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DOCUMENTRESUME ED 335 237 SE 052 229 AUTHOR Baker, Dale R. TITLE A Summary of Research in Science Education-1989. INSTITUTION ERIC Clearinghouse for Science, Mathematics, and Environmental Education, Columbus, Ohio.; National Association for Research in Science Teaching. SPONS AGENCY Office of Educational Research and Improvement (ED), Washington, DC. PUB DATE Dec 90 NOTE 154p. AVAILABLE FROM ERIC Clearinghouse for Science, Mathematics and Environmental Education, The Ohio State University, 1200 Chambers Rd., Room 310, Columbus, OH 43212. PUB TYPE Information Analyses (070) EDRS PRICE MF01/PC07 Plus Postage. DESCRIPTORS *Academic Achievement; Classroom Environment; Cognitive Processes; *College Science; Computer Uses in Education; *Elementary School Science; Elementary Secondary Education; Evaluation; Females; Higher Education; Minority Groups; Misconceptions; Science Curriculum; *Science Education; *Science Instruction; Science Teachers; Scientific Literacy; *Secondary School Science; Student Attitudes; Tests; Textbook: ABSTRACT This summary of research in science education for 1989 is organized around 15 major themes. These themes are: (1) criteria and ethics; (2) achievement in science; (3) affect; (4) classroom interactions; (5) cognitive processes; (6) computers; (7) curriculum;(8) instruction; (9) legislation and policy; (10) misconceptions; (11) scientific literacy; (12) teachers; (13) tests and assessments; (14) textbooks and text comprehension; and (15) women and minorities in science. Each of these sections contains a summary of the research and comments. A critical analysis of the quality of the research has not been done because most of the material presented in the summary has gone through at least one level of peer review as a publication or paper. Dissertations were reported from the abstracts. A 338-item bibliography is included. (KR) *********************************************************************** * Reproductions suppl±ed by EDRS are the Y.est that can be made * * from the original document. * *********************************************************************** Dale R. Baker Arizona State University Tempe, Arizona 85287-1011 IND S IMPARTMENT OF EDUCATPON 4-4 tavtI,orw flrpI'fh no improve,,rni I MCAT IONALRISOLACES INF ORMAT ION CI NTEP fRIC) Tnps doc ument hat Oren ,pproducted s ,Pt 0,,rt.21from Ine ivosyn 0/ aroin,zal.on ofcporaf,op Woo,rnarrites nw.o Downmac* 10 mplov. fPrOduil.ort cpahty Po.,,fts of vIro tr OP.oftfb !TAW r Ina OM man! du "tot Nttrs..ofynypsnt orpoto OE11) posPiron Pco.i r A SUMMARY OF RESEARCH IN SCIENCE EDUCATION - 1989 ERICClearifIghouse for Science, Mathematics and Environmental Education The Ohio State University 1200 Chambers Road, Room 310 Columbus, OH 43212 Telephone: (614) 292-6717 December 1990 BEST COPYAVAILABLE This document was funded by the Office of Educational Research and Im rovernent, U.S. Department of Education under contract 0ERI no. RI- :62006. Opinions expressed in this document do not necessarily reflect the positions or policies of OERI or the Department of Education. 43 A SUMMARY OF RESEARCH IN e SCIENCE EDUrATION 1989 Dale R. Baker Arizona State University Tempe, Arizona 85287-1011 * Produced by the * ERICClearinghouse for Science, Mathematics and Environmental Education The Ohio State University 1200 Chambers Road, Room 310 Cc:umbus, OH 43212 and the SMEAC Information Reference Center The Ohio State University 1200 Chambers Road, Room 310 Columbus, OH 43212 in cooperation with the National Association for Research in Science Teaching 4 kt TABLE OF CONTENTS PREFACE ACKNOWLEDGEM ENTS i i INTRODUCTION 1 CRITERIA AND ETHICS 1 ACHIEVEMENT IN SCIENCE 2 AFFECT 14 CLASSROOM INTERACTIONS 21 COGNITIVE PROCESSES 23 COMPUTERS 34 CURRICULUM 43 INSTRUCTION 59 LEGISLATION AND POLICY ISSUES 67 MISCONCEPTIONS 69 KIENTIFIC LITERACY 76 TEACHERS 79 TESTING AND ASSESSMENT 99 TEXTBOOKS AND TEXT COMPREHENSION 105 WOMEN AND MINORITIES IN SCIENCE 113 REFERENCES 117 PREFACE The Summary of Research in Science Education series has been produced to analyze and synthesize research related to the teaching and learning of science completed during a one-year period of time. These summaries are developed in cooperation with the National Association for Research in Science Teaching. Individuals identified by the NARST Research Committee work with staff of the ERIC Clearinghouse for Science, Mathematics, and Environmental Education and the SMEAC Information Reference Center to review, evaluate, analyze, and report research results. The purpose of the summaries is to provide research information for practitioners and developmental personnel, ideas for future research, as well as an indication of trends in science education research. Readers comments and suggestions