Effect of science teaching on the young child's concept of piagetian physical causality: Animism and dynamism

The purpose of this research was to determine whether the young child's understanding of physical causality is affected by school science instruction. Sixty-four subjects, four and one-half through seven years of age, received 300 min of instruction designed to affect the subject's conception of causality as reflected in animism and dynamism. Instruction took place for 30 min per day on ten successive school days. Pretesting was done to allow a stratified random sample to be based on vocabulary level and developmental stage as well as on age and gender. Post-testing consisted of testing of developmental level and level within the causal relations of animism and dynamism. Significant differences (1.05 level) were found between the experimental and control groups for animism. Within the experimental group, males differed significantly (1.001 level) from females. The elimination of animism appeared to have occurred. For dynamism, significant differences (0.05 level) were found only between concrete operational subjects in the experimental and control groups, indicating a concrete level of operations was necessary if dynamism was to be affected. However, a review of interview protocols indicated that subjects classified as nonanimistic had learned to apply a definition rather than to think in a nonanimistic manner.     

The Benefits of Using Sociodrama in the Elementary Classroom: Promoting Caring Relationships Among Educators and Students

In the current age of academic rigor, standards and accountability, the fostering of caring relationships in the classroom may not always be a priority. Expressing care for another person is a skill that can be taught and nurtured through a supportive educational environment. Sociodrama encourages each of its participants to develop self-confidence and self-expression through risk-taking and exploration in activities that explore real life personal feelings and situations. By using sociodrama as a means for exploring issues in the classroom it is possible to celebrate participants’ individuality and to create caring and nurturing relationships among educators and students. This article examines the research describing the benefits of including sociodrama in the elementary curriculum.     

Quality Assessment of Professional Degree Programs

Based on a completed study of alumni of a master's degree teacher education program at a large northeastern university, this article demonstrates how alumni research can be designed to focus assessment on student outcomes and be responsive to program goals, policy concerns of administrators, instructional values of the faculty, and standards of professional practice. The article presents a conceptual framework, a research design plan, identification of relevant issues, appropriate analytical techniques, and selected findings with substantial relevance to other professional degree programs. Results confirm the importance of satisfaction with courses, perception of professional growth, and level of intellectual challenge on graduates' overall evaluation of the program. The methodological approaches and substantive issues raised in this study potentially enhance researchers' ability to design future assessment studies that will impact the policy development and program planning of other professional degree programs.     

Making Connections: Learning and Teaching Chemistry in Context

Even though several studies have reported positive attitudinal outcomes from context-based chemistry programs, methodological obstacles have prevented researchers from comparing satisfactorily the chemistry-learning outcomes between students who experience a context-based program with those who experience a content-driven program. In this narrative inquiry we are able to address the question: how do the recalled experiences of a student and her teacher in context-based and concept-based chemistry programs compare? From the student’s unique perspective of experiencing both programs with the same teacher, we have constructed our collective account around four themes; namely, the extent to which the student makes connections between chemistry concepts and real-world contexts, developing research independence through engaging in extended experimental investigations related to contexts, learning chemistry concepts through contexts, and conceptual sequencing in a context-based program. The student reported real-world connections between chemistry concepts and contexts, found her engagement in the context-driven tasks interesting and productive, and identified connected sequences of concepts across the contexts studied. Despite difficulties for teachers who are required to shift pedagogies, the student’s lived experiences and outcomes from a context-based program provide some encouragement in working through these issues.     

Mathematics: a female,male or gender‐neutral domain? A study of attitudes among students at secondary level

The aim of the current study is to investigate whether Swedish secondary school students perceive mathematics as a female, male or gender‐neutral domain. A sample of 1300 students in two age groups, 15‐ and 17‐ years, answered a questionnaire and about 50 students participated in interviews. The main part of the inquiry form consists of Who and mathematics, an attitude scale recently developed by other researchers. The results are analysed with respect to gender, school year and study programme. Gendered attitudes were found among considerable minorities. There is a marked tendency to view mathematics as a symbolically male domain: positive aspects are associated with boys and negative aspects perceived as more female. Older students hold more strongly gendered views than younger. Boys in the science programme have the strongest beliefs of mathematics as a male domain.     

Educational Research Expenditure in Switzerland: Overview and Analysis

Switzerland spends about 6% of its GDP on education. In the past few years, there have been carrying out important reforms in the educational field, for example introducing a vocational high school diploma and creating specialized higher vocational institution (hautes écoles). What is the extent of educational research in this context? There are very little data on this subject. To meet the need of information, we carried out a study examining expenditure on Swiss educational research from 1998 to 2000 and the link between sources of funding and research centres. The results of the above-mentioned study show that expenditure on educational research is modest compared with the overall cost of the educational system. It also reveals a distinct distribution of tasks amongst the institutions directly dependent on state educational administrations and universities. Although there are also other sources of funds, educational research relies mainly on public funding. This is disconcerting, as public budgets have been facing cuts in recent years, and new requirements for research needs will arise (future research is likely to involve such activities as evaluating reforms and participating in international survey). We conclude new funding strategies have to be found and researchers need to communicate their results more effectively.     

Multimethod assessment of self-regulated learning in college students: different methods for different components?

Instructional Science - Although self-regulated learning (SRL) is seen as highly relevant for successful college learning, college students oftentimes show a lack in SRL abilities. Therefore, it...