Windows into Science Classrooms: Problems Associated with Higher-Level Cognitive Learning.

N

262

Researchers; Practitioners

Biology; Case Studies; Cognitive Development; Cognitive Structures; Educational Environment; Foreign Countries; High Schools; Learning Processes; Learning Strategies; Qualitative Research; Science Education; Science Teachers; Secondary School Science; Sex Differences; Student Attitudes

978-1-85000-543-8

This book is the result of the accumulated research of five researchers from the United States and Australia on a school in Coastal Australia. The research team shared a constructivist epistemology and interpreted the qualitative and quantitative data collected over a 10-week period in two classrooms from that perspective. Each chapter discusses those 10 weeks from a different perspective. The first chapter discusses research perspectives and theoretical framework. Chapter 2 contains a description of the methods used in the study and presents background information about the high school used as the subject of the study. In the third chapter, two teachers' beliefs associated with specific roles, their conceptualization of certain teaching roles and their understanding of the content are described. Chapter 4 examines gender differences examined in the classrooms of these two teachers. In chapter 5, the cognitive demands of the tasks, materials and tests in relation to the cognitive levels of the students are discussed. Chapter 6 focuses on the attitudes of students and the way in which they interacted with one another, the teacher, and learning resources during learning tasks. A view of the classroom through the perceptions of the students in the classroom is presented in chapter 7. The final chapter contains a synthesis of the findings and presents implications for further research, for teaching and learning, and for teacher preparation and enhancement. (CW)

1991

ED323090