Black students' school success: Coping with the “burden of ‘acting white’”

The authors review their previous explanation of black students' underachievement. They now suggest the importance of considering black people's expressive responses to their historical status and experience in America. Fictive kinship is proposed as a framework for understanding how a sense of collective identity enters into the process of schooling and affects academic achievement. The authors support their argument with ethnographic data from a high school in Washington, D.C., showing how the fear of being accused of acting white causes a social and psychological situation which diminishes black students' academic effort and thus leads to underachievement. Policy and programmatic implications are discussed.     

“It's Easier to Be Yourself When You Are Invisible”: Female College Students Discuss Their Online Classroom Experiences

There has been considerable scholarly interest in issues related to gender in the classroom, especially in terms of finding ways in which classrooms might be configured to be more welcoming--and less chilly--to female students. There is some evidence to suggest that the online learning environment may provide educators with opportunities to achieve a more female-friendly classroom, and this study was designed to gather information about that question. 125 female college students who had completed at least one online, college-level class were invited to discuss their experiences learning online. These data show that female college students respond to the online environment in a variety of ways. A small group of students indicated that they did not enjoy learning online, while others expressed mixed feelings. The majority, however, had positive things to say about their online classroom experiences; and of these, a large number identified anonymity as the most important positive aspect of the online learning environment.     

A system of cognitive stimulation in instructional strategies

Cognitive Stimulation is a system of intrinsic motivation which draws upon neo-behavioral, cognitive, and information-processing theories and upon a body of related research. The essential features of this system are the following: (a) a discrepancy between stimulus input and the learner's expectations for that input, (b) instrumental responses by the learner to reduce the discrepancy, and (c) feedback which may have the effect of maintaining the discrepancy or of reducing it by signalling changes in the environment or by modifying the learner's expectations. Based on this formulation, some important instructional considerations include the collative content of the input and the type of expectation which the input violates. In order to maximize their motivational effects, discrepancies must be maintained at optimal levels by manipulating variables such as the total value of the discrepant elements and the degree to which the elements are incompatible. Finally, the motivational impact of discrepancies is subject to the facilitating or debilitating effects of cognitive and personality differences among individual learners. The implications of this system for instructional decision-making were considered in terms of the selection of instructional topics, instructional materials, and instructional strategies.     

Insights fourth and fifth graders bring to multiplication and division with decimals

This study was designed to gain information about the understandings children in Israel and the United States have about multiplication and division of whole numbers that may be useful in building accurate understandings of these operations with decimals and the extent to which they hold conceptions about these operations that may interfere with their work with decimals. Data from interviews of the fourth and fifth graders indicate that students of this age already hold misconceptions such as multiplication always makes bigger. However they also hold conceptions that are prerequisite to understanding the area model of multiplication and the measurement model of division. These early conceptions might be used to build understanding of multiplication and division by decimals. Implications for the content and sequencing of instructional activities are presented.     

Class size and college students' evaluations of teachers and courses: A closer look

A systematic analysis of extant studies reveals, on average, a very weak inverse association between the size of class enrollment in a college course and students' overall evaluation of the course and its teacher, as well as between class size and evaluations of specific instructional dimensions pertaining to the instructor's skill in presenting material and communicating information. Larger inverse associations are typically found between class size and evaluations of specific instructional dimensions pertaining to the instructor's interactions and interrelationships with students. This pattern of findings is consistent with the accumulating evidence that the instructional dimensions of the first set have greater importance for students in forming their global opinions of teachers and courses than do those of the second set. The further finding in some studies of a negative curvilinear (roughly U-shaped) relationship between class size and evaluations is noted and discussed. Implications for the validity of teacher evaluations are considered and the related question of whether class size biases these evaluations is explored.     

