George Zhou

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Verified

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• PhD
• Professor (Full) at University of Windsor

With an increasing number of international students coming to Canada, the retention of these students has become a significant topic of concern. The persistence and success of international students are largely influenced by their sense of belonging, which is associated with multiple factors, including discrimination and microaggression. This study...

Over four decades of conceptual change studies in education have been based on the assumption that learners come to science classrooms with functionally fixated intuitive ideas. However, it is largely ignored that such pre-instructional conceptions are probabilistic, reflecting some aspects of an idiosyncratic sampling of their experiences and intu...

Over four decades of conceptual change studies in science education have been based on the assumption that learners come to science classrooms with functionally fixated intuitive ideas. However, it is largely ignored that such pre-instructional conceptions are probabilistic, reflecting some aspects of an idiosyncratic sampling of their experiences...

The nature of science has been a significant topic in science education research. The knowledge about nature of science should guide our effort in science curriculum development and science teaching practice. For quite a long time, inquiry has been taken as a mean for science teaching and learning. Considering inquiry as one fundamental aspect of t...

This book stems from the nature notes reciprocal learning program that took place in two sister schools between Canada and China. The nature notes reciprocal learning program was collaboratively conducted between the University of Windsor, Canada, Southwest University (SWU), China, in partnership with the Prince Edward Elementary School, Windsor On...

In this chapter, the impact of the program on students is discussed. Based on interview data with participating students, the program’s impact on students is explored from several aspects: understanding of nature, development of research skills, experience with reciprocal learning, choices of university majors and future careers, and so on.

This chapter uses student work samples to illustrate the program’s achievements. It describes how the nature notes program was implemented in two culturally different schools, how teachers respectively integrated it into their curriculum, how students learned, and how they presented their learning. The differences between Canadian and Chinese stude...

This chapter concludes the book by summarizing the impact of the program on participating students and teachers. Their critical reflection about the program is highlighted. Both students and teachers reported that the nature notes reciprocal learning program created great unique learning experiences for them. They suggested the program to include m...

Teachers’ perceptions of and experiences with the program are investigated in this chapter. Six participating teachers from the Canadian and Chinese sister schools were interviewed about their involvement in the program. During the interviews, teachers elaborated their feelings of being part of the program, the professional growth they experienced...

This chapter reports how the Nature Notes became an educational program in China and then took place simultaneously in two sister schools. The Nature Notes program is a framework allowing students to observe the natural transition at different times and generate their findings through the whole year of the study. This chapter covers two topics. The...

The purpose of this study was to investigate the experiences of Syrian refugee students in Canadian schools. Article 12 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) was used as a framework. Data collection involved one-on-one interview with students. Data from the interviews was analyzed using an open-coding technique to identify themes and p...

A common problem inherent in conceptual change research is that the temporal aspect of the change process is not conceived as a measurable factor. Essentially, it hinges on characterizing time as a measurable-dependent variable. This critical interpretive synthesis tries to address such a conceptual bottleneck. In particular, the synthesis has fore...

The purpose of this paper is to share and discuss our research findings on the experiences of Syrian refugee students in elementary public schools in a southwestern region of Ontario, Canada. We used Article 12 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child as a frame to guide this study. Data collection involved an anonymous questionnaire completed...

Scholars explored the unpopularity of physics courses from different angles, including the physics curriculum, the teaching approach and the subject itself; however, the teaching approach is the fundamental factor. To understand how teachers are teaching physics and students are learning physics, I conducted a classroom-based research project in tw...

This chapter describes three studies that explore promising teaching practices for teaching linguistically and culturally-diverse international students by identifying teaching practices that have high levels of international student satisfaction and student perceptions of learning. The first study, using a mixed-methods approach, found eight teach...

The Handbook of Research on Teaching Strategies for Culturally and Linguistically Diverse International Students explores the promising practices for teaching linguistically and culturally diverse international students within post-secondary educational institutions. This book presents student voice as it relates to student satisfaction and student...

Promising teaching practices for online teaching of international students.

This paper reports on the postmigration experiences of a group of Somali refugee students attending public schools in a southwestern city in Ontario, Canada. The findings were drawn from a qualitative study that was conducted to investigate the participants' postmigration experiences. Data were collected through semi-structured, one-on-one intervie...

With an increasing number of international students coming to Canada for higher education, Canadian universities are offering diverse English language improvement programs (ELIPs) to improve international students’ English proficiency. However, some Chinese international students struggle to pass such programs and eventually withdraw. This study ex...

