Fundamentals of Educational Research

Anderson, Gary J.; Arsenault, Nancy

doi:10.4324/9780203978221

Cited by 333 publications

(264 citation statements)

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“…All student comments and responses were assured of confidentiality and anonymity. The use of both quantitative and qualitative information allowed for triangulation of results (Anderson, 1998). Acknowledgement and awareness of the role of the teacher educator-researcher, along with ensuring all ethical considerations are provided to the students, and the use of multiple methods of data collection serve to reduce any potential bias in this research.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Pre-Service Elementary Teachers' Perceptions of Factors in an Holistic Methods Course Influencing their Confidence in Teaching Science

Howitt

2006

Res Sci Educ

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Lack of confidence towards science is a major factor in the avoidance of teaching science at elementary school. This paper reports the results of a survey that asked 28 pre-service elementary teachers what they believed contributed to their confidence towards science and the teaching of science during a second year science unit where an holistic teaching/learning approach was taken. The holistic nature of the unit was based on a model that considered six major factors to be important influences on the confidence of the pre-service teacher. Using median values, and ranking from the most to least important factor influencing their confidence, the pre-service teachers identified practicum, teacher educator, pedagogical content knowledge, learning environment, assessment and reflection. Factors within pedagogical content knowledge, ranked from most to least important, were science pedagogy, science activities, children's views of science, science content knowledge and investigating scientifically. The wide variability in responses highlighted that no single factor was perceived to be a major contributor to the pre-service teachers' confidence, but rather a balanced mix was necessary. Implications for pre-service elementary science education units are discussed.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In order to understand any phenomenon, it is necessary to examine it from different perspectives (Anderson, 1998). The unique and often estranged relationship between pre-service elementary teachers and science education is a phenomenon that has been studied from many different perspectives.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Pre-Service Elementary Teachers' Perceptions of Factors in an Holistic Methods Course Influencing their Confidence in Teaching Science

Howitt

2006

Res Sci Educ

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“…Quasi-experimental methods involved a pretest questionnaire and weekly interviews to investigate students' developing conceptions and students' beliefs of physics knowledge (Anderson 1998). Students' conceptions were tracked from their naïve everyday knowledge to unclear scientific conceptions to acceptable scientific conceptions.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Naïve Students’ Conceptual Development and Beliefs: The Need for Multiple Analyses to Determine what Contributes to Student Success in a University Introductory Physics Course

2007

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This research involved naïve physics learners who were interested in majoring in science or engineering. In a semester-long quasi-experimental study, open-ended pretests and weekly interviews were used to analyse the progressive development of students' conceptions relating to sound and wave motion. Semi-structured interviews were also conducted to elucidate: (1) how their conceptions developed from everyday conceptions to unclear scientific conceptions to scientific conceptions, and (2) their beliefs of physics knowledge. Despite efforts to enable these students to learn physics, the findings showed that only two out of ten students developed acceptable physics conceptions during the course that would enable them to pursue the subject to a higher level. Also, students' conceptual development was found to be related to their cognitive understanding and to epistemological beliefs of physics. Therefore, to facilitate naïve physics learners' success in a general physics course, in addition to the acquisition of content knowledge, explicit emphasis needs to be placed on the nature of physics knowledge.

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“…Because these classes received different opportunities, case studies were used to clarify the atmosphere in each example (Anderson & Arsenault, 1999). Students from each of the classes were interviewed on the basis of student responses to selected questionnaire items.…”

Section: Comparison Of Classroom Environmentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evaluation of an Innovative Mathematics Program in Terms of Classroom Environment, Student Attitudes, and Conceptual Development

Spinner

Fraser

2005

Int J Sci Math Educ

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Dull classroom environments, poor students' attitudes and inhibited conceptual development led to the creation of an innovative mathematics program, the Class Banking System (CBS), which enables teachers to use constructivist ideas and approaches. To assess the effectiveness of the CBS, the Individualised Classroom Environment Questionnaire (ICEQ), Constructivist Learning Environment Survey (CLES), Test of MathematicsRelated Attitudes (TOMRA), and concept map tests were administered to two groups of fifth-grade students as pretests and posttests over an academic year. To enrich the data collected from those questionnaires, three case studies (one for the experimental group and two for the control group) were undertaken based on observations and interviews of selected students. Relative to non-CBS students, CBS students experienced more favorable changes in terms of mathematics concept development, attitudes to mathematics, and perceived classroom environments on several dimensions of the CLES (e.g., Personal Relevance, Shared Control) and the ICEQ (e.g., Participation and Differentiation). Qualitative information based on classroom observations and student interviews reinforced and enriched the patterns of results obtained from the concept test and questionnaires. Marshall (1990) and Hand (1996) recommend that teachers should move away from being authority figures who have status and power to become more like facilitators. Business leaders have called for graduates who can work as team members to solve problems, and therefore for a curriculum that provides students with opportunities to collaborate, solve problems, and construct understandings. The Class Banking System (CBS) is an interactive elementary mathematics program that uses constructivist approaches. The experiences that students encounter through this 10-month program have been designed to enhance the teaching/learning environment and their attitudes and conceptual development. The CBS emphasizes learning with understanding, rather than the coverage of content, rote learning and obtaining correct answers, and it requires students to collaborate with other classmates. The purpose of our research was to investigate whether using the innovative CBS mathematics program provides students with an improved classroom environment, attitudes, and concep-

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Fundamentals of Educational Research

Cited by 333 publications

References 0 publications

Pre-Service Elementary Teachers' Perceptions of Factors in an Holistic Methods Course Influencing their Confidence in Teaching Science

Pre-Service Elementary Teachers' Perceptions of Factors in an Holistic Methods Course Influencing their Confidence in Teaching Science

Naïve Students’ Conceptual Development and Beliefs: The Need for Multiple Analyses to Determine what Contributes to Student Success in a University Introductory Physics Course

Evaluation of an Innovative Mathematics Program in Terms of Classroom Environment, Student Attitudes, and Conceptual Development

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