Toward optimal allocation of instructional resources: Dividing computer-assisted instruction time among students

This paper deals with the question of how to best allocate a finite instructional resource among different students — specifically how to divide time on a computer-assisted instruction (CAI) system among a number of eligible students.First several possible objectives for a time allocation strategy are considered. Examples include maximizing the students' mean grade placement without increasing the variance and maximizing the number of students who make a particular gain. Then using operations research techniques, time-allocation strategies are described to optimize the chance of reaching each objective. Finally the outcomes of various allocation strategies are predicted by computer simulations that use learning curves estimated from observed data.The simulation models indicated that for the students and curriculum used, different time allocation strategies make very little difference in overall results when reasonable assumptions are made concerning the ways time can be allocated during a normal school day. A much more important variable is the total amount of CAI time used by students. For example, the school grade-placement average can be increased as much by increasing total CAI time by ten percent as by any allocation strategy tested.Also at Institute for Mathematical Studies in the Social Sciences, Stanford University. Please address reprint requests to Elizabeth Macken Raugh, Computer Curriculum Corporation, 700 Hansen Way, Palo Alto, CA 94304. The authors thank Mario Zanotti for helpful suggestions about the appendix of this article.     

Comparing the curriculum development process in special (MLD) schools: a systematic qualitative approach

ABSTRACT

The present paper describes a comparative study of ten special schools for pupils with moderate learning difficulties in England and Wales. Qualitative analysis of interview data and curriculum documentation collected from the schools provide a model of the curriculum process which is firmly grounded in the data. Comparisons across the categories of the model indicate strong differences between the schools in certain categories, e.g. use of objectives, specification of curriculum intention, monitoring of pupil progress and curriculum evaluation.     

Crossing boundaries: Exploring the theory,practice and possibility of a ‘Future 3’ curriculum

In this article, we examine a case of innovation in curriculum and pedagogy at a new school in the UK. We begin by outlining the 3 Futures model, which we use as a methodological heuristic in the case study of the school that appears to be both knowledge-led and learner-engaged; characteristics of the Future 3 scenario. In considering the school's curriculum, we also draw on a number of concepts from the work of Basil Bernstein: classification, framing and the idea of open schools, and a curriculum integration model developed by us to consider the degree of epistemic emphasis in the school's predominantly interdisciplinary curriculum. Together, these concepts provide the means to examine the organising principles of practice operating in the school, as links are drawn between the 3 Futures model, Bernstein's concepts and the data. We theorise this as a form of ‘opening up’, suggesting that even within the context of an interdisciplinary curriculum, access to powerful knowledge may be maintained in a whole-school approach where the demands of both knowledge and knowers are brought into balance. The school's approach and the theorisation we offer may provide insights for other schools embarking on a futures model for education and for twenty-first-century educational discourses more generally.     

学校信息技术与课程整合的影响因素与推进策略

学校信息技术与课程整合受多个因素的影响,文章首先通过文献计量学方法,初步确定影响因素,然后运用解释结构模型法来构建影响学校信息技术与课程整合因素的结构模型,接着通过实证数据统计分析,对学校信息技术与课程整合影响因素与学校整合之间的关系进行偏相关分析法,最后提出了学校信息技术与课程整合的推进策略。     

History of Science in the Physics Curriculum: A Directed Content Analysis of Historical Sources

Although history of science is a potential resource for instructional materials, teachers do not have a tendency to use historical materials in their lessons. Studies showed that instructional materials should be adaptable and consistent with curriculum. This study purports to examine the alignment between history of science and the curriculum in the light of the facilitator model on the use of history of science in science teaching, and to expose possible difficulties in preparing historical materials. For this purpose, qualitative content analysis method was employed. Codes and themes were defined beforehand, with respect to levels and their sublevels of the model. The analysis revealed several problems with the alignment of historical sources for the physics curriculum: limited information about scientists’ personal lives, the difficulty of linking with content knowledge, the lack of emphasis on scientific process in the physics curriculum, differences between chronology and sequence of topics, the lack of information about scientists’ reasoning. Based on the findings of the analysis, it would be difficult to use original historical sources; educators were needed to simplify historical knowledge within a pedagogical perspective. There is a need for historical sources, like Harvard Case Histories in Experimental Science, since appropriate historical information to the curriculum objectives can only be obtained by simplifying complex information at the origin. The curriculum should leave opportunities for educators interested in history of science, even historical sources provides legitimate amount of information for every concepts in the curriculum.     

