Differential effectiveness of alternative middle-school science sequences for students of different ethnicities

Learning Environments Research - For a sample of 367 middle-school students in the USA, learning environment criteria were used to evaluate two alternative science curriculum sequences...     

Assessing the psychosocial environment of science classes in Catholic secondary schools

Much Catholic school and church rhetoric suggests that Catholic schools possess distinctive learning environments. Research into this aspect of Catholic schooling has been hampered by the lack of an appropriate assessment instrument. By drawing on contemporary church literature, the perceptions of personnel involved in Catholic education and existing classroom environment questionnaires, a new instrument was developed to assess student perceptions of classroom psychosocial environment in Catholic schools. The use of this instrument in 64 classrooms in Catholic and Government schools indicated significant differences on some scales. The distinctive nature of Catholic schooling did not extend to all classroom environment dimensions deemed important to Catholic education. Specializations: Catholic education, learning environments. Specializations: conceptual change in students, science teacher professional development, scientific reasoning, learning environments. Specializations: learning environments, science education, educational evaluation, curriculum.     

Learning by Design

The Scottish National Guidelines on the Curriculum recommend that young people take advantage of the many learning opportunities outside school. Museums and art galleries are rising to this challenge and preparing displays that allow pupils to learn directly through a variety of interactive devices. The most successful results are achieved when the people concerned - designer, educator and curator work as a team. Glasgow Museums has had a Museum Education Service since 1941. In recent years the museum has begun to recognise the important role that the education staff can make to the design of exhibitions. This article outlines some of the most successful partnerships     

What does it mean to be an exemplary science teacher?

In order to provide a refreshing alternative to the majority of research reports, which malign science education and highlight its major problems and shortcomings, a series of case studies of exemplary practice was initiated to provide a focus on the successful and positive facets of schooling. The major data-collection approach was qualitative and involved 13 researchers in hundreds of hours of intensive classroom observation involving 20 exemplary teachers and a comparison group of nonexemplary teachers. A distinctive feature of the methodology was that the qualitative information was complemented by quantitative information obtained from the administration of questionnaires assessing student perceptions of classroom psychosocial environment. The major trends were that exemplary science teachers (1) used management strategies that facilitated sustained student engagement, (2) used strategies designed to increase student understanding of science, (3) utilized strategies that encouraged students to participate in learning activities, and (4) maintained a favorable classroom learning environment.     

Student attitudes to UNDP Social Science curriculum in Fiji — Personal and environmental influences

A sample of 834 seventh grade students in Fiji participated in an evaluation of the UNDP Social Science curriculum by responding to questionnaires measuring attitudes to or perceptions of three important curriculum process criteria (Interest, Ease and Adequacy of Time). The three major purposes of the evaluation were to provide formative information to guide curriculum revision, to provide summative information about the overall efficacy of the curriculum, and to explore the differential suitability of the curriculum for students varying in personal and environmental characteristics. Examination of means on individual questionnaire items led to the identification of certain curriculum activities requiring modification to improve their level of Interest, Ease, or Adequacy of Time. The finding that the mean score was relatively high for most questionnaire items suggested that the majority of activities in the curriculum were perceived by students as interesting and easy and having sufficient time for completion. Multiple regression analyses revealed that a block of personal variables and a block of environmental variables, but not a block of person-environment interactions, accounted for a significant amount of variance in the three process criteria. In particular, it was found that student attitudes to the curriculum varied systematically with certain personal variables (e.g., student general interest in social science, student ethnicity) and environmental variables (e.g., school location, teacher training).

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Zusammenfassung Eine Stichprobe von 834 Schülern des siebten Schuljahres auf den Fidschi-Inseln, die an einer Auswertung des UNDP sozialwissenschaftlichen Curriculums teilnahmen, indem sie Fragebogen beantworteten, welche die Einstellungen oder Wahrnehmungen dreier wichtiger Curriculumentwicklungskriterien (Interesse, Schwierigkeitsgrad und Angemessenheit des Zeitansatzes) maßen. Die drei Hauptziele der Auswertung waren, Hinweise zur Gestaltung als Anleitung zur Curriculumsüberarbeitung zu geben, zusammenfassende Information über die Gesamtwirkung des Curriculums zu erteilen, und die unterschiedliche Eignung des Curriculums für Schüler zu untersuchen, die in persönlichen und umweltbedingten Merkmalen abweichen. Die Untersuchung der Werte der individuellen Fragebogenpunkte führte zur Identifikation bestimmter Curriculumaktivitäten, die Veränderungen erforderten, um das Interessenniveau, den Schwierigkeitsgrad oder die Angemessenheit des Zeitansatzes zu verbessern. Die Feststellung, daß die durchschnittliche Punktzahl für die meisten Fragebogenpunkte relativ hoch war, legte nahe, daß die Mehrzahl der Aktivitäten im Curriculum von den Schülern als interessant, leicht und als zeitausreichend empfunden wurde. Multiple Regressionsanalysen zeigten, daß ein Block von persönlichen Variablen und ein Block von Umweltvariablen, aber kein Block von Person-, Umwelt-Interaktionen, Rechenschaft ablegten über einen signifikanten Betrag von Varianz in den drei Entwicklungskriterien. Im besonderen stellte sich heraus, daß die Einstellungen von Schülern zum Curriculum sich systematisch veränderten mit bestimmten persönlichen Variablen (z.B. allgemeines Interesse der Schüler an Sozialwissenschaften, ethnische Zugehörigkeit der Schüler) und durch Umweltvariablen (z.B. Schulstandort, Lehrerausbildung).

