Does the curriculum matter in peer mentoring? From mentee to mentor in problem‐based learning: a unique case study

Peer mentoring has been used for many years by the Nelson R. Mandela School of Medicine to integrate new students into the academic and social culture of the institution. In 2001, an unusual situation arose. A problem‐based learning (PBL) curriculum was introduced and the first cohort in this programme was mentored by senior traditional curriculum students. The present study, by canvassing the 2002 PBL mentors, set out to determine whether the mismatch in curricula impacted on students' mentoring experiences. There was overwhelming agreement that curriculum did matter—it is only when mentors are able to share the same experiences as mentees, can they fully understand student problems. Notwithstanding this and other difficulties (e.g. timetable clashes), some 2001 mentees did form bonds with their traditional curriculum mentors. Some even identified them as role models. The 2002 PBL mentors also indicated that they had undergone considerable personal development as a result of their experiences.     

Problems in the summative evaluation of experimental science curricula in developing countries

Conclusion The simple techniques described in this paper can be applied rapidly and inexpensively by personnel previously untrained in techniques of curriculum evaluation. They are unrefined and open to much serious methodological criticism. Nevertheless they work. They are a way of giving those who must make value judgements about the implementation of new curricula some systematic information on which to base opinions. By using such methods for example, the author was able to show that the experimental course in biology in Malawi had a very high chance of success (90 per cent probability) when implemented in all schools in Malawi. Similar studies of current experimental programmes in Kenya and Zambia have provided interesting comparisons. In Kenya the Secondary Science Project in Biology was shown to have an 80 per cent chance of succeeding when spread from trial schools to all schools. In Zambia by contrast the Secondary School Science Pilot Project of the Science Education School of the University was shown to have only a 20 per cent chance of success. These indices provided valuable guidance to the Ministries concerned (Meyer, 1971). The use of such simple techniques has not been previously employed in developing countries and changes of policy have been based invariably on unsystematic opinion. The methods reported in this paper, therefore, appear justified in the absence of practicable alternatives.     

The impact of curriculum developed in line with authentic learning on the teacher candidates’ success,attitude and self-directed learning skills

The purpose of this study is to determine the impact of the curriculum developed in line with authentic learning on the teacher candidates’ success, attitudes towards courses and self-directed learning skills. The study, that is quantitative in nature, is carried out with 64 teacher candidates studying at Near East University and taking the course of “curriculum development”. During the implementation which lasted 12 weeks, while the experimental group was implemented with the curriculum developed in line with authentic learning, the control group was implemented with a traditional curriculum. The results obtained from the research have indicated that the curriculum developed in line with authentic learning has increased the success of the teacher candidates. Also, there has been a meaningful difference in the attitudes of teacher candidates towards the course of curriculum development. Yet, the same developed curriculum has increased the self-directed learning skills of teacher candidates from a moderate level to a high level.     

Can Teachers Enter Candidates Appropriately for Examinations Involving Differentiated Papers?

The ability of teachers to enter candidates for appropriate combinations of differentiated papers is considered. The results of experimental work suggest that teachers would be able to predict their pupils’ examination performance accurately enough to enter almost all pupils at appropriate levels of such examinations; and that they would be able to do this as early as the January preceding the examination. However, they will be able to enter candidates effectively only if the standards required for the overlapping grades are the same at all levels of an examination. There is some evidence to suggest that this condition may not always hold. In addition, results from some Joint 16+ examinations suggest that there may be a considerable number of inappropriate entries to GCSE examinations which use differentiated papers.     

