Learning with and from: positioning school students as advisors in pre-service teacher education

This article reports on an innovative pedagogical approach within the Learning Partnerships program in which school students help to ‘teach the teachers’ within pre-service teacher education. Classes of school students join with classes of pre-service teachers to provide input on how teachers can enhance school students’ engagement and wellbeing. The article draws on data collected from 125 students (aged 13–16) and 120 pre-service teachers in these workshops. Findings generated from a mixed methods study combining pre-workshop focus groups (n = Students: 38, Teachers: 33) and post-workshop focus groups (n = Students: 69, Teachers: 15) and post-workshop surveys (n = Students: 96; Teachers: 101) demonstrated that the workshops were mutually beneficial for both students and pre-service teachers. Participants found that workshopping together enhanced their belief in the possibility of positive student–teacher relationships. The pre-service teachers reported greater confidence in communicating with young people about the issues that affect student engagement and wellbeing. The school students reported that they were more willing to use teachers as a source of help. Implications include the need for increased attention to a ‘third space’ for learning in teacher development which provides opportunity for learning with and from young people about how to foster their engagement and wellbeing.     

立起“人生支点”：初中教育的本来意义

目前的初中学生最难教,初中教师最难当,初中校长最难做。缘何？因为教育观念莫衷一是、误区太多,初中学生又处于人生中的“多事之秋”,初中教师恰好处在教育系统链条中的“咽喉要塞”,初中校长更是置身于社会批评教育的“风口浪尖”当中。初中学生的鲜明特点在于强化“人生支点”的自我意识,初中教师的根本职责在于培植“人生支点”的坚实根基。初中校长的特殊使命在于扬起“人生支点”的前进风帆。夫如斯,不可不重视初中教育,不可不善待初中学生．不可不珍视初中校长和教师。     

Functional anatomy of the cardiovascular system: Professional development for PreK‐3 teachers using a “Train and equip” method results in learning opportunities for students

Preadolescent students are interested in learning the structure and function of the human body. However, their teachers are not trained in this content. The purpose of this project was to expand a successful outreach effort in the health sciences for grade 7–12 teachers to include PreK‐3 teachers. A “Healthy Hearts” workshop was offered to train the teachers in relevant content and also to give them a resource kit of supplies and equipment to facilitate the transference of the training into educational opportunities for their students. The workshop included many role‐playing activities and use of all items in the resource kit. A total of 25 workshops were conducted in 14 different community locations with 716 PreK‐3 teachers attending from 169 communities representing 59 (79%) of the state's 75 counties. African American (AA) teacher participation was 35%, twice the state AA population rate and 3.5× the AA public school teacher rate. Pre to Posttest scores increased an average of 15%. The results of the evaluation measures regarding the workshop and the transference of the training and use of resource kit items into learning opportunities for students were excellent. Universities have the capability, perhaps the responsibility, to provide the much‐needed professional development training to PreK‐12 teachers. Anatomists in medical and nonmedical school settings are well positioned to participate in this process and help close the gap between the interest young children have in learning about the human body and the lack of teacher training in this content. Anat Sci Ed 1:119–125, 2008. © 2008 American Association of Anatomists.     

Analysis of design and delivery of critical incident workshops for elementary school English as a foreign language teachers in community of practice

Language teachers can uncover new understanding of the teaching and learning process through reflecting on critical incidents [Richard, J.C., and T.S.C. Farrell. 2005. Professional Development for Language Teachers. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press]. Based on the data analysis of workshop handouts, observation notes, and interviews, this study analyses three critical incident workshops designed and delivered to 19 elementary school English teachers in Taiwan in terms of design, participants’ learning, strengths, and suggestions. The study has the following findings. First, the participants moved from knowing nothing about critical incidents or mazes to writing up, discussing, and analysing critical incidents in collaborative reflective practice. Most importantly, the workshop facilitator fostered a safe and trusting environment for participating teachers to discuss critical incidents freely and combat their isolation. Five elements are recommended to be integrated into the design and delivery of critical incident workshops.     

