Spoken Language and Mathematics

Teachers and learners use spoken language in the three part mathematics lesson advocated by the National Numeracy Strategy (NNS). This document recognises the importance of language by emphasising 'the correct use of mathematical vocabulary' in the raising of standards. Research into the use of vocabulary in science suggests that the use of scientific words does not necessarily demonstrate conceptual understanding. Pupils and teachers appear to ascribe different meanings to scientific words because of their relative positions on the novice/expert continuum. To explore whether mathematical words could cause similar problems, data collected from six groups of teachers and learners was subjected to discourse analysis to provide evidence of how spoken language was used and how meaning and understanding were achieved. The implications of the findings on the use of language by both teachers and learners in the NNS mathematics lesson, including vital areas for reflection by teachers, are fully considered.     

Professional development design considerations in climate change education: teacher enactment and student learning

Climate change is one of the most pressing challenges facing society, and climate change educational models are emerging in response. This study investigates the implementation and enactment of a climate change professional development (PD) model for science educators and its impact on student learning. Using an intrinsic case study methodology, we focused analytic attention on how one teacher made particular pedagogical and content decisions, and the implications for student’s conceptual learning. Using anthropological theories of conceptual travel, we traced salient ideas through instructional delivery and into student reasoning. Analysis showed that students gained an increased understanding of the enhanced greenhouse effect and the implications of human activity on this enhanced effect at statistically significant levels and with moderate effect sizes. However, students demonstrated a limited, though non-significant gain on the likely effects of climate change. Student reasoning on the tangible actions to deal with these problems also remained underdeveloped, reflecting omissions in both PD and teacher enactment. We discuss implications for the emerging field of climate change education.     

Onset,development, and prevention of drinking and driving among adolescents

An etiological study was designed to investigate the onset and development of drinking and driving among adolescents who recently received their driver’s license. A theoretical framework, derived from Problem Behavior Theory, was applied in order to identify environmental, personality and behavioral factors associated with drinking and driving. Among students who reported that they had driven a motor vehicle in the past three months (N=1416), 33 percent of the males and 22 percent of the females (who averaged 16.7 years) reported “drinking at least two drinks on a single occasion prior to driving” at least once in the previous three months. Personality factors (including perceived ability to drive after drinking, tolerance of drinking and driving, and lack of self-confidence in avoiding drinking and driving situations), perceived environmental factors (perceived car availability and friends modelling of drinking and driving) and behavioral factors (riding with a drinking driver and marijuana use) accounted for a large proportion (49%) of the variance in reported drinking and driving. It is recommended that school-based, peer-led educational programs be designed which target young adolescents prior to the age at which legal driver license is obtained. The programs should be broad-based and consider drinking and driving within the larger context of drinking and driving related behaviors and traffic safety in general.     

Do parents make a difference to children’s academic achievement? Differences between parents of higher and lower achieving students

Differences in family factors in determining academic achievement were investigated by testing 432 parents in nine independent, coeducational Melbourne schools. Schools were ranked and categorized into three groups (high, medium and low), based on student achievement (ENTER) scores in their final year of secondary school and school improvement indexes. Parents completed a questionnaire investigating their attitudes towards the school environment, their aspirations, expectations, encouragement and interest in their child’s education (adapted from scales constructed by Marjoribanks). They also responded to six open‐ended questions on their attitudes to achievement and to their (child’s) school. Multiple regression analyses revealed that parental expectations of their children’s educational level made the strongest unique prediction of high achievement followed by the length of time they had maintained their expectations. Limitations discussed include the disparity in meaning associated with the definition of school success and whether these results can be generalized to all students considering the biased sample (socio‐economic status).     

Developing a measure to understand young children’s Internet cognition and cyber-safety awareness: a pilot test

Abstract

Advancements in technology have increased preschool children’s access to the Internet. Very little research has been conducted to identify pre-school-aged children’s understandings of the Internet and ramifications of being ‘online’. Without an understanding of children’s thinking about the Internet, it is difficult to provide age- and pedagogically appropriate cyber-safety education. This study developed and pilot-tested an interview schedule that focuses on the Internet thinking and cyber-safety awareness of Australian children aged 4–5 years. The schedule is informed by sociocultural theory, cyber-safety education research and approaches for researching with young children. The schedule shows potential to elicit children’s understandings of the Internet and cyber-safety awareness. Adjustments are required to allow more contextualised responses from children.     

Noddings’ “Critical Lessons” May be Particularly Critical at the Elementary Level

This article explores Nel Noddings’ conception of pedagogical neutrality and its meanings and implications for classroom conversations, particularly at the elementary grade levels. It examines the selection of issues for classroom discourse and the importance of teachers purposefully exposing students to arguments and data with which they may be less familiar, especially in more polarized settings. The piece also discusses the extent to which younger students can grapple with controversial issues, and the arguments for and against elementary teachers sharing their views with their students. The piece concludes with examples of, and guidelines for, facilitating effective discussions of controversial issues at the primary and intermediate elementary levels.     

Failure to block control by a relevant stimulus

Pigeons were trained to depress a treadle in the presence of a discriminative stimulus, either a tone or illumination of red houselights, in order to obtain access to grain or avoid electric shock. In avoidance training, the auditory discriminative stimulus yielded faster acquisition than did the visual one. In appetitive training, the visual discriminative stimulus yielded faster acquisition than the auditory one. Experiments 2 and 3 used these stimuli in Kamin’s (1969) blocking design. In Experiment 2, when the pigeons were trained to depress a treadle in the presence of tone to obtain grain and then red light was added as the redundant stimulus, the light acquired stimulus control over treadlepressing; blocking was not observed. In Experiment 3, when the pigeons were trained to depress a treadle in the presence of red light to avoid electric shock and then tone was added as the redundant stimulus, the tone acquired stimulus control over treadle-pressing. Again, blocking was not observed. The implications of these results for several models of stimulus control are discussed.     

The same in German as in English? Investigating the subject-specificity of teaching quality

Teaching quality often is assumed to be a personal and stable characteristic of teachers. Whether this is true has scarcely been investigated empirically. In this study the extent to which value-added scores of teachers teaching German and English as a foreign language (EFL) to the same class remain consistent across subjects was investigated. Then, the consistency of two teaching quality dimensions—classroom management and motivational support—across subjects was explored. A sample consisting of 25 classes with 548 students to whom German and EFL were taught by the same teacher was analyzed using multivariate multilevel models and generalizability theory. The results showed that the value-added scores were highly correlated across subjects. While there was hardly any subject-dependent variance in classroom management, there was substantial subject-dependent variance in motivational support. The results indicate that it is important to conduct further studies on the situational and contextual factors that might influence teaching quality to gain a more comprehensive picture regarding the consistency of teaching quality across various conditions.     

A Developmental Perspective on Peer Rejection: Mechanisms of Stability and Change

This study examines factors associated with the relative stability of peer rejection among elementary school-aged children. Forty-four initially rejected children (some of whom improved their social status while others remained rejected over a 2-year period) were recruited from a larger sociometric sample. Prospective analyses were conducted to determine whether peer nominated aggression and children's perceptions of their own status in fourth grade were predictive of status improvement by the end of fifth grade. In addition to prospective analyses, initially rejected children and their mothers were invited to participate in a retrospective interview about their social experiences over the past 2 school years. Results of prospective and retrospective analyses suggested that perceived social status, participation in extracurricular activities, locus of control, and parental monitoring were all positively related to status improvement among initially rejected children. Surprisingly, aggressive behavior also was positively related to status improvement among initially rejected boys.