Moving Towards Problem‐based Learning

Abstract

This paper is based upon the reflections of teachers and students as they experience problem‐based learning (PBL) for the first time. A PBL exercise was integrated into a curriculum‐based Biology field course to meet specific learning requirements of students. The exercise created a new learning environment for both students and teachers, and PBL was evaluated as an educative strategy. The exercise could have been improved through more effective student support. Our experiences of PBL have encouraged us to look for other areas of the curriculum where problem‐based approaches could be incorporated to enrich student learning.     

Using Electronic Mail in Initial Teacher Education to Develop European Awareness

ABSTRACT

The development of European awareness in teacher training is a particularly difficult task in one year Post Graduate Certificate in Education (PGCE) courses in the United Kingdom because of the short length of the course and the need to ensure that students are well prepared for handling the national curriculum. This paper describes how students on such a course at the University of Ulster in Northern Ireland were able to experience a European dimension through an electronic mail link with high school pupils in Norway. The scheme, which was offered on a pilot basis to students taking history as a major or a minor option, also.gave the group a focus for work on two of the cross‐curricular themes in the Northern Ireland common curriculum, namely Information Technology and Education for Mutual Understanding. The pilot suggests that the scheme has provided a valuable experience of real contact with Europe in a way that is cost effective and manageable within the time constraints imposed by an intensive one year teacher training programme.     

A desktop publishing course: An alternative to internships for rural universities

Technical writing programs housed in geographically isolated universities face great challenges in regard to getting students career‐related work experience. A course in desktop publishing can provide students at rural schools with experience equivalent to internships. In the desktop publishing course I taught at Murray State University, in addition to learning principles of layout and design, students faced many challenges like those that will confront them in the workplace. They worked on projects that entailed real financial constraints and deadlines; they were required to modify their work after receiving reviews from several different individuals. In addition to providing students with experience, the course provided benefits to the university in terms of services and public relations.     

Discipline‐based academic development through a tripartite partnership

Abstract

This paper describes a discipline‐based academic development project based upon a tripartite relationship between departmental staff, work‐based practitioners and the central academic development unit which took place over one academic year within the Department of Physiotherapy, Queen Margaret College, Edinburgh. The purpose of the project was to discuss and debate the concept of the ‘reflective practitioner’, to develop strategies for enabling undergraduate students to be reflective, and to devise a framework for assessment of reflective practice in clinical work‐based learning. The outcomes of the project, most important of which was a change in the learning experience for students, demonstrate that academic development can be valuable and productive when undertaken as a partnership and placed in a disciplinary context. The authors identify key elements important to the success of the academic development process which should be applicable in similar situations and which could serve as guidelines for the planning and delivery of staff development through similar kinds of partnerships.     

Complexity of reasoning about children's development: Links with teacher‐preparation content courses and supervised laboratory experience

Abstract

In a sample of 74 university students studying early childhood and pre‐kindergarten education, researchers assessed the relationships between child development knowledge, complexity of reasoning about development, prior work experience with children, and teacher‐preparation content courses and laboratory courses. There was no statistically significant association between knowledge of child development and complexity of reasoning. The former primarily involves the acquisition of facts about patterns of general change, whereas complexity of reasoning permits caregivers to apply those facts to real‐life care‐giving dilemmas. Child development knowledge was predicted by the number of completed pre‐kindergarten content courses, but not by experience with children. Complexity of reasoning was predicted by both content and laboratory courses, the effects of which were assessed separately. Findings suggest that teacher‐preparation content courses, supplemented by guided experience with children, provide a basic framework for integrating important concepts about children's growth and behavior.     

Quantitative analysis of approaches to group marking

Abstract

Group work, where students work on projects to overcome challenges together, has numerous advantages, including learning of important transferable skills, better learning experience and increased motivation. However, in many academic systems the advantages of group projects clash with the need to assign individualised marks to students. A number of different schemes have been proposed to individualise group project marks, these include marking of individual reflexive accounts of the group work and peer assessment. Here, we explore a number of these schemes in computational experiments with an artificial student population. Our analysis highlights the advantages and disadvantages of each scheme and particularly reveals the power of a new scheme proposed here that we call pseudoinverse marking.

Abbreviations

SOPP: Self organised peer assessment; RA: Reflexive accounts; MRA: Mark-adjusted reflexive accounts; NPA: Normalised peer assessment; PR: Peer ranking; PiM: Pseudoinverse marking     

Teaching Object‐Oriented Design Without Programming: A Progress Report

This project is demonstrating the feasibility of using the object‐oriented paradigm to teach students software design in a nonprogramming context. The program, developed using principles of user‐based, prototyping design, teaches students to create responsibility‐driven designs of computer games. Investigations with high school students with little or no knowledge of computers and senior computer science majors have demonstrated that students can indeed learn to use Class‐Responsibility‐Collaborator (CRC) cards to produce creditable high‐level designs in a relatively short time whether or not they have programming experience and can generalize what they have learned to a new design. Although the computer science majors created more complete designs and demonstrated a deeper understanding of the design process than the high school students, these students still found the experience valuable. Both sample groups generally found the process interesting and relatively painless.     