With the COVID-19 pandemic forcing post-secondary educational institutions to pivot to open and online learning, understanding the needs of international students is more important than ever before. This paper explores the connections between the promising practices for teaching online linguistically and culturally diverse international students an...

The historical and political emergence of STEM has changed the educational paradigm. Researchers, educators, and frontline professionals consider STEM as their savior. However, the ambiguity surrounding STEM and its successors, Integrated STEM education, and STEAM has created confusion for educators and frontline workers about which framework and c...

Connecting Best Practices for Teaching International students with Student Satisfaction: A Review of STEM and Non-STEM Student Perspectives.

Engaging Diverse International Students: Promising Online Teaching Practices.

The difference in information literacy skills between native and non-native English-speaking students was explored using a modified version of the Beile Test of Information Literacy for Education (B-TILED). The multiple linear regression analysis method was applied, and, after controlling for demographic variables, this study found that the mean sc...

With COVID-19 forcing post-secondary educational institutions to shift to open and online learning, understanding the needs of international students is more important than ever before. This paper will explore the connection between the promising practices for teaching online linguistically and culturally diverse international students with interna...

With COVID-19 forcing post-secondary educational institutions to shift to open and online learning, understanding the needs of international students is more important than ever before. This paper will explore the connection between the promising practices for teaching online linguistically and culturally diverse international students with interna...

In recent years, more and more Chinese students have come to Canada for their education. Some of them are parents, and they bring their children with them. Using a multiple case study design, this study explored these international parent-students in regards to how they select schools for their children. Six participants were recruited. Data were c...

Purpose The Nature of Science (NOS) is an important component of scientific literacy. Science teachers’ Views of the Nature of Science (VNOS) directly affect their teaching behaviors. Therefore, it is of great significance to explore science teachers’ VNOS and find ways of improvement. This study was designed to comparatively investigate preservice...

In recent years, more and more Chinese students have come to Canada for their education. Some of them are parents, and they bring their children with them. Using a multiple case study design, this study explored these international parent-students in regards to how they select schools for their children. Six participants were recruited. Data were c...

This article explores promising teaching practices for teaching linguistically and culturally diverse international students by identifying the teaching practices that have high levels of international student satisfaction and student perceptions of learning for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) and non-STEM international stu...

Purpose The Canadian university where this study took place has established an international exchange program in teacher education with a large Chinese university. This study was designed to examine how the international exchange program influenced Chinese science teacher candidates’ understanding of science education and how such learning impacted...

This chapter explores promising teaching practices for teaching linguistically and culturally diverse international students by identifying the teaching practices that have high levels of international student satisfaction and student perceptions of learning for science, technology, engineering, mathematics (STEM) and non-STEM international student...

This study explores how Chinese international graduate students participate in Canadian classrooms, what factors promote and inhibit their participation, and what approaches can help to improve their participation. Eight student participants and two of their instructors were interviewed individually. Data analysis revealed that all participants app...

Although environmental issues we face have changed over time, the need for environmental education has only intensified. Unfortunately, most schools do not offer a stand-alone environmental course. Subject teachers, particularly science teachers, have the responsibility to integrate environmental education in their daily teaching. Responding to the...

Through listening to participants’ own words, this study provides a comprehensive description and analysis of Chinese immigrant parents’ perceptions and behaviours of involvement in their children’s after-school education. It reveals that Chinese immigrant parents were willing to become involved in their children’s after-school education. Although...

This study conducted a narrative inquiry of the experiences of Chinese pre-service teachers who participated in an exchange program. Data were collected through participant observations, reflective journals, and interviews. Results suggest that key challenges participants experienced included culture shock, isolation, language barriers, and undevel...

This paper explores promising teaching practices for teaching linguistically and culturally diverse international students by identifying the teaching practices that have high levels of international student satisfaction and student perceptions of learning. Data were collected through an online survey at a mid-sized Canadian public comprehensive un...

The 24 Nature Notes project was part of the China-Canada Reciprocal Learning Program. Two sister schools participated in the project. Following the same set of dates, students from both schools conducted outdoor observations and collected data. Skype meetings were arranged to exchange ideas and share student work. This study aims to understand the...

In China, there exists many factors such as girls’ socialized gender norms and the values and pedagogy incorporated in the science curriculum that may discourage female students from choosing science courses. In order to ensure that female students have the same opportunities to reach their potential in STEM areas, it is important to understand the...

Since 2000, an increasing number of Chinese international students have been entering North American universities, and many have experienced issues with a sense of belonging, which can in turn impact their academic, social performance, and psychological wellbeing. However, there is limited research on this topic that is exclusively focused on Chine...

Connecting best practices for teaching international students with student satisfaction and student perceptions of learning.

