The semantic differential technique in the examination of teacher attitudes to handicapped children

The study investigated the relationship between the attitudes of educators to exceptional children and the amount of contact with such children, knowledge about them, and the demographic variables: sex; age; and teaching experience of the respondents. A Semantic Differential technique was used and ten scales were rated over four concepts: physically handicapped children; emotionally disturbed children; mentally retarded children; speech impaired children. Attitude, represented by factor scores on a ‘social acceptability’ dimension, was correlated with the independent variables and produced low (r<.30) and inconsistent coefficients. An analysis of variance of the means of the ten scales over the four concepts indicated a more negative evaluation of the concept representing emotionally disturbed children than of the other three concepts. The evaluations were made in response to disability labels, and the results point to the need for further empirical research into the effects of labelling children on the attitudes of educators.     

A semantic differential investigation of children's attitudes toward three stigmatized groups

To test the assumption that negative attitudes toward various stigmatized groups are learned in early childhood, four scales of the semantic differential were employed to assess children's attitudes toward four groups (normals, crippled, retarded, and mentally ill) for both male and female third and sixth graders. The mentally ill were rated most negatively on both the Evaluation Scale and the Understandability Scale, but were rated comparable to normal people on Activity and Potency. Both the retarded and the crippled were rated less positively than normals on the Evaluation Scale, but not as negatively as the mentally ill. The retarded and the crippled were rated less Active and Potent than both normals and the mentally ill. No differences were found between the third and sixth graders on attitudes toward the three stigmatized groups. Implications for the “social labeling” theory of mental disorders are discussed.     

Integrating ICT in the classroom: a case study of two contrasting lessons

A detailed analysis of two contrasting primary school lessons, where ICT plays a dominant role, reveals how it is the teacher's implicit understanding of the principles of teaching and learning for understanding which determines whether the pedagogical potential of the technology is fully realised and the desired lesson outcomes achieved.     

Children's Use of Metaphorical Language: an experimental study of the technique of guided fantasy in the secondary school English classroom

The technique of guided fantasy is being used in schools to stimulate creative writing. Children are given a planned opportunity to imagine a particular scene and then to use this experience as a stimulus for related imaginative writing. This study attempts to examine the apparent superiority of this technique over more conventional methods. Thirty third‐year pupils produced work under two contrasting conditions and the compositions were then assessed against a range of linguistic criteria, including the number and novelty of images produced, the number of words per essay, absolute vocabulary, unusual vocabulary, unspecific vocabulary and the degree of adverbial and adjectival modification and repetition. Additional criteria were time spent on the task and the number and quality of statements of feeling. The guided‐fantasy stimulus, however, did not produce the expected results. Possible explanations of this are discussed through the literature on children's learning.     

Evaluating leadership effectiveness: Enduring lessons from the classroom

Ruth G. Shaw is currently president of Central Piedmont Community College in Charlotte, North Carolina. She was formerly president of El Centro College of the Dallas County Community College district and is active in professional policy roles at both the regional and national level.     

The turtle technique: An extended case study of self-control in the classroom

A preliminary investigation of the Turtle Technique, a procedure for helping emotionally disturbed children control their own impulsive behavior, is described. The technique consists of four components: the “turtle response,” relaxation, problem-solving, and peer support. Eleven children drawn from two classrooms were instructed in the use of the Turtle Technique for the self-control of aggression. The procedure was introduced according to a multiple-baseline design. Results revealed significant decrements in aggressive behavior in both classrooms. Implications for further research were considered.     

利用第二课堂培养学生的学术研究能力

本文分析了第二课堂活动的现状,开展英语课外活动的意义,提出了第二课堂活动的四种形式,具体介绍了我院第二课堂活动的开展情况,通过参加项目体验,培养学生的学术研究能力。     

Use of flipped classroom in the marketing career during the educational process on financial mathematics

The aim of this mixed research is to analyze the use of flipped classroom in the educational process on financial mathematics considering data science, machine learning (linear regression) and neural network. The sample is composed of 29 people who studied the career of Marketing and took the Financial Mathematics course during the 2018 school year. The results of machine learning indicate that the consultation of the English and Spanish videos before the class, the realization of the exercises collaboratively through the spreadsheet and dissemination of the answers about the exercises through Google Drive during the class and the realization of the online exams and laboratory practices after the class positively influence the development of mathematical skills about simple interest. Data science identifies 6 predictive models about the use of flipped classroom. On the other hand, the neural network identifies the aspects of flipped classroom that most influence the development of mathematical skills during the educational process on financial mathematics. Also, the students of Marketing consider that flipped classroom allows the construction of new educational spaces through the use of technology. Finally, flipped classroom is a pedagogical model that transforms the teaching-learning conditions and updates the organization of the activities before, during and after the class.

