Does a year make a difference? The classroom management practices of primary student teachers before and after a one-year teacher education programme

The purpose of this study was to examine primary student teachers' use, confidence and success in various classroom management strategies at the start and at the end of a one-year teaching programme and ascertain any significant differences between the two time periods. One hundred and twenty-four English primary student teachers were surveyed at both time periods. Student teachers indicate that they would employ mostly preventative and lower-level corrective strategies at the start and at the end of the programme. Over the one year there was a significant increase in the use, confidence and success of preventative and relatively more intrusive corrective strategies, while the use and confidence of lower-level corrective strategies remained the same. The study tentatively highlights the cumulative impact of a one-year teaching programme on some but not all classroom management skills.     

Price-induced substitution of faculty in academe: Does mission make a difference?

In an earlier paper Tuckman and Chang demonstrated that college faculty were substitutable and that differences in faculty salaries influenced the distribution of faculty by rank and sex. This paper uses a similar methodology to explore the question of whether institutions of high education with different missions have different substitution patterns and price elasticities. Our main conclusion is that price-related substitution does exist at each of the four types of colleges in our sample. However, the observed price effects are small and there is little evidence that any one college type is consistently more price responsive than any other.     

Does assessment for learning make a difference? The development of a questionnaire to explore the student response

Assessment for learning is a widely used term and the concept forms the basis of many teaching innovations in higher education. However, the definitions and scope of assessment for learning vary considerably. We describe a conceptualisation of assessment for learning that encompasses current thinking in a holistic way and which has been trialled and extensively refined in practice. A student questionnaire is presented which has enabled us to explore the student experience. Results indicate that the overall student experience is more positive in modules where assessment for learning approaches are used and students are more likely to take a deep approach to learning. It also demonstrates that the student experience is centred on staff support and module design, feedback, active engagement and peer learning. The full questionnaire is made available and its wider use in evaluation, enhancement and research is encouraged.     

Small group learning: Do group members' implicit theories of ability make a difference?

We examined the impact of members' implicit theories of ability on group learning and the mediating role of several group process variables, such as goal-setting, effort attributions, and efficacy beliefs. Comparisons were between 15 groups with a strong incremental view on ability (high incremental theory groups), and 15 groups with a weak incremental view on ability (low incremental theory groups). Groups worked on a computer-based management simulation. The task required the groups to learn the underlying structure of the simulation to be able to control the system effectively. High incremental theory groups set more challenging group goals, attributed their performance more to effort, developed stronger group efficacy, and displayed steeper learning trajectories than low incremental theory groups. Group goals mediated the impact of group members' implicit theories on group learning. Exploratory analyses of the group communication process revealed that members of the high incremental theory groups communicated more openly about the task and maintained a stronger task focus compared with members of the low incremental theory groups. Research on group learning benefits from a stronger individual differences perspective that incooperates variables such as implicit theories of ability as determinants of emerging group processes and outcomes.     

Does participatory action learning make a difference? Perspectives of effective learning tools and indicators from the conservation cropping group in north Queensland,Australia

Abstract

In Australia, the introduction of extension approaches based on adult learning, action learning and action research theory has resulted in a turn around in the way in which Research, Development and Extension (RD&E) agencies operate. These approaches are being used particularly in projects involving farmer groups to improve decision‐making skills of both fanners and extension agents and have become common agendas of funding bodies and agencies that support such projects. However, the questions remain concerning both funding bodies and extension agencies: ‘Does participatory action learning (PAL) make a difference? And is it more effective than traditional models of extension for improving the adoption of sustainable farming practices? This paper presents the results from evaluating the learning occurring within an on‐going conservation cropping farmer group using PAL. The results illustrate real‐world evidence to suggest that participatory action learning and other action research based approaches make a difference in improving the effectiveness of group learning compared to more traditional extension approaches. Qualities of and indicators for effective learning can be developed from empirical research as well as common concepts drawn from theories of learning. In addition, the use of qualitative evaluation methods (eg. convergent interviewing) and ‘soft’ systems approaches, are useful for traditionally perceived ‘difficult‐to‐measure’ advances in learning. The overall finding is that PAL was both feasible and rewarding.     

Using virtual reality in the classroom: preservice teachers’ perceptions of its use as a teaching and learning tool

Virtual reality (VR) platforms act as a potentially transformative tool in learning and teaching. The aim of this study was to examine pre-service teachers’ (PST) perceptions about VR, inclusive of their beliefs about its capacity to be used as a teaching and learning tool. A case-study, conducted at an urban university in Australia involved a sample of n = 41. Participants’ positive perceptions of VR in their teaching relate to its potential to engage learners, the immersive potential of the platform and the scope of VR to offer students experiences they might otherwise not have with other learning tools. Concerns expressed by PSTs include their relatively low self-efficacy to use VR in their teaching, monitoring-related matters, financial cost and implementing the technology in a safe and supportive way. There was a significant difference in PSTs’ amount of self-efficacy to teach using VR when compared to their overall confidence to use digital technologies. PSTs typically had greater awareness of the immersive and engagement potential of VR and less awareness about its potential to foster and promote collaborative learning. This paper contributes to an emerging discourse regarding the possible applications of VR in educational environments and particularly in relation teacher-educator contexts.     

