Abstracts - Earli

team will analyse the different dimensions arising from the instrument. The instrument wasadministered in 2006 and preliminary results will be available early in 2007 for the full version ofthis paper. The survey includes over 250 schools across Australia at both primary and secondarylevels in rural, regional and urban areas.J 630 August 2007 17:00 - 18:20Room: 0.89 JedlikPaper SessionScience educationChair:Philip Adey, Kings College London, United KingdomThe nature of guidance and the development of conceptual understanding in inquiry-based sciencelessons in the US: A study of four middle school teachersErin Marie Furtak, Max Planck Institute for Human Development, Berlin, GermanyThis paper is a mixed-method exploration of the nature of guidance four middle school scienceteachers provided to their students during scientific inquiry discussions about sinking and floating.Videotapes of discussions were coded according to a framework of guidance in classroom talk andrated as high, low, or mixed. Discussions were also coded according to the conceptual level of thediscussion with respect to a learning progression for relative density. These codes and measures ofstudent learning were compared between four teachers: two with students who made higherlearning gains through a unit, and two with students who made lower learning gains. Resultsindicate that the teachers who took a more active role in guiding students toward particularconclusions in discussions had students with higher learning gains, whereas the teachers ofstudents with lower learning gains provided less guidance to their students. The cases presented inthis paper highlight the importance of teachers taking an active role in helping students toconstruct their understanding, even in scientific inquiry settings.Case study about changing students’ perceptions of teacher interpersonal behavioursBruce Waldrip, University of Southern Queensland, AustraliaJeff Dorman, Australian Catholic University, AustraliaDarrel Fisher, Curtin University, AustraliaThe paper reports on part of a large-scale study aimed at examining students’ perceptions ofteacher-student interactions. This paper will report on a case study utilising mixed methodology in12 Queensland primary classrooms. After the students’ perceptions were established, the teachers,through a consultative process, developed strategies to change the students’ perceptions of theirclassroom over a three month period. The paper reports on what strategies these teachers utilisedand what changes in students’ perceptions resulted. The classroom teachers were interviewedabout the change in students’ perceptions, what changes they had sought to promote in theirclassrooms, and what they felt had been achieved in their classrooms. The study found thatstudents were able to articulate what changes the teacher had implemented, what their reaction wasto these changes and their perception of the classroom environment as a result of theseimplemented strategies.– 543 –