depth case study. We describe the design and evaluation results of the first and second cycles. The conclusions are formulated as design principles for a third cycle of this type of teacher in-service course.