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Recent research reveals that students' interest in school science begins to decline at an early age. As this lack of interest could result in fewer individuals qualified for scientific careers and a population unprepared to engage with scientific societal issues, it is imperative to investigate ways in which interest in school science can be increased. Studies have suggested that inquiry learning is one way to increase interest in science. Inquiry learning forms the core of the primary syllabus in Singapore; as such, we examine how inquiry practices may shape students' perceptions of science and school science. This study investigates how classroom inquiry activities relate to students' interest in school science. Data were collected from 425 grade 4 students who responded to a questionnaire and 27 students who participated in follow-up focus group interviews conducted in 14 classrooms in Singapore. Results indicate that students have a high interest in science class. Additionally, self-efficacy and leisu...

Set against the motivation to enhance Teacher Professional Development (TPD), the question was raised of what makes a teacher want to engage in TPD. While a literature scan has shown numerous studies on TPD that advocate different types of TPD that teachers consider effective, the Singapore literature suffers from a dearth of empirical study to show what motivates a teacher to engage in TPD. Adopting a social psychology framework of the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB), this study seeks to address the research problem through a baseline study and an extended exploration on the factors affecting a teacher's motivation to do TPD. A variety of data collection methods are described to study this. In-depth interview and questionnaire survey will be used to construct the baseline while observations and fieldwork will deepen the exploration and provide the triangulation to data collection, essentially improving the reliability of the study. This paper will report on the findings from the in-depth interviews and elucidate the reasons for teachers taking part in TPD in Singapore.

It has been more than 3 years since Christine left us. She has left a lasting legacy of her academic brilliance among the science education community. This paper pays tribute to Christine’s fine research work that has shaped and continues to shape science education research in the field of questioning and argumentation.

Specialized science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) schools create niche areas in an attempt to attract the best students, establish the school status, and justify their privilege to valuable resources. One Singapore STEM school does this in applied science learning to differentiate its curriculum from the national prescribed curriculum. Reflecting on the issues of curriculum innovation from the perspective of a teacher and head of department in this school, the second author discusses the constraints in curriculum innovation in a specialized school context embedded within a larger system of the national curriculum. We reflect on her experiences in designing, planning, writing, and implementing applied science courses and the challenges in having to simultaneously address the standardized assessment guidelines.

This paper examines learning of science in 15 grade nine classrooms by analyzing the type of talk that teachers engaged in. Using transcripts from audio recordings that are part of the Singapore Corpus of Research in Education database, annotations were carried out on the phrases of teacher talk using Mortimer and Scott's framework for meaning making in science classrooms. Interpreted from a sociocultural view of science learning and based on text coverage per 1,000 words spoken by teachers and students, we analyzed the content of instruction and found that (1) teachers in all three sub-disciplines of science used the least number of words to make statements of generalizations, with chemistry teachers privileging description more than physics and biology teachers, while physics teachers use more words for explanation when compared with biology and chemistry teachers and (2) teachers from all three sub-disciplines depended more on empirical justification than theoretical justifications. These findings sugg...

Due to the scarcity of cross-cultural comparative studies in exploring students' self-efficacy in science learning, this study attempted to develop a multi-dimensional science learning self-efficacy (SLSE) instrument to measure 316 Singaporean and 303 Taiwanese eighth graders' SLSE and further to examine the differences between the two student groups. Moreover, within-culture comparisons were made in terms of gender. The results showed that, first, the SLSE instrument was valid and reliable for measuring the Singaporean and Taiwanese students' SLSE. Second, through a two-way multivariate analysis of variance analysis (nationality by gender), the main result indicated that the SLSE held by the Singaporean eighth graders was significantly higher than that of their Taiwanese counterparts in all dimensions, including ‘conceptual understanding and higher-order cognitive skills’, ‘practical work (PW)’, ‘everyday application’, and ‘science communication’. In addition, the within-culture gender comparisons indica...

