From here to there and back again: the story of a mother,her son,disability, and school choice

Nelly and her children live in Queensland, Australia. When it came time for her second youngest son to start school, Nelly was not prepared for the difficulty that she had enrolling him at the school of her choice. In spite of her son's disability, Nelly thought that it was natural that he would go to his local school with his sister. It is not surprising that she expected this, given the legal and policy endorsement of inclusive education that exists in the Queensland education system. What unfolded in Nelly's life as she pursued this enrolment is the subject of this article. This is the story of a mother who believed in and hoped for inclusive schooling for her son but who found herself caught in a series of events and experiences which ultimately led to the decision to transfer him into a special school. This is also the story of how, disillusioned and regretful, she went on to undo that decision. Told primarily in Nelly's own words, this narrative provides a deep insight into one mother's efforts to exercise her parental authority, the difficulties she encountered in trying to do so, and the consequences for her son.     

Interweaving mathematics and pedagogy in task design: a tale of one task

In this article we introduce a usage-goal framework within which task design can be guided and analyzed. We tell a tale of one task, the Pentomino Problem, and its evolution through predictive analysis, trial, reflective analysis, and adjustment. In describing several iterations of the task implementation, we focus on mathematical affordances embedded in the design and also briefly touch upon pedagogical affordances.     

Getting the story, understanding the lives: From career stories to teachers' professional development

To understand teachers' professional development, the career stories of 10 experienced Flemish (Belgian) Primary School teachers were collected. The analysis of these narrative data culminated in the reconstruction of a professional self and a subjective educational theory, both conceived of as indicators for the professional development. These general concepts were differentiated to develop a conceptual framework for understanding teachers' professional development from their career stories. The comparative analysis of the stories revealed two important recurring themes, the strive for job stability and the feelings of vulnerability for the teacher. In this paper the “biographical perspective” is depicted as a general theoretical approach, and as a concrete research procedure for data collection and analysis. The author concludes that a narrative-biographical approach constitutes a viable perspective for understanding professional development from the subjective viewpoint of the teachers.     

Protagonist gender as a design variable in adapting mathematics story problems to learner interests

Junior-high students solved mathematics story problems featuring a male protagonist, a female protagonist, or both. A total of 252 eighth-graders from a rural school and a suburban school participated. Females and especially males strongly preferred own-gender over opposite-gender protagonists. Female performance exceeded male performance overall, regardless of protagonist gender. For the rural sample only, and more so for high-ability than low-ability students, performance was higher for those who received preferred-protagonist problems. Problem-solving performance was strongly related to standardized mathematics achievement scores, but was not significantly related to race or socioeconomic status. The implications of the findings for using preferred contexts as a basis for instructional adaptation in mathematics education are discussed.     

Effect of goal setting on the strategies used to solve a block design task

In this experiment we studied the effect of goal setting on the strategies used to perform a block design task called SAMUEL. SAMUEL can measure many indicators, which are then combined to determine the strategies used by participants when solving SAMUEL problems. Two experimental groups were created: one group was given an explicit, difficult goal and the other was not given a goal. The two groups were comparable in their average visual–spatial ability. The results indicated no goal effect on the strategies, defined in terms of the combined indicators. However, the goal did have an effect on some of the indicators taken alone (total problem-solving time, total viewing time, and model-viewing frequency) but this was true only for subjects with a low cognitive ability. These findings demonstrate that setting a goal can have an effect on some strategy indexes used to assess performance on a visual-intelligence design task. This research has implications for defining intelligence-test instructions and educational requirements in school.     

From Scepticism to the Urge to Take Action,or from Daily Frustration to a Solo Initiative

This paper describes an action research project at the elementary school in Wurflach in Lower Austria during the pilot phase of the Ecologisation of Schools programme initiated by the Federal Ministry of Education and the OECD. Over this period, the author was teaching in the school, and counselling another school in Lower Austria also involved in the programme. After a period of conflict, caused by mutual misunderstandings and lack of communication, the positive effects of the project began to emerge. There was increased team work among the teachers; more positive relationships between pupils and teachers; greater understanding and more constructive working relations between the school community and the school caretaker, Hannerl Bartl; and relations between the school and the parents, the local community, and especially the local mayor, were greatly enhanced.     

From speck to story: relating history of mathematics to the cognitive demand level of tasks

Educational Studies in Mathematics - It is a challenge for mathematics teachers to provide activities for their students at a high level of cognitive demand. In this article, we explore the...     

