John Bencze | University of Toronto (original) (raw)
Papers by John Bencze
International Journal of Science and Mathematics Education, Jan 1, 2009
School science systems tend to emphasize teaching and learning about achievements of science (suc... more School science systems tend to emphasize teaching and learning about achievements of science (such as laws and theories) at the expense of providing students with opportunities to develop realistic conceptions about science and science inquiry and expertise they could use to conduct their own science inquiry projects. Among reasons for such an emphasis, teachers’ lack of experiences with realistic science inquiry appears to be particularly problematic. Accordingly, we engaged student-teachers in a university-based course that attempted to balance instruction about science and science inquiry with student-teachers’ own theorization about science and science inquiry. Qualitative data collected mainly from nine student-teachers in four focus groups indicate that these student-teachers’ motivation for promoting student-led science inquiry projects in schools significantly increased by the end of the course. Analyses suggest that this outcome was influenced by changes in their conceptions about the nature of science, changes in how they associated science inquiry with student learning, and the inductive-deductive dialectic immersion that was built into their pre-service methods course. Implications of these findings for science teacher education are explored in this paper.
Canadian Journal of Science, Mathematics and Technology Education, Jan 1, 2008
Although governments, educators, and others have made significant efforts to promote education th... more Although governments, educators, and others have made significant efforts to promote education that would help students to develop more realistic conceptions of the nature of science, there continue to be difficulties in that regard. Fields of professional science often are represented in school science as isolated from fields of technology and, as well, from societies. Such a view may assist scientists in relatively freely pursuing topics of interest to them, using methods common to their communities, and sharing their findings and conclusions with colleagues. In this view, it would be left to engineers, politicians, and others to determine appropriate uses of products of the sciences. In practice, fields of science seemed to have -to a great extent -held close interactions with fields of technology and with societies. An aspect of such relationships that has had very little attention in school science is the nature of associations between fields of business and science. In this paper, analyses of the nature of business-science relationships is explored, with reference to problem-setting, problem-solving, and peer-persuasion aspects of knowledge-building and dissemination in the sciences. In association with these analyses are references to Robert Merton's institutional imperatives for the sciences. The article finishes with some general recommendations for science education.
The status quo for school science and technology is unacceptable. While the former often is requi... more The status quo for school science and technology is unacceptable. While the former often is required for admission to university engineering, as well as to science programmes, the latter is deemed most appropriate for less able, concrete thinkers. This situation persists, despite the fact school science tends to generate large groups of citizens who are relatively scientifically and technologically illiterate, largely as a result of its preoccupation with identifying and training potential scientists and engineers. This practice is tyrannical. It must be abandoned forthwith. A realistic alternative is a combined technology and science programme – perhaps called 'technoscience' education – that would treat science and technology as equals. Such courses may, as well, be more democratic in the sense that technological problem solving often is more natural to everyday situations that everyone may find useful, not just future scientists or engineers. A framework for combined technology and science courses is described and defended here. Originally developed through collaborative action research amongst practising teachers of science, the approach appears to be feasible, under certain – perhaps ideal – conditions. A number of changes to science and technology education may be necessary for broader implementation, not the least of which is a general retrenchment in expectations for pre-determined learning, along with adjustments to teacher education. Nevertheless, the approach is recommended because of its emphasis on: personalization, inclusion, problematization, explicitness, apprenticeship, authenticity, contextualization and freedom.
Canadian Journal of Science, Mathematics and Technology Education, Jan 1, 2001
Science Education, Jan 1, 2000
Science Education, Jan 1, 2006
School science students can benefit greatly from participation in student-directed, open-ended sc... more School science students can benefit greatly from participation in student-directed, open-ended scientific inquiry projects. For various possible reasons, however, students tend not to be engaged in such inquiries. Among factors that may limit their opportunities to engage in open-ended inquiries of their design are teachers' conceptions about science. To explore possible relationships between teachers' conceptions about science and the types of inquiry activities in which they engage students, instrumental case studies of five secondary science teachers were developed, using field notes, repertory grids, samples of lesson plans and student activities, and semistructured interviews. Based on constructivist grounded theory analysis, participating teachers' tendencies to promote student-directed, open-ended scientific inquiry projects seemed to correspond with positions about the nature of science to which they indicated adherence. A tendency to encourage and enable students to carry out student-directed, open-ended scientific inquiry projects appeared to be associated with adherence to social constructivist views about science. Teachers who opposed social constructivist views tended to prefer tight control of student knowledge building procedures and conclusions. We suggest that these results can be explained with reference to human psychological factors, including those associated with teachers' self-esteem and their relationships with knowledge-building processes in the discipline of their teaching. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Sci Ed90:1–20, 2006
Journal of Curriculum Studies, Jan 1, 2000
International Journal of Science and Mathematics Education, Jan 1, 2009
School science systems tend to emphasize teaching and learning about achievements of science (suc... more School science systems tend to emphasize teaching and learning about achievements of science (such as laws and theories) at the expense of providing students with opportunities to develop realistic conceptions about science and science inquiry and expertise they could use to conduct their own science inquiry projects. Among reasons for such an emphasis, teachers’ lack of experiences with realistic science inquiry appears to be particularly problematic. Accordingly, we engaged student-teachers in a university-based course that attempted to balance instruction about science and science inquiry with student-teachers’ own theorization about science and science inquiry. Qualitative data collected mainly from nine student-teachers in four focus groups indicate that these student-teachers’ motivation for promoting student-led science inquiry projects in schools significantly increased by the end of the course. Analyses suggest that this outcome was influenced by changes in their conceptions about the nature of science, changes in how they associated science inquiry with student learning, and the inductive-deductive dialectic immersion that was built into their pre-service methods course. Implications of these findings for science teacher education are explored in this paper.
