Employment Reference Response Strategies in K–12 Schools: Harmonizing Policies and Practices with Ethical Standards and Professional Responsibilities

Many employers are reluctant to provide substantive information about former or departing employees because they fear the possibility of being sued for defamation. At the same time, prospective employers have a responsibility to discover all they can from former employers about candidates being considered to fill job vacancies. This article examines the legal and ethical issues that arise when K–12 administrators give employee references to prospective employers. Administrators may be surprised to learn that a common law privilege is available in many jurisdictions that shields employers from defamation claims when they respond in good faith to a request for an employee reference. In other states, statutes protect administrators from lawsuits based on the employee references they give. Moreover, the number of school administrators who have been successfully sued for giving an employee reference is quite small. In light of the ethical implications when a school district fails to inform prospective employers about a departing or former employees deficiencies, it makes sense to take employment references seriously. The article concludes with specific suggestions that school administrators can take to minimize legal and ethical complications when giving employee references.     

Digital Learning Material for Model Building in Molecular Biology

Building models to describe processes forms an essential part of molecular biology research. However, in molecular biology curricula little attention is generally being paid to the development of this skill. In order to provide students the opportunity to improve their model building skills, we decided to develop a number of digital cases about developmental biology. In these cases the students are guided to build a model according to a method that is based on expert analysis and historical data; they first build a simplified model based on the wild-type only and then they extend this model step by step based on experimental results. After each extension, the biological implications of the extension are evaluated. The first case was evaluated three times during a regular course at Wageningen University, The Netherlands and once at the University of Zurich, Switzerland. The analysis of audiotapes revealed that students did indeed engage in the reasoning processes, which are typical for model building. Furthermore, exam results seem to suggest that working with the case indeed facilitates model building in analogical situations and the students judged working with the case positively.     

Spatial ability and achievement in introductory physics

This research was undertaken to clarify the nature of the relationship between visual-spatial abilities and achievement in science courses. A related purpose was to determine what influence visual-spatial abilities have on the high attribution rate characteristic of many introductory college-level science courses. Three sections of introductory college level physics (S = 136) and one nonscience liberal arts section (S = 52) received pre- and postmeasures of visual-spatial ability in the areas of perception, orientation, and visualization. Increases in visual-spatial abilities were greatest with an experimental section that received a spatial intervention. These gains were related to test items that utilized graphical form and to laboratory work. Substantial gains in visual-spatial ability were also registered by a placebo and by control sections. These increases suggest that taking introductory physics improves visual-spatial abilities. Although students who withdrew from the course demonstrated mathematics skills comparable to those of students who completed the course, their scores on perception tests were appreciably lower. Visual-spatial scores of the liberal arts group were lower than those of the physics sections, suggesting that visual-spatial ability influences course selection.     

Educational theories and computer game design: lessons from an experiment in elementary mathematics education

Although educational games have been used for a considerable time, their true potential for enhancing achievement and motivation is still being explored. We argue in this paper that we may get closer to realizing this potential if the theoretical underpinning of educational games is improved. We developed a simple interactive math game based on insights from cognitive load and game design theory, in which players solve mathematical problems competitively and creatively. To investigate the effects of the game on achievement and motivation, we ran an experiment with fifth- and sixth-grade students. Our results show that students who played the game achieved better math results than those who did not. We did not find any significant differences in math motivation. Another promising finding, albeit beyond the scope of our hypotheses, relates to the potential effects of math games on student behavior.

     

Measuring the Reflective Attitude of Prospective Mathematics Teachers in The Netherlands

With a view to reflective teacher education an instrument was developed to determine prospective teachers’ preferences for different ways of learning. The instrument was used for assessing the relationship between these preferences and other student characteristics, such as age, gender and previous schooling. Moreover, changes in reflective attitudes during teacher education were measured. A conclusion is that more attention should be given to differences in learning orientations.     

A quantitative and qualitative inquiry into the attitudes toward science of nonscience college students

The attitudes toward science of nonscience college students were investigated using quantitative and qualitative forms of inquiry. Quantitative methods were used to determine (a) how attitudes toward science of nonscience college students compare with attitudes of science majors, and (b) whether attitudes toward science change with instruction. Qualitative assessment was used to investigate attitude development as it relates to science. The subjects were 102 nonscience students and 81 science students. Six attitudinal variables were investigated using the Attitudes Toward Science Inventory (ATSI) as the quantitative instrument. Hotelling's T² showed a significant difference (p = 0.0001) in attitudes between the two groups. T tests revealed significant differences between the two groups for all six variables. A significant difference (p = 0.0001) was found between pretest and posttest results for the nonscience students. T tests showed significant differences between the two sets of scores for all six variables, indicating a favorable change in attitudes. An interview questionnaire was used to investigate factors contributing to attitude development. The interview results suggested that attitudes toward science are formed by interactions of both school and nonschool variables.     

Cognitive Load Theory: Instructional Implications of the Interaction between Information Structures and Cognitive Architecture

Instructional Science -     

Selection and Professional Development of Initial Teacher Educators: a case study from The Netherlands

In this article we describe the selection and professional development of a newly appointed teacher educator at the Institute for Teacher Education at a Dutch university. The situation described is, in our view, representative of the Dutch situation in general. A senior teacher educator and a newly appointed teacher educator were interviewed. The first interview presents mainly information on selection, the second interview covers the professional development of the appointed teacher educator. Both interviews indicate the importance of informal aspects. Personal factors of both colleagues and the teacher educator himself have influenced selection and development. We suggest both elements should be elaborated on and formalised. Notwithstanding, the position of a teacher educator in The Netherlands will remain an uncertain one.     

The teacher educator as a role model

New visions of learning have entered education. This article discusses the consequences for teacher education, and examines modelling by teacher educators as a means of changing the views and practices of future teachers. The results of a literature search and a multiple case study on modelling are discussed. Both the literature search and the case study approach led to the conclusion that we have discovered what is almost a blank spot in both the body of knowledge on teacher education and the actual practices of many teacher educators. The article concludes with a discussion of ways to improve this situation.     

The relationship between psychological identification with instructors and student ratings of college courses

Drawing upon Freud's seminal discussion of psychological identification vis-a-vis group psychodynamics, this study investigated the relationship between degree of student identification with an instructor and students' ratings of instructional effectiveness. Specifically, it was hypothesized that students who highly identify with their instructor will rate the course more favorably, perceive greater progress on their part toward course related objectives, and report higher motivation to learn than students who do not identify with their instructor. Using a 50 item personality trait Q-sample, 96 undergraduates from eight different courses taught by three different instructors were asked to describe the instructor, their actual self, and their ideal self; Q-sorts for the instructor and ideal self were correlated separately for each student as the measure of identification. Instructional effectiveness was assessed using the Kansas State IDEA form. Correlational and path analyses of the data provided support for the hypothesis. Results are discussed in light of the unique contribution made by the traditional notion of identification to instructional outcomes and evaluation.