From an immigrant to a citizen: language as a hindrance or a key to citizenship

The starting point for this paper is a question that has provoked a recent parliamentary election debate in Sweden: whether fluency in Swedish should be regarded as a requirement when applying for Swedish citizenship. Two main issues have been discussed: the different levels and meanings of citizenship, and language acquisition by adult immigrants as a hindrance or a key to citizenship based on recent research and scholarship.¹ The Swedish policy of integration, being trapped between demos and ethnos, between universality and diversity, has profound consequences for forming Swedish language policy for immigrants. Yet learning a new language is connected with learning a new culture and society. For immigrants the new language is not only a means of survival, but an important step in reconstructing identities. It seems quite natural that a good command of the language is a key to becoming a full and active citizen, i.e. to acquire a citizenship. Comprehension of the language and knowledge of culture of the (new) country helps one to be aware of one's rights and duties and exercise them, to be involved in society and to participate actively in it. The new language and culture can enrich one's identity and make it more complex.     

How to write a story in English

<正>When it comes to writing a story,the first thing that strikes me is fear.Where to start?What is the title of the story?What is it going to be about?After struggling with some monstrous idea of using a first person perspective to tell a story of a horrific murder,I give up before starting to write and resort to my pillow and blanket for warmth and comfort."Not everyone gets to be Dan Brown."I     

Gender, task contexts, and children's performance on a computer-based task

Gender differences in response to computers have been widely reported. This study addresses the question of how far the context in which a computer task is presented can affect girls' and boys' on-task performance. In an experimental study involving 60 ten and eleven year-olds, we examine the effects of differential contextualisation on girls' and boys' performance on a computer-based perceptual-motor skills task. Our findings illustrate that even with a single, standard piece of software, children's performance can be substantially affected by the context in which that software is presented. The results suggest that gender differences in children's responses to computer tasks are relatively labile, and highly context sensitive. The implications and possible explanations for these findings are considered.     

The story of representation (or not) in contributing to the development of a school subject curriculum

This paper prompts us to consider ‘representation’ with respect to a committee structure ‘managing’ the development of the Irish senior cycle physical education framework. The paper is timely due to the national interest in the senior cycle subject development in Ireland and complements work undertaken on the development of policy in senior physical education internationally. Bernstein's [(1990). Class, Code and Control: Volume 4. The Structuring of Pedagogic Discourse. London: Routledge] construction of ‘pedagogic discourse’ and Pitkin's [(1967). The Concept of Representation. University of California Press] notion of ‘representation’ provide a framework for exploring the process by which Senior Cycle Physical Education (SCPE) was ‘managed’ by the Physical Education Course Committee. Interviews were conducted with nine stakeholders who were members of the Committee and the constant comparative method was used to analyse the interview data. The results revolved around representation of individual views in favour of representative roles, interacting within the remit of the Committee structure and activity outside of the formal meetings. A number of conclusions arise in examining the extent to which ‘representation’ provides a framework for exploring the process by which curriculum development within Irish SCPE was ‘managed’ by the appointed Committee. Such a study provides significant points for discussion for those charged with drawing together groups to advise on curriculum development.     

Working the system: Development of a system model of technology integration to inform learning task design

There has been extensive investigation into factors affecting digital technology integration in learning and teaching, but the complexity of integration continues to elude understanding. Thus, questions about how digital technologies can be best used to support learning persist. This paper argues that methods designed to address complex systems are needed to understand the interplay between teaching, learning and digital technologies. Starting with a developing system model of teachers' technology integration, this study revises the model to include factors of students' experience using digital technologies and beliefs about learning. The revised model is then used to demonstrate possible effects of student experiences in a technologically integrated group learning task. Analysis draws on data from a large-scale Australian study of technology innovation (N = 7406). Data mining techniques are used to identify patterns of students' technology use and perceptions of group work. Findings inform revision of the model to include factors of students' experience and learning and their effects on teachers' practice. Implications for learning design and students' learning experiences are explored.     

Field independence,task ambiguity,and performance on a proportional reasoning task

This study investigated the proportional reasoning abilities of 35 college science students. Using a projection of shadows problem, proportional reasoning was assessed under one of two experimental conditions corresponding to the type of information presented: (a) relevant only, or (b) relevant and irrelevant. Subjects were also measured on the cognitive style of field independence. Results showed that subjects in the relevant only condition performed significantly better than those in the relevant-irrelevant condition. Degree of field independence was related to performance only in the relevant-irrelevant condition. These results indicated an interaction between type of information presented in a task and cognitive style.     

论教育游戏任务系统及其设计

教育游戏作为新兴的学习工具和学习平台,因其能充分调动学习者的学习动机而日益受到关注。从教育游戏游戏性和教育性的平衡入手,分析教育游戏系统中的任务系统,并从游戏性和教育性两个方面给出了教育游戏任务系统的设计策略。