Science Teachers' Spontaneous,Latent or Non‐attendance to the Validity of Conclusions in Reported Situations

In today's science curricula, especially the Science‐Technology‐Society (STS) approach, ‘process skills’, including aspects of critical thinking and logical analysis, are heavily stressed. Many studies—globally‐‐have shown serious deficiencies in secondary schools, and also in (student‐) teacher populations. The question arose whether, and to what extent, science teachers critically and spontaneously attend to the logical structure of situations, do so only after prompting, or completely fail to do so. The ‘Analysis of Scientific Passages Test’ (ASPT) was constructed to ascertain whether respondents would spontaneously identify invalid conclusions as the common denominator of logically isomorphous situations, would do so only after being informed that the conclusions were invalid and be able to give reasons for this fact, or would be unable to do so at all. The test was administered to 76 practising science teachers attending an STS summer course at a major university in the mid‐western USA. Zero scores were obtained by 13% in the test, 17% obtained full scores, the rest occupied transitional positions; but no less than 51% did not attend to the logical structure and conclusions of the situations without being told to do so. The findings‐‐in line with previous ones on similar aspects of ‘process skills’ by this and other authors‐‐were interpreted to represent serious shortcomings in science teachers' pre‐ and inservice education, leading to their failure to allocate the same emphases and priorities to their teaching activities as one might expect them to do considering curricular demands and expectations.     

‘METHOD‐REVERSION’: THE PROBLEM OF SUSTAINING CHANGES IN TEACHER‐BEHAVIOUR

The NFER research into comprehensive education reported that around one‐third of pupils in the schools studied took no part in extra‐curricular activities, and that level of involvement was lower among certain groups. This study examines whether the interests of these pupils were being met by their schools and finds that low participation cannot be explained‐‐directly at least‐‐by school failure in providing desired activities. Nearly two‐thirds of all non‐participant pupils indicated that there was no activity which they would like to see introduced. Detailed study in three schools suggests that the ‘traditional’ school activities, though gathering a large number of participants, may be poor integrators of pupils of different abilities and that smaller activities are more successful in this respect.     

The effect of secondary school study skills preparation on first‐year university achievement

Although many studies have revealed the importance of study skills for students' first‐year performance and college retention, the extent of the impact of study skills preparation on students' academic achievement is less clear. This paper explores the impact of pre‐university study skills preparation on students' first‐year study experiences, academic achievement and persistence. The setting for this study is a large law school in the Netherlands which attracts students from more than 100 schools for secondary education. The results show that the perceived study skills preparation concerning time management and learning skills does have a positive impact on college students' first‐year study behaviour and academic achievement. However, the study also shows that the impact of perceived college preparation is far less important for college retention than other factors such as satisfaction about the chosen degree programme and tutorial attendance.     

STAFF DEVELOPMENT AND “THE FOURTH REVOLUTION”

The paper‐‐an abbreviated version of the author's Conference address‐‐argues that we are in the midst of a learning revolution with which all of us, academics and students alike, must come to terms. The lecture and the printed word, as the sole means of communication in tertiary education for the large percentage of teachers and students, may be challenged. As student needs diversify, teachers will no longer be able to function using traditional skills but will need to develop new skills. It should be their duty to acquire these skills before they begin a life time of teaching     

Developing skills for employability at the secondary level: Effective models for Asia

Globally, enormous gains have been made towards the goal of universal primary education, leading to increased demands for secondary education. Consequently, more youth and young adults are now entering the formal and informal labour markets from the secondary level, which makes it important to ensure that secondary schools teach skills relevant to the world of work. This article reports on a Results for Development Institute (R4D) study that explored whether secondary education systems are adequately preparing young people for the workplace, and identified innovative models for delivering relevant skills at the secondary level. It found that employers are looking for three key types of skills: cognitive, non-cognitive, and technical. While technical and basic cognitive skills are still important in the workplace, transferrable and non-cognitive skills such as communication, problem-solving, punctuality, and flexibility are increasingly important, particularly for the informal economy. The article describes several innovative and effective models for skills development at the secondary level, and core principles for their success. These include innovative use of information and communications technology (ICT), multi-stakeholder partnerships, innovative financing mechanisms, and ensuring teacher and trainer preparedness. Moreover, a supportive policy environment is critical to ensure that such models are efficiently financed, effectively implemented, and sustainable over the long term.     

