ISSN 1087-3430 Vol. 9 - No. 2 - December 2004
Thank you for your interest in the Electronic Journal of Science Education, the first electronic journal of its kind devoted to the timely sharing of science education issues via the World Wide Web. The editors and review board hope you find the enclosed articles academically and professionally valuable.
John R. Cannon, Editor and Publisher
David T. Crowther, Associate Editor and Publisher
University of Nevada, Reno
Table of Contents
Editor's note: The EJSE will no longer be published in HTML as of February 2003. The format that will be used in future publications will be PDF. If you do not have Acrobat Reader, please click on the "Get Reader" graphic below to download the program free of charge. Once the Acrobat Reader loads the article, use the back button on your browser to return to the EJSE.
.
Article One
by
Lisa P. Coughlin
University of Connecticutand
Robert D. Hannafin
University of ConnecticutAbstract
The effort to reform science education has a long history and continues today. Most reform plans since 1980, including those developed by the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the National Science Teachers Association, and the National Research Council have inquiry learning as a prominent feature. At the same time as these science reform measures were being developed, a political movement calling for increased accountability among teachers, schools, and students was gaining momentum. Most states initiated standardized assessments to ensure that school systems were providing adequate education to their students. The accountability movement has the improvement of the American education system at heart, but it at times undermines the very standards it intends to enforce. The move toward increased accountability we argue, discourages teachers from adopting inquiry-based approaches.
Article Two
Collaborating with CLASS:
Creating Laboratory Access for Science Students with Disabilitiesby
Mary Ellen Bargerhuff
Susan A. Kirch
Wright State University
Queen College
and
Michele Wheatly
Wright State University
Abstract
A description of an innovative project designed to address the problem of inequitable access of students with disabilities in grades 7-16, to science laboratory and field experiences is provided. The CLASS Project, funded by two successive National Science Foundation grants, began as a response by science faculty at Wright State University to the needs of their students with physical disabilities. It has evolved into a nationally known and recognized collaborative program that trains pre- and inservice teachers and teacher educators how to accommodate students' individual needs while using effective pedagogical and methodological techniques to teach science curriculum that meets National Science Education Standards. The CLASS Project mission, objectives, procedures, products, and future opportunities for teachers and students are explained.
Article Three
Replacing the "View from Nowhere": A Pragmatist-Feminist Science Classroom
by
Sarah Marie Stitzlein
University of IllinoisAbstract
Despite the importance of having an appropriate, coherent, and defensible philosophy of science, many science teachers have either given this part of their profession little thought or adhere to problematic and outdated philosophies. This article begins by tracing a brief history of the "view from nowhere" and its adoption by many teachers as the epistemological framework for teaching science. This conception of objectivity and its corresponding philosophy of science are shown to be problematically masculinist, disembodied, and aperspectival. Within this discussion, a new notion of pragmatist-feminist objectivity, as the socially conscious intersection of multiple and diverse perspectives in regard to the lived world, is developed. Finally, suggestions are offered on how this type of objectivity and larger understanding of science could be used in both the pedagogy and curriculum of the science classroom.
Article Four
Special Section: Resources and Programs in Higher Education
compiled by David T. Crowther, Associate Editor, EJSE
To the top of the page.
To the EJSE Archive page.