In the eyes of the beholder: students’ and teachers’ judgments of students’ motivation

This study was designed to examine the nature and accuracy of teachers’ judgments about students’ motivation related to mathematics. Seventeen fourth- through sixth-grade teachers and 100 of their students participated in this study. Teachers were asked to rate six target students’ motivation four times during the school year. At each of these times students also rated their own motivation. Teachers’ ratings were more stable over time and across mathematics topics and were less differentiated across motivation dimensions than were students’ ratings. The findings suggest that teachers need to pay careful attention to evidence related to children's motivation that might contradict their perceptions and therefore support more effective interventions.     

Collaboration and the growth of teachers’ knowledge

Studies of teachers working together have exposed the capricious nature of collaborative activity: sometimes it seems to work well; at other times collaboration actually works against improvement. Success in collaborative relationships is best understood through an appreciation of how teachers form and use knowledge. The teachers’ knowledge perspective is used in this paper to interpret qualitative data from two successful collaborative relationships in schools. Evidence supports the contention that personal qualities, underscored by mutual trust and respect for knowledge, form the basis for successful relationships in teaching, operating in different ways, for different purposes, for different people. Providing that teachers are approached with respect, collaboration holds promise as a slow (but powerful) path towards educational change.     

Lederberg and the ‘Cellularity’ of bacteria

Joshua Lederberg will surely be remembered for his stellar contributions to microbial genetics and his sage intervention in public affairs concerning exobiology, infectious diseases, epidemiology, and bioterrorism. Not so well know is his emphatic mission to spell out that bacteria are cells and not something else. This brief sketch examines some of his contributions to bacterial cytology. Moselio Schaechter (Elio to friends) spent his career studying growth physiology and cell structure of enteric bacteria. Born in Italy, he spent his youth in Ecuador before going to the United States where he chaired the Department of Molecular Biology and Microbiology at Tufts University in Boston for twenty three years. After retirement he is at San Diego, where he has devoted himself to sharing the excitement of the microbial world, mainly via a blog called “Small Things Considered”. He has authored several influential textbooks and reference works. He succeeded Joshua Lederberg as Editor-in-Chief of the Encyclopedia of Microbiology. He also authored a book, In the Company of Mushrooms, which deals with his avocation, wild mushrooms.     

Students’ conceptions and the learning of science

This introductory article to the Special Issue of the International Journal of Science Education attempts to review the theoretical contexts for research into children's conceptions in science and to identify future directions for research programmes in this field.     

Teachers’ and Pupils’ Perceptions of Technology and the Implications for Curriculum

The recent explicit inclusion of technology into the science component of the school curriculum in Western Australia necessitates changes in both curriculum materials and the nature of classroom teaching. This paper reports an investigation of the perceptions of technology of senior teachers who are heads of the science department in their schools, and relates these perceptions with those of a sample of 13‐year‐old pupils in this state. The investigation reveals that many teachers have a restricted view of technology which may be interpreted as a view that technology is dependent upon science. Such a view may neglect the historical aspects and societal influences on science and technology. Further, the available evidence indicates that local pupils have a low level of awareness of technology. The paper discusses the implications of these findings for curriculum change and suggests a starting point for achieving a successful balance in the teaching of technology, science and society issues in the classroom.     

The relationship between biology teachers’ understanding of the nature of science and the understanding and acceptance of the theory of evolution

ABSTRACT

Despite the importance of the theory of evolution (TE) to scientific knowledge, a number of misconceptions continue to be found among biology teachers. In this context, the first objective of this study was to identify the impact of professional development programme (PDP) on teachers’ understanding of nature of science (NOS) and evolution and on the acceptance of this theory. Its second objective was to study the relationship among these variables. Three instruments were used to quantify these variables: the Views of the Nature of Science Version D (VNOS D+), the Assessing Contextual Reasoning about Natural Selection (ACORN), and the Measure of Acceptance of Theory of Evolution (MATE). The results indicate that the PDP had a positive impact on teachers, significantly improving their understanding of the NOS and natural selection, as well as their acceptance of the TE. Furthermore, a positive correlation between the understanding of the NOS obtained by teachers in the first part of the PDP and the understanding and acceptance of evolution that these teachers showed at the end of the programme was determined. However, no relationship between an understanding of the NOS and gains in the understanding and acceptance of evolution was found.     

