Undergraduates’ Attitudes Toward Science and Their Epistemological Beliefs: Positive Effects of Certainty and Authority Beliefs

Attitudes toward science are an important aspect of students’ persistence in school science and interest in pursuing future science careers, but students’ attitudes typically decline over the course of formal schooling. This study examines relationships of students’ attitudes toward science with their perceptions of science as inclusive or non-religious, and their epistemological beliefs about epistemic authority and certainty. Data were collected using an online survey system among undergraduates at a large, public US university (n = 582). Data were prepared using a Rasch rating scale model and then analyzed using multiple-regression analysis. Gender and number of science and mathematics courses were included as control variables, followed by perceptions of science, then epistemological beliefs. Findings show that respondents have more positive attitudes when they perceive science to be inclusive of women and minorities, and when they perceive science to be incompatible with religion. Respondents also have more positive attitudes toward science when they believe scientific knowledge is uncertain, and when they believe knowledge derives from authority. Interpretations of these findings and implications for future research are discussed.     

Why Should We Group Students Within-Class for Learning?

The purpose of this article is threefold. First, we bring to the attention of the European and international research community the research evidence concerning within-class grouping. In a previous quantitative review, we computed 103 independent effect sizes from studies comparing within-class instruction and whole class instruction. The mean weighted effect size (ES) of within-class versus no grouping on student achievement was 0.17, which was significantly greater than zero (p < .05). We also reported that the findings were statistically heterogeneous and explored which of 26 study features accounted for the variability. Second, we address the issues related to our research integration raised by Prais (1998, 1999). We argue that our review focused only on grouping effects on students, not other features of classroom organization or teacher outcomes. We also believe that our data suggest that Continental Education would be further enhanced by the use of small group instruction. In particular, our findings are: useful; not so variable as to be meaningless; provide evidence of beneficial effects for students of all relative abilities; are thorough and detailed; and provide a rather complete picture of the available evidence. Third, we elaborate further on the pedagogical techniques which encourage effective small group instruction. We describe cooperative learning in general, the important elements of positive interdependence and individual accountability in particular, and summarize reviews of research on its effectiveness. We remain convinced that educators should group students within-class for learning and rely on the research evidence for guidance in doing so.     

Does Training in Alternative Assessment Matter? The Case of Prospective and Practicing Mathematics Teachers’ Attitudes Toward Alternative Assessment and Their Beliefs About the Nature of Mathematics

This study explored the training of prospective and practicing mathematics teachers in alternative assessment and its impact on their attitudes toward alternative assessment methods and their beliefs about the nature of mathematics. Data were collected from 51 prospective teachers and 50 practicing teachers who took a course on alternative assessment in mathematics. Findings indicated a significant change in the correlation between the positivist and constructivist dimensions of their beliefs about the nature of mathematics following the course. No significant differences were found between the prospective and practicing teachers’ beliefs either before or after the course nor in their attitudes toward alternative assessment after the course. Before the course, however, the two groups differed significantly in their attitudes toward alternative assessment. Findings also revealed significant changes in attitudes toward alternative assessment and beliefs about the nature of mathematics following participation in the course. These changes in attitudes and beliefs were accompanied by a shift in the nature of the assessment tasks written by the participants. Participants who demonstrated more positive attitudes and constructivist beliefs tended to write more conceptual problems and less procedural exercises. Implications for mathematics teacher training and professional development in alternative assessment are discussed.     

