Effects of student characteristics and level of teacher-student interaction on achievement and attitudes

In this study, the effects of variations in the frequency of teacher-student verbal interaction on the achievements of students differing in ability, anxiety, and extroversion were examined. At the beginning of the school year a pretest, an ability measure, and the High School Personality Questionnaire were administered to the 139 pupils in four Grade 8 science classrooms from two schools. In each classroom, five lessons were then videotaped and counts were made of the number of direct, task-relevant interactions with the teachers in which each pupil was involved. Multivariate analysis of covariance revealed significant main effects for ability but not for interaction rates. In univariate analyses, high interaction rates were found to be associated with higher residual attitude toward science.     

Getting Generation Y to attend: Friends,interactivity and half-time entertainment

People from Generation Y, given their number and stage in the family life-cycle, represent a key emerging audience for major sports. The study focussed on the effect of friends and half time enhancements on likely attendance at matches. The sport domain was the Australian Football League (AFL), the elite Australian rules football competition. The enhancements being tested were half-time entertainments based on performers from well-known television talent shows, Australian Idol and It Takes Two. Scenarios with and without interactive participation, based on short messaging service (SMS) messages, were tested. The study used a general population sample of 909 Generation Y people in a traditional AFL market and one where AFL is not the major winter competition. Previous attendance and sport orientation were the major influences on attendance at major sports, including the AFL. Friends influenced likely attendance at a game, but no effects were found for half-time entertainments. People who attended matches with friends typically had social activities before and after the game. This suggested that one promotional strategy to expand existing markets was to find and engage the social networks of existing fans, making sport attendance a broader part of an overall social event.     

探究教学的认知理论

本文选用多学科教学实例来说明教师如何运用探究教学的十种策略促使学生解决各种问题。在这一过程中,学生既学习知识领域的具体理论,又学习各种推理技能,包括构建假设、验证假设、提出预测、选择验证理论的合适的案例、提出反例和假设案例、区别必要条件和充分条件、考虑不同的假设、熟悉规则或理论可能的形式、知道提问的策略等。在某种意义上,探究法为学生展示了一个造就科学家的模拟过程。这种教学模式对学生的学习有特别的激励作用。     

Understanding practitioners' characteristics and perspectives prior to the dissemination of an evidence-based intervention

OBJECTIVES: To describe the characteristics and repertoires of community practitioners serving families involved in child physical abuse that may inform training and treatment dissemination efforts. The aims are to: (a) describe the background characteristics of these clinicians; (b) document their most common intervention techniques; (c) examine clinicians' attitudes toward manualized treatment; and (d) understand the organizational climate of community agencies. METHOD: Practitioners from nine different agencies who have worked with cases in which there was child physical abuse (n=77) completed focus group discussions and three self-report questionnaires. Qualitative and quantitative analyses were conducted in tandem. RESULTS: Practitioners reported that they most often focused on family issues and employed family therapy techniques. Although treatment manuals were important, it was difficult to determine how practitioners used or would use these materials with families. An almost equal number of concerns and benefits were raised regarding using manuals in treatment. There was moderate agreement in how practitioners perceived their work environments. Age and attainment of a graduate degree were positively related to greater caring and job satisfaction, respectively, while length of time at a given agency was positively related to greater reports of emotional exhaustion on a measure of organizational climate. CONCLUSIONS: Given the promising benefits of evidence-based treatments for child abuse, it is important that researchers begin to form partnerships with community agencies that will lead to the dissemination and evaluation of effective treatment strategies.     

Can ‘pooling teaching tips’ be more than ‘pooling teaching tips’?

Abstract

There is increasing interest in how academic development of various kinds influences university teaching and student learning. To date the focus has been on formal, expert-led opportunities to learn how to teach. Our institution has developed a less formal, participant-led forum for teaching staff that was initially established to share ideas on teaching techniques and skills. We report here on participant-led research that explores if and how this model of group learning works, and how it might relate to other models that have been applied to tertiary teaching development. Authors adopted a self-study research framework incorporating a collaborative autoethnography. The data emphasises how participants use this forum as a community of practice, as a means for deep engagement with learning about teaching, and as a means to rationally manage their learning against a backdrop of challenges associated with learning to teach in research-led higher education.