RESEARCH REPORT

Studies exploring school students' views about science have not always distinguished between different branches of science. Here, the views of 1395 secondary school students aged 11–16 about physics and, as a science comparator, biology were determined using a closed‐form questionnaire. Over the period of secondary schooling a decreasing proportion of students expressed a liking for physics, fewer thought it was interesting and more thought it was boring. These changes did not apply to biology. There was an increasing view that the study of physics, but not biology, required mathematical skills. Fewer students thought that physics, compared with biology, could contribute to the solution of medical or environmental problems. Suggestions that physics might offer good employment prospects did not influence students' liking of physics. Factor analysis suggested that the oldest group of students distinguished between physics and biology in terms of their general characteristics – to the detriment of physics.     

Categorical color coding in a one-phase avoidance procedure

Four colors (red, yellow, green, and blue) were arranged in all possible two-color sets to determine if goldfish can discriminate between color sets associated with shock and color sets associated with safety/shock omission in a one-phase (linear presentation) discrimination-learning procedure. The results showed that goldfish learned to discriminate between two-color sets if set colors were natural categorical color-code mates (red = yellow and green = blue). When natural code mates were not in the same set, and therefore were paired with different shock consequents, no discrimination learning occurred, suggesting that goldfish, unlike pigeons, are not able to code colors arbitrarily. The method also allowed a measure of preference between colors within sets associated with safety/shock omission. Original-learning preference measures between colors in sets so associated showed that goldfish chose red over any other color, yellow over blue or green, and green over blue, despite the fact that both colors in any set were procedurally identical, implying that goldfish do discriminate between colors in the absence of explicit discrimination training. The goldfish that failed to discriminate between red/blue and green/yellow sets in original learning were transferred to red/yellow and blue/green color sets. In transfer, the color paired with safety/shock omission in original learning was preferred over the color paired with shock in original learning, which resulted in a reversal of original-learning color preferences for half the goldfish. The transfer color-preference results imply that the goldfish had associated specific colors with specific shock consequents, but the associations were not robust enough to support discrimination learning in the face of categorical color coding.     

Harry Potter and the paradox of the ‘expert’

In this article, Dominic Griffiths reflects upon the current cultural gap between those who locate themselves as working ‘on the inside’ of the world of ‘special educational needs’ and the ‘inclusion movement’ and those who might be describe as ‘mainstream classroom teachers’. Griffiths warns of the dangers of the dangers of ‘enculturation’ of the ‘insiders’ which can lead to communal visions of mainstream teachers as ‘barriers to inclusion’. Equally, from ‘outsider’ perspectives, the world of special and inclusive education may be perceived as ‘mysterious’, hidden in a fog of arcane acronyms and populated by specialist ‘experts’. The author calls for a conscious demystification of this world and an active reaching out to and nurturing of mainstream colleagues without whom, he argues, the inclusion project cannot succeed.     

Presidential Address: The academic discipline of education. Reciprocal relationships between practical knowledge and academic knowledge

This article explores the nature of education as a vital part of human knowledge. The argument that is presented addresses the critique of education as having epistemological weaknesses as an academic discipline. The argument is framed by scholarship that has categorised the discipline of education as derived from three main traditions of knowledge. In order to explore the coherence of education as a discipline, contrasts are made with other disciplines such as mathematics and sciences. The article also reviews scholarship in relation to the concept of education research that is close-to-practice, and the relevance of this to understanding education as an academic discipline. The article concludes by suggesting a new model that shows the relationships between practical knowledge and academic knowledge that are an intrinsic part of education. A more confident portrayal of education as an academic discipline is also advocated.     

Synthetic phonics and the teaching of reading: the debate surrounding England's ‘Rose Report’

The Rose Report, commissioned by the Secretary of State for Education for England, recommended in March 2006 that early reading instruction must include synthetic phonics. This paper evaluates the extent to which research evidence supports this recommendation. In particular, a review of international research into the teaching of early reading shows that the Rose Report's main recommendation on synthetic phonics contradicts the powerful body of evidence accumulated over the last 30 years. In this paper it is argued that action already taken by the UK government to change the National Curriculum in line with the Rose Report's recommendations represents a change in pedagogy not justified by research.     

Kindergarten Teachers’ Ratings of Children’s Behavioral and Learning Competencies: Predictive Impact on Children’s Third and Fourth Grade Achievement Trajectories

Early Childhood Education Journal - Teachers’ valid observational assessments of children’s competencies in kindergarten are critical, as formal classroom testing is not prevalent....     

Developing communication as a graduate outcome: using ‘Writing Across the Curriculum’ as a whole-of-institution approach to curriculum and pedagogy

Communication is widely recognised as an important capability for university graduates [Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. (2013). OECD skills outlook 2013: First results from the survey of adult skills. Author. Retrieved from http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/9789264204256-en]. Yet, research suggests that it is often not adequately developed by Australian universities, remaining implicit in teaching and assessment. This is in part because Australian universities have historically conceptualised communication not as an outcome of disciplinary study, but as a generic, foundational competency or skill. It has therefore been managed outside the curriculum by establishing academic language and learning units that help students develop written and spoken communication through a range of student services. The services model of communication development is becoming untenable, however, given the increasing cultural and linguistic diversity of students and the recognised importance of communication as a graduate outcome. Whole-of-institution approaches are required to integrate communication into course curricula as a fundamental part of disciplinary learning, and develop the capacity of teaching staff to teach it. This paper explores Writing Across the Curriculum and Writing Inside the Disciplines, two complementary approaches used widely in the US for developing literacy in higher education. They emerged in the 1970s in response to the kind of student diversity now common in Australian universities, and offer institution-wide strategies for developing communication as an essential outcome of study in academic and professional disciplines.