Out-of-school science educational activities, such as school visits to a science center, aim at stimulating pupils’ science talent. Science talent is a developmental potential that takes the form of talented behaviors such as curiosity and conceptual understanding. This dissertation investigates whether and how out-of-school science activities contribute to the elicitation, emergence, and development of pupils’ science talent. The context of this thesis is the Northern Netherlands Science Network, an alliance of primary schools, out-of-school science facilities, the university of Groningen, and the Hanze University of Applied Sciences (www.wknn.nl). Interviews with the schools on their starting position showed that adequate communication between schools and out-of-school facilities is necessary to coordinate the participants’ educational goals. Secondly, the elicitation and expression of science talent was studied in the micro-interactions between pupils and their educator (classroom teacher or facility instructor). To do so, a multivariate coding scheme was developed to measure Pedagogical Content Knowledge expressed in real-time interaction (EPCK). The interaction shows a variable pattern over time. Sometimes episodes of high-level EPCK — so-called talent moments — emerge, in which talented pupil behavior in the form of pupils’ conceptual understanding, and talent elicitation by the educator in the form of open teaching focused on conceptual understanding, determine one another. These talent moments only occur in activities that were prepared in the classroom and with educators who were trained to evoke conceptual understanding. Under these conditions, out of school science activities can contribute to the elicitation and development of science talent in primary school pupils.AB - Out-of-school science educational activities, such as school visits to a science center, aim at stimulating pupils’ science talent. Science talent is a developmental potential that takes the form of talented behaviors such as curiosity and conceptual understanding. This dissertation investigates whether and how out-of-school science activities contribute to the elicitation, emergence, and development of pupils’ science talent. The context of this thesis is the Northern Netherlands Science Network, an alliance of primary schools, out-of-school science facilities, the university of Groningen, and the Hanze University of Applied Sciences (www.wknn.nl). Interviews with the schools on their starting position showed that adequate communication between schools and out-of-school facilities is necessary to coordinate the participants’ educational goals. Secondly, the elicitation and expression of science talent was studied in the micro-interactions between pupils and their educator (classroom teacher or facility instructor). To do so, a multivariate coding scheme was developed to measure Pedagogical Content Knowledge expressed in real-time interaction (EPCK). The interaction shows a variable pattern over time. Sometimes episodes of high-level EPCK — so-called talent moments — emerge, in which talented pupil behavior in the form of pupils’ conceptual understanding, and talent elicitation by the educator in the form of open teaching focused on conceptual understanding, determine one another. These talent moments only occur in activities that were prepared in the classroom and with educators who were trained to evoke conceptual understanding. Under these conditions, out of school science activities can contribute to the elicitation and development of science talent in primary school pupils.
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Integrated curricula seem promising for the increase of attention on science and technology in primary education. A clear picture of the advantages and disadvantages of integration efforts could help curriculum innovation. This review has focussed on integrated curricula in primary education from 1994 to 2011. The integrated curricula were categorized according to a taxonomy of integration types synthesized from the literature. The characteristics that we deemed important were related to learning outcomes and success/fail factors. A focus group was formed to facilitate the process of analysis and to test tentative conclusions. We concluded that the levels in our taxonomy were linked to (a) student knowledge and skills, the enthusiasm generated among students and teachers, and the teacher commitment that was generated; and (b) the teacher commitment needed, the duration of the innovation effort, the volume and comprehensiveness of required teacher professional development, the necessary teacher support, and the effort needed to overcome tensions with standard curricula. Almost all projects were effective in increasing the time spent on science at school. Our model resolves Czerniac’s definition problem of integrating curricula in a productive manner, and it forms a practical basis for decision-making by making clear what is needed and what output can be expected when plans are being formulated to implement integrated education.
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eHealth education should be integrated into vocational training and continuous professional development programmes. In this opinion article, we aim to support organisers of Continuing Professional Development (CPD) and teachers delivering medical vocational training by providing recommendations for eHealth education. First, we describe what is required to help primary care professionals and trainees learn about eHealth. Second, we elaborate on how eHealth education might be provided
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Background: With the increased attention on implementing inquiry activities in primary science classrooms, a growing interest has emerged in assessing students’ science skills. Research has been concerned with the limitations and advantages of different test formats to assess students’ science skills. Purpose: This study explores the construction of different instruments for measuring science skills by categorizing items systematically on three subskill levels (science-specific, thinking, metacognition,) and different activities of the empirical cycle.Sample: The study included 128 5th and 6th grade students from seven primary schools in the Netherlands.Design and method: Seven measures were used: a paper-and-pencil test, three performance assessments, two metacognitive self-report tests and a test used as an indication of general cognitive ability.Results: Reliabilities of all tests indicate sufficient internal consistency. Positive correlations between the paper-and-pencil test and performance assessments reinforce that the different tests measure a common core of similar skills thus providing evidence for convergent validity. Results also show that students’ ability in performing scientific inquiry is significantly related to general cognitive ability. No relations are found between the measure of general metacognitive ability and the paper-and-pencil test or the three performance assessments. By contrast the metacognitive self-report test constructed to obtain information about application of metacognitive abilities in performing scientific inquiry, shows significant - although small - correlations with two performance assessments. Further explorations reveal sufficient scale reliabilities on subskill and empirical step level.Conclusions: The present study shows that science skills can be measured reliably by categorizing items on subskill and step level. Additional diagnostic information can be obtained by examining mean scores on both subskill and step level. Such measures are not only suitable for assessing students’ mastery of science skills but can also provide teachers diagnostic information to adapt their instructions and foster the learning process of their students.
