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An on-line professional development environment, Knowledge Networks On the Web (KNOW), is described as an example of how on-line video can be employed in support of teacher learning in systemic reform contexts. The design of KNOW is founded on the notion that teacher learning is most effective when it can be linked directly to the classroom enactment of curriculum, and when it can leverage the knowledge of a community of teachers. A conceptual model of teacher learning and a model for conducting research based on that model are described to explain how teacher learning from the use of KNOW can be linked to student learning to improve overall system design.

Computational thinking (CT) is widely considered to be an important component of teaching generalizable computer science skills to all students in a range of learning environments, including robotics. However, despite advances in the design of robotics curricula that can teach CT, actual enactment in classrooms may often fail to reach this target. This study aims to understand whether the various instructional goals teachers’ hold when using these curricula may offer one potential explanation for disparities in outcomes.

In this study, the authors examine results from N = 206 middle-school students’ pre- and post-tests of CT, attitudinal surveys and surveys of their teacher’s instructional goals to determine if student attitudes and learning gains in CT are related to the instructional goals their teachers endorsed while implementing a shared robotics programming curriculum.

The findings provide evidence that despite using the same curriculum, students showed differential learning gains on the CT assessment when in classrooms with teachers who rated CT as a more important instructional goal; these effects were particularly strong for women. Students in classroom with teachers who rated CT more highly also showed greater maintenance of positive attitudes toward programming.

While there is a growing body of literature regarding curricular interventions that provide CT learning opportunities, this study provides a critical insight into the role that teachers may play as a potential support or barrier to the success of these curricula. Implications for the design of professional development and teacher educative materials that attend to teachers’ instructional goals are discussed.

The University of Central Florida’s Curriculum Materials Center acquired a number of science‐related instructional materials which were to be cataloged and added to the collection. Nearly all of the items were three‐dimensional artifacts (including games, models, and toys). Most of these items did not have records on OCLC and required original cataloging. Processing methods needed to be imaginative, and suitable containers were often obtained from less‐than‐traditional sources.

The study aimed to understand the effect of instructional coaching on teachers' implementation of a science teaching improvement programme and whether it varies in schools of different socioeconomic statuses.

The authors conducted an experimental study. A total of 59 seventh-grade classrooms from a representative sample of public schools from the city of Buenos Aires, Argentina, were provided with research-based science educative curriculum materials (ECM) as resources to improve their teaching. A randomly selected treatment group received additional instructional coaching. Coaches met one-on-one with teachers on a weekly basis, providing pedagogical support to enact the ECM. After a 12-week intervention, the authors analyzed science teaching practices as evidenced in students' notebooks. The authors used a fidelity framework to understand the programme's implementation (with and without coaching), considering its adherence, dosage and quality, and compared how it varied across schools.

While teachers in both groups used the ECM in their science lessons (i.e. with high adherence), instructional coaching almost tripled science teaching time (i.e. the dosage) but did not increase the quality of implementation (i.e. the percentage of inquiry-based science activities taught). In low socioeconomic status schools, the effect of coaching on dosage was even more intense.

This study provides robust evidence on the impact of instructional coaching on teaching improvement programmes in science in developing countries, an under researched topic. The findings may contribute to developing targeted coaching interventions considering their effectiveness in different school contexts.

Chelsea Polytechnic, one of the crop of 1890's foundations, was always distinguished from its fellow London Polytechnics by its relative inability to attract ‘the poorer classes’, for whom the Polys were designed. As Chelsea College of Science and Technology, and a CAT, it was distinguished by its lack of technology. It had always done a high percentage of London University degree work, and when it failed to become the University of Hertfordshire after the Robbins promotion, and became instead a School of the University of London, historical justice appeared to be done. The College, on a cramped site amid some of the most expensive land in London, has a strong base in the biological sciences, and was mentioned for this reason by the Todd Report on medical education as a possible candidate for participation in developments in this field. From the existing physical sciences it has moved also into engineering science. A discussion of the College as a whole would involve a consideration of the constraints not only of its geographical position but also those of a new School in a university faced with an immense need to rationalize its resources. Instead we have chosen to illustrate its development by looking at the College's most important recent offspring — its Centre for Science Education.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the relevance of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) in East Timor and proposes a set of ESD indicators to be implemented in the formal education sector.

A detailed analysis of relevant literature concerning national development plans (Republica Democrática de Timor-Leste, 2011), literature centred in East Timor and international perspectives about ESD principles, policies and values (UN reports) was carried, in order to examine the relevance of ESD in East Timor and to assist the selection of a set of ESD indicators. These indicators are proposed in order to assess and monitor if the current national policies, educational programmes, secondary school content, learning goals and activities in formal education express concerns related with ESD promotion in terms of specific curricular themes, learning characteristics, learning resources, skills, values and attitudes.

This paper argues that the East Timor government has intentions in ESD promotion and implementation. Thus, ESD indicators could be helpful in assessment of new curricular practices. However, even though ESDI may indicate that secondary school programmes, content, learning goals or activities are aligned with ESD principles, it is also important to assess if they then contribute effectively to sustainable development.

The case study of East Timor adds to the literature about the current interests of young countries such as this in progressing towards a sustainable future, starting from the selection and implementation of ESD indicators in the current curriculum reform. If it is successful, ESD will contribute to transforming not only education but also the quality of life of the East Timorese.

In recent years, the field of social studies education has seen renewed interest in using inquiry to teach intradisciplinary concepts and skills. However, prospective primary grade teachers may have few (if any) opportunities to observe classroom teachers modeling inquiry during field placements. Methods courses provide fitting contexts in which to introduce preservice teachers (PSTs) to inquiry as a basis for intellectually challenging, meaningful social studies instruction. The purpose of this paper is to utilize a published inquiry curriculum developed for the New York Social Studies Toolkit (NYSST) Project as a tool to explore PSTs’ thinking about teaching first grade economics.

