Grade 8 Students’ Level of Conceptual Understanding of Electric Circuits Using Virtual Manipulative

The challenge to Physics teachers is finding ways to address students’ alternative conceptions and misconceptions. Traditional instruction often fails to change these ideas because students deeply hold them. In this study, we report the effects of using virtual manipulatives on students’ conceptual understanding of the topic, electricity. In learning the concepts on DC circuits, energy, current-voltage-resistance relationship, and potential difference, the students used the Physics Education Technology (PhET) interactive simulations project of the University of Colorado, particularly the Circuit Construction Kit DC Virtual Lab simulation app. The virtual activities that the students conducted were able to augment the class discussion. The results of the post-instruction administration of the assessment instrument, Determining and Interpreting Resistive Electric Circuits Test (DIRECT), revealed that the simulations helped the students analyze the physical aspects of electric circuits. Technology integration in classroom discussion of electric circuits effectively engaged students to learn more about Physics concepts.

Combining Active Learning Strategies: Performances and Experiences of Grade School Filipino Students

This study combined computer simulation and predict-observe-explain as a new strategy known as Computer Simulation Supported Predict-Observe-Explain (CSSPOE) to explore other ways to facilitate the teaching and learning in physics. This strategy was tested in determining the conceptual understanding and scientific reasoning among grade school Filipino students. A quasi-experimental method was used to gather quantitative data from 38 participants then a case study was used to acquire information from the students. After the CSSPOE intervention, post-test results showed that students had positive conceptual changes, and this increase was significant. The interview data showed that participants pointed out the affordances of CSSPOE, such as visualization, autonomy, recognition of alternative conceptions, and consequently accommodating the scientific notions, and noticing the departure of the strategy from the usual lecture method. The recommendation is to adapt CSSPOE in the K to 12 science curriculum or even in college Physics classes. Physics teachers should strive to utilize constructivist and active learning approaches like CSSPOE.

Understanding Pasifika Educational Aspirations and Conceptions of Development in Wainuiomata

<p>Education is good for development. This positive relationship between education and development is often stated without challenge, resulting in education being posited at the forefront of global development strategies. Yet, within the subject of Development Studies, postdevelopment theorists have questioned the very basis of ‘development’, not only its definition but also the inherent assumption that it is necessarily desirable and positive. Instead, they point to examples such as Buen Vivir and argue that we should explore different ways of conceptualising what is a good life. The present research has sought to examine the way the Pasifika community in Wainuiomata, Aotearoa perceives and engages with education to fulfil its own vision of development. Some 30 research participants contributed their valuable time and energy to this project through semi-structured interviews, offering insight into their own educational experiences and aspirations. Through employing a methodological approach informed by the ethos of talanoa and participatory research, this research has privileged the narratives of participants, giving voice to their experiences within an academic context. This research has identified that while the experiences of these families within Aotearoa’s education system have been frustrating and challenging, such adversity has not served to disenfranchise Pasifika families from engaging within this educational system. Rather, it has served as motivation to create better educational experiences for youth in this community today. Furthermore, the vision of development aspired toward by this community is one that draws both similarities and contrasts with mainstream conceptions of development. The existence of alternative conceptions of development supports post-development’s call for development practise to examine local context and community aspirations, and to value community knowledge and action. In examining the way this community has engaged with education to progress their own vision of development, it was found that Pasifika families in Wainuiomata are taking ownership of their own development, and are actively involved in creating better educational outcomes for their youth.</p>

Understanding Pasifika Educational Aspirations and Conceptions of Development in Wainuiomata