Canadian Journal of Science, Mathematics and Technology Education, Jan 1, 2008
Although governments, educators, and others have made significant efforts to promote education th... more Although governments, educators, and others have made significant efforts to promote education that would help students to develop more realistic conceptions of the nature of science, there continue to be difficulties in that regard. Fields of professional science often are represented in school science as isolated from fields of technology and, as well, from societies. Such a view may assist scientists in relatively freely pursuing topics of interest to them, using methods common to their communities, and sharing their findings and conclusions with colleagues. In this view, it would be left to engineers, politicians, and others to determine appropriate uses of products of the sciences. In practice, fields of science seemed to have -to a great extent -held close interactions with fields of technology and with societies. An aspect of such relationships that has had very little attention in school science is the nature of associations between fields of business and science. In this paper, analyses of the nature of business-science relationships is explored, with reference to problem-setting, problem-solving, and peer-persuasion aspects of knowledge-building and dissemination in the sciences. In association with these analyses are references to Robert Merton's institutional imperatives for the sciences. The article finishes with some general recommendations for science education.
The status quo for school science and technology is unacceptable. While the former often is requi... more The status quo for school science and technology is unacceptable. While the former often is required for admission to university engineering, as well as to science programmes, the latter is deemed most appropriate for less able, concrete thinkers. This situation persists, despite the fact school science tends to generate large groups of citizens who are relatively scientifically and technologically illiterate, largely as a result of its preoccupation with identifying and training potential scientists and engineers. This practice is tyrannical. It must be abandoned forthwith. A realistic alternative is a combined technology and science programme – perhaps called 'technoscience' education – that would treat science and technology as equals. Such courses may, as well, be more democratic in the sense that technological problem solving often is more natural to everyday situations that everyone may find useful, not just future scientists or engineers. A framework for combined technology and science courses is described and defended here. Originally developed through collaborative action research amongst practising teachers of science, the approach appears to be feasible, under certain – perhaps ideal – conditions. A number of changes to science and technology education may be necessary for broader implementation, not the least of which is a general retrenchment in expectations for pre-determined learning, along with adjustments to teacher education. Nevertheless, the approach is recommended because of its emphasis on: personalization, inclusion, problematization, explicitness, apprenticeship, authenticity, contextualization and freedom.
Canadian Journal of Science, Mathematics and Technology Education, Jan 1, 2001
Science Education, Jan 1, 2000
Science Education, Jan 1, 2006
School science students can benefit greatly from participation in student-directed, open-ended sc... more School science students can benefit greatly from participation in student-directed, open-ended scientific inquiry projects. For various possible reasons, however, students tend not to be engaged in such inquiries. Among factors that may limit their opportunities to engage in open-ended inquiries of their design are teachers' conceptions about science. To explore possible relationships between teachers' conceptions about science and the types of inquiry activities in which they engage students, instrumental case studies of five secondary science teachers were developed, using field notes, repertory grids, samples of lesson plans and student activities, and semistructured interviews. Based on constructivist grounded theory analysis, participating teachers' tendencies to promote student-directed, open-ended scientific inquiry projects seemed to correspond with positions about the nature of science to which they indicated adherence. A tendency to encourage and enable students to carry out student-directed, open-ended scientific inquiry projects appeared to be associated with adherence to social constructivist views about science. Teachers who opposed social constructivist views tended to prefer tight control of student knowledge building procedures and conclusions. We suggest that these results can be explained with reference to human psychological factors, including those associated with teachers' self-esteem and their relationships with knowledge-building processes in the discipline of their teaching. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Sci Ed90:1–20, 2006
Journal of Curriculum Studies, Jan 1, 2000