What Are the Goals of Kindergarten? Teachers’ Beliefs and Their Perceptions of the Beliefs of Parents and of Agents of the Education System

Research Findings: The study examined the beliefs of kindergarten teachers (K-teachers) regarding the goals of kindergarten. We asked K-teachers to reflect on their own beliefs, their understanding of parents’ beliefs, and their understanding of the beliefs that guide agents of the education system. We further examined differences between K-teachers based on the type of kindergarten in which they worked (religious or secular) and the socioeconomic status of children’s families (middle-high or middle-low). A total of 120 K-teachers responded to closed questionnaires, and 12 teachers also participated in a semistructured interview. The results revealed an incongruence between K-teachers’ perspectives and their understanding of the positions of parents and of agents of the education system. K-teachers evaluated fostering children’s positive self-esteem as the most important goal and promoting literacy and mathematics skills as the least important. They believed, however, that parents and agents of the education system regard children’s advancement in literacy and mathematics skills as the most important goal. Practice or Policy: Recognizing this incongruence facilitates understanding of the rationale behind K-teachers’ actions and their relationships with parents and professional partners. It enables identification of topics that need to be addressed by the professional education community in order to create a dialogue among K-teachers, families, and policymakers.     

Who Do We Think We Are? A Survey of Counsellors in Canada

The mental health service delivery system in Canada is complex and the need for services is growing faster than the development of methods and programs to address these. Masters-level counsellors are increasingly called upon to play important roles in the treatment of mental health concerns, yet both the public and other allied professionals (psychologists, social workers, psychiatrists, medical practitioners) remain unclear about the role and functions of counsellors. The purpose of this study was to describe the essential characteristics of the counselling profession in Canada as revealed through perceptions of counsellors themselves. A web-based survey on counsellor professional identity was developed and distributed to all members of the Canadian Counselling Association with a 22.9% return rate. Results indicate that counsellors’ roles are diverse and that they are generally satisfied with their choice of profession. However, they do not believe that the profession of counselling as a whole has a solid identity. Implications for the counselling profession in Canada are discussed.

Should Women Move Like Men? The Construction of Gender and Difference in Research on Anterior Cruciate Ligament Injuries

This article investigates constructions of gender and difference in biomedical research on anterior cruciate ligament injuries. This injury is of interest because evidence shows a higher risk among females in some sports and there is extensive research on this topic. The analysis examined consensus statements from 6 anterior cruciate ligament research retreats spanning 11 years. The initial mission of the retreats was to examine factors related to a possible gender bias in incidence. Over time there was increasing emphasis on explaining the mechanisms of the injury and injury prevention. Conceptualizations of gender were multifaceted and as research evolved showed a tendency to move away from essentialist and categorical constructions. The discussion suggests that the location of this research in a broader agenda of injury prevention helped to distance it from a narrow focus on gender difference and provided the context for increasingly nuanced conceptualizations of gender.     

Should self-regulated learning be integrated with cognitive load theory? A commentary

Research on either cognitive load theory or self-regulated learning usually proceeds without reference to the other theory. In this commentary, we have commented on the editorial introduction and the six papers included in this Special Issue intended to indicate possible links between the two theories. To assist in this process, we have analysed some of the characteristics of both theories that either facilitate or impede the establishment of links. We conclude that while links are possible, the many differences between the theories present considerable barriers that will need to be overcome.     

Does Training Toddlers in Emotion Knowledge Lead to Changes in Their Prosocial and Aggressive Behavior Toward Peers at Nursery?

Research Findings: Within the flourishing area of research demonstrating the efficacy of emotion-based interventions carried out by trained teachers in educational contexts in increasing children’s emotional skills, this study makes an original contribution to the existing literature by focusing on the effects of this kind of intervention on toddlers’ prosocial and aggressive behavior. Ninety-five 26- to 36-month-olds participated in a 2-month intervention in which trained teachers read emotion-based stories to small groups of children and then either involved them in conversations about emotions (experimental condition) or did not (control condition). Even after we controlled for age and general language ability, the children in the experimental condition were found to outperform the control group on measures of emotion knowledge and emotional-state talk. Furthermore, the intervention fostered gains in prosocial behavior, whereas it did not have a significant effect on the frequency of aggressive actions, which was lower at posttest in both groups. The positive effect of the training program on participants’ prosocial behavior was no longer significant when we controlled for gains in emotion knowledge and emotional-state talk. Practice or Policy: The results encourage the implementation of early educational programs focused on emotion knowledge in order to foster children’s prosocial behavior toward peers.     

