Does Fidelity of Implementation Account for Changes in Teacher–Child Interactions in a Randomized Controlled Trial of Banking Time?

This study examined fidelity of implementation in a randomized trial of Banking Time, a classroom-based intervention intended to improve children's behavior, specifically for those at risk for developing externalizing behavior problems, through improving the quality of teacher–child interactions. The study sample comes from a randomized controlled trial that took place over three years and included 183 teachers and 470 preschool children recruited across three sites. Results exploring fidelity of implementation indicated that Banking Time practices were present across treatment and nontreatment groups. In addition, the presence of more Positive Banking Time Practices accounted for improvements in teacher–child interactions while Restricted Banking Time Practices showed inconsistent patterns, relating both to positive and negative teacher–child interactions. Further, random assignment to Banking Time resulted in the presence of more Positive Banking Time Practices and fewer Restricted Banking Time Practices, which accounted for the improved teacher–child interactions. Thus, findings point to the critical need to better account for intervention fidelity across conditions in randomized trials, allowing for better understanding of the mechanism through which interventions lead to intended outcomes.     

Teaching critical thinking: an investigation of a task in introductory macroeconomics

This paper is an investigation of understandings of critical thinking from two teaching perspectives: academic staff and tutors. It explores critical thinking as situated within an assessment task in introductory macroeconomics. This study found that while the two academic staff conceptualized critical thinking as a set of concrete cognitive skills, the tutors challenged this notion. Although tutors used the way of understanding critical thinking identified by the academic staff in their teaching and marking, they also discussed broader notions of critical thinking that they saw as a fundamental aspect of the discipline. The paper examines the multiple constructions of critical thinking in this setting and its broader implications.     

Exit cards: creating a dialogue for continuous evaluation

This study explored the use of Exit Cards, which are formative evaluations of student knowledge and instruction undertaken at every class meeting. Its results are based on Exit Card data from two undergraduate research methods courses. Thematic analysis indicated that students used Exit Cards to communicate (1) what they learned, (2) challenges with course material, (3) experiences with peers, (4) requests for help, (5) challenges with coping, and (6) successes. While the present study is an initial exploration of the use of Exit Cards, it contributes to knowledge on the utilization of informal formative assessments.     

How do people read the passages during a reading comprehension test? The effect of reading purpose on text processing behavior

In this study, we investigate the effect of reading purpose on students’ processing behavior during a reading comprehension test. In a repeated measures design, sixty undergraduates answered multiple-choice (MC) reading comprehension questions in a condition with no overarching goal for reading and in an alternate condition where the same students were first provided with the goal of summarizing the text before answering MC questions. Results from eye tracking analysis showed that when students read and answered questions without an overarching goal, they spent much less time reading the passages before answering the questions, more time re-reading the texts while answering the questions, and more time on parts of the text that were not necessary to answer the questions. We conclude that providing examinees without an explicit goal for reading may inadvertently encourage a “search for the answer” reading process, rather than on building a coherent mental model of text content.     

Counselor Educators' Experiences Preparing Preservice School Counselors: A Phenomenological Study

The authors conducted a phenomenological study to explore the experiences of 32 school counselor educators preparing preservice school counselors. Analysis of data from 3 focus groups revealed 3 themes: breadth versus depth, balancing specialties and professor partiality, and preparation versus practice. These results highlight the need for collaboration across counseling specialties at the preservice level.     

Stichwort: Professionelle Kompetenz von Lehrkräften

Ohne Zusammenfassung      

Sample duration and type of stimuli in delayed matching-to-sample in rhesus monkeys

Two experiments were performed to determine the effect of sample duration (0.1, 2, and 4 sec), delay interval (.03, 4, 8, 16, and 32 sec), and type of stimulus (color and shape) on the matching performance of rhesus monkeys. In Experiment 1, the 15 possible delay-duration combinations were randomly presented in blocks of 15 trials. In Experiment 2, each duration was held constant and the five delays randomly presented. Then each delay interval was held constant with the three durations randomly varied. Matching performance increased as sample duration increased (ps < .01 and .005), while length of delay did not significantly affect performance. The type of stimuli paired in the matching test significantly affected performance (ps < .05 and .10) with the shape/shape choices leading to the poorest performance. Stimulus discriminability and amount of training with brief sample durations were implicated as significant determinants of matching performance.     

In the shadow of Sputnik: a transnational approach to Menzies support for science education in Australia, 1957–1964

Abstract

This paper examines prime minister Robert Menzies decision to support science education in Australian schools in 1963. This was a landmark shift in policy for the federal government, but in many ways mirrors the decision of Eisenhower who brought down the National Defense Education Act (NDEA) in 1958. The paper uses a transnational approach to offer a new way of looking at the 1963 decision by focusing on the need for science education and the environment which supported science advocacy rather than the traditional interpretation of political expediency to court the Catholic vote.     

The limited value of planning in education: Getting back to the basics isn't all about curriculum

In these times of tight budgets and political intoleance for taxation, public schools, particularly urban public schools, will continually have to look for ways in which to spend less while dealing with ever-increasing societal problems. While the ability of schools to improve the overal “product” with less resources is highly suspect, this article addresses one way in which spending less might actually improve school perfomance. The best planners in the best schools should be the administration, techers, students, parents, and the comminitu at large, and not outside esxperts hired to improve a school's “comprehensive” or “strategic” plan. By forcing the segments of the public that have the largest stake in the educational outcomes of schools to work together to plan for the future, schools will improve the efficacy of their staffs, their students, and allow parents the self-satisfaction of playing an important role in their children's education. An improtant side effect of such a method may be an increasing awareness by the public of the difficulties that schools face, and perhaps a better understanding of the important need for higher expenditures. His research interests include professionalism, collective bargaining, and educational reform. His articles have appeared inPeople and Education, and a recent article has been aceepted for publication in theJournal of Collective Negotiations in the Public Sector.