The Field Study Program

The Field Studies Program is an undergraduate, interdisciplinary experience in field-related education on the Berkeley campus of the University of California. Begun in 1971, the program has survived repeated examination and shows every sign of becoming a fixture on the campus. Located at a major center of graduate education, the program has had to take itself very seriously as an intellectual endeavor. Self-study has generated a model of field-related education based on doing, thinking, and communicating that leads toward increased competency and consciousness. Within the program competence is seen as the ability to act intelligently and effectively—to act and to employ knowledge. Consciousness is seen as self-awareness and the ability to generate knowledge from action—to learn from experience. The article elaborates on this model and reports students' responses to participation in the program.     

A comparative analysis of analogies in secondary biology and chemistry textbooks used in Australian schools

To aid the explanation of abstract science concepts, authors of textbooks employ learning tools such as analogies to help students learn. Analogies are believed to allow new material to be more easily assimilated with students' prior knowledge by linking it to their previous experiences. Continuing research on analogies in science textbooks and science teaching is providing a clearer picture of the types of analogies that are available (Duit, 1991), their ranges of presentation style (Curtis & Reigeluth, 1984; Thiele & Treagust, 1992), and their efficacy to effect students' conceptual understandings (Harrison & Treagust, 1993).     

The international telecommunication project in the schools of Moscow and New York state

The authors of the projects express their sincere gratitude to their partners in the project, Peter Copen of the Copen Family Fund, USA, and Jane Barley of the New York State Department of Education, USA. Thanks are also extended to Monica Bradsher from the National Geographic Society, USA, and Robert Tinker of TERC, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA, for sharing their experience developing KIDNET.     

Shared book experiences in kindergarten: Helping children come to literacy

Repetitive shared book experiences provided by public school kindergarten staff were used to improve literacy competence and preparation for formal first-grade reading instruction. The entire 1983–1984 kindergarten population (N = 228) of a rural, racially mixed, southeastern school district in South Carolina received eight shared reading experiences for each of three classic children's books. The shared book experience is defined as the situation in which a group of two or three children sit close enough to an adult to see the print as a book is read. Readings were provided by teachers, teacher aides, school volunteers, older students, and audiotapes. The children were individually administered the South Carolina State Department of Education's mandated Cognitive Skills Assessment Battery (Boehm & Slater, 1974) during the first 3 weeks of first grade. The control group, composed of the 1982–1983 kindergarten population (N = 269), had 73% of its children at or above the state cutoff for first-grade readiness, and the experimental group had 83% at or above the cutoff. (T = 22.2, p < .01). In addition, the school district staff reported a 10% increase in the number of children being placed in “top” reading groups. Repetitive, personal shared book experiences were found to enhance literacy awareness and competence, to improve preparation for formal first grade, and to broaden children's literacy interests.     

Learning environment,learning styles and conceptual understanding

In recent years there have been many studies on learners developing conceptions of natural phenomena. However, so far there have been few attempts to investigate how the characteristics of the learners and their environment influence such conceptions. This study began with an attempt to use an instrument developed by McCarthy (1981) to describe learners in Malaysian primary schools. This proved inappropriate as Asian primary classrooms do not provide the same kind of environment as US classrooms. It was decided to develop a learning style checklist to suit the local context and which could be used to describe differences between learners which teachers could appreciate and use. The checklist included four dimensions — perceptual, process, self-confidence and motivation. The validated instrument was used to determine the learning style preferences of primary four pupils in Penang, Malaysia. Later, an analysis was made regarding the influence of learning environment and learning styles on conceptual understanding in the topics of food, respiration and excretion. This study was replicated in the Philippines with the purpose of investigating the relationship between learning styles and achievement in science, where the topics of food, respiration and excretion have been taken up. A number of significant relationships were observed in these two studies. Specializations: science education, primary science, educational research and measurement, educational management.     

Current Status of Ethnic Minority Counselor Educators in the United States

Recruitment and retention of ethnic minorityfaculty is a challenge facing professionals inhigher education across the country. Issuesrelated to finding and keeping ethnic minoritycounselor educators continue to stimulateresearch interest in barriers to education andcareer development as well as in improvingmulticultural competencies of all counselors.This article reports data from a nationalsurvey of research, teaching, and serviceactivities of ethnic minority counseloreducators. Results indicated that the majorityof faculty of color were untenured and at theassistant professor level. Findings alsorevealed that a small number of ethnic minorityfaculty were asked to collaborate withcolleagues on referred publications.Implications for the counseling profession arealso presented.     

Faculty attitudes toward student evaluation of teaching

This study dealt with university faculty attitudes toward the validity of and varying uses for student evaluations of teaching. It was hypothesized that faculty attitudes toward the potential uses of student evaluations would be systematically related to a professor's a priori frame of reference regarding the validity of these instruments. On the basis of responses to selected questionnaire items, faculty were divided into those whose frame of reference (1) opposed the idea that student evaluations could be made valid, (2) supported the idea that existing evaluation forms were valid, and (3) were uncommitted regarding this validity question. A fourth group, administrators at the university, were also surveyed. Large and consistent differences among these groups were found on policy matters such as the use of student evaluations in tenure and promotion decisions, in providing information to students to help them choose courses, and on a variety of other issues. In each case the results supported the hypothesis.Authors' names are ordered randomly.     

Leistungstest, Offenheit von Bildungsgängen und obligatorische Beratung der Eltern

Zusammenfassung Dieser Beitrag untersucht das übertrittsverfahren von der Grundschule in die Sekundarschule I der deutschsprachigen Schulen des Kantons Freiburg (Schweiz). Das Deutschfreiburger übergangsmodell mit seinen verschiedenen Komponenten wird vorgestellt und evaluiert. Ein besonderes Augenmerk liegt dabei auf der Frage, ob unerwünschte Effekte des famili?ren Hintergrunds durch dieses Modell reduziert bzw. eliminiert werden k?nnen. Untersucht wird im Weiteren die übereinstimmung der übertrittsempfehlung von Eltern und Lehrkr?ften sowie der Prüfungsleistung. Die Autoren kommen zum Schluss, dass das untersuchte übergangsmodell die Effekte des famili?ren Hintergrunds beim übertritt von der Primarschule in die Sekundarschule relativ gering h?lt. Der sozio?konomische Hintergrund wirkt sich über die übertrittsempfehlung von Lehrkr?ften und Eltern auch auf den tats?chlichen übertritt aus; die absoluten Effekte des famili?ren Hintergrunds fallen jedoch — nach Kontrolle der Schulleistung — insgesamt vergleichsweise schwach aus. Der eingesetzte Bewertungsbogen, den Lehrkr?fte und Eltern zus?tzlich zu den Noten als Basis für die übergangsempfehlung einsetzen, scheint resistent gegenüber Effekten des famili?ren Hintergrunds zu sein.