A research‐based teaching sequence for teaching the concept of modelling to seventh‐grade students

The purpose of this study was to construct and study the impact of a research‐based sequence for teaching the concept of modelling to seventh‐grade science students. We identified students' notions of models and the aspects of school science to be addressed regarding the model concept, which were then taken into account when we planned the learning sequence. The idea of modelling in science was taught while the students were learning about the change of states of matter in seventh‐grade physics. A pre‐interview revealed that the students' notions of models were very limited, while a post‐interview showed that this improved in the course of the series of lessons. There was also a statistically significant difference in the students' understanding of modelling between our target group and a control group consisting of ninth‐grade students who had received only the normal teaching. However, a delayed post‐questionnaire completed a few months after the teaching sequence showed that the stability of learning results were dependent on whether models and modelling were used in the normal teaching conducted after the teaching sequence. Implications for teaching, teacher education and research are also addressed in this paper.     

The impact of academic self‐concept,expectations and the choice of learning strategy on academic achievement: the case of business students

This study provides evidence of the impact of two critical self‐regulation components – academic self‐concept and outcome expectations – on the selection of learning strategies conducive to academic achievement in undergraduate business education. Self‐concept theory is the framework for the analysis of students’ motivations and learning behaviors. Path analysis suggests that high academic self‐concept favors engagement in complex cognitive effort, deep learning strategies and self‐reflection, as well as in the adoption of strategic learning approaches alone. However, the composite effect of deep learning through strategic approaches has the most impact on student’s academic performance. High academic expectations favor students’ selection of deep learning more than strategic approaches. Clearly, the use of surface approaches to learning is not conducive to academic achievement. Overall, these findings suggest that high students’ academic self‐concepts and unambiguous outcome expectations encourage critical thinking and reflective approaches to learning. Implications for the design of educational models and curriculum in business undergraduate education are discussed.     

The structure and function of academic self‐concept in gifted and general education students

Using structural equation modeling techniques, this exploratory study investigated the differences in the factor structure of academic self‐perceptions in a sample of gifted students and within a general population of students. The factor structure exhibited partial measurement invariance, suggesting that two of the items on the factor work differently in the gifted sample than in the sample from the general population. The gifted sample demonstrated higher academic self‐perceptions than the general school sample and higher self‐reported GPAs than the general school sample. However, the relationship between academic self‐perceptions and self‐reported GPA was invariant across groups. For both gifted students and the general population of high school students, GPA and academic self‐perceptions were moderately and positively related. Therefore, although there are large mean differences between gifted students and the general population of students on the academic self‐perceptions scale, the structure of the relationship between academic self‐perceptions and GPA was similar.     

Ability Grouping: year group differences in self‐concept and attitudes of secondary school pupils

The vast international literature on the effects of different types of ability grouping on self‐concept and pupils' attitudes towards school has focused on pupils from single year groups. This article aimed to explore year group differences in pupils' self‐concept and attitudes towards school as influenced by ability grouping. The study was cross‐sectional in design and measured attitudes towards school and mathematics, general and school self‐concept and preferences for different kinds of grouping in 234 pupils from years 7 through 10 attending a mixed comprehensive school. The findings indicated that mathematics self‐concept was consistently lower than school and general self‐concept; all aspects of self‐concept increased up to Year 9 and then declined in Year 10, pupils in the higher sets tended to have higher self‐concepts; pupil preferences for setting were greater in the higher year groups, as was the extent to which the top set was perceived to be the best. A substantial proportion of pupils wanted to move set, usually to a higher set. Set placement itself did not appear to have a consistent effect on attitudes towards mathematics. This seemed to be mediated by the quality of teaching.     

Improving the academic outcomes of undergraduate ESL students: the case for discipline‐based academic skills programs

This article examines the impact of an adjunct English language tutorial program on the academic performance of first‐year Architecture students. With increasing numbers of international students enrolling in Australian universities, language and academic skills programs have shifted from generic to more discipline‐specific models; however, there has been little research on the effects of these programs on ESL students' academic performance. This study uses a mixed‐method approach to evaluate the effectiveness of an English as a second language (ESL) intervention program. Findings indicate that students value a highly discipline‐specific approach to language and academic skills support and that regular participation in a content‐based ESL program can lead to positive learning outcomes for students. Preliminary findings also suggest that there are positive longer‐term benefits on students' academic outcomes. The authors suggest the need for longitudinal studies on the impact of discipline‐based programs for ESL students.     

