Elementary School Teachers' Familiarity, Conceptual Knowledge, and Interest in Light

Mumba, Frackson; Mbewe, Simon; Chabalengula, Vivien Mweene

doi:10.1080/09500693.2014.971906

Cited by 16 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 31 publications

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“…1572-1573 report using "a two-tier multiple-choice diagnostic instrument developed to measure the degree of students' conceptual understanding in science (Cronbach's α = 0.81…)" as a measure of prior knowledge across six diverse topics: "(1) the classification of substances, (2) fire prevention, (3) thermal convection, (4) chemical reaction rates, (5) sound waves and (6) mass conservation" (p.1571). Howe and colleagues report using knowledge tests each covering a range of concepts in the forces topic for which they considered values of Cronbach alpha offered grounds for regarding test scores as lying on single scale (Howe et al, 2014, p. 173), whilst Mumba and colleagues (Mumba, Mbewe, & Chabalengula, 2015) reported an alpha value of 0.83 for a wide-ranging conceptual knowledge test in the topic of light.…”

Section: Examples Of Alpha Cited In Measuring Cognitive Constructsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Yet, it is not always clear how authors intend this to be understood or what the statistic actually reflects. One might pose the question of how we are to understand a construct such as "students' understanding of solution chemistry concepts" (Adadan & Savasci, 2011) or "knowledge of evolution" (Athanasiou & Mavrikaki, 2013) or "knowledge level of biotechnology and genetics" (Casanoves et al, 2015) or "conceptual knowledge of light" (Mumba et al, 2015).…”

Section: Alpha Used To Characterise Tests Of Broad Knowledge Domainsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The Use of Cronbach’s Alpha When Developing and Reporting Research Instruments in Science Education

2017

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Cronbach's alpha is a statistic commonly quoted by authors to demonstrate that tests and scales that have been constructed or adopted for research projects are fit for purpose. Cronbach's alpha is regularly adopted in studies in science education: it was referred to in 69 different papers published in 4 leading science education journals in a single year (2015)-usually as a measure of reliability. This article explores how this statistic is used in reporting science education research and what it represents. Authors often cite alpha values with little commentary to explain why they feel this statistic is relevant and seldom interpret the result for readers beyond citing an arbitrary threshold for an acceptable value. Those authors who do offer readers qualitative descriptors interpreting alpha values adopt a diverse and seemingly arbitrary terminology. More seriously, illustrative examples from the science education literature demonstrate that alpha may be acceptable even when there are recognised problems with the scales concerned. Alpha is also sometimes inappropriately used to claim an instrument is unidimensional. It is argued that a high value of alpha offers limited evidence of the reliability of a research instrument, and that indeed a very high value may actually be undesirable when developing a test of scientific knowledge or understanding. Guidance is offered to authors reporting, and readers evaluating, studies that present Cronbach's alpha statistic as evidence of instrument quality.

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Section: Examples Of Alpha Cited In Measuring Cognitive Constructsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Alpha Used To Characterise Tests Of Broad Knowledge Domainsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Use of Cronbach’s Alpha When Developing and Reporting Research Instruments in Science Education

2017

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“…The conceptual domain (Duschl, 2008;Furtak et al, 2012) of science consists of a 'body of knowledge that represents current understanding of natural systems ' (National Research Council, 2007, p. 26), such as the phenomenon of light (Mumba, Mbewe, & Chabalengula, 2015). Research and practical experience suggest that pupils need conceptual knowledge regarding the topic of investigation in order to perform inquiry procedures, such as formulating research questions (Peeters, Meijer, & Verhoeff, 2014;Zion et al, 2007).…”

Section: The Conceptual Domainmentioning

confidence: 99%

Inquiry-based science education: towards a pedagogical framework for primary school teachers

