Practical Work in Science Education

• Introduction; J. Leach, A. Paulsen. Section 1: Aims and rationales for practical work. Introduction; A. Paulsen. Practical work in School Science - some questions to be answered; E.W. Jenkins. 'Mapping' the domain - varieties of practical work; R.H. Millar, et al. Envisionment in Practical Work. Helping pupils to imagine concepts while carrying out experiments; J. Solomon. TIMSS Performance Assessment - a cross national comparison of practical work; P.M. Kind. Touched by a disgusting fish. Dissecting squid in biology lessons in a comprehensive school; P. Szybek. Section 2: Practical work and learning about science. Introduction; J. Leach. A marriage of inconvenience? School science practical work and the nature of science; G.M. Ntombela. Learning science in the laboratory. The importance of epistemological understanding; J. Leach. The interaction between teaching styles and pupil autonomy in practical science investigations - a case study; R. Watson, et al. Is authentic appropriate? The use of work contexts in science practical activity. S. Molyneux-Hodgson, et al. Section 3: Practical work and teaching scientific concepts. Introduction; J. Leach. Labwork activity and learning physics - an approach based on modelling; A. Tiberghien. Modelling Student's cognitive activity during resolution of problems based on experimental facts in chemical education; J.-F. Le Marechal. A challenge for lifelong science understanding. The role of 'lab work' in primary school science; M. Gagliardi, et al. Longitudinal study on lab work and 10-12-year-olds' development of the concepts of transformation of matter; O. Ekilsson. Section 4: Practical work outside the laboratory. Introduction; A. Paulsen. The theoretical and practical aspects of actively involved enquiry learning in a controlled environment (the Educational Greenhouse). A case study based analysis; M. Dvir, D. Chen. Changing teachers' practise. Practical work in environmental education; P. van Marion. Section 5: Models of student cognition in practical work: Perspectives from one research programme. Introduction; A. Paulsen. The influence of students' individual experiences of physics learning environments on cognitive processes; C. von Aufschnaiter, et al. The influence of learning environments on cognitive processes; A. Schoster, S. von Aufschnaiter. How to interact with students? The role of teachers in a learning situation; M. Welzel, et al. Contact details for first authors of chapters in this book

'All in all, this is a book well worth having, for practioners as well as for the researchers who are most likely to read it. The book covers a lot of ground in its 18 chapters.' Canadian Journal of Science, Mathematics and Technolgy Education, (2001)P