The Enduring Nature of the Tripartite System of Secondary Schooling in Germany: Some Explanations

This paper suggests explanations for the enduring nature of the tripartite system of secondary education in Germany and the failure to develop the comprehensive school (Gesamtschule) over a long period.     

Concept image and concept definition in mathematics with particular reference to limits and continuity

The concept image consists of all the cognitive structure in the individual's mind that is associated with a given concept. This may not be globally coherent and may have aspects which are quite different from the formal concept definition.The development of limits and continuity, as taught in secondary school and university, are considered. Various investigations are reported which demonstrate individual concept images differing from the formal theory and containing factors which cause cognitive conflict.     

A Twin-Sibling Study of Observed Parent-Adolescent Interactions

Numerous behavioral genetic studies call attention to the strong and pervasive genetic influence on developmental characteristics. However, this research has been criticized for its use of poor environmental measures and a failure to examine the complex processes that are a hallmark of research in child development. This study addresses this criticism by examining the genetic and environmental components of parent-child interactions. Mother, father, and 2 adolescent siblings (10–18 years) from each of 675 families were observed interacting in 10-min dyadic problem-solving sessions. 6 groups of siblings that differed in genetic relatedness were examined (MZ and DZ twins, full siblings in nondivorced families; full, half, and unrelated siblings in stepfamilies). Results suggest a greater genetic component to adolescent behavior than to parent behavior. Both adolescent and parent behavior showed strong effects of nonshared environment, even after error of measurement was removed.     

The elaboration theory of instruction: A model for sequencing and synthesizing instruction

This paper describes a novel instructional model for sequencing, syntheizing, and summarizing subject-matter content. The importance of such models is discussed, along with the need for a significant change in the role of subject-matter structure in instruction. A zoom-lens analogy is presented to facilitate an understanding of the elaboration model of instruction. Some basic concepts and principles upon which the model is based are described. The basic unvarying components of the elaboration model are described. And finally, some variations in the model for different kinds of goals are described. The elaboration model follows a general-to-detailed pattern of sequencing, as opposed to the hierarchically based sequences derived from Gagné-type task analyses.Many of the ideas described in this paper were developed under two projeets, one funded by Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah, and the other by the Navy Personnel Research and Development Center in San Diego, California; however, the ideas expressed do not necessarily constitute the opinions of the funding institutions.     

Educational quality in economic development: Ten propositions and an application to the South Pacific

Over the last two decades, research into the role of education in economic development has begun to pay attention to educational quality and its effect on learning outcomes. In this paper recent research on educational quality is reviewed and its application to the island economies of the South Pacific is assessed. While there is considerable variation among the countries, the paper demonstrates the pervasive nature of school quality problems in the region. Those factors which have the greatest bearing on school quality in the region are isolated. These factors are: the quality of teachers; the availability of learning materials; initial instruction in the mother tongue; the quality of educational management; and curriculum reform. The paper concludes by arguing that strategies to improve quality will fail unless they recognise important complementarities between the factors determining quality.

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Zusammenfassung In den letzten zwei Jahrzehnten hat man begonnen, die Forschung über die Rolle des Bildungswesens in der wirtschaftlichen Entwicklung eines Landes auf Bildungsqualität und ihren Einfluß auf die Lernergebnisse auszudehnen. In diesem Artikel werden die neuesten Forschungen über die Qualität der Bildung aufgegriffen und eine mögliche Anwendung für die Inselwirtschaften im Südpazifik diskutiert. Dieser Artikel weist auf die überall gegenwärtige Problematik der Schulqualität in dieser Region trotz erheblicher Unterschiede zwischen den Ländern hin. Man fand folgende dafür verantwortliche Gründe heraus: Lehrerqualität, Erhältlichkeit von Lernmaterialien, Erziehung in der Muttersprache, Qualität der Schulleitung und Reform der Curricula. Der Artikel schließt mit dem Argument, daß Strategien zur Verbesserung der Qualität keinen Erfolg haben werden, solange wesentliche Zusammenhänge zwischen den qualitätsbestimmenden Faktoren nicht erkannt werden.

