Changing constraints in science teaching activity in Icelandic - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Changing constraints in science teaching activity in Icelandic schools

ESERA conference, Malmö, 21st-25th August 2007 Symposium: Identifying Constraints and Contributors to Kindergarten to Grade 8 Science Delivery in Icelandic, Canadian Inuit and New Zealand Maori School Communities

Náttúrufræði- og tæknimenntun

• teaching activity in Icelandic schools

Allyson Macdonald Auður Pálsdóttir Meyvant Þórolfsson Iceland University of Education

The study

• Part of a larger study Intentions and Reality on the status of

science education in schools, funded by the Research Fund in Iceland

– Questions about the alignment of curriculum intentions and realities in schools and classrooms

• Actual and preferred delivery of science in three school

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• Actual and preferred delivery of science in three school

districts in Iceland

– Multi-methods – ISCIQ electronic survey before school visits,

• n-site interviews

– Twelve schools (six grades 1-10, three grades 1-7)

• Data collected October-December 2006

Structure of presentation

Theory and background 1. National curriculum – a process of deliberation 2. Recontextualisation and pedagogic discourse (Bernstein) 3. Activity theory and activity systems (Engeström) 4. Activity systems and pedagogic discourse

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4. Activity systems and pedagogic discourse 5. Activity components, contradictions and ‘ideal types’ Methods The SCIQ questionnaire and activity components Results 1. Survey results – capacity gaps 2. Results from interviews – capacity in schools Discussion – changing constraints

National curriculum

• Compulsory education decentralised 1996

– management at district level – curriculum guidelines at national level

• National curriculum from 1989

– extensively revised in 1996-1999 – introduced 1999

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– introduced 1999 – to be implemented by schools by 2002

• Two-step centralised deliberative process 1996-99

– setting of goals by expert group – preparation of aims and objectives by teacher group

• Very few measures to support implementation of science

curriculum 1999 to the present

– at national level (curriculum materials) – at district/school level (courses, advisers)

Recontextualisation and pedagogical discourse

• Recontextualisation of curriculum from one setting

to the next – science, society and the economy, central planners, writers, schools, teachers

• Pedagogical discourse in each setting reflects

views, resources and constraints on education (Bernstein, 2000)

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(Bernstein, 2000)

– Instructional discourse – selection, sequencing and pacing of material, and criteria of knowledge – Regulative discourse – conduct, character and manner, and criteria of knowledge

• The instructional discourse is always aligned with

the regulative discourse

Outcome Learning theories and teaching activities Learning/curriculum materials Assessment techniques Classroom resources/facilities Teachers – used to controlling classrooms; Learners – expectations

• f a good teacher fairly

Context

Activity system and typical school practice

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Teacher as subject specialist Teacher leadership DoL – who are experts Tech./prof. support Role of advisers Role of parents The professional community The workplace community The classroom community Home-school partnerships School curriculum Teacher as classroom manager Timetable National curriculum Trade union agreements School buildings used to dealing with finite information

• f a good teacher fairly

traditional

Outcome

Tools Teachers Learners and learning

Activity theory and pedagogic discourse

Instructional discourse

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Division of labour Community Rules Teachers Learners and learning

Regulative discourse

Activity theory, contradictions and ‘ideal types’

• Core of activity theory

– Dialectical relationship between individual and collective activity – Contradictions present within a system

• Primary contradictions e.g. within components, such

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• Primary contradictions e.g. within components, such

as within rules or within tools: can be interpreted as the contradiction within an ‘ideal type’ and reality in praxis

• Secondary contradictions e.g. between components,

such as between rules and tools or between tools and dvision of labour

– The resolution of contradictions leads to the development of the activity system

Methods and data

• Selection of school districts and preparation for

visits:

– AC agricultural – CC coastal – UC urban

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– UC urban

• ISICQ – translation of SCIQ, on-line survey,

– 75 teachers: 15 in AC, 31 in CC and 29 in UC – Actual capacity and preferred capacity to deliver science

• Interview protocols – principals, teachers of

science and older pupils

Resource adequacy Skills, knowledge and

Outcome

Tools Learners and learning

ISICQ survey and the activity system

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Professional support Time professional attitudes

Division of labour Community Rules Teachers Learners and learning

School ethos and the status

• f science as a subject

Community

Capacity gaps 0,0 0,5 1,0 1,5 2,0 2,5 Resource adequacy Time Professional support School ethos and the status of science as a school

Factors

AC CC

Capacity gaps

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School ethos and the status of science as a school subject Skills, knowledge and professional attitudes

CC UC

Capacity gaps for four extrinsic factors and one intrinsic factor (skills, knowledge and attitudes) as measured by ISCIQ in three Icelandic communities. The minimum value for the gap between current and preferred capacity is zero (09 and the maximum four (4).