高考选考科目定级计分和校准的若干问题

新高考方案包含了选考科目,而在各选考科目中,考生能力高低不同、试题难易不同,因此原始分不具有可比性。如果使用标准分或者比例等级计分,那么它在摆平各科难度的同时,也会将各选考科目考生的整体能力差异抹平,因而带来新的问题。本文在讨论了几个典型的新高考方案中选考科目成绩不校准带来的问题后,认为解决问题的一个可行方法是使用必考科目成绩去校准选考科目成绩,同时还澄清和回应了几个有关校准选考科目成绩方面的问题和疑虑。本文认为,用必考科目成绩去校准选考科目成绩的方案可以设计得很简单,包括在比例等级计分基础上只加不减。     

Asperger syndrome and the English curriculum: addressing the challenges

A major criterion for the diagnosis of Asperger syndrome is an impairment of the imagination. This article focuses on the specific difficulties that students with Asperger syndrome have with the imaginative content of the English curriculum. It examines the problems with reading and writing imaginatively of a group of students with AS in a secondary school mainstream setting. Various strategies and interventions are considered and discussed which could aid their understanding and learning in relation to the imaginative element of the English curriculum. While acknowledging that this is an area of real difficulty for these students, recommendations include: treating students with AS as individuals; using a small group setting; providing support through structured frameworks.     

中小学教师职业压力、社会支持与职业倦怠关系研究——以安徽省为例

对安徽省395名中小学教师的职业压力、社会支持和职业倦怠进行调查与分析.结果表明:3.5%的教师有严重职业压力,43.8%的教师有轻度职业压力;有轻度、中度和重度职业倦怠的教师比例分别为18.2%,7.8%和2.8%.教师的职业压力、社会支持与职业倦怠3个维度均呈显著负相关.应采取有效措施,减轻教师的职业压力,建立和完善社会支持系统,减少教师的职业倦怠感.     

Back to the future: A methodology for comparing old A-level and new AS standards

Curriculum 2000 has meant significant change for the post-16 sector. New qualifications have been introduced (e.g. the new Advanced Subsidiary examination) and the number of students involved in education and training post-16 has increased. In this scenario how can the standards of new qualifications, particularly the new Advanced Subsidiary examinations, be compared with those of previous qualifications? One method is to use the prior achievement of candidates (i.e. GCSE results) as a basis for comparison of their results on subsequent qualifications (i.e. A levels and AS). This method of comparability and its limitations will be explored using examples with actual data.     

LGBTQ-inclusive curricula: why supportive curricula matter

There is growing attention to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and questioning (LGBTQ) issues in schools, including efforts to address such issues through the curriculum. This study examines whether students’ perceptions of personal safety and school climate safety are stronger when curricula that include LGBTQ people are present and supportive. LGBTQ and straight middle and high school students from California (1232 students from 154 schools) participated in the 2008 Preventing School Harassment survey. They reported their experience of LGBTQ-inclusive curriculum, its level of supportiveness and perceptions of safety. Multilevel methods allowed for an examination of differences between individuals in the same school while controlling for differences between schools. LGBTQ-inclusive curricula were associated with higher reports of safety at the individual and school levels, and lower levels of bullying at the school level. The amount of support also mattered: supportive curricula were related to feeling safer and awareness of bullying at the individual and school levels. The implications of school- versus student-level results for educational policy and practices are discussed.     

University Admissions and the Prediction of Degree Performance: an Analysis in the Light of Changes to the English Schools’ Examination System

The United Kingdom's Department for Education has recently changed the nature of the AS‐level examinations normally taken by students aspiring to enter higher education degree courses one year into their post‐compulsory education. In the face of protests from universities and other institutions that this would both harm students’ progression towards the A‐level qualifications, on which entry to English universities is normally based, and make it difficult for universities determining which of their applicants were best placed to benefit from their degree courses, the Department conducted research which it claimed showed that degree outcome could be predicted as well from the results of GCSE examinations taken one year before AS‐levels as from AS‐levels themselves. This paper critiques those analyses and their conclusions showing, through a re‐analysis and extended interpretation of the Department's data, that AS‐levels provide a more reliable predictor of degree performance in 2011 than GCSEs and that many students who performed better at AS‐level than at GCSE gained a place, and performed well, at a university with high entrance standards.     

Moral Education and the Training of Teachers

Abstract

In this study of the relationship between moral behaviour, level of moral development, and motivation, moral behaviour was assessed in an experimental situation in which it was necessary to violate the experimenter's authority to help someone; level of moral development was assessed by Kohlberg's Moral Judgment Scale, and motivation by a post‐experimental interview.

