Scientist role models in the classroom: how important is gender matching?

Gender-matched role models are often proposed as a mechanism to increase identification with science among girls, with the ultimate aim of broadening participation in science. While there is a great deal of evidence suggesting that role models can be effective, there is mixed support in the literature for the importance of gender matching. We used the Eccles Expectancy Value model as a framework to explore how female science role models impact a suite of factors that might predict future career choice among elementary students. We predicted that impacts of female scientist role models would be more pronounced among girls than among boys, as such role models have the potential to normalise what is often perceived as a gender-deviant role. Using a mixed-methods approach, we found that ideas about scientists, self-concept towards science, and level of science participation changed equally across both genders, contrary to our prediction. Our results suggest that engaging in authentic science and viewing the female scientist as personable were keys to changes among students, rather than gender matching between the role model and student. These results imply that scientists in the schools programmes should focus on preparing the visiting scientists in these areas.     

Implementation of anti-bullying lessons in primary classrooms: how important is head teacher support?

Background: Evidence suggests that the KiVa anti-bullying programme may contribute to a reduction in bullying and victimisation, especially in primary school level. What is more, the level of implementation moderates the programme effects: the more the programme was implemented, the more bullying was reduced.Purpose: Consequently, it is of interest to investigate the factors affecting the implementation of the KiVa anti-bullying programme. We analysed whether teachers’ perceptions of support from the head teacher predicted the implementation adherence of the programme.Sample: We used a randomised sample of 93 Grade 1–3 (students’ age 7–9 years) teachers in 27 Finnish primary schools.Design and methods: Online surveys on perceptions of two types of head teacher support: (1) general support as a superior and (2) programme support for the KiVa anti-bullying programme were administered to the teachers; written observational reports on implementation adherence (frequency, contents and duration) were also utilised. Data was collected during the academic year 2008–2009. Effects of head teacher support on implementation adherence were modelled both at the teacher level and at the school level.Results: On average, implementation adherence of the student lessons was good. Teacher’s experience of programme support from the head teacher was positively related to implementation adherence, whereas, surprisingly, teacher’s experience of general support did not enhance implementation and was even negatively related to it.Conclusions: The school-based prevention and intervention programmes are delivered through social systems and individuals, and they inevitably trigger multilevel dynamics. Implementation is not only the responsibility of individual teachers but it happens in the context of the school community, the head teacher and the local-level resources and policies.     

First-year undergraduate induction: Who attends and how important is induction for first year attainment?

The first year of study in higher education is a time of major transition for students. While the importance of induction has been widely demonstrated, there is evidence to suggest that not all students benefit equally from participation in induction. This study examined attendance rates at induction, the relationship between induction attendance and first-year attainment and, finally, whether this relationship differed as a function of demographic factors, entry qualifications and the number of credits attempted. Data from students enrolled in the first year of full-time undergraduate study in a UK metropolitan institution of higher education in 2011–12 was collected from an internal cross-sectional survey and from the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service. Results showed that attendance at induction differed as a function of a number of demographic characteristics. In line with and extending previous research, ethnicity and previous entry qualifications predicted unique variance in attainment, as did the number of credits attempted and attendance at induction. The attainment gap related to attendance at induction was greater for students who attempted fewer than 120 credits. Overall, the results emphasise the importance of attendance at induction and the need for early engagement with new students, which may be particularly beneficial to those unable to attend induction.     

What is the time?

Read the dialogues and write the times on the clocks.读下面的对话并在表盘上标上相应的时间。     

What time is it?

读下面的歌谣。根据歌谣内容在表盘上写出相应的时间,并把表盘和相应的图连起来。It's ten o'clock.Time for lessons.It's nice to be a boy.     

Cultural sensitivity: How important is it for effective home visits?

