Language and Learning in Science

This research work is focussing on the ways in which teachers guide classroom talk to make available scientific concepts to high school students and to support those students in developing an understanding of the concepts.

The work is based upon a neo-Vygotskian theoretical framework and to date the teacher talk has been conceptualised as a 'teaching narrative' extending over the time scale of specific teaching sequences.

The teaching narrative consists of various forms of teacher intervention, each with its own function (such as supporting development of the conceptual line of the narrative). The research is based on a multiple case-study methodology. Future plans include considering how this kind of analysis of teaching might be drawn upon in initial teacher training.

 

Project Publications

DRIVER, R. and SCOTT, P. (1995). Mind in communication: A response to Erick Smith. Educational Researcher, Volume 24, (7), pp.27-28

AERA. DRIVER, R. and SCOTT, P. (1996). Curriculum development as research. A constructivist approach to science curriculum development and teaching, in Treagust, D., Duit, R., Fraser, B.(Eds.) Improving teaching and learning in science and mathematics, Teachers College Press.

SCOTT, P. (1991). Conceptual pathways in learning science: A case study of the development of one student's ideas relating to the structure of matter, in Duit, R., Goldberg, F., Niedderer, H. (Eds.) Research in Physics Learning: Theoretical issues and empirical studies, University of Kiel, Germany.

SCOTT, P. (1996). Social interactions and personal meaning making in secondary science classrooms, in Welford, G., Osborne, J.and Scott, P. (Eds.) Research in Science Education in Europe, The Falmer Press.

SCOTT, P., ASOKO, H. and DRIVER, R. (1991). Teaching for conceptual change: A review of strategies, in Duit, R., Goldberg, F., Niedderer, H. (Eds.) Research in Physics Learning: Theoretical issues and empirical studies,University of Kiel, Germany.

SCOTT, P., ASOKO, H., DRIVER, R. and EMBERTON, J. (1994). Working from children's ideas: An analysis of constructivist teaching in the context of a chemistry topic, in Fensham, P.J., Gunstone, R., White, R.(Eds.) The content of science: A constructivist approach to its teaching and learning, The Falmer Press.

SCOTT, P.H. (1997). Teaching and learning science concepts in the classroom: talking a path from spontaneous to scientific knowledge, in Linguagem, cultura e cognicao reflexoes para o ensino de ciencias. Faculdade de Educacao da UFMG, Belo Horizonte, Brazil.

SCOTT, P.H. (1997). Developing science concepts in secondary classrooms: an analysis of pedagogical interactions from a Vygotskian perspective. Unpublished PhD thesis, University of Leeds, UK.

SCOTT, P.H. (1997). Talking, teaching and learning in science classrooms, in Croner's Heads of Science Bulletin, Issue 12.

SCOTT, P.H. and DRIVER, R.H. (1998). Learning about science teaching: perspectives from an action research project, in Fraser, B.J. and Tobin, K.G.(Eds.) The International Handbook of Science Education, Kluwer Academic Publishers.