DO INTERVENTION‐EMBEDDED ASSESSMENT PROCEDURES SUCCESSFULLY MEASURE STUDENT GROWTH IN READING?

Effective intervention delivery requires ongoing assessment to determine whether students are learning at the desired rate. Intervention programs with embedded assessment procedures (i.e., assessment that occurs naturally during the process of delivering intervention) can potentially enhance instructional decisions. However, there is almost no psychometric research on this type of assessment procedure. This study was designed to examine the psychometric characteristics of three types of progress measures that are embedded within a commonly used reading intervention program. Results indicated that generalized gains across different oral reading fluency passages predict concurrent gains on common and comprehensive tests of reading fluency, and that immediate instructional gains measured during instruction were significantly different from zero and thus sensitive to intervention effects. Overall findings suggest that at least some embedded assessment procedures demonstrate predictive validity and that these types of procedures have the potential to assist educators with data‐driven instructional decisions about students’ responsiveness to intervention.     

WHAT DOES PHILOSOPHY HAVE TO OFFER EDUCATION,AND WHO SHOULD BE OFFERING IT?

In this review essay Stanton Wortham explores how philosophy of education should both turn inward, engaging with concepts and arguments developed in academic philosophy, and outward, encouraging educational publics to apply philosophical approaches to educational policy and practice. He develops his account with reference to two recent ambitious projects: The Oxford Handbook of Philosophy of Education, edited by Harvey Siegel, and the two‐volume yearbook of the National Society for the Study of Education (NSSE), titled Why Do We Educate? edited by Gary Fenstermacher (series editor), David Coulter and John Wiens (volume 1), and Mark Smylie (volume 2). These two projects initially appear to be opposed, with the Handbook emphasizing elite philosophy and the Yearbook emphasizing public engagement. Wortham argues that each project is in fact more complex, and that they are in some respects complementary. He concludes by making a case against a simple hierarchy of basic and applied knowledge and calling for a more heterogeneous philosophy of education.     

USING IN-DEPTH SCIENCE INSTRUCTION TO ACCELERATE STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT IN SCIENCE AND READING COMPREHENSION IN GRADES 1?–?2

This study focused on accelerating development of science knowledge and understanding at the primary level (grades 1 – 2) as a means for enhancing reading comprehension (i.e. early literacy). An adaptation of a grade 3 – 5 cognitive-science-based, instructional model (Science IDEAS) that integrated science with reading and writing, this year-long study implemented daily 45-min instructional periods emphasizing in-depth, cumulative learning of science core-concept “clusters” while integrating science and literacy in a manner that provided teachers with a thematic focus for all aspects of instruction. Results (a) confirmed the feasibility of implementing the integrated, in-depth science model at the primary level and (b) showed that experimental students obtained significantly higher achievement on Iowa Tests of Basic Skills Science and Reading tests than comparable controls. Discussed are curricular policy implications for increasing the instructional time for content-area instruction at the primary level.     

��I WAS TOLD IT WAS GOING TO BE HARD WORK BUT I WASN��T TOLD IT WAS GOING TO BE THIS MUCH WORK��: THE EXPERIENCES AND ASPIRATIONS OF UNDERGRADUATE SCIENCE STUDENTS

The recruitment and training of scientists is an area of international concern. Much of the research and policy focus around this issue in the UK has been on how science is taught in schools and in particular on the structure of the school science curriculum. Much less attention has been devoted to the undergraduate student experience and the trajectory that learners take which can lead to higher education and into careers as professional scientists and technicians. This paper reports the findings from a comparative study of the experiences and aspirations of almost 1,000 art and science undergraduates studying at 6 elite British universities. There is no evidence to suggest that undergraduate scientists are put off a career in the science, technology, engineering and mathematics field, although theirs is arguably a less positive experience than that of their peers who study arts subjects. Most science undergraduates have clear career aspirations which are largely linked to remaining in the field and often involve further study. For many, these aspirations lead them towards the applied sciences and away from a career in ‘pure’ research or academia.     

DO THE SPATIAL FEATURES OF AN ADJUNCT DISPLAY THAT READERS COMPLETE WHILE READING AFFECT THEIR UNDERSTANDING OF A COMPLEX SYSTEM?

We varied the spatial features of adjunct displays that depicted a complex scientific system (i.e. human circulatory system). University students (n = 47), who were assigned randomly to a display condition before reading, selected relevant information from the text and wrote it (a) next to a list of definitions (list condition), (b) inside boxes organized to coincide with the sequence of blood flow (chart condition), or (c) on a picture of the heart (pictorial condition). Students in the chart and pictorial conditions had higher scores on 2 learning tests. Results supported the nonequivalence hypothesis, which states that a spatial display can promote learning more effectively than a list because a display’s nonverbal (e.g. spatial) features explicitly depict relationships among a system’s components. The results have implications for science educators.     

AN INTERVENTION TO REDUCE FEAR OF FALLING AND ENHANCE ACTIVITY: WHO IS MOST LIKELY TO BENEFIT?

