Educational “excellence” versus teacher “professionalism”: Towards some conceptual clarity

The educational literature of the last several years is replete with both continuing calls for educational excellence reforms and for enhancing and upgrading the teaching profession. Importantly, both types of calls rely on the contribution of science. The educational research-and-development community continues to push for and believe in the notion that educational innovation is based on scientific advances in understanding child development and school functioning. Similarly, many teachers and teacher educators continually call for increased classroom autonomy and social status among teachers, based upon the supposedly scientific nature of their professional training. This paper takes issue with both of these points, arguing that the origin and success of most educationally innovative policies have as their origin the changing political, economic, and social forces visible in the country during the history of American education. Relatedly, since the science of teaching and learning takes a back seat in issues of school policy, teachers cannot and will not be able to convince the public and those in authority in the school that their insights and practices derive from any privileged understanding of the real needs of children. Arguing that teachers should, in fact, have more input into policy decisions in education, the paper concludes with a review and discussion of various strategies currently visible for improving the autonomy and control of classroom educators.     

The curriculum potential of Darwin's Theory of Evolution

Unity and diversity are best reconciled by Darwin's Theory of Evolution. Two major dilemmas related to the study of Evolution are described. The first, concerning pedagogy, can be solved by teaching the topic at an elementary level in the middle school so that the Theory may serve as an advanced oragnizer and returning with in-depth study in the last two years of high school. The second, concerning Faith, is a sensitive issue. Some successful approaches are discussed. The place of Darwin's Theory in the all-elective high school biology curriculum is described as well. The role of the Theory regarding explanations is especially highlighted.     

Visions for ICT, Ethics and the Practice of Teachers

The failure of educational computing is often attributed to deficiencies of practice: resisting teachers and lack of will, competence and sincerity on behalf of the teaching profession. But the complexity of school life and teachers work has been underestimated by the entrepreneurs of educational computing. Theoretically there is a need to approach this area from a different angle. We will suggest there is a need to reframe the issue of ICT in schools with educational policy and discourse with education, rather than with technology in mind. In order to reach that goal there is a need to inculcate technology as an ordinary part of teachers vocabulary about their own work and as a part of their professional ethos. Teachers need to examine the moral values inherent in their practices and use those values as bases for debate. Not taking up these issues and instead adopting defensive stances is dangerous to the profession. The danger is that defensiveness can be seen by others outside the school as rigidity and play into the hands of those who are impatient with teachers. It would serve teachers well if they had a more robust ability to communicate the nature of the difficulties they face and how they deal with them.     

A Textbook Case of the Nature of Science: Laws and Theories in the Science of Biology

The two concepts law and theory are among the most important elements of the nature of science. They represent both the tools and products of science itself. Unfortunately, the variable meanings and use of these terms in general discourse and in other school disciplines results in much confusion with respect to their proper application in a science context. The project included the design of a six-part model definition for law and theory based on a review of the literature of the philosophy of science with special reference to biology. These model definitions were then compared with those provided in a range of U.S. secondary school biology textbooks. The majority of all current major U.S. secondary school biology texts were reviewed and analyzed with respect to how the concepts of law and theory were defined and applied, in an attempt to determine whether students and teachers using such texts would gain an accurate impression of these terms and the distinction between them. This study focuses on biology instruction since a life science course is completed as a graduation requirement by virtually all U.S. high school students and as such serves as a widely shared educational experience across the nation. The term law is rarely defined in any text but various laws such as those found in genetics are frequently included as examples. The term theory is frequently defined but with a wide range of completeness of the definitions. Only rarely are theories in biology included as examples.     

Three-dimensional art and sculpture

I am making it BIG (Evan). A secret slide with gold in there (Sydni). Look even a little car could fit in it (Joshua). This is a circle! Round, a tiger jumps through this hoop (Emily). Excitement runs high when children experiment with three-dimensional art projects using paper, boxes and styrofoam.Liz Seelhoff Byrum teaches four- and five-year-olds at a private school in New York City.     

Exploring the Concept of ‘Habitus’ with Preservice Teachers Through the Use of Popular School Films

The thesis of this paper is that it is a productive venture to introduce preservice students to social theories that are typically not a part of teacher preparation programs. Examples of these theories are those associated with terms such as habitus, the carnivalesque, power / knowledge, seduction, detournement, the spectacle,la perruque, (the wig), and the art of making do,as well as others. In this paper, I describe a project that involved exploring the theory of habitus to problematize the tendency of preservice students to not think in terms of relations between what goes on in the classroom and what goes on in society. I introduced habitus by having preservice students read selected print materials and by having them view, analyze, and respond in writing to popular school films. Students also analyzed their experiences in classrooms in terms of habitus, making a connection between theory and practice.     

