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The purpose of this study was to analyze visual attention during students' learning of Toulmin's argument pattern (TAP) and the effects of epistemic beliefs in science on the understanding of argument components. A total of 43 undergraduates were recruited through the Internet. Online questionnaires targeting beliefs about knowledge in science [Conley, A. M., Pintrich, P. R., Vekiri, I., & Harrison, D. (2004). Changes in epistemological beliefs in elementary science students. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 29(2), 186–204] and beliefs about justification for knowing in science [Ferguson, L. E., & Bråten, I. (2013). Student profiles of knowledge and epistemic beliefs: Changes and relations to multiple-text comprehension. Learning and Instruction, 25, 49–61] were used to assess students' epistemic beliefs. Identification tests for the understanding of TAP were performed before and after an argument reading treatment designed as a self-learning activity. The whole reading process was recorded by the eye-tracking system. To explore the effect of the reading treatment, participants were divided into a progress (P) group and a no-progress (NP) group based on their learning gains.The results indicated that students' epistemic beliefs in science and their learning strategies would affect their TAP learning performance. The analyses of visual attention distribution indicated that integration information indicated by inter-scanning counts would enhance students' learning performance. In addition, the LSA results suggested that understanding of data is of primary importance when learning TAP. Suggestions on how to guide students in learning TAP are provided based on the findings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this study was to compare the associations of epistemic beliefs in science, performance of scientific reasoning in university students from Taiwan and India, and the relations with their science learning experiences. A total of 126 university students including 67 from Taiwan and 59 from India who had science and mathematics backgrounds were involved in the study. Students' epistemic beliefs in science were assessed by the SEV questionnaire, while their reasoning performance and learning experiences were prompted by open-ended questions and survey items. Content analysis was performed to analyze their scientific reasoning, and correlation analysis, t tests and ANOVA were applied to reveal the associations between variables. The results showed that students from both countries differed in epistemic beliefs in the dimensions of certainty, development and justification. While few students from either country performed successfully in identifying genuine evidence and giving full rebuttals, Taiwanese participants seemed to demonstrate slightly better scientific reasoning. It was found that the Indian students were more balanced in receiving structured and engaged learning experiences. Varying associations for the students from the different countries were found between epistemic beliefs and scientific reasoning performance, and between epistemic beliefs and science learning experiences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main purpose of this study was to explore learners' beliefs about science reading and scientific epistemic beliefs, and how these beliefs were associating with their understanding of science texts. About 400 10th graders were involved in the development and validation of the Beliefs about Science Reading Inventory (BSRI). To find the effects of reader beliefs and epistemic beliefs, a new group of 65 10th grade students whose reader and epistemic beliefs were assessed by the newly developed BSRI and an existing SEB questionnaire were invited to take part in a science reading task. Students' text understanding in terms of concept gain and text interpretations was collected and analyzed. By the correlation analysis, it was found that when students had stronger beliefs about meaning construction based on personal goals and experiences (i.e. transaction beliefs), they produced more thematic and critical interpretations of the content of the test article. The regression analysis suggested that students SEBs could predict concept gain as a result of reading. Moreover, among all beliefs examined in the study, transaction beliefs stood out as the best predictor of overall science-text understanding. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The present study integrates service learning into English as a Foreign Language (EFL) speaking class using Web 2.0 tools – YouTube and Facebook – as platforms. Fourteen undergraduate students participated in the study. The purpose of the service-learning project was to link service learning with oral communication training in an EFL speaking class by having each student create two YouTube videos in which they made informative presentations about the university (e.g., transportation system) and the city (e.g., sightseeing spots) in English to international students on campus. A Facebook community was established as a forum for students to share their videos with the international students and peers. The results suggest that the project enhanced EFL students’ public speaking-related skills (e.g., idea and content development, and pronunciation), built their confidence in speaking English, and allowed them to develop their own learning process and strategies. Moreover, Web 2.0 tools endow service learning with new possibilities of reaching a greater number of the target audience and provide the members of the community with alternative means of communication. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The educational reform movement since the 1990s has led the secondary earth science curriculum in Taiwan into a stage of reshaping. The present study investigated secondary earth science teachers' perceptions on the Goals of Earth Science Education (GESE). The GESE should express the statements of philosophy and purpose toward which educators direct their attention, and provide the visions or broad aims that earth science education is designed to achieve. Based on this rationale, the purpose of this study was to explore teachers' perceptions on the GESE at secondary school level (Grades 7-12) in Taiwan. A national survey of 1,000 earth science teachers was conducted in May 2004, with a response rate of 70.2%. The results revealed that 'Students acquire basic earth science concepts' is the most important GESE both in teachers' preferred goal and their actual teaching practice in the secondary earth science education; that there is a major gap between teachers' preferred and actual GESE in terms of 'Preparing students for the entrance examinations'; and that the differences between teachers' preferred and actual GESE are contingent on the teachers' age, the school size, and the teacher education background of teachers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]