Project on scope,sequence, and coordination: A new synthesis for improving science education

The Project on Scope, Sequence, and Coordination of Secondary School Science (SS&C) is a major national project designed to reform science education, K-12. Based on research on learning science, the project includes provision for hands-on experience, sequencing over time at successively higher levels of abstraction, and taking account of student preconceptions. Associated with SS&C is a performance-based student assessment project which incorporates compact-disc interactive (CD-I) technology. The SS&C project and its assessment component were initiated by the author and have become projects of the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) funded by the National Science Foundation and the U.S. Department of Education. Projects are underway in California, North Carolina, Iowa, Puerto Rico, Texas, and Alaska.     

Conflict in the family: A continuing education course produced by the open university

This course, first presented by the Open University in 1980, is designed for independent study by people who, in the course of their working lives, come into contact with families suffering serious internal conflicts which place any members—adult or child—in danger of physical or emotional abuse in their own home. The course has been developed at a level which should make it a serious contribution to in-service training for a wide variety of professionals and experienced voluntary workers. It is unique in that it not only examines constructive and destructive aspects of conflict but also integrates written material (16 units) with an audiovisual component (8 TV programmes and 7 cassette tapes) on prevention, diagnosis and intervention relating to the whole spectrum of family conflict and violence including child abuse, sexual abuse, adolescent abuse, spouse abuse, abuse of and by the elderly and abuse of parents by their children. This paper provides a brief outline of the course aims, objectives and content together with information on its usage in the UK and the availability of certain components for international usage.     

Globalized curriculum or global approach to curriculum reform in mathematics education

The mathematics education community has shown considerable awareness of the international status of their discipline. While internationalization of the discipline is not a new phenomenon, globalization is a relatively recent term in educational discourse. This paper presents a theoretical model towards the study of globalization and internationalization in mathematics education based on previous publication by the authors. Secondly, it identifies some key issues that have been discussed in the literature and that may require further discussion and research in the field. In particular it discusses the issue of similarity of mathematics education curricula around the world. The concept of a global curriculum is rejected in favor for more internationalized approach to curriculum reform based on collaboration between mathematics educators.     

Training,Careers and Lives: a longitudinal study of a teaching dynasty

This paper is an account of a singular Anglo‐Welsh dynasty, the Adams family, the experiences of three generations of whose teaching members spanned 100 years of educational development in England and Wales, from the 1840s to the 1930s. It comprises first of all summarised biographical details of relevant members of the Adams family, of which a full history can be found in the writer's An Anglo‐Welsh Teaching Dynasty (Marsden, 1997). The second part of the paper offers generalisations drawn from this grassroots, longitudinal case study which provide critical comment on the work, personal lives and attitudes of individual members, in illustration of the living realisation of a century of educational effort. They hopefully serve to counter some of the attenuated and negative stereotypes of the teaching profession found in certain traditional histories of the profession and in some social theory imposed on educational history.     

University class size: Is smaller better?

This study investigates the relationship between class size and achievement at the college level. Recent meta-analyses have found a strong relationship between class size and student achievement, but few of the studies examined class size larger than 40 or university-age populations. This analysis examines a university's testing-center data-archives representing 305 sections from 24 different courses. Section sizes ranged from 13 to 1,006. A total of 16,230 test scores were analyzed. The results of this investigation reveal that at the college level, class size may be less important an influence on student achievement than some educators have thought.     

The National Diffusion Network: A career education bonus

Bill Guise is Assistant Director, Washington National Diffusion Network Facilitator Office.     

Assessing Multiliteracies and the New Basics

This paper addresses the skills and characteristics required of successful learners, workers and citizens in the knowledge economy. The authors trace the shifting commercial, technological and cultural conditions characteristic of this economy, and highlight the key qualities now required for individual success. Effective learners will increasingly need to be autonomous and self-directed, flexible, collaborative, of open sensibility, broadly knowledgeable, and able to work productively with linguistic and cultural diversity. While still prevalent, it is held that standardised testing and a 'back to basics' approach to curriculum are unable to promote and measure effectively these skills and sensibilities. Instead, a broader and more creative approach to curriculum and assessment is recommended. A 'new basics' is argued for at the level of curriculum, with correlative assessment techniques such as analysis of portfolios, performance, projects and group work.