Lessons learned from a decade implementing Comprehensive Sexuality Education in resource poor settings: The World Starts With Me

Today, more than half of the world population is under the age of 25 years and one in four is under age 18. The urgency of expanding access to Comprehensive Sexuality Education (CSE) notably for children and young people in Africa and Asia is greater than ever before. However, many challenges to the implementation and delivery of CSE in resource poor settings have been identified in the literature. CSE’s effectiveness could be strongly improved if these challenges were better met. This paper aims to contribute to those much-needed improvements by sharing lessons learned from a decade of implementation of one particular CSE programme, The World Starts With Me, among various populations in 11 low income countries in Africa and Asia. The aims, content, reach and effectiveness of the programme are described. Next, the challenges for implementation and delivery at student, teacher, school and context level are discussed with reference to the wider knowledge base in this area. Finally, suggestions are provided for ways forward including the increased sensitivity of programmes for normative and practical barriers to sexual health, further advancement towards gender transformativity, a far-reaching expansion of comprehensive forms of teacher training and coaching, and a serious stepping-up of multilevel ‘whole school’ approaches.     

Introducing Real-Time AVHRR-APT Satellite Imagery in the Classroom Environment

A low-cost (US$350) satellite receiving station was assembled and operated within a classroom environment in Gainesville (Florida) on October 2001 for acquiring satellite data directly from the Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) satellites. The simplicity of the satellite signal makes this source of real-time satellite data readily accessible to the K-16 educational community. The educational strategy of this program sought to achieve pedagogical effectiveness within the sciences, mathematics, and technology through the cultivation of applied, critical, and analytical skills. The applied hands-on laboratory and lecture experiences aimed at enabling students to visualize and integrate the various concepts presented in the classroom. The characteristics of the satellite data provide students and educators with live visible and infrared images that allow for the visualization and exploration of dynamic scientific concepts, making the AHVRR-APT system a suitable educational tool for complementing the K-16 curricula. This educational experience relied on inexpensive radio equipment for accessing satellite data through the exploration of modern space technology. When compared to Internet-based sources of AVHRR data, the virtual nature of Internet portals cannot provide students with a live satellite data acquisition experience, such as that available through a classroom-based AVHRR-APT satellite receiving station.     

Enhancing Part-time Teaching in Higher Education: a Challenge for Institutional Policy and Practice

Higher education in the UK has seen a steady increase in the numbers of part‐time teachers, yet the way in which they are inducted into teaching and the utilisation of their expertise are under‐researched. This qualitative study of 33 part‐time teachers from several universities suggests that their involvement in higher education should be considered from a fresh perspective, which differs from approaches to the enhancement of university teaching that rely upon simply educating individual teachers to do better by requiring their attendance at formally provided courses and events. While these approaches have their place, modern research on professional learning is increasingly pointing to the view that professional formation is an ecological process that is insufficiently served by the formal provision of learning opportunities. The ecological perspective, which emphasises the part played by the everyday workplace in professional formation, provides a challenge to leaders and managers regarding the development and implementation of institutional policy and practice.     

The role of school psychology in preventing depression

To advance the role of school psychologists in mental health prevention and wellness activities, in this article we describe (a) a social ecological theory for guiding school‐based prevention research, (b) the role of schools in the development and prevention of depression, (c) a continuum of school‐based support for meeting the needs of children who are currently depressed for preventing future internalizing distress for all children, and (d) social and political factors that must be considered if lasting change is to occur. We conclude with specific considerations for school psychologists. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Psychol Schs 41: 763–775, 2004.     

Can middle‐school science textbooks help students learn important ideas? Findings from project 2061's curriculum evaluation study: Life science

The transfer of matter and energy from one organism to another and between organisms and their physical setting is a fundamental concept in life science. Not surprisingly, this concept is common to the Benchmarks for Science Literacy (American Association for the Advancement of Science, 1993 ), the National Science Education Standards (National Research Council, 1996 ), and most state frameworks and likely to appear in any middle‐school science curriculum material. Nonetheless, while topics such as photosynthesis and cellular respiration have been taught for many years, research on student learning indicates that students have difficulties learning these ideas. In this study, nine middle‐school curriculum materials—both widely used and newly developed—were examined in detail for their support of student learning ideas concerning matter and energy transformations in ecosystems specified in the national standards documents. The analysis procedure used in this study was previously developed and field tested by Project 2061 of the AAAS on a variety of curriculum materials. According to our findings, currently available curriculum materials provide little support for the attainment of the key ideas chosen for this study. In general, these materials do not take into account students' prior knowledge, lack representations to clarify abstract ideas, and are deficient in phenomena that can be explained by the key ideas and hence can make them plausible. This article concludes with a discussion of the implications of this study to curriculum development, teaching, and science education research based on shortcomings in today's curricula. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 41: 538–568, 2004     