<p>Education is good for development. This positive relationship between education and development is often stated without challenge, resulting in education being posited at the forefront of global development strategies. Yet, within the subject of Development Studies, postdevelopment theorists have questioned the very basis of ‘development’, not only its definition but also the inherent assumption that it is necessarily desirable and positive. Instead, they point to examples such as Buen Vivir and argue that we should explore different ways of conceptualising what is a good life. The present research has sought to examine the way the Pasifika community in Wainuiomata, Aotearoa perceives and engages with education to fulfil its own vision of development. Some 30 research participants contributed their valuable time and energy to this project through semi-structured interviews, offering insight into their own educational experiences and aspirations. Through employing a methodological approach informed by the ethos of talanoa and participatory research, this research has privileged the narratives of participants, giving voice to their experiences within an academic context. This research has identified that while the experiences of these families within Aotearoa’s education system have been frustrating and challenging, such adversity has not served to disenfranchise Pasifika families from engaging within this educational system. Rather, it has served as motivation to create better educational experiences for youth in this community today. Furthermore, the vision of development aspired toward by this community is one that draws both similarities and contrasts with mainstream conceptions of development. The existence of alternative conceptions of development supports post-development’s call for development practise to examine local context and community aspirations, and to value community knowledge and action. In examining the way this community has engaged with education to progress their own vision of development, it was found that Pasifika families in Wainuiomata are taking ownership of their own development, and are actively involved in creating better educational outcomes for their youth.</p>

Exploration and categorisation of pre-service physics teachers' understanding of superconductivity and nanotechnology

Nanoscience and technology is a major field of scientific research and technological innovation but understanding concepts such as superconductivity and nanotechnology are not straightforward. To develop focused teaching strategies, it is necessary to categorise students’ prior understanding as different categories of prior ideas require different teaching strategies. An exploratory case study research design was followed to explore and categorise 21 pre-service physics teachers’ (PSPTs’) understanding of basic concepts of superconductivity and nanotechnology at a University in Oman. Self-compiled open ended questionnaires were used to elicit PSPT understanding of superconductivity and nanotechnology. Their understanding was categorised in epistemological and ontological categories. These six categories were: lateral alternative conceptions; ontological conceptions; naïve physics; phenomenological primitives (p-primes); mixed conceptions; and loose ideas. Findings from this pre-instructional study indicated that naïve physics ideas and lateral alternative conceptions were dominant and that the PSPTs’ conceptions were diversified and inconsistent. These results could lead to the development of evidence-based pedagogy, which is fundamental to the advancement of an effective physics education curriculum for these two contemporary topics.

Needs for a Curricular Change in Primary and Secondary Education From the One Health Perspective: A Pilot Study on Pneumonia in Schools

This is the first pilot study on alternative conceptions and obstacles pertaining to pneumonia in adolescents of different school vulnerability indexes. Countries with low socioeconomic levels are disproportionately affected, with Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) being the second-most affected area in the world, after sub-Saharan Africa. In spite of this fact, pneumonia is not included as an important component within the contents of the microbiology curriculum unit in the natural science school program. Therefore, we wanted to study how students knew about this topic by putting One Health into action by building and validating qualitative and quantitative questionnaires, put together by different experts in pedagogy, didactics, microbiology, and veterinary to find out what students knew about pneumonia and their misconceptions about it. A total of 148 students (in 8th and 9th grade) participated in this survey. The results reveal that no statistically significant differences between the different scholar grades (p = 0.3360 Pearson chi∧2) or genders (p = 0.8000 Fisher's exact test) presented higher or lower School Vulnerability Index (SVI). Regardless of the social stratum or the level of vulnerability of the students, they have heard about this disease primarily through their family/relatives, maintaining a superficial notion of the disease, learning wrong ideas about microorganisms and treatments that can contribute to the risk to public health.

IDENTIFICATION DES DIFFICULTES DES APPRENANTS DU SECONDAIRE COLLEGIAL MAROCAIN DANS L’APPRENTISSAGE DES CONCEPTS DE TRANSFORMATION CHIMIQUE – TRANSFORMATION PHYSIQUE / IDENTIFICATION OF DIFFICULTIES OF MOROCCAN SECONDARY COLLEGIAL PUPILS IN LEARNING CONCEPTS OF CHEMICAL TRANSFORMATION - PHYSICAL TRANSFORMATION