This paper explores promising teaching practices for teaching linguistically and culturally-diverse international students by identifying the teaching practices that have high levels of international student satisfaction and student perceptions of learning. This study is based on the belief that the most effective teaching practices are where promi...

Connecting Best Practices for Teaching Linguistically and Culturally Diverse International Students with International Student Satisfaction and Student Perceptions of Learning.

Lightboard technology has only been around since 2013, but has already shown up on numerous campuses worldwide. There is a dearth of research related to lightboard videos, so there is a need to systematically explore its potential and best practices. This paper explores the pedagogical potential of lightboards for higher education through theoretic...

As part of the SSHRC partnership grant on Reciprocal Learning between Ontario, Canada and Southwest, China, we examined the commonalities and differences in secondary school Inquiry-based Teaching (IBT) in science between sister schools in Ontario, Canada and Southwest, China. Canadian and Chinese teachers’ interpretations of inquiry through video-...

This chapter explores how Chinese immigrant parents are involved in their children’s school-based education and what factors shape the formats of their involvement. Twelve Chinese immigrant families were interviewed. Data analysis revealed that Chinese immigrant parents believed that parental involvement was beneficial to both the school and childr...

Even though more and more studies have been reported in the literature about international undergraduate students' learning experiences in North America, little research has been done to study international graduate students on North American campuses. The university where this study took place has recently established a co-hort-based Master of Edu...

Inquiry-based teaching has become the most recommended approach in science education for a few decades; however, it is not a common practice yet in k-12 school classrooms. In order to prepare future teachers to teach science through inquiry, a Microteaching Lesson Study (MLS) approach was employed in our science methods courses. Instead of asking t...

In order to effectively use technology in teaching, teacher candidates need to develop technology related pedagogical content knowledge through being engaged in a process of discussion, modeling, practice, and reflection. Based on the examination of teacher candidates' lesson plan assignments, observations of their microteaching performance, and th...

The purpose of this paper is to shed light on the premigration challenges experienced by Somali refugee students in refugee camp before resettling in Canada. The findings were drawn from a qualitative research that was designed to investigate the premigration and postmigration experiences of Somali refugee students attending English public schools...

Today's teachers are expected to use digital technologies in their teaching. However, teacher education programs do not yet effectively develop teachers' capabilities to teach with technology. In order to search for best approaches, this chapter starts with an epistemological discussion on knowledge, and then moves to a more specific discussion abo...

Most schools do not offer a standalone environmental course. It is the subject teachers’ responsibility to integrate environmental education into their teaching. School teachers therefore need to develop environment-related pedagogical content knowledge. This chapter proposes a conceptual framework for teacher knowledge: Environmental Pedagogical C...

An increasing number of international students come to Canada for their higher education. As a unique group on Canadian campuses, international students deserve our attention so that we can understand their special needs. Using Tinto’s retention model as a theoretical framework, this study investigates the experiences of the first year internationa...

An increasing number of international students come to Canada for their higher education. As a unique group on Canadian campuses, international students deserve our attention so that we can understand their special needs. Using Tinto’s retention model as a theoretical framework, this study investigates the experiences of the first year internationa...

Technology proficiency has widely been considered a necessary quality of school teachers, yet how to help teachers develop this quality remains an unanswered question. While teacher education programs often offer one technology course as a solution to this issue, scholars have recently argued that such technical skill-oriented courses are not suffi...

The goal of science education is usually meant to develop students’ basic knowledge, skills, and scientific attitudes as stated in many countries’ curriculum documents, with little consideration of what backgrounds students bring into the classroom. A cultural approach to education has challenged this universal goal of science education. This paper...

Parent-teacher communication has great influence on children’s school performance. Using Walker et al.’s model of parent involvement as a theoretical framework, this study investigated Chinese immigrant parents’ communication experience with teachers and the psychological factors that influenced such communication.

Through a qualitative research design, this article investigates the impacts of differentiated laboratory instructional materials on English language learners' (ELLs) laboratory task comprehension. The factors affecting ELLs' science learning experiences are further explored. Data analysis reveals a greater degree of laboratory task comprehension w...

Parent-teacher communication has great influence on children’s school performance. Using Walker et al.’s model of parent involvement as a theoretical framework, this study investigated Chinese immigrant parents’ communication experience with teachers and the psychological factors that influenced such communication. The study collected data through...

Technology proficiency has widely been considered a necessary quality of school teachers, yet how to help teachers develop this quality remains an unanswered question. While teacher education programs often offer one technology course as a solution to this issue, scholars have recently argued that such technical skill-oriented courses are not suffi...