This qualitative study utilized focus groups with two groups of early childhood PSTs enrolled in a social studies methods course (n=28). Secondary data sources included PSTs’ handwritten comments on hard copies of the inquiry curriculum and the researcher’s analytic memos.

In the process of critiquing curriculum during focus group interviews, PSTs concentrated on the proposed tasks, evaluated those tasks for their potential to affect children’s understanding, and suggested new activities that would promote more active student engagement. Participants recognized the significance of children’s prior knowledge and were sensitive to students’ family values, although they underestimated young children’s capacity for robust discussion and intellectually challenging content.

This study is unique in its use of a published NYSST Project inquiry to explore how PSTs make sense of new curriculum. Its attention to PST education for primary grades contributes to elementary social studies literature. Additionally, this study addresses a general concern in teacher education about the need for PSTs to develop skills in interpreting and adapting curriculum materials. Findings suggest that engaging PSTs in discussions about social studies curriculum can help teacher educators identify latent learning goals for their courses that may be overlooked or assumed unnecessary.

This paper is second of seven in this volume elaborating different approaches to quality improvement in education. It delineates a methodology called design-based implementation research (DBIR). The approach used in this paper is aimed at iteratively improving the quality of classroom teaching and learning practices in defined problem areas through collaborations among researchers, practitioners and other education stakeholders.

The paper describes the origins of the approach in US education, along with its foundations, core principles and a case application of DBIR in practice. The case focuses on the specific problem of teaching science and genetics in primary and secondary schools in a district.

The guiding principles of DBIR are: a focus on persistent problems of classroom educational practice; iterative and collaborative design and testing of innovations through partnerships between researchers and practitioners, involving multiple stakeholders’ perspectives; a concern with developing theory related to both implementation processes and classroom learning outcomes, using systematic inquiry; and development of the capacity of both researchers and practitioners to sustain changes in educational systems.

Few theoretical treatments and demonstration cases are currently available in US education that examine common models of quality improvement, particularly DBIR. By engaging practitioners with researchers in designing, testing and implementing reforms meaningfully, DBIR shows promise in offering significant on-the-ground benefits. This paper adds value by allowing readers to compare the DBIR method with the other improvement approaches explicated in this volume.

The purpose of this paper is to explore how web-based science curriculum materials designed to develop autonomous learners can succeed in Brunei. In this instruction, designed to prepare students to independently explore new topics, students and teachers take new roles. Students collaborate with a peer to engage in inquiry and teachers monitor progress and guide students rather than leading the class.

The authors studied two Web-based Inquiry Science Environment (WISE) units (photosynthesis and cellular respiration) developed using the knowledge integration framework. The framework promotes autonomous learning by building on the diverse ideas that students bring to science lessons and encouraging them to distinguish among their own ideas and those they encounter when using scientific visualizations. In a study on “How People Learn: Brain, Mind, Experience and School”, Bransford et al. (1999) suggest that the students’ preconceptions of how the world works must be engaged, as failing to do so may hinder them from grasping new concepts and information that are taught. Two intact classes of students from two secondary schools in Brunei each studied one of the WISE units. Observations revealed that students could work in pairs to jointly engage in inquiry with encouragement from teachers. Embedded assessments and interviews were analyzed to show how students linked observable events and scientific ideas when explaining the conversion of solar energy to chemical energy in photosynthesis.

Significant gains in knowledge integration show that Brunei students who collaboratively study WISE inquiry units can autonomously succeed. Specifically, students using WISE were able to construct complex ideas about photosynthesis and cellular respiration by linking observable events and scientific ideas while working autonomously with infrequent teacher monitoring.

The paper provides invaluable insights into ways in which web-based learning supports students to become autonomous learners.

Student competency in science learning relies on students being able to interpret and use multimodal representations to communicate understandings. Moreover, collaborative learning, in which students may share physiological arousal, can positively affect group performance. This paper aims to observe changes in student attitudes and beliefs, physiology (electrodermal activity; EDA) and content knowledge before and after a multimodal, cooperative inquiry, science teaching intervention to determine associations with productive science learning and increased science knowledge.

A total of 214 students with a mean age of 11 years 6 months from seven primary schools participated in a multimodal, cooperative inquiry, science teaching intervention for eight weeks during a science curriculum unit. Students completed a series of questionnaires pertaining to attitudes and beliefs about science learning and science knowledge before (Time 1) and after (Time 2) the teaching intervention. Empatica E3 wristbands were worn by students during 1 to 3 of their regularly scheduled class sessions both before and after the intervention.

Increases in EDA, science knowledge, self-efficacy and a growth mindset, and decreases in self-esteem, confidence, motivation and use of cognitive strategies, were recorded post-intervention for the cohort. EDA was positively correlated with science knowledge, but negatively correlated with self-efficacy, motivation and use of cognitive strategies. Cluster analysis suggested three main clusters of students with differing physiological and psychological profiles.

First, teachers need to be aware of the importance of helping students to consolidate their current learning strategies as they transition to new learning approaches to counter decreased confidence. Second, teachers need to know that an effective teaching multimodal science intervention can not only be associated with increases in science knowledge but also increases in self-efficacy and movement towards a growth mindset. Finally, while there is evidence that there are positive associations between physiological arousal and science knowledge, physiological arousal was also associated with reductions in self-efficacy, intrinsic motivation and the use of cognitive strategies. This mixed result warrants further investigation.

Overall, this study proposes a need for teachers to counter decreased confidence in students who are learning new strategies, with further research required on the utility of monitoring physiological markers.