A Juggling Act: A feminist post-structuralist analysis of girls' and boys' talk in the secondary classroom

Relatively few models of good practice in feminist post-structuralist discourse analysis exist in current educational research. Drawing on a study of girls' and boys' speech in a secondary, mixed-sex classroom, the article aims to show that the use of feminist post-structuralist analysis can often be a tricky juggling act. On one hand, it aims to show the complexity of how girls are multiply positioned by competing classroom discourses as at times powerful and at other times powerless; on the other, it aims to reveal how and why girls can be silenced in particular classroom contexts. Such multiplicity in the analysis does not, however, undermine the use of feminist post-structuralism as a politically confident theoretical framework. On the contrary, it is argued that it can produce powerful insights about gendered discourse that may potentially transform educational practice.     

Children's understanding of familiar astronomical events

In this paper I describe the notions used by children aged 9‐16 years to account for a number of easily observed astronomical events. General features in the development of the notions are identified and historical parallels are noted.

The data presented come from a wider study intended to develop materials and approaches for teaching astronomy as part of the science curriculum of all pupils. An indication is given as to how the findings of the survey are being used in developing appropriate curriculum materials.     

The effect of context and age on social referencing

The present study investigated social referencing in 2 settings, familiar child-care centers and an unfamiliar university laboratory. 48 children from 6 to 40 months, divided into 3 age groups (6-12, 13-23, and 24-40 months), participated with 1 parent. Looking at parents varied with age and setting. Younger children looked more often when parents expressed positive reactions, whereas middle children looked more at fearful expressions, and the oldest children looked equally at positive and fearful expressions. Children looked at their parents sooner and were more involved with parents in the child-care setting. Behavioral regulation--less play with the fearful-message than the positive-message toy--was observed in both settings. Affect was not influenced by setting and showed regulation only for the oldest children. These results indicate that some effects of social referencing, such as behavior regulation, may be generalizable across some settings, but that parent proximity and looking at parents are sensitive to the context in which referencing occurs.     

Instructional Tools in Educational Measurement and Statistics (ITEMS) for School Personnel: Evaluation of Three Web-Based Training Modules

In the current No Child Left Behind era, K‐12 teachers and principals are expected to have a sophisticated understanding of standardized test results, use them to improve instruction, and communicate them to others. The goal of our project, funded by the National Science Foundation, was to develop and evaluate three Web‐based instructional modules in educational measurement and statistics to help school personnel acquire the “assessment literacy” required for these roles. Our first module, “What's the Score?” was administered in 2005 to 113 educators who also completed an assessment literacy quiz. Viewing the module had a small but statistically significant positive effect on quiz scores. Our second module, “What Test Scores Do and Don't Tell Us,” administered in 2006 to 104 educators, was even more effective, primarily among teacher education students. In evaluating our third module, “What's the Difference?” we were able to recruit only 33 participants. Although those who saw the module before taking the quiz outperformed those who did not, results were not statistically significant. Now that the research phase is complete, all ITEMS instructional materials are freely available on our Website.     

The Necessity of Studio Art as a Site and Source for Dissertation Research

The issue raised by the authors in this article question why studio art continues to be ignored as a site and source for research in art education. The necessity of the field to be able to participate within the research community in addressing cultural, social, educational and political concerns is acknowledged. It is argued, however, that the exclusive use of methods of inquiry that align with the conventions of social science research has been done at the expense of fully appreciating the capacity of artistic research undertaken in studio contexts. This tendency is especially prevalent in doctoral research in higher education. Three accounts of dissertation research are given that incorporate studio activity as a central agency of inquiry in conceptualising and theorising issues. Each highlights the capacity of art practice to reveal insights that are a consequence of what the researcher did in the studio setting as issues, ideas and interpretive stances emerged, and problems were re‐conceptualised. What is different in these accounts from more mainstream approaches to research is the readiness to accept that constructing new knowledge is a creative and critical process.