Validating ‘optimizing’ concepts: the importance of personal resolve,effective functioning,and academic striving

Abstract

Capitalising on current research progress, we explored via means of structural equation modelling (SEM), the operational nature of three newly developed optimising concepts: personal resolve, effective functioning, and academic striving. We conceptualised self-efficacy as a source of origin, and effort expenditure and motivation towards learning as adaptive outcomes of the three mentioned concepts. Correlational responses from Taiwanese university students (N?=?1010) affirmed our hypothesis regarding the operational nature of personal resolve, effective functioning, and academic striving – for example – (i) self-efficacy as a source of origin of personal resolve, effective functioning, and academic striving, and (ii) the effects of personal resolve and academic striving on effort, and the effects of effective functioning and academic striving on motivation towards learning. This significant evidence, overall, contributes to the study of optimal achievement best.     

The language of science and preferential thinking styles: A comparison between hindi speaking students (in India) and english speaking students (in Tasmania)

A study of science textbooks and students' responses indicates that many key concepts are treated at different levels of meaning. As a consequence of these observations we have attempted to examine what we have termed students' “preferential thinking style.” To do this, the level of meaning that students preferred when thinking about each of 16 key concept definitions associated with the theme, the nature of matter, was measured for each concept. The same concept definitions had already been studied in respect to students' ability to recognize them. Each of the 16 concept terms was formulated at the three levels of meaning defined by us as: membership, partial association, and generalization. The resulting test of preferential thinking style was administered to representative samples of Hindi-speaking high school students in India (826) and English-speaking high school students in Tasmania (1635). Some marked changes in the relative development of preferential thinking styles for the two groups were observed which raises questions associated with the importance of this notion as an outcome of science teaching.     

Using Cognitive Flexibility Hypertext to Develop Sexual Harassment Cases

Abstract

The use of cognitive flexibility theory as a theoretical framework for designing hypertext has been found to be beneficial for learning in ill-structured domains. However, little is known of what role the learning task plays in the effectiveness of this approach. The present study examined the relationship between task, navigation, and learning transfer when utilizing a cognitive flexibility hypertext about sexual harassment with 34 graduate management students. Due to the nature of the topic, the effects of the task on student attitudes were also studied. The conclusions of the study were that there were no significant differences for the navigational choices or transfer scores, but there did appear to be a relationship between task and changing students' attitudes towards the topic.     

Canadian and US adult learning (1945–1970) and the cultural politics and place of lifelong learning

This essay examines adult learning in Canada and the USA (1945–1970). It explores this emergence in relation to moves to establish academic adult education as a cultural force that could help citizen learners to negotiate a way forward amid the collision of instrumental, social, and cultural change forces altering life, learning, and work in the emerging postindustrial society. In this regard, it focuses centrally on lifelong learning as an idea designed to have broad appeal in rapid-change postindustrial culture. In particular, it attempts to explicate a cultural politics of lifelong learning, which academic adult educators hoped would give the field a higher profile within what they perceived to be an emerging change culture of crisis and challenge. Two key factors are considered in these deliberations. First, this essay explores the relationship between public education (understood as schooling for children) and adult education. It takes up how this problematic relationship interfered with a post-war turn to lifelong learning. Second, it examines the shift in the meaning of the social in understanding adult education as social education in postindustrial society. It argues that the post-war discourse of democracy delimited this meaning, locating the social predominantly within a concern with preserving the dominant culture and society.     

It was a challenge but we did it! Digital worlds in a primary classroom

In this article I explore one day in the life of a primary classroom in which teacher and children are playful social insiders in digital worlds. I argue that this snapshot offers glimmers of unimagined ways forward in teaching in digital worlds. The classroom culture is one of challenge, collective intelligence and reflection. The teacher's own history of participation is significant. She is a reflective teacher educator, children's literature is central to her teaching and her journey into digital worlds is playful social.     