Uum

Verhoeff

Peeters

2016

International Journal of Science Education

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Inquiry-based science education (IBSE) has been promoted as an inspiring way of learning science by engaging pupils in designing and conducting their own scientific investigations. For primary school teachers, the open nature of IBSE poses challenges as they often lack experience in supporting their pupils during the different phases of an open IBSE project, such as formulating a research question and designing and conducting an investigation. The current study aims to meet these challenges by presenting a pedagogical framework in which four domains of scientific knowledge are addressed in seven phases of inquiry. The framework is based on video analyses of pedagogical interventions by primary school teachers participating in open IBSE projects. Our results show that teachers can guide their pupils successfully through the process of open inquiry by explicitly addressing the conceptual, epistemic, social and/or procedural domain of scientific knowledge in the subsequent phases of inquiry. The paper concludes by suggesting further research to validate our framework and to develop a pedagogy for primary school teachers to guide their pupils through the different phases of open inquiry. IntroductionInquiry-based science education (IBSE) is regarded as an inspiring way of learning science as it focuses on pupils' own interests and stimulates active learning by enabling pupils to conduct their own investigations (Braund & Driver, 2005;Murphy & Beggs, 2003;Rocard et al., 2007). Since addressing pupils' motivation and own interests positively influences their achievements (Tella, 2007), IBSE is viewed as an effective approach for learning scientific concepts and understanding the nature of science (NOS) in which the process of inquiry is key.The pedagogy of IBSE allows pupils to develop their conceptual understanding of scientific phenomena (Minner, Levy, & Century, 2010;Schroeder, Scott, Tolson, Huang, & Lee, 2007) and their inquiry skills, such as formulating a research question (Zion, Cohen, & © 2016 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, and is not altered, transformed, or built upon in any way.CONTACT Martina S. J. van Uum m.vanuum@science.ru.nl Science Education Hub Radboud University, Nijmegen, the Netherlands INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF SCIENCE EDUCATION, 2016 VOL. 38, NO. 3, 450-469 http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09500693.2016 Amir, 2007). Moreover, pupils learn about the way scientific knowledge is constructed (Khishfe & Abd-El-Khalick, 2002) and develop an image of the social practice of scientists (Mercer, Dawes, Wegerif, & Sams, 2004). IBSE has been suggested to positively affect learning outcomes of students by means of enabling open inquiries (Berg, ...

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“…In the study carried out by Reference [39] with 56 pre-service secondary school science teachers, it was determined that had difficulties in understanding this important topic. In the study by Reference [43] with primary school pre-service teachers and secondary school science teachers, it was determined that the-pre service teachers had misconceptions related to the sound. In the study by Reference [40] secondary school pre-service science teachers, the concepts which the pre-service teachers had were irrelevant in terms of science and they had deficient knowledge and misconceptions.…”

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confidence: 99%

The Effect of Teaching Practices with Real Life Content in Light and Sound Learning Areas

Yalçın¹,

Yalçın²,

Akar³

et al. 2017

ujer

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In this present study, it was aimed to investigate the effect of teaching practices with real life content in light and sound learning areas. With this purpose, it was intended to determine the contribution of teaching practices with real life content (TPRLC) to the levels of pre-service teachers' skills to associate the light and sound learning areas with daily life. The research was designed with an experimental basis and data were collected with the pre-test, post-test pattern. The participants consisted of 30 university students who were in fourth grade in Secondary School Science Teacher Training Department. Data were collected with questionnaires including open-ended questions related to the Use of Learning Areas in Daily Life. With the results, it was found out that the levels of pre-service teachers in associating the learning areas with daily life doubled in light learning areas and trebled in sound learning areas.

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Elementary School Teachers' Familiarity, Conceptual Knowledge, and Interest in Light

Cited by 16 publications

References 31 publications

The Use of Cronbach’s Alpha When Developing and Reporting Research Instruments in Science Education

The Use of Cronbach’s Alpha When Developing and Reporting Research Instruments in Science Education

Inquiry-based science education: towards a pedagogical framework for primary school teachers

The Effect of Teaching Practices with Real Life Content in Light and Sound Learning Areas

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