The effect of teacher support on primary school students’ reading engagement: the mediating role of reading interest and chinese academic self-concept

The subjects of this research were 776 pupils from grade three to grade six in Shandong Province, China. This study examined the influence of teacher support on students’ reading engagement, and the mediating variables between those two factors, as measured by the perception of teachers’ support scale, reading engagement scale, reading interest scale and Chinese academic self-concept scale. Results showed that the reading engagement of primary school students who lived in urban areas was significantly greater than that of students in rural areas. Moreover, teacher support positively influenced primary school students’ reading engagement, and reading interest had a mediating effect on teacher support and reading engagement, whereas the Chinese academic self-concept did not mediate such relations. However, Chinese academic self-concept completely mediated the relationship between teacher support and reading interest, such that there was a specific sequential effect between teacher support and reading engagement that formed an intermediating chain.     

Correlates of Chinese kindergarteners’ word reading and writing: the unique role of copying skills?

Ninety-four Mainland Chinese children in the second and third years of kindergarten (mean age = 65 months, SD = 6.94) were tested on Pinyin letter-name knowledge, invented Pinyin spelling, general copying skills of unfamiliar print (in Korean, Hebrew and Vietnamese, ultimately combined to create a pure copying factor), delayed copying of characters, nonverbal reasoning, vocabulary knowledge, speeded number-naming, syllable deletion, and morphological awareness in order to examine unique correlates of beginning Chinese word reading and writing, which were also tested. With age, kindergarten level, and nonverbal reasoning statistically controlled, morphological awareness, speeded naming, and Pinyin letter-name knowledge uniquely explained Chinese word reading, whereas both the pure copying factor and delayed copying independently explained 11 and 5 % variance in Chinese word writing, respectively. Findings suggest a somewhat independent trajectory of developing word reading and writing skills in very young Chinese children and highlight the potential importance of both print-dependent and print-independent copying skills for the development of early word writing skill in Chinese.     

The impact of different teaching methods on students’ arithmetic and self‐regulated learning skills

The present study examines the effect of three different structured methods, traditional, independent and problem‐solving, of teaching children arithmetic in the beginning of 7th grade in Sweden, age 13 years. The progress made by these students is presented by measures of their arithmetic ability, calculation and quantitative concept, as well as their self‐regulated learning skills in mathematics, characterised as internal and instrumental motivation, self‐concept and anxiety. The results will be discussed with reference to a socio‐cultural perspective. This study has a split‐plot factorial design with time as within‐subject and type of intervention as a between‐subject factor. The results show that there are no significant differences between teaching methods when assessing arithmetic in total and calculation. Students’ progress in quantitative concepts is significantly better if teachers teach traditionally or with a problem‐based curriculum. In order to develop aspects of self‐regulating learning skills, the results show that pupils would benefit in a traditional or problem‐solving curriculum. Problem‐solving seems to be more effective than traditional and independent work for students’ internal motivation. Traditional work and problem‐solving are more effective than independent work for students’ self‐concept.     

Searching for good practice in teaching: a comparison of two subject‐based professional learning communities in a secondary school in Shanghai

Since the mid‐1990s, the concept of professional learning communities has arisen in the education field in the West, aiming to improve teachers’ professional competency by using collaborative approaches. Western studies indicate that these strategies help teachers achieve professional growth. Schools in China have had a long history of enhancing the professional competency of teachers by using collaboration in school‐based contexts. But do professional learning communities in Chinese schools, especially in times of change, do the same for Chinese teachers? This study provides empirical data from Chinese teachers to assist global discussions on school‐based professional development. The study uses qualitative data collection methods, including semi‐structured interviews, observations and documentary analysis, to investigate how teachers from two subject departments in a secondary school in Shanghai enhance their knowledge and practice within their subject‐based professional learning communities. Results show that members of these two communities have shared common goals and have developed a sense of collective accountability. The study also found that socio‐cultural factors, such as the collectivist values, authoritarian‐oriented practices and influences of interpersonal relationship, are crucial in the development of Chinese professional learning communities, even though different communities may differ in other respects.     