The relationship between attributes of a children's radio program and its appeal to listeners

An approach was developed to investigate the link between attributes of a children's radio program and children's judgments of appeal. Program tapes were divided into 28 segments and were rated for the presence of 30 attributes. Through multidimensional scaling analysis, attributes were organized into six clusters of Superattributes on the basis of their co-occurrence across the 28 segments. Superattributes were labeled and assigned scores that reflected the degree to which each was present in the 28 segments. A sample of 42 children 8–12 years old listened to the test tapes and provided a written judgment of their interest in the program at each segment. Results revealed that the Superattributes Instruction, Intro Talk, and Jokes were negatively associated with children's interest, while Popular Music was positively correlated with interest. In planning programs and understanding the effects of radio on children, designers and researchers should pay special attention to those formats in radio programming that are familiar to children, especially popular music and instructional material.     

Elaborating the elaboration theory

In this article, the author comments on the preceding article, A Critical Review of Elaboration Theory, by Brent Wilson and Peggy Cole     

Becoming a mature student: How adult appplicants weigh the advantages and disadvantages of higher education

The data presented in this paper is taken fromthe results of two much larger studies ofmature student decision-making and HigherEducation (HE), which considerprocesses of agency from initial considerationof the possibility of becoming a studentto eventually becoming one. In thispaper, six categories of applicant to HE arediscussed: `Delayed traditional students', `Late starters' who have undergone alife-transforming event e.g. redundancy ordivorce and require `a new start'. `Single parents' `Careerists', who are currently in employment who seek a qualification to make progress in their existing careers, `Escapees' who are currently in employment who want a qualification as a way out of `dead-end' jobs, Finally, the `personal growers', a small number pursuing education for its own sake.These categories of applicants are discussed inlight of the factors that both catalyse andinhibit individuals' decision-making duringapplication to HE.     

A quantitative analysis of the demand for higher education

This article analyses the plans of a sample of 7425 secondary school children in Greece regarding their demand for further education. A set of family, personal, geographical and school characteristics are related by means of multivariate analysis to the pupil's decision to continue or not his/her studies and to the particular institution of higher education he/she aspired entry. The maximum likelihood estimates of the yes-no pupil decision indicate the dominance of school grade as a key variable affecting plans for further study. An educational production function revealed in turn that it is mainly parents' education that relates to scholastic achievement. The article also contains empirical estimates of the relative strength of several family and school factors affecting self-selection which may make the results useful to policy makers who attempt to influence the social demand for post-secondary education.     

Using problem solving teaching styles to prepare candidates for the CXC basic proficiency examinations

Two Grade 10 classes in an urban Jamaican High School were taught over a period of one academic year in two problem solving styles: an Explicit Style derived from Charles, and an Implicit Style derived from Isaacs. At the end of the academic year there was no significant difference in their performance on a problem solving test, or on the Problem Solving Profile of the Caribbean Examinations Council's Basic Proficiency papers. The two classes performed much better than the population who sat the Basic papers on the tasks measuring Recall and Algorithmic Thinking but only moderately better than the population on tasks measuring Problem Solving.The teaching project described in this paper was supported in part by grants from the Research and Publications Fund Committee of the University of the West Indies (Mona), and the Wolmers Trust, Kingston. The author wishes to thank the Registrar and the Pro-Registrar of the Caribbean Examinations Council for permission to use the CXC papers and data in this study. A modified version of this paper was presented at the 63rd Annual Conference of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics held in San Antonio, Texas in 1985.     

Choosing competency-based,humanistic and self-directed programs: The contribution of personality and reasoning

Fifty-five college women enrolled in competency-based, humanistic or self-directed education programs completed their California Personality Inventory and listed five reasons for selecting their program. CPI results indicated that self-directed students scored lower than other students on the Femininity Scale (p.001). Using Chickering's seven vectors of change as a framework, the study found competency-based students identifying purpose and competence, humanistic students identifying inter-personal relationships and integrity, and self-directed student identifying autonomy and purpose as reasons for enrolling in their nontraditional programs. The study used these results to question the mythology that adherents to different programs are of different personality types and to argue that differences in perceptions of purpose in education distinguish students in the three programs.     

