Are we looking through the same lens? Principal recruitment and selection

This article reports a study designed to identify the factors that both hiring bodies and applicants believe are most important when making decisions about principal selection, appointment and acceptance. Based on a quantitative study involving the four main groups of players in the principal selection process, we confirmed a four-factor structure. In order of importance the four factors were, Generic Managerial Skills, Communication and Presentation Skills, Experience and Credence, and Religious Affiliation and External Connection. The fourth factor is rarely mentioned in the literature. The findings indicate a shift in the role expectation of principals from educational leaders to administrative managers. Findings also challenge the use of interviews as the sole principal selection mechanism.     

Understanding genetics: Analysis of secondary students' conceptual status

This article explores the conceptual change of students in Grades 10 and 12 in three Australian senior high schools when the teachers included computer multimedia to a greater or lesser extent in their teaching of a genetics course. The study, underpinned by a multidimensional conceptual‐change framework, used an interpretive approach and a case‐based design with multiple data collection methods. Over 4–8 weeks, the students learned genetics in classroom lessons that included BioLogica activities, which feature multiple representations. Results of the online tests and interview tasks revealed that most students improved their understanding of genetics as evidenced in the development of genetics reasoning. However, using Thorley's (1990) status analysis categories, a cross‐case analysis of the gene conceptions of 9 of the 26 students interviewed indicated that only 4 students' postinstructional conceptions were intelligible–plausible–fruitful. Students' conceptual change was consistent with classroom teaching and learning. Findings suggested that multiple representations supported conceptual understanding of genetics but not in all students. It was also shown that status can be a viable hallmark enabling researchers to identify students' conceptual change that would otherwise be less accessible. Thorley's method for analyzing conceptual status is discussed. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 44: 205–235, 2007     

A conceptual design model for CBT development: A NATO case study

CBT (computer-based training) can benefit from the modern multimedia tools combined with network capabilities to overcame traditional education. The objective of this paper is focused on CBT development to improve strategic decision-making with regard to air command and control system for NATO staff in virtual environment. A conceptual design for the CBT of the Web-based command and control system including a methodology and a model of content relations is described. The system helps the personnel to effectively plan, execute, monitor and assess Air operations in a responsive and timely manner. The developed prototype of CBT for Web-based air command and control system for NATO is illustrated.     

Understanding the intention to use interactive whiteboards: model development and testing

The effective use of an interactive whiteboard (IWB) in teacher-education institutions depends strongly on student teachers' intention of using it. Despite the recent surge in published research on the widespread applications for IWBs in teaching and learning, few have developed a model to elucidate the factors which influence student teachers' behavioural intentions (BIs) regarding the use of IWBs. The aim of this study was to develop a model which demonstrates the variables that affect student teachers' intentions and which also explain their interactions. The proposed research model is based on previous models of technology acceptance. Six variables (technology self-efficacy (TSE), performance expectancy (PE), effort expectancy (EE), social influence (SI), facilitating condition, and BI) were selected to build a model for this study. Structural equation modelling was used as the main technique for data analysis. The research model was found reliable and valid, the findings being based on a self-reported survey of 156 student teachers in Australia. Of the seven hypotheses which were formulated, five were supported by the findings. From the effect sizes, the dominant determinant of BI was found to be PE, this being followed by TSE, EE, and SI.     

Understanding the association between future time perspective and self-regulated learning through the lens of self-determination theory

The present cross-sectional research examined a process underlying the positive association between holding an extended future time perspective (FTP) and learning outcomes through the lens of self-determination theory. High school students and university students (N = 275) participated in the study. It was found that students with an extended FTP regulated their study behaviour on the basis of several internal motives, including feelings of guilt and shame (introjected regulation), personal conviction (identified regulation) and interest (intrinsic motivation). The association with identified regulation was strongest and the association with intrinsic motivation fell below significance when controlling for identified regulation. Moreover, introjected and identified regulation emerged as mediators accounting for the association between FTP and cognitive processing. Further, to the extent that FTP engenders an internally pressuring mode of regulation it was found to be indirectly negatively associated with determination/metacognitive strategy use. In contrast to FTP, a present fatalistic and present hedonic time-orientation yielded more negative motivational and learning correlates. The link between FTP and self-determination theory is discussed.     

