And so we plough along: the nature and nurture of partnerships for inquiry

New approaches to inquiry that partner researchers with practitioners and policy makers have become more common in the early childhood field as it has embraced a wider variety of research traditions. In this introductory article for the special issue on partnerships for inquiry, we explore the nature, origins, and purposes of collaborative research in early childhood. We also identify and discuss the challenges that arise in conducting collaborative research. The other articles in this special issue are discussed as they illustrate the diverse approaches to collaboration and provide examples of the challenges and how they are dealt with in practice. Equality between partners emerges as a major issue based on our explorations of the literature and the other articles in this special issue.     

BOOK REVIEWS

The articles in this issue represent an effort to understand how whiteness as a social construct embodies unique characteristics, behavior, and collective enterprise in the context of schooling. The author's goal in this article is to discuss the notion of whiteness and when possible to comment on the articles of this special issue devoted to the topic. The examination of "whiteness" as a theoretical construct is a relatively new phenomenon in educational research. The fact that "whiteness" has gone unexamined for so long is a function of the power of paradigmatic thinking in the social sciences. The predominant viewpoint in the social sciences has been that people of color lack many of the characteristics associated with being white, thus the focus of scholarship has been on documenting these differences or examining interventions designed to remedy these so-called deficiencies. The articles of this special issue represent an intellectual challenge to this mode of thought.     

论高中文理“分”的学理

高中教育存在文理分科是一个事实,即学生从高二起被分成文科班和理科班,文科学生专学所谓的"文科课程",而理科学生则专攻所谓的"理科课程"。且不论高中文理分科之弊端,仅就高中文理"分"的事实而言,其"分"的背后隐含着一定的学理,需要加以深刻认识。     

Model based learning as a key research area for science education

A framework is presented for thinking about cognitive factors involved in model construction in the classroom that can help us organize the research problems in this area and the articles in this issue. The framework connects concepts such as: expert consensus model, target model, intermediate models, preconceptions, learning processes, and natural reasoning skills. By connecting and elaborating on these major areas, the articles in this issue have succeeded in moving us another step toward having a theory of conceptual change that can provide guidance to teachers in the form of instructional principles. Taken together, the articles remind us that individual cognition, while not the only factor in learning, is a central determining feature of learning. However, we must work to further develop the present partial theory of conceptual change to fill in the missing cognitive core of the present shell.     

Examining the Double-Deficit Hypothesis in an Orthographically Consistent Language

As many of you know, this is my final issue as editor of Scientific Studies of Reading. The new editor, Charles Hulme, has the work well in hand and has actually completed the editing of two articles which appeared in Issue 3 of this volume. The journal will be in good hands. I want to thank the many board members, reviewers, and authors for their energy, talents, and enthusiasm in the cause of advancing the journal. It's been a great privilege to be able to work with you and to guide the journal for 5 years. The current issue is a special issue, which had its inception in an idea of Mike Pressley's to have authors assess the present and future of key areas of literacy research. The first three articles in this issue are part of the special issue. The fourth article is a rewritten version of Charles Perfetti's Distinguished Scientific Contribution presentation at the July 2006 SSSR meeting. I append comments about Mike Pressley, written by Joanna Williams, who appropriately was the first editor of Scientific Studies of Reading and who had a hand in this special issue.     

Toward Adaptability: Where to from Here?

In this article, the collection of articles in this issue are synthesized to discuss conceptualizations of adaptive teaching as a means to foster spaces for adaptive teaching in today's complex educational system. Themes that exist across this collection of articles include adaptive teachers as constructivists, adaptive teachers as knowledgeable professionals, adaptive teachers as reflective educators, and contexts that support teacher adaptations. These themes are discussed with implications for teachers, teacher educators, administrators, and other educational stakeholders. Finally, the discussion shifts its focus to discuss future directions.     

Mathematics teacher educator knowledge: What do we know and where to from here?

The knowledge that mathematics teacher educators need has attracted limited but increasing attention in recent years. The papers in this special issue build on emerging themes from that work and raise additional questions that contribute towards a future research agenda in the field. Several of the articles develop conceptualisations of teacher knowledge to apply to mathematics teacher educators, introducing new aspects and drawing attention to unique characteristics of mathematics teacher educators in the process. To some extent the questions these papers raise reflect similar questions in mathematics education more generally but for which the implications for mathematics teacher educators warrant attention. In this paper we review the articles in this special issue and use them as a springboard to examine contemporary developments in the field and posit ways forward for research on mathematics teacher educators’ knowledge.     

Introduction: Refugee Teacher Consultation in Malaysia

ABSTRACT

This is the introductory article to a journal theme issue on Refugee Teacher Collaboration in Malaysia. The origins of this issue are described, as well as the Editor’s hope that these articles will inspire additional consultation research using participatory approaches. A brief synopsis of the issue is provided.     

Commentary: Implications,Themes, and Next Steps

The author presents a commentary on a special issue of the Journal of College Counseling. The articles included in the issue describe the mental health needs and counseling center utilization patterns of the diverse population of college students. The establishment of the Center for Collegiate Mental Health has created the opportunity to study representative groups of diverse students that have previously been difficult to access. The articles in the special issue are focused on studies that offer important clues to mechanisms that will serve as a springboard for future research.     

