Students as Consumers of Knowledge: Are They Buying What We’re Selling?

Academic entitlement, an attitude marked by students’ beliefs that they are owed something in the educational experience apart from what they might earn from their effort, has received attention recently in the literature. In previous work, academic entitlement has been shown to be related to parenting styles and personality constructs. The current study departs from previous research by taking a phenomenological approach to understanding academic entitlement. Focus groups were conducted with a total of 52 first-year students. Responses were coded into six facets of academic entitlement: product value of education, social promotion, role of professors, teaching assistants, administrators, and shoppers or scholars.     

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.     

What Are They Thinking? Dental Assisting Students' Feelings About E-Books

Electronic textbook usage is increasing within higher education while use of traditional textbooks is declining. While some research concerning student preference for textbook type provides insight into student choices, there is a gap in the literature regarding use of electronic textbooks within dental assisting programs. The purpose of this study was to explore dental assisting students’ preferences regarding electronic textbook usage during their professional education. Two questionnaires were administered to a group of dental assisting students to ascertain their preferences. One questionnaire was given during the Dental Assisting Program orientation at the beginning of the academic year. The second questionnaire was administered at the conclusion of a nine-month dental assisting curriculum in which students were required to use electronic textbooks for approximately half of their courses. Results from the questionnaires indicated that while students were open to the idea of electronic textbooks and willing to use them prior to beginning in the Dental Assisting Program, at the conclusion of the Program they overwhelmingly preferred to use traditional print textbooks.     

Views From the Field: Conservation Educators’ and Practitioners’ Perceptions of Education as a Strategy for Achieving Conservation Outcomes

This article presents data from a mixed-methods study that collected data through surveys (n = 656), interviews (n = 15), and discussion groups (n = 75) to explore the use of social strategies such as education and outreach by non-governmental organizations and government agencies to reach outcomes related to biodiversity conservation and resource management. We examine and juxtapose perceptions of conservation practitioners with those of conservation educators regarding the efficacy of education to reach conservation or resource management goals. We explore how to facilitate integration among policy, science, and education efforts, and we suggest theoretical augmentations for conceptions of education and social strategies within conservation organizations.     

Practitioners’ perspectives on the purpose of environmental education

Since the 1980s, scholars have suggested that environmental education (EE) has a ‘definitional problem’ represented by a multiplicity of perspectives that have critically impacted its discourse, practices, and outcomes. This study sought to investigate how North American EE practitioners from backgrounds ranging from formal and non-formal institutions think about their work. We focused on folk narratives and emerging urban environmental concerns of community education rather than reliance on academic opinion alone. Using Q methodology, the study identified five distinct perspectives that appear to represent different ways of prioritizing EE outcomes. All five perspectives were concerned with promoting sustainable living and improved human well-being, but the nuances suggest that an individual who adheres strongly to one may feel someone holding a contrasting perspective is working at cross-purposes. The authors suggest that understanding these perspectives can help reduce misunderstanding within the EE field.     

“They Think They Know What’s Best for Me”: An Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis of the Experience of Inclusion and Support in High School for Vision-impaired Students with Albinism

The challenges of social inclusion and access to the curriculum facing students with visual impairment in schools are well documented. The refreshed UK Vision Strategy (2013 UK Vision Strategy. (2013). Outcome 3. Retrieved from http://www.vision2020uk.org.uk/UKVisionstrategy/page.asp?section=289&sectionTitle=Outcome+3 [Google Scholar]) seeks to improve education for students with vision impairment. In order to do this, it is important to understand how students with visual impairment experience education. This study used interpretative phenomenological analysis to examine and understand the way in which two vision-impaired students with albinism experienced inclusion and support in high school. The students, aged 16 and 15, had approximately 10% functional vision, stable from birth and had a record of additional support needs at their respective schools. They were interviewed using a simple schedule of open questions to explore their perceptions of inclusion and of using low-vision aids in school. The two main themes that emerged from the interviews were experiencing low vision in school and experiencing additional support in school. A negative cycle of inclusion was identified based on the students’ internalised feelings of difference. Discrepancy was identified between the low-vision aid priorities identified by experts and those identified by students. Recommendations are made to address these issues.     