Mathematics teaching as problem solving: A framework for studying teacher metacognition underlying instructional practice in mathematics

The purpose of this exploratory study was to use a teaching as problem solving perspective to examine the components of metacognition underlying the instructional practice of seven experienced and seven beginning teachers of secondary school mathematics. A metacognitive framework was developed to examine the thoughts of teachers before, during and after lesson enactments. Data were obtained through observations, lesson plans, videotapes, and audiotapes of structured interviews during the course of one semester. Data analysis suggests that the metacognition of teachers plays a well-defined role in classroom practice. These findings provide useful insights for researchers and teacher educators in their preservice and inservice mathematics programs.     

“Hispanic” children: Theoretical,empirical, and related policy issues

Not only are school-age ethnic and racial minority children one of the fastest growing segments of the U.S. population, they are also one of the most vulnerable. Hispanic children in particular are representative of the at-risk status of minority populations, displaying a portrait of unrealized social, educational, and employment success. This paper addresses the background and history of U.S. social and educational policies as they relate to the Hispanic student. Recent empirical findings are presented which support the following: (a) the bilingual character of Hispanic children is not a linguistic, cognitive, or educational liability and, in fact, should be employed to promote academic achievement; (b) the culture of the Hispanic family and child are better understood with regard to socialization variables and the potential differences they produce when directly compared to Anglo culture; and (c) educational strategies for Hispanic students that respect and integrate students' social, psychological, and linguistic attributes serve students effectively.     

Student Outcomes: The Impact of Varying Living-Learning Community Models

This study explores the effect of three distinct living-learning community models on a variety of student experience and academic performance outcomes. Central to the analysis is an investigation of whether there are differences in outcomes for learning communities with different missions and structures, all three of which fall into the Linked Course learning community design. Even in the least coordinated, most basic, learning community model, students show more positive outcomes (first semester GPA, retention, first-year experience) than nonlearning community students. The fact that simple structures that facilitate student interaction around academic work (even without coordinated faculty involvement) have a positive effect for students of all preparation levels provides encouragement to campus leaders with limited resources who are working to develop methods for improving the undergraduate educational experience on their campuses.     

Education of the refugee in the United States

Conclusion This historical survey of the educational goals developed on behalf of the immigrant and refugee in America indicates that there has been a complete cycle. The first systematic educational efforts, as we have shown, were aimed at teaching the immigrant the English language so that he would be useful for his tasks in American industry. Then came the period which extended this educational goal by offering instruction in several aspects of acculturation (officially, assimilation, but a concept which has never been put into effect in the history of America's minorities). The post-war period saw the stress on the academic level on the cultural democracy concept; but this ideal has been more academic than practical, and World War II saw no definite evidences of the popular interest in any Americanization program. The recent waves of refugees, bringing in more or less well-educatedindividuals, saw a revival of educational efforts on their behalf; but they differ from the former endeavors in their emphasis on individual education and on instruction in English. The social aspects of acculturation — featuring, in general, the period between World War I and II — have been entirely ignored 1).     

Facing Facts in U.S. Science and Mathematics Education: Where We Stand,Where We Want to Go

The Third International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) provides data that seems clearly important to science and mathematics education in the U.S. TIMSS gathered extensive data on curriculum, textbooks, teachers, and instructional practices in science and mathematics education and some of these data are presented and discussed. Eighth grade achievement data show the U.S. to be somewhat above average in science achievement but consistently average or below in mathematics. U.S. official curricula cover comparatively many topics and are relatively unfocused. U.S. science and mathematics textbooks typically take a cautious, inclusive approach keeping traditional content while adding new reform topics. They thus lack. Teachers, without guidance to help them focus, typically divide their attention among many topics. Empirically, there is little agreement in the U.S. on what is truly basic judging by common topics among curricula and textbooks. U.S. teaching, at least in mathematics, is teacher and moves among many different activities, failing to tell a coherent story. We must face these as we seek to find ways to become what we want to be in providing science and mathematics education.     

