Exploring the educational aspirations–expectations gap in eighth grade students: implications for educational interventions and school reform

Over the past three decades, more and more students are expressing a desire to attend college, yet for many members of disenfranchised groups, this goal is often not attained. While many factors contribute to these disparities, research has shown that students begin adjusting their expectations (what they think they can achieve) for the future in relation to their idealised aspirations (what they would like to achieve). The current study explores this gap among 207 eighth grade students from two urban middle schools. Using the School Attitude Assessment Survey-Revised, three factors were found to predict expectations which matched student aspirations. These factors were academic motivation and self-regulating behaviours, academic self-perception and attitudes towards teachers. Implications for educational interventions and school reform are discussed.     

Changes in Attitudes Towards Science–Technology–Society of Pre-service Science Teachers

This research focuses on use of a triadic teaching approach in a science–technology–society (STS) course designed for future science teachers for middle schools in Turkey. Forty-three pre-service science teachers were enrolled in a semester-long course organized around issues students identified and used throughout the semester. The triadic teaching approach includes library-online searches that lead the students to design and conduct investigations, to carrying out mini-scientific symposia, and to preparing and conducting poster presentations open to the entire student body and faculty. The results of a 30-item Likert scale, administered to the students as a pretest and a posttest, indicated that there were significant increases in positive attitudes towards STS issues from the beginning to the end of the study. Individual interviews were also conducted with the students to determine the individual effects of each component of the triadic teaching approach on their attitudes towards STS issues. All aspects of the new approach provided significant contributions to the development of more positive attitudes among the students towards STS via interviews and on all sub-scales of a survey administered that include: (1) pupil interest in STS issues; (2) teacher interest in STS issues; (3) general perceptions regarding importance of STS issues.

Beginning teachers’ conceptions of competency: implications to educational policy and teacher education in Malaysia

When any innovations or measurement procedures are introduced into the education system to improve or judge the quality of its teaching force, beginning teachers often have to adapt to these new concepts of what constitute a high quality teaching. This article contends that these new concepts neither necessarily match beginning teachers’ own conceptions about their own competency nor has it given beginning teachers a chance to be heard. This study provides an opportunity for beginning teachers’ ‘voices’ to be heard through phenomenography which is an interpretive research approach to discover what beginning teachers in Malaysia conceive and understand as competence in relation to what they do every day as teachers. The main finding of this study is the key role played by beginning teachers’ conceptions of competency which has provided strong implications for educational policies and teacher education. The findings suggest that teachers need to be represented in any quality improvement measures. Careful attention should also be paid to the school systems and to teacher training programmes to support and encourage teachers in their professional growth as competent teachers.     

Changes in My Hometown

When I was a small child I was deeply impressed by my poor and ugly hometown, a small town with low houses. The town center was only a 3,storeyed building which was a department store, and there were a few small groceries around it. Only a few restaurants…     

Science,Society and Trends in Science Education‐‐some Thoughts on the Development of Integrated Science in the Educational Systems of the World

Summaries

English

Before constructing a new curriculum for any level in integrated‐science education, it is very important to establish a basic philosophy of science teaching which reflects a symbiotic relationship between education and the socio‐economic development in a particular country of the world.

The curriculum structure of integrated‐science education should broaden the basis of curricular decision and should be designated to follow the expectations of the society in providing professional intellectual training so that education can make a significant contribution to the socio‐economic growth of the country. This basic assumption which established a link between cultural and socio‐economic growth, involves a diversification of the cultural trends of science education which must become appropriate to the economic and historical context of each country in a fast changing world of work.

Therefore, by critically removing outside influences in the transmission of scientific knowledge, there should be less uniformity in the context and methods of teaching, and considerable restructuring of education for each country should occur. Thus, considering the historical and geographical differences, a new order in international division of labour would come into being.

In such a hypothesis, a research‐oriented integrated curriculum in science education can play a central role (certainly a better one than in the traditional, discipline‐oriented scheme of science teaching) in obtaining an adequate interaction between scientific education and social problems; this is required for modern cultural and economic development of the world.     

Inequalities in educational opportunities in France: educational expansion,democratization or shifting barriers?

This paper is concerned with inequalities in educational opportunities in France and presents data collected from cohorts born between 1919 and 1973, a period characterized by educational expansion. Data from large-scale representative French surveys were compiled in such a way as to make accurate historical and international comparisons possible. The paper argues that there has been a shift in social inequalities, from entry into collège (lower secondary school) to entry into lycée (upper secondary school leading to the baccalauréat). Finally, policy implications have been drawn from international comparisons of data on the reduction of social inequality.     

Changes in the Olympic Games

The Olympic Games has changed a lot since it was first held in Athens,Greece,in 1896. Back then,winners got silver (银制的) medals instead of gold ones.Sounds strange,doesn't it? People thought silver was better than gold.Also, no women ran in the first Olympics,and only 14     

Learning Difficulties in School Science‐‐Towards a Working Hypothesis

Summaries

English

In an attempt to explain success and failure in problem‐solving by science students, the authors suggest that problem‐solving ability is associated with students’ ability to organize or ‘chunk’ the information provided in a problem into memorizable patterns. In line with general psychological findings, a short‐term memory capacity of 7 ± 2 chunks is accepted. If the short‐term memory is overloaded with too many pieces of information, the processing of this information (and, hence, effective problem‐solving) cannot take place unless such information can be effectively chunked. This hypothesis, which is derived from research studies, is exemplified by reference to chemical problems and its educational implications are discussed.     

