The impact of individual consultation on student ratings of teaching

Abstract

The present study addressed the impact of individual consultation on teaching improvement as measured by changes in student ratings. Subjects included 91 professors who presented naturally for individual consultation services over a seven‐year period at the teaching centre of a Canadian university. Interventions by the consultant fell into three categories: 1) Feedback‐Consultation, 2) Feedback‐Consultation‐Class Observation, and 3) Feedback‐Consultation‐Class Observation and Student Consultation. End of term student ratings for the course that was the subject of the consultation were compared with student ratings for the same course taught between one and three years prior to the consultation service, and for the same course taught between one to three years following consultation. The results showed that, overall, consultation was effective in improving the quality of the consultees’ teaching, as evidenced by an increase in mean student ratings of instruction. This effect persisted post consultation. Not all intervention groups, however, showed the same pattern of results. Change was evident immediately after the intervention except in the case of brief consultation, although follow‐up data showed improved teaching for the latter group. Control data provided evidence that the change in student ratings post consultation could reasonably be attributed to consultation effects.     

Reading together in the classroom. A study of the difference between teacher and student interactions and the requirements of the Ministry of Education in Chile / Lectura conjunta en el aula. Un estudio sobre la distancia entre la interacción profesores alumnos y las prescripciones del Ministerio de Educación Chileno

Abstract

In this article we describe the reading comprehension teaching practices of three Chilean teachers, to contrast them with the proposed guidelines from the Chilean Ministry of Education. To do this, we have analysed what contexts of interaction were created in the classroom and which reading processes were promoted by the questions the students were asked. The results show how the teachers’ practices were closer to the ministerial guidelines when they were asked to create specific contexts of interaction, but deviated from these guidelines when the objective was to promote a reflective and critical understanding of the texts.     

Validating chemical and structural changes in painting materials by principal component analysis of spectroscopic data using internal mineral standards

This work shows the capability of principal component analysis (PCA) to detect molecular, chemical and mineralogical changes in historic painting materials subjected to a thermal ageing test (< 250 °C). To simulate the heat-induced alterations an ageing accelerated process was performed on two sets of samples containing two mineral phases (hydroxyapatite and quartz) and two organic compounds (collagen and albumin). The chosen minerals behaved as internal standards during the tests since they are stable and chemically inert at the tested temperatures. Raman microscopy (RM) was applied to characterise one set of samples made of bone, containing ca. 70% hydroxyapatite and 30% collagen. Attenuated total reflectance-Fourier transform infrared (ATR-FTIR) spectroscopy was used to study the other set of samples made of four different quartz/albumin mixtures with quartz contents of 30%, 50%, 70% and 90% (w/w). The aim was to identify the ideal proportion of internal standard to be validated by ATR-FTIR and PCA, determined to be 70%. PCA analyses detected changes in the molecular structures of the organic components while the internal mineral standard remained stable. Moreover, the internal standard IR/Raman bands were constant during the tests and confirmed that the results of PCA analyses were independent of instrumental and technical factors, as well as sample collecting and handling. This demonstrates the potential benefits of our approach to study historical painting materials, which have suffered any type of heat-induced alteration.     

Los estilos cognitivos. Introducción al problema de las diferencias cognitivas individuales

RESUMEN

Además de la búsqueda de unos principios generales, una de las preocupaciones de la Psicología Cognitiva ha sido la forma en que esas leyes se encarnan en el funcionamiento de los individuos concretos. Estas diferencias individuales en la cognición son conocidas como “estilos cognitivos”. Muchos autores desde distintas perspectivas se han preocupado por el estudio de este tema, aunque el enfoque predominante hoy en día es el estudio de las diferencias individuales en lo relativo a las estrategias en la resolución de problemas. Se han propuesto varios tipos de estilos cognitivos, pero los dos estilos conocidos como “reflexibilidad-impulsividad” y la “dependencia-independencia de campo” son los más investigados y los que poseen más implicaciones educativas.     

