The “workclock”: An alternative to token economies in the management of classroom behaviors

A set of procedures for modifying the behavior of an entire class is described. The procedures involve a five-day “workclock” phase in which free time is contingent on attending behavior of the entire class while nonattending behaviors are consequated by a “strike” and time-out procedure. The second phase retains the time-out procedures while making free time contingent on individual assignment completion. The results of applying these procedures in seven classrooms as part of a larger study suggests they are effective in increasing positive classroom behavior for both referred and nonreferred students. The procedures are offered as an alternative to token economies because of the reduced amount of teacher time required, the immediacy of their effect, and the ease of withdrawal.     

Gender,affect, and landscape: wartime films from Northern and Southern Vietnam

Abstract

Examining two Vietnamese films, one made in the North in 1959, and another produced in the South during the American War in 1971, this article contends that Vietnam's landscape serves as an affective site for a gendered construction of nationalism within key moments in Vietnamese history. In analyzing the attachments that the Vietnamese and Vietnamese diaspora feel towards their country, I explore a topic rarely discussed in US film scholarship and historicize these filmmaking efforts to demarcate a different way of viewing Vietnam in film. This study demonstrates the importance of understanding how gender and affect are projected onto landscapes in a national cinema like Vietnam's. More exactingly, it emphasizes that affects underlying Vietnamese nationhood and war are undergirded by the political economy of film and filmmaking. My arguments point to the modes of production and circulation of film, which shape the making of affect in Vietnam War discourse. My analyses are framed by the questions: how is affect inscribed in Vietnamese film, and what are its effects on notions of belonging and nationhood? In what ways has affect traveled about Vietnam in the past and present moment? Who is able to access such representations, and why does this matter?     

Notices

Kinanthropometry III. Proceedings of the VIII Commonwealth and International Conference on Sport, Physical Education, Dance, Recreation and Health. T. Reilly, J. Watkins and J. Borms (eds), E. &; F.N. Spon, London, 1986, xii + 312 pp, £25 (hb), ISBN 0 419 13970 2

Sensible fitness. J.H. Wilmore, Human Kinetics, Champaign, Illinois, USA, 1986, xii + 300 pp, $11.95, ISBN 0 88011 270 0

Running without fear. K.H. Cooper, Bantam Books, London, 1985, 256 pp, £3.95, ISBN 0 553 17356 1

Athletic training and sports medicine. American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons, Churchill Livingstone, Chicago, USA, 1986. viii + 602 pp, £40, ISBN 0 89203 002 X

Athletics and the heart. R. Rost, Year Book Medical Publishers Inc., Chicago, 1987, vii+159 pp, £21.50 (pb), ISBN 0 8151 7397 0

Psychology and sociology of sport: current selected research, Volume 1. L.V. Velden and J.M. Humprey (eds), AMS Press, New York, 1986, ix + 237 pp, £49.50 (hb), ISBN 0 404 63401 X     

The Public Schools and Organized Football in Britain: Fresh Perspectives on Old Paradigms

Modern football, especially soccer, was the product of a fusion of ideas from both the public schools and wider society. In the period between 1830 and 1859 there were far more football teams outside the public schools than those within it, and while the ideas stemming from public schools were important in terms of the code that was established to regulate the game it was only when they were fused and applied with concepts from the wider society that they gained both effectiveness and popularity. The principal creator of this code was the football club at Sheffield, an organization that was easily the most influential and important in the period prior to 1870.     

Factors affecting the impact of teacher education programmes on teacher preparedness: implications for accreditation policy1

The purpose of this study was to provide guidance to policy‐makers about the standards that might be appropriate for accrediting teacher education programmes. The study was commissioned by the Victorian Institute of Teaching (VIT), a statutory body established in 2001 by the Victorian state government with responsibility for the registration (licensing) of teachers and the accreditation of teacher education programmes.

The study investigated the characteristics of effective initial teacher education programmes, as reported by teachers who have just finished their first year of teaching. A survey instrument was distributed in 2004 to all registered teachers who had graduated from their teacher education programme in 2002, taught in 2003 and were now one month into their second year of teaching in 2004. In total, 1147 teachers returned completed questionnaires, from all universities in the state.

Teachers who reported that they were well prepared to meet the demands of their first year of teaching were more likely to have completed courses that gave them deep knowledge of the content they were expected to teach, and how students learned that content, as well as skill in: diagnosing students' existing levels of understanding of the content; planning activities that would promote further development of understanding; and assessing the extent to which development had taken place. The paper concludes with implications for accreditation policy.

