One of the challenges of context-based science education is to construct high quality teaching materials. This paper presents results from a study investigating the heuristic value of an activitybased instructional framework for transformation of authentic scientific practices for use in the science classroom, in line with cultural historic activity theory (CHAT). The activity-based instructional framework was used to transform the authentic practice of Modelling Human Exposure and Uptake of Chemicals in Consumer Products into a curriculum unit. The transformation was conducted by experienced chemistry teachers well informed about CHAT. The heuristic value was judged on criteria completeness, instructiveness and appreciation. Collected data are designed curriculum materials and a focus group interview. Analysis of the designed curriculum materials indicated that the framework was highly complete and instructive, except for evoking reflection in students. Most important, the framework proved successful in operationalising CHAT into concrete guidelines for educational design. Additionally, the results show that the instructional framework is highly appreciated by the users. Further development of such instructional frameworks is important, since it fosters the construction of high quality context-based curriculum materials.
One of the challenges of science education is to integrate activities, content, and tools in a meaningful manner. One way to address this challenging goal is the transformation of authentic scientific practices into contexts for learning, in line with sociocultural activity theory. In this respect, authentic scientific practices are interpreted as the totality of human work situated in society. Within such authentic scientific practices, the activities, content, and tools are connected logically and the relevance is clear among its participants. This study presents an activity-based instructional framework that assists educational designers in transforming authentic scientific practices for the population of students in science education. The activity-based instructional framework has been dialectically constructed with the design and classroom enactment of a curriculum unit based on an authentic chemical modeling practice. The curriculum unit was developed through a participatory design process that took teachers' expertise into account. The pedagogical decisions were abstracted in design guidelines. The curriculum unit was implemented multiple times in classroom to evaluate the design guidelines. Research data were collected by means of audio-taped discussions, completed worksheets, and written questionnaires. The findings supported the potential of transforming authentic scientific practices to achieve meaningful science education.
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