Combining Quantitative and Qualitative Approaches in a Cross-National Study of Teacher Beliefs about Science.

This paper reports on the latest outcomes of an ongoing cross national research project that examines the relationship between teachers' beliefs about the nature of science and the classroom learning environment from a reform-oriented constructivist perspective in junior high school science classrooms in Australia and Taiwan. The focus is on an innovative Australian science teacher who developed a pedagogy relatively free from the traditional science curriculum imperatives. The significance of this case study lies in what it can tell about how teachers who have relatively postmodern beliefs about the nature of science might go about creating classroom environments in which students' own life interests are a central focus of their learning activities. Such learning environments are of interest to those who are concerned with constructivist pedagogical reform that builds on students' extant perspectives, interests, and goals towards learning and themselves. Contains 19 references. (DDR)