Medicine as a calling among male and female medical students in Israel: Does it make a difference?

This study focused on the perception of medicine as a calling and its associations with medical training satisfaction, career certainty, career satisfaction, career commitment, and well-being among 176 Israeli medical students. Participants replied to an online questionnaire including the Brief Calling Scale (Duffy and Sedlacek in Career Dev Q 59:27–41, 2010) and measures related to medical training, a medical career, and well-being. Calling was positively associated with all outcome measures, and gender moderated these associations, which were stronger for female medical students in comparison with male medical students. The importance of taking these gender differences regarding calling under consideration for career counseling is discussed.     

Explicit versus implicit understanding of teaching: Does knowing what teaching is help children to learn from it?

One hundred and sixteen Korean 3- to 5-year-olds were individually taught animal names through a game, either in a direct condition in which the instructional goal was stated or an indirect condition in which it was not. How much they learned and how well they understood the intentionality of teaching were also measured. Korean children seemed to have relatively rapid development in understanding of the intentionality of teaching, and this understanding was correlated with their identification of the goal of the game. The direct condition produced better learning for the children who had higher understanding of the intentionality of teaching.     

A teaching–learning sequence on a socio-scientific issue: analysis and evaluation of its implementation in the classroom*

This study examines the effectiveness of a teaching–learning sequence (TLS) to improve the understanding of the influences and interactions between a technology (mining) and society. The aim of the study is also to show the possibility of both teaching and assessing the most innovative issues and aspects of scientific competence and their impact on the understanding of the nature of science. The methodology used a quasi-experimental, pre–post-test design with a control group, with pre–post-test differences as the empirical indicators of improved understanding. Improvements were modest, as the empirical differences (pre–post and experimental–control group) were not large, but the experimental group scored more highly than the control group. The areas that showed improvement were identified. The paper includes the TLS itself and the standardized assessment tools that are functional and transferable to other researchers and teachers.     

Structured teaching and classroom management – the solution for the decline of Swedish school results? Conclusions drawn from a comparative meta-synthesis of teaching and learning

With a basis in conclusions from a comparative meta-synthesis of teaching and learning, the question of structured and teacher-led teaching in Swedish comprehensive schools is discussed and analysed. The aim is to illustrate the development of results and changes in teaching patterns in Swedish comprehensive schools in relation to new regulations in the curriculum concerning structured teaching. The result shows that in current research there is some support for structured teaching but, at the same time, a gradual and parallel development of the pupil’s personal discovery and learning is emphasised. Regardless of the grade of structure, the quality of interaction and communication in teaching seems to be conclusive. One superior teaching dimension consists of structure and interaction.     

Urban African‐American middle school science students: Does standards‐based teaching make a difference?

The current reform movement in science education promotes standards‐based teaching, including the use of inquiry, problem solving, and open‐ended questioning, to improve student achievement. This study examines the influence of standards‐based teaching practices on the achievement of urban, African‐American, middle school science students. Science classes of teachers who had participated in the professional development (n = 8) of Ohio's statewide systemic initiative (SSI) were matched with classes of teachers (n = 10) who had not participated. Data were gathered using group‐administered questionnaires and achievement tests that were specifically designed for Ohio's SSI. Analyses indicate that teachers who frequently used standards‐based teaching practices positively influenced urban, African‐American students' science achievement and attitudes, especially for boys. Additionally, teachers' involvement in the SSI's professional development was positively related to the reported use of standards‐based teaching practices in the classroom. The findings support the efficacy of high‐quality professional development to change teaching practices and to enhance student learning. © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 37: 1019–1041, 2000     

Written versus oral administration of a social-emotional self-report test for children: Does method of execution make a difference?

This study examined administration method (standard written administration vs. oral administration by an examiner) as a variable in influencing children's self-report test scores. Subjects included 139 students in grades 3–6, randomly assigned to one or the other administration condition. Subjects completed the Internalizing Disorders Evaluation Scale for Children (IDESC) according to the assigned administration method. Internal consistency estimates of each group were essentially similar. Mean IDESC scores of the two groups did not differ significantly from either a statistical or practical standpoint, based on t-test and effect size calculations. Results suggest that method of administration did not affect test performance. Implications for child assessment and future research are discussed.     

Making sense of pre-service teachers’ dispositions towards social justice: can teacher education make a difference?

