Kindergarten students’ and parents’ perceptions of science classroom environments: Achievement and attitudes

This study, involving the modification, validation and use of a learning environment questionnaire for both kindergarten students and their parents, is significant because prior learning environment research has normally involved neither parents nor such young students. A questionnaire, which was based on the What Is Happening In this Class? and assessed actual and preferred teacher support, involvement, cooperation and equity, exhibited sound factorial validity, internal consistency reliability and the ability to differentiate between classrooms. Parents perceived a more favourable actual classroom environment than students, but students preferred a more favourable environment than parents. Associations were found between kindergarten students’ achievement and attitudes and the nature of the learning environment.     

Specific Language Disorders in Singaporean Children: Four Case Studies

Children with specific disorders of language have failed to develop normal means of spoken and written communication. International studies suggest that 5–10% of children enter school with a significant language disorder that puts them at risk educationally and also affects their social and emotional development.

The invisible nature of language disorders makes early detection and remediation difficult. In multilingual settings, such as Singapore, early detection may be particularly difficult, and remediation is complicated by the desirability of maintaining the range of languages used in the home and at school. Two case studies of specific spoken language disorder and two of written language disorder are presented to illustrate means of remediation and the importance of early intervention.     

Preservice teachers’ perceptions of learning environments before and after pandemic-related course disruption

Learning Environments Research - When the 2020 semester began in the USA in January, it was unimaginable that the near-total closure of educational system across the globe would become the new...     

有形技术支持的学习新进展

通过分析目前有形技术使用中活动形式与呈现形式的性能，作者尝试对有形技术提供的交互性能进行概述。同时作者也对不断发展的心理学领域与教育领域中的一些相关研究进行综述，从而为有形技术支持的学习之研究汲取理论基础。在此基础上，作者提供了有形技术教育应用的一些案例。最后，对这些研究对未来研究、应用与实践的启示进行了简要论述。     

Learning environment associated with use of mixed mode delivery model among secondary business studies students in Singapore

At many teacher education institutes around the world, preservice teachers are empowered to use pedagogical tools and strategies that engage their students. We used a modified version of the Constructivist Learning Environment Survey (CLES) to evaluate the effectiveness of a pedagogical model known as the Mixed Mode Delivery (MMD) model in terms of the CLES’s five scales of personal relevance, uncertainty, critical voice, shared control and negotiation. Comparisons were made between 2,216 secondary school students taught by the preservice teachers in an MMD group and 991 students in a control group in terms of the relative magnitudes of the gap between the actual and preferred learning environment in students’ school classrooms. The findings supported the positive impact of using MMD in terms of students’ perceptions of their classroom environments for all CLES scales.     

Anxiety in Science Classrooms: its measurement and relationship to classroom environment

This paper considers the role of a new vocational science qualification in the UK (Intermediate General National Vocational Qualification (GNVQ) science) and how it relates to science-based employment. Studies into employers' requirements are reviewed and found to indicate that an ability to understand and evaluate scientific evidence is valued highly. This part of science is not currently taught explicitly either in GNVQ or elsewhere in the science curriculum. The authors report the results of a small intervention study in which ideas about evidence were explicitly taught within Intermediate GNVQ science. The findings suggest that it is feasible to incorporate such teaching into the qualification but that, if it is not part of the formal assessment process, the teaching tends to be undervalued by the students. By contrast, the teaching staff involved in the project recognised that these ideas fill a gap in the qualification and valued the teaching materials developed for this purpose. A means of incorporating the assessment of such understanding into the current assessment procedures is put forward. Such a modification to the assessment process would add rigour to the qualification and provide a better preparation for employment in science-based industry.     

Australasian academic developers' conceptions of the profession

Seventy-one professionals working in the field of academic/educational/teaching development were surveyed on issues relating to the profession. From that sample, 22 developers were interviewed on a range of related issues pertaining to their perceptions of the profession. The interviewees referred to the profession using different terminology for quite specific and often historical reasons. Different and sometimes diametrically opposed conceptionsof the profession were held by different individuals. In this paper I report on the divergent conceptions of the profession which were reported in those interviews.