Unawareness to Production,Dropout to Innovator—Primary teachers' understanding and use of a science,technology and society approach to science teaching

This paper investigates the process of teacher change in a group of 8 primary school teachers during their exposure to a science, technology and society (STS) approach to teaching Science in Swaziland. The research aimed to establish the effect of support given to teachers in using the approach through a series of workshops, followed by a 5-week supported implementation of the unit ‘matter and energy’. An analysis of the way in which the STS approach impacted on the classroom practice of the teachers yielded 2 outcomes that were hierarchical. First, teacher understanding of the approach was observed to go through levels of unawareness, recognition of differences in approach, utilisation, personalisation and production. Second, the teachers' level of use of the STS approach was observed to have been affected by their levels of understanding, characterised by the following typologies: dropouts, strugglers, domesticators, succeeders and innovators. Some relationship between levels of understanding and typology of use was found, however, the level of understanding was not the exclusive determinant of typology of use. Only teachers reaching the utilisation level were able to use the innovation in a sustainable way, while those at the level of unawareness were able to become domesticators, adapting the innovation to their usual teaching approach.     

A Model of Factors Contributing to STEM Learning and Career Orientation

The purpose of this research was to develop and test a model of factors contributing to science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) learning and career orientation, examining the complex paths and relationships among social, motivational, and instructional factors underlying these outcomes for middle school youth. Social cognitive career theory provided the foundation for the research because of its emphasis on explaining mechanisms which influence both career orientations and academic performance. Key constructs investigated were youth STEM interest, self-efficacy, and career outcome expectancy (consequences of particular actions). The study also investigated the effects of prior knowledge, use of problem-solving learning strategies, and the support and influence of informal educators, family members, and peers. A structural equation model was developed, and structural equation modeling procedures were used to test proposed relationships between these constructs. Results showed that educators, peers, and family-influenced youth STEM interest, which in turn predicted their STEM self-efficacy and career outcome expectancy. STEM career orientation was fostered by youth-expected outcomes for such careers. Results suggest that students’ pathways to STEM careers and learning can be largely explained by these constructs, and underscore the importance of youth STEM interest.     

Are Physical Activity Resources Understandable as Disseminated? A Meta-Analysis of Readability Studies

ABSTRACT

Readability studies routinely report that resources with physical activity-related content exceed the eighth-grade reading level (RL), the maximum recommended for health education resources. The objectives of this meta-analysis were to determine the extent that findings in the literature represented true differences and whether production sources differed in their average RL. Fourteen studies met the study inclusion criteria. The main analysis involved 819 print and web article resources produced by government and nongovernment sources. The average RL was greater than eighth-grade (M = 10.25, 95% CI = [9.62, 10.91], p < .001), a nearly substantial magnitude of difference (g = .75), with a substantial percentage of the observed effects representing true differences (I² = 79.79%). No differences were observed between productions sources, Q(5) = 2.56, p = .767. Publication bias and publication date did not meaningfully affect the main findings, nor did variations in study methodology or quality. The implications of these results for kinesiology are discussed and recommendations for future research are presented.     

STUDENT RIGHTS, CLARENCE THOMAS, AND THE REVOLUTIONARY VISION OF EDUCATION

A bstract .  In his concurring opinion to the 2007 U.S. Supreme Court decision, Morse v. Frederick , Justice Clarence Thomas argues that the Tinker decision, which granted students constitutional rights in public schools, should be overturned on originalist grounds. In this essay, Bryan Warnick, Bradley Rowe, and Sang Hyun Kim make the case that Thomas's originalist analysis is inconclusive. Instead of looking at court decisions relating to public education starting in the middle of the nineteenth century to establish original meaning, as Thomas does, they argue that a better strategy involves an analysis of educational ideas circulating closer to the time of constitutional ratification. Using this strategy, the authors show that many prominent educational writers (a) believed that it was important for students to learn to act independently and to value their constitutional rights, and (b) believed that students learn best by imitating civic examples. These two ideas work together in early American educational thought to imply that schools should exemplify the sort of respect for self-governance and individual rights that is present in the larger constitutional order. Thus, Warnick, Rowe, and Kim argue that there are originalist reasons for supporting student rights that Thomas ignores. In the end, this analysis not only highlights the limitations of originalist interpretative strategies, it also reminds us, more broadly, of a way to reconcile liberty and order in civic education.     

