What Happens When Learning Takes Place?

When asked "What happens when learning takes place?" most people, including those involved in education, find it difficult to provide a satisfactory answer. Nevertheless, assumptions about what happens have a bearing on what we (as learners, educators, researchers, and policy-makers) do, and on our answers to other questions about learning, teaching, and education. The paper addresses the title question on the basis of an analysis of the logic of learning. The approach is philosophical rather than physiological or sociological, and draws on the work of Karl Popper. The outcome is a radical, universally applicable theory which identifies a set of features common to all processes in which learning can be said to take place. The theory has significant implications for educational policy and practice: it draws attention to factors which inhibit learning and is suggestive of ways in which learning can be promoted.     

What Happens to Efficiency and Equity? The Cost Implications of Developmental Education Reform

Research in Higher Education - Florida passed legislation in 2013 that exempted many students from developmental education, and required colleges to implement new instructional modalities for...     

What Happens to Policies When Assuming Institutions? A Short Story About Romania’s Never-Ending Educational Reform

Over the past decades, educational reform has been one of the centerpieces of transition in Central and Eastern Europe. A huge degree of variability among countries exists, from sudden liberalization to securing the status quo previous to revolutionary political change. Reforms have ranged from institutional to instrumental changes. We argue that policies may lead to undesirable outcomes, when they assume a certain institutional framework. We then describe the evolution of Romania’s educational system, focusing on a case study of an implemented large-scale policy program: the Rural Education Project for Romania. We thus argue that by assuming institutional change such attempts are bound to fail because the existing status quo adapts actions to existing practices, thus leading to unexpected outcomes.     

What Happens With Comparison Processes When “the Other” is Very Similar? Academic Self-Concept Formation in Twins

According to the internal/external frame of reference (I/E) model (Marsh, 1986), individuals’ academic self-concept is strongly influenced by comparing their achievement in one domain with their achievement in other domains and with the achievement of others. Research has typically found contrast effects such that high-achieving others have a negative effect on students’ academic self-concept. Yet, what happens if the “other” is somebody very similar to oneself as in the case of monozygotic twins? We postulate and examine the mirror effect, which means that rather than serving as a contrast, the effect of the co-twin’s achievement parallels the effect of a monozygotic twin’s own achievement on academic self-concept. We used data from two school-aged cohorts (11- and 17-year-olds) from a representative sample (N = 4,202) of monozygotic and dizygotic twins in Germany. We regressed twins’ math and German self-concepts on their own and their co-twins’ mathematics and German achievement. Internal and external comparison effects as postulated in the I/E model were replicated for both monozygotic and dizygotic twins across both age groups. In line with our hypothesis, the mirror effect was found in monozygotic twins only: Co-twins’ achievement and twins’ own achievement showed a parallel pattern of positive effects on academic self-concept within each domain and negative effects on academic self-concept between domains, duplicating the I/E pattern. The mirror effect tended to be more pronounced for older monozygotic twins. We argue that the mirror effect is likely caused by high interpersonal similarity and constitutes a rare exception to the broad generalizability of contrast effects as assumed in the I/E model.     

What Happens When a Teacher’s Science Belief Structure Is in Disequilibrium? Entangled Nature of Beliefs and Practice

Research in Science Education - This qualitative case study examined the process of change in an experienced elementary teacher’s belief structure during implementation of an inquiry-based...     

The International Adult Literacy Survey: What Does It Really Measure?

The paper evaluates the work of the International Adult Literacy Survey as reported in OECD 1997. It assesses its contribution to understanding literacy in terms of the perspective of the New Literacy Studies. It outlines this perspective as a basis for a critique that is mostly concerned with the validity of the test. Three criticisms of the survey are made: that it provides only a partial picture of literacy; that culture is treated as bias; and that the test items do not represent the real-life items as claimed. Finally, the paper concludes with an overall evaluation of what the IALS achieves in terms of its own aims.     

What Does the Writer Prefer?

Ihavealwaysbeeninterestedinmakingthings.WhenIwasachild,enjoyedpainting,butIalsolikedmakingthingsoutofclay.Iwonarize(奖)foroneofmypaintingswhenIwasfour鄄en.ThatmaybewhyIwenttoanartschoolandudiedthereforfouryears.ButIstudiedpaintingfirst,notpottery(陶器制造).IlikebeingaotterbecauseIliketoworkwithmyhandsandeltheclay.I蒺mhappyworkingbymyselfandbe鄄gnearmyhome.Idon蒺tlikemass鄄producedings,fortheyaremadebymachinesandareallesame.Ithinkcrafts(手工艺)areveryimportantdcraftspeoplemakethingscleverly…     

What Does Little Birdie Say?

