Constructing an Inquiry Orientation from a Learning Theory Perspective: Democratizing Access through Task Design

Abstract

It is widely accepted in the mathematics education community that pedagogies oriented toward inquiry are aligned with a constructivist theory of learning, and that these pedagogies effectively support students’ learning of mathematics. In order to promote such an orientation, we first separate the idea of inquiry from its conception as a collection of methods. Then, by grounding those methods in a generally accepted theory of learning, we construct an inquiry-oriented pedagogy from a constructivist perspective. We then discuss the implications of this pedagogy for the design of mathematical tasks that democratize student access to inquiry. This work has implications for educators who wish to enact an inquiry-oriented pedagogy in their classroom in order to support their students’ problem solving and problem posing.     

Immigration in 2018: What is a Teacher Educator to Do?

ABSTRACT

This article contemplates the unique responsibilities of teacher educators toward immigrant students and teachers in a changing immigration landscape. The article highlights scholarship in critical care pedagogy and culturally sustaining pedagogies and identifies three “action areas” where teacher educators can apply these theories. The authors also recommend practices that can be adopted to create more caring and culturally sustaining spaces for immigrant teachers and students.     

JME referees in 2003

This study examined the hypothesis that religiosity would be differentially related to six types of adolescent prosocial behaviour, and that these relations would be mediated by the prosocial value of kindness. Self‐report data were collected from 142 high school students (63 per cent female; 91 per cent White; M age?=?16.8, S?=?.80). Religiosity was a significant positive predictor of kindness, as well as compliant, anonymous and altruistic prosocial behaviour, but not public, dire and emotional prosocial behaviour. Associations between religiosity and both compliant and altruistic prosocial behaviours were mediated by kindness. Direct and indirect paths were found between religiosity and anonymous prosocial behaviour. Thus, partial support was found for the mediational hypothesis. Discussion focused on the utility of distinguishing among different types of prosocial behaviours and on the role of religion and values in promoting moral education.     

Liberation or Oppression?—Western TESOL Pedagogies in China

In this article, we examine power relations in College English teaching in China, focusing on the symbolic capital of English as a global language. Framing our discussion with Bourdieu's concept of symbolic capital and a review of literature, we problematize the importation of pedagogies from Western countries to China and argue that seemingly liberating pedagogies, such as the communicative language teaching approach, can be turned into a form of oppression of both the instructors and the students. Drawing on Freire's critical pedagogy, we propose that a truly liberating pedagogy should be based on a dialogical relationship between policy-makers, teachers, and students in consideration of the specific economic, social, and cultural backgrounds of the students and teachers.     

Relative Spelling Ability as a Predictor of the Academic Performance of Superior Ability College Freshmen

Abstract

It was hypothesized and demonstrated that, for superior ability college freshmen, failure to develop spelling ability to the same level as general verbal ability is associated with poor academic performance. However, the same relationship did not hold for lower levels of academic ability.

Since the spelling score was not reflecting finer discriminations of academic aptitude within the superior group, it was suggested that it was indicative of the attitudes or motives that determine the performance of such high ability students.     

Spelling feedback in an ICT-learning environment: Issues of proficiency, training efficiency, and transfer

This study was designed to compare the effectiveness of two different forms of feedback on spelling performance of Dutch Grade-2 students, that is, knowledge-of-results and informational feedback. In the knowledge-of-results feedback condition, the speller is told that the word is spelled incorrectly, whereas in the informational feedback condition, the speller is told what is spelled incorrectly. Three main questions were investigated. One, to what extent does the nature of feedback affect students with good and poor spelling skills differently? Two, does the nature of feedback affect various forms of spelling difficulties differently? Three, is training efficiency differentially affected by the nature of feedback?The results showed that both feedback conditions were equally effective in teaching students the spelling of words, irrespective of spelling level and spelling difficulty. Both feedback conditions led to a similar level of transfer to a set of new words, the effect being stronger in good than in poor spellers. Transfer was best on analogy spellings, followed by rule-based, and worst on idiosyncratic spellings. The poor spellers learned the spelling of words more efficiently in the informational-feedback condition than in the knowledge-of-results condition, whereas for the group of good spellers efficiency was equally large in both conditions.     

