Moving Towards Problem‐based Learning

Abstract

This paper is based upon the reflections of teachers and students as they experience problem‐based learning (PBL) for the first time. A PBL exercise was integrated into a curriculum‐based Biology field course to meet specific learning requirements of students. The exercise created a new learning environment for both students and teachers, and PBL was evaluated as an educative strategy. The exercise could have been improved through more effective student support. Our experiences of PBL have encouraged us to look for other areas of the curriculum where problem‐based approaches could be incorporated to enrich student learning.     

What does evidence‐based practice in education mean?

Abstract

Teaching has suffered both as a profession in search of community respect, and as a force for improving the social capital of Australia because of its failure to adopt the results of empirical research as the major determinant of its practice. There are a number of reasons why this has occurred, among them a science‐aversive culture endemic among education policymakers and teacher education faculties. There are signs that change may be afoot. The National Inquiry into the Teaching of Literacy has pointed to, and urged us to follow, a direction similar to that taken recently in Great Britain and the USA towards evidence‐based practice. Acknowledging the importance of teacher education, the National Institute for Quality Teaching and School Leadership began a process for establishing national accreditation of pre‐service teacher education. Two problems do require attention. The generally low quality of much educational research in the past has made the process of evaluating the evidence difficult, particularly for those teachers who have not the training to discriminate sound from unsound research designs. Fortunately, there are a number of august bodies that have performed the sifting process to simplify judging the value of research on important educational issues.     

Promoting and recognising excellence in the supervision of research students: an evidence‐based framework

One issue universities face is the need to demonstrate excellence in postgraduate research supervision at the individual, faculty and university level. While poor supervision might become obvious over time, with grievances, withdrawals and poor completion times and rates, this paper focuses specifically on identifying and demonstrating supervisory excellence. Currently, the amount and range of evidence used to support claims of supervisory excellence tends to be limited, leaving supervisors, faculties and institutions in a position where demonstrating excellence remains difficult. This paper proposes two inter‐dependent ideas which, considered together, help to redress this problem. The first is a ‘map’ for the collection and use of evidence of supervisory excellence. The second is a ‘template’ for a ‘supervisory excellence report’. The ‘map’ details the organisational elements, uses of data, and data types which can be considered. The ‘report’ explains one simple and potent way to organise and present these data for multiple purposes. Together they constitute a much‐needed framework for promoting and recognising excellence in the supervision of research students.     

Computer‐supported Problem‐based Learning in the Research Methodology Domain

The purpose of this research was to look for possible benefits and drawbacks of the use of computer‐supported simulation in the teaching and learning of experimental research methodology and statistics. In the study three research methodology groups were compared. The results show that there were significant differences in favour of the computer‐supported simulation group, called the ALEL group. During the course the conversations of two students' in the ALEL group were audiotaped. Although the ALEL students performed better than the other students and showed an improvement during the course, the conversations analysed showed that their learning outcomes should be still better in order to meet the learning goals of the methodology and statistics curriculum. An inadequate knowledge base was shown in the post‐test and also in the discussions of the pair during the course.     

Towards an Internet‐based Education Model for Caribbean Countries

Advances in the development of the Internet infrastructure can be used within developing countries to enhance the delivery of high quality education to their citizens. The mechanisms used to deliver educational material, over the Internet, range from the very sophisticated Virtual Classrooms (VCs) in which students in cyberspace interact in near real‐time with instructors at remote sites, to the basic non real‐time delivery of lecture contents. In Caribbean territories where the concentration of high‐quality teachers and teaching facilities are in and around urban cities, VCs can be used to enhance the access of students in remote areas to the materials, experiences, and facilities provided at the urban centers. We present a model for virtual classrooms, which is specifically geared toward Caribbean territories. This model leverages the usage of alternative low‐cost technology to offer VC environment to teaching institutions in remote rural districts via the Internet.     

Evaluating computer‐based assessment in a risk‐based model

There are three purposes for evaluation: evaluation for action to aid the decision making process, evaluation for understanding to further enhance enlightenment and evaluation for control to ensure compliance to standards. This article argues that the primary function of evaluation in the ‘Catherine Wheel’ computer‐based assessment (CBA) cyclic model is evaluation for action and secondary functions are evaluation for understanding and control. By studying segment and cyclic dependencies, conducting a risk analysis and identifying key stakeholders it is possible to identify where action evaluation has the most effect, what is required to be evaluated, who will perform the action and how it will be controlled. Each segment and cycle in the CBA model must therefore be monitored and the observations made must have meaning for the elimination or reduction of pedagogic, operational, technical non web‐based, web‐based and financial risks. It is important to consider stakeholders because they have differing views on what is most important in the evaluation process and inevitably will be involved in the evaluation process itself. CBA system stakeholders include management, academic, support and administrative staff together with external verifiers and students. The information gained from these stakeholders provides quality enhancement and assurance and forms the basis for change.     