Gang behavior in the schools: Reality or myth?

The purpose of this review is to explore the nature of gang behavior in U.S. schools, with a particular focus on the extent to which such behavior affects or exacerbates the larger issue of school violence. An unanticipated finding was the absence of strong empirical support for school gang violence. The evidence does show youth gangs have changed dramatically over the last several decades and have become more violent, largely due to drugs and weapons-carrying. One major impact of this violence on schools has been the dissolving of the school as the neutral zone, where gang activity ceased. Thus, it appears that the similar turf issues of the street gangs have infiltrated the schools. The review explores problems related to school gang violence definitions and literature, trends in school-related gang activity, reasons for gang membership, at-risk youth, and proposed strategies for ameliorating the problem.     

The decline of the nation-state and the education of national minorities

Many forces are shifting the role of the nation-state and altering our fundamental understanding of how it should function. The author argues that the transplanted European model of the nation-state has become dysfunctional, creating national minorities, serving as an ideological cloak for various forms of oppression and opposing forms of education that would promote diversity of languages and cultures. The decline of territorial sovereignty under the forces of globalization, the move to supranational forms of organization and the emergence of sub-national areas of economic and social development (often city-regions) provide a new range of opportunities for development of minority schooling.

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Zusammenfassung Viele Kräfte verändern die Rolle des Nationenstaates und ändern damit auch unser grundsätzliches Verständnis zu dessen Funktion. Der Autor argumentiert, daß das übertragene europäische Modell des Nationenstaates außer Funktion gesetzt und damit nationale Minderheiten geschaffen wurden. Somit besteht ein ideologischer Deckmantel für verschiedene Arten von Unterdrückung und Widerstand gegen Erziehungsarten, die eine Vielfalt der Sprachen und Kulturen fördern würden. Der Verfall territorialer Unabhängigkeit unter den Kräften der Globalisierung, die Bewegung hin zu einer supranationalen Form der Organisation und die Schaffung regionaler Gebiete wirtschaftlicher und sozialer Entwicklung (oft Stadtbezirke) bieten neue Entwicklungsmöglichkeiten hinsichtlich der Schulbildung für Minderheiten.

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Resumen Son muchas las fuerzas que están cambiando el papel que desempeña el estado-nación y que alteran nuestro concepto básico de cómo este debería funcionar. El autor argumenta que el modelo europeo trasplantado del estado-nación se ha vuelto disfunctional, creando minorías nacionales y sirviendo de manto ideológico para encubrir diferentes formas de opresión y de oposición a una educación que intenta promover la diversidad de lenguas y culturas. El ocaso de la soberanía territorial bajo las fuerzas de globalización, el cambio hacia formas de organización supranacionales y el surgimiento de sectores subnacionales de desarrollo económico y social (frecuentemente en regiones urbanas) proveen un nuevo tipo de oportunidades para el desarrollo de una educación escolar de minorías.

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Résumé De nombreuses pressions modifient le rôle de l'Etat-nation et transforment notre conception fondamentale de son fonctionnement. L'auteur expose que le modèle européen d'Etat-nation qui a éé transposé dans d'autres régions est maintenant atteint de dysfonctionnement, car il crée des minorités nationales, sert de prétexte idéologique à différentes formes d'oppression et fait obstacle à des modèles d'éducation qui encourageraient la diversité des langues et des cultures. Le déclin de la souveraineté territoriale sous la pression de la mondialisation, l'évolution vers des formes d'organisation supranationales et l'apparition de concentrations régionales du développement éconnomique et social (souvent en tant que régions urbanisées) constituent de nouveaux stimulants pour l'élaboration d'une scolarité adaptée aux minorités.

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Selbstorganisation: ein neues Paradigma für die Schulpädagogik — oder alter Wein in neuen Schläuchen?

Zusammenfassung Die Schulpädagogik ist seit langem daran gewöhnt, mit Theorieangeboten aus anderen Wissenschaftsdisziplinen konfrontiert zu werden. Mit dem Paradigma der Selbstorganisation liegt gegenwärtig eine sehr komplexe Konzeption bereit, die die Schulpädagogik zur Reflexion über ihren Gegenstand Schule anregen kann. Eine von diesem Paradigma motivierte differenztheoretische Betrachtungsweise von Systemen schärft den Block für die Möglichkeiten, aber vor allem für die Grenzen eines modernene Sozialsystems, wie es die Schule heute ist. Die Fragen, ob Schule kompensatorische Erziehungsleistungen für das Familiensystem erbringen kann, ob unterrichtliches Handeln auch therapeutisches Handeln sein kann, können aus der Perspektive dieses Paradigmas beantwortet werden.