Whole Class Dialogic Discussion Meets Taiwan’s Physics Teachers: Attitudes and Culture

There is a distance between the power that whole class dialogic discussions (WCDD) may offer to the science class and their use in practice. Teachers’ attitudes toward WCDD are part of the problem. The aims of this study were twofold: (a) to examine Taiwanese physics teachers’ attitudes toward WCDD by considering cultural perspectives and describe how these attitudes changed as a result of a special workshop designed for this purpose, and (b) to report on how these attitudes should be taken into account in designing such workshops in the future. Nine experienced physics teachers participated in the WCDD workshop. The workshop was based on the WCDD model developed by Eshach (2010). Inductive analyses were performed on interviews with the teachers and their students, which were composed of 36 questions and developed specially for the purpose of this study, yielded the following categories: (1) In-school reasons for opposing WCDD—reasons belonging to school ways/tradition of teaching that may cause barriers to WCDD implementation; (2) External Factors—cultural reasons relating to Taiwanese views concerning education in general, which cause barriers to WCDD implementation; and (3) Cognitive aspect—refers to what teachers know about WCDD. The paper concludes with a discussion on what should be done in order to successfully bring WCDD to the Taiwanese physics class.     

Some possible effects of behaviour management training on teacher confidence and competence: evidence from a study of primary school teachers in Hong Kong

This study aims to explore the relationships between the extent and perceived quality of teachers’ experience of training in behaviour management (BM), and their awareness of the nature and extent of behavioural problems among school students, and their confidence in their own competence to deal with such problems. Teachers (n = 183) from Hong Kong primary schools were surveyed. The results showed that gender, age and whether teachers have received training had no significant influence on teachers’ awareness, conception and confidence regarding BM. A negative correlation was found between teachers’ levels of satisfaction in relation to their training experiences and their perceptions of the level of problematic behaviours among students, and the impact of students’ problematic behaviour on their teaching. A positive correlation was found between teachers’ levels of satisfaction in relation to their training experiences and their confidence in their own competence to deal with students’ problematic behaviour.     

The development and evaluation of a training program for school-based professionals dealing with child abuse: The University of Toronto interfaculty child abuse prevention project 1978–1979

This paper reports on a child protection training program for teachers, social workers, and nurses. The training format consisted of two 5-day workshops, one for preprofessional students and the other for practicing professionals, and two one-day workshops for students. The evaluation employed a pre-test/post-test design. Data were obtained from a total of 254 workshop participants who were randomly selected from a group of 400 volunteers. The training program was designed to provide information and experience in the areas of identification, family dynamics, legislation, intervention, and team responses. Curriculum effects were the dependent variables; group characteristics were the independent variables. The general finding was that the program was an effective means of accomplishing its objectives. Some of the specific findings were that professionals wanted more content in contrast to students who were satisfied with experiences which simulated practice. Both social work professionals and students were more confident in their ability to deal with the problem of child abuse before and after the program than teachers and nurses. In contrast, teachers began and ended the program with relatively low confidence and information levels. Overall, nurses had the highest level of entry and exit knowledge at the beginning and the end of the program. While the results indicate that the three groups profited from shared training experiences they also suggest that certain areas of training may best be realized by specialized workshops.     

Effectiveness of a Conflict Resolution Training Program in Changing Graduate Students Style of Managing Conflict with their Faculty Advisors

We investigated the conflict management preferences of graduate students with their faculty advisors and assessed the effects of participating in a conflict resolution workshop on those preferences. One hundred and twenty-one graduate students completed the pre-workshop surveys, and 69 participants completed the post-workshop surveys after seven workshops conducted over a 3 year period. Nineteen subjects participated in three post-workshop focus groups. The quantitative pre-workshop data showed that avoidance and accommodation styles for managing conflict were preferred among participants. Participants showed a trend towards a statistically significant increase in the collaborating score post-workshop relative to pre-workshop levels. The qualitative data indicated that students applied skills taught during the workshop, including interest-based principles, when interacting with faculty.     

Can teachers motivate students to learn?

Research on motivation has mainly concentrated on the role of goal orientation and self‐evaluation in conducting learning activities. In this paper, we examine the relative importance of teachers’ teaching and their efficacy beliefs to explain variation in student motivation. Questionnaires were used to measure the well‐being, academic self‐efficacy, mastery goal orientation, performance avoidance, intrinsic motivation and school investment of students (n = 3462) and the teaching practices and teachers’ sense of self‐efficacy (n = 194) in primary schools. Results of the multi‐level analyses show that connection to the students’ world and cooperative learning methods had a positive effect on students’ motivation, while process‐oriented instruction by the teacher had a negative effect on motivational behaviour and motivational factors of students. Finally, the results lend credence to the argument that teachers’ sense of self‐efficacy has an impact on both teachers’ teaching and students’ motivation to learn.     