What Are They Thinking? Automated Analysis of Student Writing about Acid–Base Chemistry in Introductory Biology

Students' writing can provide better insight into their thinking than can multiple-choice questions. However, resource constraints often prevent faculty from using writing assessments in large undergraduate science courses. We investigated the use of computer software to analyze student writing and to uncover student ideas about chemistry in an introductory biology course. Students were asked to predict acid-base behavior of biological functional groups and to explain their answers. Student explanations were rated by two independent raters. Responses were also analyzed using SPSS Text Analysis for Surveys and a custom library of science-related terms and lexical categories relevant to the assessment item. These analyses revealed conceptual connections made by students, student difficulties explaining these topics, and the heterogeneity of student ideas. We validated the lexical analysis by correlating student interviews with the lexical analysis. We used discriminant analysis to create classification functions that identified seven key lexical categories that predict expert scoring (interrater reliability with experts = 0.899). This study suggests that computerized lexical analysis may be useful for automatically categorizing large numbers of student open-ended responses. Lexical analysis provides instructors unique insights into student thinking and a whole-class perspective that are difficult to obtain from multiple-choice questions or reading individual responses.     

What Can the Study of Genetics Offer to Educators?

This article explores the potential contribution of modern genetic methods and findings to education. It is familiar to hear that the “gene” for this or that behavior has been discovered, or that certain skills are “highly heritable.” Can this help educators? To explore this question, we describe the methods used to relate genetic variation to individual differences in high‐level behaviors such as academic skills and educational achievement. These methods include twin studies and genome‐wide association studies. We address the key question of what genetic data imply about the ability of educators to optimize educational outcomes for children across the range of abilities.     

For What They Are Waiting——On the Thematic Concerns of Waiting for Godot

This unusual play has neither plot nor intrigue. There are two main characters, Vladmir and Estrigon. They are simply two human beings, with no normal characteristics such as family, class or profession, who face the basic human situation that Beckett defines thus： ＂ Existing in the world but not knowing what they arethere for.＂ Since people are rational and cannot imagine being in a situation that is entirely pointless, the two characters assume that they must be waiting for somebody. This person, whom they call Godot, tantalizes them by promising to come, but he never does so.     

Reflections on Peter Slezak and the ’Sociology of Scientific Knowledge‘

The paper examines central parts of the first of two papers in this journal by Peter Slezak criticising sociology of scientific knowledge and also considers, independently, some of the main philosophical issues raised by the sociologists of science, in particular David Bloor. The general conclusion is that each account alludes to different and crucial aspects of the nature of knowledge without, severally or jointly, being able to theorise them adequately. The appendix contains epistemological theses central to a more adequate theory of scientific knowledge.... our Histories of six Thousand Moons make no Mention of any other, than the two great Empires of Lilliput and Blefuscu. Which mighty Powers have ... been engaged in a most obstinate War for six and thirty Moons past. It began upon the following Occasion. It is allowed on all Hands, that the primitive Way of breaking Eggs before we eat them, was upon the larger End: But ... the Emperor [of Lilliput] ... published an Edict, commanding all his Subjects, upon great Penalties, to break the smaller End of their Eggs. The People so resented this Law, that ... there have been six Rebellions raised on that Account ... These civil Commotions were constantly fomented by the Monarchs of Blefuscu ... It is computed, that eleven Thousand have, at several Times, suffered Death, rather than break Eggs at the smaller End. Many hundred large Volumes have published upon this Controversy ...     

Trajectories of Mentors’ Perceived Self-Efficacy during an Academic Mentoring Experience: What They Look Like and What are their Personal and Experimental Correlates?

In my study, mentors matched with college mentees evaluated their self-efficacy nine times, during their participation in an academic mentoring program. Three distinct groups emerged as follows: (a) mentors who perceived themselves as moderately efficient throughout the mentoring relationship (the moderate stable (MS) group), (b) mentors who considered themselves moderately efficient at the beginning of the match, and increasingly so as the relationship progressed (the increasing (IN) group), and (c) mentors who perceived themselves as very efficient at the beginning of the match, but who subsequently experienced slight fluctuations of their self-efficacy (the high unstable (HU) group). Several personal and experiential factors such as the mentors’ sensitivity to distress and the mentees’ parental autonomy support predicted the likelihood of belonging to the IN or HU groups (as opposed to the MS group). These findings are interpreted according to the premises of the self-efficacy theory. Implications for mentor selection and training are discussed.     

Infant Educators’ Use of Pedagogical Questioning: Relationships With the Context of Interaction and Educators’ Qualifications

Research Findings: This study investigated the prevalence of pedagogical questions posed by 27 early childhood educators as they interacted with infants in each of two naturally-occurring contexts: book-focused interactions and educator mediated play. The pedagogical questions expressed by educators to infants were coded as confirm (yes/no), specify (what, who, where, when) or explain (why, how) on the basis that these question types present infants with different opportunities to use their developing communication skills to provide information to others. We sought to determine associations between question use, activity context and educators’ qualification levels. Explain questions were used very rarely, while confirm and specify questions were more frequent, comprising 7.60% and 8.32% respectively of the messages expressed by educators to infants. A 2 (activity context) × 2 (qualification level) mixed factorial MANOVA, supplemented with post-hoc qualitative analyses, demonstrated that, in specific activity contexts, degree qualified early childhood teachers used pedagogical questioning in ways which differed from their less-qualified counterparts. Practice or policy: The findings provide much needed data on how educator questioning is used with children under two, how questioning affords context-specific language learning opportunities for infants in ECEC centres, and how educator qualifications may be implicated in these opportunities.     