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School education has long been accustomed to accommodating theories from other scientific disciplines. The paradigm of self-organization provides a complex concept which will stimulate reflection on the phenomenon of schools within educational science. Analysis of systems in the light of different theory, motivated by this paradigm, can give a clearer view of the potential and limitations of a modern social system, which is what a school now is. By employing this paradigm, answers can be found to the questions whether schools can deliver education that compensates for family systems, and whether teaching can also provide therapy.

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Resumen La educación escolar desde hace mucho tiempo se ha acostumbrado a adaptar teorías de otras disciplinas científicas. El paradigma de la auto-orgnización provee un concepto complejo que estimulará la reflexión acerca de fenómeno de las escuelas dentro de la ciencia de la educación. El análisis de sistemas a la luz de una teoría diferencial, motivada por este paradigma, podrá proporcionar una visión más clara del potencial y de las limitaciones de un sistema social moderno, de lo que es una escuela ahora. Aplicando este paradigma, podrán encontrarse soluciones a los interrogantes de si las escuelas pueden proporcionar una educacíon que compense sistemas familiares, y si la enseñanza puede también redundar en terapia.

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Résumé L'éducation scolaire est depuis longtemps habituée à assimiler les théories d'autres disciplines scientifiques. Le modèle de l'autogestion fournit un concept complexe qui donnera aux sciences de l'éducation matière à réflexion sur le phénomène de l'école. Une analyse des systèmes à la lumière de la théorie différentielle soutenue par ce modèle peut donner une vision plus claire des possibilités et des limites d'un système social moderne, comme l'est l'école aujourd'hui. Dans l'optique de ce modèle, des réponses peuvent être apportées aux questions si l'école peut remplir un rôle compensatoire par rapport au système familial, et si l'enseignement constitue aussi une action thérapeutique.

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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.     

Jack in two boxes: A postmodern perspective on the transformation of persons into portraits

The paper explores issues surrounding portrayal in educational research and interrogates the notion of a life as a textual product, via an analysis of two short biographical narratives which happen to portray the same person — a British primary school head teacher nearing the end of his career. The discrepancies between these two texts point to the problematic nature of the relationship between person and portrait, and make visible some of the textual devices that writers/researchers use in order to achieve coherence and authenticity in biographical narratives.     

Whitehead and a new look at teaching elementary science

If Whitehead is right, science teachers who try to increase student interest by making the science they teach more pure and by covering more material are going about their work in just the wrong way. Science, for purposes of precision in measurement, translates the dynamic world of feeling and force, of causal efficacy (for example, the San Francisco earthquake), into a static representation spatialized and given presentational immediacy (for example, the Richter scale). But notice that the Richter scale isn't very interesting (even as abstract art) apart from its connection, via symbolic reference, to the earthquake. Such reference is essential to give both a sense of reality and a feeling of interes to the subject, but it makes the science less pure, and it takes more time to cover the material. An example of teaching pure and impure formal logic is given as a case study.     

The Changing Debate on Internationalisation of Higher Education

Internationalisation, the growing border-crossing activities between national systems of higher education is losing ground to globalisation, increasing border-crossing activities of blurred national systems which is often employed to depict world-wide trends and growing global competition. This article addresses recent issues of knowledge transfer. It points out tensions between increasing diversity in higher education and efforts to facilitate recognition of prior studies on student mobility. It shows the diversity of steering and management policies with respect to internationalisation and globalisation. Finally, it asks whether globalisation of higher education has to be viewed as a manifestation of turbo-capitalism or could be viewed instead as a move towards global understanding.     

Fostering Distributed Science Learning Through Collaborative Technologies

TACTICS (French and Spanish acronym standing for Collaborative Work and Learning in Science with Information and Communications Technologies) is an ongoing project aimed at investigating a distributed community of learning and practice in which information and communications technologies (ICT) take the role of collaborative tools to support social construction of knowledge. This community is composed of researchers, graduate students, and high-school teachers and their students, from six schools and four universities in Canada and Mexico. It set out in fall 2000 to develop a community around the general topic of integrating concepts in science school subjects. Once a prototype community is established, it can become a terrain where different aspects could be studied. Subsequently, researchers could gradually take a back seat allowing as well as ensuring the autonomy of the school members involved and, thereby, the viability of the learning community. The set up of the proposed prototype distributed science learning community was therefore an essential yet far from trivial first step. This paper discusses the process of setting up the community and the lessons learned.     