On constate, à l'échelle internationale, un intérêt accru pour les procédures d'évaluation et d'accréditation des programmes de formation des maîtres. Le but de cette recherche est d'apporter des repères aux personnes chargées de la réglementation concernant les standards qui pourraient servir à l'accréditation de ces programmes de formation. Cette recherche est menée à la demande du Victorian Institute of Teaching (VIT), une organisation chargée de l'accréditation des enseignants et des programmes de formation dans l'état de Victoria (Australie).

Cette recherche porte sur les caractéristiques des programmes de formation initiale efficients, tels que les perçoivent les enseignants qui viennent de terminer leur première année d'enseignement. En 2004, un questionnaire a été distribué à tous les enseignants accrédités, sortis diplômés de leur programme de formation en 2002, ayant enseigné en 2003 et qui en étaient au premier mois de leur deuxième année d'enseignement en 2004. En tout, 1147 enseignants diplômés de toutes les universités de l'état ont répondu au questionnaire.

L'analyse des réponses révèle des variations significatives concernant l'efficience des programmes. Les programmes efficients sont ceux qui donnent aux nouveaux enseignants une connaissance approfondie de ce qu'ils sont censés faire pour aider les élèves à apprendre ainsi que de la manière dont les élèves apprennent. Ces programmes donnent aux enseignant la capacité d'évaluer chez les élèves le niveau de leur compréhension du contenu enseigné. Ces programmes aident les enseignants à planifier des activités qui encouragent le développement des élèves et à mesurer l'amplitude de ce développement.

Les auteurs montrent dans cette présentation comment ces résultats peuvent guider le choix des standards utilisés lors de l'accréditation des programmes de formation des maîtres.

Ziel der Studie ist die Bereitstellung von Handlungsempfehlungen für politische Entscheidungsträger im Hinblick auf Standards, die zur Genehmigung von Lehramtsstudiengängen herangezogen werden können. Die Studie wurde vom Victorian Institut of Teaching (VIT) in Auftrag gegeben, welche im Jahr 2001 als eine Körperschaft des öffentlichen Rechts von der Regierung des Bundesstaats Victoria eingerichtet wurde und verantwortlich für die Zulassung (Lizenzierung) von Lehrern und die Genehmigung von Lehramtsstudiengängen ist.

Die Studie untersuchte die Eigenschaften einer effektiven (Erst‐)Ausbildung, welche von Lehrern berichtet wurden, die gerade ihr erstes Jahr als Lehrer beendet hatten. Für die Erhebung im Jahr 2004 erhielten alle registrierten Lehrer einen Fragebogen, die ihre Ausbildung in 2002 abgeschlossen hatten, in 2003 unterrichtet hatten, und die zu dem Zeitpunkt der Erhebung den ersten Monat im zweiten Jahr als Lehrkraft absolviert hatten. Der Fragebogen wurde von 1147 Lehrern aller Universitäten im Bundesstaat ausgefüllt.

Lehrer, die berichteten, auf die Anforderungen im ersten Jahr als Lehrer gut vorbereitet zu sein, besuchten Kurse und Seminare, die ihnen ein vertieftes Wissen über die zu unterrichtenden Lehrinhalte und darüber, wie Schüler diese Inhalte lernen, vermittelten. Außerdem wurden in diesen Kursen und Seminaren Fähigkeiten erlernt zur Einschätzung von bereits bei Schülern vorhandenem Verständnis der Lehrinhalte, zur Planung von Aktivitäten für die weitere Entwicklung des Verständnisses und zur Bewertung des Ausmaßes dieser Entwicklung. Die Arbeit schließt mit Implikationen für die Zulassung von Lehramtsstudiengängen.

El propósito de este estudio consistió en proporcionar orientación a las instancias políticas acerca de los estándares que podrían ser apropiados para la acreditación de programas de formación de profesores. El estudio fue encargado por el Victorian Institute of Teaching (VIT), una institución creada en 2001 por el gobierno del estado de Victoria con la responsabilidad de llevar a cabo el registro (licencia para enseñar) de los profesores y la acreditación de los programas de formación de profesorado.

En el estudio investigamos las características de los programas eficaces de formación inicial docente, desde el punto de vista de los profesores que habían finalizado su primer año de enseñanza. En el año 2004 se distribuyó un cuestionario a todos los profesores acreditados que habían finalizado su graduación como profesores en el año 2002, y que habían enseñando en 2003 y que se encontraban en ese momento en el primer mes de su segundo año como docentes. El cuestionario lo respondieron 1147 profesores de todas las universidades del estado.