Problems in the Training of Research Workers

ABSTRACT

The authors examined the nature of dominant students in Grades 3–5 in a midwestern school system in the United States. Previous research has indicated 2 ways a student may gain dominance—through bullying and prosocial behaviors. A cluster analysis for dominant children was conducted using social interdependence attitude scores, children's self-reports of bullying and prosocial behaviors, and teacher reports of bullying and prosocial behaviors. Dominant children were clustered into cooperative-prosocial, competitive-aggressive, and individualistic groups. Competitive-aggressive children received higher teacher ratings of dominance than did cooperative-prosocial children, there was no significant among the clusters on perceived leadership by peers, and cooperative-prosocial children tended to have teachers who used more cooperative learning in their classroom.     

Spelling,Reading Abilities and Speech Perception in Deaf Children with a Cochlear Implant

ABSTRACT

This study aims to compare word spelling outcomes for French-speaking deaf children with a cochlear implant (CI) with hearing children who matched for age, level of education and gender. A picture written naming task controlling for word frequency, word length, and phoneme-to-grapheme predictability was designed to analyze spelling productions. A generalized linear mixed model on the percentage of correct spelling revealed an effect of participant’s reading abilities, but no effect of hearing status. Word frequency and word length, but not phoneme-to-grapheme predictability, contributed to explaining the spelling variance. Deaf children with a CI made significantly less phonologically plausible errors and more phonologically unacceptable errors when compared to their hearing peers. Age at implantation and speech perception scores were related to deaf children’s errors. A good word spelling level can be achieved by deaf children with a CI, who nonetheless use less efficiently the phoneme-to-grapheme strategy than do hearing children.     

To tell a story,to write it: developmental patterns of narrative skills from preschool to first grade

In this 1-year longitudinal study, the authors explored the development of narrative skills between the oral and written form. The authors aimed to assess the predictive power of textual narrative competence on early narrative text writing skills taking into account the impact of spelling ability. Eighty children (M age?=?5.3 years, age range?=?4.9–5.7 years; SD?=?0.29) were followed longitudinally until entering the first grade of primary school. During kindergarten, they were tested with an oral story production task and in first grade with a written story production task. Narratives were evaluated in terms of structure, cohesion and consistency. In the first grade, children were also submitted to a dictation task to evaluate their spelling competence. Repeated measures ANOVAs were performed in order to examine narrative competence development, also considering gender differences, and regression analyses were implemented to evaluate the predictive capability of textual abilities expressed by oral narratives on textual abilities expressed by writing. The results showed some significant differences when scores in kindergarten were compared to scores in primary school. Moreover, the ability to tell well-structured, cohesive and consistent stories predicts the ability to write stories with the same qualities in the sample of participants without spelling difficulty. Instead, the predictive link is not apparent considering those children with difficulties in orthographic ability. This research allows us to reflect about how the medium of writing might interfere, on the basis of the level of mastery, with the opportunity to express narrative skills in the transition from the oral to written code. The central role of writing instrument functionality opens the way to practical implications.     

Transformando fronteras: Chicana feminist transformative pedagogies

In this paper, C. Alejandra Elenes proposes ways to implement the goals of border/transformative pedagogies in classroom practices in order to deal with the multiplicity of ideologies present in educational settings. The theorization and discussion presented is based on the sometimes tense relationships between Chicana faculty and White women students. Border/transformative pedagogy incorporates as social practices the construction of knowledge(s) capable of analyzing conflicts over meaning. This pedagogy is concerned with the elimination of racial, gender, class, and sexual orientation hierarchies by decentralizing hegemonic practices that places at the center of cultural practices a homogeneous belief in US society that has marginalized the cultural practices of people of color, women, and gays and lesbians. Thus, it can be viewed as liberatory by students who agree with those goals, and oppressive for students with more conservative leanings. Based on Gloria Anzaldua's conceptualization of mestiza consciousness, border/transformative pedagogies propose ways in which we can enact a practice where students and teachers participate, and that tries to undo dualistic thinking. Thus, this paper, which is based on classroom observations and analysis of student evaluations, is self-reflexive. Particular emphasis is placed on finding ways to be able to bring multiple ideologies and points of view to classroom discussion in ways that productive discourse is enabled. The discussion also centers on the contradictions present in classrooms that seek to be liberatory to the goals of democracy. Finally, the paper discusses ways in which women of color faculty can deal with racism existing in many contemporary educational settings.     