Challenger and the social contingency of meaning: Two lessons for the technical communication classroom

In my technical writing class, I examine two “meanings” from the Challenger disaster to illustrate the social contingency of meaning even in science and technology. These instances are the “anomalous” charring of the O‐rings and the reconceptualized assumption of flightworthiness the night before the launch. The social contingency of these meanings shows that the “object” of technical communication is not the material object as a pre‐existent isolate but in its social interpretation, significance, and meaning. Ultimately, technical communication is about people communicating about and to the interests of other people.     

Motivation,Intelligence, and Creative Behavior in Elementary School Children of Low-Creative Ability

Subjects were three groups of sixth-grade students relatively low in creative ability. It was predicted that a set of training sessions which included both instructions to respond creatively and verbal reinforcement for creative responding would be more effective in increasing creative responses than either simple practice or instructions to respond creatively without accompanying reinforcement. It was also predicted that more-intelligent subjects would benefit more than less-intelligent subjects from the experimental treatment which included reinforcement. Results confirmed the first hypothesis whether creative responding was operationalized in terms of number of responses, number of unique responses, or percentage of unique responses. The second hypothesis was not supported, but the main effect of intelligence was significant both for the number of unique responses and the percentage of unique responses, though not for the total number of responses.     

Improved Appreciation of Mathematics Through an IBL Liberal Arts Mathematics Course

Abstract

The author has taught an inquiry-based liberal arts mathematics class using the text “The Heart of Mathematics: An Invitation to Effective Thinking” by Edward B. Burger and Michael Starbird a total of 20 times since Spring 2001. The students in this class have almost all been in non-technical majors and many started the semester with negative or ambivalent attitudes toward mathematics based on their prior experiences. The author has gathered responses from students in this class that illustrate significant changes in their attitudes towards mathematics during the course. In particular, the responses gathered at the end of the semester are often eloquent about understanding the great ideas of mathematics that students confronted in this course and about seeing many more and varied connections between mathematics and the “real world” than they had previously realized existed.     

Facilitating the transition to postgraduate attainment: the experience of one postgraduate,pre-registration physiotherapy programme

Students on the MSc Physiotherapy (pre-registration) programme at Manchester Metropolitan University work at postgraduate level, whilst studying to become physiotherapists. To facilitate the transition to postgraduate attainment, students participated in two sessions designed to inform them about assessment processes and standards. The hypothesis was that attainment as measured by first assignment mark in the first term would improve. In a pretest: post-test design, the pre-groups were students who completed the first assessment without the transition sessions (N?=?35), and the post-groups those who completed the first assessment after the transition sessions (N?=?38). Mean and highest marks were greater in both post-test groups compared to pretest groups; the lowest marks achieved were similar across all groups. Tests of normality and homogeneity were non-significant. An unrelated T-test found a significant difference in assessment performance between pre- and post-test groups. A significant improvement in performance followed the intervention, so the hypothesis was accepted.     

The Schooling of Ethics

Abstract

Growing concern about a shrinking cultural consensus on values, coupled with religious pluralisation and the realisation that schooling is not, and cannot be, value-neutral,have led to proposals to teach ethics in schools, interpreted as a contribution of the discipline of philosophy to the common curriculum. To the extent that this approach is seen to hinge on the alleged autonomy of ethics, it has the potential to indoctrinate the contestable view that rationality is the prime motivator of moral commitment. A case is made for regarding philosophical ethics and religious (or world-view) studies not as alternative avenues to values education but each as a core curriculum priority, different but complementary to the other in its content.     

Teachers’ Responses to the Ecosystemic Approach to Changing Chronic Problem Behaviour in Schools

This paper discusses the responses of a group of thirty-three primary and two secondary teachers to a series of sessions in which the ecosystemic approach to changing chronic problem behaviour in schools was explained and then tried out in practice. Three case examples are presented, as well as related discussions, which illustrate the approach. This study follows on from the work reported in Pastoral Care, December 1998.     

