Examining pre-service elementary mathematics teacher perceptions of parent engagement through a funds of knowledge lens

Missing from the research focusing on preparation of culturally responsive elementary mathematics teachers is an explicit explanation of pre-service teachers’ (PSTs) conceptions of parent engagement. Several authors attest to the importance of teacher preparation programs facilitating change in preconceptions about families and communities in order to build positive relationships. This study uses concept mapping to measure if a one-semester course taught through a funds of knowledge perspective will help pre-service teachers to shift conceptions of parent engagement to reflect a more asset-based orientation towards families. Funds of knowledge is used as both a theoretical and methodological lens for this study.     

2020 Vision: Envisioning a new generation of STEM learning research

In this issue, we have compiled six original papers, outcomes from the U.S. National Science Foundation (US-NSF)-funded REESE (Research and Evaluation on Education in Science and Engineering) 2020 Vision: The Next Generation of STEM Learning Research project. The purpose of 2020 Vision was to re-envision the questions and frameworks guiding STEM research in the twenty-first century, given that notions of learning have changed significantly in the last decade. The papers present diverse research principles that emerged from an initial 2020 Vision conference at Oregon State University (OSU), were then vetted more broadly with the science education community nationally and internationally, and presented in a public 2020 Vision symposium series also at OSU. Individually and as a group, these papers argue that if STEM learning is lifelong, life-wide and life-deep, research designs need to cut across the diverse settings and investigate the multiple contexts and media in which learners live and interact. Authors call for research paradigms that holistically reflect questions of the “what, when, where, why, how and with whom” of STEM learning. Associated Forum papers respond and expand the conversation by critically examining the recommended research principles and in some cases, challenging both authors and editors to think even more broadly. Two Key Contributor pieces highlight the contributions of researchers who have helped to push on these research boundaries, advancing science education research nationally and internationally. A final synthesis paper, a case study of research being conducted in a diverse, under-resourced community in Portland, Oregon provides one example of how the 2020 Vision research principles might be integrated into a comprehensive STEM learning research study.     

Young children learning about well-being and environmental education in the early years: a funds of knowledge approach

Early childhood educators currently provide content focused learning opportunities for children in the areas of well-being and environmental education. However, these are usually seen as discrete content areas and educators are challenged with responding to children’s interests in popular-culture inspired food products given these influence their consumption of energy-dense, nutrient-poor and highly packaged food in the early childhood setting. This paper reports preliminary findings from a pilot randomised trial examining the interconnectedness of sustainability, well-being and popular-culture in early childhood education. Planning, assessment documentation and summaries from twenty-four learning experiences implemented by six educators over a six-week period were analysed using a deductive approach. Twenty well-being and environmental education topics were identified and shown to be generated by the educators when considering the children’s ‘funds of knowledge’ on popular-culture inspired food products. We argue that topics derived from children’s engagement with popular-culture may help educators to create an integrated approach to curriculum provision. This may impact child weight and facilitate obesity prevention and environmental sustainability as children create stronger connections between these content areas and their everyday choices and practices.     

Democratizing knowledge of teaching and learning through student leadership projects

ABSTRACT

The central focus of this multilayered educational action research project was three-fold: (1) to provide opportunities for public school student leadership activities grounded in participatory and youth participatory action research; (2) to support a group of teacher-researchers in practicing and innovating in participatory action research frameworks; (3) to practice linking an educational action research project in a local region to the larger movement for democratizing education knowledge production and dissemination. Project participants included 11 teacher-researchers, a staff-developer, a consultant, a university-based faculty member, and students in K-8 schools in the Lehigh Valley region of Eastern Pennsylvania USA. To move from a traditional top-down administrative and curricular decision- making model to a distributed and more democratic model of leadership, the team argues that (1) children must be permitted to play a leading role in their own learning, leading, and researching; (2) teacher offers significant advantages over traditional in-service based professional development models; and (3) in an era of increased deskilling and deprofessionalization, teachers must have the opportunity to reclaim their profession as they conduct research, create new knowledge, and share their findings publicly.     

Enhancing professional learning communities through knowledge artefacts in mainland China

This qualitative case study examines the perspectives and experiences of seven Chinese primary teachers on the integration of shared knowledge artefacts into teaching in professional learning communities. The analysis of the semi-structured interviews and observation data revealed that using knowledge artefacts, such as preview sheets, flowing charts and grouping rules, had dual effects in teacher development in professional learning communities in mainland China. Although the participating teachers acquired instrumental skills to meet the requirement of education reform, the ready-made paradigmatic model constrained critical thinking and resulted in conservatism in teachers′ mindsets. The findings highlight the lack of trial-and-error opportunities and teacher motivation in conducting professional dialogues in situated collective learning settings. The study suggests that stimulating teacher agency must be employed in the development of teaching practice under the scaffolds of knowledge artefacts.     

Improving learning environments through whole-school collaborative action research

Learning Environments Research - The focus of professional learning on activities has changed to internal growth or change among teachers. Our 3-year whole-school collaborative action research was...     

Automatic representation of knowledge structure: enhancing learning through knowledge structure reflection in an online course

Educational technology research and development - Summary writing is an important skill that students use throughout their academic careers, writing supports reading and vocabulary skills as well...     