Pedagogy in practice: the pedagogy of a learning setting as students experience it

This paper opens a theoretical discussion regarding the pedagogy of a learning setting as students experience it. Students’ experience of learning deserves particular attention because it may differ from the pedagogy that is designed and campaigned for by the school, or even from the one that is ‘experienced’ by the teacher in the same situation. In order to open up such a discussion, we introduce the term ‘pedagogy in practice’ (PiP). This new term describes the pedagogy that actually acts on students’ thought and affects; it relates to the interaction between the school’s pedagogy and students’ experience of it. In this paper, we define the concept of PiP and examine its implications and differentiation from related pedagogic concepts. By doing so, we question educators’ and policy makers’ ability to understand, evaluate, make sense of, and eventually improve pedagogies or curricula in general without looking at PiP in particular.     

Introducing a fifth pedagogy: experience‐based strategies for facilitating learning in natural environments

Educators have identified four categories of ‘productive pedagogies’ that are considered to lead to authentic student engagement and learning in the classroom. This study was designed to explore and extend these pedagogies in the context of learning in natural environments, in particular, through the programmes of Queensland environmental education centres. In‐depth interview and observation data were collected from students, classroom teachers and centre teachers who had participated in 12 environmental education programmes across Queensland, in order to identify the strategies that are most effective in facilitating learning in the natural environment. A fifth productive pedagogy category, ‘experience‐based learning’, is proposed. Experience‐based learning is particularly important in addressing students’ environmental attitudes and actions. The implications for the delivery of environmental education programmes both within and outside the classroom are discussed.     

Evaluation of a Computer‐based Program to Teach Reading and Spelling to Students with Learning Difficulties

Abstract

There are a number of computer‐based programs to enhance spelling skills. This paper reviews literature on the relationship between spelling, typing, and computer‐based instruction, and demonstrates the plausibility of such programs improving skills in students for whom conventional instruction has failed. The paper reports a small study on the effects of an integrated touch‐typing, spelling and reading program on the reading and spelling skills of a group of students aged between 8 and 16. The results showed improvements in spelling and some aspects of reading, and in touch typing ability. Variation in Individual results seemed likely to be owing to program administration rather than to the program itself. The results support the efficacy of integrating visual, auditory and kinaesthetic inputs in a computer‐based spelling program, and also emphasises the importance of continual positive reinforcement in a program for previously unsuccessful students.     

The Role of Instruction for Spelling Performance and Spelling Consciousness

This study examined the role of instruction for spelling performance and spelling consciousness in the Dutch language. Spelling consciousness is the ability to reflect on one's spelling and correct errors. A sample of 115 third-grade spellers was assigned to a strategy-instruction, strategic-monitoring, self-monitoring, or control condition representing different types of metacognitive aspects. The results showed that students in all three training conditions made more progress in both spelling performance and spelling consciousness than students in the control condition. With respect to spelling consciousness, only students in the strategy-instruction condition made significant improvement between pretest and posttest. Students made more progress in spelling performance on regular words than on loan words. Students in all four conditions became more accurate at assessing which words they could spell correctly. Students in the control condition more frequently overestimated their spelling ability.     

Signatures of quality teaching for Indigenous students

This paper presents findings from the validation of a survey instrument constructed in response to what Indigenous parents/carers and students believe constitutes culturally responsive pedagogies that positively influence Indigenous student learning. Characteristics of culturally responsive pedagogies established through interviews with Australian Indigenous parents, community members and students generated themes which were distilled into survey items by a team of Indigenous and other educators. The instrument was then put on trial with 141 teachers for statistical validation. Analyses employing the Rasch model confirmed that the instrument measured a unidimensional latent trait: culturally responsive pedagogy. Seven subscales, content validities of which were determined by a panel of experts, were also confirmed. Results highlighted differences between primary and secondary teachers’ self-reported practice, and important facets of teacher pedagogy in the two different school contexts emerged. Analyses of four of the subscales of the instrument—Indigenous cultural value, self‐regulation support, literacy teaching and explicitness—are presented in the context of current emphases on quality teaching and Indigenous student outcomes. The instrument can be used to measure teachers’ nuances in pedagogy, and the resulting teacher profiles can be used to assist teachers to focus on particular aspects of their pedagogy to meet the needs of their students.     

