Graphwork-Developing a Progression Part 1 - The early stages

This article indicates how a sound basis for graphwork can be covered in the early years of schooling.     

Reasoning with Data – Time for a Rethink?

Reasoning with data is already pervasive in society, and its importance as a life skill is increasing. We argue that the current statistics curriculum in the United Kingdom at the secondary level does not prepare our young people adequately, and suggest ways in which it could be improved.     

The National Curriculum balance sheet for Key Stage 2: a researcher's view

The National Curriculum had very specific objectives. From the beginning there have been claims that the failure to implement the programme in full was the fault of a ‘liberal’ educational establishment. This article looks at implementation from the perspective of a researcher who was engaged in classroom observation, mainly in primary schools, during the late 1980s and early 1990s. Among the consequences of the implementation strategies adopted have been negligible effects on teaching methods, falling standards and lack of increased curriculum continuity on transfer to Key Stage 3. The findings of this research suggest that recent calls for teachers to be mandated as to how to teach the curriculum will not overcome these problems.     

The Royal Statistical Society Schools Lecture 2004: ‘Lies and Statistics’, Part 2

This article concludes the serialization of the Royal Statistical Society's Schools Lecture for 2004, on ‘Lies and statistics’.     

The debate over the National Curriculum for history in England and Wales, 198990: the role of the press

The construction of a history curriculum for England and for Wales under the terms of the 1988 Education Reform Act occasioned more debate in the media than any other subject in the National Curriculum. The links between the content of a history syllabus and perceptions within both nations of the part this plays in moulding national spirit made this inevitable. The disparity of view between the two groups charged with devising the syllabus and the government, particularly the Prime Minister, heightened the tension. This article explores the way in which consequent political, professional and public discussion was covered in the whole range of national newspapers. It is argued that the failure of the London press to comprehend the situation in Wales reduced significantly its appreciation of the processes involved in the making of the history curriculum.     

Charts in Excel – A Series Matter

The Chart Wizard in Microsoft Excel is supposed to make chart drawing so easy that a child can do it, yet many intelligent adults fail to use it successfully. This article suggests some simple principles that resolve many of the difficulties.     

Developing a capacity to make “English for Everyone” worthwhile: Reconsidering outcomes and how to start achieving them

Past decades have seen a growing assumption worldwide that national governments should provide ‘English for Everyone’ (EFE) as a core component of their school curricula. Personal and national benefits expected from such English provision are generally expressed in terms of developing learners’ abilities to communicate in English. Despite enormous financial and human investment, actual outcomes are often disappointing.     

Taiwanese teachers’ implementation of a new ‘constructivist mathematics curriculum’: How cognitive and affective issues are addressed

This paper aims to investigate the ways in which four Grade 5 teachers perceived and implemented a new constructivist mathematics curriculum, after all their past experience of traditional mathematics in Taiwan. The meaning and indicators of constructivist and traditional mathematics were explored and developed based on reviews of three countries’ mathematics curricula and studies on mathematics teaching. Through interviews and classroom observations, teachers’ practices were analyzed in these terms, separated into cognitive and affective aspects. The teachers were found to meet the new curriculum halfway, to address cognitive issues more effectively than affective ones, and to implement a common curriculum differently. The results support the need to analyze the teaching of mathematics in relation to affective as well as cognitive elements, and are discussed in relation to mathematics teaching internationally.     

Life Tables – A Plea for their Use

This article highlights the important contribution that life tables can make to teaching in the social sciences and in engineering subjects, especially when comparative work is carried out. The article ends by illustrating how to form the life table and generate appropriate graphs using a spreadsheet.     

Intuitive Analysis of Variance – A Formative Assessment Approach

This article describes an assessment activity that can show students how much they intuitively understand about statistics, but also alert them to common misunderstandings. How the activity can be used formatively to help improve students' conceptual understanding of analysis of variance is discussed.     

The Aims of English Teaching: A View from History

Once again, the National Curriculum orders for English are being rewritten. The writers of the new curriculum have looked to the education systems of ‘high-performing jurisdictions’ for inspiration. The result is a curriculum draft that offers a limited view of the subject and one which apparently fails to prioritise the needs of the learner. The model of English developed in the postwar years by those working within the London Association for the Teaching of English (LATE) offers a very different view of the subject. The Aims of English Teaching is an early document articulating LATE’s vision of the subject; this article offers a reading of this document and suggests that there may be much in this history to draw on as teachers are apparently offered more freedom to design their own programmes of study.     

Three Averages – Ordered by Comparing Areas

This short article gives a geometrical interpretation of the relationship between the harmonic mean, the arithmetic mean and the self‐weighted mean.     

论国家课程的校本化实施——以上海市育才中学为例

国家课程的校本化实施,不仅适合我国新课程改革的特点与需要,也符合学校作为一种学习型组织和教师作为一名专业工作者的基本教育假定。国家课程的校本化实施,一方面是由课程实施本身的二元特征所决定的;另一方面,也是由我国新课程改革本身的性质与特点决定的。国家课程的校本化实施,还有助于解决新课程改革＂实验—推广＂这一基本模式自身所存在的种种问题与弊端。本文将研究视角聚焦于国家课程的校本化实施问题,试图通过对样本学校个性化实施国家课程的基本思路与做法的详细描述,阐明国家课程校本化实施的基本思路、途径和所应该注意的问题。     

Developing a curriculum for the twenty-first century: the experiences of England and Northern Ireland

This article analyzes the common educational challenges faced by curriculum developers in the UK at the turn of the 21st century and the steps taken to address them by the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority in England and the Council for Curriculum Examinations and Assessment in Northern Ireland. The paper explores how the solutions emerging during the three curriculum review phases of 1998–1999 and 2005–2007 in England and 2000–2004 in Northern Ireland came about largely as a result of collegial working between the two bodies. As well as considering steps taken to develop aims that would drive curriculum change and a curriculum that would address the learning needs of students in the 21st century, the article also considers the lessons learnt about managing and supporting curriculum change. Developments in England and Northern Ireland serve to illustrate that an effective curriculum needs to: articulate clearly the key aims that will shape and drive it; be sufficiently visionary and flexible to allow teachers to respond to the needs of students now and in the future; and provide on-going support to help embed and sustain change. The three are inter-related and successful curriculum development involves considering them together.

Creating,implementing and integrating a first‐year statistics requirement

We present the process our institution used to create a statistics requirement for almost all incoming first‐year students. From conception and planning, to hiring and acceptance by the university community, we offer lessons learned should you consider making such a shift in your own curriculum.     

贵州省苗族地区中小学民族文化课程开发的个案研究

通过对贵州省苗族地区中小学民族文化课程开发现状的个案调查，发现民族地区民族文化课程开发还停留在浅层面，学校课程尚未成为民族文化传承的主渠道，地方课程资源开发不力，致使学生对民族义化疏于了解。就此认为民族地区基础教育民族文化课程的开发应从观念层面、政策层面、支持系统及实践层面等方面进行，以推进民族文化课程的实施。     

浅析政治课教师如何适应高中新课程改革

目前所进行的高中新课程改革,从各方面来看,都可以称为是中国基础教育的革命。它从教材制定、课程设置、课堂教学、教学目标、教学评价等诸多方面都进行了革新。不仅要改变学生的学习模式,而且也将改变教师传统的教育教学模式。通过分析高中思想政治课新课程改革的要求,从转变观念、更新知识储备、实施有效教学策略等方面,提出高中政治课教师如何适应新课程改革的几点建议。