Designing more effective on‐campus teaching and learning spaces: a role for academic developers

Teaching and learning on campus takes place within specific physical settings that are integral to the process. The traditional, teacher‐centred and didactic instruction of universities has been embedded in the constructed environment of the campus, particularly the lecture theatres and other formal classrooms. However, these same facilities now threaten to impede the implementation of more student‐centred and flexible learning approaches being introduced in higher education worldwide. Recent attempts to create new teaching and learning facilities on university campuses have often resulted in celebrated architecture that has proved to be educationally problematic. What types of physical settings are required to support the teaching and learning processes emerging in higher education? This paper draws on the author's work in the field, and argues that academic developers have a key role to play in assisting universities to engage effectively in the design and development of more effective teaching and learning facilities.     

Accountability: a key‐word in the discourse of educational reform

This paper examines the relationship between language and power in education policy. It takes the example of accountability as the specific focus for an analysis of discursive power in the shaping of education in the 1990s. In doing so, it examines the ways in which language contributes to the construction and maintenance of norms and consensual positions in education. Drawing on work in critical linguistics and cultural theory, the paper considers how recent changes in education might be analysed in a way which relates specific examples of social and linguistic practice to larger scale theoretical concerns. The examples which provide the specific focus for discussion in this paper relate to the concept of accountability and are drawn from an empirical study of the enactment of the statutory curriculum for English in secondary schools in 1992‐93.     

Benefits of personality characteristics and self‐efficacy in the perceived academic achievement of medical students

This study investigates the joint impact of personality characteristics and self‐efficacy on the perceived academic achievement of medical students on top of their prior high school performance. The sample consisted of medical students in their pre‐clinical years. The students’ grade point average scores at high school were included as control variable in our explanatory models. Based on previous findings in the literature, we selected self‐discipline, social activity and emotional stability from the Five Factor Model of Personality as predictor variables. Furthermore, following the social cognitive theory of Bandura, we added self‐efficacy (students’ belief in their academic skills) as an additional predictor. The logistic regression analyses confirmed the importance of self‐discipline (positively related) and social activity (negatively related) for these students’ perceived academic achievement. Additionally, we found a positive contribution of self‐efficacy. The results of this study (as discussed in the final sections) have implications for support programmes in the practical field.     

Learner‐centered leadership: a mentoring model for the professional development of school administrators

The Learner‐Centered Leadership program is a new initiative that provides professional development opportunities to school administrators through a mentoring model. The focus on learner‐centered leadership reflects renewed attention to the primary role of teaching and learning in the development of school leadership expertise. With a focus on learning, the need to create collaborative structures where trust, respect and communication are promoted among the participants has been critical. In its first year, the project goal has been to develop the capacity for mentoring across districts. To create this capacity, the project has focused on building relationships among participants using a threefold process: formal workshops that introduce the districts and participants; informal gatherings that break down barriers and establish opportunities for networking; and a series of problem‐solving initiatives called a team challenge that require participants work together, communicate and cooperate to solve the challenging activities.     

Levels of aggregation in higher level confirmatory factor analysis: Application for academic self‐concept

The effects of levels of aggregation on measures of goodness of fit and higher order parameter estimates obtained from confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) were investigated. For a higher order model of academic self‐concept, 3 levels of aggregation were considered—disaggregated, partially disaggregated, and partially aggregated. In the disaggregated model, measured variables represented individual items. In the partially disaggregated model, testlets (groups of 4 items) represented measured variables. In the partially aggregated model, subscale scores represented measured variables. Three indexes of fit were employed: the Tucker‐Lewis Index (TLI), the Comparative Fit Index (CFI), and chi‐square. Solutions for the disaggregated models consistently evidenced poor fit. TLI and CFI values for partially disaggregated and partially aggregated solutions were satisfactory. Standardized parameter estimates were similar across all solutions. Implications of these findings are discussed with consideration of other research on model complexity in CFA.     