Science through Drama: A multiple case exploration of the characteristics of drama activities used in secondary science lessons

Over 20 years of research into the use of cross‐curricular drama in secondary science has indicated that this medium enables learning of affective, cognitive and procedural knowledge. To date, academic research has tended to frame successful drama pedagogy as resulting from a Drama‐in‐Education approach, incorporating extended role plays and simulations of social events. By contrast, research has rarely focused on the scope and context of drama which is devised and used by real people in real situations. Indications from non‐academic literature and informal education practice suggest that there is a gap in our knowledge between research and classroom practice. This study focused on teachers’ own drama activities in five science lessons taught across schools in Cambridge, Kent, and Hertfordshire. Their classes spanned the ages of 12–16 in the subjects of chemistry, biology, and physics. This study explored the drama forms, teaching objectives, and characteristics by which drama was perceived to enable learning in Science. The findings revealed that drama activities were used to convey a variety of topics that have not yet been recorded in academic literature, and revealed a greater scope for the teaching abstract scientific concepts through mime and role play. These activities were perceived to develop students’ visualisation through a range of modalities, which included embodied sensation and anthropomorphic metaphors. Some features reflected the development of thought experiment skills. A pedagogic model was produced based on different levels of interactive talk and multimodal communication.     

师范生教学技能存在的问题及其对职前教师教育的启示———基于对师范生教学技能大赛的观察与思考简

师范生是基础教育的生力军,其教学技能直接影响基础教育的质量。师范生教学技能大赛暴露出师范生在教学设计、课堂教学、说课、多媒体运用等方面技能存在许多不足。从中得到职前教师教育的启示：优化教育理论课程体系,提升师范生现代教育理论水平;重视教育实践课程,加强教师教学技能的有针对性训练;加强高师教师专业技能培养与地方中小学之间的合作;广泛开展说课活动,加强说课的理论与实践;加强信息技术与教学实际的联系,提高信息技术与课程整合的能力。     

Writing and pseudo‐writing from Internet‐based sources: implications for learning and assessment

In recent years, plagiarism has been on the increase across the Western world. This article identifies Internet access as a contributory cause of this trend and addresses the implications of readily available Internet sources for the teaching and assessment of writing in schools. The basis for the article is a previous study showing a wide incidence of plagiarism in the Internet‐based writing of students in three classes at upper secondary school level in Norway. I relate the students' choices to writing as a cognitive process and as a cultural practice. My basic assumption is that the students' writing is work. It is this work we have in mind when we relate writing to learning and when we assess students' skills on the basis of their written texts. Access to the Internet changes the premises for this work because writing can be replaced by ‘pseudo‐writing’. ‘Pseudo‐writing’ is a work reducing writing practice, which neither excludes nor coincides with what we traditionally associate with plagiarism in schools. The main point in this article is that when students have access to the Internet during essay writing, the result is unavoidably a product of both writing and pseudo‐writing. Internet access thus leads to greater uncertainty about the role writing plays in student learning and makes it more difficult to take written assignments into account in assessing students' school results and effort.     

MOTOR ABILITY AND INTELLIGENCE IN 11‐12 YEAR OLDS

Sixth‐formers were questioned in all four grammar schools in a city where all LEA provision of 16‐plus education is to be concentrated in the college of further education. Their replies showed no widespread rejection of ‘authority’ and little enthusiasm for a complete separation from younger students. The most obvious theme was the ambivalent attitude towards direction from teachers‐‐a demand for clear direct instruction and informal discussion, for independence and guidance.     

