Educational choice in secondary school in Flanders: the relative impact of occupational interests on option choice

The present study aims at unravelling the myriad of student-level (i.e., gender, socioeconomic status [SES], academic self-concept, achievement, ability, and occupational interests) and school-level (i.e., gender composition, maths composition, and SES composition) determinants of option choice in the academic track of secondary school in Flanders. We focused on 2 decisional thresholds in Flemish secondary education, namely, the transition from Grade 8 to Grade 9 (N = 2518) and from Grade 10 to Grade 11 (N = 2871). Data were analyzed through multinomial multilevel analysis. Our results strongly confirm Lent's (2005) jigsaw puzzle metaphor in that different factors go into a complex and dynamic interplay. Especially in the first grades, prior achievement is a major predictor of option choice in secondary education, whereas in the last years occupational interests become increasingly important. From a gender perspective, boys rather choose math/sciences-oriented options than girls. Option choice is mainly determined by student-level rather than school-level predictors.     

Characterizing pivotal teaching moments in beginning mathematics teachers’ practice

Although skilled mathematics teachers and teacher educators often “know” when interruptions in the flow of a lesson provide an opportunity to modify instruction to improve students’ mathematical understanding, others, particularly novice teachers, often fail to recognize or act on such moments. These pivotal teaching moments (PTMs), however, are key to instruction that builds on student thinking about mathematics. Video of beginning secondary school mathematics teachers’ instruction was analyzed to identify and characterize PTMs in mathematics lessons and to examine the relationships among the PTMs, the teachers’ decisions in response to them, and the likely impacts on student learning. These data were used to develop a preliminary framework for helping teachers learn to identify and respond to PTMs that occur during their instruction. The results of this exploratory study highlight the importance of teacher education preparing teachers to (a) understand the mathematical terrain their students are traversing, (b) notice high-leverage student mathematical thinking, and (c) productively act on that thinking. This preparation would improve beginning teachers’ abilities to act in ways that would increase their students’ mathematical understanding.     

Integrating the Educative Functions of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) in teachers' and learners' toolboxes: a reflection on pedagogical benchmarks for ICT in teacher education

Abstract

The big question about pedagogical benchmarks for information and communications technology (ICT) in teacher training is whether they can be transferred to contexts other than the ones in which the benchmarks have been developed. In this article we reflect on the chances that the benchmarks presented will become really integrated within the heart of the learning and teaching process of teacher training programmes. To understand that process better, we reflect on the concept of professional learning and what that concept has to say about organisational learning and about how the integration process could be further developed. We propose a broad framework for actions of all actors involved: teacher training institutes, their partners (professional development schools), research and development agencies, the teacher trainers, the students, teachers in practice and their pupils. Only a concerted action of collaborative experimenting and professional learning on ICT integration in the learning and teaching processes can lead to the use of ICT as a catalyst for implementing learning arrangements that fit the expectations of the twenty-first century and its youth.     

European public service television and the cultural‐educational logic: A comparative analysis of children's and youth programming

One of the most recurrent themes in studies on European television trends, is that the policies of liberalization and deregulation have caused the industry to follow a more market‐oriented or crass commercial logic. New technologies and policies have led to an explosion in the number of commercial channels; new financial, organizational and programming strategies; increasing pressure from advertising and multinationals; and a decreasing role of the state in production and distribution.

This paper looks at how such pressures have affected the policies of European public service broadcasters (PSBs), by concentrating on their traditional commitment to education in an analysis of children's and youth programmes as an index of this change.     

Preparing Instructional Designers for Game-Based Learning: Part 2

As noted in part I of this article (published in TechTrends 54(3)), advances in technology continue to outpace research on the design and effectiveness of instructional (digital video) games. In general, instructional designers know little about game development, commercial video game developers know little about training, education and instructional design, and relatively little is understood about how to apply what we know about teaching and learning to optimize game-based learning. In Part I, a panel of recognized and emerging experts in the design of instructional (digital video) games set the context for this three part series and one of four panelists discussed what he believes instructional designers should know about instructional game design (Hirumi, Appleman, Rieber, Van Eck, 2010). In Part II, two faculty members who teach courses on instructional game design presents their perspectives on preparing instructional designers for game-based learning. Part III will present a fourth perspective along with conclusion that compares the four views.     

