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Asia-Pacific Forum on Science Learning and Teaching, Volume 21, Issue 1, Article 1 (Dec., 2021) |
Contexts are a contributing factor in the findings of qualitative studies. They reflect the inseparability of the situatedness of participants’ and their conceptions and/or practices (Dishon, 2021). That is, contexts influence the teachers’ conceptions as well as what and how they teach (Friesen & Kuntze, 2020, 2021). Thus, contexts are central to a teacher’s work as they are created by, among others, the classroom environments in the school and/or a changing curriculum (Hepfl, 2016). Just as contexts are continuously changing and dynamic, so too are the teacher’s concepts, knowledge, and/or their representation in teaching situations (Friesen & Kuntze, 2021). Therefore, findings must be embedded within the context of the study.
For this study, the findings are the outcome of a thematic analysis generated from two research questions (Table 2, Appendix A). In the first question (i.e. what are a science teacher’s conceptions of active learning in teaching science amid large-scale curriculum reforms?), it is aimed to establish a science teacher’s conceptions of active learning in the context of a changing curriculum. A theme for components of an active learning conception was identified for this science teacher. Following this, the component was characterised as (in) complete, (in) valid, (in) adequate, and/or (un) structured in the context of the science teachers’ teaching (see Table 1).
THEME 1: Conceptions of active learning in teaching science (CAL)
The findings for this study were framed using Thompson’s (1992) notion of “a conception”. In reporting the findings, ‘active learning’ becomes a reference point for the teacher’s conception or a mental structure thereof. Furthermore, the teacher’s description of active learning would be decisive in the understanding of other and associated components of the active learning conception. For the findings, only five components constituting his ‘active learning’ conception was established. This limitation is in line with Glynn and Duit’s (1995) highlight of this limitation about establishing a conceptual structure. They indicate that a conceptual structure is only a relative representation of the facts about concepts and/or phenomena. In the following table (Table 1) findings on the teacher’s conception of active learning are presented.
Components Constituting the Conception/Mental Structure
Description and/or Characterisation of Components
Concepts
The teacher identified some active learning concepts or elements; that were in various states of completeness, structure, validity, adequacy, and accuracy (e.g. Learner-centered teaching; learning task engagement) in the context of his teaching. Thus, these concepts, as he characterises them, may to some extent allow him to make sense of and organise his active learning teaching (Yee. 2019).
Beliefs
The teacher’s beliefs are generally incongruent with the concepts associated with active learning as a teaching approach. That is, the components constituting his belief system militate against his concepts of active learning. In his representation of some of those, that is, attitude, affect, social adaptation, and proposition, the teacher abdicates his responsibilities to his learners in the context of active learning teaching. In fact, the teacher dissociates and blames active learning for lack the of learner responsiveness.
Generally, the teacher’s beliefs as part of active learning are incongruent with active learning methods.
Meanings
In this component, the teacher’s meanings of terms, concepts or use of methods are reported. These meanings are in relation to the active learning teaching of science. For example, the teacher refers to personal constructivism as meaning forming of personal concepts about subject matter. The researchers’ interpretation is that learners personally construct and reconstruct meanings and understanding (Bodner, 1986). Indeed, the teacher must facilitate prescribed activities learners’ personal constructions of meanings. Also, the teacher refers to active learning as a ‘learning process’ in his definition of active learning. On the contrary, learning is a cognitive process and active learning refers to methods/activities that enhance cognitive processes. Therefore, it cannot be a process as it is a tool or method by the teacher to facilitate learning. Generally, the meanings the teacher attaches to some concepts, terms, phenomena are valid. However, some of his meanings are contradictory and/or inadequately valid for sense-making.
Active learning associated theories
The teacher’s meanings of constructivism are relatively valid. He is able to distinguish theories applicable or not to active learning teaching. For example, he managed to distinguish between the notions of constructivism and behaviourism.
Active learning associated methods
The teacher could identify methods prescribed or associated with active learning approach in science teaching. He mentions discovery learning approaches, practical work activities, as appropriate for active learning. However, he also includes ‘drilling’ as an active learning teaching approach. He does not explain how it fits as an active learning teaching. According to Ericsson (2014), it may be used for the deliberate purpose of improving learners’ knowledge structures and development of new skills.
His definition of active learning, as synthesised, appears to be central to the components associated with his representation. He describes active learning as:
…. the learning process in which learners take the leading role in knowledge acquisition. The focus is on the learner forming personal concepts, rather than the teacher delivering it…
[A synthesis]
From the researchers’ representation of the teacher’s active learning conception (s) and other associated aspects not in the description, it can be concluded that his conception as a system is indeed relatively limited. Hence, it is inadequate for effective use in different aspects of its application as a concept and/or a phenomenon with its related principles. However, there are valid components within the teacher’s conception of active learning. These may be organised for meaning-making. However, at this limited state of conception, it may not be adequate for practical use. This could force the teacher to use a different version of active learning in the science classroom with learners..
The next part of the findings answers the second research question (i.e. in what ways (if any) are science teachers’ conceptions of active learning in science teaching associated with their teaching practices in the context of curriculum changes?). The researchers use this question to try to establish links between the teachers' existing conception(s) of active learning and the purported active learning teaching practises of science. For this purpose, a theme to frame the findings is used. The theme, ‘Practices in active learning teaching of science’ (PAT) was developed from the research question.
