Description:
China’s science education has been undergoing a new round of curriculum and assessment reform from the beginning of this century. Realizing that the conventional curriculum attaches too much importance to knowledge teaching and book learning, the new curriculum standards have paid particular attention to quality education, which includes intellectual, affective, ethical, and physical development of all students. All science curriculum standards are developed under the framework of three dimensions – knowledge and skills, process and methods, and attitudes and values. The new curriculum emphasizes more on teaching the nature of science and its importance to enhancing scientific literacy.
Description:
Cultural studies in science education have been gaining more attention in recent years. One much-debated theme in this area is teaching culturally related knowledge in modern school science. Within the context of science education, “culturally related knowledge” refers to the knowledge that can be treated as science, but has different cultural origins from that of Western Modern Science (WMS) or Euro-centric science (Aikenhead and Ogawa 2007). Different points of view about the nature of science and the relationship between science education and culture have a direct influence on people’s opinions of the content and pedagogy of science teaching in school. "From introduction"
Influence of the interplay of habitual affective attributes and classroom learning environments on learners’ situational affective experiences in learning science : the narratives of primary pre-service teachers
Description:
In China, the College Entrance Examination (CEE) is often likened to a conductor’s baton in that it directs and controls almost every every decision-making in the educational system. The positive or negative impact of CEE on the development of individual student and society as a whole has been much debated. In the absence of a fairer selection mechanism for college entrance, the long-time dominant CEE has led to an unspoken consequence of Chinese educational practice—‘education for examination’. CEE is, without doubt, the most influential factor that shapes teachers’ pedagogical practice. However, few discussions go into detail about what values promoted by CEE are reflected in teachers’ pedagogical practice. This chapter reviews a body of literature about strategies suggested by secondary school science teachers in dealing with CEE and identifies the connection between these strategies and the values advocated by the science curriculum standards. The discussion will be in relation to the current reform in China’s educational system which promotes quality-oriented education. This reform echoes the trend in many English-speaking countries which values education for not only knowledge but also process and attitudes.
Description:
This chapter reports on empirical study that examined the impact of two distinctive university-school partnerships involving two teacher educators, preservice teachers, in-service teachers and their primary-aged students from two regional primary schools. The study took place in Gippsland, Australia and was underpinned by a science education subject embedded in a Bachelor of Education degree that involved the delivery of science lessons by pre-serivce teachers with children in outdoor settings. In asking the question how can a university-school partnership shape and inform science teaching and science teacher education, the chapter draws on a data set of focus group and individual interviews with pre-service and in-service teachers. The chapter contends that university-school partnerships make an important contribution to education, particularly in relation to science teaching and science teacher education. We contend the place-based partnership frameworks will be of interest to those teacher educators and in-service teachers looking to enrich and renew educational practice more broadly, as well as in the science domain.