Early childhood literacy: Creating a better world

Abstract

Problem‐posing teaching using multicultural children's literature nourishes an integrated literacy curriculum that supports young children's meaningful learning. This method encourages integrated learning that is both developmentally and culturally meaningful through interacting with story, reading literature, and participating in related learning activities. The problem‐posing method was developed by Paulo Freire [Education for Critical Consciousness, Seabury, New York] and critical pedagogists. The method leads students of any age, experience or ability level to base new learning on personal experience in a way that encourages critical reflection. This method has not been widely used with younger learners, but lends itself well to integrated early childhood literacy development.

This article shows selected qualitative data samples from case studies of early childhood teacher education students as they experience the method in a literacy course and as they use the method with young children. A critical analysis of the students’ work draws out key points regarding literacy development in a rapidly changing world. The teacher education students’ work provides an arena for developing the theory further as they implement theoretically‐based pedagogy with young learners. Data reveal issues regarding critical literacies and postmodern approaches to early childhood education.     

The internal consistency of a concept mapping scoring scheme and its effect on prediction validity

This study examines the internal consistency of Novak and Gowin's scoring scheme and its effect on the prediction validity of concept mapping as an alternative science classroom achievement assessment. Data were collected in three typical situations: very limited concept mapping experience with free‐style concept mapping; some concept mapping experience with questions provided; extensive concept mapping experience with a list of concepts provided for. It was found that Novak's scoring scheme was not internally consistent, and therefore there was generally no significant correlation between students’ scores on concept mapping and students’ scores on conventional classroom achievement assessments. The need for a new scoring scheme when concept mapping is used as an alternative science assessment is discussed.     

Promoting Interaction Among Students in Distance Education

Abstract

This short article describes an oral interactive exercise using voice mail. I had two purposes in mind when I devised this exercise. One, to provide students with a chance to hear fellow students describe their work, and two, to demonstrate their skill in judging relevant work of a peer.     

Aerial Robotics in Computer Science Education

This paper reports on experience with project courses, especially those concerning the design and construction of an autonomous aerial robot.

Dealing with this complex application task in small teams, advanced students are coached by teaching assistants in state‐of‐the‐art work in special fields of computer science.

The task includes a high potential for motivation and is sufficiently complex for a large range of techniques required. Team‐orientation is an important aspect; the students have to establish and coordinate various individual tasks.     

Peer review of laboratory reports for engineering students

ABSTRACT

Here, we present a module to introduce student peer review of laboratory reports to engineering students. Our findings show that students were positive and felt that they had learnt quite a lot from this experience. The most important part of the module was the classification scheme. The scheme was constructed to mimic the way an expert would argue when making a fair judgement of a laboratory report. Hence, our results may suggest that the success of the module design comes from actively engaging students in work that is more related to ‘arguing like an expert’ than to only supply feedback to peers, which in such a case would implicate a somewhat new direction for feedback research. For practitioners, our study suggests that important issues to consider in the design are (i) a clear and understandable evaluation framework, (ii) anonymity in the peer-review process and (iii) a small external motivation.     

A Longitudinal Correlational Study of Students’ Performance in Supervised Industrial Work Experience and Classroom Instruction

Scholars in technology education are of the view that there should be some relationship between supervised industrial work‐experience and classroom instruction in order that the theory learned at school would have relevance to practice at the work place, especially as supervised industrial work‐experience has become an important component of well‐planned technology education programmes.

This study was therefore designed to determine the nature and extent of the relationship between supervised industrial work‐experience and classroom instruction. A research sample of 64 (comprising of 30 mechanical, 20 electrical and 14 civil) engineering technology students were alternatively exposed for three years to classroom instruction and its consequent sessional examinations on the one hand and supervised industrial work‐experience and the consequent performance assessment process on the other. Performance scores‐‐in percentages‐‐were collected from the two research situations. Product moment correlation coefficients were computed for the pairs of performance scores; first all the students’ scores were analysed together and then they were analysed in each engineering specialty.

It was found that:

(1) generally there was no statistically significant relationship between the students’ performances in classroom instruction and supervised industrial work‐experience;

(2) additionally (a) statistically significant relationship did not exist between students’ performances during the different periods of supervised industrial work‐experience and (b) there was a statistically significant relationship between the students’ performances in the classroom‐instruction situation.

It was recommended that industries should participate in the preparation of curricula for technology education programmes; and should train students on projects that have educational value and practical utility while more industrial‐work‐related instructions should be provided in technology education programmes.     

Learning outdoors or with a computer: the contribution of the learning setting to learning and to environmental perceptions

ABSTRACT

Background: Outdoor learning and computer-based learning are two different alternatives to in-class conventional teacher-centered learning.

