Developing understanding of statistical variation: secondary statistics teachers’ perceptions and recollections of learning factors

This retrospective phenomenological study investigates activities and actions identified by secondary statistics teachers who exhibit robust understandings of variation as deepening their understandings of statistical variation. Using phenomenological methods and a frame of Mezirow’s transformation theory, analysis revealed learning factors that include their interests in statistics, motivation to encounter and resolve dilemmas, desires to have an overarching content framework, propensities for critical reflection, and actions on opportunities to engage in statistical learning activities and rationale discourse with more knowledgeable others. The extent to which these teachers embrace these opportunities distinguishes them from other teachers. Results from this study provide some basis for formulating hypotheses about secondary teachers’ statistics learning in general by contributing to understanding circumstances that may be conducive to developing deep understandings of statistical content. This study also advances the use of retrospective methods within a theoretical frame for adult learning to investigate teacher learning.     

Graduate employability: a conceptual framework for understanding employers’ perceptions

This study provides a conceptual framework for understanding what employers think about the value of graduates with similar educational credentials in the workplace (their employability), using insights from the new institutionalism. In this framework, the development of employers’ beliefs about graduates’ employability is broken into a number of factors and mechanisms, including exogenous factors, initial signalling effects and the processes of both private and public learning. With such conceptualisation, this article discusses the implications for international higher education providers on how to improve their graduates’ employment by influencing employers’ beliefs.     

Signs,symbols and schemas: understanding meaning in a child’s drawings

This paper examines the schematic underpinnings in the drawings of a four-year-old girl, Thea. The paper reviews literature on graphic representations, signs and meaning-making before discussing schematic form in children’s drawings, the theoretical background for the study. The paper discusses ethical issues and methodological approaches to the study where data include drawings made at home and school, Thea’s recorded talk about drawings, and video recordings of her drawing sessions over a four-month period. These were coded manually and using NVivo to identify schemas. The paper discusses examples of Thea’s exploration of enclosure and trajectory schematic form, which are represented by rich content derived from her experiences and imagination. The paper concludes that Thea’s drawings included many schematic signifiers with clear evidence of complex thinking around enclosures and of vertical and horizontal trajectories. The paper evidences the importance of listening to children’s talk as they draw in order to understand more fully, the meanings they are making. Through signs, symbols and personal narratives, Thea used drawing as a meaningful semiotic space where her persistent schematic concerns were manifest.     

Students’ perception of frequent assessments and its relation to motivation and grades in a statistics course: a pilot study

This pilot study measures university students’ perceptions of graded frequent assessments in an obligatory statistics course using a novel questionnaire. Relations between perceptions of frequent assessments, intrinsic motivation and grades were also investigated. A factor analysis of the questionnaire revealed four factors, which were labelled value, formative function, positive effects and negative effects. The results showed that most students valued graded frequent assessments as a study motivator. A modest number of students experienced positive or negative effects from assessments and grades received. Less than half of the students used the results of frequent assessments in their learning process. The perception of negative effects (lower self-confidence and more stress) negatively mediated the relation between grades and intrinsic motivation. It is argued that communication with students regarding the purpose and benefits of frequent assessments could mitigate these negative effects.     

Inclusive education in the academy: pedagogical and political imperatives in a master’s course

Many universities offer undergraduate and postgraduate courses in inclusive education. There has been much research into the impact of these courses, but little is written about their design. This article focuses on a master’s course in inclusive education in a South African university. The course positions inclusive education as a critical education project and is designed around the four propositions presented by Slee in The Irregular School (2011. Milton Park: Routledge). Using Bernsteinian ideas about pedagogising knowledge, this article accounts for the pedagogical choices made in content selection and course design. The focal questions in the course are described, together with an indication of the range of additional texts that students read. Given that Slee asserts that inclusive education is a political project, and that Allan (2010. “The Inclusive Teacher Educator: Spaces for Civic Engagement.” Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education 31 (4): 411–422) urges inclusive teacher educators to reorientate themselves towards civic duty, I argue that producing a pedagogic discourse of inclusive education is a political task that should result in both the teacher educator and the students being oriented towards a critique of existing exclusionary arrangements and an activism that leads to change.     