Although 72 per cent of the subjects stated afterwards that they felt that they should help, only 43 per cent did, and only 6 per cent volunteered their own service. As the level of moral development rose, an increasing percentage of subjects helped. Subjects interpreted the same situation differently and were motivated to make the same response for different reasons, which varied with their level of moral development.     

Progression in school science curriculum: A rational prospect or a chimera?

Science in schooling has for the first time been recently considered as a verified whole for the 10 or 12 of its compulsory years, rather than for a limited sector of schooling or for a particular group of students. This has also been occurring as part of a wider review and plan for the whole curriculum of schooling. A framework has been provided consisting of a matrix of strands of intended content for learning across a number of levels approximating the years of schooling. There is a sense and expectation of continuous progression in the learning of science. Earlier notions of progression in science curricula are explored and compared with what has now appeared in the national curricula in England and Wales, New Zealand and Australia. The notions of curriculum opportunity and curriculum purpose for science education are introduced as factors that would lead to a shift in the sense of progression from a focus on Science itself to an emphasis on the learners' changing need of Science as they progress through the years of schooling. Specializations: science curriculum, environmental education, equity in education     

A discussion of some methodological issues in international assessments

Three topics addressed in the previous chapters are identified and discussed from a somewhat different perspective from that of the chapter authors. The topics are: the level of scoring in assessment studies, translation of test items, and sampling of curriculum content. Based on the analysis of these topics, five recommendations are offered. International assessments should be scored and reported at a more specific level that is currently the practice. There is a need of sound statistical checks on the quality of item translations. Rather than sampling the curriculum only once or twice, sampling could be in real time and on a permanent basis. Tests could be administered with open books and a well-chosen time limit per item. Finally, schools could be instructed to prepare their students for the assessment.     

The Pacific region

Population education in the Pacific region is summarized in terms of awareness and commitment, curriculum and instructional materials development, integration into the school curricula, training programs, and evaluation research. Several population education issues of current concern relate to the increase in chronic diseases such as diabetes and hypertension that are associated with life styles and diet, and the rising incidence of AIDS and teenage pregnancy. In the Pacific region, many countries have advanced population programs and policies, while some still do not even have a population policy. The issue of balancing population and resources is a topic that has not been sufficiently addressed in resource-poor countries. There is wide variance in awareness and commitment to population education in the Pacific region. Commitment and continuous support are crucial to population education projects. Lack of support is sometimes due to changing government personnel and lack of awareness of policy makers. Population education is not the same as family planning or sex education, and traditionally is spread through seminars and workshops by part time project personnel unconnected to the entire educational apparatus. Presently, only 8 population projects are functioning in the region, with 2-3 in the planning stages. Materials development in the Pacific region has been devoted to the secondary school level, yet awareness is increasing that sexuality, family health, and the environment should be introduced at the primary level. A popular strategy is to integrate population issues into the existing curriculum, such as in Fiji, the Marshall Islands, and Kiribati, which also have teacher training curriculum. In most countries sex education is still a controversial topic, and materials are developed by teacher committees working after school rather in a curriculum development unit. AIDS has pushed this topic into the public sector. A chart is provided for each country and curriculum with population education and the level of schooling for formal and informal education. Training programs tend to be orientation workshops, materials development workshops, or teacher training workshops. Evaluation research in population education has been weak, due to an emphasis on program implementation, curriculum development, and limited resources and expertise.     

The Role of Cognitive Conflict in Developing Students’ Understanding of Average

Two strands of research motivate this study. One is the interest in school students’ development of understanding of the concept of average, historically part of the mathematics curriculum and prominent in the statistics curriculum introduced in the early 1990s. The other is the belief of some educators that students learn meaningfully when experiencing cognitive conflict that challenges incorrect or incomplete understandings. This study presented 58 students in Grades 3, 6, and 9 with a series of questions about the concept of average. After initial levels of response were observed, students were presented with alternative responses on video from other school students and asked to choose which best resolved the task at hand. Initial responses confirmed the levels of understanding in an earlier study based on the same questions. Responses after the experience of cognitive conflict were either at the same level as before or higher, with no student finally agreeing with a lower level response. The results are compared with longitudinal change in relation to average and change resulting from cognitive conflict in relation to other areas of chance and data. Implications of the research are considered.     