Given Australia's diverse student population, the need for pre-service teacher education to prepare what is a predominantly Anglo-Australian and middle-class profession to be effective teachers of diverse students is critical. In Lortie's (1975 Lortie, D. 1975. Schoolteacher: A sociological study, Chicago: University of Chicago Press.  [Google Scholar]) classic study, however, he argues that the predispositions of teacher education students are a much more powerful socialising influence than pre-service education. This article explores dispositions towards social justice in pre-service teachers from two teacher education programs within one Australian metropolitan university. Drawing on notions of distributive, retributive and recognitive justice (Gale & Densmore, 2000 Gale, T. and Densmore, K. 2000. Just schooling: Explorations in the cultural politics of teaching, Buckingham: Open University Press.  [Google Scholar]) as a way of making sense of socially just dispositions, interviews with four pre-service teachers – two beginning their Graduate Diploma in Education program (a one year program) and two beginning their final year of the Bachelor of Education program (a four year program) – are analysed. Differences in the dispositions of teachers from the two cohorts are examined and implications for teacher education discussed.     

Incorporating critical thinking in the pedagogical content of a teacher education programme: does it make a difference?

Recent educational policies, national reports, and voluminous literature stress that critical thinking (CT) is an essential skill in any stage of schooling for producing critical thinkers and ensuring better learning. The importance of teaching CT has been raised in teacher education programmes because students are supposed to teach this skill in schools in the future. This study therefore assesses the effects of a CT-based pedagogical course on student teachers’ content knowledge and CT disposition. A pre-test–post-test experimental study was carried out in a vocational pre-service teacher education programme in Turkey. Although the students who were exposed to CT-based instruction showed better progress in both academic achievement and CT disposition than in traditional instruction, this result was not statistically significant according to the Mixed Factorial ANOVA and ANCOVA results.     

Coeducational or single‐sex school: does it make a difference on high school girls’ academic motivation?

The aim of the present study was to further examine the impact over time of single‐sex and coeducational school environments on girls’ motivation in language arts and mathematics. Two cohorts comprising 340 girls (7th to 9th grade; 9th to 11th grade) from eight coeducational and two single‐sex schools were followed during a period of three academic years in a longitudinal research scheme. Data were collected with a self‐reported questionnaire including several scales: parental and teachers’ support, competence beliefs, utility‐value and achievement goals. In general, mixed‐design repeated measures analyses of variance indicated no effect of the environment or of the interaction between environment and time of measurement. Significant time effects on several variables indicated a general decline of achievement motivation over time. Consequently, the multiplication of non‐mixed high schools, as proposed by some, would constitute an expensive and inefficient social policy, as far as girls’ motivation is concerned.     

Do teachers make all their students play the same learning games? A comparative study of learning games in biology and English as a second language

This article, based upon the field of comparative didactics, seeks to contribute to the identification of generic and specific features in the teaching and learning process. More particularly, its aim was to examine, through the study of two different school subjects: biology and English as a second language, how passive didactic differentiation can develop and account for the gap in progress growing between more-able and less-able students. For our analysis, we adopt a didactic viewpoint basing our study on what is going on in the class when the teacher and her students interact and use notions borrowed from the Joint Action Theory in Didactics. At the end of the article, we mainly argue that more teacher training focused on ‘objects of learning’ and ‘knowledge-in-use’ is necessary if we want teachers to be able to produce didactic milieus adapted to students with mixed abilities and, more generally, if we want to increase epistemic access.     

“Was that interesting?” & “Does it matter?”: The implications of on-task learning experiences

Interest is a critical fuel for and outcome of learning. Building on and refocusing the Four-Phase Model of interest development, this study provides a window into the ecology of the learning experience and interest it generates. This research uses a novel mobile assessment platform to test learning experiences in three university courses (Organic chemistry, biochemistry, and introduction to physics for non-majors) and pilots a micro-analytic approach to capturing these experiences during lectures/tutorials. Students' interest in tasks, a single class, and the domain of study were collected with short surveys through an online mobile platform during class, immediately following task experiences. Latent variance-based modelling suggested strong forward connections between interest in most tasks. The connections between prior knowledge and interest with a future interest in course tasks varied strongly and were dependent on the nature of the tasks. The nuance of these connections and their implications for mobile assessment are discussed.     

From teaching from the heart to teaching with a heart: Segmenting filipino college students’ views of their teachers’ caring behavior and their orientations as cared-for individuals

Caring, as a universal human phenomenon, should permeate elementary, secondary and tertiary level instruction. The practice of teaching, especially at the tertiary level, is not only substantial and procedural but relational as well. To teach with a heart is the essence that makes teaching a form of caring. When teaching is viewed as a form of caring, teachers become relational geniuses in their own right. This study is an attempt to segment Filipino college students’ views (n=1000) of their teachers’ caring behavior and their orientations as cared-for individuals. The identified clusters of teacher roles that indicate caring behavior imply that acts of teaching become acts of caring depending on how the teachers, theefficient cause of education, perform their ordinary tasks in the context ofextraordinariness. Such extraordinariness spells out a big difference in the way teachers practice the so-calledsingle loop caring or caring visibility anddouble- loop caring or caring presence. The former refers to teaching from the heart while the latter pertains to teaching with a heart. Interestingly, the extent to which teachers’ caring behavior is felt and experienced by the students positively shapes their orientations as cared-for individuals.