Subject- and experience-bound differences in teachers’ conceptual understanding of sustainable development

This article describes the results of a nationwide questionnaire study of 3229 Swedish upper secondary school teachers’ conceptual understanding of sustainable development in relation to their subject discipline and teaching experience. Previous research has shown that teachers have difficulties understanding the complex concept of sustainable development. According to the Swedish curriculum, all teachers in all subjects should integrate a holistic perspective of sustainable development including economic, ecological, and social dimensions. This study shows that teachers differ in their understanding of the concept mostly according to their subject traditions. Social science teachers emphasize social dimensions and science teachers’ ecological dimensions, respectively. Teachers are aware of the relevance of the three dimensions to various degrees, but do not generally have a holistic understanding. The greatest uncertainty in teachers’ understanding is related to the economic dimension. Science and social science teachers are critical of incorporating economic growth into the concept of sustainable development while language, vocational, and esthetical–practical teachers are not. No experience-bound differences of the teachers’ understanding could be found, but recently qualified teachers consider their understanding of sustainable development to be poorer in comparison with more experienced teachers’ self-evaluation. The study highlights the need for further training in sustainable development since more than 70% of the questioned teachers stated that they need such training.     

Developing ecological literacy in a forest garden: children’s perspectives

Today, cities become more dense, green spaces disappear and children spend less time outdoors. Research suggests that these conditions create health problems and lack of ecological literacy. To reverse such trends, localities are creating urban green spaces for children to visit during school time. Drawing on ideas in ecological literacy, this study investigates school children’s perspectives on a forest garden, a type of outdoor educational setting previously only scarcely researched. Data were collected through walk-and-talk conversations and informal interviews with 28 children aged 7 to 9. Many children in the study expressed strong positive feelings about the forest garden, the organized and spontaneous activities there, and caring for the organisms living there. We observed three aspects of learning in the data, potentially beneficial for the development of children’s ecological literacy: practical competence, learning how to co-exist and care, and biological knowledge and ecological understanding.     

Analyzing the effects of mathematical discourse-based instruction on eleventh-grade students’ procedural and conceptual understanding of probability and statistics

This study utilized discourse-based instruction as an alternative method of instruction that emphasizes the teaching of mathematics by actively engaging students in mathematical discourse practices. A quasi-experimental study was employed to determine the effectiveness of mathematical discourse-based instruction in enhancing eleventh-grade students’ conceptual and procedural understanding of probability and statistics. A researcher-constructed test instrument was used for data collection from the experimental and control groups. The data analysis performed using the Kruskal-Wallis test showed that the experimental group outperformed the control groups in terms of conceptual and procedural knowledge. Furthermore, the results suggest that discourse-based instruction when appropriately designed and implemented can increase students’ understanding of mathematical topics.     

Challenges and dilemmas – a conceptual approach to children’s diversity in school

The aim of this article is to discuss and problematise issues related to conceptual approaches to differences among children in the world of school education. The article is based on results from a Swedish study on categorisation of schoolchildren’s ‘problems’ from a historical perspective. Its central questions are: ‘What concepts are used to formulate children’s various educational needs, and how can these concepts be understood?’ Supported by an ecological analysis model, complex situations in the categorisation and problem-solving process are clarified. Using terminology to refer to pupils’ diverse abilities and needs involves aspects of categorising. An understanding of how this works may bring more profound knowledge of obstacles to children’s learning. The categorisation process illustrates effects both at individual level and more generally. Categorisation may be regarded as a useful practice for understanding children’s differences better, and thereby finding the best ways of responding to them. However, categorisation based on abilities and needs also adds a challenge to the important idea of inclusion. The article discusses categorisation as a basis for educational problem-solving and the implications of categorising children’s varying abilities and experience of school education. The theoretical premises enhance understanding of the dynamic nature of terminology usage, and thus future prospects of meeting challenges that may arise, in schools.     