AC, N = 15

0,0 1,0 2,0 3,0 4,0 5,0 Skills, know ledge and professional attitudes School ethos and the status of science as a school subject Resource adequacy Time Professional support AC Preferred AC Actual

CC, N = 32

2,0 3,0 4,0 5,0 Skills, know ledge and professional attitudes School ethos and the status of science as a school subject Professional support CC Preferred CC Actual

Teacher views on actual and preferred capacities for science delivery in schools in three Icelandic communities, as assessed by ISCIQ.

0,0 1,0 science as a school subject Resource adequacy Time Professional support

UC, N = 29

0,0 1,0 2,0 3,0 4,0 5,0 Skills, know ledge and professional attitudes School ethos and the status of science as a school subject Resource adequacy Time Professional support UC Preferred UC Actual

• The value of each factor is the mean of

seven questions on a scale of 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree).

• The lighter area represents views of

teachers on the current capacity and the darker areas the preferred capacity.

Capacity of schools to deliver science 1

• Resource adequacy (tools)

– Resources outside the school still poorly used – Poor management of resources a weakness – Access to science classrooms seen as an issue – Theme-based days redistribute resources – Teachers dependent on printed curriculum materials

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– Teachers dependent on printed curriculum materials – Resources often seen as the first step in building capacity

• Time (rules)

– Traditional timetable seen to limit practical work – New teaching methods require time for preparation – Cooperation within and between schools needs time – Trade union agreements with teachers limit flexibility in use of time

Capacity of schools to deliver science 2

• Support for teachers (division of labour)

– Few in-service courses available in recent years – Some courses do not meet needs of teachers – Courses are not offered at suitable times – Authorities express interest in supporting teachers

• School ethos and status of science (community)

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• School ethos and status of science (community)

– Science has not been a priority with school leaders – Developing a school curriculum has not been a priority – Student interest in science not overwhelming – Physics and chemistry particularly weak areas and more dependent on individual teachers than biology and earth sciences – Some attempts are made to integrate science with other areas but science itself is generally weak

Capacity of schools to deliver science 3

• Skills, knowledge and professional attitudes

(teachers as agents)

– Science as a school subject is a daunting task for teachers, with an extensive and detailed curriculum – Specialist knowledge of science in compulsory schools is

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– Specialist knowledge of science in compulsory schools is hard to find – Teachers have confidence in their general teaching skills – Teachers offer students a fairly uniform learning experience of reading, writing and listening with limited practical activity – Practical work disappearing from the older grades (8-10)

Changing constraints 1

• Time and adequacy of resources

– Changes in the division of labour led to improved use of time and resources – The changes could be traced to a willingness to increase the status of science as a school subject

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• Support and ethos

– Community support for science can lead to more support for teachers – Individual teachers can affect ethos and resource management in small schools, not least when they move between schools

Changing constraints 2

• Skills, knowledge and attitudes of teachers

– Extrinsic and intrinsic factors are not necessarily linked – see figure on capacity gaps – ‘Ideal types’ of tools for science teaching are considered hard to use, such as practical or out-of-door acitivities

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– The regulative discourse governing conduct, character and manner of modern school pupils and the criteria of knowledge of science appears to unsettle and constrain teachers, – New views on the instructional discourse, such as individual learning and the use of technology, lead teachers to experience conflicts in their daily practice

Key references

• Bernstein, B. (2000). Pedagogy, symbolic control and identity.

Theory, research and critique. Lanham, Rowman & Littlefield.

• Engeström, Y. (1987). Learning by expanding: An activity-

theoretical approach to developmental research. Helsinki: Orienta- Konsulit.

• Lewthwaite, B.E. (2005). "It's more than knowing the science". A

case study in elementary science curriculum review. Canadian Journal of Mathematics, Science and Technology Education, 5(2).

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Journal of Mathematics, Science and Technology Education, 5(2).

• http://home.cc.umanitoba.ca/%7Elewthwai/ApplicationofSCIQinCan

adianContext.pdf

• Macdonald, M.A. and Jóhannsdóttir, Thuridur (2006). Fractured

pedagogic discourse: teachers’ responses to educational

• interventions. Paper presented at the European Conference on

Educational Research, University of Geneva, 13.-15. september

• 2006. http://www.leeds.ac.uk/educol/documents/159994.htm