This study examined emotional climate in relation to the teaching and learning of grade 7 science. A multi-method and multi-theoretic approach used sociocultural frameworks as a foundation for interpretive research, conversation analysis, prosody analysis, and studies of nonverbal conduct. Emotional climate varied continuously throughout a lesson.…

Presents a model of collective teaching and learning as a way to build deep learning of science concepts while learning about alternative ways to teach the same subject matter. Articulates coteaching/cogenerative dialoguing in terms of activity theory and the associated first-person research methodology that has been developed as a method for…

A teacher describes his first year teaching science in an urban school and the process of co-teaching with other teachers and student "consultants" that helped him relearn to teach and deal with the subculture he encountered. (SK)

Teachers rarely get to see good teaching in the classes of others, usually because they are too busy in their own classrooms. The teaching practices of mathematics and science teachers recognized as good teachers in Western Australia were studied in the hope that other teachers might learn from these findings. Exemplary teachers (n=22) and a…

Observes an eighth grade science class in two overlapping perspectives: an action orientation and a discourse orientation. Reports that the teacher's actions encouraged univocal discourse between students and their reproductive understanding of scientific concepts. Concludes that before a class can become more like a scientific discourse…

Explanations are provided for the use of metaphor to make sense of teachers' roles, how belief sets are associated with specific roles and metaphors, and how new metaphors can be constructed to help teachers reconceptualize teaching roles and change instructional practices. (JD)

Investigates factors associated with endeavors to improve science teaching. Two coaching models used by science educators and by peer teachers were used over a period of six months. Neither program was successful. Five assertions emerged from interviews and observation data. Major impediments were beliefs about teaching and poor science knowledge.…

Describes the teaching and learning of chemistry in an Australian high school as it relates to the beliefs about the nature of science of a teacher and a class with the curriculum actually enacted. Although the teacher and students tended to view science as an evolving and changing discipline, the actual enacted curriculum was approached as a…

The study examines how social and cultural factors mediate the teaching and learning of science in an Australian high school. Grade 10 students, many of them new migrants, often transient and from circumstances of economic hardship, were taught a 5-week unit on chemistry by a teacher with social and cultural histories similar to those of most of…

Discusses the development of a student's ability to control experiments as an important aim of modern science curriculum materials. Argues that most curriculum developers offer only a simplistic method of controlling variables. Suggests ways to enhance the development of variable control within the framework of student experiments. (TW)

Examined relationships between teaching behaviors and student engagement in 13 middle school science classes. Results indicated that seven managerial variables and four instructional variables were significantly related to student engagement rates. Types of tasks allocated by teachers were also significantly related to types of tasks undertaken by…

Designed to obtain information on the tests and activities in which students engage in science classes, this study focused on the activity structures used by teachers in high school science classes and on the academic work of students. The main component of the study was an ethnographic investigation of 15 science teachers from Perth, Australia.…

Describes and synthesizes the findings of 11 case studies which comprise the Exemplary Practice in Science and Mathematics Education Study. Reports four assertions in which exemplary teachers used strategies for management, encouraging students to participate, increasing understanding of science and math, and maintaining a favorable classroom…