To cite this version:Karin Stolpe, Lars Björklund. Seeing the wood for the trees: Applying the dual memory system model to investigate expert teachers' observational skills in natural ecological learning environments. International Journal of Science Education, Taylor This study aims to investigate two expert ecology teachers' ability to attend to essential details in a complex environment during a field excursion, as well as how they teach this ability to their students. In applying a cognitive dual memory system model for learning we also suggest a rationale for their behaviour. The model implies two separate memory systems:the implicit, non-conscious, non-declarative system and the explicit, conscious and declarative system, respectively. This model provided the starting point for the research design. However, it was revised from the empirical findings supported by new theoretical insights. The teachers were video and audio recorded during their excursion and interviewed in a stimulated recall setting afterwards. The data was qualitatively analysed using the dual memory system model.The results show that the teachers used holistic pattern recognition in their own identification of natural objects. However, teachers' main strategy to teach this ability is to give the students explicit rules or specific characteristics. According to the dual memory system model the holistic pattern recognition is processed in the implicit memory system as an unconscious match with earlier experienced situations. We suggest that this implicit pattern matching serves as an explanation for teachers' ecological and teaching observational skills. Another function of the implicit memory system is its ability to control automatic behaviour and nonconscious decision-making. The teachers offer the students firsthand sensory experiences which provide a prerequisite for the formation of implicit memories that provides a foundation for expertise. IntroductionThe purpose of the present study is to describe and suggest a rationale of expert ecology teachers' ability to attend to essential details in a complex natural environment as well as how 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 F o r P e e r R e v i e w O n l y 2 they teach this ability to their students. This ability is referred to in this paper as observational skill.Natural environments, such as forests, consist of many features on different levels of scale. A typical forest is composed of plants, trees, flowers, animals and other objects.However, the forest as such, is not possible to recognize only by looking at the different constituents, for example the trees. Rather, we need to observe the forest as a "whole". In fact, research has shown that humans are able to categorize natural scenes rapidly, using what are known as "global properties" (Greene & Oliva, 2009). For example, humans are able ...
Whereas previous studies show that children are able to make meaning about evolutionary concepts within read-aloud contexts, little is known about how semiotic resources and interaction influence children's meaning making about evolution. This study investigates children's meaning making about evolutionary concepts during a modelling activity conducted after an interactive storybook read-aloud describing the evolution of a foraging trait of a fictitious mammal (the pilose). Forty children (13 groups) were videotaped as they produced a clay pilose model, while explaining how they thought their pilose would appear after inhabiting a 'future' environment (mountainous, snowy or forest). A multimodal analysis focused on how children demonstrated their meanings of seven evolutionary concepts described in the book. An eighth concept, 'adaptation to environment', was also often discussed. While all eight concepts emerged, the most frequent concerned survival and adaptation. The eighth concept appeared to serve as a synthesis of children's interpretation of the storybook that highlighted the visible consequences of evolution. The children engaged five interactional resources, dominated by the interactional resource of communicating the concepts in direct relation to their produced pilose models. The findings shed light on how children's representational and relational practices impact making meaning about evolution.
In this study, we aim to investigate activities using models in a design project in three technology classrooms. Activities that use models are important for students’ development of knowledge and skills connected to the design process. Nevertheless, few empirical studies have thus far examined how models and modelling are used in a classroom environment when students and teachers are involved in a design project. In order to meet our aim, we video-recorded eight lessons from three different technology classrooms (students aged 13–15), where the students were involved in different problem-solving activities using models and modelling. The three projects had different specifications, and the students’ degrees of freedom thereby varied. The video recordings were analysed using a qualitative content analysis. The analysis resulted in seven activities being identified where the teachers and students talked about models and modelling in order to solve the problem. The results also revealed three different dimensions of models: material, structure and function. These dimensions are present in almost all activities that use models. In a project with a high degree of freedom, all three dimensions of models are present. On the contrary, in a project with a lower freedom, only one of the dimensions is present, resulting in a lower degree of complexity for the students. The study emphasizes that the presumptions and openness of a design project in technology education can provide different possibilities for students learning in relation to models and modelling.
Välkommen till första numret av ATENA Didaktik - en digital, professionsvetenskaplig tidskrift om ämnesdidaktisk forskning inom de naturvetenskapliga ämnena och teknik. Tidskriften vänder sig till lärarprofessionen och forskare, och vår förhoppning är att den ska ge lärare bättre förutsättningar att bygga undervisning på vetenskaplig grund och beprövad erfarenhet.
Vid den senaste lärarutbildningsreformen beslutades att på de flesta lärarutbildningsprogrammen ska lärarstudenter skriva självständiga arbeten omfattande totalt 30 högskolepoäng. Vid många lärosäten har detta lett till en uppdelning i två olika självständiga arbeten: en konsumtions- och en produktionsuppsats. Denna studie undersöker om konsumtionsuppsatser – en typ av kunskapsöversikter – innebär en ny bedömningspraktik för lärarutbildare som examinatorer. Examinatorer vid lärosäten med lärarutbildning har blivit intervjuade och fått besvara en enkät rörande dessa bedömningskriterier. Resultaten indikerar att en majoritet av examinatorerna inte ser stora skillnader mellan att bedöma en konsumtionsuppsats och en mer traditionell produktionsuppsats där egen empiri i form av till exempel intervjuer samlas in och analyseras. Vid intervjuerna framkom dock några skillnader mellan de två uppsatstyperna. Dessa hänger huvudsakligen ihop med antingen hur strukturen byggs upp, vad som är metod eller hur forskningsförankringen är framskriven. Slutsatsen blir att den nya form av uppsatser som konsumtionsuppsatser innebär inte tycks ha renderat i någon stor förändring av bedömningspraktiken hos examinatorerna.
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