The Impact of an Inquiry-Based Geoscience Field Course on Pre-service Teachers

The purpose of this quasi-experimental study was to determine the effects of a field-based, inquiry-focused course on pre-service teachers?? geoscience content knowledge, attitude toward science, confidence in teaching science, and inquiry understanding and skills. The field-based course was designed to provide students with opportunities to observe, compare, and investigate geological structures in their natural environment and to gain an understanding of inquiry via hands-on learning activities designed to immerse students in authentic scientific investigation. ANCOVA and MANCOVA analyses examining differences in outcome measures between students in the field experience (n?=?25) and education students enrolled in the traditional, classroom-based course (n?=?37) showed that students in the field course generally had significantly higher scores. Results provide evidence of the value of the field and inquiry-based approach in helping pre-service teachers develop the needed skills and knowledge to create effective inquiry-based science lessons.     

The incremental variance of morphological knowledge to reading comprehension in grades 3–10 beyond prior reading comprehension,spelling, and text reading efficiency

We know that knowledge of word structure—morphology—relates to reading, but there is limited research on its unique contribution to reading comprehension, especially with students in middle and high schools and with the nesting of students within classrooms taken into account. In this study with 4780 students in grades 3 to 10, we examined how students' winter scores in morphological knowledge, spelling, text reading efficiency, and reading comprehension predicted spring scores in reading comprehension. Reading comprehension was measured by a computeradaptive, interim reading assessment. Bivariate relations were examined and a strong relation between morphological knowledge and reading comprehension was observed in all grades except grade 10. Multilevel analyses showed that morphological knowledge added 2%–9% unique variance beyond the autoregressor in predicting spring reading comprehension at the student level and that over 90% of the large variability between classrooms was explained by performance on these component skills. Educational implications were discussed.     

Does Instructor Type Matter? Undergraduate Student Perception of Graduate Teaching Assistants and Professors

Graduate teaching assistants (GTAs) are used extensively as instructors in higher education, yet their status and authority as teachers may be unclear to undergraduates, to administrators, and even to the GTAs themselves. This study explored undergraduate perception of classroom instruction by GTAs and professors to identify factors unique to each type of instructor versus the type of classes they teach. Data collection was via an online survey composed of subscales from two validated instruments, as well as one open-ended question asking students to compare the same class taught by a professor versus a GTA. Quantitative and qualitative results indicated that some student instructional perceptions are specific to instructor type, and not class type. For example, regardless of type of class, professors are perceived as being confident, in control, organized, experienced, knowledgeable, distant, formal, strict, hard, boring, and respected. Conversely, GTAs are perceived as uncertain, hesitant, nervous, relaxed, laid-back, engaging, interactive, relatable, understanding, and able to personalize teaching. Overall, undergraduates seem to perceive professors as having more knowledge and authority over the curriculum, but enjoy the instructional style of GTAs. The results of this study will be used to make recommendations for GTA professional development programs.     

Humanoid robots go to school

Education and Information Technologies - Humanoid robots are being used in some schools, however, research on the use of these robots is relatively new. In this three-year study, humanoid robots...     

Psychometric properties and optimizing of the Bracken School Readiness Assessment

Educational Assessment, Evaluation and Accountability - The Bracken School Readiness Assessment (BSRA) has been used in large studies such as the Millennium Cohort Study (MCS). Important...     

Enhancing graduates’ enterprise capabilities through work-integrated learning in co-working spaces

Higher Education - Complex and rapidly evolving work contexts augment industry calls for future-capable graduates that can demonstrate enterprise capabilities such as critical thinking,...     

A Novel Approach to Investigate the Impact of Mindset and Physiology on the Choice to Invest Effort During an Arithmetic Task

Growth mindset, the belief that personal attributes such as intelligence are malleable, has previously been related to more effort investment. Here, we investigated how undergraduates' mindset (N = 114) relates to the choice to invest effort during an arithmetic task, indexed by whether they make low vs. high effort-related choices. Social cognitive theory suggests that past performance experiences (mastery vs. failure) and physiological state are important sources for competence self-evaluations. Therefore, in addition to mindset, we also investigated how effort-related choices are influenced more dynamically, by failures and physiological responses during the task. Growth mindset and physiological effort mobilization did not predict effort-related choices but making mistakes did predict lower effort choices in the subsequent round. This study further supports the importance of mastery experiences for effort investment and provides a novel approach for integrating different levels of influence on effort-related choices during an educationally-relevant task.     

Memoir as a form of auto-ethnographic research for exploring the practice of transnational higher education in China

In this paper, I argue that memoir, as a form of auto-ethnographic research, is an appropriate method for exploring the complexities and singularities in the practice of western educational practitioners who are immersed in the social reality of offshore higher education institutions, such as those in Mainland China. I illustrate this proposition by showing how my own use of memoir is guided by a need to interrogate the unique experiences of my past life as ‘the foreigner’, ‘the special one’, ‘the imported expert’ and ‘the cultural outsider’, in order to lay bare the complexity of what it means to work and live in China as a foreign teacher and be recognised as different. I am interested in the notion of foreignness, and the ambiguities that arise when one operates as a teacher in a foreign culture, with a misguided and naïve understanding of one's own specialness as the foreign expert. My research methodology is based on critically reflective writing that acknowledges the multiplicity of historical, cultural and social differences, and the uniqueness of all individuals, whilst recognising that difference, at its heart, is a matter of relationship(s). This form of writing as educational research makes it possible to challenge some of the generalisations western scholars inadvertently make when writing about their teaching experiences in China.     

Self-assessment of employability skill outcomes among undergraduates and alignment with academic ratings

Despite acknowledgement of the benefits of self-assessment in higher education, disparity between student and academic assessments, with associated trends in overrating and underrating, plagues its meaningful use, particularly as a tool for formal assessment. This study examines self-assessment of capabilities in certain employability skills in more than 1000 Australian business undergraduates. It evaluates the extent to which student self-assessments differ from academics, in what ways and the influence of certain individual and background characteristics – such as stage of degree, gender and academic ability – on rating accuracy. Explanations for documented disparities are presented, in addition to implications and strategies for educators.