Teaching history,teaching nationalism: a qualitative study of history teachers in a Polish post-industrial town

This paper aims to analyse Polish history teachers’ perceptions of the role of historical education in the context of nationalism, class and locality. Drawing on the results of qualitative research conducted in the post-industrial and post-German city of Wa?brzych in Poland, we argue that teachers are not fully aware of the role of nationalist politics in representations of the past. Teachers regard these nationalist representations as natural and taken for granted. They are not only unable to assume responsibility for promoting nationalism among students but also reproduce a dominant nationalist discourse by using history to nurture their students’ attachment to the idea of a homogeneous and solidary nation that transcends class divisions and erases local specificity. They see their role primarily in terms of reinforcing the dominant structures of collective memory in their pupils.     

The role of non-formal contexts in teacher education for STEM: the case of horno3 science and technology interactive centre

Abstract

Teacher education can benefit directly from experiences in non-formal settings. This article presents a research study with elementary teachers who were teaching in public schools in the state of Nuevo León, México, and participated in a STEM Continuous Professional Development (CPD) workshop. The workshop provided a platform for teachers to interact with scientists and disseminators of science, allowing the appropriation of scientific knowledge applied to everyday activities and settings. Participants improved the quality of their teaching practices in classrooms and gained a new understanding of STEM subjects, enabling them to promote inspiring learning experiences with their students, where dialogue, experimentation and elucidation became an important part of their lessons. The study was carried out using ethnographic tools for analysing recorded videos, 15 sets of field notes, and 49 questionnaires. The sequential analysis of talk and gestures in their participation in the CPD workshop demonstrated high levels of involvement, creativity, and collaborative solution of STEM problems.     

Understanding sensemaking/sensegiving in transformational change processes from the bottom up

Government agencies, foundations, business and industry, and other important higher education stakeholders continue to invest in important and deep changes they think are necessary for the vitality and health of higher education particularly interdisciplinary teaching and research. But we know little about how transformational changes happen, particularly bottom up approaches required for altering the teaching/learning environment. This article reports on one of the few studies of transformational change describing case study research of 28 institutions attempting to fundamentally shift toward interdisciplinary work. The results identify the key role of sensemaking and sensegiving and build on earlier research showing how these processes change from mobilization to the implementation of change.     

Examining Non-Tenure Track Faculty Perceptions of How Departmental Policies and Practices Shape Their Performance and Ability to Create Student Learning at Four-Year Institutions

This study examines a major shift in the professoriate from tenure track to a non-tenure track faculty (NTTF), with two-thirds of the faculty now being off the tenure track. While some studies suggest negative outcomes as a result of students taking courses with NTTF, none of the studies examine the working conditions of the NTTFs. This qualitative case study fills that gap in our understanding through interviews with 107 faculty within 25 departments in 3 four year campuses examines and compares NTTF in departments that have supportive policies in place versus those that do not. The results presented in the findings clearly demonstrate that NTTF perceive that departmental policies shape their performance and ability to create quality learning experiences. Unsupportive policies impact preparation, advising possibilities, create poor curricular designs, result in missing key materials, among many other negative results. Findings identify a set of policies that negatively and positively shape performance and that can be the focus of changes among leaders on college campuses.     

Mental Models and Implementing New Faculty Roles

The nature of the faculty has changed dramatically over the last forty years; and today’s faculty model no longer meets the needs of students, faculty, or institutions. However, the issue of redefining faculty roles is extremely contentious. In this article we report our examination of open-ended, qualitative data from a larger survey study of stakeholders’ beliefs and opinions about new faculty models. We found that different groups, such as non-tenure-track and tenured faculty, deans, and provosts, have constructed very different mental models around the challenges to implementing new faculty roles and that they offered different solutions for moving forward.     

Ask Dr. Discovery: the impact of a casual mobile game on visitor engagement with science museum content

Educational technology research and development - This study examines the impact of a mobile game app on science museum visitors’ level of engagement with exhibit content, compared to a non...     

Supporting Faculty Grassroots Leadership

Various factors are making faculty leadership challenging including the rise in part-time and non-tenure-track faculty, the increasing pressure to publish and teach more courses and adopt new technologies and pedagogies, increasing standards for tenure and promotion, ascension of academic capitalism, and heavy service roles for women and people of color. This article focuses on describing actions taken by institutional agents and aspects of campus environments which are supportive of grassroots faculty leadership. While there are many conditions which inhibit faculty leadership (i.e., part-time and contingent faculty trends, rising publication standards, etc.), our study demonstrated certain campus conditions or characteristics can overcome the forces of change including counting leadership as service, creating campus networks, addressing dysfunctional department dynamics, fostering role models, supporting faculty who question or challenge decisions, ensuring flexibility and autonomy, and altering contingent faculty contracts to include service and leadership.

Theory of Multiple Intelligences: Implications for Higher Education

This article reviews implications of Gardner's theory of Multiple Intelligences for higher education—responding to increased access, the necessity of meeting the needs of diverse users, and the accountability movement.     

Redesigning for Collaboration within Higher Education Institutions: An Exploration into the Developmental Process

As a result of both the external pressures and the known benefits of collaboration, many higher education institutions are trying to create learning communities, service and community-based learning, and interdisciplinary research and teaching. However, over 50% of collaborations fail. There has been virtually no research on how to enable higher education institutions to conduct collaborative work. This article focuses on examining how institutions moved from a culture that supports individual work to the ones that facilitate collaborative work. A three-stage model emerged. The first stage, building commitment, contains four contextual elements—values, external pressure, learning and networks. Here the institution uses ideas/information from a variety of sources to convince members of the campus of the need to conduct collaborative work. In the second stage, commitment, senior executives demonstrate support and re-examine the mission of the campus and leadership emerges within the network. The third phase is called sustaining and includes the development of structures, networks, and rewards to support the collaborations.