for the series are invited. Stanley L. Helgeson Patricia E. Blosser ERIC Clearinghouse for Science, Mathematics, and Environmental Education ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This summary of researchcould not have beenaccomplished without the help of many people.I would like tothank DorothyKrcmar, my secretary, whofiled and refilledarticles, journals andindex cards covered scribbles, innumerabletimes. She alsokept track of with notes and while constantlyupdating which studies were in orout of the summary deserves my the references.Larry Sidlik, mygraduate student, also heartfelt thanks. He spentmost of his summerin the airconditioned splendor of the libraryhunting up articles and papers.Considering the temperature inArizona, it was not acompletely oneroustask. summer thank my husband,Michael Piburn,for his Finally, I would like to reading and writingthat went patience andunderstanding. Much of the hours of into this summarytook place on theweekends and in the wee the morning which put asubstantial dent in ourfree time together. 7 A Summary of Research in Science Education-1989 Dale R. Baker Arizona State University Tempe, Arizona 85287-1011 INTRODUCTION This summary of research in science education for 1989 is organized around 14 mikior themes. These themes are: achievement in science, affect, classroom interactions, cognitive processes, computers, curriculum, instruction, legislation and policy, misconceptions, scientific literacy, teachers, tests and assessments, textbooks and text comprehension, and women and minorities in science. Each of these sections contains a summary of the research and comments. I have not attempted to do a critical analysis of the quality of the research or research designs because most of the material presented in the summary has gone through at least one level of peer review as a publication or paper. Dissertations were reported from the abstracts because of the difficulty of reading a substantial number of these lengthy documents and the cost of obtaining them. I was quite impressed with the sophistication of much of the research. Many of the studies were well grounded in theory and the designs and data analyses were quite complex. The brief synopses of the research presented in this paper do not do justice to the richness of the findings and the significance of the conclusions. I apologize to my colleagues for this and encourage interested readers to seek out the original sources of the research. CRITERIA AND ETHICS What are the issues surrounding the criteria and ethics of science education research? Lawson, Reichert, Costenson, Feddock and Litz discussed the five criteria that should be applied when conducting educational research. The first criterion addressed the issue of significance. When evaluating the quality of research, we should ask ourselves whether the research raises causal questions or ones that have the potential to be educationally significant. The second and third criteria dealt with the quality of the hypotheses. Again, we must ask ourselves if the research is based on reasonable working hje.theses that have the potential to answer the research question.e must then ask if reasonable alternative hypotheses are posed and shown to be false. Fourth, we should ask if the hyTotheses and experimental procedures lead to clearly stated predictions. Finally, we must carefully examine the conclusions of the research to determine if they are correctly drawn in relation to the 2 stated hypotheses. The authors concluded that scienceeducation research would have greater impacton education and teaching if it became more scientific. The increase in field based research ledBrickhouse to become concerned about the ethical issues inherent in applying thecommonly accepted meanings of informed consent and confidentiality.She contended that the guidelines provided by the American Psychological Association do little to help the researcher deal with theproblems that arise during fieldwork. She argued that the traditional searchfor ethics based on universal principles is lessappropriate for field based research then ethics basedon a concern for human relations within a particular context. Just as case study methodology is basedon developing understandings which are bound by thecontext of the study, so too should ethical decisions be context bound. Shestated that nurturing human relations and developingtrust among the participants of the study and the researcher isa better guarantee that the subjects rights will be protected than the application ofa universal principle. Summary Science education research is ata turning point. The field has matured and we now havea solid research base to build upon. Continuedprogrress depends upon the quality of research. Argumentshave been made for a set of standards for quality