Community engagement in the implementation of educational policy in Trinidad and Tobago

Inauguration of double-shift junior secondary schooling in Trinidad and Tobago in 1973 created several problems for local planners, policy makers, parents, and students themselves. In some cases solution has been found, but in others problems have remained defiant and irresolute. In the latter category is the problem of deviant student behaviour during off-shift sessions, believed to be the result of poor student choice regarding the use of time. Recommendations have been made to redress this situation through engagement of community groups. This paper argues that this approach is problematical and contradictory and will not achieve stipulated objectives. The main reason for the gloomy outlook is the principle of decentralization, which must be taken into account in any attempt to engage the local community. Community engagement is examined against certain imperatives of decentralization. The paper concludes, however, that as a strategy, community engagement is doomed to failure. Poor choices by junior secondary school students in the use of their off-shift hours are therefore very likely to persist.     

Pictorial Illustrations Still Improve Students' Learning from Text

Research conducted primarily during the 1970s and 1980s supported the assertion that carefully constructed text illustrations generally enhance learners' performance on a variety of text-dependent cognitive outcomes. Research conducted throughout the 1990s still strongly supports that assertion. The more recent research has extended pictures-in-text conclusions to alternative media and technological formats and has begun to explore more systematically the whys, whens, and for whoms of picture facilitation, in addition to the whethers and how muchs. Consideration is given here to both more and less conventional types of textbook illustration, with several tenets for teachers provided in relation to each type.     

Minority workers or minority human beings? A European dilemma

European identities may be politonymic, toponymic, ethnomyic or linguonymic (Bromley 1984). Each dimension may affect whether migrant minorities are treated as European, and influence their schooling, integration and rights. Treatment and terminology vary in different states and periods of migration. However, the position for immigrated minorities is that they are still largely seen as workers rather than human beings with equal rights. Lack of success in schools is blamed on the migrants themselves rather than the educational system. This construction of migrants as being deficient is parallel to educational practice which falls within a UN definition of linguistic genocide, and contributes to mis-education. If current efforts in international bodies to codify educational linguistic human rights were to lead to greater support for minorities, this could assist in a redefinition of national identities and a reduction of racism and conflict.

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Zusammenfassung Europäische Identitäten können politonym, toponym, ethnonym oder linguonym sein (Bromely 1984). Jede Gruppe kann darauf Einfluß haben, ob Migrantenminderheiten als Europäer behandelt werden und Schulwesen, Integration und Rechte respektiert werden. Noch werden immigrierte Minderheiten jedoch weitgehend als Arbeiter und nicht als Menschen mit gleichen Rechten angesehen. Schulische Mißerfolge werden eher ihnen selbst als dem Bildungssystem angelastet. Diese Darstellung von Migranten als defizitär entspricht derjenigen Handlungsweise im Bildungsbereich, welche unter die Kategorie des linguistischen Genozids definiert wird und welche zu einer mis-education beiträgt. Wenn gegenwärtige Bemühungen internationaler Gremien um die Kodifizierung der Rechte der Menschen auf ihre Sprache Minderheiten unterstützen, könnte dies zu einer Umdefinition nationaler Identitäten und einer Reduzierung von Rassismus und Konflikten führen.

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Resumen Las identidades de los Europeos pueden ser politonímicas, toponímicas, etnomímicas o linguonímicas (Bromley 1984). Cada una de estas dimensiones puede influir en que minorías de inmigrantes scan tratadas de Europeos y con ello en su educación escolar, en su integración y en sus derechos. El tratamiento y la terminología varían conforme a los períodos y las circunstancias de la inmigración. No obstante, la posición que se adopta frente a las minorías inmigrantes es la de considerarlos en gran medida como trabajadores y no tanto como seres humanos de iguales derechos. La falta de éxito en los estudios se atribuye a los inmigrantes mismos, más que al sistema de educación. Esta consideración de los inmigrantes como inferiores es paralela a una práctica de la educación que cae bajo una definición de la Naciones Unidas de genocidio lingüístico y contribuye a la educación deficiente. Si los esfuerzos actuales que las organizaciones internacionales ponen en codificar los derechos humanos lingüísticos de la educación estuvieran destinados a brindar un mayor apoyo a las minorías, esto podría ayudar a definir con mayor precisión las identidades nacionales y a reducir el racismo y los conflictos.

