ASERA: brief histor(y/ies)

This collection of historical accounts provides diverse perspectives on the structure and culture of the community of researchers who participate in activities of the Australasian Science Education Research Association (ASERA). It describes the formation of the Association, and identifies major changes and challenges for the ever growing and internationalisation of its membership.

Virtue and Character in Higher Education

Despite much recent concern with the possibilities of moral character education in elementary schooling and professional training, the university and higher educational prospects of such education have only lately received much attention. This paper begins by considering – and largely endorsing – the general case for character education in contexts of pre-adult schooling and adult professional and vocational training. However, it proceeds to argue that the case for intervention in character formation in some educational contexts is not generally applicable to university and higher education. Key points are that there can be no clear normative warrant for such intervention in the case of learners who are: (i) beyond the age of majority and (ii) voluntarily engaged in study wherein significant professional or public implications of personal character development are not a pressing concern. In short, while good moral character is clearly of general human importance, its deliberate or explicit promotion may not be equally warranted in all educational contexts.     

The Development of Spatial Skills in Elementary School Students

Through five waves of data collection, this longitudinal study investigated the development of spatial skills in 304 elementary school children (M_age = 7.64 years) as they progressed from the second to fourth grade. The study focused on whether multiple latent classes with different developmental profiles best explain development. Spatial skills were measured by tests featuring two‐dimensional figures. Mathematics achievement was measured by the statewide end‐of‐year test and was included as a distal outcome variable. The role of covariates, including socioeconomic status, verbal working memory, and gender, was also explored. The results indicate a need to view two‐dimensional spatial skills development as multidimensional with two developmental profiles predicted by socioeconomic status, verbal working memory, and gender. The developmental profiles predicted differences in mathematics achievement.     

Authoring systems reassessed

A study of authoring system technology was done to update a previous study done in 1985. While the earlier study focused on software selection methods, the current one emphasizes trends in authoring tool characteristics, vendor approaches to the market-place, and evaluation methods. It also raises questions about some of the often tacit assumptions underlying the technology's development and use.     

Educational Philosophy, Theory and Research: A Psychiatric Autobiography

Interpretations of educational theory as essentially empirical conceive education and teaching as skill-based technologies which can be scientifically researched. Those in the educational research community who resist this picture nevertheless often regard good educational practice as empirically researchable by more 'particularistic' means (for example, action research). However, this chapter argues that such empiricist approaches neglect or distort what are essentially moral rather than scientific or technical questions. On this view, education is essentially a moral practice, ethical deliberation lies at the heart of principled educational enquiry and the expertise of teachers is better conceived in terms of virtues rather than skills.     

Philosophy and Method in Educational Research

The purpose of this paper is to explore how the idea of method now shapes the self‐understanding in terms of which many educational researchers make sense of their work. It does so by comparing the modem ‘methodical’ approach to educational research with the premodern style of philosophical theorising it has largely replaced. On the basis of this comparison it shows how some important questions about the future of educational research begin to emerge.