The implementation of home visits as a technique for involving parents has recently resurfaced. This educational trend has received additional emphasis as the nation attempts to meet the national education goals — particularly the first goal, which states, By the year 2000, all children will enter school ready to learn.Sally A. LaPoint is an Assistant Professor of Early Childhood Education at the University of South Carolina at Beaufort. She also administers the At Risk Early Childhood Family Initiative, located at the historic Penn Center on St. Helena Island, South Carolina. Gloria S. Boutte is an Assistant Professor, Kevin J. Swick is a Professor, and Mac H. Brown is an Associate Professor, Early Childhood Education, at the University of South Carolina, Columbia, S.C.     

Accounting for diverse missions: can classification systems contribute to meaningful assessments of institutional performance?

Tertiary Education and Management - Although they have been developed for a variety of purposes, classification systems for tertiary or postsecondary education institutions offer a foundation for...     

Training reading fluency: is it important to practice reading aloud and is generalization possible?

Outcomes of three different types of computerized training in sub-lexical items (word-initial consonant clusters) on reading speed for 39 German-speaking poor readers in Grades 2 and 3 were evaluated. A phonological–orthographic association group, a reading aloud group, and a combined group were compared in performance with an untrained control group. During short-term training, the intervention groups showed higher gains than the control group in reading speed of the trained sub-lexical items and of the words containing the trained segments. No differences were found between the intervention groups. In the development of pseudoword reading, the groups did not show differential improvements. The generalization effect to pseudoword reading was similar, whether the pseudowords contained the trained segment as a syllable or as a non-syllabic letter string. The gains induced by training were specific to the materials used in training and did not induce gains in general reading speed.

Nature or nurture, which is more important?

Everyone is unique owing to biological, social and cultural factors, and both of these factors can impact gender roles. However, the impact of social and cultural factors more important than others. ...     

Students’ reasoning about electricity: combining performance assessments with argumentation analysis

Our study monitored the cognitive and motivational effects within different educational instruction schemes: On the one hand, teacher‐centred versus hands‐on instruction; on the other hand, hands‐on instruction with and without a knowledge consolidation phase (concept mapping). All the instructions dealt with the same content. For all participants, the hands‐on approach as well as the concept mapping adaptation were totally new. Our hands‐on approach followed instruction based on “learning at work stations”. A total of 397 high‐achieving fifth graders participated in our study. We used a pre‐test, post‐test, retention test design both to detect students' short‐term learning success and long‐term learning success, and to document their decrease rates of newly acquired knowledge. Additionally, we monitored intrinsic motivation. Although the teacher‐centred approach provided higher short‐term learning success, hands‐on instruction resulted in relatively lower decrease rates. However, after six weeks, all students reached similar levels of newly acquired knowledge. Nevertheless, concept mapping as a knowledge consolidation phase positively affected short‐term increase in knowledge. Regularly placed in instruction, it might increase long‐term retention rates. Scores of interest, perceived competence and perceived choice were very high in all the instructional schemes.     

Managing a modern university: is it time for a rethink?

The corporate approaches introduced in the late 1980s and now prevalent in universities in Australia have led to irrevocable changes in the way universities are managed and academics work. The management approaches widely applied in Australian universities are largely based on a top‐down corporate management model, with central control over policy and budget driven by the need to meet stringent external accountability requirements. This form of management rewards compliance and predictability. The economic environment over this period has changed drastically, becoming more global and uncertain. The prevailing management processes are not suited to the modern economic environment. A modern university is expected to operate more as an enterprise, but to do so effectively it needs flexible and responsive forms of management that are more inclusive of academics in the decision making process. This paper explores the organisational management literature and links it to the context in which universities operate. It considers the implications for managers and academics, as key stakeholders in a modern university, in this changeable environment.     

Treatment outcomes for students with learning disabilities: how important are internal and external validity?

This study analyzed the magnitude of experimental intervention outcomes as a function of violations in internal and external validity for studies that included students with learning disabilities. The results indicated that treatment outcomes were significantly affected by the following violations: teacher effects, establishing criterion levels of instructional performance, reliance on experimental measures, using different measures between pretest and posttest, using a sample heterogenous in age, and using incorrect units of analysis. Furthermore, the underreporting of information related to ethnicity, locale of the study, psychometric data, and teacher applications positively inflated the magnitude of treatment outcomes. A weighted hierarchical regression analysis revealed that composite scores of the aforementioned high-risk variables accounted for 16% of the total variance in effect size. The implications for interpreting intervention research to practice are discussed.     