Understanding working-class 'drop-out' from higher education through a sociocultural lens: Cultural narratives and local contexts

The 'drop-out' of working-class students from universities has been identified as one of the most pressing issues for the higher education (HE) sector in the United Kingdom. This article draws on the initial findings of a major research project that explores the meanings and implications of such withdrawal from HE amongst young working-class people. The article argues that drop-out should be seen not just as an educational problem, but also as a manifestation of sociocultural change. To understand drop-out we need to look beyond student support needs or institutional barriers to cultural narratives and local contexts. This enables us to use a sociological frame to understand the educational question, and employ the educational data to contribute to sociological debates on class. The article analyses 'drop-out' as a self-fulfilling cultural narrative that is increasingly connoted as working class, as well as being a consequence of the material exigencies of working-class circumstances. It illustrates how class identity mutates yet stays the same, with the working class still positioned in terms of 'lack'. Although the possibility of university study has become a part of working-class identity, the expectation that this experience may be 'flawed' or 'spoilt' has also become engrained. The article analyses drop-out as two sides of one coin: as both significantly influenced by local culture and as having a perceived impact upon that culture, with different effects in different locales.     

A conceptual change approach to staff development: A model for programme design

With the rapid expansion in tertiary education in the past decade, coupled with the rising emphasis on accountability, teaching quality has become an important issue in higher education worldwide. The increasing emphasis on quality has placed new demands on staff development, in particular to find promising models and methodologies that will guide development approaches. The paper describes an innovative approach to staff development that was synthesized from four theories about conceptual change or change in general. This conceptual change approach is based on the hypothesis that changing teachers' conceptions of teaching towards more elaborated levels will bring about improvement in their teaching practices. A short course derived from this model is outlined.     

Multicultural education: Raj's story using a curricular conceptual lens of the particular

In this study, we employ a curricular conceptual lens of the particular to explore the experience of multicultural education from the perspective of an immigrant student, Raj. Using a school-based narrative inquiry approach, we learn about Raj's experiences at the intersections of immigration and settlement, adaptation and assimilation, English-language acquisition, unemployment, poverty, family violence, and family relocation. We employ Dewey's [(1938). Experience and education. New York: Simon & Schuster] theory of experience, Connelly and Clandinin's [(1988). Teachers as curriculum planners: Narratives of experience. New York: Teachers College Press, Columbia] understanding of curriculum as experience, and Schwab's [(1969). The practical: A language for curriculum. School Review, 78, 1–23] theory of the particular as theoretical frameworks upon which to examine and analyze interactions and events.     

Teaching philosophies reconsidered:A conceptual model for the development and evaluation of teaching philosophy statements

Increasingly, the requirements of applicants to academic faculty positions, promotion and tenure procedures, nominations for teaching awards, or other application processes for innovative teaching grants worldwide include a teaching portfolio or dossier or a statement of teaching philosophy. Current literature provides a spectrum of approaches to constructing a teaching philosophy statement. While these resources provide practical utility, this literature generally lacks conceptual models that provide clear operational definitions and comprehensive frameworks for the process of generating or evaluating a teaching philosophy statement. However, this literature does illustrate the complexity of the task. Each teaching philosophy statement reflects not only personal beliefs about teaching and learning, but also disciplinary cultures, institutional structures and cultures, and stakeholder expectations as well. This synergy among self, discipline, and institutional context guided the development of a conceptual model for constructing a teaching philosophy statement. Based on the authors' survey of the literature, a conceptual model was developed, and then refined in a series of three workshops that included input from graduate students, academic faculty, faculty developers, and academic managers (administrators). The resulting conceptual framework includes the six dimensions commonly found in a survey of faculty teaching philosophies: the purpose of teaching and learning; the role of the teacher; the role of the student; the methods used; evaluation and assessment of teaching and learning; and also includes two framing devices - a metaphor or a critical incident and a device for acknowledging the impact that contextual factors have on teacher decision making. This paper describes the development of this conceptual model, and provides an evaluation rubric that can be applied to assess teaching philosophy statements generated using the proposed framework.     

The easy-to-hard effect: Transfer along the dimension of orientation in the rat

Long-Evans rats were trained on an easy simultaneous discrimination problem and then transferred to a hard discrimination problem. The discriminanda were different orientations of stripes. In Experiment I, transfer was intradimensional with stimulus generalization controlled. The easy-to-hard effect was not found. In Experiment II transfer was intradimensional and either compatible (nonreversal) or incompatible (reversal). With compatible transfer, rats trained on a prior easy problem learned the hard problem faster than rats trained only on the hard problem. Persistent negative transfer was found with incompatible transfer. Attention was not supported as underlying the easy-to-hard effect. Explanations based on specific sources of intradimensional transfer, such as stimulus generalization or adaptation level, are suggested.     

Generalization along the dimension of sound intensity in pigeons

Two groups of four pigeons each were trained on a discrimination between two intensities of white noise. The low-intensity group had a 60-dB intensity as the negative discriminative stimulus (S?) and a 70-dB intensity as the positive discriminative stimulus (S+): the high-intensity group had a 95-dB intensity as S? and an 85-dB intensity as S+. Generalization stimuli were all of higher intensity than S+ for the former group and all of lower intensity than S+ for the latter group. The rate of acquisition of the discrimination was faster for the Ss in the high-intensity group. In both groups, the maximum of the generalization function was shifted toward the middle values of the set of test stimuli, away from the training stimuli. Responding showed a decline at the far end of the range of test stimuli. Responding to the positive training stimulus was initially as great as it had been on the preceding training sessions, but became markedly depressed relative to responding to the other stimuli as the test progressed.     