Visualizing protein interactions and dynamics: evolving a visual language for molecular animation

Undergraduate biology education provides students with a number of learning challenges. Subject areas that are particularly difficult to understand include protein conformational change and stability, diffusion and random molecular motion, and molecular crowding. In this study, we examined the relative effectiveness of three-dimensional visualization techniques for learning about protein conformation and molecular motion in association with a ligand-receptor binding event. Increasingly complex versions of the same binding event were depicted in each of four animated treatments. Students (n = 131) were recruited from the undergraduate biology program at University of Toronto, Mississauga. Visualization media were developed in the Center for Molecular and Cellular Dynamics at Harvard Medical School. Stem cell factor ligand and cKit receptor tyrosine kinase were used as a classical example of a ligand-induced receptor dimerization and activation event. Each group completed a pretest, viewed one of four variants of the animation, and completed a posttest and, at 2 wk following the assessment, a delayed posttest. Overall, the most complex animation was the most effective at fostering students' understanding of the events depicted. These results suggest that, in select learning contexts, increasingly complex representations may be more desirable for conveying the dynamic nature of cell binding events.     

Student learning experience as indicator of teaching quality

The purpose of the study was to develop an improved teaching evaluation questionnaire based on students’ learning experiences and selected teacher characteristics identified as indicators of teaching quality. Teaching evaluation questionnaires are commonly designed either based on agreed indicators of teaching excellence, students’ suggestions of characteristics of excellence, or dimensions identified from interviews conducted with excellent teachers. In this study, however, students’ evaluation of their own learning experiences in learner centered classes and a hypothesized framework derived from the literature were used to develop the items for the questionnaire. Students attended to courses designed in a learner centered paradigm and evaluated their learning experiences. Based on the hypothesized framework and students’ reflections of their experiences, items were designed and validated at various levels. Exploratory factor analysis resulted in a 24-item Student Evaluation of Learning and Teaching Questionnaire (SELTQ) that comprises four factors: assessment and feedback; course organization and presentation; student self evaluation; and students’ level of engagement. As opposed to the questionnaire widely used in higher education institutions in Ethiopia that focuses on the evaluation of selected teacher characteristics, the new measure enables students to evaluate teaching in terms of their own learning progress.     

First- and second-order configural sensitivity for greeble stimuli in baboons

Previous studies on nonhuman primates have shown inconsistencies in their processing of first- and secondorder relational properties of facial stimuli. Using greeble stimuli sharing configural properties with faces, this study assessed configural processing in baboons. Five baboons were trained to recognize a positive stimulus among pairs of greebles in a two-alternative forced choice task. They were then tested with new stimulus pairs involving either a first-order version, with modifications in global qualitative spatial relations, or a second-order version, with modifications of finer spatial relations. Performance remained above chance in all test conditions, including when only second-order cues were available, but it was higher for first-order trials. It is proposed that an extensive training with greebles led to the processing of second-order relational properties. These results demonstrate that configural sensitivity is not restricted to faces in baboons and suggest that a common mechanism may support configural processing for face and nonface stimuli.     

DO SCHOOLS MAKE A DIFFERENCE IN THEIR STUDENTS’ ENVIRONMENTAL ATTITUDES AND AWARENESS? EVIDENCE FROM PISA 2006

The environmental agenda is gaining momentum as an international policy issue. This is reflected in an increase in environmental education research focussing on children’s awareness and attitudes toward the environment. In this study, we focused on this issue from a school effectiveness perspective and evaluated (a) which student characteristics predict environmental attitudes and awareness, (b) whether schools make a difference in their students’ environmental attitudes and awareness and (c) if school effects are different for students with varying levels of science ability. The cross-sectional Flemish data of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s Programme for International Student Assessment 2006 (4,999 students in 156 schools) were re-analysed using a multivariate multilevel model to address these issues. Results show that gender, immigrant status, socioeconomic status and educational track are important in explaining students’ environmental attitudes and awareness. Furthermore, the results show that schools do matter; schools in which science is taught in a more hands-on manner are associated with higher student environmental awareness whilst environmental learning activities are associated with more pro-environmental attitudes amongst students. After controlling for student characteristics, these school effects do not differ between more science-literate children and their less or average science-literate peers.     

Prior mathematics achievement,cognitive appraisals and anxiety as predictors of Finnish students’ later mathematics performance and career orientation

The aim of this two‐year longitudinal study was to investigate the role and impact of prior mathematics performance, cognitive appraisals and mathematics‐specific, affective anxiety in determining later mathematics achievement and future career orientation among Finnish adolescents. The basic ideas of the control‐value theory, assumed to be culturally universal, and previous controversial results regarding the relationship between mathematics anxiety and mathematics achievement were tested in the Finnish cultural context with a longitudinal design. The key premise of the control‐value theory is that control and value appraisals are significant determinants of both activity and outcome achievement emotions. Our results suggest that mathematics anxiety, a prospective outcome emotion, is determined by outcome expectancies (success or failure) and outcome value (the importance of performing well). They also suggest that anxiety as a negative affective emotion is a problem not only for those who perform poorly but probably also for certain pupils across all achievement levels. Compared with the performance level and with the boys, the girls exhibited inaccurately low outcome expectancies in mathematics. These low expectancies connected to the negative value of failure are a potential cause for their higher anxiety level. The educational implications of the findings are discussed.