A new primary science syllabus with strong inquiry focus has been implemented in Singapore since 2008. In this study, we attempted to understand how teachers experience the emphasis of inquiry-based curriculum under the current educational conditions that is routined and highly teacher fronted. We invited 50 pre-service and 41 in-service teachers to participate in survey questionnaires and narratives, reflective writings, and group discussions related to science inquiry which formed our data corpus. Data analysis in the form of thematic coding was carried out using NVivo8, with over 80% inter-rater coding agreement level. Three key aspects of teachers’ perceptions of science inquiry were revealed: (1) teachers’ responsibilities as facilitators, (2) privileging content knowledge rather than process skills, and (3) pressure of assessment systems in current educational contexts. These understandings bring out conflicts of inquiry teaching between teacher- and student-centredness, content and process, and cur...

The call for inquiry science to be a part of the school science curriculum is popular in many parts of the world. While some research in this area revealed success stories of students' learning when they are engaged in student-directed, open-ended scientific inquiry activities, others are more sceptical about how these activities impact students' learning in and of science. Using the microanalysis of classroom talk in a grade-six science classroom dealing with the conversion of energy, we illustrate the dilemma in communicative approach used by a teacher when using an inductive hands-on activity to teach canonical science content. We unravel the complexity between dialogic–authoritative approaches in establishing learning as well as the need to fulfil the teaching purposes set for each lesson. Here we illustrate how the use of fine grain analysis of classroom talk and interaction can reveal the details of classroom learning, such as mismatch of teaching purposes and adopting appropriate approach to fulfil...

In response to Meyer and Crawford’s article on how nature of science and authentic science inquiry strategies can be used to support the learning of science for underrepresented students, I explore the possibly of reconciliation between the cultures of school, science, school science as well as home. Such reconciliation is only possible when science teachers are cognizant of the factors affecting the cultural values and belief systems of underrepresented students. Using my experience as an Asian learner of WMS, I suggest that open and honest dialogues in science classrooms will allow for greater clarity of the ideals that WMS profess and cultural beliefs of underrepresented students. This in-depth understanding will eliminate guesswork and unrealistic expectations and in the process promote tolerance and acceptance of diversity in ways of knowing.

To alleviate teachers’ reluctance toward practical work, there has been much discussion on teachers’ pedagogical content knowledge, teaching materials, and failsafe strategies for practical work. Despite these efforts, practical work is still regarded as a challenging task for many elementary science teachers. To understand the complexity of teachers’ conflicts in practical work, this study examines teachers’ ideas about teaching and learning that influence teachers’ decision‐making and action on teaching practical work. More important than knowing technical–rational aspects of practical work is to understand the internal contradictions that teachers have to resolve within themselves regarding their capabilities and beliefs about science teaching and practical work. Using stories and experiences of 38 third‐year university students in a science method course in Korea, we seek to understand the conflicts and negotiations that they experience as they make decisions regarding practical work throughout their ...

This paper reports how a teacher–researcher partnership examined a biology teacher's existing pedagogical practices and attempted, through a task design innovation, to create the circumstances under which more interactive and emergent assessment for learning practices could flourish in her classroom. This work involved the use of digital video playback technology as the trigger or catalyst for reflection on concrete experiences by the teacher and her students to occur. Results suggest that the digital video innovation brought about changes in student–teacher interactions in science practical work and assisted the teacher in reflecting on her professional learning. The educative effects produced by the catalyst were dependent on the teacher noticing changes in her students and moving in tandem with them along a parallel path of experiential and practitioner-based learning. Overall, the value of the study undertaken is located in sharing an authentic, lived science assessment experience with the intention of assisting colleagues notice aspects of their own pedagogic practices that may be hidden at present.