树起人生支点：初中教育的本来意义

目前的初中学生最难教,初中教师最难当,初中校长最难做。缘何？因为教育观念莫衷一是、误区太多,初中学生又处于人生中的“多事之秋”,初中教师恰好处在教育系统链条中的“咽喉要塞”,初中校长更是置身于社会批评教育的“风口浪尖”当中。初中学生的鲜明特点在于强化“人生支点”的自我意识,初中教师的根本职责在于培植“人生支点”的坚实根基,初中校长的特殊使命在于扬起“人生支点”的前进风帆。夫如斯,不可不重视初中教育,不可不善待初中学生,不可不珍视初中校长和教师。     

Guiding music students during workshop-based on-the-job learning

This article explains the realisation and impact of tutoring on learning through a new kind of on-the-job learning method in workshops led by professional musicians. The research is a qualitative case study involving 62 upper secondary Finnish vocational music students who participated in 11 workshops. The research data consist of (a) workshop plans and personal learning goals written by the students before the workshops and (b) reflective essays about experiences after the workshops. The data were analysed using theory-oriented content analyses. In the workshop, the guidance-oriented interaction promoting learning starts at the beginning of the workshop with cooperative planning. The interaction between the students and the professional musician influenced the nature of the guidance – the professional musician was more like a colleague rather than a teacher. The students expressed that they had been able to influence the workshop goals in different phases and, thus, their professional competence had increased significantly. In vocational institutes, it is important to observe different ways of realising on-the-job learning and to develop new models of action, like the workshop method, to promote the development of students’ skills and competence.     

Pre‐service Teachers’ Subject Knowledge of and Attitudes about Radioactivity and Ionising Radiation

This study focussed on secondary school (11–18 years) pre‐service teachers’ (n = 73) knowledge of and attitudes towards risks associated with alpha, beta, and gamma radiations. A multi‐method approach was used with physics, chemistry, biology, and history graduates undertaking the one‐year initial teacher training, Post Graduate Certificate in Education course at a university in central England. A novel research tool, involving interviews about real concrete contexts and first‐hand data collection with radioactive sources, was employed to gain insights into a sub‐set of the sample (n = 12) of pre‐service teachers’ subject knowledge of and attitudes towards risk. The subject knowledge of all the pre‐service teachers was also measured using a Certainty of Response Index instrument; multiple‐choice questions with associated confidence indicators. Although the physicists displayed the higher levels of knowledge, they also demonstrated limitations in their knowledge and held misconceptions such as irradiation being confused with contamination. Physics graduates hold more rational attitudes and a greater willingness to accept risk while the attitudes of graduates in the other subject disciplines are more disparate. These findings raise questions about the extent to which pre‐service science and history teachers have the knowledge necessary to teach this topic. The article concludes with discussion of the implications these findings have for initial teacher training, continuing professional development needs for teachers already in the profession, and curriculum developers.     

初中物理电路识别教学的一种思路

电路是物理教学的难点,电路中的电路识别是难点中的难点。因此,如何引导学生掌握电路识别的方法是物理教师在教学中应着重思考的问题。文章结合初中物理电路相关知识,探究电路识别的教学思路,以更好地指导学生进行电路知识的学习,不断提升学生的电路识别能力。     

Teachers as writers: learning together with others

In the context of renewed interest in teachers' identities as writers and the writers as artist‐educators, this paper reports upon the findings of “Teachers as Writers” (2015–2017). A collaborative partnership between two universities and a creative writing foundation, the study sought to determine the impact of writers' engagement with teachers on changing teachers' classroom practices in the teaching of writing and, as a consequence, in improving outcomes for students. The project afforded opportunities for writers and teachers to work together as learners in order to improve student outcomes. The study involved two complementary datasets: a qualitative dataset of observations, interviews, audio‐capture (of workshops, tutorials and co‐mentoring reflections) and audio‐diaries from 16 teachers; and a randomised controlled trial (RCT) involving 32 primary and secondary classes. The findings reveal that the teachers' identities and assurance as writers shifted significantly. The Arvon experience also led to pedagogic shifts which the students reported impacted positively upon their motivation, confidence and sense of ownership and skills as writers. However, these salient dispositional shifts did not impact upon the young people's attainment. The professional writers gained new understandings which substantially altered their conceptions of writers' potential contribution in schools.     