Using interview as the primary data collection method, this qualitative study examined how Chinese immigrant parents are involved in their children's school education and what factors shape the formats of their involvement. Twelve Chinese immigrant families participated in this study. Data analysis reveals that Chinese parents got involved in their...

With an increasing diversity in American schools, teachers need to be able to collaborate in teaching. University courses are widely considered as a stage to demonstrate or model the ways of collaboration. To respond to this call, three authors team taught an integrated methods course at an urban public university in the city of New York. Following...

This case study investigates how well secondary preservice teachers are prepared to use technology in teaching in China. The study focuses on a teacher education program that is a representative of many of those in mid-sized Chinese universities. It examines participants’ experiences with, perspectives of, and expectations about the use of technolo...

The objective of this study was to understand perspectives, expectations, and experiences of Chinese international students studying in the graduate and undergraduate programs at a Canadian university, paying special attention to the challenges these students faced in the process of acculturation. Multiple data gathering techniques were used for th...

This case study investigates how well secondary preservice teachers are prepared to use technology in teaching in China. The study focuses on a teacher education program that is a representative of many of those in mid-sized Chinese universities. It examines participants' experiences with, perspectives of, and expectations about the use of technolo...

Learning is a process of knowledge construction, individually and socially. It has both rational and irrational features. From this stance, the paper reviews an earlier model of conceptual change and its related pedagogical interventions for their inadequate attention to the irrational and social dimensions of learning. More recent developments in...

Many of today's educators support integrated curriculum. To prepare preservice teachers to teach an integrated curriculum in elementary schools, a methods course that covered multiple disciplines was offered to preservice teachers registered in the teacher education program of a public university in the city of New York. Through observations and re...

The objective of this study was to understand perspectives, expectations, and experiences of Chinese international students studying in the graduate and undergraduate programs at a Canadian university, paying special attention to the challenges these students faced in the process of acculturation. Multiple data gathering techniques were used for th...

Over the last three decades, many studies have been conducted to identify students’ preconceptions on various science topics. It is time now for a synthetic study of preconceptions to enhance our understanding of students’ everyday cognition and to benefit our effort in developing effective instructional inventions for conceptual change. Through a...

The purpose of this study was to evaluate an online professional development course for inservice teachers in the area of information and communication technology (ICT) and concurrently explore the factors that influence online professional development. The study integrated quantitative and qualitative methods including survey, focus group and inte...

Supported by the CUNY College Now technology initiative five science and mathematics high school teachers were provided with intensive 5-days summer training in TI technology and with course specific classroom equipment that included various calculator based technology, such as classroom sets of graphing calculators, Vernier data collection probes...

Through a classroom-based study, the authors collected quantitative and qualitative data about student preconceptions in physics. Data analysis produced an in-depth understanding of the features of student preconceptions and cognition. For example, we found that students thought analogically as scientists did, however they used analogies in a diffe...

Graphing calculators and data collection technology was integrated in an undergraduate science methods classes for preservice elementary school teachers. The study investigated whether preservice teachers' knowledge and comfort with the use of graphing calculator technology and their perspectives in the use of graphing calculator technology were in...

Through surveys, focus groups and interviews, this study examines technology adoption at a large Canadian university ten years after setting a strategic plan, explores the interplay between instructors' concepts of teaching and use of technology, and searches for the best solutions to help them use technology more effectively. Results showed that w...

Proficiency of integrating educational technology into teaching is now seen as an important qualification for elementary school teachers. We integrated Texas Instruments graphing calculators and Vernier data collection technology in our undergraduate science methods classes for pre-service elementary school teachers. The study purposes were set up...

To prepare teachers to use technology in teaching, calculator technology was integrated into a double-sectioned science methods course. The purpose of this study was to find out how pre-service teachers’ confidence in the use of calculator technology was influenced by this methods course and how their perspectives of using calculator technology evo...

The purpose of this study was to evaluate an online professional development course for inservice teachers in the area of information and communication technology (ICT) and concurrently explore the factors that influence online professional development. The study integrated quantitative and qualitative methods including survey, focus group and inte...

Gender differences have attracted attention in today's educational research and practice. Very few studies, however, explore the gender differences in the use of technology in higher education. The authors conducted a study on technology adoption at a large Canadian university. One of its purposes was to inform our understanding of how gender matte...

Several Canadian universities and colleges have been working together for years to build Web-accessible computer-based applets to help students learn physics concepts. This paper reports the findings from an evaluative study of the effectiveness of these applets in enhancing conceptual learning. We integrated quantitative and qualitative methods in...