An assessment‐led approach to processes in the science curriculum

General conditions which should be met in the development of the idea of science processes and the potential benefits which would result are suggested. An approach to the definition of science processes based on variables and variable handling is outlined. It is argued that this should occur specifically in the context of educational practice. The processes should be elucidated within a taxonomy of tasks, the ultimate components of which should be interpretable and transferable skills. The development and utilization of such a taxonomy can most obviously occur in the context of assessment. The techniques of item banking and domain definition in domain‐referenced tests are then discussed in relation to the above issues. Multi‐dimensional labelling of an item bank is considered to be appropriate, and suggestive of a research programme for investigating the requirements of transferability and interpretability.

The labelling scheme resulting from an attempt to identify the significant dimensions of the age 15 Assessment of Performance Unit (APU) science item bank is reported. The paper indicates the effectiveness of the scheme and discusses the value of labelling those items within the assessment programme which draw heavily on the conceptual framework of taught science. A discussion of how the labelling scheme/item bank can be used in an attempt to identify the skills required in undertaking tasks based on science processes, and thus to develop tests of such identifiable skills for diagnostic and placement purposes in schools, concludes this paper.     

After the belt: school processes in low‐exclusion schools

Corporal punishment was abolished in Strathclyde in 1982, leading to new discipline systems in the schools. This study examines the exclusion rate in 57 secondary schools during the following three years. The aim was to identify low exclusion schools and outline their common policies, practices and attitudes. Across the full social spectrum, the prevalence of disadvantage in intake is associated with exclusion rate. This association is not inevitable, however, as six low exclusion schools in disadvantaged areas were identified. These schools have little in the way of unconventional or radical features in their discipline and support systems. Their effectiveness lies in their preventive approach which is rooted in their ideology.     

Tensions in the quality assurance processes in post‐apartheid South African schools

This paper tracks the development of the Integrated Quality Management System in South African schools after the dismantling of apartheid in 1994. We argue that the quality processes that are now in place emerged in response to the autocratic school inspection systems that preceded them but did not sufficiently address the impact of educators’ experiences of the preceding systems. In the new democratic environment, it was important that new systems recognized the need for educator and school development. But given the breakdown of the culture of teaching and learning in South African schools, it is also not surprising that there was a concern that the new systems should ensure accountability. We analyse interviews with teachers to argue that the new system presents a tension between accountability and development processes which results in surface compliance rather than genuine engagement.     

Post‐welfarism and the reconstruction of teachers’ work in the UK

A key rationale for the UK education reforms of the 1980s and 1990s was a desire on the part of agents within the state to control more directly the work of teachers. In a variety of ways, the reforms were designed to contribute to a reconstruction of the work of teaching. The first part of this paper considers the roots of this intended reconstruction. The second part explores the impact of the reforms on the culture of teachers’ work, focusing on three kinds of consequences ‐ emotional, social and pedagogical. The paper draws on loosely‐structured interviews with secondary school teachers, carried out as part of a study of the culture and values of schooling in the light of the shift from wel‐farist to post‐welfarist policies in education.     

Web‐based versus paper‐based data collection for the evaluation of teaching activity: empirical evidence from a case study

The collection of teaching evaluation questionnaires in the traditional paper‐and‐pencil format is a costly and time‐consuming process and yet it is a common assessment practice in many university systems. web‐based data collection would reduce costs and significantly increase the efficiency of the overall evaluation process in numerous ways. Results for both types of surveys are reported from two years of progressive introduction of the web‐based survey by the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Italy. In the first year, two faculties representing scientific and humanistic fields were selected for a web‐based survey. In the second year, eight out of 12 faculties took part in the web survey. This data collection strategy allowed for responses from non‐attending students and facilitated a comparison of attitudes between attending and non‐attending students.     

Constructing the academic category of teacher educator in universities’ recruitment processes in Aotearoa,New Zealand

An examination of recruitment materials and interviews with personnel involved in the employment of teacher educators to positions in university-based New Zealand initial teacher education (ITE) courses reveals three constructions of teacher educator as academic worker: the professional expert, the dually qualified, and the traditional academic. However, this study’s analysis shows how these constructions allow universities to pursue a bifurcated approach for the employment of teacher educators, an approach that maintains binaries within teacher education and hinders development in the field. Furthermore, as the spectre of a major cultural shift in the provision of New Zealand ITE arises, the extent to which the professional expert and traditional academic constructions of teacher educator might serve the scope of work required of postgraduate ITE going forth is questioned.     

Towards the re‐articulation of the work of teacher educators in Higher Education institutions in England

In recent years, teacher educators in the Netherlands and the USA have developed professional standards for their occupational groups. These standards have been used to identify the professional expertise of teacher educators, to analyse their professional development needs, and to provide assessment mechanisms for accreditation. This article begins by outlining the impact of changes in pre‐service work on teacher educators' work in England and arguing that a re‐articulation of the work of this occupational group is needed. It then analyses the Dutch and American initiatives, and, drawing on discussions at the Association for Teacher Educators in Europe conference in 2005, debates the potential and relevance of drawing on these models for developing a similar framework with teacher educators in England. The article concludes that, whilst developing rigidly defined standards would be inappropriate, considering the intra‐professional development of a broad professional framework would facilitate the identification and understanding of teacher educators' complex work, and provide a springboard for providing enhanced induction and professional development opportunities.