What Counts? Sources of Knowledge in Children’s Acquisition of the Successor Function

Although many U.S. children can count sets by 4 years, it is not until 5½–6 years that they understand how counting relates to number—that is, that adding 1 to a set necessitates counting up one number. This study examined two knowledge sources that 3½- to 6-year-olds (N = 136) may leverage to acquire this “successor function”: (a) mastery of productive rules governing count list generation; and (b) training with “+1” math facts. Both productive counting and “+1” math facts were related to understanding that adding 1 to sets entails counting up one number in the count list; however, even children with robust successor knowledge struggled with its arithmetic expression, suggesting they do not generalize the successor function from “+1” math facts.     

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.     

‘But What’s the Use? They Don’t Wear Breeches!’: Montaigne and the pedagogy of humor

Abstract

By virtue of his Essays Montaigne is rightly regarded not only as a radically modern philosopher but also as a transformative educational innovator. He confronted the extent to which pedantry and acculturation can justify cruelty by developing a conception of liberal arts education as the arts of liberation, and at the core of this education he placed the practice of essaying. This article argues that in easing us into essaying practices Montaigne qua educator makes reflexive use of three specific modes of didactic humor: incongruous comparison, subversive superiority, and leveling embodiment. Humor thus emerges as a cognitive disposition and communicative mode especially appropriate to the pedagogical engagement with difference today.     

Educators’ perspectives on the impact of Edcamp unconference professional learning

Edcamps are a voluntary, democratic form of unconference. This paper presents participants’ perceptions regarding the impact of Edcamps. Data were gathered from a survey and interviews (N=105). Participants overwhelmingly reported that Edcamp experiences caused changes in their practices and in student learning. The impacts of Edcamps were often described in terms of student engagement, experiences, and dispositions, rather than traditional measures of achievement such as test scores. Participants experienced various obstacles and supports as they utilized what they had learned at Edcamps. Considering these results, the Edcamp model and its implications for other forms of teacher learning are discussed.     

Do Students Know What They Know and What They Don’t Know? Using a Four-Tier Diagnostic Test to Assess the Nature of Students’ Alternative Conceptions

This study reports on the development and application of a four-tier multiple-choice (4TMC) diagnostic instrument, which has not been reported in the literature. It is an enhanced version of the two-tier multiple-choice (2TMC) test. As in 2TMC tests, its answer and reason tiers measure students’ content knowledge and explanatory knowledge, respectively. The two additional tiers measure the level of confidence of students in the correctness of their chosen options for the answer and reason tiers respectively. The 4TMC diagnostic test focused on the properties and propagation of mechanical waves. It was administered to 598 upper secondary students after they were formally instructed on the foregoing topics. The vast majority of the respondents were found to have an inadequate grasp of the topics tested. Mean scores and mean confidence associated with the answer tier was higher than those associated with the reason tier. The students tended to be poorly discriminating between what they know and what they do not know. Familiarity with the topic tested was associated with greater percentage of students giving correct answers, higher confidence, and better discrimination quotient. Nine genuine alternative conceptions (which were expressed with moderate levels of confidence by students) were identified.     

What Are the Effects of Science Lesson Planning in Peers?—Analysis of Attitudes and Knowledge Based on an Actor–Partner Interdependence Model

This study focuses on the effects of collaborative lesson planning by science pre-service teachers on their attitudes and knowledge. In our study, 120 pre-service teachers discussed a preparation for a science inquiry lesson in dyads. The teacher with the lesson preparation had the role of the coachee, while the other was the coach. We investigated the following research questions: (1) Does learning occur between the two peers? and (2) Is the competency in lesson planning affected by the attitude and knowledge of coach and coachee? Based on an actor–partner interdependence model (APIM), we could clarify the relations of pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) and attitudes (ATT) between and within the dyads of coach and coachee, as well as their development over time. Furthermore, the APIM allowed the inclusion of a mediator (lesson planning competency). Both PCK and ATT increased slightly but significantly during our project. ATT and PCK seemed to converge between coach and coachee at the end of the project. However, we could not find any cross-lagged effects, meaning there was no effect of coach on coachee or vice versa over time. Further, preceding PCK showed a significant effect on the competency of lesson planning, but planning competency did not influence succeeding PCK or attitude. Finally, these results are discussed with respect to science teacher education.