THEME 2: Practices in active learning teaching of science (PAT)
The researchers’ assumption is that there are necessarily links between conceptions of teaching approaches and related practices. However, Clément (1994) argued that this may not necessarily be the case as teachers and/or their contexts differ. The argument here is that there may be at least associative links among aspects of the teacher’s conception system and particular activities and/or practices in his teaching. Hence, we invoked elements from Fink’s (2013) modelling of active learning approaches and some from the mental structure notion of conception (Thompson, 1992) to describe these associations. These associations would be represent aspects of the teachers’ understanding of active learning as a system with various components in their teaching practices. As a result, the functionality of the teacher’s active learning conceptual system will be reported in relation to their teaching practices with the sensitivity of particular contexts. Subsequently, this system would provide information about how the teacher viewed, interpreted, and interacted with their active learning teaching environment.
Practices in teaching in the context of this study refer to all the activities a teacher engages in with the object of enhancing learning for the learners. These may not necessarily be formal teaching methods or strategies, although they are included as activities of practice for learning. Furthermore, practices should not be limited to physical activity but also include mental/thought processes. In this context, the researchers inferred the teacher’s thought processes. The assumption is that these activities are somehow informed by the teacher’s conceptions or understanding of active learning. Hence, his thought processes for teaching activities and specifically his classroom actions are associated with represented conceptions and/or embedded in particularly contexts such as curriculum changes. For example, as a component of a conception, a teacher’s beliefs could play an important role in one’s conceptual system.
Beliefs could enhance or inhibit a teacher’s effectiveness in those teaching work when his beliefs are congruent or incongruent with a particular aspect of teaching. For this teacher, beliefs as a factor were significant, as demonstrated in the following examples:
- The teachers’ understanding of learner centeredness, learning task engagement, and active learning in the context of his teaching of science were valid as concepts in his conception. However, his beliefs about learners’ negative attitudes contradict his declared knowledge of these concepts. It may be that he managed to define them without understanding their meaning. For example, “…learners use learning material to analyse and solve problems through critical thinking…” He must have been the initiator and facilitator of the activity. It is therefore his responsibility to provide such opportunities to be interested in active learning. That is, the teacher must, as the facilitator, first demonstrate a positive attitude for his learners to follow his example. In this regard, the teacher’s conception has contradictory components affecting his practice.
- The role of the teacher’s beliefs was apparent, specifically about what active learning is. That is, the teacher’s view is that it is a ‘learning process’ devoid of his role. With this belief, the teacher does not believe it is his role to ensure that learners engage in activities of learning enhancement. That is, as a ‘learning process’, learners must be part of this process on their own without him leading the facilitation of learning. For example, he says:
“…learners are not interested in learning through active learning…have sluggish attitude towards active learning…do not enjoy researching and problem-solving”
From the above, it can be seen that the teacher assumes that learners’ attitudes would be automatically positive towards active learning without his contribution. In other words, this requires the teacher to prescribe appropriate active learning activities to motivate and encourage them. Learner attitude change is the teacher’s responsibility; thus, the researchers conclude that the teachers’ beliefs, a component of their conceptions, militate against his facilitation, a role in active learning teaching. The teacher diagnosed the attitude problem but was unable to remedy it.
Notwithstanding the contradictions and conflicts between some components of the conception, the teacher was able to enact some active learning concepts appropriately in his practices. For example, the teacher used group work and simulations to encourage co-construction of understanding among learners. Furthermore, the teacher actively engaged learners (e.g., in practical work activities, presentations with peers, dialogues with self and others, mixed assessments, and problem solving).These engagements demonstrate many of the active learning activities and principles. However, these practices had gaps in their ability to instantiate instantiating active learning strategies. For example, attempts at participation tasks, an important element of active learning, were apparently inhibited in his teaching practices. The teacher ‘missed’ important ingredients of active learning facilitation. That is, projects or learning portfolios could be used where learners engage in authentic dialogue among themselves (Fink, 2013). The teacher’s practices were further hindered as they lacked the requisite active learning theoretical grounding.
As the facilitator of learning activities, a teacher must demonstrate a deeper level of conceptual understanding. That is, a teacher must be able to access different approaches and methods of active learning strategies. This may assist in his engagement with learners, both physically and mentally, to construct their own understandings. In some of these interactions, the teacher traversed between an authoritative stance and less learner-centeredness in his teaching activities. Thus, we can conclude that the teacher’s supposed active learning teaching practices centred approaches.
In summary, the above has indicated and discussed findings on the supposed links between the teacher’s conceptions and active learning teaching practices. Associative links have been shown to exist between the teacher’s conceptions and teaching practices of active learning (see [CAL 1-a] v/s [PAT 1e-a]; [CAL 2-a] v/s [PAT1-1b]; [ATM1-1a] v/s [PAT 2-2b]). Furthermore, the researchers believe that more syntheses of multiple matrices have the potential to establish associative links between active learning conceptions and teaching practices. These links may be established at both the manifest and latent levels of analysis, with the potential to produce more information regarding links between active learning conceptions and related teaching practices. However, the study was limited in space for further analysis.
