Examining Different Forms of Implementation and in Early Childhood Curriculum Research

The purpose of this study was to examine different approaches to assessing implementation in an early childhood curriculum research study. Early childhood teachers in 51 preschool classes located at nationally dispersed sites implemented the Children's School Success curriculum for a school year. Structural (proportion of curriculum delivered) and process (quality of delivery of curriculum) measures of implementation were collected for the literacy, math, and social components of the curriculum. Also, a multiplicative composite score incorporating information from the structural and process measures was calculated. Site differences occurred for the process measure, but not the structural and composite measures. Analysis of the process implementation measures collected across time revealed primarily stable trends across sites. Significant associations were found between measures of implementation and some of the child outcome variables, with the different forms of implementation associated with different outcome variables.     

Legitimacy and identity in teacher education: a micro‐political struggle constrained by macro‐political pressures1

To gain a clear sense of teacher educators at work, we need to look closely at the context in which they practice. Any attempt to address the questions of what works and the nature of evidence must be situated in the macro‐political context that constrains the work of teacher educators struggling for legitimacy and identity within both the university and the professional field of teaching. We characterize the macro‐political context as a set of neo‐liberalist forces that works to undermine the central role universities have played in the development of the nation state. As the university's role has become focused on supporting economic development and global competitiveness, this context is at odds with longstanding agendas of professional responsibility and self‐governance in teacher education. In this policy context, we argue that teacher educators need to engage in rigorous practice‐based inquiry that addresses issues of policy and governance, particularly those that tend toward direct government intervention or professional governance.     

The relationship of student characteristics and student performance in science as viewed by meta-analysis research

Relationships of student characteristics to student performance and attitudes were explored by meta-analysis for studies conducted in kindergarten through twelfth grade since 1960. Six student characteristics (general ability, language ability, mathematics ability, socio-economic status, gender, and race) were selected for inclusion in this investigation based on their frequency of use in the literature. Studies in which these student characteristics were associated with student science performance or science attitudes were included in this investigation. Associations of ability and socio-economic status with science performance and attitudes were summarized by correlational analysis. An effect size measure was used to summarize associations of gender and race with science performance and attitudes.     

The interview: a neglected issue in research on student learning

This paper argues that recent phenomenographically inspired studies of student learning (Marion et al. 1984) have treated the interview as analytically transparent. The result has been the neglect of three important themes in the understanding of verbal accounts; such accounts are given in a social setting which they constitute; the purpose of accounts is to coordinate social action; such action is moral. The implications of this neglect are examined and alternative analytical approaches to students' interview accounts and the study of student learning suggested.     

The Charing Cross and Westminster Interactive Television Network

The introduction of a closed‐circuit interactive television system into a medical school teaching on several sites is described. Communication is by means of optical fibre and line‐of‐sight microwave. The system permits the use of a wide range of visual material in lectures delivered from any site to any combination of the others with interaction in sound and vision between the lecturer and his audiences. A detailed evaluation of the technical performance of the system and of its suitability for the teaching of clinical medicine was carried out. The conclusions of the evaluation were that it was technically satisfactory and that it was acceptable to a majority of the teachers and students     

Creative curriculum: Teaching self-awareness in a day care system

Conclusion It has been several years since I began our center, and as my understanding about self-awareness has become more sophisticated, I have enlarged on the development of the Concept Center ideas. I am now designing a general day care curriculum based on these ideas, because I think it is vital to approach all aspects of the child's development, that is, motor skills, readiness skills, cognitive / intellectual / perceptual skills, readiness skills, language skills, social and emotional skills, from the core of growth which is self-awareness.As teachers we are guides to the adventurous journey of life. Difficult, draining as it is, I think it is a real privilege to act as such guides to the bright and innocent young humans we work with in day care, who are so vigorously acquiring the fluency they need to participate in this life. With a little recognition, support and belief, we have the opportunity to provide the foundation for the development of extraordinary human beings. In doing this we contribute to a more healthful human community. Seen in this area day care is a moveable feast of rich energy and growth. All small contributions to this end mean a future sparkling with promise for our young children of today. I believe it is through tools like the Concept Center that we can begin to make them such a promise.