Minitab Menus-Do They Help or Hinder?

A comparison of the levels of difficulty experienced by students in the use of Minitab through its menu interface and its command language showed no advantavge in using the menus.     

The Use of Reflective Journals in Initial Teacher Training

The intention of this article is to examine the role of reflective journals in Initial Teacher Training courses, and, in particular, how they can enable students to develop critical independence for professional self-appraisal. It explores the value of journal writing in the process of learning about teaching by reproducing an edited extract of one PGCE (Post-Graduate Certificate in Education) student's course journal, and by offering both a student's and a tutor's perspective of the significance of the journal.     

Bereavement support provision in primary schools: an exploratory study

ABSTRACT

In the UK, approximately 1 in 29 children have experienced the death of a parent or sibling. It is argued that schools are suitably positioned to provide support to bereaved children. However, there is a gap in research exploring bereavement support provision (BSP) in primary schools. This paper presents the qualitative phase of a mixed-methods study which aimed to gain insight into BSP in primary schools in one UK Local Authority. After completing an online questionnaire, 16 school staff took part in semi-structured interviews. The findings of this study highlighted that BSP is characterised by emotional support and other indirect responses. A key finding is that providing emotional support to a bereaved child has a negative impact on the emotional well-being of staff. This study discusses how educational psychologists (EPs) are well placed to provide whole school and targeted bereavement support to children and school staff.     

Quality education and the role of the teacher in Fiji: mobilising global and local values

Abstract

This article reports on the findings of original field research carried out in the small island developing state of Fiji, in the South Pacific. A North-South research partnership was built upon previous collaboration between team members and, in so doing, pioneered the blending of Pacific and Western research approaches sensitive to a postcolonial positioning. The study interrogates practitioner perspectives on: the nature and quality of teachers and teaching in Fiji; the challenges of teachers’ work and lives; priorities for successful qualitative reform; and theoretical implications for the processes of education policy transfer and qualitative improvement. The analysis draws upon work on the politics of aid and international development, revealing tensions between existing learner-centred policy frameworks and emergent neoliberal and performativity oriented initiatives influenced by international surveys of student achievement, related league tables and the experience of the regional reference societies of Australia, New Zealand and India.     

An evaluation of the effect of two different lengths of inservice training on teacher attitudes

This investigation compares the effectiveness of two types of inservice training offered through the Arizona Portal School Program. Both methods were designed to provide teachers with positive attitudes toward activity-centered energy education. The methods differed in length and energy-related content with one course running for 5 sessions and the other for 15 sessions. The longer course placed more emphasis on content knowledge. Three types of attitudes were assessed: attitudes toward curricular change, opinions on energy concepts, and beliefs about science education. Although the longer course had a more positive effect on the participants' views of and willingness to participate in curricular change and the shorter course had a more positive effect on the participants' views of teaching activity-oriented science, both courses produced the same type of change in the participants' views of energy issues.     

The effects of rime‐ and phoneme‐based teaching delivered by Learning Support Assistants

This paper evaluates three word‐level teaching programmes delivered by trained Learning Support Assistants (LSAs) for Year 1 children ‘at risk’ of reading difficulties. Rime‐based, phoneme‐based, and ‘mixed’ (rime and phoneme‐based) interventions were contrasted with controls receiving only the National Literacy Strategy. Phonological onset‐rime and phoneme manipulation, spelling, and word and non‐word reading were measured before and after the nine‐week intervention. High rime neighbourhood (HRn) non‐words (e.g. ‘dat’– with many real word rime neighbours) and low rime neighbourhood (LRn) non‐words (e.g. ‘tav’ with few real word neighbours) were used to evaluate onset‐rime‐ or grapheme‐phoneme‐based decoding strategies. Results showed greater phonological onset‐rime skills, letter‐sound knowledge and non‐word reading skills in all LSA‐taught intervention groups. There was no difference between the HRn and LRn non‐words. The only reliable difference between the intervention groups was an advantage in phoneme blending for the rime‐taught group. It was concluded that LSAs can enhance literacy development for 6‐year‐old poor readers. There appears to be no simple association between rime‐ or phoneme‐based teaching intervention and changes in the size of unit used by children following interventions.     

A process model of writing development across the life span

In this article, we provide an overview of writing development from a product perspective and from a process perspective. Then we discuss modifications of the most influential process model of skilled adult writing to explain beginning and developing writing, including a proposed developmental sequence of the emergence of cognitive processes in writing. Next we report the results of two recent dissertations by the second and third authors supervised by the first author aimed toward contrasting developmental issues: (a) specifying the algorithms or rules of thumb beginning and developing writers may use during on-line planning; and (b) investigating the further development of writing processes among skilled adult writers. In the first study, development was conceptualized as a linear process across age groups. In the second study, development was conceptualized as a horizontal process within skilled adult writers who expanded their expertise. Finally, we consider the developmental constraints and the instructional constraints on writing development and argue for a model of writing development in which endogenous and exogenous process variables interact to determine the outcome of the writing development process.     

Applying the ARCS model to the design and development of computer-based modules for manufacturing engineering courses

This paper describes how a multimedia design team at Wayne State University, working on an engineering education project funded by the National Science Foundation, incorporated Keller's ARCS (attention, relevance, confidence, and satisfaction) model into the design and development of a computer-based instructional (CBI) module for a college engineering course in economics. A discussion of how and why the components were incorporated into the traditional instructional design phases of definition, design, development, implementation, and evaluation is presented. where she earned her doctorate this year, and coleader of a multimedia team in the design and development of CBI modules for a manufacturing engineering education project funded by NSF.     

Assuring Quality Distance Learning Programmes: the Emergence of a New Faculty

To assure quality in distance learning programmes, a new type of university teacher must emerge. He or she must be energized and challenged by meeting the needs of expanding categories of learners who are coping with new definitions of a semester, utilizing alternative methods for gaining access to and sharing information, incorporating emerging technologies into teaching and learning processes, and adapting to an increased focus upon student performance. To reach these goals, university teachers must be provided with the necessary training, instructional assistance, and incentives to develop basic changes in their behaviour for which few models exist and little experience has been realized. This article outlines seven characteristics of a university teacher who is ready to meet the challenges that a distance learning network provides.