Contact,culture and context: evidence from mixed faith schools in Northern Ireland and Israel

This paper compares the concept of mixed faith/cultural education in Northern Ireland and Israel. It is primarily concerned with the processes that these ‘integrated’ schools adopt in their quest to improve relations between divided ethnic groups. Drawing on qualitative data collected in two mixed religion primary schools in each jurisdiction the paper shows that the schools' existing cultural norms act as important mediating influences on the way that inter‐group relationships are constructed. The paper concludes that attention needs to be paid to both the policy context and the culture if contact initiatives are to be successful.     

Absorptive capacity: A conceptual framework for understanding district central office learning

Globally, school systems are pressed to engage in large-scale school improvement. In the United States and other countries, school district central offices and other local governing agencies often engage with external organizations and individuals to support such educational change efforts. However, initiatives with external partners are not always productive. We draw on the idea of absorptive capacity to present a conceptual framework for understanding when and under what conditions partnerships are likely to foster district learning and support change efforts. We contend that prior knowledge, communication pathways, strategic knowledge leadership, and resources to partner are preconditions for a district central office’s absorptive capacity, and we identify the features of the external partner that likely matter for productive partnering. We argue that the relationship between district absorptive capacity and features of the partner is mediated by the nature of the interactions between district and partner, with likely consequences for organizational learning outcomes. For researchers, this framework serves as a tool for understanding how a district central office can learn from an external partner for educational improvement efforts. For school district leaders and external partners, this framework provides a structure for thinking strategically about when and under what conditions a partnership is likely to be productive.     

The Impact of Quality Matters Professional Development on Teaching across Delivery Formats

ABSTRACT

This study explored the impact of professional development workshops for online course design on faculty’s pedagogical practices in online, face-to-face (f2f), and blended instructional modes. It specifically focused on trainings offered by the Quality Matters (QM) organization on a rubric for assessing quality in online course development. A mixed-methods analysis of survey data collected from 2,148 participants in QM workshops over a three-year period (2012–2015) demonstrated that, across all three teaching modes, participants revised learning objectives, improved course alignment, and paid greater attention to communication with students. Additional benefits from participating in QM training related to specific modalities. Common online and blended impacts included changes in assessment practices as well as in modifying course materials to be more compliant with accessibility standards. In f2f settings, frequent changes involved redesigning learning activities to increase learner-learner interaction.     

Finding the Hook: Computer Science Education in Elementary Contexts

The purpose of this study was to investigate how elementary teachers with little knowledge of computer science (CS) and project-based learning (PBL) experienced integrating CS through PBL as a part of a standards-based elementary curriculum in Grades 3–5. The researchers used qualitative constant comparison methods on field notes and reflections to describe the teachers' participation in professional development to create CS-infused projects to be implemented with their students. Categories that emerged included standards integration, student autonomy, and challenges of infrastructure and time. The data are from the first 6 months of a 3-year, National Science Foundation-funded project. (Keywords: computer science, project-based learning, integration, elementary curriculum)     

Early Maternal Employment and Children's Academic and Behavioral Skills in Australia and the United Kingdom

This study assessed the links between early maternal employment and children's later academic and behavioral skills in Australia and the United Kingdom. Using representative samples of children born in each country from 2000 to 2004 (Australia N = 5,093, U.K. N = 18,497), OLS regression models weighted with propensity scores assessed links between maternal employment in the 2 years after childbearing and children's skills in first grade. There were neutral associations between maternal employment and children's first‐grade skills in both countries. However, there was a slight indication that more time away from parenting was negatively linked to children's behavioral functioning in Australia and employment begun between 9 and 24 months was positively linked to cognitive skills for U.K. children of low‐wage mothers.     

Integrated schools and intergroup relations in Northern Ireland: the importance of parents

Background: Integrated schools were established in Northern Ireland in the early 1980s. With an explicit intention to build better relations between Catholics and Protestants, it has an intuitive appeal in a society which has long experienced sectarian division. Whilst the sector has attracted considerable research, less is understood about how parents’ perceive the approach adopted by schools to build intergroup relations.

Purpose: The present article seeks to address the gap in the literature by exploring parents’ views of integrated education. Drawing on theories of intergroup contact, the paper seeks specifically to explore how parents and head teachers perceive and negotiate the approach that the schools adopt to build intergroup relations.