University students’ and teachers’ conceptions of teaching and learning in the biosciences

In this study we compare university teachers’ and first-year students’ conceptions of teaching and learning at the Faculty of Environmental and Biological Sciences. The conceptions were analysed using data from open-ended questionnaires. The results showed that at the beginning of studies the gap between teachers’ and students’ conceptions of teaching and learning is substantial. This finding has important implications for the educational process. In order to enhance successful studying from the beginning of students’ university careers, it is important for teachers to become aware of the differences between students’ and teachers’ conceptions of learning.     

Students’ intuitive explanations of the causes of homologies and adaptations

This paper reports data from a study aiming to explore secondary students’ preconceptions and explanations about evolutionary processes. Students may exhibit both alternative and scientifically acceptable conceptions and bring different ones into play in response to different problem contexts. Hence, the examination of their explanations before instruction within different problem contexts is expected to highlight the concepts that instruction should put more emphasis on. To achieve this, an open-ended questionnaire in conjunction with semi-structured interviews was used to allow students to express their own views on issues related to evolution. Students’ explanations highlighted their lack of knowledge of important evolutionary concepts such as common descent and natural selection. In addition, many students explained the origin of traits as the result of evolution through need via purposeful change or as carefully designed adaptations. Rather than evolutionary, final causes formed the basis for the majority of students’ explanations. In many cases students provided different explanations for the same process to tasks with different content. It seems that the structure and the content of the task may have an effect on the explanations that students provide. Implications for evolution education are discussed and a minimal explanatory framework for evolution is suggested.     

Boys' ‘underachievement’ and the feminization of teaching

In England, Scotland and other countries, policy‐makers often depict the targeted recruitment of men to the teaching profession as a panacea for male underachievement and disaffection from school. It is commonly assumed that the gender gap in achievement stems from the dearth of male role models in teaching, especially at primary level. Giving particular attention to recent literature on the influence of teacher gender on classroom interaction and educational outcomes, the paper begins by scrutinizing the policy's evidence‐base. We move on to examine the findings of a qualitative study conducted in English primary schools. Drawing upon data from semi‐structured interviews with teachers of 7‐ to 8‐year‐olds (25 men, 26 women), an attempt is made to assess their responses to the policy of targeted male recruitment and perceptions of the benefits of same‐gender matching. The paper (an earlier version of which paper was presented at the European Educational Research Association's Annual Conference at the University of Ghent, September 2007) concludes by tentatively exploring the implications of this small‐scale study for policy and practice.     

Internationalisation and the development of students’ intercultural competence

Universities’ internationalisation rhetoric suggests that students studying on internationally diverse campuses will automatically engage positively with one another and develop intercultural competence. This study examined the extent to which a cohort of first year UK and non-UK students studying on an internationally diverse campus developed intercultural competence. The Intercultural Development Inventory® (IDI®) and a locally designed survey were used to assess students’ intercultural competence and to explore their intercultural experiences over seven months. Students began almost exclusively in lower (ethnocentric) stages of intercultural development and most showed little progress despite reporting relatively high levels of intercultural contact, friends from other cultures and positive experiences. Findings suggest that even positive intercultural experiences do not necessarily lead to the development of intercultural competence and that university policy and practice may need to be enhanced if producing graduates with higher levels of intercultural competence is to become a realised outcome of internationalisation.     

Irish education and the legacy of O’Connell

In 1831, the British Government decided to become directly involved in the provision of elementary education in Ireland, a country over which it then had jurisdiction. By European standards of the time this was a highly unusual step. A number of scholars have interrogated the factors that led to this outcome as well as the role played by various individuals. Daniel O’Connell’s activities, at this time, have been described as relatively limited, which appears incongruous given that he is considered the most powerful Irish politician of this era and was then at the height of his powers. It is the central contention of this article that O’Connell was, in fact, intimately involved in bringing about a national system of elementary education. Of more lasting significance is the manner in which he defined the role of the politician vis-à-vis the Church authorities in educational policy-making. In this regard he established a pattern that remained unchanged for over a century and indeed, it could be argued, largely persists to this day.     

Thomas Hardy and his Tess of the d’Urbervilles:Analysis of the images of birds in Tess of the d’ Urbervilles

The article gives a brief introduction of Thomas Hardy and His Tess of the d’Urberville, the image of birds in Tess of the d’Urberville and its importance for illustrating the theme has also been analyzed.     