Student teachers’ perceptions of reading and the teaching of reading: the implications for teacher education

This article reports on research which identified perceptions of reading and the teaching of reading held by trainee teachers and the impact on my provision as a teacher educator. It found that students’ past and present experiences of learning to read and being a reader influenced their perceptions of what reading is and of what it means to teach reading. As a teacher educator, I am not able to give students long experience of seeing children becoming readers, but I am able to give them richer experiences of reading in personally and culturally relevant contexts. This has implications for the nature of subject knowledge required by a student teacher of reading and the curriculum and practice of teacher education.     

Reasons for giving reasons: an expert‐expert clinical analysis of science teaching for non‐academic students 1

This paper concerns the importance of providing reasons and evidence when making claims as a teacher. Two teaching contexts are explored: a nonacademic science classroom and a clinical supervision setting. An expert teacher is seen at work in a nonacademic science classroom. This is an especially significant context in which to find “task‐reasons” and “science‐reasons” since students rarely appear to have access to reasons for what they do or say in such classrooms. The teacher and a colleague, both experts at clinical analysis of teaching, are observed examining and analysing the teaching. This is the setting for developing “interpretation‐reasons” regarding the conduct and events of teaching. The expert‐expert clinical supervision situation is seen as sharpening the requirement for sound, credible interpretation‐reasons beyond that of the more common expert‐novice interaction.

     

Foreign language teachers and the implementation of intercultural education: a comparative investigation of the professional self‐concepts and teaching practices of Belgian teachers of English,French and German

It has now become a commonplace to state that foreign language learning should be viewed from an intercultural perspective. Teachers are now required to teach intercultural communicative competence instead of mere communicative competence. It follows that new professional demands are made on teachers. The assumption seems to be that teachers are already moving in the advocated direction and are willing to support the new objectives put forward. The observation that this belief remains largely intuitive with little rigorous evidence to support it constituted the rationale for the research we report on here. The study's aim was to enquire into how the current professional self‐concepts of Flemish teachers of English, French and German relate to the envisaged profile of the intercultural foreign language teacher and into the extent to which their teaching practice can be characterized as directed towards the attainment of intercultural communicative competence instead of towards communicative competence. The findings of this study inspire optimism that progress is being made and that teachers are willing to support intercultural objectives. At the same time, our hypothesis that teachers might not yet have left approaches that favour the teaching of communicative competence for approaches directed towards the acquisition of intercultural communicative competence found confirmation.

Il est à présent communément admis que l'acquisition des langues étrangères doit être considérée dans une perspective interculturelle et que les professeurs ne doivent pas enseigner la compétence communicative mais la compétence communicative interculturelle. Par conséquent, de nouvelles exigences professionnelles s'imposent. On suppose généralement que les professeurs sont déjà en train de s'orienter vers cette nouvelle direction et sont positifs vis‐à‐vis des nouveaux buts à atteindre. Le fait que cette supposition est surtout intuitive et n'est pas étayée par des données objectives constitue le point de départ de l'étude que nous présentons dans cet article. Notre étude consiste à examiner le rapport entre l'image professionnelle qu'ont les professeurs flamands d'anglais, de français et d'allemand d'eux‐mêmes et le profil voulu d'un professeur de langues étrangères sous l'angle interculturel, ainsi que la mesure dans laquelle leur pratique d'enseignement peut être caractérisée comme orientée vers l'acquisition d'une compétence communicative interculturelle au lieu d'une compétence communicative. Les résultats de notre étude suggèrent que les pratiques ont en effet évolué dans ce domaine et que les professeurs veulent atteindre les objectifs interculturels. En même temps, notre hypothèse selon laquelle les professeurs n'auraient pas encore remplacé les approches qui favorisent l'apprentissage de la compétence communicative par les approches orientées vers l'acquisition de la compétence interculturelle a été confirmée.