Interactive development of subject matter in the mathematics classroom

There are considerable differences among mathematics teachers with regard to the quatlity of their way of developing mathematical knowledge in the classroom. Such differences are analysed. To develop mathematical meaning requires both a consistent presentation of the mathematical symbols and of the referential meaning of these symbols with respect to the given task. On the basis of this conception we assume that the quality of teaching will differ according to how teachers cope with the relation between these two sides of meaning. From a sample of 26 teachers, an expert teacher and a non-expert teacher were selected by means of classroom observation with scales of instructional quality variables. For each of these two teachers, two lessons introducing probability (sixth grade) are analysed. For this purpose, teacher and student contributions are coded. For the expert teacher, graphic visualizations of the development of mathematical concepts across time show soft transitions between the different aspects of mathematical meaning. These transitions are made possible by a consistent explication of the relation between formal symbols and the given mathematical task. In the case of the other teacher, explication of the relationship between the object side and the symbol side of mathematical meaning is much rarer, and there are sudden switches from one aspect of meaning to another. Further differences concern the handling of student contributions.We gratefully acknowledge the help of Wolfgang Barz, Regina Dietrich and Claudia Krüger with recording, transcribing or coding lessons. For their comments on draft versions of the paper the authors thank Deborah Ball, Jere Brophy, Willibald Dörfler, Alexander Gruza and two anonymous reviewers.     

Factors shaping community attitudes to school mathematics: Implications for future curriculum change

The goals of mathematics education are pressured by political, social, and economic forces that are often expressed through the medium of public opinion. Public opinion is formed largely by the preceptions of what is rather than the reality itself which may be known by only a few. The recommendations of committees of enquiry are activated in the world of average people and typical teachers — not the rarefied world of specialised professional knowledge in which the recommendations are typically incubated.This paper reports on community perceptions of school mathematics with respect to the four areas of content, individual values, attitudinal aspects, and folklore. Factor analysis identified five predictor variables (derived from the respondents' own backgrounds), and five criterion variables (describing their views and values as to what school mathematics should be). Analysis of variance was used to explore the contribution of the predictor variables and selected demographic variables to the criterion factor scores. The results are discussed in relation to their implications for the effective implementation of recommendations for change in mathematics education.     

Classroom control: Some cybernetic comments on the possible and the impossible

The application of basic cybernetic laws and information processing principles to the classroom situation suggests that traditional and modern teaching methods, regarded as control systems, are equivalent in terms of efficiency. As control structures, they embody different principles and are not decomposable. Examination of these principles reveals that the two methods are radically incompatible, in the sense that techniques developed in the one cannot be transferred to the other without dislocation of the system as a whole. Attempts to modernize the traditional method, or to formalize the modern method are ill-conceived. Such mixed methods violate basic laws of information and control, and cannot work. It is suggested that many of the problems underlying the Great Education Debate are a consequence of the impossible state of affairs created by the widespread introduction of mixed methods.     

Connecting Teacher Beliefs to the Use of Children’s Literature in the Teaching of Mathematics

This article presents examples that illustrate how teachers use childrens literature in the teaching of mathematics. The examples are related to four curriculum ideologies that have influenced mathematics education in the USA for the last 75 years. It discusses why it is relevant to help teachers understand the ideological positions that influence their use of childrens literature during mathematics instruction, summarizes the four ideological positions, and presents results of a study of how teachers ideological positions relate to their use of childrens literature in the teaching of mathematics. The study examines two research questionsCan an instructional tool be developed that will highlight for teachers the different ways in which they and others use childrens literature to teach mathematics? and Can that instructional tool stimulate teacher discussion and reflection about their own beliefs and the ideological nature of the instructional environment in which they learned (as students) and teach (as teachers)? Study results indicate that both questions can be answered in the affirmative.