University science students' experiences of investigative project work and their images of science

Ryder, James; Leach, John

doi:10.1080/095006999290246

Cited by 93 publications

(39 citation statements)

References 9 publications

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“…The students appear to appreciate the importance of data collection in science, but their ideas suggest a "right vs. wrong" ontological position, rather than a position that recognizes the tentative and dynamic aspects of scientific knowledge. This right-versuswrong view is also common in the public (Rennie and Williams 2006), college students (Abd-El- Khalick et al 1998;Libarkin 2001;Ryder and Leach 1999), and grade school students (Ryan and Aikenhead 1992).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Two studies that have examined the NOS ideas held by undergraduate science majors have found that these students believe that all claims in science can be proved or disproved empirically (Ryder and Leach 1999;Dagher and Boujaoude 1997). A minority of science majors studied by Ryder and Leach (1999) indicated that creativity and imagination are important characteristics for scientists to display.…”

Section: Previous Investigationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…A minority of science majors studied by Ryder and Leach (1999) indicated that creativity and imagination are important characteristics for scientists to display. Dagher and Boujaoude (1997) have reported that senior undergraduate biology majors held very narrow definitions of a scientific theory that permitted them to dismiss many of the theories used in field disciplines, such as biology and geology, as "unscientific."…”

Section: Previous Investigationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Ideas About the Nature of Science Held by Undergraduate Atmospheric Science Students

Parker¹,

Krockover²,

Lasher-Trapp³

et al. 2008

Bull. Amer. Meteor. Soc.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Previous Investigationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Previous Investigationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Ideas About the Nature of Science Held by Undergraduate Atmospheric Science Students

Parker¹,

Krockover²,

Lasher-Trapp³

et al. 2008

Bull. Amer. Meteor. Soc.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

“…The evidence with respect to the importance of these two types of understanding in conducting an investigation is not clear cut. Previous research (Erickson et al 1992;Gott and Murphy 1987;Millar et al 1994;Ryder and Leach, 1999) points to both playing a role, but these findings do not give any insight into whether either or both are necessary or sufficient conditions.…”

Section: This Researchmentioning

confidence: 47%

The Roles of Substantive and Procedural Understanding in Open-Ended Science Investigations: Using Fuzzy Set Qualitative Comparative Analysis to Compare Two Different Tasks

et al. 2008

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We examine the respective roles of substantive understanding (i.e., understanding of factual knowledge, concepts, laws and theories) and procedural understanding (an understanding of ideas about evidence; concepts such as reliability and validity, measurement and calibration, data collection, measurement error, the ability to interpret evidence and the like) required to carry out an open-ended science investigation. Our chosen method of analysis is Charles Ragin's Fuzzy Set Qualitative Comparative Analysis which we introduce in the paper. Comparing the performance of undergraduate students on two investigation tasks which differ with regard to the amount of substantive content, we demonstrate that both substantive understanding and an understanding of ideas about evidence are jointly involved in carrying out such tasks competently. It might be expected that substantive knowledge is less important when carrying out an investigation with little substantive demand. However, we find that the contribution of substantive understanding and an understanding of ideas about evidence is remarkably similar for both tasks. We discuss possible reasons for our findings.

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“…In spite of the influence of implicit messages in science education (Ryder & Leach, 1999), current evidence shows the inefficiency of exclusively implicit methods in STS education, both in the classroom and in teacher training. Thus, many scholars argue for an explicit and intentional STS education (Abell, Martini, & George 2001;Akerson, Abd-El-Khalick, & Lederman, 2000;Bell, Lederman, & Abd-El-Khalick, 1998;Moss, Abrams, & Robb, 2001).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

An analysis of complex multiple‐choice science–technology–society items: Methodological development and preliminary results

2006

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ABSTRACT:The scarce attention to the assessment and evaluation in science education research has been especially harmful for teaching science -technology -society (STS) issues, due to the dialectical, tentative, value-laden, and polemic nature of most STS topics. This paper tackles the methodological difficulties of the instruments that monitor views related to STS topics and rationalizes a quantitative methodology and an analysis technique to improve the utility of an empirically developed multiple-choice item pool, the Questionnaire of VÁZQUEZ-ALONSO ET AL.Opinions on STS. This methodology embraces an item-scaling psychometrics based on the judgments by a panel of experts, a multiple response model, a scoring system, and the data analysis. The methodology finally produces normalized attitudinal indices that represent the respondent's reasoned beliefs toward STS statements, the respondent's position on an item that comprises several statements, or the respondent's position on an entire STS topic that encompasses a set of items. Some preliminary results show the methodology's ability to evaluate the STS attitudes in a qualitative and quantitative way and for statistical hypothesis testing. Lastly, some applications for teacher training and STS curriculum development in science classrooms are discussed.

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University science students' experiences of investigative project work and their images of science

Cited by 93 publications

References 9 publications

Ideas About the Nature of Science Held by Undergraduate Atmospheric Science Students

Ideas About the Nature of Science Held by Undergraduate Atmospheric Science Students

The Roles of Substantive and Procedural Understanding in Open-Ended Science Investigations: Using Fuzzy Set Qualitative Comparative Analysis to Compare Two Different Tasks

An analysis of complex multiple‐choice science–technology–society items: Methodological development and preliminary results

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