Preparing teachers for inclusion in Mexico: how effective is this process?

Inclusive education is the most advanced form of recognition of the right to education. Mexico has made important legal and administrative changes to foster inclusion since the end of the twentieth century. This research assesses the impact of the Mexican pre-service teacher curriculum on 813 pre-service teachers’ sentiments, attitudes and concerns towards inclusion and their perceived self-efficacy to educate students with disabilities. It employs two internationally validated questionnaires: The Sentiments, Attitudes and Concerns about Inclusive Education Revised Scale and the Teacher Efficacy for Inclusive Practices scale. Comparisons made across area of training, time in the programme, policy knowledge, interaction with people with disabilities and experience show that special education pre-service teachers in the last years of the programme have the most positive perspectives, while preschool teachers have the least positive ones.     

Learning by drawing: When is it worth the time and effort?

Two experiments compared the effects of learning by drawing to studying instructor-provided visuals on learning outcomes, learning time, and cognitive load. College students studied a text on the human circulatory system and completed comprehension and transfer tests. In Experiment 1 (N = 107), students studied the text with provided visuals (provided visuals) or generated their own drawings from the text with text-based support (verbally-supported drawing) or without support (unsupported drawing). Results showed that while the verbally-supported drawing condition spent significantly more time and experienced significantly higher cognitive load than the provided visuals condition, there were no differences across the three conditions in learning outcomes. In Experiment 2 (N = 85), students studied the text with provided visuals (provided visuals) or generated drawings from the text with provided visuals as feedback (visually-supported drawing). Results showed that the visually-supported drawing condition spent significantly more time and experienced significantly higher cognitive load than the provided visuals condition but also performed significantly better than the provided visuals condition on the comprehension test. These findings suggest generating drawings prior to studying provided visuals is worth the time and effort.     

A new age for child protection--General Comment 13: why it is important, how it was constructed, and what it intends?

Children continue to be subjected to high levels of violence (i.e., physical, psychological and sexual maltreatment) throughout the world. International concern about violence against children has increased significantly during the last decade. A Study on Violence Against Children, encouraged by the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, conducted under the auspices of the United Nations Secretary General and reported in 2006, has become a rallying call to improve child protection. Child protection practices and systems have been judged to be generally inadequate and, in some cases, destructive. It is widely recognized that business as usual—more of the same—will not do. A General Comment (guide to fulfilling obligations) for Article 19, the central conceptualization of child protection of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, has the potential to promote a worldwide reformulation of child protection priorities, policies, and practices by virtue of the infusion of a child rights approach. It can be a mechanism for framing and promoting the transformational change needed – for a genuine paradigm shift. Here, explication is given for the historical context, rationale, centrality of child rights, process of development, holistic nature, and primary elements of General Comment 13 (GC13): The child's right to freedom from all forms of violence. GC13 embodies and champions a child rights approach to child protection entailing strong support for proactive primary prevention, promotion of good child care, and a commitment to secure the rights and well-being of all children. A child rights-based, comprehensive coordinating framework is recommended for the implementation of GC13.     

Prior degree and student assessment performance: how can evidence guide decisions on assessment policy?

This study aimed to provide evidence to guide decisions on the type and timing of assessments in a graduate medical programme, by identifying whether students from particular degree backgrounds face greater difficulty in satisfying the current assessment requirements. We examined the performance rank of students in three types of assessments and also calculated the relative risk of failure in the summative assessments for four cohorts over all four years of a four‐year graduate medical programme. Our findings suggest that early summative assessment may disadvantage the very students who create the diversity that the faculty values, particularly if methods such as Single Best Answer questions are used, unless students are provided with additional support in bridging their knowledge gap. Use of assessment methods such as Modified Essay Questions and Objective Structured Clinical Examinations appears to be more justifiable on educational grounds.