Building and destroying students’ ‘academic identities’: the power of discourse in a two‐way immersion classroom

Two‐way immersion is a model for bilingual education designed to help language‐minority students develop additive bilingualism while at the same time offering language‐majority students a chance to learn a second language. There is a great deal of rhetoric around two‐way immersion that claims these programs aim to improve overall equity among diverse groups of learners. The article begins with a brief review of the available research on two‐way immersion education. Then, using Bakhtin’s concept of dialogue and Bourdieu’s and Gee’s ideas of discourse/Discourse, this article takes a close‐up look at the discourse patterns in one second‐grade two‐way immersion classroom in Northern California, with an eye to uncovering how the teacher deliberately attempts to expose students to ‘alternative’ discourses and to lead language‐minority students to construct positive identities as learners. The ultimate question the article attempts to address is whether and to what extent any classroom program can create lasting change in the larger society through exposing students to ‘alternatives’ to mainstream dominant discourses within the context of classroom norms and activities.     

Interactive group activity: a socially mediated tool for opening an interpretive space in classroom research

An ongoing challenge in classroom research is to understand children’s perspectives on their learning. While learning is highly individual, it is also significantly social and this raises methodological challenges. An Interactive Group Activity (IGA) is one of several data collection strategies used during the action research phase of the Connecting Curriculum, Connecting Learning project (2010–2011) focusing on arts-based curriculum integration. This article concentrates on the IGA tool as a means of uncovering children’s meaning making following an extended period of learning. Of particular note is the use of an arts pedagogical device to introduce the IGA to children, a device that frames the purpose of the task. In effect, the IGA acts as a group assessment device underlining the socially mediated nature of children’s learning. This article describes how the IGA tool evolved, gives its form and structure, argues for its affordances and suggests possibilities for its wider use.     

Rethinking Flexible Learning in a Distributed Learning Environment: A University‐Wide Initiative

This paper is a case study of the impact of ICT on the teaching and learning environment at Murdoch University in Perth, Western Australia, where the convergence of distance and campus‐based education is changing the teaching environment in ways impossible prior to the development of ICT. Specifically, the paper will explore issues which have arisen from the implementation of a new flexible unit model which focuses on student access to rather than delivery of unit materials. The issues identified in a pilot of the new approach include: rethinking how students access learning resources; streamlining print materials provided to students; implementing an online lecture recording and streaming solution; and providing assessment which is equivalent whether taken on‐campus or online. These issues are not unique to Murdoch, but the integrated approach to resolving them offers a financially attractive means to achieve both reform and improved quality.

Reconsidération de la formation flexible dans un environnement de formation décentralisée. Une initiative dans toute l'université Cet exposé représente une étude de cas sur l'impact du ICT de l'environnement d'enseignement et de formation à l'université Murdoch à Perth en Australie de l'Ouest, où la convergence de la formation par correspondance et de la formation sur le campus change l'environnement d'enseignement ce qui était impossible avant le développement du ICT. Specifiquement, l'exposé s'occupe de problèmes qui résultent de l'implémentation d'un nouveau modèle d'enseignement flexible qui se concentre sur l'accès des étudiants plutôt que sur la diffusion de matières d'enseignement. Les problèmes identifiés dans un premier approche comprennent: Reconsidération de l'accès aux ressources de formation pour les étudiants; Rationalisation des matières imprimées prévues pour les étudiants; Réalisation d'une consignation de cours en ligne et présentation de solutions réactualisées; Evaluation équivalente soit considérée sur le campus ou en ligne. Ces problèmes ne sont pas unique à Murdoch mais un essai intégré de les résoudre offre un moyen financier intéressant pour atteindre une réforme et une qualité améliorée.

Überdenken des flexiblen Lernens in einem dezentralisiertem Lernumfeld: Eine universitätsweite Initiative Es handelt sich bei diesem Bericht um eine Fallstudie über den Einfluss von ICT auf die Lehr- und Lernumgebung an der Murdoch Universität in Perth in West Australien, wo das Zusammentreffen von Fernstudium und klassischer Hochschulbildung das Unterrichtsumfeld in einer Weise verändert, wie sie vor der Entwicklung von ICT unmöglich erschien. Es werden insbesondere Fragen untersucht, die durch die Einführung eines neuen, flexiblen Unterrichtsmodells entstehen, welches sich eher auf die studentischen Zugriffsmöglichkeiten auf Unterrichtsmaterialien fokussiert als auf die Versorgung des Studenten mit diesen Materialien. Die Fragen, die in einem neuen Pilotansatz aufkommen, beinhalten folgende Punkte: Überdenken, wie Studenten an Lernressourcen gelangen; Rationalisierung der für die Studenten vorgesehenen Printmaterialien; Einführung einer Aufzeichnung von Online Vorlesungen und laufend aktualisierte Anwendungen; Anwendung von einheitlichen Bewertungsmaßstäben, gleichgültig ob online oder an der Hochschule. Diese Fragen stellen sich nicht nur an der Murdoch Universität, aber der integrierte Ansatz sie zu beantworten, stellt eine finanziell attraktives Mittel dar, sowohl eine Reform als auch eine verbesserte Qualität zu erreichen.     

