Teachers’ professional learning experiences and their engagement in reflective practice: a replication study

This study investigates the association between teachers’ exposure to different kinds of learning experiences and the degree to which they actively reflect on their teaching. We examine this association using data from 3 samples of teachers and schools in the United States. By examining multiple samples, we sought to strengthen the validity of our conclusions and understand whether and how the relationship between teachers’ engagement in reflection and their learning experiences varies across different kinds of work contexts. In all the 3 samples studied, we found that teachers engaged in reflective practice more often when they had more regular access to embedded learning opportunities which we define as collaborating with peers on instructional matters or working with instruction experts. This consistent result across all 3 samples suggests that embedded learning opportunities may provide a supportive context for teacher reflection across a range of settings.     

Not a ‘Who Done it’ Mystery: On How Whiteness Sabotages Equity Aims in Teacher Preparation Programs

The Urban Review - This essay interrogates the seeming diversity paradox of multicultural teacher education and its connection to the White world of education. Applying a critical race methodology...     

A Mental Age-Matched Comparison Study of Delay of Gratification in Children with Down Syndrome

The performance of 25 children with Down syndrome on delay of gratification tasks was compared with that of a mental age-matched group of typically developing children. Delay tasks included both other- and self-imposed tasks. Children with Down syndrome were significantly less able to delay gratification than the comparison group on two of the three tasks. Receptive language was associated with delay on the self-imposed task for the typically developing group but not for children with Down syndrome. It is hypothesised that there may be a lag in the development of self-regulation that is greater than the lag between chronological and mental age for children with Down syndrome, with expressive language playing a role in this lag. The practice of using mental age as the method for matching groups of children with Down syndrome with typically developing children is called into question by the results of this study.     

真实性评价:促进本科课程与教学改革的重要途径——基于对美国纽约州立大学奥斯威戈分校的考察

真实性评价注重发挥综合学业评价的教育功能,不仅关注学科知识,更注重真实情境下发展学生多方面的能力,客观、真实评价学生的学习水平,运用多种方法,综合评价学生的知识、能力和学科价值观,尤其是高阶思维与实践能力的变化与进步等.本文从真实性评价的内涵入手,对美国纽约州立大学奥斯威戈分校"综合科学教学论"课程的评价方式进行剖析,并结合中国高校课程评价的实际,从课程总体规划、具体任务设计、评价量规制定,教学多元反馈四个方面总结高校开展真实性评价的步骤,并对我国高校实施真实性评价提出建议和对策.     

Advancing Equity-Based School Leadership: The Importance of Family–School Relationships

The Urban Review - This narrative inquiry study presents the stories of five urban public school principals who continually enact and engage in praxis around school/family engagement as their...     

Opportunities to Participate (OtP) in Science: Examining Differences Longitudinally and Across Socioeconomically Diverse Schools

Research in Science Education - The purpose of this study was to develop and validate a survey of opportunities to participate (OtP) in science that will allow educators and researchers to closely...     

Understanding the development of interest and self-efficacy in active-learning undergraduate physics courses

Modeling Instruction (MI), an active-learning introductory physics curriculum, has been shown to improve student academic success. Peer-to-peer interactions play a salient role in the MI classroom. Their impact on student interest and self-efficacy – preeminent constructs of various career theories – has not been thoroughly explored. Our examination of three undergraduate MI courses (N?=?221) revealed a decrease in students’ physics self-efficacy, physics interest, and general science interest. We found a positive link from physics interest to self-efficacy, and a negative relationship between science interest and self-efficacy. We tested structural equation models confirming that student interactions make positive contributions to self-efficacy. This study frames students’ classroom interactions within broader career theory frameworks and suggests nuanced considerations regarding interest and self-efficacy constructs in the context of undergraduate active-learning science courses.     

Characteristics of personnel at graduate science education centers: Implications for the future of the profession

Biographical and professional information for all 168 faculty members employed at the 35 largest graduate centers for science education was collected and analyzed. This is a report of the analysis and a discussion of the implication for the profession. The graduate faculty at major U.S. centers is homogeneous as to age, sex, rank, academic preparation, previous experience, research productivity, and professional involvement. The stability (or slight decline) in number of new personnel employed at research centers, and the multipurpose features of most centers are viewed as major problems. There are few examples of cooperative efforts among the 168 and few examples of clearly defined research efforts over an extended period of time.     

How an orientation to learning influences the expansive–restrictive nature of teacher learning and change

This study examined teachers’ learning situated in a school to reveal factors that support and hinder learning in the workplace. The investigation analyzed teachers’ orientation to learning, examining beliefs, practices, and experiences about teachers’ learning in relation to change in the workplace. A hypothesis is that teacher learning and change is complex and unable to be fully understood outside of practice. Evidence is provided on the factors and forms of learning activities that appear to strengthen an expansive learning environment and those which contribute to a more restrictive learning environment. A distinctive finding was that teachers’ orientation to learning is related to self-reported change. Another promising finding with the potential of better understanding the interrelated combination of how teachers’ beliefs, practices, and workplace factors influence change was related to dissonance for learning. The implications for practice involved determining how to continue to support and strengthen an expansive workplace learning environment.