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Résumé Aux îles Fidgi, un échantillon de 834 élèves du 7ième degré a participé à une évaluation du curriculum des sciences sociales de l'UNDP en remplissant des questionnaires qui mesuraient leurs attitudes vis-à-vis de trois critères importants du processus curriculaire ainsi que leurs perceptions de ces critères (intérêt, facilité et convenance du temps alloué). Les trois principaux objectifs de l'évaluation consistaient à apporter une information formative pour guider la révision du curriculum, à donner ensuite une information globale sur l'ensemble de l'efficacité du curriculum et enfin à explorer la convenance différentielle du curriculum pour les étudiants qui présentent des caractéristiques personnelles différentes et dont l'environnement diffère. L'examen des données moyennes de certains points du questionnaire a conduit à l'identification de certaines activités du curriculum qui ont nécessité une modification pour améliorer leur niveau d'intérêt, de facilité et de convenance du temps alloué. Le fait que la moyenne était relativement élevée pour la plupart des points du questionnaire laissait supposer que la majorité des activités de ce curriculum étaient intéressantes, faciles pour les étudiants et réalisables dans le temps alloué. Plusieurs analyses régressives ont montré qu'un bloc de variables personnelles et un bloc de variables liées à l'environnement, mais non pas un bloc d'interactions entre personnes et environnement, étaient responsables d'une grande variation des trois critères du processus. Il s'est avéré en particulier que les attitudes des étudiants vis-à-vis du curriculum variaient systématiquement en fonction de certaines variables personnelles (intérêt général des étudiants pour les sciences sociales, l'origine des étudiants) et de variables liées à l'environnement (emplacement de l'école, formation des enseignants).

     

Home visiting intervention for vulnerable families with newborns: follow-up results of a randomized controlled trial

OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to: (1) Assess the community utility of a screening tool to identify families with child abuse or neglect risk factors in the immediate postnatal period (2) Determine the social validity and effectiveness of a home visiting program using community child health nurses and offering social work services for identified families, and (3) Identify factors in the immediate postnatal period associated with the child's environment that predict poor adjustment to the parenting role. METHOD: A randomized controlled trial using a cohort of 181 families was undertaken to evaluate the impact of a home visiting program. Mothers were recruited in the immediate postnatal period and allocated either into the home visiting program or into a comparison group. The research design required self-identification into the study by providing positive responses to a range of risk factors. A repeated measures design was used to test parenting stress and maternal depression from the immediate postnatal period to 12-month follow-up and physical child abuse potential to 18-month follow-up. To test whether measures taken in the immediate postnatal period were predictive for poor adjustment to the parenting role, a linear regression model was used. RESULTS: The screening procedure was shown to have utility in the context of recruitment to a research trial and mothers were willing to accept the home visiting program examined by this study from the immediate postnatal period. From as early as 6 weeks the program demonstrated ability to impact positively on maternal, infant, family, and home environment variables (testing 90 randomly allocated intervention vs. 91 comparison families). At follow-up, parental adjustment variables were not significantly different between groups (testing the remaining 68 (75.5%) intervention vs. 70 (76.9%) comparison families) and home environment assessment scores had converged. Predictive analysis of factors measured in the immediate postnatal period revealed an absence of any predictive value to demographic characteristics, which secondary prevention efforts typically target. CONCLUSIONS: Follow-up evaluation did not demonstrate a positive impact on parenting stress, parenting competence, or quality of the home environment confirming the need to test early program success on longer term outcomes. Further, thestudy not only demonstrated that there was a relationship between maternal, family and environmental factors identified in the immediate postnatal period. and adjustment to the parenting role, but also challenged demographic targeting for child abuse and neglect risk. At the same time, the immediate postnatal period presented an exciting window of opportunity to access high-risk families who may otherwise have become marginalized from traditional services.