Behaupten, dass der Fremdsprachenunterricht aus interkultureller Sicht betrachtet werden soll, ist heutzutage zu einem Gemeinplatz geworden. FremdsprachenlehrerInnen werden erwartet, interkulturelle kommunikative Kompetenz statt kommunikative Kompetenz zu fördern. Folglich werden neue professionelle Anforderungen an LehrerInnen gestellt. Generell wird angenommen, dass LehrerInnen die neuen interkulturellen Zielsetzungen unterstützen und sie in ihrem Unterricht auch anstreben. Die Beobachtung, dass diese Annahme größtenteils intuitiv bleibt und nicht von empirischen Daten untermauert wird, war Anlass zu der Untersuchung, über die hier berichtet wird. Zielsetzung der Studie war es, zu überprüfen, in wie weit das professionelle Selbstverstehen von Flämischen Englisch‐, Französisch‐ und DeutschlehrerInnen sich zum Profil des interkulturellen Fremdsprachenlehrers verhält, und in welchem Maße der aktuelle Unterricht sich als Unterricht charakterisieren läßt, der den Erwerb interkultureller kommunikativer Kompetenz statt kommunikativer Kompetenz nachstrebt. Die Ergebnisse unserer Studie sind vielversprechend und zeigen, dass Fortschritte gemacht werden und dass LehrerInnen dazu bereit sind, in ihrem Unterricht interkulturelle Zielsetzungen anzustreben. Zugleicherzeit aber bestätigt unsere Studie die Hypothese, dass der aktuelle Fremdsprachenunterricht eher auf den Erwerb kommunikativer als interkultureller kommunikativer Kompetenz ausgerichtet ist.

Hoy en día es un tópico afirmar que el aprendizaje de las lenguas extranjeras debería ser abordado desde una perspectiva intercultural. Actualmente se les pide a los profesores de lengua que impartan competencias comunicativas interculturales en lugar de meras competencias comunicativas. De ahí que los profesores tengan que responder a nuevos requisitos profesionales. La suposición parece ser que los profesores ya están yendo en la dirección indicada y que están dispuestos a llevar a cabo los nuevos objetivos. La observación de que esta opinión todavía es muy intuitiva y que no está apoyada en evidencia rigorosa constituye el motivo de la investigación que presentamos aquí. El objetivo de este estudio es examinar en qué medida la auto‐percepción de profesores flamencos de inglés, francés y alemán se corresponde con el perfil previsto del profesor de lengua extranjera intercultural, y hasta qué punto sus prácticas docentes están enfocadas hacia la adquisición de la competencia comunicativa intercultural en lugar de la competencia comunicativa. Los resultados de este estudio justifican el optimismo ante la idea de que hay progreso y que los profesores están dispuestos a fomentar objetivos interculturales. Al mismo tiempo, se ve confirmada nuestra hipótesis de que hay profesores que aún no han cambiado enfoques que favorecen la enseñanza de competencia comunicativa por enfoques dirigidos a la adquisición de la competencia comunicativa intercultural.     

The multilayered character of newcomers’ academic identities: Somali female high‐school students in a US school

Drawing from the findings of a qualitative study with female refugee high school students from Somalia in the US, this paper attempts to provide a window to understanding the multilayered character of newcomer students’ academic identity construction. The students’ micro‐level processes of creating spaces for belonging at school are linked to their macro‐level extra‐educational connections at the societal and global levels. The framework presented attempts to sensitise educators to increase their attention to the global‐socio‐cultural contexts of education and strive to create spaces within schools for the recognition and facilitation of students’ complex identities.     

Understanding shifts in students’ academic motivation across a school year: the role of teachers’ motivating styles and need-based experiences

European Journal of Psychology of Education - Students’ adaptive motivation to study tends to decrease over time. However, the reasons for this decline are not fully understood. Drawing on...     

The construction of a double-entry table: a study of primary and secondary school students’ difficulties

Tables are a presentation format that is commonly used to organize information, and they are widely present in many scenarios of our students’ everyday activities; however, there is a scarcity of studies devoted to their analysis. Some of these studies point out that the organization of data into a double-entry table presents difficulties for primary and secondary school students. The present study analyzes the following: (1) the level of competency of primary and secondary school students in constructing a double-entry table from a set of data and (2) the main difficulties encountered by these students during the task. Our findings showed that the percentage of middle-school students who succeeded in contructing a conventional table was relatively low, and the number did not significantly increase over four school years. A set of difficulties is identified and discussed in terms of cognitive and graphical processes.