高职课程开发与设计模式的再认识

课程开发与模式的设计是课程改革的核心问题。本文从认识课程的概念出发,概要分析学科课程模式、双元制课程模式、CBE／T课程模式、MES课程模式、宽基础活模块和多元整合等课程模式,着重分析工作过程系统化课程模式的优点和局限性,明确提出在高职课程开发设计中,应结合实际情况,把握各课程模式的优势与不足,灵活运用某一种课程模式来指导课程的编制。     

利用QQ群构建高职院校课程设计实训平台

课程设计是高职院校重要的实践环节。笔者在分析了QQ群的教育特点基础上,提出利用QQ群进行课程设计实训的理论构想,并通过课程“FLASH动画制作”的课程设计实训实践,实证研究QQ群在辅导答疑、数据传递以及指导小组学习中的可行性,旨在为师生有效地进行课程设计提供新思路。     

Measuring Teachers' Meta-Orientations to Curriculum: Application of Hierarchical Confirmatory Factor Analysis

Although curriculum scholars generally agree that teachers' meta-orientations to curriculum are hidden forces guiding their selection of curriculum goals, curriculum content, teaching methods, and assessment strategies, the existence of such a meta-orientation construct has not been empirically confirmed. The author used McNeil's (1996) 4 curriculum orientations to demonstrate how hierarchical confirmatory factor analysis can be applied to measure the meta-orientation construct. A hierarchical model was hypothesized that consisted of 4 1st-order factors and 1 2nd-order factor. The 1st-order factors represented McNeil's 4 separate curriculum orientations: academic, social reconstructionist, humanistic, and technological. The 2nd-order factor denoted the meta-orientation construct. Hierarchical confirmatory factor analysis of teacher data collected by a curriculum orientation inventory provided clear support for the hypothesized model.     

CURRICULUM DECISION MAKING AT THE TWO‐YEAR COLLEGE: THE TYPES OF DATA USED

After decades of rapid expansion, community colleges have begun to examine their internal academic processes; this study examines how curriculum is approved at one two‐year college. A previously developed classification system is utilized to examine data utilized by a college's curriculum committee in their deliberations preceding decision making. The system employs the use of three judges trained in the use of the system and also in the research technique of Content Analysis. The study classifies two groups of data—data sources and data subjects. It identifies some specific avenues in which data enter the curriculum deliberations; reveals some patterns of data usage; and develops a hierarchy of subjects, or topics, most often used in curriculum decision making at the college.     

Classroom-level curriculum development: EFL teachers as curriculum-developers,curriculum-makers and curriculum-transmitters

This qualitative study aimed to explore teacher curriculum approaches and the strategies attached to each approach because they influence the taught curriculum, teacher development and student learning. The study was therefore grounded in teacher curriculum development, curriculum implementation, teacher development, student cognitive and affective change and constructivism. To address this study's qualitative and exploratory purposes, it made use of the qualitative paradigm at the levels of ontology (multiple curriculum realities), epistemology (interaction with rather than detachment from respondents) and methodology (using idiographic methodology and instruments). In line with the qualitative paradigm, it used qualitative case-study (method), general interviews, pre/post-lesson interviews, group interviews and participant observation (data collection methods) in addition to grounded theory (data analysis approach) to meet the research purposes. Working with English as a foreign language (EFL) teachers and mixed-nationality college students, the study reached a teacher curriculum approach classification comprising curriculum-transmission, curriculum-development and curriculum-making. It recommended alternatives for teacher, student and curriculum development, curriculum implementation and teacher training.     

A model for increasing decision making potential through standardized test scores

The development of a model for more effective usage of group administered standardized tests is developed. The primary assumption is that summary data from these instruments are not used in curricular decisions for groups larger than the classroom unit, and a method is illustrated which uses item groupings from subtests allowing a more effective use of the data for program and curricular decisions. Several cautions are presented with respect to data usage in the recommended fashion, i. e., item data usually have low reliability coefficients, and criterion levels which identify problems in the curriculum are difficult to establish.     

浅析新课改下初中信息技术的教学模式

新课程改革之后,教学模式由传统的以教师为主体的模式向以学生为主体的模式退步转变。信息技术课作为初中的必修课,在新课程改革中运用何种教学模式,来更好地完成信息技术教育教学是摆在初中信息技术教师面前的一道课题。本文提出在新课改下,初中信息技术的教学模式应当立足更好的培养学生自主学习的能力,以适应信息技术的飞速发展。     

A Model for Assessing Higher Order Thinking in Statistics

ABSTRACT

As in other areas of the school curriculum, the teaching, learning and assessment of higher order thinking in statistics has become an issue for educators following the appearance of recent curriculum documents in many countries. These documents have included probability and statistics across all years of schooling and have stressed the importance of higher order thinking across all areas of the mathematics curriculum. This paper reports on a pilot project which applied the theoretical framework for cognitive development devised by Biggs and Collis to a higher order task in data handling in order to provide a model of student levels of response. The model will assist teachers, curriculum planners and other researchers interested in increasing levels of performance on more complex tasks. An interview protocol based on a set of 16 data cards was developed, trialed with Grade 6 and 9 students, and adapted for group work with two classes of Grade 6 students. The levels and types of cognitive functioning associated with the outcomes achieved by students completing the task in the two contexts will be discussed, as will the implications for classroom teaching and for further research.     