在她黎明时的小巢中,小鸟说些什么呢?小鸟说,让我飞吧,妈妈,让我飞走吧。宝贝,再多呆一会儿,等到那对小翅膀再长硬些儿。因此她又多留了一会儿,然而她还是飞走了。在破晓时分的床上,婴儿说些什么?婴儿像小鸟那样说,让我起来飞走吧。乖乖,再多睡一会儿,等你的四肢再长硬点儿。如果她再多睡一会儿,婴儿必然也会飞走。W hatdoes little birdie say,In her nest at peep ofday?Let m e fly,says little birdie,M other,let m e fly away.Birdie,resta little longer,Tillthe little w ings are stronger.So she rests a little longer,Then …     

What Happens Next? Follow-Up From the Children's Toddler School Program

This study was a follow-up of a group of 29 children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorders at age 2 who attended an inclusive toddler program until age 3. Children ranged in age from 4 to 12 years at the time of the parent survey and follow-up testing. The majority of children were placed in a special education (noninclusive) preschool class, but among the children who were in elementary school at the time of follow-up, 63% were in general education classroom placement. Diagnoses of autism spectrum disorders remained stable, socialization skills remained a weakness, and child-related parental stress remained high despite average cognitive and language skills in the majority of children. Social skill development and support remained a service need.     

What Does it Mean to Question?

The purpose of this paper is two fold: first, to tease out the meaning inherent in the correlativity of the question and answer process and second, to suggest a philosophical answer to the question “What does it mean to question?” in the context of teacher education. To that end, we want to claim that R.G. Collingwood’s “Logic of Question and Answer” is a valuable tool in filling the gap in scholarship concerning the art of questioning. While research into the activity of teaching often emphasizes the role and effectiveness of questioning, these studies have largely focussed on the strategies and results of the practice of questioning. We argue that they place too little emphasis on making sense of the process itself and that more time should be spent on the Logic of Question and Answer. To accomplish our goal, in Collingwoodian form, we will contextualize an example of how the understanding of the question and answer complex informs the practice of teacher education in the specific area of the Social Studies Methods Course.     

What Does the CBM-Maze Test Measure?

In this study, we identified the code-related (decoding, fluency) and language comprehension (vocabulary, listening comprehension) demands of the CBM-Maze test, a formative assessment, and compared them to those of the Gates–MacGinitie test, a standardized summative assessment. The demands of these reading comprehension tests and their developmental patterns were examined with multigroup structural regression models in a sample of 274 children in Grades 4, 7, and 9. The results showed that the CBM-Maze test relied more on code-related than on language comprehension skills when compared to the Gates–MacGinitie test. These demands were relatively stable across grades.     

The HBCU Experience: Liberating or Not?

While African American women routinely outnumber African American men on the historically Black college and university (HBCU) campus, the African American woman??s voice is usually relegated to the margins within social and academic frameworks. The author seeks to gain a deeper understanding of the actual liberation of African American women on HBCU campuses. Drawing from undergraduate and graduate experiences as an African American female on campus, the author uses Collins??s (Black feminist thought: Knowledge, consciousness, and the politics of empowerment. Routledge, New York, 2009) Black feminist epistemology as a lens through which to examine her own decision to attend an HBCU while giving specific attention to the implications and intersections of race and gender. Using Black feminist epistemology and autoethnography, the author provides a critical analysis of her education at an HBCU in relationship to the experiences of other African American women. The author concludes the article explaining the intersections of education, liberation, and resistance with implications for HBCU administrators and staff in preparing African American women as campus and community leaders.     

When Does Scale Anchoring Work? A Case Study

Providing information to test takers and test score users about the abilities of test takers at different score levels has been a persistent problem in educational and psychological measurement. Scale anchoring, a technique which describes what students at different points on a score scale know and can do, is a tool to provide such information. Scale anchoring for a test involves a substantial amount of work, both by the statistical analysts and test developers involved with the test. In addition, scale anchoring involves considerable use of subjective judgment, so its conclusions may be questionable. We describe statistical procedures that can be used to determine if scale anchoring is likely to be successful for a test. If these procedures indicate that scale anchoring is unlikely to be successful, then there is little reason to perform a detailed scale anchoring study. The procedures are applied to several data sets from a teachers’ licensing test.     

What Does She Expect When She Dresses Like That? Teacher Interpretation of Emerging Adolescent Female Sexuality

When examining the experiences of adolescent girls, a study into the presumptions teachers have regarding female adolescent sexuality is a very important aspect to explore. This article presents the findings from a study we conducted with eleven middle- and high school teachers in a southeastern state from both rural and urban districts. In-depth interviews were conducted to determine how their experiences and perceptions impact their understanding of the emerging sexuality of students in their classrooms. Several findings emerged, including that girls continue to be placed in contradictory positions concerning sexuality, that adverse sexual labels continue to serve as a means of sexual harassment that many teachers do not recognize, and that perceptions of sexuality and acceptable behavior remain deeply embedded in race and class issues.     

What Kind of a Girl Does Science? The Construction of School Science Identities

A view of science as a culturally‐mediated way of thinking and knowing suggests that learning can be defined as engagement with scientific practices. How students engage in school science is influenced by whether and how students view themselves and whether or not they are the kind of person who engages in science. It is therefore crucial to understand students' identities and how they do or do not overlap with school science identities. In this paper, we describe four middle school African American girls' engagement with science. They were selected in the 7th grade because they expressed a fondness for science in school or because they had science‐related hobbies outside of school. The data were collected from the following sources: interviews of students, their parents and their teachers; observations in science classes; journal writing; and focus groups. These girls' stories provide us with a better understanding of the variety of ways girls choose to engage in science and how this engagement is shaped by their views of what kind of girl they are. © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 37: 441–458, 2000.