Enhancing postgraduate learning and development: a participatory action learning and action research approach through conferences

As supervisors who advocate the transformational potential of research both to generate theory and practical and emancipatory outcomes, we practice participatory action learning and action research (PALAR). This paper offers an illustrative case of how supervision practices based on action learning can foster emancipatory and lifelong learning within a university context that is becoming ever more focused on throughput of students, rather than on the quality of their learning. Conference attendance offers an excellent opportunity for postgraduate students to develop as researchers and lifelong learners, yet anxiety often prevents them from making the most of the learning experience. We explain how we encouraged the development of capabilities in students through a PALAR support programme that assisted postgraduate students prepare for a conference to make overall participation, presenting a paper and subsequent publication a true learning experience. We generated and analysed data from the written reflections of 11 postgraduate students who participated in the programme. The findings suggest that action learning, specifically PALAR, can be used to enable a rich learning experience for postgraduate students attending conferences through fostering relationships, building trust, a supportive environment, collaboration, communication and competence among them. Postgraduate students who experienced our PALAR support programme developed not only skills, knowledge, confidence and deeper appreciation of learning opportunities through conferences, but also understanding of the principles of PALAR that apply not just to the conference context but across all aspects of learning and research and life at large.     

Catalysing student autonomy through action research in a problem centred learning environment

This autobiographical article describes action research, utilising a hermeneutic dialectic methodology, on the efficacy of problem-based learning. In the emergent research design, the research focus for the teacher evolved as: “Can I, as an instructor, teach science in such a way that: the use of science in real life is emphasised; an interdisciplinary approach is utilised; assessment is an integral part of instruction; and learning is student-driven, not teacher directed?” To answer this research question, the article focuses on the emergence of students' critical thinking skills, the relevance of science concepts taught, the interdisciplinary nature of the problems addressed, the use of alternative methods of assessment, and the changing roles of the teacher and the students. One significant finding reported in the article is the development of student autonomy, as the problem-based learning format allowed students freedom to pursure diverse research agendas and to accept increasing responsibility for their own learning.     

Risk management by a neoliberal state: construction of new knowledge through lifelong learning in Japan

This article examines the current developments in Japan's lifelong learning policy and practices. I argue that promoting lifelong learning is an action that manages the risks of governance for the neoliberal state. Implementing a new lifelong learning policy involves the employment of a political technique toward integrating the currently divided and polarized Japanese population – popularly called kakusa – into the newly imagined collective, namely, atarashii kōkyō or the New Public Commons. Examining the macro policy discourse on Japan's educational policy, this article demonstrates Japan's inflections of neoliberal governmentality with the new distribution of responsibility between the state and the individuals through the construction of new knowledge supporting the New Public Commons. In fact, new knowledge is the epicenter of the national educational policy discourse aiming at generating social solidarity in local communities.     

Supporting family conversations and children's STEM learning in a children's museum

This study tested the effectiveness of a facilitated educational program in a museum for promoting family conversations and children's learning about STEM. A sample of 130 families (71 European-American; 33 African-American; and 26 Hispanic-American) with children M age = 6.42 years were observed in a building construction exhibit. Prior to building, families were randomly assigned to conditions that varied in terms of the instructions about a key engineering principle and elaborative question-asking they received. Conversation instruction resulted in adults’ asking double the number of Wh-questions compared to families who did not receive the instruction. The building instruction was important in promoting increases in adults’ STEM-related talk during the building activity, as well as in the children's STEM talk when prompted for information about what they had learned. The effects of the instructions did not vary by families’ ethnic background. Implications for facilitating family conversations and children's learning related to STEM are discussed.     

Using a blended learning approach to support women returning to STEM

ABSTRACT

This paper examines a blended learning model designed to support women returning to STEM after a career break and its delivery in a unique partnership between an online distance education provider and a community-based equality organisation. Through this partnership additional activities such as networking events, returnships, career clinics and webinars were used in conjunction with a structured online Badged Open Course (BOC), which enabled a successful return to employment for many of the participants. This article outlines the results and implications of this integrated model and argues that blended learning approaches need to be flexible and adaptable to be able to incorporate the needs of learners at different life-course stages, taking into consideration gender and other diversity characteristics.     

How to promote knowledge transfer through a problem-based learning Internet platform for vocational high school students

This study aimed to explore how vocational high school students transfer knowledge through a problem-based learning (PBL) Internet platform. A PBL Internet platform was provided to 33 sophomore mechanical engineering students for a 6-week teaching experiment. A survey questionnaire, observation and interview were research instruments. The findings include: 1) factual, conceptual and process knowledge are the major types of knowledge and the sources of knowledge transfer (KT) include students, instructors and industries, but may be acquired differently depending on the level of problem-solving needs; 2) students’ KT includes highly experienced tacit knowledge and more concrete explicit knowledge; 3) students’ attitudes toward the six domains of using the PBL Internet platform all show positive significance, including the platform, the platform instructors, the platform mobility, online interaction, the PBL and the platform interface mechanism of students’ perceptions; 4) the capability and the willingness for KT in instructors, industries and students all have some impact on the effectiveness of KT.     

Reading counter-hegemonic practices through a postmodern lens

This paper examines the similarities and differences as well as the limitations and possibilities of critical pedagogy, feminist pedagogy and some of the more radical strands of multicultural education in adult education. As postmodern thought has begun to influence these discourses, a brief look at postmodernism in relation to these three pedagogical theories will be presented. Furthermore, it will be proposed that a synthesis while maintaining difference between these pedagogical strands may have the potential to minimize the limitations and multiply the possibilities of a critical adult pedagogy. It will be suggested that this endeavour may be deepened through the utilization of a strategic postmodern lens of analysis.