Implementing Academic Choice: A Self-Study in Evolving Pedagogy

The goal of this research is to examine how implementing a new pedagogical structure, Academic Choice, informs my understanding of my students as learners and individuals. Using a self-study methodology over the course of eight working sessions in my Kindergarten classroom, I collected multiple forms of qualitative data, including student work samples, focal student observations, structured interviews, and research journal entries containing my own reflections as well as notes on consultations with critical friends. These data were analyzed inductively by connecting observations and patterns from across these sources. Findings indicated that providing a choice in content allowed struggling students to self-differentiate, that one-on-one interactions were essential to understanding a student's choice and work process, and that advanced students needed support to challenge themselves. Furthermore, I found that developmental stage, time allotted for working, and social construction of knowledge were important factors to consider in structuring these working sessions.     

Evaluation of Actical equations and thresholds to predict physical activity intensity in young children

This study examined the validity of current Actical activity energy expenditure (AEE) equations and intensity cut-points in preschoolers using AEE and direct observation as criterion measures. Forty 4–6-year-olds (5.3 ± 1.0 years) completed a ~150-min room calorimeter protocol involving age-appropriate sedentary behaviours (SBs), light intensity physical activities (LPAs) and moderate-to-vigorous intensity physical activities (MVPAs). AEE and/or physical activity intensity were calculated using Actical equations and cut-points by Adolph, Evenson, Pfeiffer and Puyau. Predictive validity was examined using paired sample t-tests. Classification accuracy was evaluated using weighted kappas, sensitivity, specificity and area under the receiver operating characteristic curve. The Pfeiffer equation significantly overestimated AEE during SB and underestimated AEE during LPA (P < 0.0125 for both). There was no significant difference between measured and predicted AEEs during MVPA. The Adolph cut-point showed significantly higher accuracy for classifying SB, LPA and MVPA than all others. The available Actical equation does not provide accurate estimates of AEE across all intensities in preschoolers. However, the Pfeiffer equation performed reasonably well for MVPA. Using cut-points of ≤6 counts · 15 s^?1, 7–286 counts · 15 s^?1 and ≥ 287 counts · 15 s^?1 when classifying SB, LPA and MVPA, respectively, is recommended.     

NGTA and IGTA Training and Experience: Comparisons Between Self-Ratings and Undergraduate Student Evaluations

Undergraduate student ratings and corresponding graduate teaching assistant (GTA) self-ratings of nine teaching effectiveness factors were evaluated to determine the extent to which math and science GTAs who speak English as their native language (NGTA) differ from their international counterparts (IGTA). Overall, GTA self-ratings were consistently higher than corresponding student ratings. Differences in ratings between the two groups of GTAs were dependent upon specific teaching effectiveness factors and the source of the rating. GTA self-ratings were generally higher for IGTAs while student ratings were consistently higher for NGTAs.David M. Shannon: Educational Research from the University of Virginia, and his areas of research include teacher effectiveness and teacher evaluationMatthew S. Moore: received the Ed.D. from Auburn University in Higher Education Administration.     

Perceptions of the relevance of mathematics and science: An Australian study

This study examined students from schools mostly in Sydney and Wollongong (New South Wales, Australia). While the private girls' school used in this survey has had a very good record of girls staying on in physics, some of the public schools surveyed have had very low retention rates (and not only in the science and mathematics areas). This paper attempts to describe student differences in perceptions and attitudes and how these are related to gender and type of school. Additionally, students' perceived reasons for not performing well in mathematics and science were investigated.     

Qualified to lead? A comparative,contextual and cultural view of educational policy borrowing

Abstract

Background: Around the globe, education policy borrowing remains pervasive and prevalent. The strategies, interventions and innovations of education systems that perform well, in international assessments, are enthusiastically borrowed and copied in the anticipation of similar educational performance and outcomes.

Purpose: This purpose of the article is to highlight some of the implications and consequences of policy borrowing by comparing the preparation and development programmes for school leaders in various education systems. The article explores the way in which the leadership programmes and models are being adopted and developed by different countries.

Sources of evidence: The article draws upon findings from a contemporary, comparative study of leadership preparation and development across seven different education systems (Seven System Leadership Study). This large-scale, mixed-methods, comparative research study is collecting quantitative and qualitative data about the nature and impact of leadership development and preparation programmes in seven different education systems.

Main argument: The findings from the study reinforce how leadership preparation and development programmes are increasingly becoming standardised as a result of education systems borrowing and adapting from each other. This article also argues that in the contemporary policy discourse, important cultural and contextual influences that significantly affect subsequent implementation and outcomes are increasingly being side-lined and ignored.

Conclusions: This article highlights some of the limitations and unintended consequences of educational policy borrowing. It concludes that adopting some of the design features of effective interventions rather than simply borrowing policies or strategies, in part or in their entirety from very different contexts, may be a more productive way forward.     

Proceeding carefully: assisted human reproduction policy in Canada

The Canadian Act Respecting Assisted Human Reproduction and Related Research (AHR Act), which came into effect in 2004, was the culmination of fifteen years of policy development in this often controversial field. Drawing from a series of semi-structured elite interviews and extensive documentary research, we examine the path to policy for the AHR Act. We identified several influences on the Act's development, including: (1) feminist-informed activism which found a balance between rejecting the medical model of reproduction and instituting protections against the commodifying potential of reproductive technologies; (2) Canada's proximity to the United States (and its contrasting structures and stances); (3) the role of professional elites in supporting or resisting the proposed regulations; and (4) the tensions between federal and provincial jurisdiction in the Canadian federalist state. The path to this outcome provides an illuminating study of the tensions between internal and external pressures in the policy process.