Teacher Professional Development Through a Collaborative Curriculum Project – an Example of TPACK in Maine

Maine’s one-to-one laptop program provides an ideal opportunity to explore conditions that optimize teacher integration of technology-focused curriculum into the classroom. EcoScienceWorks (ESW) is an ecology curriculum that includes targeted simulations and a code block programming challenge developed through an NSF-ITEST grant. The project was designed as a collaboration that included simulation software developers; middle school science teachers; the Maine laptop program; environmental educators; an external evaluator; and a lead organization experienced in teacher guided curriculum development. Thus, each of the elements of TPACK (technology, pedagogy, and content knowledge) worked together to produce the final ecology simulation-centered curriculum. In 2008–2009, the ESW curriculum became available statewide through the Maine laptop program. Partner teachers have transitioned their classrooms to more learning-centered environments through the use of technology and have become teacher leaders. The collaborative approach to technology focused curriculum development used in this project is a model for TPACK professional development.     

Forces affecting change in small rural schools

Selected curriculum changes were studied in two rural shcool‐community contexts. Both qualitative and quantitative data indicated that implementation was at a low level of use and that factors related to isolation were particularly powerful influences in the change process. A major implication of the study is demonstrated need for detailed curriculum implementation plans that account for local school community factors.     

Teaching science to students with developmental disabilities using the Early Science curriculum

There is a large science attainment gap between students with and without special educational needs, and many students with developmental disabilities (DD) struggle to access the mainstream science programmes of study. The purpose of the present project was to pilot the use of the Early Science (ES) curriculum over a six week period with nine students with moderate to severe DD in a special education setting in the UK. Staff members indicated positive experiences of using the curriculum, especially the use of the structured teaching methodology as a helpful tool. Evaluation data suggested that all nine pupils improved their science knowledge over the course of the intervention. Some suggestions are made to improve the delivery of the ES curriculum in UK special education settings, and the need for larger scale evaluation research.     

Is the disappointment in the implementation of a new science curricula justified?: A study quantifying descriptive data

This study investigated the reasons behind the lack of enthusiasm among teachers in implementing a new biology curriculum in Israel. Classroom observations of 42 junior high school teachers in 28 schools revealed that the curriculum developers succeeded in transmitting most of their curriculum objectives. The data indicated three possible reasons, however, for teachers' disappointment: (a) The high expectations set at the ideal level regarding the inquiry approach; (b) The greater role given to verbalization in a biology curriculum, and (c) Dull implementation (routine and nonenthusiastic), which occurs when teachers are too faithful to the teaching text. Four variables—objectives, materials, strategy, and activities—were chosen in order to analyze the learning materials. The variables, and their sub-variables, were scored in terms of the ideal, formal, and operational levels of the curriculum. To score the qualitative implementation data, two new instruments were developed. The first, an analytical instrument, analyzed instructional materials in terms of the frequency and intensity of their use. The second instrument, an observational one, was used to estimate classroom implementation fidelity.     

Teacher Learning of Technology Enhanced Formative Assessment

This study examined the integration of technology enhanced formative assessment (FA) into teachers’ practice. Participants were high school physics teachers interested in improving their use of a classroom response system (CRS) to promote FA. Data were collected using interviews, direct classroom observations, and collaborative discussions. The physics teachers engaged in collaborative action research (AR) to learn how to use FA and CRS to promote student and teacher learning. Data were analyzed using open coding, cross-case analysis, and content analysis. Results from data analysis allowed researchers to construct a model for knowledge skills necessary for the integration of technology enhanced FA into teachers’ practice. The model is as a set of four technologies: hardware and software; methods for constructing FA items; pedagogical methods; and curriculum integration. The model is grounded in the idea that teachers must develop these respective technologies as they interact with the CRS (i.e., hardware and software, item construction) and their existing practice (i.e., pedagogical methods, curriculum). Implications are that for teachers to make FA an integral part of their practice using CRS, they must: 1) engage in the four technologies; 2) understand the nature of FA; and 3) collaborate with other interested teachers through AR.