Citizenship? Only If You Haven't Got A Life: secondary school pupils' views of Citizenship Education

This article reports the responses of small groups of secondary pupils, from Y7‐Y10, to questions about aspects of citizenship education. The pupils were interviewed in early 2002 as part of wider research into their schools’ preparation for the introduction of compulsory citizenship education in September 2002. The interviews were conducted to assess the pupils’ interest in, knowledge of and enthusiasm for the three elements of the citizenship curriculum‐‐social and moral responsibility, community involvement and political literacy‐‐as well as to evaluate their involvement in the life of their school and the wider community. The pupils, from three urban comprehensive schools in a large town in the south of England, showed ignorance of and little interest in national politics and a lack of involvement in the local community. They were aware of some of their school councils’ achievements and powers, knew how the councils operated, and thought them moderately useful. Most did not anticipate that citizenship education would interest them, though they could see benefits in its inclusion in the curriculum. The one group of pupils already preparing for Citizenship Studies GCSE was, however, more enthusiastic about the subject than those who had yet to experience it.     

Teaching science process skills: long‐term effects on science achievement

Abstract

In this follow‐up study to Brotherton and Preece (1996), the long‐term effects of teaching science with a special emphasis on process skills with Year 7, 8, and 9 classes were investigated. In a value‐added analysis, a positive effect of the intervention on Year 8 males was found on examining subsequent GCSE science results. (The GCSE‐‐General Certificate of Secondary Education‐‐is a public examination taken by pupils in England and Wales at the end of Year 11.) This finding was interpreted in terms of the particular ‘readiness’ of this group to enculturation into practices involved in teaching and assessment at the GCSE level.     

基于课堂观察技术的免费师范生研究型教育实习模式初探

为了突破传统经验型教育实习模式的低效性,切实提高免费师范生的培养质量,北京师范大学创立了一种"免费师范生研究型教育实习模式"。该模式是以标准化的实习流程为基础,以课堂观察技术为核心,以教育科学研究为主线的一种新型教育实习模式。该模式在教育实习中取得了良好的效果,有效地提高了实习学生的教育教学技能。     

INSIGHTS FROM PRACTICE

This essay, in discussing religious education in the Netherlands, takes its starting point in the dual Dutch educational system of denominational private schools and public state schools. For several reasons, the stringent dividing line between religiously neutral state schools and religious or denominational schools is no longer defensible. On the basis of an empirical as well as a normative line of thought, the author argues for multireligious schools. Such schools would meet the demand for coherence‐‐and, thus, particularism‐‐ by stressing the need for a stable primary‐ and secondary‐school culture, and at the same time would address the plurality of social, cultural, and religious traditions among students.     

Gender Differences in Teacher Response to School Inspection

Teachers’ responses to inspection were investigated using a questionnaire survey of a random sample of 821 secondary school teachers who had undergone a full OFSTED inspection and in‐depth interviews with a further 35 teachers. The research found that inspection causes additional stress and that female teachers, regardless of level of seniority, felt more nervous about inspection than male teachers. Both male and female teachers felt more nervous when an inspector of a different gender to themselves was observing them in the classroom. Teachers’ affective responses to inspection alter their behavioural ones, thus affecting the resultant picture not only of the school itself but also of schools in this country‐‐a picture on which future advice and policy may be based. Explanations for gender differences are sought using the frameworks of stress and power differentials.     