Has Group Work Education Lost Its Social Group Work Essence? A Content Analysis of MSW Course Syllabi in Search of Mutual Aid and Group Conflict Content

This article presents the results of a content analysis of MSW group work course syllabi in an effort to better understand the extent to which mutual aid and group conflict, two important dimensions of social group work, are included and featured as prominent elements in MSW-level group work instruction.     

Beliefs about teaching: Persistent or malleable? A longitudinal study of prospective student teachers' beliefs

This longitudinal study focused on change in university students' beliefs about the role of teachers. The students (n = 80) were Estonian undergraduates, whose beliefs were investigated in the first and third years of their studies and followed up to the point at which the students either entered teacher education or chose other paths. Beliefs about teaching were neither unambiguously persistent nor malleable. Students who continued in teacher education exhibited stronger beliefs about the teacher as pedagogue and aligned less with the belief that the teacher's role is to be a subject matter expert than peers who did not choose teacher education.     

Should Homosexuality be Taught as an Acceptable Alternative Lifestyle? A Muslim perspective

In most western countries homosexuality is gaining growing support as an alternative lifestyle and, being a part of sex education in schools, is presented to children as a positive image. The first section of the paper summarises the current political and social aspirations of the gay and lesbian movement and examines the underlying values and assumptions in this position as well as its educational implications. The second section considers evidence of the extent to which the gay and lesbian aspirations are receiving a sympathetic hearing from liberals, sex education specialists, Christians, members of other world religions and the population at large. The third section develops a Muslim perspective on (male) homosexuality, based mainly on Islamic teaching but also referring where appropriate to practices in Muslim countries. Muslims oppose the teaching of homosexuality not only because Islam proclaims homosexual practices to be an ‘abomination’, but also because the notion of homosexuality as a lifestyle at all, let alone a natural and equally valid one, is itself incoherent from a Muslim perspective. The paper concludes with some suggestions about the educational implications of the Muslim perspective.     

Should talented students skip a grade? A literature review on grade skipping

European Journal of Psychology of Education - Since 2004, many researchers have considered that grade skipping has a positive impact on academic achievement and is not detrimental to psychosocial...     

Toward an international measure of global competence? A critical look at the PISA 2018 framework

This paper focuses on the OECD’s PISA 2018 international framework for global competence. Given the growing national and international attention on educating for global competence, and absent of other measures, there is a need to scrutinise this framework. Our critical analysis is conceptually framed by academic literature related to (a) the OECD’s influential role in facilitating neoliberal education policy trends, (b) disjuncture and debate surrounding global competence, and (c) how influence is garnered through measurement technologies. We conclude by encouraging the OECD to be transparent in the reporting of results and educational stakeholders to be cautious interpreters of forthcoming results and rankings.     

Should we re‐design our discipline? A major question for educational psychologists 1

Five purposes of a scientific society are listed, from holding annual meetings to establishing the status of members. The question is raised whether the American Psychological Association, with an increasingly clinical emphasis and heavy administrative/legislative structures, can still accomplish such purposes. Two models for increasing organizational autonomy are examined. For economy, scientific emphasis, and member status, the Psychonomic Society is admirable. For expanding membership outside the APA, while remaining an APA division, a model is the Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues. A proposed Society for Educational Psychology might combine the best from these two models.     