信息技术赋能混合式研修范式优化:教师集体效能视角

信息技术与教师集体研修的有机融合为探索教师大规模研修范式形成带来新契机。本研究以"教师集体效能"发展为研究视角,探讨教师研修范式优化的动力来源及促进教师整体质量提升的研修范式演进及其开放、互联、共享的信息化特征,同时梳理得出教师集体效能视角下的混合式研修范式。该范式重新识别信息化环境下教师集体效能发展的内在基因,在教师研修效能来源、集体研修投入、任务类型、集体效能评估、共创环境建设方面保持一定的延续性,得出"拓展集效来源—协调角色授权—规范任务设计—创建协作环境—集效评估内化"等重要启示,凝聚教师专业智慧,优化教师混合式研修路径,促进教师共同发展。     

Evolutionary Maps: A new model for the analysis of conceptual development,with application to the diurnal cycle

This paper presents a model of how children generate concrete concepts from perception through processes of differentiation and integration. The model informs the design of a novel methodology (evolutionary maps or emaps), whose implementation on certain domains unfolds the web of itineraries that children may follow in the construction of concrete conceptual knowledge and pinpoints, for each conception, the architecture of the conceptual change that leads to the scientific concept. Remarkably, the generative character of its syntax yields conceptions that, if unknown, amount to predictions that can be tested experimentally. Its application to the diurnal cycle (including the sun's trajectory in the sky) indicates that the model is correct and the methodology works (in some domains). Specifically, said emap predicts a number of exotic trajectories of the sun in the sky that, in the experimental work, were drawn spontaneously both on paper and a dome. Additionally, the application of the emaps theoretical framework in clinical interviews has provided new insight into other cognitive processes. The field of validity of the methodology and its possible applications to science education are discussed.     

Understanding cellular respiration: An analysis of conceptual change in college biology

This study explored and documented the frequencies of conceptual difficulties confronted by college students seeking to understand the basic processes of cellular respiration. Using concept maps, clinical interviews and an open-ended instrument, viewpoints were elicited from 100 (novice) introductory biology students before and after relevant instruction in cellular respiration and from 100 (experienced) students enrolled in advanced biology courses. Chi-square analyses revealed significant differences among groups in the frequencies of scientifically acceptable and alternative conceptions. The findings suggest that novices harbor a wide range of conceptual difficulties that constrain their understanding of cellular respiration. Furthermore, many of these difficulties persist after instruction and new ones arise. Often these conceptual problems remain intact among experienced students despite well-planned, repeated instruction at advanced levels.     

Understanding technology: the development of a concept

Children's perceptions about technology were measured using a Writing/Drawing Activity and a Picture Quiz, administered to approximately 300 grade three to six children in six primary schools in the English Midlands. The results indicate that although many children associate technology only with computers and modern appliances, overall there is a variety of ideas, with the more complex and coherent among older children. Subsequently interviews were carried out with 81 of the children to explore their reasons for choosing items which they said were something to do with technology. The children were able to respond in a thoughtful and consistent manner. Even when the children professed not to know what technology is, they often used an alternative but consistent explanation. A tentative model describing the development of children's ideas about technology is presented.     

How education for sustainable development is implemented in Germany: Looking through the lens of educational governance theory

The United Nations (UN) Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) aimed to integrate the principles, values and practices of sustainable development into all aspects of education and learning around the world. The authors of this article address the implementation process of ESD in Germany during the UN Decade (2005–2014). By undertaking a meta-analysis of the findings of four related sub-studies they carried out during a three-year project funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research, the authors contribute to the understanding of the process of transferring the concept of ESD within a multi-level education system. They investigated this process at two levels – the federal state (a sub-national entity in Germany) and the communal level. Drawing on educational governance theory, the authors unveil principles, norms, rules and procedures in the coordination of action within constellations of heterogeneous actors contributing to the implementation of ESD in their social entities. The outcome of the meta-analysis describes an emerging governance regime in ESD, taking into consideration the following features impacting the coordination of action being carried out by the actors involved: (1) the understanding of the normative concept of ESD as content of negotiation; (2) the perceived opportunity for actors to gain and increase appreciation within the field of ESD as an incentive for and driver of engagement; and (3) the dynamic quality of the set-up, rules and principles of the coordination of action, which renders these subject to situative changes. In the final part of the paper, the findings are discussed from the perspectives of the theory of transfer and the current empirical basis of ESD policy and governance.