Teachers’ and teacher educators’ lives: the role of emotion

This paper reports research which focuses on ways of enhancing understandings by teachers of the key role that emotions play in their personal professional growth. It combines the narrative, autobiographical accounts of teachers attending part-time masters degree programmes in England (Continuing Professional Development and School Improvement) and Northern Ireland (Personal and Social Development) with an interrogation of the underlying values which affect the practices of their tutors. It reveals the effects of powerful and often unacknowledged interaction between personal biography and professional and social contexts upon teachers in schools and higher education.     

Exploring French adolescents’ and adults’ comprehension of the greenhouse effect

The aim of the present study was to gain an insight into French young people’s conceptual development regarding the greenhouse effect. Because this effect cannot be directly manipulated, we can assume that its conceptualization is mainly shaped through the sharing of information. Eighty French students from Grade Seven through to adulthood responded to statements in a questionnaire on the greenhouse effect’s causes, consequences and solutions. Unlike in previous studies, participants were asked to justify their choices, as some of the statements were quite complex. Results showed that performances improved with grade, mainly between Grade Nine and adulthood, although participants continued to have a weaker grasp of the causes of the greenhouse effect than of its consequences and solutions. Participants’ justifications also showed that they misunderstood some of the statements.     

On the Manipulation of the Selectivity of Encoding and Decoding over the Translator’s Subjectivity

The translation activity is a process of the interlinguistic transmission of information realized by the information encoding and decoding.Encoding and decoding,cognitive practices operated in objective contexts,are inevitably of selectivity ascribing to the restriction of contextual reasons.The translator as the intermediary agent connects the original author(encoder)and the target readers(decoder),shouldering the dual duties of the decoder and the encoder,for which his subjectivity is irrevocably manipulated by the selectivity of encoding and decoding.     

Brief Survey of the Communicative Approach and the Strategy of Improving the Students’ Communicative Competence

With the rapid development of economy and improvement position of English as an international language in our country,English teaching draw a lot of attention nowadays.In traditional English teaching,it's the teachers who manipulate everything in class,where students are seen as receivers of knowledge.Therefore,it lacks cooperation between teachers and students.Students have no opportunity to apply what they have learnt in class to practical communications.In this teachers-centered class,students are not able to bring themselves into full play,which explains the low quality of English teaching in some schools and students fail to communicate with others after many years' learning.Based on the theory of Communicative Approach,the paper analyses its advantages and existing problems in application and proposes some strategy of improving students'Communicative Competence.     

Capabilities and the global challenges of girls’ school enrolment and women’s literacy

The education Millennium Development Goals have been highly influential on the priorities for education and concentrated policy efforts on numbers of girls enrolled in public sector schools offering basic education. This focus has been justified by human capital calculations of the social rates of return to basic schooling. This concern with quantities has met criticism from more qualitative researchers concerned with understanding not only why girls are not enrolled in school, but also why they may be irregular attenders and poor performers in public examinations even if they are enrolled. Alongside the efforts to achieve the education Millennium Development Goals have been initiatives to improve adult women’s literacies, often combined with an empowerment objective. This paper uses Sen’s capability approach to argue that improving deliberative processes is relevant for the well-being of girls and women of all ages.     

‘Heroes’ and ‘villains’ in the lives of children and young people

This paper explores the responses of nearly 1200 children and young people in Wales who were asked to identify which three famous people they most admired and which three they most disliked. Analysis of these young people's responses reveals a number of sociological and educational issues. Their selections confirm other research which has highlighted the importance of celebrities in the lives of young people. Their ‘heroes’ and ‘villains’ are drawn mostly from the worlds of popular music and sport. Their choices are also highly gendered and ‘raced’. Of particular interest is the finding that someone's ‘villain’ is more than likely to be someone else's ‘hero’. Our young people's selection of heroes and villains reflects the broader landscape of celebrity culture, where female fame is as much about appearance as talent and Black and minority ethnic celebrities are to be found largely in the fields of sport or popular music. The paper concludes by discussing the chasm between our young people's ‘heroes’ and ‘villains’ and those which are ‘officially sanctioned’ within the school curriculum and considers what schools and teachers might do about it.