Ces dernières années, les formateurs d'enseignants aux Pays‐Bas et aux Etats‐Unis ont mis au point des critères de compétence pour leur corps professionnel. Ces critères ont été utilisés pour identifier l'expertise professionnelle des formateurs d'enseignants, analyser leurs besoins en matière de développement professionnel, et permettre d'établir des mécanismes d'évaluation de leurs compétences afin de les accréditer. Cet article débute par une analyse des initiatives hollandaise et américaine. S'inspirant des discussions qui ont eu lieu à la conférence de l'ATEE de 2005, il se poursuit par un débat sur le potentiel et la pertinence d' élaborer à partir de ces deux modèles une structure semblable pour les formateurs d'enseignants d' Angleterre. L'article conclut que, tout en reconnaissant qu'il serait inapproprié d'établir des critères rigidement définis, l'existence d'une structure générale de critères professionnels permettrait de mieux identifier et de mieux comprendre le travail complexe des formateurs d'enseignants, et fournirait une base pour un meilleur système d'intégration et de developpement professionnel.

In letzter Zeit haben Lehrerausbilder in Holland und der Vereinigte Staaten berufliche Normen für ihre Berufsgruppe entwickelt. Diese Normen sind um die Fachkenntniss der Lehrerausbilder zu feststellen, die Bedarfe ihre berufliche Weiterbildung zu analysieren und um die Beurteilungsmethode der Zulassung zu versehen benutzt worden. Dieser Artikel fängt mit einer Untersuchung den holländischen und amerikanischen Iniativen an. Sie zieht an Gespräche der Association for Teacher Educators in Europe Konferenz 2005 heran, und berät das Potenzial und die Bedeutung die Benutzung der zwei Ausfuhrung um ein ähnliches System mit Lehrerausbildern in England zu entwickeln. Die Artikel kommt zum Schluss dass, obwohl klar abgegrenzt Normen zu entwickeln wäre ungeeignet, der Betracht der Entwicklung eines breiten beruflichen System würde die Erkennung und das Verstandnis der kompliziert Arbeit des Lehrerausbilder ermöglichen und ein Sprungbett für die Besorgung eine erweiterte Einleitung und berufliche Weiterbildung Möglichkeiten anbieten.

En los últimos años, los formadores de profesores de Holanda y EE.UU han creado normas profesionales para sus grupos ocupacionales. Esas normas se utilizan para identificar la cualificación profesional de los formadores de profesores, así como para analizar sus necesidades de desarrollo profesional, y proporcionar mecanismos de evaluación para la acreditación. Este artículo comienza analizando las iniciativas holandesa y estadounidense. Tomando como punto de partida los debates que tuvieron lugar en la Conferencia de la Asociación para la Formación del Profesorado en Europa (ATEE, por su sigla en inglés), celebrada en 2005, el artículo discute las posibilidades y la importancia de usar esos modelos con vistas a crear un marco similar para los formadores de profesores en Inglaterra. El artículo concluye que, mientras la creación de normas definidas rígidamente sería inadecuada, la creación de un amplio marco profesional facilitaría la identificación y la comprensión del complejo trabajo que realizan los formadores de profesores, además de servir de trampolín para proporcionar integración y oportunidades de desarrollo profesional.     

Staying in the science stream: patterns of participation in A‐level science subjects in the UK

This paper describes patterns of participation and attainment in A‐level physics, chemistry and biology from 1961 to 2009. The A level has long been seen as an important gateway qualification for higher level study, particularly in the sciences. This long‐term overview examines how recruitment to these three subjects has changed in the context of numerous policies and initiatives that seek to retain more young people in the sciences. The results show that recruitment to the pure sciences has stagnated, general trends have hardly varied and the track record of government policy in influencing change is not strong. There is no evidence for increasing achievement gaps between the sexes at A level and even national policy requiring that all young people study science up to the age of 16 appears to have had little impact on recruitment at this level.     

Towards a Culture‐based Approach to Chemical Education in Secondary Schools: The Role of Chemical Formulae in the Teaching of Chemistry

Summaries

English

The didactic use of formulae in the teaching of chemistry as part of the individual culture should include the logics of their elaboration, and frame them into the basic postulates of the chemical doctrine.

These postulates, in the form that was accepted since the last quarter of the 19th century, are discussed together with the assumptions embodied in the procedures for establishing the formulae as the source of the images of molecular structure. The limitations inherent in these procedures, and the influence they had upon the teaching of chemistry, are examined by analysing the exemplar cases of anthracene and of sydnones. Chemical formulae represent a practical code for the structure‐reactivity relationships, and therefore their current meaning in a quantum‐chemical interpretation is also discussed.

It is suggested that the teaching of chemistry in the age range 13‐14 be based on the postulates and procedures of classical chemistry (1874‐1935), leaving the elementary introduction of quantum‐chemical concepts to the 15‐18 age range.