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Résumé Les identités européennes peuvent être politonymiques, toponymiques, ethnonymiques ou linguonymiques (Bromley 1984). Selon leurs affinités avec chacun de ces domaines, les personnes appartenant aux minorités migrantes sont considérées ou non comme européennes, et cela influence leur scolarité, leur intégration et leurs droits. La façon dont ces personnes sont traitées et la terminologie évoluent selon les différentes étapes et périodes de migration. Mais le plus souvent, les minorités immigrantes sont encore davantage considérées comme des travailleurs que comme des personnes bénéficiant des mêmes droits. Les échecs scolaires sont mis sur le compte des migrants eux-mêmes et non sur celui du système éducatif. Le fait que l'on considère les migrants comme inférieurs se reflète dans une pratique éducative que les Nations Unies appellent génocide linguistique et se traduit par une éducation inadéquate. Si les efforts actuels de la part des institutions internationales pour codifier les droits de l'homme en matière de pédagogie linguistique apportaient un plus grand soutien aux minorités, cela contribuerait à donner une rédéfinition des identités nationales et à réduire le racisme et les conflits.

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Upward academic mobility for the non-secondary school graduate: Some avenues open to young adults in West Germany

In many nations, adults without a secondary school diploma have, in increasing numbers, returned to formal education in order to qualify for admission to higher institutions. The Federal Republic of Germany has been among the leaders in efforts to facilitate such upward academic mobility. Therefore, this article deals with some of the most important developing or newly-created institutions or practices aimed at encouraging those young West German adults most likely to succeed. Status elevation of non-academic schools, e.g., largely in engineering, to Fachhochschulen, as well as creation of in part vocationally-oriented, yet higher education-preparatory secondary schools, are discussed. The article stresses the role of adult education and especially those day and evening institutions (Kollegs and Abendgymnasien) specifically designed to qualify young adults for academic studies. While these schools take into account the relative maturity of their students and the recently-initiated course electivity of West German secondary schools, they have not as yet attracted, in sufficient numbers, such previously disadvantaged groups as workers, women, and rural residents. Other measures in the direction of upward educational mobility are extensive regional television-based programs (Telekollegs), recently-enacted official regulations governing correspondence education, and external school-leaving examinations varying from state to state.Finally, attention is given to a number of current issues pertaining to upward academic mobility. Among them is the fact that the growing tendency of young people to attend a secondary school, instead of merely completing the upper elementary school, increases the number of students interrupting their school attendance. That fact, in turn, compounds both the difficulties resulting from admission restrictions in many academic fields and the unemployment picture for university graduates. There is doubt as to whether added centralized efforts can offer solutions to these problems.     

New Contents for New Media: Pavia Project Physics

This hypermedial project deals with a historical and conceptual approach to physics. The core of the project is a certain number of case studies, namely problems or phenomena recounted together with their different interpretations. All case studies present two levels of investigation: the first level is devoted to high school students, the second level is devoted to university students and high school teachers. Our project is directed at a new and better understanding and appreciation of scientific culture.Our methodology is a historical methodology: teaching physics and the history of physics are fellow-subjects. We are not interested in adding the history of physics to teaching physics, as an optional subject: the history of physics is inside physics.Since textbooks usually give one and only one explanation of each physical phenomenon – the true explanation – we would like, on the contrary, to present the phenomena together with different interpretations that factually occurred in the history of physics. We offer four different approaches to the subject of the case study: A. Phenomena, B. Textbooks, C. History and D. Maps.The basic unit of the hypermedia is the presentation , namely a coherent set of information endowed with a definite and complete meaning. From the media point of view, a presentation consists of pictures and/or animations, key-words and/or key-sentences and a speaker explanation. Each approach consists of a certain number of presentations.     

Language factor: Does it affect children's performance on word problems?

48 children from primary 4 in private and public schools (24 from each) were asked to solve 10 arithmetic word problems (involving more or less as the cue word) presented in English and in their native language. Retrospective clinical interviews were also conducted to find out how each child analyzed the meaning of each problem, before deciding which operation to use to solve it. The results revealed that both public and private school children performed better both in skills and in strategies when problems were presented in their native language than when presented in English, but only public school had the result to be significant (P<.025). Also data obtained from the interviews are in accord with psycholinguistic theories concerning the polarized comparative pair of less and more.