Students' Conceptions of Research. 2: An exploration of contrasting patterns of variation

This study explores variation in postgraduate students' and supervisors' conceptions of research. Based on earlier work, a Conceptions of Research Inventory (CoRI) was trialled on a mixed sample of postgraduate students and supervisors (n = 251). Exploratory factor analyses of resultant data yields a five‐dimensional empirical model, the composition of which is consistent with earlier work by the present authors. Four of these five dimensions distinguish between (variation in) conceptions of research such as “truth”, “problem‐solving”, “re‐search”, and “an insightful process”. The fifth dimension captures variation in terms of what are interpreted as “misconceptions”. The discrete conceptual dimensions suggested within the factor model are further explored via k‐means cluster analyses in terms of partitioning of the dataset, as limited by sample sizes, according to postgraduate status and supervisor designation. These analyses provide further insights into variation, across the various clusters in each case, as expressed in the profiles of cluster mean scores. Such differences as are evidenced highlight contrasting patterns of variation between, for example, experienced and novice researchers. There is also evidence of dissonance in some of the cluster solutions and it is further demonstrated via analysis of variance that dissonant cluster membership is associated with a generally lower level of self‐estimated performance. The implications of these findings are finally considered in relation to postgraduate training and supervision.     

Discerning Pedagogical Quality in Preschool

A well‐developed and researched conceptual framework exists for identifying undergraduate students' conceptions of learning. In addition, research has been reported on teachers' conceptions of teaching as they relate to their conceptions of learning. The research reported in this paper takes the existing framework into a new area, postgraduate supervisors' conceptions of “research”. It is hypothesized that the development of a conceptual framework that identifies postgraduate students' conceptions of “research”, and how these articulate with the conceptions of research held by their research supervisors, will enable support mechanisms to be developed and used to assist students early in their candidature. In addition, supervisory practice will benefit from being aware of, and sensitive to, the variety and potential effect of these conceptions. While it is recognized that there are strong cultural influences on conceptions of research, this project has focused initially on the conceptions of research generally adopted by Western academic institutions. However, the students involved in the study were not necessarily of a Western educational background. This paper outlines the results of research undertaken to date in identifying supervisors' conceptions. In addition, it discusses supervisors' views on: the purpose of research and what characterizes “good” research and good researchers. Various strategies reported by supervisors to assist their students to develop more comprehensive and sophisticated conceptions of research are also discussed.     

“Do I need research skills in working life?”: University students’ motivation and difficulties in quantitative methods courses

This study explored university students’ views of whether they will need research skills in their future work in relation to their approaches to learning, situational orientations on a learning situation of quantitative methods, and difficulties experienced in quantitative research courses. Education and psychology students in both Finland (N = 46) and the USA (N = 122), who thought that they would need research skills in their future work, differed significantly from the students who were not sure whether they would need these skills. The students, who considered research skills important for their future work, were more task-oriented, used a deeper approach to learning and experienced fewer difficulties in the learning of research skills than other students. This finding implies that experiences in learning, learning approaches and situational orientations are related to expectations about future work. For instruction, this means that if we were somehow able to change students’ experiences and orientations towards research into a more positive direction, students might be better prepared for their future work.     

Conceptions of learning and approaches to learning in Portuguese students

The article describes a study that attempted to characterise Portuguese students’ conceptions of learning and approaches to learning. A sample of university students answered open questions on the meaning, process and context of learning. Results, derived from content analysis, replicate most conceptions of learning described by phenomenographical research (i.e. distinction between learning as memorisation and learning as comprehension). Moreover, new variants of known conceptions of learning emerged (e.g. learning occurs through: exploratory practice; learning to learn; motivation) and an apparently new conception (i.e. learning as understanding and application). The same sample answered a questionnaire which attempted to measure motivation and learning strategies. Through factorial analysis of results it was possible to confirm the presence of three well-known approaches to learning: surface, deep and achieving.     

学习化社会背景下的瑞典教育改革——以学前教育和高等教育为蓝本

二战后,瑞典为推进学习化社会的建设,政府以终身教育为指导思想大力改革传统教育体制,尤其重视学前教育的基础性和高等教育的引导作用.在学前教育的改革方面,瑞典政府明晰学前教育目标,强调儿童的全面发展,革新学前教育内容和方式.在高等教育的改革方面,瑞典政府扩大高等教育的规模,为终身教育实施提供条件,加强对高等教育的调控,为终身教育提供制度保障.     

