PRESERVICE ELEMENTARY TEACHERS’ GROWTH IN KNOWLEDGE OF MODELS IN A SCIENCE CAPSTONE COURSE

We used four different methods to determine the best means of assessing over 200 preservice elementary teachers’ growth in knowledge of models and their use in K-8 classrooms while participating in the Science Capstone course that focused on the unifying themes of models in science. Each assessment method probed a different aspect of models (from growth in scientific use to need for greater emphasis on the role and use of models) and each used a different method of gathering student responses (Likert-type responses to concept maps). We determined that growth in student knowledge was demonstrated by all instruments, but some instruments were more useful than others for determining preservice elementary teachers’ prior knowledge as well as growth in knowledge of models necessary for K-8 teachers.     

Memory strategy development: do we need yet another deficiency?

Recent discussions of strategy development have included the introduction of the concept of utilization deficiency. The present analysis examines the definition of utilization deficiency vis-à-vis the older contrasts between mediation and production deficiency and assesses the logical clarity of the current definition. Further, because utilization deficiency focuses on the transition from initial to proficient strategy use, the present analysis considers all of the possible types of strategy inefficiencies and evaluates whether the current definition of utilization deficiency precludes consideration of important strategy inefficiencies that have been documented in the existing literature and are likely to form the bulk of yet-to-be discovered inefficiencies. Although the emphasis on strategy inefficiencies is welcomed, the current analysis concludes that there are serious problems with the current definition of utilization deficiency, problems that both obscure important theoretical distinctions of the past and limit the investigation of strategy inefficiencies that are likely to play an important role in our understanding of the development of strategy use. Furthermore, the linear developmental model that frames utilization deficiencies from no benefit to sophisticated strategy use ignores the heterogeneity in strategy development that has been recently documented.     

Visualizing the Silent Dialogue About Race: Diversity Outreach in an Academic Library

Purpose

This paper aims to describe the implementation and analyze the outcomes of The Race Card Project initiative at large public university's main library. Through this program, candid submissions from the public were used to promote multicultural learning and inclusivity, as well as to build campus relationships with curricular and co-curricular units engaged in diversity work on campus.

Gender Bias in Student Evaluations of Teaching: ‘Punish[ing] Those Who Fail To Do Their Gender Right’

Higher Education - A significant body of work problematises the assumption that student evaluations of teaching (SET) actually measure teaching quality. This is concerning, given that SET are...     

Impact of the Friendly Schools whole-school intervention on transition to secondary school and adolescent bullying behaviour

Peer bullying increases in times of school transition, influenced by changing peer and friendship groups, new schooling environments and greater stress. Covert forms of bullying, including cyberbullying, become more common in secondary school and cause considerable distress and long-term harm. The period of transition to secondary school is therefore a critical window for intervening to manage and prevent bullying. A three-year cluster randomised control trial was conducted to develop, implement and evaluate the Friendly Schools Project intervention which aimed to reduce bullying and aggression among more than 3,000 students who had recently transitioned to secondary school. Intervention schools were provided with individualised training and resources to support students’ transition and reduce bullying using a multi-level comprehensive intervention addressing classroom curriculum, school policies and procedures, the social and physical environment, pastoral care approaches and school-home-community links. Although the observed effect sizes were small, the intervention had a consistently significant positive effect across a range of outcomes, including bullying perpetration, victimisation, depression, anxiety, stress, feelings of loneliness and perceptions of school safety at the end of the students’ first year in secondary school. However, none of these differences were sustained into the students’ second year of secondary school. These findings demonstrate the immediate value of whole-school interventions to reduce bullying behaviour and associated harms among students who have recently transitioned to secondary school, as well as the need to provide strategies that continue to support students as they progress through school, to sustain these effects.     

Time well spent? Temporal dimensions of study abroad and implications for student experiences and outcomes under the UK Turing Scheme

This paper reflects on the importance of ‘time spent’ in understanding the international student experience. Short-term mobility programmes (involving stays of between 1 week and 2 months) attracting less privileged students, such as the relatively new Turing Scheme in the United Kingdom, have been hailed as a potential ‘solution’ to the fact that, traditionally, wealthier individuals have been far more likely to engage in study abroad. However, we do not yet know how short-term and longer duration programmes compare in terms of the value they confer to students (in relation to their experiences and outcomes). How likely is it that short-term mobility at undergraduate level is as valuable, according to different measures, as mobility lasting 6 months to several years (as with degree mobility)? This paper reviews some of the evidence to date on shorter duration mobility, addressing how value in international study is constructed and conferred and how this relates to ‘time spent’. The paper concludes by arguing that the picture is mixed: although short-term mobility will be beneficial to students, those engaging in longer term exchanges (usually more privileged students) are likely to derive greater benefits.