This paper considers the circumstances under which science teachers can respond positively and productively to educational policy reforms in the area of science practical assessment. To understand what might be involved in linking science teachers’ assessment capacities and their professional development, we present illustrative data from recent research studies conducted in Singapore and Hong Kong showing contrasting approaches taken in the implementation of reforms in science practical assessment. In Singapore, teachers worked together to select, discuss, clarify and refine their practices as they made decisions about what to teach and assess. In Hong Kong, teachers took a critical stance towards the new policy and learnt from their own experiences in order to build their confidence. With the same policy initiative, one group of teachers focused more on the technicalities of complying with requirements imposed on them while in the other group had their professional consciousness of what they thought was best for their students provoked so that their practices would be transformed. In an attempt to draw lessons for other contexts in supporting the implementation of assessment policy reforms through professional development work, we identify and discuss a range of factors in science teachers’ professional development that arise once in situ professional development work has started. Overall, our intent in this article is to recast assessment reform as a driver or pivot in teachers’ professional development and learning. To do this it is necessary, we argue, to afford teachers’ experiences and the processes involved in learning from them greater emphasis in order to ensure the continuance of innovation in the assessment of laboratory-based work.

The purpose of this paper is to identify tensions in teacher–student interaction in a high school biology laboratory. Using micro‐analytic analysis of classroom talk, the interaction between the students and a teacher working in the biology laboratory session on Reproduction in Plants is studied. The two tensions highlighted here are tension with textbooks as authority and tension with the teacher as authority. Tension with textbooks as authority originates from an over‐reliance on generalizations expressed in textbooks resulting in the inability of learners to appreciate alternatives and exceptions. Tension with the teacher as authority stems from the task design and varying levels of control that a teacher has over the learner and the learning process. The genesis of the two forms of tensions in the laboratory is different and they are tackled differently by the participants to yield different outcomes. While science educators have conducted intensive research over the past two decades on the effects of...

Some learning scientists are beginning to investigate social and cultural aspects of learning by examining the interactions between a learner and the environment as well as with other people in the learning environment. This article proposes conversational analysis (CA) as a tool to analyze interactions between learners and instructors in face‐to‐face and online environments. It illustrates the potential of CA to enhance our understanding of the social aspect of learning by comparing analyses of transcripts in two distinct situations. Through the analysis, distinct characteristic interactions in face‐to‐face and online environments are uncovered by linking these analyses to the unique affordances of the learning environments. L’analyse conversationnelle, outil analytique pour la conversation en face a face et en ligne Certains specialistes de l’apprentissage commencent a etudier les aspects sociaux et culturels de cet apprentissage en examinant les interactions entre un apprenant et son environnement ains...

Issues with assessment have traditionally been viewed with great importance as it is used (1) for placement of students in different tracks, (2) as a proxy for allocation of funds to educational institutions, and (3) for assessing students’ learning. In Singapore, assessment practices have generally been summative in nature and aimed at evaluating what students have learnt and gained from school. The idea of formative assessment is relatively new for most teachers in science classrooms. Using task probes in a questionnaire format, we examined the factors that 39 grade four science teachers consider as they decide on inquiry tasks for their students. Based on their considerations, we infer their ideas of formative assessment as they engaged in science as inquiry and highlight concerns and dilemma that emerge as they report on their practices of science inquiry and formative assessment. We raised the concerns of the low level of teachers’ understanding of the principles related to formative assessment and the perceived conflicts with summative assessment requirements and their practices of science as inquiry in the classrooms.

A new primary science syllabus with science as inquiry as its foundation and guiding philosophy was implemented in Singapore since 2008. In this study, we present perspectives of science as inquiry as experienced by teachers teaching science under the current educational landscape that is routinised and highly teacher-fronted. We invited 41 in-service teachers to participate in (1) questionnaires and narratives, (2) reflective writings and (3) group discussions related to science inquiry. Data analysis in the form of thematic coding using NVivo8, with over 80 % inter-coder coding agreement level, was carried out. Three key interrelated aspects of in-service teachers’ perceptions of science as inquiry were revealed: (1) pressure of assessment demands, (2) perceived need for strong teacher intervention in inquiry and (3) favouring content knowledge rather than process skills. These considerations surface conflicts of teaching science as inquiry that are driven by assessment demands and resulted in a mode of science as inquiry that has tight teacher control with a strong focus on learning the canonical science content. We also explored the underlying reasons behind the perceptions of inquiry practices held by these in-service teachers.