Improving Instruction and Classroom Management Behaviour in Mixed‐age Classrooms: results of two improvement studies

This article describes the results of a second school improvement study directed at schools with mixed‐age classes, and compares the results of this second study with the first study. The second improvement study examines the effects of a staff development programme which introduced selected findings from teaching effectiveness research into ongoing school settings with mixed‐age classes. In addition to the staff development programme the effects of coaching are also evaluated. In contrast to the first improvement study the staff development programme was implemented by teacher educators and school counsellors in the regular educational support context (in‐service teacher education). A quasi‐experimental, treatment‐control group investigation was designed to test the effects of the staff development programme ‘Dealing with mixed‐age classes’, and the effects of coaching. Based on pre‐ and post‐training classroom observations, the second improvement study‐‐like the first one‐‐revealed a significant treatment effect for pupils’ time‐on‐task levels in mixed‐age classrooms, and for teachers’ instructional and classroom management skills. Only two coaching effects were found: for organising effective instruction and for dealing with disturbances. Time‐on‐task levels improved more strongly in classes of coached teachers. In the second improvement study the effects on teacher instructional and classroom management skills, and pupil behaviour are smaller than in the first study. The staff development programme as conducted in regular in‐service settings by teacher educators and school counsellors was less effective than the staff development programme as conducted in an evaluation setting by the designers of the programme.     

An interactive diagnosis approach for supporting clinical nursing courses

Clinical resources in nursing schools are always insufficient for satisfying the practice requirements of each student at the same time during a formal course session. Although several studies have applied information and communication technology to develop computer-based learning tools for addressing this problem, most of these developments lack appropriate interactive and diagnostic services to assist students in bridging theory–practice gaps and realizing individual flaws in their nursing skills. Therefore, this study aims to develop an interactive clinical learning and diagnosis system that provides a web-based interactive learning environment and personalized diagnostic service for nursing education. An experiment was conducted in a foundations of nursing course at a nursing college in Taiwan. The experimental results show that the proposed approach is helpful to students in improving their learning motivation, performance, and attitude. Moreover, it was also found that most students showed positive perceptions toward the usage of the proposed system.     

College-level testing in Florida

The faculties of the post-secondary institutions in Florida, utilizing the authority of the State Board of Education, have implemented a testing program which greatly increases the assurance that all students who complete their sophomore year in college have achieved the communication and computation skills expected of them.When it became clear that the traditional safeguards no longer provided assurance that faculty members individually and collectively could define and maintain standards of student performance in communication and mathematics, care was taken in Florida to keep from throwing the baby out with the bath water. Hence, care was taken to strengthen and reinforce the central role of the faculty in both the definition of standards and in the assessment of student achievement that is required for the implementation of those standards.Faculty members from community colleges, state universities, and private colleges and universities, along with faculty members from secondary schools, have demonstrated their willingness and ability to work constructively in the implementation of a testing program which includes the use of the College-Level Academic Skills Test (CLAST) with sophomores in sixty colleges and universities in Florida.     

Views of Schooling Held by Children Attending Schools for Pupils with Moderate Learning Difficulties

There has been little research into the views of the consumers of the special education service‐‐the children themselves. Social legislation (e.g., the 1989 Children Act in the UK) has emphasised the importance of discovering the views of the child when planning provision. Similar proposals have been put forward in recent UK documents concerning educational provision (DFE, 1993). This paper reports data based on individual, semi‐structured interviews with 56 children (ages 9 to 11) attending schools for pupils with moderate learning difficulties (MLD/MlD). Interviews probed views about special and mainstream schools and pupils, and perceived reasons for transfer from mainstream to special school. Two areas (teachers as a liked aspect of special and mainstream schools, and problems handling playground relationships) point to key areas of concern for children with learning or intellectual difficulties. Overall, MLD school children were supportive of their special schools. This is discussed in relation to categorization theory.     

大学生软技能自我评价的调查分析

大学生软技能水平对其职业发展有重要的影响。通过对大学生软技能自我评价的问卷调查,发现大学生在软技能的某些方面具有一定的优势,但也存在诸多问题和不足,如自信心不足、批判性思维能力、创新意识及能力、沟通交流能力和组织管理能力不强等。针对这些问题,文章从高校人才培养的视角,提出了相应的对策和建议。