Teachers’ assessment practices in mathematics: classrooms in the context of reform

This article responds to calls that have been made for research into how teachers incorporate new assessment ideas into their practice. We draw on a large‐scale study that examined the implementation of reform in mathematics in grades 7–10 in Ontario, Canada. We present teacher questionnaire data, and focus on data gathered from case studies for details of what new assessment practices look like in classrooms. We show teachers using a variety of forms of assessment and using assessment to improve student learning. Observed assessment practices went beyond tests to include the use of journals, observation, questioning, self‐assessment and unique forms of ‘quizzes’. These practices allowed teachers to examine students’ mathematical thinking and provided feedback to students and teachers to improve student learning. We also observed the important role of collaboration, coherence, and the teachers’ beliefs in supporting new assessment practices.     

Feminist pedagogy and feminist epistemology: an overview

This article offers an overview of the field of feminist education, epistemology and pedagogy. It examines the variety of streams of feminist thought in these areas including socialist, radical, cultural, liberal and postmodern feminisms. In doing so, it engages with some of the most influential writings in the field from the last 12 years and looks at the relationship between feminist education, feminism as a whole, and poststructuralist social theory and postmodernism. The article goes on to discuss epistemology and Foucauldian notions of knowledge and power hierarchies and asks whether feminism accepts notions of ontology in relation to women. In the final section, feminist pedagogy is discussed in relation to other streams of critical or radical pedagogy; is Women's Studies in universities the most productive place to devote feminist energy to? Can Women's Studies be considered part of radical education when it necessarily operates within an institution which arguably operates to ‘domesticate’ women and valorizes traditional, or patriarchal, epistemology? It concludes by exploring an educational environment, or methodology, which has the potential to be more productive for both students and educators interested in the liberatory possibilities of education.     

Investigating Primary Source Literacy

Primary source research requires students to acquire specialized research skills. This paper presents results from a user study testing the effectiveness of a Web guide designed to convey the concepts behind “primary source literacy”. The study also evaluated students' strengths and weaknesses when conducting primary source research.     

A Meta‐Analytic Review of Graphic Organizers and Science Instruction for Adolescents with Learning Disabilities: Implications for the Intermediate and Secondary Science Classroom

This article presents a meta‐analysis of experimental and quasi‐experimental studies in which intermediate and secondary students with learning disabilities were taught science content through the use of graphic organizers (GOs). Following an exhaustive search for studies meeting specified selection criteria, 23 standardized mean effect sizes were extracted from six articles involving 271 participants in grades 6 through 12. Findings included that, across immediate posttest and maintenance conditions, the use of GOs was associated with increased vocabulary knowledge and factual comprehension measured by researcher‐generated multiple‐choice tests in science. Conclusions, implications for future research, and practical recommendations are presented.     

A MULTI‐INSTITUTIONAL EDUCATIONAL PROGRAM FOR OLDER LEARNERS

The rapid growth of educational programs for older adults has occurred in the general absence of overall planning or guiding principles. A model educational program (the Rosa Keller Campus) is described that was established using an explicit set of principles for creating successful multi‐institutional and disciplinary programs. In addition, the overall model incorporates methods of reducing barriers that prevent older adults from participating in education. The model delineates the organizational structure of the program and the conduct of both basic and applied research as integral components of the program.     

Youth transitions in Britain on the threshold of a ‘New Europe‘

This paper considers the social construction of the youth phase and discusses the fact that, on the whole, transitions to adulthood in Britain are completed biographically sooner than in comparable continental European countries. Education and training arrangements and participation rates are important distinguishing features. Central aspects of the timing and shaping of youth transitions in Britain are placed in European Community contrast; young Britons’ prospects in ‘Maastricht‐Europe’ are considered and education policy implications are drawn.     

The Evisceration of Art Education?

This is an edited and slightly redrafted version of the oral presentation of the NSEAD Presidential Address given at the Society’s Annual Course and Conference at Bretton Hall in late 1996. It pulls together and summarises evidence that points to areas of concern for art and design education at all levels of theory and practice.