Teachers Using Dialogue to Support Science Learning in the Primary Classroom

Research in Science Education - The importance of using dialogue as a pedagogical tool to enhance student learning in science has been widely recognised in research literature. Effective classroom...     

Implementing concept-based learning in a large undergraduate classroom

An experiment explicitly introducing learning strategies to a large, first-year undergraduate cell biology course was undertaken to see whether awareness and use of strategies had a measurable impact on student performance. The construction of concept maps was selected as the strategy to be introduced because of an inherent coherence with a course structured by concepts. Data were collected over three different semesters of an introductory cell biology course, all teaching similar course material with the same professor and all evaluated using similar examinations. The first group, used as a control, did not construct concept maps, the second group constructed individual concept maps, and the third group first constructed individual maps then validated their maps in small teams to provide peer feedback about the individual maps. Assessment of the experiment involved student performance on the final exam, anonymous polls of student perceptions, failure rate, and retention of information at the start of the following year. The main conclusion drawn is that concept maps without feedback have no significant effect on student performance, whereas concept maps with feedback produced a measurable increase in student problem-solving performance and a decrease in failure rates.     

‘I am reading to her and she loves it': benefits of engaging fathers from disadvantaged areas in their children's early learning transitions

Findings presented here relate to the evaluation of a one-year father-inclusion project, which took place in an area of multiple deprivation in the North of England. The project's goal was to engage fathers and male carers in their children's transition from an early years setting to a reception class and to maintain that involvement in the mainstream school setting. The project was successful in engaging men, recording 76 male attendances, 19 of which were recorded at school-based activities after the transition. Key benefits identified by fathers engaged in the project were closer relationships with their children and greater involvement in their play and learning. Children were very positive about their fathers' involvement and school staff identified a better rapport with fathers following the project.     

Sacrifices in Greedy Universities: Are they gendered?

In 1995-97, a research team interviewed a cross-section of staff in two Australian public universities about the sacrifices they had to make to pursue their careers. This article discusses the responses of the staff who participated in this study. It uses Coser's concept of the 'greedy institution' to describe the hold which universities have over their staff and details the range of personal and professional sacrifices which staff made in order to be part of their university culture. Comparisons are drawn between male and female staff, academic and general staff, and the two universities which participated in this study. It is concluded that the overall impact of current economistic and neoliberal discourses are such as to minimise differences on each of these scores and produce a certain uniformity of response across site, gender and occupational status. The article suggests that this apparent uniformity is the product of a peak masculinist discourse used mainly by those in the more powerful positions in these institutions, which acts to disenfranchise all those who do not operate within its restricted and restrictive boundaries.     

Development Of A Consultation Profile Of Interventions Perceived As Successful By Human Performance Technology Consultants

The purpose of this study was to develop a consultation profile of interventions perceived as successful by internal or external Human Performance Technology consultants. Members of the National Society for Performance and Instruction [The National Society for Performance and Instruction is currently known as the International Society for Performance and Instruction] and the American Society for Training and Development were asked to describe in detail a single intervention which they considered successful in terms of outcomes for both themselves and their clients. The results indicate that the scope of these interventions is not limited to training but includes a broader range of performance improvement interventions. This supports the notion that professionals in the field are undertaking more systemic approaches in their practice. An average of 40% of total project time is allocated to front-end analysis. The projects reported by our respondents also emphasize collaborative decision-making, especially during the front-end analysis phase. Factors most commonly reported as responsible for the success of projects were support from the client, collaboration between team members, and clear definition of expectations.