Pupil Talk in Biology Practical Work‐‐a preliminary study

The development of a framework for analysing pupil talk is described and the reliability of scoring transcribed conversations using the framework discussed. Preliminary findings from this study on the talk occurring during small group practical work in biology focus on the forms of verbal interaction that occur, patterns of verbal interactions shown by individuals within groups and the possible link between such patterns and roles within the groups.     

The implications of changing educational and family circumstances for children's grade progression in rural Pakistan: 1997–2004

We assess factors affecting primary and middle school dropout in rural Punjab and NorthWest Frontier Province over 6 years (1997–2004). These data are unique in a developing-country setting in longitudinally tracking changes in both school and household environments. While grade retention has improved, girls’ dropout rates remain fairly high. Results suggest the importance of both household and school factors. For girls, arrival in the family of an unwanted birth in the last 6 years and enrollment in a government (not private) primary school significantly increase the likelihood of dropout, whereas availability of post-primary schooling, having a mother who attended school, and living in a better-off household reduce the probability of dropout. For boys, school quality, measured by the percent of residential teachers in the primary school, and living in a more developed community significantly reduce the probability of dropping out; loss of household remittances significantly increases the likelihood of dropout.     

Re‐mapping power in educational micropolitics

This article examines power as a concept that operates covertly and panoptically in schools. My goal in discussing stealth forms of power is to discuss methodological opportunities that result when formalizing power other than as a binary of authority–influence. The article offers four methodological axioms for consideration when researching stealth forms of power in schools. I conclude by arguing that micropolitical researchers should, at the very least, address units‐of‐analysis that describe how organizational structures are reproduced. More importantly, I argue that micropolitical researchers should identify units‐of‐analysis that explain how organizational interests are fabricated, or what other scholars have described as a process of libidinal production. It is here that I discuss four methodological axioms when mapping desire in education.     

The progressive and non‐formal principles of Kibbutz education in Israel

This article explores the relationship between philanthropy and education in the context of eighteenth‐century Protestant Dissent. More particularly, it examines the intersection between philanthropy, fund‐raising and educational administration as they evolved within the institutional lifecycle of the collegiate Dissenting academies. It argues that individual academies experienced at least three of four life stages, each of which had its own unique challenges. All academies went through the first two of these stages, namely ‘foundation’ and ‘maintenance’. Whether or not an academy experienced the last two stages – ‘transition’ and ‘dissolution’ – depended on factors such as the financial strength of an academy and the reliability of its principal supporters. To illustrate these stages and their philanthropic subtexts, the article focuses on three institutional ‘traditions’, those of the Northampton Academy and its successors, the Warrington Academy, and Trevecca College and its successor Cheshunt College.     

Changes in students’ computer literacy

The CLAT provided considerable information about children’s attitudes and knowledge well beyond computer literacy. It revealed improvements in the use of language, as well as in spelling and penmanship. I understand very well that evaluation engineers would prefer to “partner with teachers” to ensure more thorough grant-funded documentation of the many and diverse process and product outcomes of computer technology expenditures (Baker, 1999). However, a simple count of computer-related terms listed by students appeared, for my limited purposes, to be both a valid and reliable indicator of at least one small aspect of computer literacy     

Teaching by Keller Plan‐‐Comment on a Course in Spain

The use of the 'Cognitive Acceleration through Science Education' (CASE) intervention programme was explored in Malawi to see if the critical period for cognitive transition from concrete operations to formal operations at 12-14 years of age actually exists. The older pupils (16-17 years of age) in secondary school classes in Malawi made similar cognitive gains to younger English pupils after being taught CASE for 2 years. This was taken to suggest that the critical period does not exist. However, in Malawi, girls, who are on average a year younger than boys in the same class, and older boys, had lower academic achievement than younger boys. Explanations for this age and gender interaction are explored.     

Reinforcing the ‘diminished’ subject? The implications of the ‘vulnerability zeitgeist’ for well-being in educational settings

Abstract

Pessimistic discourses about crises in youth and children's well-being, mental health and vulnerability permeate English educational policy and practice. These generate vague and slippery elisions of wellbeing and mental health, and the related rise of an ad hoc, confusing market of psycho-emotional interventions promoted by new types of 'pay-experts'. Revisiting earlier arguments that these developments depict a ‘diminished’ human subject, we propose that the incoherent state of policy, much research and practice in this area warrants robust challenge and critique. In particular, more precision about key concepts of social and emotional learning, mental health and wellbeing, a reining in of universal programmes, and serious interest in the types of curriculum that can offer richer, more meaningful alternatives to developing wellbeing in educational settings.     

Changes in the Ownership of Houses

下图为A城市的住房产权变化图,系列1为state-owned,系列2为private。请根据图表描述住房产权的变化,并分析原因,同时说明这些变化对社会和个人的影响。     

The Value of a “Core” Business‐‐a Case Study of the Involvement of an Australian University in Vietnam: 1993‐1998

This article describes how two dovetailing processes led Swinburne University of Technology of Melbourne, Australia, to the setting up of business studies programmes in Vietnam. One of the processes was the increasingly felt need in Australia to make higher education more cost efficient that stimulated the identification and the exploitation of non‐governmental sources of funding. The other one was the decision, taken in 1986 by the Vietnamese government, to move progressively to a market‐based economy. Thus the Vietnamese government created a demand for increasing numbers of professional workers schooled in Western concepts of business management, accounting, administration, etc. The Swinburne University of Technology responded to this demand in a number of creative ways by setting up collaborative course programmes in some of the major cities of Vietnam.