Teachers Don’t Always Do What They Think They Should: A Preliminary Validation of the Early Childhood Educators’ Knowledge of Self-Regulation Skills Questionnaire

The extent to which teachers understand the concept of self-regulation skills and how best to implement practices that enhance self-regulation in children in the early childhood education classroom remains unexamined. The purpose of this study is to examine the psychometric properties of the self-reporting Early Childhood Educators Knowledge of Self-Regulation Questionnaire (ECESRQ) instrument designed to identify teachers’ knowledge and instruction of self-regulation skills in the classroom. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was used to determine three latent factors: teacher attitudes and beliefs, classroom management techniques, and child behavior. The findings identified parallel the literature in the preservice teacher-training arena, suggesting a theoretical basis for the underlying constructs. EFA contributed to establishing good estimates of construct validity in the ECESRQ; in addition Cronbach’s alpha results demonstrated moderate levels of internal reliability. Pearson correlation was used to additionally determine the extent to which teachers understand self-regulatory skills and their ability to implement effective tools in the classroom to enhance these skills. Results and implications for practice in the early childhood classroom are discussed.     

To What Extent Do Reform-prepared Upper Elementary and Middle School Science Teachers Maintain Their Beliefs and Intended Instructional Actions as they are Inducted into Schools?

We report the results of survey research that collected responses of an identical sample (31 beginning mathematics and science teachers, elementary and middle school level) that graduated from a reform-based mathematics and science teacher preparation program, the Maryland Collaborative for Teacher Preparation (MCTP). We compared responses of the same beginning teachers over the two administrations of the survey. The 1st administration was conducted soon after the beginning teachers graduated from the MCTP program, but had not started full teaching. The 2nd administration was conducted after the new teachers had taught full time for a minimum of a full year, with the majority having taught for 2 years. Results indicated that in all areas the MCTP teachers maintained their reform-based beliefs.     

Teacher- or Learner-Centred? Science Teacher Beliefs Related to Topic Specific Pedagogical Content Knowledge: A South African Case Study

In science education, learner-centred classroom practices are widely accepted as desirable and are associated with responsive and reformed kinds of teacher beliefs. They are further associated with high-quality Pedagogical Content Knowledge (PCK). Topic-Specific Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TSPCK), a version of PCK defined at topic level, is known to enable the transformation of topic content into a form accessible to learners. However, little is known about teacher science beliefs in relation to TSPCK and therefore the nature of likely associated classroom practices. In this study, we investigated the relationship between TSPCK and underlying science teacher beliefs following an intervention targeting the improvement of TSPCK in the topic chemical equilibrium. Sixteen final year pre-service chemistry teachers were exposed to an intervention that explicitly focussed on knowledge for transforming the content of chemical equilibrium using the five knowledge components of TSPCK. A specially designed TSPCK instrument in chemical equilibrium and the Teacher Belief Instrument (TBI) were used to capture written responses in pre- and post-tests. Additional qualitative data was collected from audio-recorded discussions and written responses from an open-ended question asked before and after the intervention. Two key findings emerged from the study. Firstly, the development of TSPCK was linked to shifts in underlying science teacher beliefs in the direction of learner-centred teaching for the majority of pre-service teachers. Secondly, this shift was not evident for all, as for some there was development of TSPCK without a shift from teacher-centred beliefs about science teaching.     

Are School-Based Mentors Adequately Equipped to Fulfil Their Roles? A Case Study in Learning to Teach Accounting

Abstract

This article reports on a study that explored how school-based teachers fulfilled their roles as mentors in response to challenges faced by pre-service teachers while learning to teach accounting. Pre-service teachers in their final year at a University of Technology in South Africa and practising teachers from six high schools participated in the study. Pre-service teachers e-mailed reflection journals on a weekly basis over a period of four months to the first author who is a teacher educator. Unstructured interviews were carried out with each pre-service teacher and their respective mentors. The results indicated that not all mentors assisted the pre-service teachers according to the expectations of their roles. Despite mentoring having the potential to enhance the preparation of pre-service teachers, in the cases studied it did not always yield positive results. It became clear that the cumulative nature of the accounting discipline requires a different type of mentoring from other disciplines. In fact, numerous factors revealed in the study influenced the failure and success of mentoring pre-service teachers. Many of these factors are ones over which the university has no control.