How schools and students respond to school improvement programs: The case of Brazil's PDE

This study uses rich empirical data from Brazil to assess how a government program (PDE) that decentralizes school management decisions changes what goes on in schools and how these changes affect student outcomes. It appears that the PDE resulted in some improvements in management and learning materials, but little change in other areas including evaluation and community relations. However, we find no evidence that schools’ participation in the PDE improved student achievement. The results for grade passing are stronger. Students in PDE schools saw greater increases in grade passing rates than students in non-PDE schools during the period of our study. We also estimate a positive relationship between PDE spending and student gains for those schools in the program, especially for spending on teaching and learning materials and furniture. We find no benefit of electronics spending or spending on teacher training, two of the three largest areas of school investment.     

The influence of lexical and sublexical variables in normal and poor Spanish readers

The main aim of our study was to find out the effect of several lexical and sublexical variables (lexical category, lexical frequency, syllabic structure, and word length) in the acquisition of reading in a transparent language such as Spanish. The second goal of our study was the comparison of the effect of these variables in normal and poor Spanish readers. One hundred and forty children (aged between 6 and 12), twenty of whom were poor readers, were tested using a reading test of 306 items in which we balanced all the variables. The dependent variable was the percentage of correct responses in a decontextualized word reading test. Our results showed that all the above mentioned variables produced a significant effect on the number of errors made by the children. This pattern of results suggests no difference between the processes involved in the reading acquisition of Spanish and those implicated in deep orthographies such as English. Our results also showed no qualitative differences between normal and poor readers. The four variables studied showed the same behaviour in their effect on reading performance for both normal and poor readers, indicating that poor readers also use both the lexical and the phonological route. Our data suggest the universality of the dual route model, independent of the transparency or opaqueness of the different alphabetical languages.     

A critique of mutualism’s combination of the Aristotelian and Kantian traditions

In this article, I will identify two key normative principles at the core of Robert L. Simon’s mutualist theory of sport, namely, the respect-for-the-opponent principle and the idea that sport is a practice aimed at pursuing excellence. The former is a Kantian principle grounded in human beings’ rationality, and the latter is an Aristotelian principle related to the development of excellences as a means to human flourishing. After having presented and analyzed both principles, I will critically evaluate Simon’s attempt to combine them within his mutualist approach. To conclude, I will highlight the challenges that mutualism should face to complete such a combination more successfully.

Abbreviation: Categorical imperative (CI)     

Scaffolding group explanation and feedback with handheld technology: impact on students’ mathematics learning

Based on strong research literatures, we conjectured that social processing of feedback by cooperating in a small group setting—with social incentives to ask questions, give explanations and discuss disagreements—would increase learning. We compared group and individual feedback, using two technologies: (1) Technology-mediated, Peer-Assisted Learning (TechPALS), which uses wireless handheld technology to structure feedback in small groups as they solve fractions problems and (2) a popular desktop product, which provides feedback to individual students as they solve fractions problems individually. Three elementary schools participated in a randomized controlled experiment conducted in the 2007–2008 school year. Students in the TechPALS condition learned more than did the control group students, with effect sizes ranging from d = 0.14 to d = 0.44. Analysis of observational data confirmed that students in the TechPALS condition participated socially in questioning, explaining, and discussing disagreements, whereas students in the individual condition did not. We conclude that an integration of technology, cooperative activity designs and broader educational practices can lead to impact on students’ mathematics learning.     

Designing for impact: a conceptual framework for learning analytics as self-assessment tools

Abstract

Although it is frequently claimed that learning analytics can improve self-evaluation and self-regulated learning by students, most learning analytics tools appear to have been developed as a response to existing data rather than with a clear pedagogical model. As a result there is little evidence of impact on learning. Even fewer learning analytics tools seem to be informed by an understanding of the social context and social practices within which they would be used. As a result, there is very little evidence that learning analytics tools are actually impacting on practice. This paper draws on research in self-regulated learning and in the social practices of learning and assessment to clarify a series of design issues which should be considered by those seeking to develop learning analytics tools which are intended to improve student self-evaluation and self-regulation. It presents a case study of how these design issues influenced the development of a particular tool: the Learning Companion.     

Aplicabilidad y repercusiones de la obra de Piaget en la práctica educativa

Resumen

Este trabajo completa la exposición de los resultados de una investigación acerca de la aplicabilidad y las repercusiones educativas de la teoría genética, iniciada ya en una publicación anterior. En la primera parte se recuerda la vocación epistemológica de la psicología genética, se relacionan las aportaciones de Piaget con las de los teóricos de la escuela nueva (Claparède, Dewey…) y se expone un cuadro esquemático de las diferentes concepciones posibles de la aplicabilidad educativa de la teoría. En la segunda parte se muestra, a partir de un estudio empírico, la poca repercusión de aquélla en ta práctica real y se discuten las posibles razones de este hecho.     

Motivación y aprendizaje escolar: una aproximación desde la teoría de la autoeficacia

Resumen

En el presente trabajo se reinterpreta el problema de la motivación para el rendimiento académico desde una perspectiva cognitiva, fundamentada en la teoría de la autoeftcacia. Se hace hincapié en el papel de las expectativas de eficacia como mediadoras entre las habilidades y el rendimiento de los sujetos y se acentúa el papel que juega la motivación cognitivamente basada en el proceso de aprendizaje. Postulamos, asimismo, la necesidad de fomentar la autoevaluación frente a la evaluación externa y los sistemas que permitan el desarrollo de la motivación intrínseca para el aprendizaje.     

Relationships between everyday knowledge and scientific knowledge: understanding how matter changes

This paper analyses the representations held by adolescents and university students in relation to the mechanism for explaining changes in matter (changes of state, dissolutions, expansions and chemical reactions) in terms of the kinetic theory. The answers to a questionnaire were analysed by considering the proportion of correct answers and the use of alternative conceptions. The results show that understanding of explanatory mechanisms of changes in matter is affected by age and instruction level and content of the problem. The main conception that competes with the kinetic model is the attribution to the particles of the changes observed, at a macroscopic level. This is more evident in changes of state and expansions than in other changes. This confusion results from a failure to differentiate properly between the represented reality and the model that represents it. In conclusion, analysis has shown once more students' difficulties in going beyond apparent reality or integrating the data obtained from it into the scientific models they learn at school.