Learning science through writing: associations with prior conceptions of writing and perceptions of a writing program

Students in a large undergraduate biology course were expected to write a scientific report as a key part of their course design. This study investigates the quality of learning arising from the writing experience and how it relates to the quality of students’ preconceptions of learning through writing and their perceptions of their writing program that led to their report. Closed‐ended questionnaires investigating student conceptions and perceptions of writing, and approaches to writing, were completed by 121 students. Significant associations were found amongst qualitatively different prior and post conceptions of writing, approaches to writing and achievement. The results of the analyses suggest that the effective support of student experiences of writing reports requires teachers to be aware of the type of conceptions that students bring to their course and the perceptions they hold about the purpose of the writing program in which they are engaged.     

PBL:教育实践和研究的未来挑战

本文是一篇有关PBL的评论性研究,根据现代学习理论,作者论述了四个有关学习的原则,解释了这些原则在PBL中的应用,并对已进行的研究进行了评议.     

学习品质视域下的学龄前儿童教育游戏设计与开发研究

实现"游戏性"与"教育性"的有效融合是学龄前儿童教育游戏设计开发的难点。学习品质作为学龄前儿童发展的重要领域,将儿童发展的关注点从"学什么"转变为"如何学",强调要从"完整学习者"和"主动学习者"的角度看待儿童的学习过程和学习行为,为教育游戏的设计研究提供了新的视角。基于学习品质的相关成果,该研究构建了基于儿童学习品质的教育游戏设计框架,从情感/动机和行动/行为两个维度呈现了学习品质各个要素在儿童游戏过程和学习过程中的交互关系和发展过程。根据该框架设计了针对3-6岁儿童的"唐诗咏流传"教育游戏并进行了实践。初步应用表明,该游戏对儿童的兴趣、快乐、动机等要素有明显影响,对坚持性、灵活性和自我调节的促进还需要进一步研究和完善。     

Medical and Nursing Students' Development of Conceptions of Science during Three Years of Studies in Higher Education

This article is a presentation of current research on pupils’ experiences in encounters with their classmates in school. The starting point is the narratives of Loffa, a 25‐year‐old nursery teacher, telling us about her school experiences. She gives a picture of herself as a quiet and well‐behaved schoolgirl, and she talks about things such as the limited space she and a group of her classmates had in their classroom, about how they were regarded as ‘nerds’ by the other pupils and therefore had little to say in what went on in their classroom. Seen in the light of the political, social and historical context of the vision of a ‘school for all’ and of the principle of a ‘complex social environment’ this can be interpreted as one version of the specific expression in Lotta ‘s class of the built‐in conflicts of the comprehensive school, the conflicts between groups with different intellectual traditions and needs.     

教育叙事与学前教育研究刍议

20世纪80年代兴起的教育叙事研究因其独特的研究方式,而被逐步引入到教育研究领域中。在学前教育研究中,叙事研究不仅完成了学前教育理论研究和实践研究之间的有效对话及交流,更促进了学前教育研究向生活世界的回归,并使教师成为学前教育研究中的真正言说者。     

Frequency of Six Early Childhood Education Approaches: A 10-Year Content Analysis of Early Childhood Education Journal

The frequency of early childhood education approaches spanning 10 years of publications was investigated. A content analysis of publications (N = 492) from Early Childhood Education Journal was conducted. From a previous content analysis six approaches or search words were identified: Bank Street, Head Start, High/Scope, Montessori, Reggio Emilia, and Waldorf. Overall, the current content analysis demonstrated that the Head Start approach most frequently appeared. The results indicate that approaches vary as to their frequency of appearance and that contributors of Early Childhood Education Journal have investigated, reflected upon, and expanded upon approaches to educating young children to different degrees. This finding may be beneficial to future contributors of Early Childhood Education Journal. In addition, we have provided a brief overview of each approach that early childhood professionals may use to aid parents with their early childhood education enrollment decisions.     

