The effect of grouping of laboratory students on selected educational outcomes

The purpose of this study was to discover if grouping students in the laboratory on the basis of their formal reasoning ability affected (1) their science content achievement, (2) their formal reasoning ability, (3) the learning environment in the laboratory, and (4) the relationships between individuals in a particular group. The laboratory groups for three physical science classes for preservice elementary teachers were arranged as follows: (1) one class with students of unequal reasoning ability grouped together, i.e., one highly developed formal reasoner per group (the heterogeneous group), (2) one class with students of similar reasoning ability grouped together (the homogeneous group), and (3) one class arranged in groups according to the desires of the class members (the student choice group). The three classes were compared using pre-and post-scores on content and formal reasoning instruments and scores for classroom environment and social relationships. Results indicated that the groupings as described had significantly different effects on science content achievement but not on any of the other questions posed above. The students in the class with laboratory teams grouped by student choice had significantly lower science content scores than the students in the classes with teams formed using either the heterogeneous or homogeneous grouping procedures. The difference between the heterogeneously and homogeneously grouped classes was not significant at the 0.05 level.     

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.     

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.     

Children writing funny stories: some reflections on the impact of collaborative talk

This article describes work undertaken with a class of Scottish Primary Six children (aged 10) that encouraged them to write humorous stories. It reflects on the impact of different teaching approaches, in particular exploring how teacher‐led input combined with opportunities for peer talk might serve to influence children's writing. The aims were first, to investigate whether, through ‘mini lessons’, children's story schemas could be expanded to include ideas about incongruity, and second, to discover how independent talking in pairs might encourage children to take up and reformulate ideas given in the initial teacher‐led input. During the sessions following the ‘mini lessons’, many opportunities for paired talk were offered. These were found to lead to a reinterpretation of ideas of incongruity, and to affect the selection and devising of voices for characters. The children's talk often gave evidence of a marked ability to describe humour and act it out orally, but analysis of the written stories reveals difficulties in writing down comic events. This has implications for the role of the teacher in finding ways to intervene sensitively to introduce new strategies.