Students as meaning-makers and the quest for the common school: A micro-ethnography of a US history classroom

This study examined the extent to which (a) nine US history students developed historically-grounded perspectives, and (b) the entire class engaged itself in inclusive, moral debate about historical events and issues. Inductive methods were used in this micro-ethnographic study to construct and verify its themes though interview, classroom observation and student survey. Seven students demonstrated identifiable perspectives. History was viewed by these students as personally-constructed interpretations, not as value-free chronologies. Only one student's perspective, however, was historically-grounded; other perspectives were grounded in references to contemporary issues. Evidence of moral debate was limited totwo debates observed during 24 classroom observations. These two findings seemed interconnected: students with little historical grounding to their perspectives may have little inclination toward collective, ethical critique. Moral debate consisting of student exchange of diverse historically-grounded perspectives was not the classroom norm. The debates that went into the making of American society concerned not just institutions or governing principles, but the capacity of humans to sustain those institutions. Whatever the disagreements were over other issues at the American Constitutional Convention \[in Philadelphia in 1787], the fundamental question sensed by everyone … was whether the people themselves would understand what it meant to hold the ultimate power of society, and whether they had enough sense of history and destiny to know where they had been and where they ought to be going. (Cousins; cited by Goodlad 1979: 40; emphasis added)     

An empirical framework for understanding how teachers conceptualize and cultivate historical empathy in students

This study reports the results of a case study of four teachers' beliefs about the nature of historical empathy and their means of cultivating such empathy in secondary school classrooms. The results of multiple interviews and lesson observations of history teachers in England suggest that teachers conceptualize empathy in bounded but not parsimonious ways, shaped by the realities of trying to teach it to students; that they select from broad repertoires of strategies, including major activities as well as small‐scale discourse strategies, heretofore largely unexamined; and that they recognize ways in which their empathetic goals exist in tension with other teaching aims, creating dilemmas they must manage rather than definitively resolve. Significant discrepancies between how these teachers actually think and practice and how empathy teaching is discussed in the educational literature suggest that research stands to benefit by attending more closely to teachers' ideas.     

The Future of Graduate Education in Sport and Exercise Science: A Sport Psychology Perspective

The direction of graduate education in sport psychology has changed considerably since its emergence as a recognizable subdiscipline within exercise and sport science in the late 1960s. This paper describes (a) the structure of current sport psychology specializations within graduate programs based on a survey of 33 programs with sport psychology specializations in the United States, (b) trends in sport psychology graduate education, and (c) concerns regarding the future of graduate education in sport psychology in terms of coursework, research, and applied service provision.     

Fostering transformative learning in non-formal settings: Farmer-Field Schools in East Africa

The purpose of this study was to explore the practice of Farmer-Field Schools (FFS) theoretically framed from the perspective of transformative learning theory and non-formal education (NFE). Farmer-Field Schools are community-led NFE programs that provide a platform where farmers meet regularly to study the ‘how and why’ of farming and engage in an instrumental and experiential learning process imbued with local knowledge expressed through song, dance and theatre. Through a qualitative design using multiple interviews and observations of the Luhya ethnic group in Western Kenya, involving participants of several FFS programs, the study revealed an intricate picture of fostering transformative learning within the context of NFE, where findings call into question some long-held assumptions about both.     

Using Case Study Analysis and Case Writing to Structure Clinical Experiences in a Teacher Education Program

This study reports on the design and results of a two-semester study on the use of case study analysis and case writing in clinical experiences in an undergraduate teacher education program. Findings indicated that structured experiences with case studies and case writing increase preservice teachers' informed decision making on educational issues.     

Goal-setting and self-assessment in Year 7 students

Recent legislation has raised awareness about the need for those involved in making decisions about children to take into account the views of the child. With the recent government drive towards target-setting, it has become necessary to acknowledge that pupils can have an input into decisions affecting their learning. The aim of this study is to evaluate a classroom-based project for increasing pupil involvement in their learning. A solution-focused framework was used to support teachers’ dialogue and to enable pupils to talk about and to record their progress. The targets focused on two areas, specified by the teachers. Measures of perception of progress were also taken to explore whether both parties (teachers and pupils) became closer in their perceptions. The findings of this study provide evidence that involving pupils in their learning can raise attainment levels in spelling and punctuation. Other factors, such as feedback to pupils, are also discussed in light of these findings.     

Transtheoretical-based bullying prevention effectiveness trials in middle schools and high schools

Background Bullying threatens the physical and mental well-being of students across a broad range of schools. Tailored interventions based on the Transtheoretical model and delivered over the Internet were designed to reduce participation in each of three roles related to bullying (bully, victim and passive bystander).

Methods Effectiveness trials were completed in 12 middle schools and 13 high schools in the USA. A diverse sample of 1237 middle (6th–8th grade, with 45.1% in the 7th grade; ages 11–14) and 1215 high school (9th–11th grade, with 41.6% in the 9th grade; ages 14–17) students were available for analyses.

Results Analyses showed significant treatment effects for both intervention groups when compared to control for both the middle and high school programs.

Conclusions Given the relative ease of dissemination, these programs could be applied as stand-alone practices or as part of more intensive interventions.