Comparison of learning in two context-based university chemistry classes

ABSTRACT

Context-based learning (CBL) is advocated as beneficial to learners, but more needs to be understood about how different contexts used in courses influence student outcomes. Gilbert defined several models of context that appear to be used in chemistry. In one model that achieves many criteria of student meaning-making, the context is provided by ‘personal mental activity’, meaning that students engage in a role to solve a problem. The model’s predicted outcomes are that students develop and use the specialised language of chemistry, translate what they learn in the immediate context to other contexts, and empathise with the community of practice that is created. The first two of these outcomes were investigated in two large-enrolment university chemistry courses, both organised as this CBL model, in which students were introduced to kinetic molecular theory (KMT). Sample 1 students (N₁?=?105) learned KMT through whole-class kinaesthetic activity as a human model of a gas while focusing on a problem identifying substances in balloons filled with different gases. Sample 2 students (N₂?=?110) manipulated molecular dynamics simulations while focusing on the problem of reducing atmospheric CO₂. Exam answers and pre-/post-test responses, involving a new KMT context, were analysed. Students in Sample 1 demonstrated a stronger understanding of particle trajectories, while Sample 2 students developed more sophisticated mechanistic reasoning and greater fluidity of translation between contexts through increased use of chemists’ specialised language. The relationships of these outcomes to the contexts were examined in consideration of the different curriculum emphases inherent in the contexts.     

The Relationships between Categories of Behavior of Third Grade Teachers

Abstract

Dyslexic college students were hypothesized to differ from normal college students in their response to delayed auditory feedback. Based on previous research, there was an apparent likelihood that dyslexics would not be as adversely affected by delayed auditory feedback as normals. However, this hypothesis was not supported. The mean difference in performance between direct and delayed auditory teed back was 9.0 errors for dyslexics and only 2.2 errors for normals (t = 6.36, df = 13, p .0001).     

Rats’ midsession reversal performance: the nature of the response

The midsession reversal task involves a simple simultaneous discrimination that predictably reverses midway through a session. Under various conditions, pigeons generally both anticipate the reversal and perseverate once it has occurred, whereas rats tend to make very few of either kind of error. In the present research, we investigated the hypothesis that the difference in performance between rats and pigeons is related to the nature of the responses made. We hypothesized that rats could have been better at bridging the intertrial interval by keeping the relevant paw close to the lever while eating, whereas the pigeons had to remove their beak from the response key and insert it into the feeder, thus making it difficult to mediate the response last made. In the present experiment, in successive phases, rats were trained to leverpress or nose-poke on a 40-trial midsession reversal, an 80-trial midsession reversal, and a variable-location reversal. The results showed that the leverpress group acquired the task faster than the nose-poke group, but that both groups reached comparable levels of performance. Thus, the difference in the natures of the responses cannot fully account for the differences in accuracy between rats and pigeons. Additionally, differences in the types of errors made by the two groups suggest that the nature of the response plays different roles in the performance of this task.     

Educational Measurements and Evaluation

Abstract

The problem with which this research is concerned is that of determining the effectiveness of television instruction as compared to conventional instruction. Data was secured by organizing control and experimental groups in Finite Math and General Botany. The control groups received their instruction via conventional means. The experimental groups received their instruction via live or closed circuit television.

The next step was to secure student and instructor opinions concerning television instruction. The achievement of the groups was tested using the “null hypothesis.” The .05 level was used to accept or reject each research hypothesis. This research indicated that there was no significant difference between the methods used in Finite Math. Although slight, there was a significant difference in General Botany.     

Teachers’ differing perceptions of classroom disturbances

Background: Efficient classroom management and adequate discipline are major issues for teachers in schools worldwide, with the guiding of students’ behaviour as one of the primary challenges. Teachers’ knowledge, skills, attitudes and behaviour play central roles in the appropriate handling of classroom disturbances.

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to explore how practising teachers perceive classroom disturbances and to compare their views to those presented in the literature. By clarifying typical perceptions, this research is intended to give individual teachers tools to develop their insights by comparing their perceptions with those of other teachers.

Sample: The empirical material was collected by interviewing 14 home economics teachers in Finland. Home economics is a school subject that involves individual and group work as well as theoretical and practical work. In Finland, home economics is a compulsory subject for students aged 13–15 years, which are challenging ages in regard to classroom management.