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Thinking back and forth between observing physical phenomena and developing scientific ideas, also known as hands-on and minds-on learning, is essential for the development of scientific reasoning in primary science education. In the Netherlands, inquiry-based learning is advocated as the preferred teaching method. However, most teachers lack time and sufficient pedagogical content knowledge to adequately provide the teaching required for this. To address this problem, we designed and evaluated science and technology lessons, consisting of hands-on experiments combined with interactive diagrams, aimed at scaffolding primary school students (9–12 years) in the development of their scientific reasoning. Our proof-of-concept uses an online application, that lets students work through the lessons while alternating hands-on and minds-on activities. A study was carried out (n = 490) showing that most students successfully complete the lessons within a standard lesson timeframe. The approach enables students to effectively apply several types of scientific reasoning and to do so more autonomously than in traditional science classes.
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In most primary science classes, students are taught science skills by way of learning by doing. Research shows that explicit instruction may be more effective. The aim of this study is to investigate the effects of explicit instruction in an inquiry-based learning setting on the acquisition of science skills for students in primary education. Participants included 705 Dutch 5th and 6th graders. Students were randomly assigned to either an explicit instruction condition including an 8-week intervention of explicit instruction on inquiry skills; an implicit condition in which students were taught by learning by doing; or a baseline condition in which students followed their regular science curriculum. To assess the effects, measurement instruments for evaluating the acquisition of science skills were developed. Results of a multi-level analysis indicated that explicit instruction facilitates development of science skills. Therefore, this study provides a strong argument for including an explicit teaching method for developing science skills in primary science education.
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This reports is about content and language integrated learning (CLIL) in multilingual primary classrooms. While in theory CLIL offers many opportunities for inclusive education in multilingual settings, questions remain as to how integrated language teaching can be realised, and what teacher knowledge is required for this. This research used a CLIL Teaching Wall activity and interviews with UK and Dutch primary school teachers to capture teacher knowledge underlying decision-making in actual multilingual classrooms. The report presents a framework of CLIL teacher knowledge that emerged from this work.
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The research in this dissertation aims to investigate the acquisition of students’ science skills in grades 5 and 6 of primary education in the Netherlands. In most primary science classes, science skills are mainly taught by way of conducting investigations. However, prior research indicates that explicit instruction and separate skills training may be more effective. In this dissertation, four studies are discussed. In the first study, an instructional framework was developed based on a categorization of science skills into thinking skills, science-specific skills and metacognitive skills. This instructional framework was used to develop lessons using systematic instruction aimed at the development of these different skills. The second study describes the development and psychometric quality of the measurement instruments in order to examine the acquisition and transfer of science skills. Two paper-and-pencil tests, three performance assessments and two questionnaires were used for this purpose. In a third study, the effects of two experimental conditions were evaluated, following an experimental pretest-posttest design: a condition with explicit instruction and a condition in which all aspects of explicit instruction were absent. Students in both conditions received an 8-week intervention and were compared to students in a baseline condition who followed their regular science curriculum. The fourth study addresses the use of performance assessments as a diagnostic tool for science teachers. In general, the results indicate that the measurement instruments can be used to reliably measure science skills. Findings also show that explicit instruction facilitates acquisition and transfer of science skills.
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Mathematics teacher educators in primary teacher education need expert knowledge and skills in teaching in primary school, in subject matter and research. Most starting mathematics teacher educators possess only part of this knowledge and skills. A professional development trajectory for this group is developed and tested, where a design based research is used to evaluate the design. This paper describes the professional development trajectory and design. We conclude that the professional development design should focus on mathematical knowledge for teaching, should refer to both teacher education and primary education, should offer opportunities for cooperative learning, and need to use practice based research as a developmental tool.
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Enjoyment in primary physical education (PE) is a key factor in increasing children's physical activity engagement in PE and leisure time. While existing PE research has largely focused on a motivational PE climate and meaningful experiences in PE, research on children's perceptions of enjoyable teaching practices (TPs) in PE is limited. Therefore, this study aimed to explore primary school children's perspectives on TPs that foster PE enjoyment. In addition, we observed to what extent these TPs were applied in daily PE practice. Four focus groups with 10- to 12-year-old children (12 boys, 12 girls) from four primary schools were formed and inductive analysis resulted in 32 child-identified TPs categorized into 10 dimensions. Thirty-one PE lessons taught by 19 different PE teachers (11 generalists, 8 PE specialists) were recorded and coded using the child-identified TPs. Teachers regularly performed a substantial number of these TPs during their PE lessons. However, TPs such as the use of cooperative learning, instructional methods to promote children's (social) learning process, an emphasis on children's individual improvements, and consciously grouping were rarely observed. Moreover, PE specialists showed TPs supporting exploratory learning and children's individual learning processes more frequently than generalists. In addition, PE specialists provided challenging, differentiated tasks with a creative use of equipment more often than generalists. Including children's perspectives contributes to a comprehensive understanding of PE enjoyment and TPs that can promote enjoyable PE experiences. Children's voices need to be heard continuously by PE teachers to ensure enjoyable PE experiences for all children.
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