Preparing Doctoral-Level Consultants for Systems Change: Implementing and Supervising Multitiered Practices in Early Childhood Education

Implementing changes that support a preventative approach in early childhood education (ECE) requires the collaboration of skilled professionals. The present case study describes a change effort to implement multitiered systems of support (MTSS) in early childhood settings that included collaboration of agency personnel, school psychology program faculty and trainees, and ECE faculty. It describes a competency-based training initiative that provides applied experiences in consultation, supervision, and change facilitation for systems change efforts. The implementation of a systems-level approach for promoting positive behavior at three ECE agencies is described, with resulting teacher and child outcomes. Implications for future consultation research, training, and practice are discussed in relation to a consultation training model that provides competency-based field experiences to support change in ECE.     

从领导的视角看香港幼儿教育的学习空间:一种现象学的方法

近年来,香港的幼儿教育开始受到重视,政府对幼儿教育机构负责人的管理也开始加强。本文籍由从事现象学研究的学者常用的访谈法对6位幼儿期教育机构的领导进行了访谈,访谈的内容主要涉及与学习概念有关的个人发展经历和其在幼儿教育机构工作时的经验。从幼儿教育机构的领导的视角来看待香港幼儿教育的学习空间,本文探索了在他们的早期学校教育、教师培训和幼儿教育机构教学经历中的一些好的学习经验以及成人学习与幼儿学习的明显区别。     

农村幼儿教育发展问题与对策研究——以贵州安顺市为例

发展幼儿教育对于促进儿童的身心健康发展、普及义务教育、提高国民整体素质、实现全面建设小康社会的目标都具有十分重要的意义。随着教育改革的不断深入,发展中的农村幼儿教育,存在着诸多前进中的困难和问题。通过调研及资料收集,客观分析了影响和制约我市幼儿教育事业发展的困难和问题,并对幼儿教育特别是农村幼儿教育事业发展提出了一些意见和建议。     

早期教育视野中的游戏

因为游戏具有促进幼儿发展的功能,所以游戏便被纳入教育的视野。但游戏一旦成为教育者手中的工具,试图运用它去实现某种教育功能时,立刻就被赋予了功利目的。当游戏必须符合教育的目的性时,游戏者的自由意志将被大大削弱。对游戏与教学关系的认识和实践,既受制于文化传统的影响,也受制于对游戏本质的理解。在中国文化背景下,幼儿园要以游戏为基本活动,既要寓教于乐,更要寓学于乐。     

语文研究性学习--一种开放的学习方式

语文研究性学习是一种开放的学习方式。在语文教学中，恰当、合理地运用，可以事半功倍，早日实现我国新一轮教育改革的目的——增强学生对自然和社会的责任感，突出培养学生的创新精神和实践能力，获取新知识的能力，分析问题和解决问题的能力，收集和处理信息的能力，交流与合作的能力。     

公共教育权力的变迁与教育政策的有效性

在不断变革的社会中 ,许多国家都在发生着公共教育权力的变迁。在我国社会转型的进程中 ,也发生着公共教育权力的变迁 ,并产生新的教育社会关系和教育问题 ,如政府选择与非政府选择的关系、公益与私益的关系、公平与效率的关系、解制与规制的关系等 ,从而对教育政策的有效性提出了挑战。教育政策要有效调整新的教育社会关系 ,有效解决新的教育问题 ,必须改革教育政策活动范式 ,做出新的制度安排。     

我国学前教育研究年发展状况分析

改革开放以来,我国学前教育研究逐步成为一个受到重视的教育研究分支领域,获得了比较显著的发展。通过对其间20年里被列为全国教育科学规划课题的学前教育课题以及中国学前教育研究会自行设立的课题所做的多重分析发现,我国学前教育的发展具体表现在研究数量大幅度增加,研究者的职业类别与所处地域明显扩宽,研究领域不断拓展,研究内容不断丰富,越来越注重实践研究,研究成果的应用性与实效性明显增强等方面。我国学前教育研究也存在着科研规范性欠缺,跟风式重复研究等问题。     

Child Observation and Accountability in Early Childhood Education: Perspectives from Australia and the United States

The changing ways child observation is being used by preschool teachers in the United States and Australia are described in relation to the accountability movement pressuring young children and their teachers in both countries. The costs of the accountability movement in early childhood education are explored, and a call for genuine accountability based on assessment strategies such as traditional child observation is made.