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Résumé Au cours des vingt dernières années, la recherche sur le rôle de l'éducation dans le développement économique a commencé à prêter attention à la qualité de l'éducation et à ses effets sur les rendements de l'apprentissage. Dans le présent article, on procède à l'examen de la recherche entreprise récemment dans ce domaine et à l'évaluation de son application aux économies des îles du Pacifique sud. Tandis qu'on note une variation considérable entre les pays, on démontre la nature diffuse des problèmes relatifs à la qualité des écoles dans cette région. Les facteurs qui ont la plus grande influence sur la qualité de l'école dans la région sont isolés: qualité des enseignants, existence de matériels d'apprentissage, enseignement initial dans la langue maternelle, qualité de la gestion de l'éducation, réforme du curriculum. Cet article conclut en arguant que les stratégies devant améliorer la qualité dans ce domaine échoueront à moins qu'elles reconnaissent les complémentarités importantes entre les facteurs qui déterminent la qualité.

     

A Person-Centered Approach to Students' Evaluations of Perceived Fear Appeals and Their Association With Engagement

A person-centered approach was employed to investigate how students' evaluation of perceived teacher utility value messages, i.e., fear appeals, as a threat and as a challenge, combined within individuals and how these combinations related to student engagement. Two studies were conducted with students in their final two years of secondary education. Empirically distinct clusters emerged at two time points in the academic year. Evaluating the message in the fear appeal at a higher level of challenge than threat was beneficial. Unexpectedly, high threat was associated with high engagement, as long as high challenge was also present, however, this combination was also related to high emotional disaffection. Moderate threat combined with moderate challenge had the most detrimental relationship with student engagement. Educational interventions should aim to increase the likelihood of a challenge evaluation.     

Teacher self-efficacy moderates the relations between imposed pressure from imposed curriculum changes and teacher stress

Based on the Job Demands-resources (RD-R) model, the aim of the current study was to examine how pressure arising from imposed curriculum changes and teacher self-efficacy relate to perceived stress in teachers. Participants (839 teachers working in English schools) completed an online survey that contained questions about demographics, self-reported pressure from imposed curriculum changes, teacher self-efficacy, and perceived stress. Pressure from imposed curriculum changes was positively, and teacher self-efficacy negatively, related to perceived stress. Teacher-self efficacy moderated relations between pressure from imposed curriculum changes and perceived stress. High teacher self-efficacy was associated with lower perceived stress, relative to low teacher self-efficacy, when pressure from imposed curriculum changes was low. The differential advantage offered by high self-efficacy declined as pressure from imposed curriculum changes increased.     

A response to strategies and tactics through participatory action research in a developmental mathematics course

This paper explores the value of participatory action research in a community college developmental mathematics course. The authors used the framework of critical mathematics education in order to understand the critical conversations of students about their learning experiences, and also to help the instructor of the course develop the curriculum that attended to student experiences. The authors also draw on Michel de Certeau’s ideas about strategies and tactics to understand how students responded to their past learning experiences. Data results from the study show that students can gain a better understanding of their own learning and subsequently develop deeper content knowledge when they are more involved in the teaching and learning process. Lastly, the authors conclude that as adult learners grow in their understanding of the learning processes and of the content being presented, participatory action research can play an important role in the entire development of thinking and intellectual engagement.     

How schools train principals to use new teacher evaluation systems: A comparative case study of charter school and traditional public school principals

Over the past decade U.S. policymakers, practitioners, and researchers have sought to examine if changing teacher evaluation policies and systems have resulted in changes in identifying quality teachers and/or increased student achievement. This research generally shows most states have experienced little change in how teachers are rated. Researchers are now exploring why, in many cases, teacher evaluation reforms have failed to produce the desired systematic changes of better identifying quality teachers and better distinguishing teacher performance. Embedded within this line of inquiry is how principals (and other evaluators) are trained to use new teacher evaluation systems. This comparative case study observed six principals (three charter school principals and three traditional public school principals) in the U.S. state of Michigan as they learned and enacted a new teacher evaluation system. Additionally, all principals were interviewed three times throughout the school year, in an effort to examine how their initial teacher evaluation training impacted their evaluation of teachers. The research questions that guided this work were: (1) how are principals initially trained when their school adopts a new teacher evaluation system?; (2) in what ways does the training received by charter school principals compare to that of traditional public school principals?; and (3) how does initial training impact how principals evaluate teachers? Results indicate principals are trained to navigate the logistics of new teacher evaluation systems, but are not trained to evaluate teacher performance. Implications for policy and practice are discussed.