Los profesores que afirmaron estar preparados para dar respuesta a las demandas de su primer año de enseñanza habían realizado cursos que les proporcionaron un conocimiento más elaborado de lo que de ellos se esperaba para que pudieran ayudar a los alumnos a aprender, asimismo conocían cómo aprenden los alumnos, así como poseían habilidades para diagnosticar los niveles previos de comprensión del contenido por parte de los alumnos, planificaban actividades que podrían promover un desarrollo de los alumnos y evaluaban en qué medida ese desarrollo tenía lugar. El artículo concluye con implicaciones para la política de acreditación.     

Positioning pedagogy—a matter of children’s rights

This paper foregrounds pedagogy in the realisation of children’s rights to non-discrimination and serving their best interests, as articulated in the UNCRC. Drawing on a mixed methodological study of teachers in 12 schools it does so through exploring teacher pedagogies in terms of how they 'think', 'do' and 'talk' pedagogy, conceived as their pedagogic 'habitus'. Findings confirm contradictions between teachers’ ideals and their practice that is significantly mediated by the socio-cultural context of their schools, gender and presence of migrant children. Especially striking is that neither social justice concerns nor children’s rights explicitly emerge in their narratives, in turn influencing how they ‘do’ pedagogy with different groups of children. This contradiction is understood as a dialectical process of re/action influenced by structures, policies and the exercise of power in local contexts. The UNCRC provides a generative mechanism within which to hold government to account for the impact of policies, especially in challenging contexts. To be realised in practice, however, it also needs to be embedded in teacher habitus, shaping their dispositions toward children’s rights to non-discrimination and serving their best interests in education.     

Learning by the Sun: Observing Seasonal Declination with a Vertical Sundial

We designed and constructed a sundial for the purpose of observing the declination of the sun and thus marking solar seasonal variation. The 122 × 122 cm vertical sundial on the south-facing wall of our library has two unusual features: a nodus on the gnomon that casts a shadow of a point for marking the height of the sun and a large blank working space for students to mark the shadow of the nodus at different hours of the day and to connect the marks of 1 day in a line of declination. We discuss the design of a dial that emphasizes a working space for observations on solar declination, methods for determining the position of the nodus such that lines of declination can be observed every day of the year, mathematical procedures that minimize error in laying out the hour lines for this unusual design, the type of materials that are best suited for this design, and how students in an interdisciplinary honors colloquium on seasonal rhythms used the sundial. We also include two appendices on general sundial construction that indicates the information designers need to construct their own sundials.     

Students with Self-identified Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (si-SEND): Flourishing or Languishing!

Students’ wellbeing is an essential component of their ability to function well, not only at school but also in all life domains. Many studies have investigated student wellbeing. However, empirical studies about the wellbeing of students with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) are scarce. Furthermore, many studies have adopted a deficit view of wellbeing and mental [ill]-health. This study adopted a more positive perspective. We administered a questionnaire assessing social-emotional and psychological wellbeing, global self-concept, resilience, bullying, mental ill-health and school satisfaction to 1930 students, aged 13–15 years, who were attending seven mainstream schools in South Australia. Of those students, 172 self-identified as having SEND. Results showed significant differences, with students who self-identified with SEND not faring as well as other students on all measures. In particular, just over one third (39.9%) of students who self-identified as having SEND reported that they were flourishing, compared with just over half (57.6%) of the students who did not indicate that they had special needs. The findings indicate that more attention needs to be given to designing and implementing supports to improve the wellbeing and school satisfaction of students who self-identify as having SEND.     

Using invention to change how students tackle problems

Invention activities challenge students to tackle problems that superficially appear unrelated to the course material but illustrate underlying fundamental concepts that are fundamental to material that will be presented. During our invention activities in a first-year biology class, students were presented with problems that are parallel to those that living cells must solve, in weekly sessions over a 13-wk term. We compared students who participated in the invention activities sessions with students who participated in sessions of structured problem solving and with students who did not participate in either activity. When faced with developing a solution to a challenging and unfamiliar biology problem, invention activity students were much quicker to engage with the problem and routinely provided multiple reasonable hypotheses. In contrast the other students were significantly slower in beginning to work on the problem and routinely produced relatively few ideas. We suggest that the invention activities develop a highly valuable skill that operates at the initial stages of problem solving.