Design and methods: The empirical research was completed via deep, qualitative theme interviews for data gathering and phenomenography for analysis.

Results: The analysis identified five dimensions in which interviewees expressed varying views of classroom disturbances: who or what disturbs, whose work is disturbed, why students disturb, who is responsible and how to prevent classroom disturbances. Based on the various perceptions within each dimension, the main perceptions for understanding classroom disturbances can be condensed into four categories: unavoidable nuisance, deficient resources, the matter of atmosphere and educational task.

Conclusions: Teachers who wish to develop their classroom management skills may use these findings as tools to compare their perceptions with those of other teachers. This knowledge may also be useful for developing teacher education.     

The political dimension of consuming animal products in education: An analysis of upper-secondary student responses when school lunch turns green and vegan

Abstract

Addressing the consumption of animals as an educative and environmentally crucial question, this paper empirically examines the meaning of meat and animal consumption for learners in school settings. This study is based on focus groups with Swedish upper secondary students and is centred around their responses to a vegan month at their school as an initiative to emphasise the environmental consequences caused by human consumption of animal products. In order to make sense of the students´ responses in light of the disruption of animal products in the school restaurant, the school initiative is analysed as a dislocatory intervention. The analysis shows that ‘eating environmentally’ in education caused conflictual responses closely connected to political and gendered aspects of animal consumption. In conclusion, the author argues that a neutral or un-political position is not possible when animal consumption is on the educational table, and moreover, that there is a need to take political–conflictual responses seriously within education.     

Lifting a corner of the research rug: a case for meta-interviews in qualitative studies

The degree to which knowledge can be abstracted from the situations in which it is constructed has received criticism in recent years. There is growing awareness of the importance of the interrelationship between the content of what is said and the context in which it is said. Some researchers contend that if we ignore the situated nature of cognition, we defeat our own goal of providing robust, useful knowledge. What are the implications of such a claim for the practice of educational research? More specifically, what are the implications for the conduct of interview-based studies in which researchers derive knowledge claims from participants’ responses? In this paper, we describe and illustrate the use of “meta-interviews”, a research strategy for enhancing the credibility of the claims made from analyses of interview data. This approach brings to light key contextual issues that are sometimes ‘swept under the rug’ when reporting research results.     

The contribution of vocabulary knowledge and semantic orthographic fluency to text quality through elementary school in Catalan

Building a text is a multidimensional endeavor. Writers must work simultaneously on the content of the text, its discursive organization, the structure of the sentences, and the individual words themselves. Knowledge of vocabulary is central to this endeavor. This study intends (1) to trace the development of writer’s vocabulary depth, their vocabulary fluency in writing, and the features of the text they produce (productivity, lexical richness, and text structure) through elementary school and (2) to determine the contribution of the writer’s performance and the text features to the quality of the text. One hundred and eighty bilingual Spanish/Catalan speakers from first, third, and sixth grade took part in the study. They participated in three researcher-created tasks; a synonyms/antonyms task to orally assess vocabulary depth; a semantic orthographic fluency task to examine their vocabulary fluency in writing; and a text writing task to evaluate text quality. Data was analyzed using structural equation modeling in order to examine the relationship between the target writer’s performance and the text features of the written compositions, and the externally evaluated text quality. Results revealed that both writer’s performance on vocabulary depth and semantic orthographic fluency and text features improved with school level. However, the capacity to establish meaning relations between words contributed more directly to the quality of texts than the speed to find words with a specific phonographic correspondence. External evaluation of text quality was more variable for younger students than for older students and was affected by school level mediated by writer performance and text features.     

Promoting Reading Achievement

Abstract

This essay argues in favor of college instructors, especially in introductory classes, giving students the freedom to use Wikipedia entries in their research projects. It explores the pedagogy created by rigid prohibitions of potential sources, and argues that at stake are two chief dichotomies: one, students learning by engaging in a process vs. students producing a product, and two, students thinking individually and evaluating vs. students following rules. Within the discussion of these dichotomies is a call for instructors to emphasize evaluation of the content of research material rather than an author's credentials or other external markers.