Method: In an attempt to probe the deeper meanings that participants attach to integrated education, a qualitative research approach was adopted; semi-structured interviews were carried out with 17 parents and 2 head teachers in two integrated primary schools.

Findings: Through the data analyses, three main aspects were evident. Firstly, the study reveals something of the relational dynamic between head teachers and parents and the significance of this relationship for determining how intergroup relations are pursued in integrated schools. Secondly, it highlights the nebulous nature of identity salience and the practical challenges of making identity salient within mixed identity contexts. Finally, the study suggests the value of qualitative approaches for exploring intergroup contact initiatives.

Conclusions: Overall, the paper demonstrates the inherent challenges of establishing an integrated school where good relations will be developed when multiple interpretations of what constitutes an appropriate response to difference and diversity prevails.     

Innovation in PhD completion: the hardy shall succeed (and be happy!)

What is it that makes a PhD such a difficult process, and prevents candidates from completing on time? In this paper, we propose that self‐sabotaging behaviours, including overcommitting, procrastination and perfectionism, have a role to play. At Flinders University, we have developed a program in which we work with PhD students to help to reduce these behaviours and give them the strategies and attitudes they need to successfully (and happily!) complete their thesis. The program utilises cognitive–behavioural coaching, an evidence‐based strategy that we claim leads to significant and long‐term behavioural change. An evaluation of the program indicates that it is very successful, improving students’ ability to manage their time, set specific times for writing, and show work to their supervisor regularly, and that these behaviours were associated with lower levels of stress and improved ability to complete.     

Modeling and validation of autoinducer-mediated bacterial gene expression in microfluidic environments

Biosensors exploiting communication within genetically engineered bacteria are becoming increasingly important for monitoring environmental changes. Currently, there are a variety of mathematical models for understanding and predicting how genetically engineered bacteria respond to molecular stimuli in these environments, but as sensors have miniaturized towards microfluidics and are subjected to complex time-varying inputs, the shortcomings of these models have become apparent. The effects of microfluidic environments such as low oxygen concentration, increased biofilm encapsulation, diffusion limited molecular distribution, and higher population densities strongly affect rate constants for gene expression not accounted for in previous models. We report a mathematical model that accurately predicts the biological response of the autoinducer N-acyl homoserine lactone-mediated green fluorescent protein expression in reporter bacteria in microfluidic environments by accommodating these rate constants. This generalized mass action model considers a chain of biomolecular events from input autoinducer chemical to fluorescent protein expression through a series of six chemical species. We have validated this model against experimental data from our own apparatus as well as prior published experimental results. Results indicate accurate prediction of dynamics (e.g., 14% peak time error from a pulse input) and with reduced mean-squared error with pulse or step inputs for a range of concentrations (10 μM–30 μM). This model can help advance the design of genetically engineered bacteria sensors and molecular communication devices.     

Rigor and reproducibility instruction in academic medical libraries

Background:Concerns over scientific reproducibility have grown in recent years, leading the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to require researchers to address these issues in research grant applications. Starting in 2020, training grants were required to provide a plan for educating trainees in rigor and reproducibility. Academic medical centers have responded with different solutions to fill this educational need. As experienced instructors with expertise in topics relating to reproducibility, librarians can play a prominent role in providing trainings, classes, and events to educate investigators and trainees, and bolstering reproducibility in their communities.Case Presentations:This special report summarizes efforts at five institutions to provide education in reproducibility to biomedical and life sciences researchers. Our goal is to expand awareness of the range of approaches in providing reproducibility services in libraries.Conclusions:Reproducibility education by medical librarians can take many forms. These specific programs in reproducibility education build upon libraries'' existing collaborations, with funder mandates providing a major impetus. Collaborator needs shaped the exact type of educational or other reproducibility support and combined with each library''s strengths to yield a diversity of offerings based on capacity and interest. As demand for and complexity of reproducibility education increases due to new institutional and funder mandates, reproducibility education will merit special attention.     

Soliciting,vetting, monitoring,and evaluating: A study of state education agencies’ use of external providers for school improvement efforts

Journal of Educational Change - Recent United States (U.S.) educational policies—especially the passage of the Every Student Succeeds Act of 2015—have challenged state education...