Case‐based pedagogy as a context for collaborative inquiry in the Philippines

The purpose of this study was to investigate the potential for using case‐based pedagogy as a context for collaborative inquiry into the teaching and learning of elementary science. The context for this study was the elementary science teacher preparation program at West Visayas State University on the the island of Panay in Iloilo City, the Philippines. In this context, triple linguistic conventions involving the interactions of the local Ilonggo dialect, the national language of Philipino (predominantly Tagalog) and English create unique challenges for science teachers. Participants in the study included six elementary student teachers, their respective critic teachers and a research team composed of four Filipino and two U.S. science teacher educators. Two teacher‐generated case narratives serve as the centerpiece for deliberation, around which we highlight key tensions that reflect both the struggles and positive aspects of teacher learning that took place. Theoretical perspectives drawn from assumptions underlying the use of case‐based pedagogy and scholarship surrounding the community metaphor as a referent for science education curriculum inquiry influenced our understanding of tensions at the intersection of re‐presentation of science, authority of knowledge, and professional practice, at the intersection of not shared language, explicit moral codes, and indigenization, and at the intersection of identity and dilemmas in science teaching. Implications of this study are discussed with respect to the building of science teacher learning communities in both local and global contexts of reform. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 38: 502–528, 2001     

After the alternative elementary program: A promise of continued student success?

This study reports how students who had attended alternative elementary schools performed when they moved on to secondary schools and beyond. Almost no research has been conducted on the longitudinal effects of alternative elementary education on students. Alternative education intervention was found to positively affect student achievement as measured by GPA and standardized test scores, and, student completion of a formal education program. Parent investment opportunity appears to be the common denominator among the three alternative schools that report the greatest student successes over time. Further research is needed to confirm preliminary findings that link parent involvement to students' continued success, and to explore the alternative school as a means to stimulating parent involvement.     

Film History

John W. Landon BEYOND THE MIGHTY WURLITZER: THE HISTORY OF THE THEATRE PIPE ORGAN (Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press,,1983—$29.95).

Susannah Harris Stone THE OAKLAND PARAMOUNT (Berkeley California: Lancaster-Miller Publishers, 1981—$11.95).

John Fell FILM BEFORE GRIFFTTH (Berkeley, California: University of California Press, 1984—$24.50/$10.95).

Herbert Marshall MASTERS OF THE SOVIET CINEMA: CRIPPLED CREATIVE BIOGRAPHIES (London: Routledge 8 Kegan Paul, 1983—$29.95).

John Kobal and V.A. Wilson FOYER PLEASURE: THE GOLDEN AGE OF CINEMA LOBBY CARDS (New York: Deliliah Books, 1983—$12.95).

Don Graham COWBOYS AND CADILLACS: HOW HOLLYWOOD LOOKS AT TEXAS (Texas Monthly Press, P.O. Box 1569, Austin, Texas 78767—$10.95).     

The mall,the library and the church: inquiring into the resourcing of early learning through new spaces and networks

Early learning has increasingly been the focus of social policy and programmes with a proliferation of public, community and commercial entities entering the field of production. Understanding this phenomenon requires educational researchers to conceptualise early learning both within a globalised network of circulating commodities and within specific situated spaces of local sociocultural practice. This paper describes how a research project has drawn on geosemiotic and actor-network theories, and employed spatially sensitive methods, to investigate the resourcing of early learning in spaces new to most educational researchers. Focusing on the suburban field site ‘Midburb’, we analyse the ways in which discourses operate through/in place producing different entry points, pathways and access for parents, impacting on their opportunities for encountering early learning resources.