Evaluation of Video-Based Instructional Coaching for Middle School Teachers: Evidence from a Multiple Baseline Study

Thomas M. SkrticDepartment of Special Education, University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas, USABarbara A. BradleyDepartment of Curriculum and Teaching, University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas, USAJim KnightCenter for Research on Learning, University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas, USA We designed a multiple baseline study to evaluate an instructional coaching model in which coaches use video recordings of collaborating teachers’ classrooms to inform their coaching practices. In this model, teachers and coaches use video evidence to co-construct a student-based goal and identify best practices to reach their goal. We found that the instructional coaching model is associated with greater use of effective pedagogical strategies among teachers and increased student engagement in the classroom.     

The effectiveness of supplemental phonics instruction employing constant time delay instruction for struggling readers

This study examined the provision of supplemental instruction using constant time delay for struggling readers who had fallen behind in developing word‐blending skills. Additionally, the study examined the utility of adding a material reward contingency to the instructional program with a contingency derived from percentile‐shaping procedures. Procedures were compared in a withdrawal design applied across blocks of letters with word blending as the target response. Participants exhibited substantial learning gains when provided constant time delay instruction in phonics skills as compared to baseline demonstrating clear experimental control. Results for the constant time delay plus reward contingency conditions were clearly differentiated from baseline but undifferentiated from the other instructional conditions. The implications of the findings for intervention for struggling readers and future research relevant to more comprehensive reading interventions are discussed.     

Perceptions of control over social outcomes and student behavior

Locus of control and classroom behavior data were gathered from 223 randomly selected students in 75 senior high and junior high school classrooms. The major purpose of the study was to examine the relationship between LOC orientation regarding social outcomes and two types of classroom behavior: considerate vs. hostile, and task-oriented vs. distractible. Results showed moderate positive correlation between internality and both Considerate and Task-Oriented behavior. The strongest relationship observed was that between perceptions about the teacher's control over negative outcomes and the students' behavior. Differences in relations were observed for males and females.     

The relationship between the phonological strategies employed In reading and spelling

This paper summarises a longitudinal study which examined the relationship between the abilities of young children to read and spell phonologically. Empirical evidence of Bryant and Bradley (1980) and Cataldo and Ellis (1988) to show that children acquire the ability to use a phonological strategy for spelling before the ability to use an equivalent strategy for reading is confirmed. Implications for the teaching of reading are discussed.     

On the organology of utopia: Stiegler's contribution to the philosophy of education

Abstract

We are living in and beyond two massive changes in the world, both of which must be addressed by education, the caretaker of memory. First is the geological era of the Anthropocene—a crisis of nature and mankind, a fundamental geo-trauma. While climate change is a reality which we are belatedly just beginning to understand as we increasingly experience its changing weather patterns, the Anthropocene remains unknown or invisible for many. As a concrete case in point, the 2011 nuclear accident at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant in the Tōhoku region of Japan remains an ongoing but largely invisible crisis. Indeed, there is a sense of collective disavowal regarding what we must do in its wake, for it is a crisis which effects not only the contemporary but future generations. The second is equally momentous. The advent of mass access to the Internet in the 1990s and its effects on learning, knowledge, societal relations and psychical life are also just beginning to be understood. For Bernard Stiegler the ecological crisis and the technological question go hand in hand. To explain this position we are naming Stiegler not only a utopian thinker in the classical sense but also a utopian thinker who offers practical ‘negentropic’ weapons to contest entropic becoming in the digital world. We are arguing Stiegler’s oeuvre and pharmacological method has much to give to the philosophy of education as it seeks to account for the crisis in education.