Another look at college student’s ratings of course quality: data from Penn State student surveys in three settings

This study assessed the relationships of student attributes, course characteristics and course outcomes to college students’ ratings of course quality in three types of settings. The analysis utilised data from online surveys of samples of college students conducted in 2011 and 2012 at the Pennsylvania State University. Included in the analysis were: (1) 1805 students at the main campus; (2) 1453 students at 19 smaller satellite campus locations of the university scattered across the state; and (3) 522 students participating in online degree programmes through Penn State’s World Campus. Students were asked to rate the quality of instruction they received in a randomly selected course in which they had been enrolled during the previous semester, and to respond to a number of questions about the course, the instructor’s behaviour and themselves. The relationships of these factors to how students rated the course were assessed for subjects in the three study settings. In all three settings, student and course characteristics, course difficulty and amount of required work had little effect on course ratings. Grade received was modestly related to course rating. However, instructor’s use of selected recommended pedagogical practices and students’ perceptions of how much they felt they learned were by far the strongest correlates of students’ course evaluations. Implications of these findings are discussed.     

Science for public understanding: Developing a new course for 16–18 year old students

Social emotional learning (SEL) is common in preschools and schools both in Europe and North America today. Programmes for socio-emotional training and the rise of what is labelled therapeutic education have dramatically increased during the first decade of the millennium. In this article, a manual-based programme used for SEL in a Swedish school context is analysed from perspectives rooted in childhood sociology and post-structural studies. The aim of this study is to analyse the discursive constructions of a context of risk and the instilment of specific corporeal regimes. The main issue concerns the meaning and use of the body in the discursive construction of the social competent child within this context of risk. The analysis shows that the socially competent child is shaped and cultivated through self-regulating techniques aiming at creating a docile body, a body that will be a good citizen, a pliant member of the social order.

Social emotional learning (SEL) is common in preschools and schools both in Europe and North America today. Programmes for socio-emotional learning and what is labelled therapeutic education (Ecclestone &; Hayes, 2007; Furedi, 2009) have dramatically increased during the first decade of the millennium. In Sweden, schools often justify their use of these programmes as a way of organizing their value-based education (von Brömssen, 2011), that is, as a way of realizing the democratic ambitions expressed in educational policy documents, such as the national curriculum.     

Procedural and conceptual changes in young children’s problem solving

This study analysed the different types of arithmetic knowledge that young children utilise when solving a multiple-step addition task. The focus of the research was on the procedural and conceptual changes that occur as children develop their overall problem solving approach. Combining qualitative case study with a micro-genetic approach, clinical interviews were conducted with ten 5–6-year-old children. The aim was to document how children combine knowledge of addition facts, calculation procedures and arithmetic concepts when solving a multiple-step task and how children’s application of different types of knowledge and overall solving approach changes and develops when children engage with solving the task in a series of problem solving sessions. The study documents children’s pathways towards developing a more effective and systematic approach to multiple-step tasks through different phases of their problem solving behaviour. The analysis of changes in children’s overt behaviour reveals a dynamic interplay between children’s developing representation of the task, their improved procedures and gradually their more explicit grasp of the conceptual aspects of their strategy. The findings provide new evidence that supports aspects of the “iterative model” hypothesis of the interaction between procedural and conceptual knowledge and highlight the need for educational approaches and tasks that encourage and trigger the interplay of different types of knowledge in young children’s arithmetic problem solving.     

Governing teachers’ work and learning through data: Australian insights

This article reveals the multiple ways in which data are constituted as a vehicle for governing teachers’ work and learning. Drawing on the concept of governance, including in relation to the sociology of numbers, and data from one school in Queensland, Australia, the research reveals how teachers’ work and learning were constituted through practices of: establishing specific ‘targets’, including various ‘audacious goals’ for school and national testing; focusing upon ‘aligning’ all forms of school, regional and national data collected within the school; and participating in various ‘data conversations’ about specific students with senior members of staff. While the research reveals how teachers found such practices beneficial for improving their practice with students, it also shows how this learning was always and everywhere framed within a broader discourse of data, and how this data-centric focus came to constitute what was valued about their work and learning, and that of their students.     

Shadows: Young Taiwanese children’s views and understanding

The purpose of this study was to examine young children’s views about shadows. Young children hear references to or are involved in many scientific experiences in their everyday lives, and shadows are a part of children’s everyday experiences. Young children may have constructed their knowledge about shadows through their daily experiences. Therefore, a total of 32 children, of which one‐half were four years old and one‐half were five years old, were individually interviewed twice to elicit their views and understanding of shadows. Data were collected by a mixture of picture‐pointing, verbal explanation, and manipulation, and were analysed both quantitatively and qualitatively. We focused on five facets of children’s ideas about shadows: ideas about the source of light, shadow orientation, shadow shape, shadow size, and shadow intensity. The five year olds performed significantly better on production of shadows, production of shadow shape, and production of shadow size, and also gave more reasonable explanations for their choices than did the four year olds, showing a better understanding of the concept of shadows. Another significant finding of the study was that young children have a much more sophisticated understanding of shadows than Piaget originally suggested and than their verbal explanations imply.     