Henri Wallon y la educación infantil

RESUMEN

La educación es un proceso social que sólo puede ser plenamente entendido y modificado si se enfoca como tal. Lejos de limitarse a dar «la visión del psicólogo sobre la educación», Wallon enfoca el problema desde una perspectiva amplia en la que los aspectos pedagógicos, psicológicos y sociales aparecen íntimamente imbricados los unos en los otros, lo que permite una visión del problema educativo imposible de lograr desde perspectivas oposicionistas. En el artículo se analizan esquemáticamente algunos de los puntos fundamentales de la visión walloniana sobre el desarrollo evolutivo y algunas de las más señaladas aportaciones del Plan de reforma de la enseñanza (Plan Langevin-Wallon) en cuya elaboración Wallon tomó parte muy activa. Se pone de manifiesto la perspectiva dialéctica de Wallon tanto en Psicología como en Pedagogía y se enfatiza la necesaria complementariedad de ambas como disciplinas científicas y como actividades profesionales.     

La Zona de Desarrollo Próximo como tarea de construcción

Resumen

Desde una perspectiva vygotskiana, las interacciones adulto-niño son observadas en torno a una tarea de constructión, analizándose las diferencias existentes entre unos adultos y otros en la forma en que definen la situación y la negocian en la interacción con niños de entre 21 y 24 meses de edad. Los análisis efectuados con la muestra total de 133 padres (hombres y mujeres) y sus respectivos hijos, muestran que los índices de estimulación de las madres (no de los padres) y los índices de desarrollo de sus hijos, guardan entre sí una correlación interesante, aunque baja. El sexo de los padres, y no su nivel de estudios, se relaciona con el nivel de estimulación aportada. Los análisis secuenciales realizados sobre una submuestra de madres estimulantes y otra de madres poco estimulantes, evidencian que hay distintas formas de interactuar con el niño en su Zona de Desarrollo Próximo, y que las diferentes relaciones interpersonales conducen a distintos niveles de competencia por parte de los niños.     

恋恋布达佩斯

匈牙利首都布达佩斯是全国政治、经济和文化中心,也是欧洲著名的古城。它风光秀丽、景色如画,被人们誉为“多瑙河畔的明珠”,它是大诗人裴多菲、音乐家李斯特以及翻云覆雨的金融巨鳄索罗斯的故乡,还是茜茜公主爱恋的土地。那么,今天就让我们一起随着作者来感受这座曼妙的城市吧。     

Fostering Transit between Real World and Mathematical World: Some Phases on the Modelling Cycle

This study shows how, in the initial training of mathematics teachers, it is possible to promote processes of abstraction and mathematisation through modelling a real situation with the support of auxiliary material to mediate understanding. By adapting elements of the theoretical and methodological framework called Abstraction in Context (AiC), participants’ discussions while building a mathematical model—in a nested epistemic actions—are analysed. Two specific points are discussed in this paper. The first aims to identify how different types of knowledge emerge when an individual is faced with a modelling task. The second is regarding the use of auxiliary material as a means of metaphorising a situation. It was evidenced how the material favours the construction of a mathematical model through the simplification and idealisation that it brings. The meaning constructed for the model is supported in recognising a decreasing behaviour as a part of a whole.     

Universities,knowledge and pedagogical configurations: Glimpsing the complex university

This paper elaborates a typology of universities in which each university is characteristically associated with (i) diverse missions, (ii) different ways of producing knowledge and (iii) contrasting pedagogical configurations. Four university forms are identified, analysed and illustrated, namely the expert university, the non-elite university, the entrepreneurial university and the revolutionary university. It is suggested that the typology and the analysis of university forms offered here provide insight into the current positioning of universities in relation to the wider world and have potential in prompting new forms of university for the twenty-first century. The paper further advances another possible university for the future, namely the complex university. The complex university is part of and respectful of diverse ecosystems. It creates new frameworks to understand the world and, in that way, supports social transformations.