Efficiency differences of finnish senior secondary schools: An application of DEA and Tobit analysis

We studied efficiency differences among Finnish senior secondary schools by Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA). Four model variants were used. Average efficiencies in the most extensive models were 82–84 per cent. When parents' educational level was treated as an additional input, average efficiency increased to 91 per cent. The efficiency rankings of schools changed to some extent when simplest quantitative inputs and outputs were augmented by measures of teacher quality and national matriculation examination results. As a second stage after DEA analysis, we explained the degree of inefficiency (100-efficiency score) by a statistical Tobit model. Schools with small classes and heterogenous student bodies were inefficient whereas school size did not affect efficiency. Surprisingly, private schools were inefficient relative to public schools. When parents' educational level was only included in the Tobit model, it affected efficiency positively.     

Online and blended learning approach on instructional multimedia development courses in teacher education

In this study, an e-learning environment was designed for teacher candidates. Teacher candidates developed multimedia-based projects by means of multimedia tools. This research aims to determine the effects of online and blended learning approaches on the success level of multimedia projects and the teacher candidates' attitudes, opinions and perceptions on e-learning. This study used a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods. There were two different groups in the study: online and blended groups. The online and the blended groups consisted of 30 and 32 teacher candidates, respectively. Teacher candidates in the blended group developed multimedia-based projects and shared information communicating in a WiziQ and Facebook environment with their peers and instructors when they were not at school. On the other hand, the teacher candidates in the online group communicated with their instructors and peers only in a WiziQ and Facebook environment. The results showed that the blended learning approach was more effective than the online learning approach. The usability of online learning and blended learning in higher education is addressed in recommendations for future research and practice.     

Issue Ownership for Non-Presidential Television Spots

Petrocik's (1996) theory of political party issue ownership predicts that candidates will emphasize the issues on which their own party is considered most effective. This prediction has been confirmed in presidential campaign messages, but it has yet to be tested with non-presidential campaign discourse. Computer content analysis of over 1100 political television spots from 1980 to 2002 (most spots were from 2002) discovered that overall, Democratic candidates discussed their own party's issues more than did Republicans, whereas Republicans discussed Republican issues more than did Democratic candidates. However, local ads and US Senate spots from 2002 did not follow issue ownership predictions (candidates did not discuss their own party's issues significantly more than the other party's issues). Unlike presidential spots, non-presidential advertising discusses Democratic issues more than Republican ones; the Republican Party owns more national or federal issues such as national defense and foreign policy.     

Intelligibility is equity: Can international students read undergraduate admissions materials?

Fewer international students have applied to and enrolled in US institutions, as 40 per cent of US institutions reported a drop in international applications since 2016. Subsequently, US institutions must ensure that their international admissions materials are as equitable and transparent as possible. Expanding previous work, this study examines the readability and translation of international undergraduate admissions materials of 335 four‐year public and non‐profit private US institutions. Results reveal these materials are written near a 14th‐grade reading comprehension level, only 1 per cent of institutions provide web‐embedded translation tools on their websites and 91 per cent of institutions provide English‐only content. Implications for practitioners, policymakers and future research are addressed.     

Teachers' estimates of candidates' grades: Curriculum 2000 Advanced Level Qualifications

In the UK, estimated grades have long been provided to higher education establishments as part of their entry procedures. Since 1994 they have also been routinely collected by awarding bodies to facilitate the grade‐awarding process. Analyses of required estimates to a British awarding body revealed that teachers' estimates of candidates' Curriculum 2000 A level grades in the first year of awarding demonstrated an unprecedented degree of accuracy. Estimates of AS level grades conversely showed relative imprecision. Accuracy of the A‐level estimates was most likely bolstered by feedback inherent to the modularisation of the examination while the weakness of AS level estimates may have been a consequence of the comparatively unfamiliar standard at which this qualification was set. As in previous research, and for both GCE qualifications, when estimates were inaccurate they were more commonly optimistic than pessimistic.