Developing perceived self-efficacy in later life through poetry writing. An analysis of a U3A poetry group of older Australians

ABSTRACT

A change-of-life issue for older people is finding ways to engage meaningfully and be creative. Sustaining a sense of self-efficacy in one’s abilities to be productive is vital for wellbeing. Our research explored the perceived self-efficacy developed in an Australian University of the Third Age poetry class. We gathered data from one class session through observation, a focus group and paired interviews. Transcribed data identified participants’ voices, and common themes were noted. We use Bandura’s idea of perceived self-efficacy, through examining mastery experiences, modelling, social persuasion and a positive learning climate to understand the data. These sources of self-efficacy were pivotal for participants’ positive self-efficacy. We offer this example of how older people can achieve mastery in a new field of creative endeavour at a time in their life-course often positioned as diminishing. In doing so, we challenge conventional understandings of ageing.     

Mentoring Beginning Teachers: Findings from Contextual Supervision

This article examines the contextual supervision (CS) model that has been developed and applied in several practicum settings of teacher-education programs over the past ten years. The study synthesizes the research findings on the potential effectiveness of CS in assisting faculty supervisors and classroom cooperating teachers with the task of mentoring pre-service teachers to develop their instructional repertoire. The CS model is described, its rationale is presented, research results on its application are summarized, its strengths and limitations are identified, and implications of its usefulness as a mentoring tool to enhance teacher performance are drawn.     

Capturing the Complexity of Alternative Schools: Narratives of Latino Males in an Overlooked Educational Space

 This study discusses the needs and challenges associated with Latino males’ treatment in public schools. The primary concern is how nationally, only one in two Latino males graduate from U.S. high schools (Schott Foundation for Public Education in Black Lives Matter: The Schott 50 State Report on Public Education and Black Males, http://blackboysreport.org/, 2015). However, a growing body of research has emerged, heightening Latino males’ social and academic needs in traditional K-12 educational settings. In this paper, we highlight the need to focus on alternative school settings through the narratives of four Latino males enrolled in two alternative public schools. Our findings describe the nuances in alternative schooling experience for Latino males. It explores the school context's differences to (re)engage youth back into school and the various factors that shape their future aspirations. We discuss implications for research and practice to improve alternative schools' conditions to better serve Latino males in this overlooked sector in the educational pipeline.

     

Math for the Benefit of Society: A New MATLAB-Based Gen-Ed Course

Abstract

Responding to a call for national reform of mathematical education, as well as a college-wide revision of general education (GE) requirements, we describe a new entry-level, GE course focused on the humanitarian utility of mathematics. This includes a detailed overview of how we taught the course using a Humanitarian MATLAB Lab Manual developed collaboratively with undergraduate students within an applied math program. A PRIMUS edition of this manual with complete MATLAB materials for a GE course is included as an Appendix for interested readers. A variety of social justice issues including peace-building after modern civil wars, continued cancer risk after Chernobyl, gang reduction, various dimensions of human trafficking, the use of a tractor and herbicide in subsistence farming, equitable resource distribution during the Syrian refugee crisis, and access to HIV vaccines are included in this special edition of the manual.     

Creativity and technology in teaching and learning: a literature review of the uneasy space of implementation

Educational technology research and development - Internationally, creativity is a widely discussed construct that is pivotal to educational practice and curriculum. It is often situated alongside...     

Integrating Computational Science Tools into a Thermodynamics Course

Computational tools and methods have permeated multiple science and engineering disciplines, because they enable scientists and engineers to process large amounts of data, represent abstract phenomena, and to model and simulate complex concepts. In order to prepare future engineers with the ability to use computational tools in the context of their disciplines, some universities have started to integrate these tools within core courses. This paper evaluates the effect of introducing three computational modules within a thermodynamics course on student disciplinary learning and self-beliefs about computation. The results suggest that using worked examples paired to computer simulations to implement these modules have a positive effect on (1) student disciplinary learning, (2) student perceived ability to do scientific computing, and (3) student perceived ability to do computer programming. These effects were identified regardless of the students’ prior experiences with computer programming.     

‘Understanding things from within’. A Husserlian phenomenological approach to doing educational research and inquiring about learning

This article describes a phenomenological approach to doing educational inquiry and understanding learning. Working within the qualitative tradition, the research is conceived as ‘narrow and deep’, intimate research that focuses definitively on internality and on first-hand experiences of learning. The theoretical background for doing phenomenological research is explained, especially in regard to the ideas of Edmund Husserl. Then, the author’s own systematic process for doing phenomenological research in education and exploring learning is offered with examples from his doctoral research project in which he investigated doctoral students and their experience of negotiating their learning. Samples from the author’s writing in regard to one research participant are used to illustrate the research process explicated in the article.     

Scholar-Activism: A Twice Told Tale

What does it mean for individuals to intentionally see themselves as scholar-activists? Moreover, what does navigating a scholar-activist life mean for scholars in the early phases of their academic careers? As emerging scholar-activists the authors of this article are continuing to grapple with these questions, and in this article they present their distinct but overlapping stories of working through and overcoming the false separation of scholarship and activism. By sharing their stories the authors want to both provide readers an opportunity to find resonance in their experiences, and present some points to consider as we all define and live scholar-activism. Scholar-activism is historically situated with sights on the future. The authors have chosen to join the struggle of their predecessors in their scholar-activist work, exploring new possibilities sparked by the confluence of different generations.     

The relative permeability of iron,nickel and permalloy in high frequency electromagnetic fields

The relative magnetic permeability of iron, nickel and permalloy was measured over the range of wave-lengths from 70 to 200 meters by the heterodyne balance method and by the resonance method. Nothing suggestive of the anomalous dispersion of the magnetic permeability reported in this region by Wwedensky and Theodortschik was found when certain precautions were observed in carrying out the measurements. When these precautions were neglected irregular breaks resulted in the curves of permeability as a function of wavelength which varied in position with the conditions of the circuit.The high frequency resistance of iron, nickel and permalloy wires was measured over the range of approximately fifty thousand kilocycles from two to three meter wave-lengths. What appeared to be anomalous variations at certain frequencies were found not to exist when the proper precautions were observed in making the measurements.