初中物理实验教学模式优化研究--探究式教学模式

课堂教学是学校教育的主阵地，对于培养学生的创新精神，从根本上改变学生的学习方式，发挥着重要的作用。探究式教学，是新课改背景下物理课堂教学中的重点。初中物理探究式教学模式基本流程为：教师创设问题情景——学生讨论、猜想、解决途径——学生设计实验——学生根据设想的途径动手实验探索研究——教师及时指点迷津——组织交流自主解决问题——分析归纳得出结论——引导实际，应用提高。     

Factors Affecting Junior High School Students' Interest in Physics

We report the results of a study on students' interest in physics at the end of their compulsory schooling in Israel carried out in the framework of the ROSE Project. Factors studied were their opinions about science classes, their out-of-school experiences in physics, and their attitudes toward science and technology. Students' overall interest in physics was “neutral” (neither positive nor negative), with boys showing a higher interest than girls. We found a strong correlation between students' “neutral” interest in physics and their negative opinions about science classes. These findings raise serious questions about the implementation of changes made in the Israeli science curriculum in primary and junior high school, especially if the goal is to prepare the young generation for life in a scientific-technological era. A more in-depth analysis of the results led us to formulate curricular, behavioral, and organizational changes needed to reach this goal. ROSE (The Relevance of Science Education) is an international project with about 40 participating countries. ROSE is organized by Svein Sjoberg and Camilla Schreiner at The University of Oslo and is supported by the Research Council of Norway. Reports and details are available at http://www.ils.uio.no/english/rose/.     

云南省9—16岁中、小学生气质类型调查研究

本研究采用《中小学生气质量表》对云南省9-16岁中、小学生气质类型的分布状况。以及气质特征的年龄发展趋势进行了调查分析。结果表明，云南省9—16岁中小学生气质类型的分布在性别上存在差异，而存城乡间不存在差异。男女生存两种气质特征上存在差异，城乡学生在一种气质特征上存在差异，9-16岁中小学生的气质发展已进入稳定阶段。本还在讨论部分对教师了解学生的气质特征，对于教育的意义进行了讨论。     

Effects of antibullying programs on teachers’ interventions in bullying situations. A meta‐analysis

Even though teachers are key figures of a program's effectiveness, most intervention studies have not focused explicitly on the effects of antibullying programs at teacher level. We conducted a meta‐analysis into the effects of school‐based antibullying programs on determinants of teacher intervention, including teachers’ attitudes towards bullying, their self‐efficacy and knowledge regarding intervention strategies, and the effects on teachers’ bullying intervention itself. Following the PRISMA guidelines, 13 peer‐reviewed papers were retrieved that reported outcomes on teachers, staff, and students (N = 948, 2,471, and 138,311, respectively). Antibullying programs had a significant moderate effect on determinants of teacher intervention (g = 0.531) and a significant small to moderate effect on teacher intervention in bullying situations (g = 0.390). Results of the meta‐analysis indicate that the effectiveness of antibullying programs may increase when components are included to reinforce teachers’ attitudes, subjective norms, self‐efficacy, knowledge, and skills towards reducing bullying in the school.     

高中物理课堂教学有效性的探讨

高中物理课堂应构建和谐课堂氛围,建立平等师生关系;创设有效问题情境,启发学生大胆质疑;提供＂成功＂机会,增强学生学习信心;引导学生独立学习,培养学生自主学习能力。有效课堂教学过程要充分体现学生学习的主体地位,充分发挥学生的主观能动性。教师要为学生提供更多的探索和发现的空间,提供展示的机会,让学生能够积极参与,快乐学习,从而实现课堂教学效果最大化。     

初中物理教学中学生科学探究能力的培养

初中物理教学要适当开展科学探究活动,加入科学探究活动的初中物理教学课程更加注重学生学习的过程,注重学习过程可以确保学生在融入科学探究活动的初中物理学习时进一步提升对物理学习的兴趣,培育学生自主学习的能力,从而达到提升学生物理综合素质的目的。结合传统物理教学实践,我们通过物理融入实际生活、物理结合实验教学、重视物理与其他学科的联系等途径提高初中学生的科学探究能力。