     

Cognitive style and developing scientific attitudes in the SCIS classroom

Cognitive style refers to an individual's way of perceiving and processing information. Field-dependence-independence is one dimension of cognitive style. Field-dependence and field-independence respectively refer to a global in contrast to an analytical way of perceiving. Global versus analytical cognitive styles have been studied with respect to their differential influence on attitude development in ESS by Walters and Sieben (1974). The present investigator sought to examine whether a relationship existed between field-dependence-independence and scientific attitudes of sixth-grade students in SCIS. Findings indicate that such a relationship is not statistically significant.     

Preparing the classroom environment to promote literacy during play

The purpose of this study was to determine if the voluntary literacy behaviors of children could be increased in type and quantity through design changes by including reading and writing materials in dramatic play areas. Thirteen preschool classes were distributed into one control group and three different experimental groups: one in which thematic play with literacy materials was guided by teachers, one in which thematic play with literacy materials was not guided by teachers, and one in which books, pencils and papers were supplied in unthemed dramatic play areas with teacher guidance. The type and quantity of literacy behaviors in each of the three experimental settings were determined by direct observation prior to intervention, during intervention, and after a delayed period of time. Literacy behaviors increased significantly in all the experimental groups over the control group. Thematic play with teacher guidance yielded greatest gains; the provision of books, pencils and paper with teacher guidance yielded the next greatest gains; and thematic play without teacher guidance yielded third greatest gains. The effect of the treatments continued after a delayed period of time.     

An examination of the roles of the teacher and students during a problem-based learning intervention: lessons learned from a study in a Taiwanese primary mathematics classroom

The benefits of problem-based learning (PBL) to student learning have prompted researchers to investigate this pedagogical approach over the past few decades. However, little research has examined how PBL can be applied to mathematics learning and teaching, especially in countries like Taiwan, where the majority of teachers are accustomed to lecture methods and students are used to this style of teaching. This study examines the actions of a teacher and her class of 35 fifth-grade students (10–11-year-olds) as they tried to take on and respond to the demands of their new roles as “facilitator” and “constructors”, respectively, during a one-year PBL intervention in a Taiwanese mathematics classroom. Our findings provide insights into classroom participants’ role transition, from a customary role to a new role, when engaging with PBL. We identify an interrelationship between the teacher and student roles and discuss implications for the implementation of PBL at the primary education level.     

Traditional and nontraditional student attitudes toward the mixed age college classroom

As the numbers of nontraditional students on college campuses continue to climb, college educators should become increasingly aware of issues regarding the mixed age college classroom. The research reported in this paper is focused on understanding mixed age classrooms from the student's perspective. Through telephone interviews with over 300 students we explored three major areas: attitudes traditional and nontraditional students hold regarding their mixed age classroom experience; attitudes each group has toward their own age group and the other age group; and perceptions of the differences between older and younger students' relationships with their professors. Data on both younger and older students were collected, analyzed and compared.Jean M. Lynch is an Assistant Professor of Sociology/Anthropology, and Associate Director of the Applied Research Center at Miami University. She received her Masters in Sociology from the University of Rhode Island and her Ph.D. in Sociology from Brown University. Her research interests include the mixed age college classroom and the sociology of law and gender. Cathy Bishop-Clark is an Assistant Professor in the Systems Analysis Department at Miami University. She holds an M.S. in Information Systems, and is currently a doctoral candidate in Educational Foundations at the University of Cincinnati. Her research interests include the mixed age college classroom and cognitive style as relates to computer programming.     

The construction of word meaning in a multicultural classroom. Mediational tools in peer collaboration during mathematics lessons

In this article, we examine the construction of word meaning by students during collaborative activities in a multicultural classroom at a Dutch primary school. The analysis is based on recordings of student talk in small groups of four or five students during mathematics lessons. Difficulties with specific terms and expressions frequently arose during group work. Students could easily ask each other about the meaning of difficult words as a part of the collaborative activities they were accustomed to. In the groups with both Dutch and minority children, the minority students addressed their Dutch classmates as language experts. Conversations about language difficulties also occurred in the groups with only minority students. The conversations about word meaning revealed four patterns: (1) ignoring a question about the meaning of a word, (2) showing the meaning using gestures, (3) explaining, or (4) discussing word meaning. In none of the cases were the language problems solved by referring to the everyday meaning of the word. Instead, the conversations focussed directly on the specialised meaning which the word had in the context of the mathematics lesson. This means that the children used the mathematical discourse as a mediational tool for constructing a mathematical meaning of the words.     

Relationship between perceived levels of classroom individualization and science-related attitudes

Relationships between perceived levels of classroom individualization and science-related attitudes were explored for a sample of 712 junior high school science students. Five dimensions of perceived individualization (personalization, participation, independence, investigation, and differentiation) were measured with the Individualized Classroom Environment Questionnaire (ICEQ), while seven distinct attitudes were measured with the Test of Science-Related Attitudes (TOSRA). Hierarchical regression analyses revealed that the set of individualization variables accounted for a significant increment in end-of-year attitude scores, beyond that attributable to corresponding beginning-of-year attitude scores, for four of the seven attitudes considered. Significant associations between an individual individualization variable and an attitudinal dimension were positive in all cases. The study also provided support for the reliability and validity of the ICEQ and TOSRA and for their general usefulness in science education research.