The evolution of an effective pedagogy for teachers using the interactive whiteboard in mathematics and modern languages: an empirical analysis from the secondary sector

There has been considerable investment in the use of interactive whiteboard technology in schools in the UK. There is evidence that whilst teachers understand such technology, many do not understand the nature and implications of interactive learning. Observation and analysis of 50 video‐recorded lessons taught by ‘successful’ teachers drawn from mathematics and modern foreign language departments in secondary schools led to the classification of three types of practice representing a spectrum of increasing interactivity. The nature of this good practice was analysed together with criteria for assessing the changes being wrought by technology in approaches to learning and teaching. The investigation concluded that the use of new technology alone cannot lead to enhanced learning. Teachers also need training to develop awareness of the relationship between approaches to interactive learning and conceptual and cognitive development in subject areas.     

Mental Calculation Methods Used By 11-Year-Olds in Different Attainment Bands: a reanalysis of data from the 1987 APU survey in the UK

This paper describes thereanalysis of data obtained in 1987 on themental calculation strategies used by asample of 11-year-olds in the course of anational survey of schools in England,Wales and Northern Ireland. The mentalskills test was administered to pupils in aone-to-one situation and the reanalysismade use of classifications of mentalstrategies developed in the past decade ininternational research. These pupils werea subsample of the main sample of about 10000 who took a written test of mathematicsin the survey, 247 taking both tests. Thescores on the written test were used todistribute these pupils into three bands ofattainment in order to compare thefrequency and effectiveness of thestrategies used by pupils of differentlevels of attainment. Eight of thereanalysed questions are discussed, each ofthem involving one of the four basicarithmetic operations. Some are purelynumerical and in others the numbers are ina context. Top band pupils mostly preferredsequential strategies which leave one ofthe numbers in the calculation complete,while the Bottom band generally preferredto split complete numbers and operateseparately on the components of the numbersthus partitioned. The most popularstrategy for Middle band pupils in severalquestions was the standard algorithm usedmentally. Complete number strategies werethe most successful for pupils in all threebands. Possible implications for theNational Numeracy Strategy in Britain arediscussed. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

The effect of changes in item sequence on student performance in a multiple-choice chemistry test

It is standard practice to arrange items in objective tests in order of increasing difficulty, on the assumption that such an arrangement increases student motivation and produces more reliable tests. The validity of this assumption was investigated in the context of a multiplechoice chemistry test. Fifty items were arranged in three sequences of difficulty: random (R), easy-to-hard (E-H) and hard-to-easy (H-E). The mean test score was significantly higher for the test sequenced E-H than for the test sequenced H-E. Item difficulty index was raised by placement of the easier items toward the beginning of the test and lowered by placement of these items toward the end of the test. Test reliability was largely independent of item sequence.     

The Trauma Symptom Checklist for Young Children (TSCYC): reliability and association with abuse exposure in a multi-site study

OBJECTIVE: The Trauma Symptom Checklist for Young Children (TSCYC) is a 90-item caretaker-report measure of children's trauma- and abuse-related symptomatology. It contains two reporter validity scales and eight clinical scales [Post-traumatic Stress-Intrusion (PTS-I), Post-traumatic Stress-Avoidance (PTS-AV), Post-traumatic Stress-Arousal (PTS-AR), Post-traumatic Stress-Total (PTS-TOT), Sexual Concerns (SC), Dissociation (DIS), Anxiety (ANX), Depression (DEP), and Anger/Aggression (ANG)], as well as an item assessing hours per week of caretaker contact with the child. This paper introduces the TSCYC and describes its psychometric properties in a multisite validity study. METHOD: A total of 219 TSCYCs administered by six clinician/researchers across the United States were analyzed for scale reliability and association with several types of childhood maltreatment. RESULTS: The TSCYC clinical scales have good reliability and are associated with exposure to childhood sexual abuse, physical abuse, and witnessing domestic violence. The PTS-I, PTS-AV, PTS-AR, and PTS-TOT scales were most predictive, followed by SC in the case of sexual abuse and DIS in the case of physical abuse. There were a small number of age, sex, and race effects on TSCYC scores. CONCLUSIONS: The TSCYC appears to have reasonable psychometric characteristics, and correlates as expected with various types of trauma exposure. Subject to continued validation and the development of general population norms, its use as a clinical measure is supported.