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Instructional Approach (instructional + approach)
Selected AbstractsThe development of seventh graders' views of nature of scienceJOURNAL OF RESEARCH IN SCIENCE TEACHING, Issue 4 2008Rola Khishfe Abstract This study investigated the development in students' nature of science (NOS) views in the context of an explicit inquiry-oriented instructional approach. Participants were 18 seventh-grade students who were taught by a teacher with "appropriate" knowledge about NOS. The intervention spanned about 3 months. During this time, students were engaged in three inquiry-oriented activities that were followed by reflective discussions of NOS. The study emphasized the tentative, empirical, inferential, and creative aspects of NOS. An open-ended questionnaire, in conjunction with semi-structured interviews, was used to assess students' views before, during, and after the intervention. Before instruction, the majority of students held naïve views of the four NOS aspects. During instruction, the students acquired more informed and "intermediary" views of the NOS aspects. By the end of the intervention, the students' views of the NOS aspects had developed further still into informed and "intermediary." These findings suggest a developmental model in which students' views develop along a continuum during which they pass through intermediary views to reach more informed views. Implications for teaching and learning of NOS are discussed. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 45: 470,496, 2008 [source] Implementation of a peer-led team learning instructional approach in an undergraduate organic chemistry courseJOURNAL OF RESEARCH IN SCIENCE TEACHING, Issue 7 2002Lydia T. Tien This study focuses on the implementation of a peer-led team learning (PLTL) instructional approach for all students in an undergraduate organic chemistry course and the evaluation of student outcomes over 8 years. Students who experienced the student-centered instruction and worked in small groups facilitated by a peer leader (treatment) in 1996,1999 were compared with students who experienced the traditional recitation section (control) in 1992,1994. Quantitative and qualitative data show statistically significant improvements in student performance, retention, and attitudes about the course. These findings suggest that using undergraduate leaders to implement a peer-led team learning model that is built on a social constructivist foundation is a workable mechanism for effecting change in undergraduate science courses. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 39: 606,632, 2002 [source] The Effectiveness of a Color-Coded, Onset-Rime Decoding Intervention with First-Grade Students at Serious Risk for Reading DisabilitiesLEARNING DISABILITIES RESEARCH & PRACTICE, Issue 1 2009Sara J. HinesArticle first published online: 3 FEB 200 This study was an investigation into the effectiveness of a color-coded, onset-rime,based decoding intervention with first-graders at serious risk for reading disabilities using a single-subject multiple probe design. Students increased their ability to decode instructional words on average 73% over baseline. For novel words from instructed rime patterns, scores increased by an average of 56%. Transfer at the vowel level to uninstructed rime patterns was limited, with scores improving by an average of 29%. Students maintained decoding gains at 1-week and 1-month maintenance. While acknowledging the difficulty in predicting reading disabilities based on first-grade performance, the effectiveness of the early intervention is a promising step in finding an instructional approach that is successful with the most at risk or disabled students who often do not respond to effective remedial programs. [source] Getting to the heart of the problem: Using the problems of practice approach as a starting place for creating problem-centered instructionPERFORMANCE IMPROVEMENT, Issue 8 2008Joanna C. Dunlap It is often difficult to transfer learning from one situation to another. Learning is more likely to be transferred if instruction is situated within a realistic context, using a problem-centered instructional approach. However, it can be challenging to create problem-centered instruction that authentically represents the needs and activities of the workplace and profession. This article describes the problems of practice approach,,an iterative, guided process for developing problems for problem-centered instruction. [source] Teaching nature of science within a controversial topic: Integrated versus nonintegratedJOURNAL OF RESEARCH IN SCIENCE TEACHING, Issue 4 2006Rola Khishfe This study investigated the influence of two different explicit instructional approaches in promoting more informed understandings of nature of science (NOS) among students. Participants, a total of 42 students, comprised two groups in two intact sections of ninth grade. Participants in the two groups were taught environmental science by their regular classroom teacher, with the difference being the context in which NOS was explicitly taught. For the "integrated" group, NOS instruction was related to the science content about global warming. For the "nonintegrated" group, NOS was taught through a set of activities that specifically addressed NOS issues and were dispersed across the content about global warming. The treatment for both groups spanned 6 weeks and addressed a unit about global warming and NOS. An open-ended questionnaire, in conjunction with semistructured interviews, was used to assess students' views before and after instruction. Results showed improvements in participants' views of NOS regardless of whether NOS was integrated within the regular content about global warming. Comparison of differences between the two groups showed "slightly" greater improvement in the informed views of the integrated group participants. On the other hand, there was greater improvement in the transitional views of the nonintegrated group participants. Therefore, the overall results did not provide any conclusive evidence in favor of one approach over the other. Implications on the teaching and learning of NOS are discussed. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 43: 395,418, 2006 [source] Highlights of Programmatic, Interdisciplinary Research on WritingLEARNING DISABILITIES RESEARCH & PRACTICE, Issue 2 2009Virginia W. Berninger An overview of research topics and findings from an interdisciplinary, programmatic line of research on writing over the past 25 years is presented. The cross-sectional assessment studies (grades 1 to 9) showed which measures uniquely explained variance in handwriting, spelling, and composing and thus validated their use in assessment. These and the longitudinal studies (grades 1 to 5 and 3 to 7) contributed to knowledge of the cognitive processes of writing, within a working memory architecture that orchestrates multiple component processes in time to achieve specific writing goals, especially the translation of ideas into words, syntax, and text, and transcription (handwriting and spelling) by pen and by keyboard. Combined brain imaging and behavioral studies of writing have provided converging evidence for brain,behavior relationships for handwriting, spelling, and composing and for the role of temporally coordinated working memory, including an orthographic loop with a graphic-motor envelope for word production. A series of instructional studies for at-risk writers, which was taught to all levels of language to overcome working memory inefficiencies, were organized according to the developmental steppingstones in writing acquisition and show that writing problems can be prevented. Other studies with older, struggling writers validated effective instructional approaches for helping struggling writers become reading-writers who integrate both written language skills in literacy learning. [source] Institutional decision making for increasing academic preparedness in community collegesNEW DIRECTIONS FOR COMMUNITY COLLEGES, Issue 129 2005Dolores Perin This chapter identifies current organizational and instructional approaches to developmental education in community colleges and recommends a process by which colleges can make institutionally appropriate decisions to improve developmental education outcomes. [source] | ||||||||||