In this chapter, we provide promising examples of professional development (PD) programmes for teachers targeted at using inquiry-based approaches. This chapter summarises a symposium at the 2011 ESERA involving researchers from Europe, North America, Australia and Asia. Two main questions guided the discussion: (1) What are your views for supporting teachers in carrying out inquiry in the science classroom? (2) What is the evidence for effective strategies of supporting teachers in learning to teach science as inquiry? Taken together, these studies demonstrate that science teachers’ professional learning is effectively supported by providing opportunities to experiment with new teaching approaches in their classroom, sometimes in combination with authentic experiences to learn science (i.e. scientific inquiry) and to reflect on these experiences, both individually and collectively.

This paper examines pre-service teachers' reflection on teaching after participating in an online course using videos of micro-skills coupled with self reflection and group blogs. Data sources included 137 online blog entries collected from 26 participants as well as semi-structured interviews with the participants at the end of the course. Larrivee's (2008) four levels of reflection (pre, surface, pedagogical and critical) were used to code the online reflections and content analysis of the participants' views of teaching was carried out with the interview transcripts. Analysis of online reflections showed that 67% of the reflection by pre-service teachers' falls in the pedagogical category and 2% in the critical category. These findings show that these pre-service teachers are capable of engaging in reflection beyond a surface level even with limited classroom experience. The resources that these pre-service teachers used to make sense of teaching are (1) their knowledge of learning theories; (2) their ideas of teachers' roles and responsibilities; and (3) their existing ideas of what makes good teaching. The pre-service teachers' reflection upon their learning showed evidence of willingness to incorporate the learnt ideas of good teaching in their future classrooms teaching. The use of micro-skills videos and reflection allowed them to restructure their pedagogical knowledge through identification, comparison, modification and synthesising.

This chapter focuses on the application of Conversation Analysis (CA) as a tool to understand online social encounters. Complementing current analytic methods like content analysis and social network analysis, analytic tools like Discussion Analysis Tool (DAT) (Jeong, 2003) and Transcript Analysis Tool (TAT) (Fahy, Crawford, & Ally, 2001) have been developed to study both the content of online discussions as well as the interactions that take place among the participants. While these new tools have devoted certain attention to the development of social interactions, insights into how online participants form alliances among themselves and mechanisms for repairing a conversation when it breaks down remains lacking. Knowledge of online social order (or the lack of), both its genesis as well as maintenance, is essential as it affects the processes and intended learning outcomes in an online community. We argue that using CA, while not popularly applied for the analysis of online discussions, gives the much needed focus on the minute details of online interactions that are important to understanding social orderliness of conversations in a virtual community. In this chapter, we illustrate how CA can be applied in analysis of online discussion by applying Freebody’s (2003) six analytic passes and suggest that CA may be used as an alternative analytic tool in a virtual environment where conversations are generally asynchronous. These six analytic passes are: (1) turn taking, (2) building exchanges, (3) parties, alliances and talk, (4) trouble and repair, (5) preferences and accountability, and (6) institutional categories and the question of identity.

Research on argumentation has increased our understanding of knowledge construction, group learning, and scaffolding structures in CSCL although analyses of argumentation pose many difficulties. This could be due to the many theoretical positions that can be taken when approaching discourse data. In this paper, we use three popular analytic methods (interactional, content-specific, and linguistic) to compare the same fragment of scientific argumentation by Grade 4 children in Singapore. We show the complementary emphases and strengths of each disciplinary position as well as their weaknesses. The results imply that analytic methods arising from different disciplinary positions can potentially broaden our overall understanding of using argumentation in CSCL.