Analogical reasoning for understanding solution rates: students’ conceptual change and chemical explanations

The study aims to demonstrate evidence of (a) students’ conceptual change on solution rates; (b) students’ sub‐microscopic explanations of dissolution; and (c) retention of the concepts of solution rates. The sample consists of 44 Grade 9 students (18 boys and 26 girls) drawn purposively from two different classes (22 each) in the city of Trabzon, Turkey. The current study incorporates multiple methods of data collection: items from a solution concept test, clinical interviews and examination of students’ self‐assessment tasks. The results reveal that there is a statistically significant difference between scores in pre‐test and post‐test and between pre‐test and delayed test (p < 0.05). This research indicates that the intervention has improved students’ understanding of the conceptual relationship between solution rates and the sub‐microscopic explanation of dissolution. It has also helped in overcoming students’ alternative conceptions to some extent. However, alternative conceptions have not been eliminated completely. In the light of the results, this current study suggests that a simple model such as the four‐step constructivist teaching (4E) is efficient.     

Children’s education in secure custodial settings: Towards a global understanding of effective policy and practice

This unique editorial paper is one of the first that discusses the education of incarcerated young people in an international education journal. We review the eleven papers in the Special Issue on children’s education in secure custodial settings to provide key insights with the aim of moving towards a global understanding of what effective policy and practice may look like. In examining the range of cross-disciplinary papers from a range of different cultural contexts including the UK, Germany, UAE, US, Nigeria and South Africa, we are able to illuminate some of the commonalities in the education of young people who are incarcerated as well as some of the background characteristics – many of which are strikingly similar. We employed the ideas of the bio-socio-ecological systems model to explore the proximal and distal systems that interact to affect the educational experiences of the young people. These included at the microsystemic level the importance of relationships in engaging the young people with education and learning and that, the relationships between the key actors (mesosystem) as well as the importance of effective leadership (exosystem) were critical elements in improving the experience of education in custodial settings. But rather predictably, the structural disadvantages (macrosystem) that young people who come into contact with youth justice face and how these are not appropriately addressed that came into sharp focus, possibly because many countries take a punitive approach to youth offending. We argue that there are things that can be done at each systems level but that in order to make the changes to genuinely improve the lives of these young people, we make a bold call upon the global community (macrosystem), through the UNCRC to challenge themselves for a radical overhaul of youth justice approaches which put the child as child first and offender second in order to meet the commitment in Article 28.     

Applying the Kanban method in problem-based project work: a case study in a manufacturing engineering bachelor’s programme at Aalborg University Copenhagen

Problem-based learning (PBL) has proven to be highly effective for educating students in an active and self-motivated manner in various disciplines. Student projects carried out following PBL principles are very dynamic and carry a high level of uncertainty, both conditions under which agile project management approaches are assumed to be highly supportive. The paper describes an empirical case study carried out at Aalborg University Copenhagen involving students from two different semesters of a Bachelor of Science programme. While executing the study, compelling examples of how PBL and the agile project management method Kanban blend could be identified. A final survey reveals that applying Kanban produces noticeable improvements with respect to creating, assigning and coordinating project tasks. Other improvements were found in group communication, knowledge about the work progress with regards to both the individual and the collective and the students’ way of continuously improving their own teamwork.     

Teaching English at a distance in China’s Radio and Television Universities

English language teaching (ELT) has played an important role in the Chinese Radio and Television Universities (RTVU) network since its establishment in the late 1970s. Based on a literature review and reflection from an insider’s perspective, this paper gives a full account of the RTVU distance ELT model, examining how it supports autonomous language learning, how autonomy features in its English courses/programmes and how well the students respond to the model. It also discusses issues related to the improvement of the model, including student support, course production, curriculum design, course assessment, and staff development. It is argued that ELT in RTVUs should not be ignored in the international academic community although not much is known about it outside China, and that the RTVU model may be of practical relevance to other open and distance learning contexts.