Advances in research on classroom dialogue: learning outcomes and assessments

The goal of this special issue is to examine how certain modes of classroom dialogue might contribute to students' learning outcomes. The articles in this special issue share the idea of classroom talk as a problem-oriented dialogue. In other words, an interactional configuration based on exchanges among students and teachers that go beyond the predominantly monologic approaches of classroom talk. In each of the contributions to this special issue, different types of learning outcomes were studied as a result of specific ways of orchestrating classroom dialogue. All in all, the studies in this special issue yield a picture of the field as a productive research area: they provide evidence for the plausibility of the assumption that dialogic orchestrations of classroom talk may produce various desired learning and developmental outcomes in students, depending on what outcomes we want to articulate, and how they are assessed. Although the studies in this special issue yield promising results for future improvements of classroom practice more (preferably longitudinal) research is required.     

Peer Review in Science Education: An Introduction

This is an introduction to a special issue of Research in Science Education that focuses on peer review in science education. We introduce each of the articles in the special issue and highlight some of the issues that are addressed and the methods employed in the articles that follow. We regard peer review as central to issues of research in science education and publication of this special issue as just in time.     

Pedagogical practices and ICT use around the world: Findings from the IEA international comparative study SITES2006

This special issue presents a number of secondary analyses of data collected in 2006 in the Second Information Technology in Education Study (SITES 2006). This study is the last of a number of international comparative surveys on information and communication technology (ICT) in education conducted under auspices of the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA). After summarizing the aims and scope of previous studies, the aims of SITES 2006 as well as key aspects of the research design are summarized. This is followed by a brief abstract of each of the articles included in this special issue. Three articles discuss international findings of the study and also findings from three participating education systems (South Africa, Denmark, Hong Kong SAR) are presented.     

Cognitive Load Theory: New Conceptualizations,Specifications, and Integrated Research Perspectives

Over the last few years, cognitive load theory has progressed and advanced rapidly. The articles in this special issue, which document those advances, are based on contributions to the 3rd International Cognitive Load Theory Conference (2009), Heerlen, The Netherlands. The articles of this special issue on cognitive load theory discuss new conceptualizations of the different categories of cognitive load, an integrated research perspective of process-oriented and cognitive load approaches to collaborative learning, an integrated research perspective of cognitive and social–cognitive approaches to example-based learning, and a specification of the theory focusing on the acquisition of generalized knowledge structures as a means to facilitate flexible problem-solving skills. This article provides a short introduction to the theory, discusses some of its recent advances, and provides an overview of the contributions to this issue.     

Commentary on a special issue: Davydov’s approach in the XXI century

Educational Studies in Mathematics - The articles in this special issue, collectively, provide overwhelming evidence that a curriculum which has as its primary basis the counting of discrete...     

The Problem of Isolated Schools in Norway

The following article differs in format from the usual pattern adopted for this journal. Written by Professor Samuel Abrahamsen of Brooklyn College, City University of New York, who is the contributing editor for the Scandinavian countries, it is a summary of several reports and articles found in recent publications on education in Norway. None of these original articles contained a sufficiently rounded presentation of the problems of the isolated schools and the measures taken by the government to overcome their disadvantages. We have therefore combined the essential points from various articles to include the Norwegian project as a further illustration of the cooperative work that CER1 attempts to promote. (See "Educational Programs for Socially Disadvantaged Populations" of the Center for Educational Research and Innovation, published in this issue.)     

Building upon synergies among self-regulated learning and formative assessment research and practice

ABSTRACT

The synergies that result from synthesising conceptual models and findings from self-regulated learning and formative assessment research are launching a new era of scholarship. They drive new questions about how to help students to internalise complimentary self-regulatory and assessment knowledge, skills, and dispositions as well as how to prepare teachers and education systems to prioritise and support this work. The articles in this special issue illustrate the power and importance of studying how self-regulation and classroom assessment emerge from social, contextual, historical, and cultural factors. Four themes emerged from the articles in this special issue, including new conceptualisations of self-regulated learning and formative assessment, insights regarding teachers’ dual role in enacting and promoting self-regulation, recognition of the critical role of students’ ability to productively use assessment information, and the need to instantiate self-regulated learning and assessment literacy as formal and valued curricular outcomes.     

The theory and uses of metaphor in educational administration and leadership: a rejoinder

ABSTRACT

This rejoinder article first examines the foundational theories and models for metaphor use in a number of related fields, as well as in educational administration and leadership, presenting a model for analysis. Secondly, it reviews the articles in this special issue against the model proposed.     

Mild Mental Retardation: A Concept in Search of Clarity,A Population in Search of Appropriate Education and Supports,A Profession in Search of Advocacy

Mild mental retardation, or mild intellectual disability, has been identified as a disability of high incidence since the early 20th century. The field has historically received significant attention in the literature as professionals have sought to understand the concept and the disability and to recommend appropriate supports and services within and beyond the field of education. The purpose of this special issue of Exceptionality is to address current issues in the field and explore promising directions. This introductory article focuses on an overview of considerations of concepts of mild mental retardation, educational supports and services, and the issue of advocacy. This article is intended to serve as a foundation for the succeeding articles within this special issue that address key concerns within the field.     

Engaging youth in school and learning: The emerging key to school success and completion

This commentary on articles in this special issue of Psychology in the Schools discusses the importance of school completion by identifying the individual and social costs associated with youths who fail to complete school. An appreciation of these various costs sets the stage for exploring an “emerging” key to school completion—engaging students in school and learning. A brief review of articles in this special issue directs attention toward various aspects of engagement, including conceptual insight and practical interventions. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.