Purpose: This study compares the outdoor learning setting with computer-based learning in class. It examines the influence of the two different learning settings on academic achievements, the learning experience, and pro-environmental perceptions.

Sample: A total of 90 elementary school students (third and fourth-grade classes) participated in the study.

Design and methods: The academic knowledge of the study participants was tested through identical exams for both learning settings. In addition, in each group the students’ perceptions were examined by means of a questionnaire about environmental values and the learning experience.

Results: The study demonstrates that academic achievements in the two settings were similar, but the students expressed more enthusiasm about the outdoor learning experience than about in-class learning. In addition, the outdoor learning setting contributed more to promoting positive environmental perceptions even though students did not learn directly about environmental issues and sustainability.

Conclusions: These findings suggest that learning in the natural environment is valuable: Alongside the fostering of computerized learning, it is also important to promoteoutdoor learning settings and integrate both settings by implementing mobile technologies in the outdoor teaching.     

‘If this was real … ’: researching student meaning making in a digital rolling role drama

ABSTRACT

This article explores the interplay of the ‘live’ experience of drama learning in the classroom and curated digital content on learner meaning making, collaborative creation and subjectivities. It examines a case study conducted in an inner-city secondary school in Sydney, Australia, as part of a larger innovative international collaborative drama exercise entitled ‘The Water Reckoning Project’ (http://www.water-reckoning.net) which focussed on sustainability education. Data collected and analysed included ethnographic observations, video documentation and digital curation of students’ creative work, focus groups, and pre- and post-surveys. Findings of this study reveal the importance of the aesthetically charged, embodied experience of drama as the key driver of learning when integrating drama with digital technologies. This unique project enabled students to critically and creatively engage with significant real and fictional contexts, as well as issues of local and global relevance.     

Implementing change: an autobiographical case study of introducing a technology innovation within a West Midlands HEI

abstract

This article outlines the evaluation of student‐led group work as the major vehicle for a professional course in education (PGCE whole school studies) which relies heavily on work‐based learning. Group work is found to be an effective means of enhancing reflective practice. Problems of engaging whole group responsibility for the tasks and activities can be effectively managed through appropriate structuring of the learning experiences, induction programmes in team work, review and tutor facilitation. Two issues are identified as problematical in longer‐term work of this kind. The first is that of the social cohesion of the groups; where this works well the learning experience is enhanced, where not students are deprived of an effective learning experience. The other is that of the appropriateness of this form of learning for all preferred learning styles. A flexibility of approach is recommended.     

Early field experiences and teacher preparation: Authentic learning

Abstract

Preservice education students need authentic learning about schooling. One way to accomplish this is through early field experiences that provide real‐life experiences in a real‐life classroom. This article describes how one course achieves this goal.     

Work Experience Schemes and Part‐time Jobs in a Recruitment Context

Abstract

This paper examines the significance of work experience schemes and part‐time jobs for school pupils within the context of recruitment to youth jobs. Specifically, it focuses on the role played by work experience and part‐time jobs in the recruitment of young people to engineering apprenticeships in a Midlands town during the recession of the early 1980s. The employers gave greater importance to holiday jobs, Saturday jobs and paper rounds than work experience in recruiting apprentices. The former were viewed as a more effective guide to applicants’ work attitudes. Work experience lacked the element of ‘sacrifice’ and other aspects associated with ‘real’ work Despite this, work experience proliferated in the 1980s, whilst pupils’ part‐time work has been neglected as a learning resource.

Additionally, this paper presents the more general argument that a strong vocationalist perspective on work experience, where it is viewed as being grounded in the labour‐power demands of employers as expressed in recruitment criteria, yields unacceptable (racist and sexist) consequences.     

Switching Hats

Abstract

One of the most problematic issues in the field of social work is the gap between practice and research. This paper describes the roles of the social work clinical practitioner and the social work researcher, and explores the role discontinuity that occurs as social work doctoral students' transition between these roles. A model illustrating the three possible routes that are taken during this role transition is introduced. Understanding the process of change that occurs as social work doctoral students shift roles has important implications for social work. Investigating these two roles can help doctoral programs support students during the difficult transition. Discovering how doctoral students bridge the gap between practice and research in their own experience may provide insight into how the field of social work as a whole can successfully address this gap.     

The Use of an Industrial Simulation in Initial Teacher Education: an exercise in reflective learning

Abstract

The schools‐industry movement advocates the development of greater industrial awareness in pupils through experiential learning methods. It follows that student teachers need to be prepared for this work in a similar way. Such experiential work, to be effective, needs to be reflective. The use of such ‘reflective practice’ is an important strategy in teacher education in its own right This paper explores these ideas in the context of an industrial simulation run in school, by students in Initial Teacher Training, involving local industrialists. Such an activity can play a valuable part in preparing such students for initiatives such as TVEI, and can enhance their personal and professional development. However, when several agencies are combining on a single project, they approach the activity with differing objectives. These need to be recognised in the planning, so that valid compromises can be achieved.