The reasons for sources of inactivity among older adults can be both physical and psychological. Fear of falling is a common psychological source of restricted activity. The efficacy of a group intervention to reduce fear of falling and associated activity restriction was established in a randomized controlled trial by the authors and their colleagues. The objective of this analysis was to investigate who was most likely to benefit from this intervention. Data from baseline and 12-month follow-up were used to identify predictors in change of two targeted attitudes - fear of falling and ability to manage falls - that were considered to precede change in activity level. The predictors of the two outcomes were similar. Subjects who reported less physical and social dysfunction, more concerns about falling, and greater self-efficacy in doing something about their concerns were most likely to benefit from the intervention. Men were more likely than women to achieve greater ability to manage falls. These findings can be used to target the intervention to persons in greatest need or to modify the intervention to better meet the needs of others.     

LONGITUDINAL PREDICTION OF 1ST AND 2ND GRADE ENGLISH ORAL READING FLUENCY IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE LEARNERS: WHICH EARLY READING AND LANGUAGE SKILLS ARE BETTER PREDICTORS?

This study investigates the relation between Spanish and English early literacy skills in kindergarten and first grade, and English oral reading fluency at the end of first and second grade in a sample of 150 Spanish‐speaking English language learners. Students were assessed in kindergarten, first, and second grades on a broad bilingual academic battery that included phonological awareness, letter knowledge, vocabulary, word reading, and oral reading fluency. These measures were analyzed using hierarchal multiple regression to determine which early reading skills predicted English oral reading fluency scores at the end of first and second grade. Predictive relationships were different between English and Spanish measures of early literacy and end of year first grade and second grade English oral reading fluency. This study has important implications for early identification of risk for Spanish‐speaking English language learners as it addresses the input of both Spanish and English early reading skills and the relation between those skills and English oral reading fluency.     

EVALUATING AN INTERDISCIPLINARY GERIATRIC EDUCATION AND TRAINING INSTITUTE: WHAT CAN BE LEARNED BY STUDYING PROCESSES AND OUTCOMES?

As recognition of the need for interdisciplinary geriatric teams grows, new and varied training methods will be necessary to reach health and human service professionals in different contexts and settings. This article reports on the development and evaluation of one such model: an interprofessional educational institute sponsored by the Queen's University Gerontology Project in 1993. Data analyzed include information on participants’ backgrounds and teamwork experience and their assessment of session content and group work processes that made up the knowledge acquisition and skills attainment objectives of the program. Major implications of the institute that became evident include the need to develop a strong institutional foundation, the importance of targeted recruitment, the connection between theory and practice, and the need to present practical techniques, strategies, and modeling opportunities.     

ARE STUDENTS PREPARED TO COMMUNICATE? A CASE STUDY OF AN AUSTRALIAN DEGREE COURSE IN BIOTECHNOLOGY

Public concerns about biotechnology have resulted in greater attention being paid to the mechanisms by which biotechnology is communicated with non-scientists, including the provision of science communication training. As undergraduate and postgraduate courses form the foundation of the biotechnology sector by providing a pipeline of university graduates entering into the profession, it has been proposed that formal science communication training be introduced at this early stage of career development. Using an Australian biotechnology degree course as a case study, this paper examines science communication training within this course and the views of past and present students towards this training. Interviews were undertaken with 22 stakeholders in the case, including undergraduate lecturers (who also supervise postgraduate research students), doctoral candidates and biotechnologists recently graduated from the course. Few of the students felt the course provided them with any form of science communication training, let alone training in how to engage non-scientists. Many were unaware of the training available to them and few of the lecturers were able to identify where communication skills are taught within the course. A previous study of this case has also shown that biotechnology undergraduates taking this course do not value communication with non-scientists. Clearly, the current state of science communication training for these students needs to be improved if they are to enter the biotechnology workforce as able civic scientists. The findings of this study may be useful for other university biotechnology courses which have yet to integrate science communication training into their curriculum.     

INFORMING A LEARNING PROGRESSION IN GENETICS: WHICH SHOULD BE TAUGHT FIRST,MENDELIAN INHERITANCE OR THE CENTRAL DOGMA OF MOLECULAR BIOLOGY?

The Framework for Science Education and the Next Generation Science Standards in the USA emphasize learning progressions (LPs) that support conceptual coherence and the gradual building of knowledge over time. In the domain of genetics there are two independently developed alternative LPs. In essence, the difference between the two progressions hinges on conjectures regarding the accessibility of Mendelian versus molecular genetics, the conceptual dependencies between them, and the order in which they should be taught. The discrepancies between the two progressions stem, in part, from gaps in the current research base. To address the question of whether learning one aspect of genetics, Mendelian or molecular, supports the learning of the other, we analyzed correlations between students’ test scores on item subsets for Mendelian and molecular genetics on written pre-post assessments. Students were seventh graders who received intensive instruction in Mendelian and molecular genetics. We found that students’ pretest scores on the molecular items were moderately correlated with their posttest scores on the Mendelian genetics item set (but not the other way around). This suggests that molecular genetics understandings may bootstrap the learning of Mendelian genetics. Implying that, in contrast to prevalent practice, molecular genetics should be taught before Mendelian genetics.     

EDUCATION FOR SOCIAL EXCLUSION? ISSUES TO DO WITH THE EFFECTIVENESS OF EDUCATIONAL PROVISION FOR YOUNG WOMEN WITH ‘SOCIAL,EMOTIONAL AND BEHAVIOURAL DIFFICULTIES’

This paper discusses the experience of mainstream school and special educational provision of some young women with ‘social, emotional or behavioural difficulties’, and asks questions about the outcomes and effectiveness of this kind of education in a policy context of inclusion. It argues for more public discussion of the role of alternative educational provision.