Classroom practice

Garnett, P. J., Garnett, P. J., Treagust, D. (1990). Implication of research on students understanding of electrochemistry for improving science curricula and classroom practice. International Journal of Science Education, 72(1), 147-156. 

Several implications for classroom practice are evident from the results of this study. 

Dining the action research, teachers wrote their reflective diaries that this procedure helped them to reflect on what they have done with their time, on what they had taught and what they were to teach. In the diary they recorded detailed descriptions of classroom practice. It was also a valuable tool in helping them to deal with emotionally challenging situations. Diaries included entries on what happened during the lessons, what they thought about those lessons and how they reacted to what had... 

The teachers reflective diaries were confidential to themselves. However, they were all requested to report about their experiences in outline from the reflective diaries, as follows (1) detailed description of each lesson, (2) differences in classroom practice for each of the conducted lessons with regard to previous year(s), (3) their estimation of the results of each of the lessons in the sense of students motivation and knowledge, (4) suggestions for changes/improvements for each of the conducted lessons and (5) their general ideas for the improvement of the teaching unit and the LON approach. 

In a three-year project to develop, use and evaluate context-based materials in Swaziland, a small-scale study by Dlamini, Lubben Campbell (1994) found that teachers were initially very reluctant to be involved. However, over the period of the project, teachers increasingly demonstrated pride of ownership of the materials and the majority reported what they felt were beneficial changes in their classroom practice resulting from their involvement with the project. Similar benefits to teachers have been found... 

Another example. Science, Technology, Environment in Modem Society (STEMS), from Israel (Tal et al., 2001), shows emerging evidence that the extensive involvement of teachers in the development process is resulting in change in classroom practice in the directions hoped for by those developing the materials. 

Chapter 17 is the concluding chapter of this book. It summarises the book from a broad prospective and it looks toward the future of chemical education. It attempts to identify research and development in chemistry education to address current and potential problems. In the first part of the chapter, an overview of current shortcomings in chemical education is presented. Implications of changes in chemistry itself for chemical education are also inferred. In the middle part, the impact of chemical education research on policy and practice are discussed. First, six types of educational research are identified and exemplified by studies cited elsewhere in this book. Subsequently, this framework is used to determine which specific types of research will needed in the future and in roughly what proportion. Second, a six-level model to explain the (lack of) impact of existing chemical education research on classroom practice is introduced. These levels vary from chemistry teachers unawareness of (potentially relevant) research findings to chemistry teachers decision to use these findings to... 

Enhancing the integration of (university or college) theory and (classroom) practice. 

The growing attention to the development of (prospective) teachers knowledge base has been stimulated by two important notions about teaching. First, research on teacher thinking shows that there is a strong relationship between what teachers think and how they teach. This relationship has a reciprocal characteristic teachers knowledge base affects their lesson planning and classroom practice, while, conversely, their... 

PCK, referring as it does to particular topics, is distinct from a general knowledge of pedagogy, educational purposes, and learner characteristics. Moreover, because PCK is concerned with the teaching of particular topics, it may turn out to differ considerably from the related SMK. PCK is developed by an iterative process that is rooted in classroom practice, implying that prospective or novice teachers usually have little or no PCK at their disposal. 

Some researchers have shown that, in contrast with experienced teachers, begiiming chemistry teachers articulated personal theories conflicted with their classroom practices (Brickhouse Bodner, 1992 Volkman Anderson, 1998 Sweeney, Bula Cornett, 2001). In the context of educational change, teachers frameworks of personally constructed beliefs usually constrain teachers adaptation of innovative methods. For instance, Briscoe (1993) described a North American experienced chemistry teacher s struggle to adopt and implement alternative assessment routines, reporting that whenever the new routines conflicted with the teacher s existing cognitive referents ... 

Brickhouse, N.W. (1990). Teachers beliefs about the nature of science and their relationships to classroom practice. Journal of Teacher Education, 41, 53-62. 

Gess-Newsome, J. Lederman, N.G. (1995). Biology teachers perceptions of subject matter structure and its relationship to classroom practice. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 32 (3), 301-325. 

The consensus amongst teachers of chemistry seems to be, in our experience, that research currently has far less impact on the development of theory, policy, or classroom practice, than the researchers in chemical education would wish. The available evidence supports this view. Kempa (2001) has recently reviewed studies of Portuguese chemistry teachers which showed that, in order of declining importance, they drew on personal experience , common sense , official documentation , and a consensus amongst professionals as sources of professional knowledge. The research literature was hardly mentioned. There is every reason to believe that similar results would be obtained in any country. 

Kempa (2001) has proposed a six-Level model of the impact of existing chemical education research on classroom practice. The chemical education research community can thus take some measures to increase this impact. Taking Kempa s model as an organising framework, we make a number of suggestions about how this might be done ... 

The chemistry teacher knows about the research and decides to incorporate some of the findings, a medium level impact, into altered classroom practice. With the support of a mediator , say a university academic working in a collaborative, action research mode, perhaps all the implications can be worked through, given time. 

The chemistry teacher knows about the research and, in a high impact utilisation of the research, decides to use all of the relevant findings to improve classroom practice. This only seems to take place when a teacher has extensive consultancy/collaborative support. One example of this was the progressive introduction of many of the elements of the model-based science curriculum into at least some schools in UK (Boulter Gilbert, 2000). Another... 

The pre-service education of prospective chemistry teachers and the professional development of experienced chemistry teachers can play a crucial role in bridging the gap between chemical education research and classroom practices. However, this requires the development and implementation of adequate professional development programmes which, in our view, should focus on the following aims ... 

This book is guidance. It should not be treated as a complete and authoritative statement of the law. It is intended to help teachers steer their way through what we believe are the key issues and responsibilities regarding the implementation of health and safety requirements in the classroom. We have deliberately used simple terms to help readers understand some aspects of the law and how it can impact on classroom practice. The exemplar materials illustrated reflect authors experience of good practice in a variety of contexts. Teaching and learning in the primary school is such a dynamic and unpredictable experience that no one can guarantee that accidents will not happen. We hope this will help readers to do all that is reasonable ... 

Minor accidents are common place and need to be dealt with in a common sense way, within recognised classroom practice and first aid regulations. Horrible accidents are fortunately very rare, nevertheless, in the event of an accident teachers should know how to deal with it. 

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