Co-operative learning for students with difficulties in learning: a description of models and guidelines for implementation

As part of a larger study regarding the inclusion of children with disabilities in mainstream classroom settings, Ellen Murphy, of the D Clin Psych programme at NUI Galway, with Ian Grey and Rita Honan, from Trinity College, Dublin, reviewed existing literature on co-operative learning in the classroom. In this article, they identify four models of co-operative learning and specify the various components characteristic of each model. They review recent studies on co-operative learning with the aim of determining effectiveness. These studies generally indicate that co-operative learning appears to be more effective when assessed on measures of social engagement rather than academic performance. Finally, Ellen Murphy, Ian Grey and Rita Honan present their account of the factors that contribute to the successful implementation of co-operative learning for students with difficulties in learning.     

Dilemmas of Prescriptive Practices and Perceived Alignment in Program Implementation

This paper studies the early implementation of a school improvement effort in two high schools. We examine what explains variation in the teacher adoption of program practices. Our findings highlight the tension between encouraging immediate adoption of program practices and the longer term goals of schoolwide culture change. We find that highly structured practices and those that are already aligned with teachers' extant beliefs and classroom practices can be implemented with little preexisting capacity. These conditions could also lead to more consistent and quicker initial adoption. However, this type of implementation might not encourage sufficient understanding of program goals and may inhibit the diffusion of practices into the school culture. Findings highlight dilemmas associated with program practices when the goal is to bring educational reforms to scale.     

The multiple voices of a mathematics classroom community

Several mathematics educators have expressed their concern about conflicting visions of educational reform among parents and teachers, which could result in the emergence of multiple voices in discussions of achievement and instruction. The aim of this article is to examine the multiple voices of educational reform in the discourse of a third grade classroom community. In order to achieve our aim, we integrated the social and the individual as well as the past, present, and future in our analysis of the discourse in this classroom community using theoretical frameworks and methods from cultural psychology. Although our analyses focused on the classroom teacher, we employed units of analysis capable of bridging the individual and her social context. We began our analysis by focusing on a sample of whole-class discussions of students’ strategies for solving multi-digit word problems. This analysis isolated two distinct voices: one that occurred during discussions of students’ invented strategies and the other that emerged during talk about standard algorithms. We extended our analysis to include information about the historical, social, and institutional context of the classroom community in order to understand the origins and functions of these two voices. This additional information helped us appreciate the interconnections between the teacher’s personal feelings, beliefs, recollections, and expectations; and her interpersonal transactions with her students, their parents, and other educators. We concluded with a discussion of the implications of the study for understanding one of the dilemmas of educational reform and for advancing research in classroom discourse. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Learning conceptions of young students in the final year of primary education

The purpose of this research was to describe young pupils' learning conceptions. In this study, a learning conception was defined as a cluster of interrelated beliefs about different aspects of learning. Firstly, 27 pupils, all in the final year of primary school, were interviewed to elicit learning-related issues as being relevant for six-graders. Secondly, a questionnaire, developed on the basis of the outcomes of the interviews, was used to determine the interrelatedness of pupils' beliefs about the selected aspects. The results showed the young pupils to have different beliefs about five aspects of learning: purpose of school; learning orientation; regulation; learning demands; and mental activities. In exploring group differences, three different learning conceptions could be distinguished: a restricted learning conception; a functional learning conception; and a developmental learning conception. The characteristics of these different learning conceptions may be indicative of how young pupils conceive learning-related aspects.     

Student Hits in an Internet‐Supported Course: How Can Instructors Use Them and What Do They Mean?

The world of education is changing as Web‐based technology and courseware are increasingly used for delivery of course material. In this environment, instructors may need new measures for determining student involvement, and ultimately student performance. This study examines whether hits to a Web site have any value for predicting student performance in a traditional course supported by Web activities. Total Hits at the end of the semester was used as one measure. Hit Consistency, determined by assigning a 0 when no hits occurred between class meetings and by assigning a 1 when one or more hits occurred between class meetings, was another. Hit Consistency was significantly correlated with course average (r= .37, p < .001) for 108 students in two course sections. Hit Consistency started to show a significant relationship with course average by the third week (or class). Total Hits was not found to significantly correlate with course average (r= .08, p > .05) at the end of the semester or during any week. These results suggest that students who consistently access a Web site will perform better than those who do not. When Hit Consistency and Total Hits were entered as independent variables into a stepwise regression with course average as the dependent variable, the model was enhanced by the addition of Total Hits after Hit Consistency was entered (R= .43, p < .001) . Hierarchical regression analysis in which cumulative grade point average was entered as the first controlling variable suggested that online access may go beyond the predictive value of achievement alone for predicting course performance with Hit Consistency appearing to be the dominant causal variable.     

语言、对话与想象:辩证诠释学的应用

保罗·利科倡导的叙述的变革力量通过语言、对话和想象被极大地扩展了,尤其在一群西方的发展者和泰国北部的马来布族人之间.持续的对话和对社会全景的展望给新的生活方式带来了充分的想象空间,对我们生活的热情叙述和学习也给建立新的关系网络带来了可能,并成为可持续性国际发展的基石.这里讨论的以批判诠释学为基础的方法尝试区别于传统的市场经济论,希望能给社会的发展以指导性的启示.     

Indicators for national science and technology policy: how robust are composite indicators?

This article addresses a set of issues that were central to Keith Pavitt's research, that is, the construction and use of tools to measure national innovative performance and to design national policies relating to innovation. It presents an overview of the development of science and technology (S&T) indicators and their use in national policy making and provides evidence of the vulnerability of composite S&T indicators to manipulation. A brief history of the development of S&T indicators begins with the role of the United States followed by their worldwide diffusion with particular emphasis on Europe. Newer developments towards composite indicators, benchmarking and scoreboarding are discussed. To investigate the robustness of innovation scoreboards empirically, a sensitivity analysis of one selected case is presented. It is shown that composite scores and country rank positions can vary considerably depending on the selection process. Thus, the use of scoreboards leaves room for manipulation in the policymaking system. Further research is needed on alternative methods of calculation to prevent their misuse and abuse.     

“Simultaneous immersion”: How online postgraduate study contributes to the development of reflective practice among public service practitioners

This paper examines how the process of engaging simultaneously in study and work – through online distance-based study – affects students’ capacity to apply their learning in and for the workplace. The paper takes as its starting point the importance of extending notions of “educational effectiveness” beyond course-based attainment to encompass the impact of learning within the workplace. It explores the interface between study and work, focusing on the case of online postgraduate programmes in public management at the University of York. It finds that simultaneous immersion in study and work can create the conditions for “public reflection” that underpin work-based learning and that a key factor is the student-practitioner's ability to mobilise “episodic power.” The paper suggests ways in which existing approaches to online postgraduate learning might be enhanced in order to capitalise on these conditions of simultaneous immersion.     

Cultural Components of Sex Differences in Color Preference

Preferences for pink and blue were tested in children aged 4–11 years in three small-scale societies: Shipibo villages in the Peruvian Amazon, kastom villages in the highlands of Tanna Island, Vanuatu, and BaYaka foragers in the northern Republic of Congo; and compared to children from an Australian global city (total N = 232). No sex differences were found in preference for pink in any of the three societies not influenced by global culture (ds − 0.31–0.23), in contrast to a female preference for pink in the global city (d = 1.24). Results suggest that the pairing of female and pink is a cultural phenomenon and is not driven by an essential preference for pink in girls.