Challenging White Jesus: Race and the Undergraduate Bible Classroom

Abstract

In this article, we offer analysis of and propose means of resistance to White Jesus in undergraduate Bible survey courses. White Jesus functions as a proxy for the operation of white normativity in contexts of religious education. Research on a cohort of first-year undergraduate students demonstrates the durability of race as a factor in students’ experiences and outcomes in required Bible courses. After interpreting these findings in light of literature on race, biblical studies, and higher education, we suggest strategic pedagogical interventions that instructors can employ to resist white normativity.     

The balance model: Hindrance or support for the solving of linear equations with one unknown

The use of concrete models for teaching students how to solve equations is often debated in scientific literature. This article aims to examine the balance model and to identify the issues that divide scientists. We based our reflections on the results of an empirical study and analysis of the various arguments put forward by supporters and opponents of the model. We describe learning situations that were the subject of the empirical study, which involved forty students in two 8th-grade classes. The aim was to teach the formal solving method, which involved performing the same operations on both sides of the equation using, notably, the balance model. Analysis of students' reasoning showed that the presence of negative numbers gave rise to many errors. The difficulties presented by negative numbers were reviewed, eight months later, during an interview with five students, chosen from those who took part in the experiment. Within that context, we discuss the relevance of the balance model and analyse the arguments put forward by researchers who either defend or reject its use.This revised version was published online in September 2005 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

The inclusion of STS material in the most frequently used secondary science textbooks in the U.S.

Science-technology-society (STS) has been identified by the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA), the Departments of Education in a variety of states, and a variety of commissions and panels concerned with reform in science education as a new direction and goal for science education. Because most teachers are dependent upon textbooks for determining their curricula and teaching approaches, an investigation of 11 of the most frequently used secondary science textbooks in the U.S. were reviewed to determine the attention given to STS topics. The framework established by the Project Synthesis research team for STS was used to define STS topics. The 11 textbooks were examined in their entirety to determine space devoted to STS. Minimum interrater reliability was established at 0.80; any deviation resulted in further analysis. Comparisons were made of STS coverage by science disciplines and across the 7-12 grade levels. Results revealed that less than 7% of the narrative space is devoted to STS topics, with a range of 11.5% to 0.5%. Further, the coverage of STS topics decreases as grade level increases. A great discrepancy, therefore, exists between goals for science education (an STS emphasis) to actual coverage in the most frequently used textbooks.     

Spying on children during a school playground intervention using a novel method for direct observation of activities during outdoor play

Our aims were to examine the efficacy of a new observational instrument ‘System for Observing Outdoor Play’ for detecting changes in outdoor play and chart the use of recycled and repurposed materials in the school playground during the course of an intervention to increase outdoor play. Children from one Sydney primary school were observed (N = 111; 5–12 years) using an observational instrument developed as part of the Sydney Playground Project. Data on types of activities and frequencies were collected at baseline and seven times during intervention. Use of intervention materials was consistently high and associated with increases in play-related activities (40–77%), while inactive pursuits decreased (52–31%), on average. The observational instrument proved efficacious in tracking changes in play. Modification of the school playground environment by introducing loose parts changed children’s play-related behaviour; the variety of activities increased, including construction and creative play. Physical inactivity decreased. Recycled materials can increase children’s creative, social and physical play.     

Inquiry-Based Learning and the Flipped Classroom Model

Abstract

The flipped classroom model of teaching can be an ideal venue for turning a traditional classroom into an engaging, inquiry-based learning (IBL) environment. In this paper, we discuss how two instructors at different universities made their classrooms come to life by moving the acquisition of basic course concepts outside the classroom and using class time for active problem-based learning. Results from student surveys are presented to relate student perceptions of the flipped/IBL classroom model.