Introduction

Abstract

Drawing on a large government commissioned research study, the Queensland School Reform Longitudinal Study (QSRLS), the article confirms the existing research finding regarding the cenerality of teachers’ classroom practices (pedagogies and assessment) to student learning. On the basis of a literature review and classroom observations, analysis of assessment tasks and student work, the article identifies the models of productive pedagogies and productive assessment as being effective in terms of improving both social and academic outcomes for all students, especially students from disadvantaged backgrounds. In so doing, it stresses the need for aligning curriculum, pedagogies and assessment with desired student outcomes and also the need to create teacher professional learning communities so as to enhance whole school effects. However, the article also recognises the significance of family background in terms of students’ learning outcomes and thus argues the need for complementary and appropriate educational system funding and policies. Indeed, the article recognises that claims about teacher practices making a difference cannot be posed innocently and that a focus on individual teachers in policy is a double‐edged sword.     

Developing Critical Thinking in the Current Events Class

Abstract

The investigation tested the effectiveness of machine instruction in the teaching of spelling to a sample of fifty-four second- and third-grade students. All subjects were located in the same school, and groups were formed on the basis of spelling achievement matching. The analysis of variance statistical technique was employed in the treatment of the data. Although no differences were found in main effects (i.e., machine versus teacher), a differential (Interaction) effect was found at the .002 level of confidence. Further analysis revealed that: (1) on the third-grade level, the machine had proved more effective (.01 level of confidence) than the traditional method, and (2) on the second-grade level the traditional method had produced significantly more achievement (above the .01 level) than the machine method. The strength of the reversal is strongly suggestive of an age level below which this type of machine instruction loses its effectiveness.     

Matthew effects in writing productivity during second grade

The primary aims of this study were twofold: (a) to describe average change in the written narrative performance of second grade students from the fall and spring of the school year and (b) examine patterns of individual growth to test for Matthew effects. Participants included 299 children in second grade. Microstructural measures were derived from students’ written narratives including: number of different words (NDW), total number of words (TNW), and accuracy of spelling and grammar. Significant increases in NDW, TNW, and spelling accuracy were evidenced from fall to spring. Students averaged 55 total words in the fall and averaged 69 words in the spring, with a statistically significant increase of 14 words t(299)?=?8.4, p?<?.0001). The variance in TNW from fall to spring increased from Var?=?791 to Var?=?1005, which was a significant increase and the correlation of initial Fall TNW and growth in TNW was also significant (r?=?0.39). Additionally, results from a two-level hierarchical linear model with students nested within teachers indicated that initial level of TNW predicted the change in TNW from fall to spring, with higher levels of initial TNW being related to larger gains in TNW. Significant predictors of Matthew effects included teacher or classroom and free/reduced lunch eligibility. Written personal narrative measures are sensitive to developmental change across a school year. Evidence of Matthew effects in lexical productivity suggests additional support may be warranted to ameliorate gaps in writing achievement.

     

Gifted children with written output difficulties: Paradox or paradigm

Abstract

This study was designed to ascertain the prevalence of written output deficits in young gifted children, to delineate the relationship between written output performance and reading performance, and to identify possible mechanisms for specific written output deficits in such children. Data from a sample of children scoring >120 on at least one IQ or achievement subscale indicated: (1) that there was a significant incidence of discrepancies between written spelling scores and reading (decoding) scores, as compared to the population; (2) that performance on spelling tasks was more subject to a maturational timetable than decoding was; (3) that performance on spelling tasks is less amenable than performance on decoding tasks to compensatory enhancement by higher level processing, and involves a sequential processing module that is shared with calculation but not with decoding; and (4) that strengths in visual‐spatial tasks may interact with relative weaknesses in both decoding and calculation tasks to predict even poorer performance on written spelling tasks.