<p>Le présent article vise à identifier et à analyser les difficultés des élèves marocains (13–15 ans) de deuxième année de secondaire collégial lors de l’enseignement–apprentissage des concepts chimiques et physiques telles les transformations chimique et physique, l’atome, la molécule, la réaction chimique, et la loi de la conservation de masse. Tout d’abord, nous avons délimité le contexte et la problématique de l’étude, puis nous avons développé un cadre conceptuel portant sur les difficultés d’apprentissage et certaines conceptions alternatives qu’ont faites les élèves à propos des concepts chimiques et physiques étudiés. Puis, nous avons fait passer un test aux élèves en vue de vérifier s’ils sont capables de relier certains critères symboliques et microscopiques aux phénomènes et espèces chimiques : transformation chimique, transformation physique, réaction chimique, atomes, et molécules, etc... Les difficultés qu’éprouvent les élèves à apprendre des concepts abstraits peuvent être dues aux conceptions alternatives erronées, et aux applications heuristiques chez ces élèves à propos de ces concepts. </p><p> </p><p>This article aims to identify and analyze the difficulties of Moroccan pupils (13–15 years old) of the second year of college school in the teaching and learning of chemical and physics concepts, such as: chemical transformation, physical transformation, atom, molecule, chemical reaction, low of conservation of mass. Firstly, we have defined the research context, and we have developed a conceptual framework dealing with learning difficulties and the alternative conceptions that pupils have made about the studied concepts. Then, we passed a survey to the pupils in order to check if they are able to associate symbolic and microscopic criteria with the chemical phenomena and species: chemical transformation, physical transformation, chemical reaction, atoms, and molecules etc... The difficulties encountered by pupils in the learning of these abstract concepts may be due to alternative conceptions, and heuristic applications that have the pupils about these concepts. </p><p> </p><p><strong> Article visualizations:</strong></p><p><img src="/-counters-/edu_01/0882/a.php" alt="Hit counter" /></p>

The Challenge to Educational Reforms during a Global Emergency: The Case of Progressive Science Education

This article argues that what is most at risk in schooling during a global pandemic, or other similar broad challenges to normal functioning, are those elements that might be considered the less traditional and so the most progressive. After setting out some general background common to the challenge faced by schools and school teachers, this argument is exemplified through the case of school science education. Two particular aspects are considered: one related to pedagogy (responding to learners’ alternative conceptions or ‘misconceptions’) and one related to curriculum (teaching about the nature of science). These are considered ‘progressive’ features in the sense that they have widely been championed as ways of improving and reforming science education across a wide range of national contexts but can be understood to have faced resistance both in the sense of being opposed by ‘reactionary’ stakeholders and in terms of the level of support for teacher adoption. It is argued that at a time when the education system is placed under extreme stress, such progressive elements are at particular risk as teachers and administrators may view them as ‘extras’ rather than ‘core’ features of practice and/or as reflecting more ‘difficult’ educational objectives that may need to be de-prioritised (and so neglected) for the time being. In that sense, they are fragile aspects of practice that lack the resilience of more established, and thus robust, features. It is concluded that where progressive elements are especially valued, they need to become sufficiently embedded in custom and practice to no longer be viewed as luxuries but rather to be recognised as core elements of good teaching to be protected and maintained during a period of emergency.

The (im)mobility of masculinities: discourses on hiring men in long-term care services in Catalonia

The presence of male job seekers in the long-term care sector poses new challenges for organizations operating in this environment. We take a qualitative approach to analyze the discourses and practices applied by managers of long-term care services in relation to hiring men in their organizations. In this analysis we explore how masculinities are mobilized and whether the growing male presence has brought about changes in hiring requirements in terms of gender. The growing number of professionally trained male carers who are willing to work in direct care settings does not, at the moment, seem to be a factor that alters or challenges organizational hiring requirements. We introduce the concept of (im)mobilization of masculinities to illustrate how, although care service organizations’ recruitment practices do mobilize idealized and alternative conceptions of masculinity, hiring men is not their priority. These practices help to reproduce gender inequalities in the long-term care sector.