Conversations on Chemistry


Book Description

Bright, humorous and engaging, Marcet's best-selling 1805 book was designed to introduce women to scientific ideas.




EBOOK: Meaning Making in Secondary Science Classroomsaa


Book Description

This book focuses on the talk of science classrooms and in particular on the ways in which the different kinds of interactions between teachers and students contribute to meaning making and learning. Central to the text is a new analytical framework for characterising the key features of the talk of school science classrooms. This framework is based on sociocultural principles and links the work of theorists such as Vygotsky and Bakhtin to the day-to-day interactions of contemporary science classrooms. *presents a framework, based on sociocultural theory, for analysing the language of teaching and learning interactions in science classrooms *provides detailed examples and illustrations of insights gained from applying the framework to real science lessons in Brazil and the UK. *demonstrates how these ways of thinking about classroom talk can be drawn upon to inform the professional development of science teachers. *offers an innovative research methodology, based on sociocultural theory, for analysing classroom talk. *expands upon the ways in which sociocultural theory has been systematically applied to analysing classroom contexts. This book offers a powerful set of tools for thinking and talking about the day-to-day practices of contemporary science classrooms. It contains messages of fundamental importance and insight for all of those who are interested in reflecting on the interactions of science teaching and learning, whether in the context of teaching, higher degree study, or research.




Making Sense of Secondary Science


Book Description

When children begin secondary school they already have knowledge and ideas about many aspects of the natural world from their experiences both in primary classes and outside school. These ideas, right or wrong, form the basis of all they subsequently learn. Research has shown that teaching is unlikely to be effective unless it takes into account the position from which the learner starts. Making Sense of Secondary Science provides a concise and accessible summary of the research that has been done internationally in this area. The research findings are arranged in three main sections: * life and living processes * materials and their properties * physical processes. Full bibliographies in each section allow interested readers to pursue the themes further. Much of this material has hitherto been available only in limited circulation specialist journals or in unpublished research. Its publication in this convenient form will be welcomed by all researchers in science education and by practicing science teachers continuing their professional development, who want to deepen their understanding of how their children think and learn.







The Content Of Science: A Constructivist Approach To Its Teaching And learning


Book Description

First published in 1994. Leading scholars in science education from eight countries on four continents and ex-pert practising science teachers (primary and secondary) wrote about the teaching and learning of particular science content or skills, and hence how different science content requires different sorts of teaching and learning. Having shared the papers, they then met to discuss them and subsequently revised them. The result is a coherent set of chapters that share valuable insights about the teaching and learning of science. Some chapters consider the detail of specific topics (e.g. floating and sinking, soil and chemical change), some describe innovative procedures, others provide powerful theory. Together they provide a comprehensive analysis of constructivist learning and teaching implications.




Shaping the future we want


Book Description




How to Measure Survey Reliability and Validity


Book Description

UCLA School of Medicine, Los Angeles Aimed at helping readers improve the accuracy of their survey, Litwin′s book guides in assessing and interpreting the quality of their survey data by thoroughly examining the survey instrument used. The book also explains how to code and pilot test new and established surveys. In addition, it covers such issues as how to measure reliability (e.g., test-retest, alternate-form, internal consistency, inter-observer, and intra-observer reliability), how to measure validity (including content, criterion, and construct validity), how to address cross-cultural issues in survey research, and how to scale and score a survey. "I found this work to be of very high quality with respect to both content and writing. It is commendable in terms of communicating and facilitating understanding of sometimes difficult concepts. It will make an excellent text for my introductory course on survey research and, I imagine, for many similar or related courses in the social sciences or education. All the pedagogical features, including the exercises, are excellent, and the level of writing throughout not only is appropriate for an introductory volume, but also engaging and lively." --Daniel U. Levine, Department of Education, University of Nebraska




Overcoming Autism


Book Description

There have been huge advances in our ability to diagnose autism and in the development of effective interventions that can change children’s lives. In this extraordinary book, Lynn Kern Koegel, a leading clinician, researcher, and cofounder of the renowned Autism Research Center at the University of California at Santa Barbara, combines her cutting-edge expertise with the everyday perspectives of Claire LaZebnik, a writer whose experience with a son with autism provides a rare window into the disorder. Together, they draw on the highly effective “pivotal response” approach developed at the center to provide concrete ways of improving the symptoms of autism and the emotional struggles that surround it, while reminding readers never to lose sight of the humor that lurks in the disability’s quirkiness or the importance of enjoying your child. From the shock of diagnosis to the step-by-step work with verbal communication, social interaction, self-stimulation, meltdowns, fears, and more, the answers are here-in a book that is as warm and nurturing as it is authoritative.




Boundaries


Book Description

In this expanded and revised edition of a fresh and original case-study textbook on environmental ethics, Christine Gudorf and James Huchingson continue to explore the line that separates the current state of the environment from what it should be in the future. Boundaries begins with a lucid overview of the field, highlighting the key developments and theories in the environmental movement. Specific cases offer a rich and diverse range of situations from around the globe, from saving the forests of Java and the use of pesticides in developing countries to restoring degraded ecosystems in Nebraska. With an emphasis on the concrete circumstances of particular localities, the studies continue to focus on the dilemmas and struggles of individuals and communities who face daunting decisions with serious consequences. This second edition features extensive updates and revisions, along with four new cases: one on water privatization, one on governmental efforts to mitigate global climate change, and two on the obstacles that teachers of environmental ethics encounter in the classroom. Boundaries also includes an appendix for teachers that describes how to use the cases in the classroom.