Graduate Experience in Science Education: the development of a science education course for biomedical science graduate students

The University of Rochester's Graduate Experience in Science Education (GESE) course familiarizes biomedical science graduate students interested in pursuing academic career tracks with a fundamental understanding of some of the theory, principles, and concepts of science education. This one-semester elective course provides graduate students with practical teaching and communication skills to help them better relate science content to, and increase their confidence in, their own teaching abilities. The 2-h weekly sessions include an introduction to cognitive hierarchies, learning styles, and multiple intelligences; modeling and coaching some practical aspects of science education pedagogy; lesson-planning skills; an introduction to instructional methods such as case studies and problem-based learning; and use of computer-based instructional technologies. It is hoped that the early development of knowledge and skills about teaching and learning will encourage graduate students to continue their growth as educators throughout their careers. This article summarizes the GESE course and presents evidence on the effectiveness of this course in providing graduate students with information about teaching and learning that they will use throughout their careers.     

Performance Art at Secondary Level

This article considers the far‐reaching potential and the particular characteristics of performance art within the secondary art curriculum. It discusses the means by which an art department has incorporated it into their teaching curriculum at a state secondary school with reference to installations and the work of different performance artists in residence; details of their performances, methods and artistic intentions are discussed. After consideration of the varied responses from staff and students within Trinity Catholic School, the values and significance of direct experience are discussed. In its transience and its reflecting of the performative acts common to ordinary life, performance art offers a challenge to young people's thinking and creativity.     

Examining Different Forms of Implementation and in Early Childhood Curriculum Research

The purpose of this study was to examine different approaches to assessing implementation in an early childhood curriculum research study. Early childhood teachers in 51 preschool classes located at nationally dispersed sites implemented the Children's School Success curriculum for a school year. Structural (proportion of curriculum delivered) and process (quality of delivery of curriculum) measures of implementation were collected for the literacy, math, and social components of the curriculum. Also, a multiplicative composite score incorporating information from the structural and process measures was calculated. Site differences occurred for the process measure, but not the structural and composite measures. Analysis of the process implementation measures collected across time revealed primarily stable trends across sites. Significant associations were found between measures of implementation and some of the child outcome variables, with the different forms of implementation associated with different outcome variables.     

Conceptual Trends and Issues in Biology Didactics

Science & Education -     

THE CORPS OF ROYAL ENGINEERS AND THE GROWTH OF BRITISH TECHNICAL EDUCATION

Among the very best civil servants are officers and men of the Royal Engineers. Whether. . . officers or privates, you know with certainty that you can obtain a competent man for almost any kind of work in the Royal Engineers. (Henry Cole, ‘On the Efficiency and Economy of a National Army, in Connection with the Industry and Education of the People’, Journal of the Society of Arts, Vol. 17 (19th Feb., 1869), 209).

Acknowledging, then, the importance of a diffusion of a knowledge of science . .. the question arises—what has been done during these last 60 years? I should certainly say not much ... The results keep no pace with the requirements of the times... we are falling behind the nations of the continent and behind America in our means of giving scientific instruction to the industrial classes. (Captain Donnelly, R.E., Lectureon the Promotion of Science by the Department of Science and Art (London pamphlet, 1861), 7.)     

A framework for analyzing the collaborative construction of arguments and its interplay with agency

In this report, we offer a framework for analyzing the ways in which collaboration influences learners' building of mathematical arguments and thus promotes mathematical understanding. Building on a previous model used to analyze discursive practices of students engaged in mathematical problem solving, we introduce three types of collaboration and discuss their influence on the building of mathematical arguments and student agency. The framework is exemplified using data from a study of the development of mathematical reasoning in an urban sixth-grade informal after-school program.     

The empirical basis for adopting a civic rationale for internationalization

While considerable consensus exists regarding the importance of internationalizing postsecondary education, little is known about whether distinct forms of internationalization influence civic engagement. This study estimates the degree to which study abroad and internationalization at home (IaH) are associated with international volunteerism among undergraduate alumni at research universities in the United States (n = 93). Results from a multiple regression analysis revealed that extensive IaH—reflected by both the presence of internationalized general education and a high concentration of international students—and the institutional study abroad rate were both positively associated with international volunteerism, operationalized as participation in the Peace Corps. Limited forms of IaH were not predictive of international volunteerism. Regression models explained between 29 and 38% of the variance in international volunteerism. The findings suggest that institutions can better prepare students for the challenges of global civic engagement by increasing participation in study abroad and implementing an extensive and systematic IaH strategy.     

Books of the Month

Maurice Horn (ed.) The World Encyclopedia of Comics (New York: Chelsea House Publishers, 1976—$30.00 for trade edition; $42.50 for augmented library edition

Anthony Rhodes Propaganda: The Art of Persuasion, World War II (New York: Chelsea House, 1976— $30.00