Universal Design for Learning in Pre-K to Grade 12 Classrooms: A Systematic Review of Research

Some researchers have characterized Universal Design for Learning (UDL) as a promising framework to provide diverse students with access to the general education curriculum, but to what extent and how have UDL-based interventions fulfilled that promise? The purpose of this review was to analyze studies that investigated impacts of UDL-based instruction on academic and social outcomes for pre-K to grade 12 students. For the 13 studies that qualified for our review, we analyzed how researchers applied UDL principles as well as outcomes and efficacy of UDL-based interventions. Results of this analysis suggest that overall, UDL-based instruction has the potential to increase engagement and access to general education curriculum for students with disabilities, and improve students’ academic and social outcomes. However, we found mixed results; the efficacy of UDL-based interventions varied considerably within and across many studies, with effect sizes ranging from small to large. In addition, we found that although authors noted that their interventions were UDL-based, there was considerable variance in how authors reported connections between specific UDL guidelines and components of their interventions.     

Developing Computer-Assisted Interactive Video Courseware for Instruction

This study reports the results of a funded project aimed at the production and evaluation of instructional materials suitable for use on an interactive videodisc system. More specifically, this project involved the development of visual materials on a videodisc, preparation of a computer-assisted interactive videodisc courseware on the concept of weather forecasting using these materials, reporting on the process of development, and testing the product with a group drawn from the intended audience.     

The Emergence of Trans-Regional Educational Exchange Schemes (TREES) in Europe,North America,and the Asia-Pacific Region

This article demonstrates that salient aspects of globalization have led to the emergence of trans-regional educational exchange schemes (TREES) in higher education. What sets these schemes apart from others is the proliferation of international university organizations that "go beyond region" and infiltrate other parts of the globe despite policy barriers. This article illustrates how the current globalizing efforts to establish regionalized free trade zones, as evidenced in such organizations as the European Union (EU), the North America Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), and the Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation Zone (APEC) have led to processes of internationalization in which national governments, higher education institutions, and other international university organizations vie for position. It concludes with a discussion of selected strategies and issues as these affect the development of international university co-operation as a whole and the impact they may have on higher education in the future.     

Improving the Matching for DIF Analysis by Conditioning on Both Test Score and an Educational Background Variable

When tests are designed to measure dimensionally complex material, DIF analysis with matching based on the total test score may be inappropriate. Previous research has demonstrated that matching can be improved by using multiple internal or both internal and external measures to more completely account for the latent ability space. The present article extends this line of research by examining the potential to improve matching by conditioning simultaneously on test score and a categorical variable representing the educational background of the examinees. The responses of male and female examinees from a test of medical competence were analyzed using a logistic regression procedure. Results show a substantial reduction in the number of items identified as displaying significant DIF when conditioning is based on total test score and a variable representing educational background as opposed to total test score only.     

激励学习的学校领导--一份历时25年的研究报告

教育家很早就知道相对于其他校长。有些校长是非常有力的领导者。然而这些优秀的校长具有什么特点呢？很多年来。校长都知道他们必须要成为教育的领导者。但是．教育的领导者，是一个非常空泛的概念。没有什么具体的例子能够解释和说明这个概念。我们一直在试图去规定一些具体的能够让校长们成为有力的领导者的训练。大多数的教育者们认为尽管一些校长毕业于同一门课程或者接受了相同的专业训练。但是他们在各自的学校所获得的成功是不一样的。同样，我们要指出那些试图把别人成功的策略原原本本的用在自己学校的校长们。这样做不会得到任何好的效果，甚至会是负作用。     

Towards a theoretical basis for students' alternative frameworks in science and for science teaching

As there is nothing as practical as a good theory, there is a continuing need in the field of science education enquiry to look for theories which help to interpret the findings about students' alternative frameworks and to inform the design of teaching strategies which relate to a research focus on ‘how the student learns’. The developmental model of cognitive functioning based on the SOLO Taxonomy (Biggs & Collis, 1982) as updated in 1991 (Biggs & Collis, 1991; Collis & Biggs, 1991) is being applied in this way. Questionnaire data from two large studies of science learning of Australian students (conducted by ACER and NBEET) are being re-analysed in terms of the current theory. This paper illustrates the theory and describes a plan of further research. Specializations: science education, students' understandings of phenomena in science. Specializations: cognitive development, evaluation, mathematics and science education. Specializations: mathematics education, students' understanding of chance and data concepts.     

Voting for Change: an International Study of Students’ Willingness to Support Measures to Ameliorate Climate Change

Research in Science Education - Voting for various pro-environmental governmental policies is an indirect, but potentially effective, action that citizens can take to reduce global warming (GW) and...     

Staff Attitudes Regarding Permanent Expulsionary Punishment (PEP) from Australian Government Schools: Comparing Queensland with Other Jurisdictions

This mixed-methods study considers ‘permanent expulsionary punishments’ (PEP) from government schooling. Analysis considers the literature, available PEP data from two jurisdictions, and attitudinal data from Australian staff, in considering the contribution of policy, agency, and discourse (PAD) to the causes of PEP. It compares attitudes in a Queensland sample with those in other Australian jurisdictions. Across Queensland schools, 2007–2014, rates for the two categories of PEP almost doubled and more than quadrupled. This contrasts with neighbouring state, New South Wales (NSW), where the rate of PEP remained constant. PEP may disproportionately impact equity groups, already vulnerable to poor academic, and therefore social mobility, outcomes: especially those of First Nation Heritage (FNH). Thus, pre-identified gaps in educational outcomes for FNH children are stretched, despite this purportedly being a national education and social justice priority. The findings are that discernible differences exist between participants from Queensland, and other jurisdictions. However, despite these differences, responses overall were polarised reasonably uniformly across jurisdictions. Most participants attributed influence onto both family and child with fewer attributions onto schooling systems or PEP itself. Other considered factors which might influence attitudes include cohort differences like gender, age and experience.

     

Body pedagogies,P/policy,health and gender

Schools within a ‘knowledge economy’ nurture and endorse particular ‘corporeal orientations’, that is to say, ascribe value, meaning and potential to ‘the body’ (particular bodies) in time, place and space. Such processes reflect wider (national and global) socio‐economic trends. In contemporary culture, these processes increasingly celebrate particular virtues—‘flexible identities’, the manifest aspects of ‘performance’ and ‘corporeal perfection’ (usually defined as ‘the slender ideal’). Calling on the voices of a number of young women (aged 11–18) the article illustrates how these processes can intersect to seriously damage some people's health, perhaps especially those of young women and girls. The analyses suggest that the expectations of a ‘knowledge economy’ relating to the body and health enter the school system through two forms of P/policy: ‘formal’, state‐sanctioned, usually legislated education Policy; and ‘informal’, mainly medical and health institution‐based, state ‘approved’ but non‐legislated, pseudo policy initiatives often merely reflecting expectations and pressures laundered through the popular media. Together, these P/policies define not only formal education but increasingly encode other aspects of school life, in effect, making ‘pedagogy’ everyone's concern, everywhere. The article highlights the relentless and inescapable nature of pedagogical activity in the Totally Pedagogised Micro Societies (TPMS) which schools have become.