The POE in the primary school: An evaluation

The POE (Predict-Observe-Explain) is a technique for identifying students' knowledge and understanding of science concepts. It has mainly been used for physical science topics at secondary and tertiary levels. In the present study, 60 preservice teachers each implemented and evaluated POEs with groups of primary children. The children were studying a range of topics from the NSW Science and Technology K-6 Syllabus and represented a range of year levels. The evaluations were generally positive. The children responded to the technique enthusiastically and the teachers were able to identify both their understandings and their process skills development. The main problems were the difficulty of inventing suitable POEs in some topics, especially topics on communication, and problems caused by the use of oral rather than written responses. The study concluded that it is a suitable technique for primary science.     

Keeping Students Out of Mary’s (Class)room

Science & Education - Whilst many science educators, it is reported, associate knowledge with justified true belief (JTB), epistemologists have observed that the JTB model is an incomplete...     

Do parents make a difference to children’s academic achievement? Differences between parents of higher and lower achieving students

Differences in family factors in determining academic achievement were investigated by testing 432 parents in nine independent, coeducational Melbourne schools. Schools were ranked and categorized into three groups (high, medium and low), based on student achievement (ENTER) scores in their final year of secondary school and school improvement indexes. Parents completed a questionnaire investigating their attitudes towards the school environment, their aspirations, expectations, encouragement and interest in their child’s education (adapted from scales constructed by Marjoribanks). They also responded to six open‐ended questions on their attitudes to achievement and to their (child’s) school. Multiple regression analyses revealed that parental expectations of their children’s educational level made the strongest unique prediction of high achievement followed by the length of time they had maintained their expectations. Limitations discussed include the disparity in meaning associated with the definition of school success and whether these results can be generalized to all students considering the biased sample (socio‐economic status).     

Questioning Established Histories: Light from Dark Quarters

My purpose in this paper is to look at the work of a number of scholars who have challenged popular and mainstream accounts of Western and pre‐Colombian American history and to assess the implications of their work to art education. There are three of these scholars whose works are pivotal. They are: Cheik Anta Diop, Ivan Van Sertima, and Martin Bernal. What is the substance of their challenge? They assert that Ancient Egypt was an African civilization, whose achievements in science, philosophy, and the arts exerted a powerful formative influence on the ancient world of Greece and pre‐Columbian Middle America. This has been misrepresented in popular and mainstream European accounts of world history. The implications of their work for art education are considerable, especially to art history as it relates to multicultural issues. Indications are that we must move beyond the cultural chauvinisms that persist in texts and curriculum structures if we are to achieve truly democratic situations and these revisionist historians help us to do just that.     

Outcome status of students with learning disabilities at ages 21 and 24

This study investigated whether the presence of learning disabilities (LD) at age 10 was related to later schooling, employment, income, receipt of public aid, involvement in crime, and feeling of victimization at ages 21 and 24. Confidential self-report data were collected in a prospective, longitudinal panel study from a sample of 571 students, of whom 60 (10.5%) were children with LD. After controlling for gender, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status, the following results were obtained: The highest postsecondary school attainment for young adults with LD was not significantly different from that of their peers without LD, both at age 21 and age 24. The rate of employment and amount of earned income of young adults with LD were not significantly lower than those of their peers without LD both at age 21 and age 24. Young adults with LD were not significantly different from their peers without LD at age 21 and age 24 with respect to having children, but young adults with LD received significantly more public aid (such as food stamps, supplemental security income, and unemployment compensation) at age 21 but not at age 24. Young adults with LD were not significantly different from their peers without LD in committing crimes or feeling victimized at age 21 and age 24.     

How headmasters perceive their role: A case study in Botswana

This study investigates the extent to which junior secondary school headmasters in Botswana differ in their beliefs about the impact of their activities in instructional supervision, school management, and communications between the school and the community about student achievement. The study reveals that groups of headmasters who differ in these beliefs also differ in the way they view the dynamics of their school. Implications for headmaster selection, headmaster training, and decentralization of educational management are discussed.

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Zusammenfassung Diese Studie untersucht, inwieweit die Auffassungen der Lehrer an der junior secondary school (auf die Sekundarstufe vorbereitende Schule) in Botswana über den Einfluß ihrer Aktivitäten auf Unterrichtsüberwachung, Schulleitung und die Kommunikation zwischen den Schulen und der Gemeinde zu den Leistungen der Schüler voneinander abweichen. Die Studie zeigt auf, daß die Schulleiter, die unterschiedliche Meinungen vertreten auch die Dynamik ihrer Schulen unterschiedlich bewerten. Diskutiert werden auch die Auswirkungen auf die Auswahl von Schulleitern, Fortbildungen für Schulleiter und auf die Dezentralisierung der Bildungsverwaltung.

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Résumé Cette étude examine dans quelle mesure les jeunes directeurs des écoles secondaires du Botswana conçoivent différemment l'impact de leur activité sur l'orientation pédagogique, la gestion scolaire et la manière dont l'école informe la communauté des résultats scolaires. L'étude révèle que certains groupes de directeurs affichant des conceptions divergentes sur ces thèmes diffèrent également dans leur façon de considérer la dynamique de leur école. Il s'ensuit une discussion des conséquences à envisager dans la sélection des directeurs, leur formation et la décentralisation de la gestion scolaire.

     

Observations from the classroom: When analogies go wrongi

Specializations: teachers' pedagogical knowledge, analogical reasoning, conceptual change.