The I files,the truth is out there: science teachers’ constructs of inquiry

This article is concerned with the personal constructs of science teachers about inquiry in selected schools in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England. While there is a large volume of existing literature which advocates the use of inquiry in the science classroom to enhance students' engagement with, and learning of science, relatively few of these studies represent teachers' voice. Therefore, we believe that it is important and distinctive to report teachers' constructs of inquiry and related concerns regarding its use in the science classroom. We identify the key constructs from 10 participating teachers and discuss these amongst a backdrop of policy implications for inquiry approaches in English secondary school science classrooms. Personal Construct Theory was used to underpin the study and frame data collection and analysis. Key findings show that the teachers identify an inquiry approach as being effective in stimulating students' independent learning and interest in science but issues such as time and confidence inhibit their deployment of inquiry approaches.     

Conceptions of learning in adult students embarking on distance education

A 60-item questionnaire on conceptions of learning was mailed to students taking preparatory courses by distance learning with The Open University in the United Kingdom. Complete data were provided by 372 respondents. Their scores on six factor-based scales showed satisfactory internal consistency, cluster analysis identified five groups of students with distinct patterns of scores, and discriminant analysis identified the scales that served to distinguish among the clusters. Three groups had conceptions of learning based on critical thinking, personal development, and personal change, but the other groups had conceptions that were defined in largely negative terms. Adult learners embarking on distance education seem to hold distinctive conceptions of learning, which suggests that conceptions of learning are culturally and contextually dependent.     

Who disrupts from placement in foster and kinship care?

OBJECTIVE: To identify reliable, inexpensive predictors of foster care placement disruption that could be used to assess risk of placement failure. METHODS: Using the Parent Daily Report Checklist (PDR), foster or kinship parents of 246 children (5-12 years old) in California were interviewed three times about whether or not their foster child engaged in any of the 30 problem behaviors during the previous 24 h. PDR was conducted during telephone contacts (5-10 min each) that occurred from 1 to 3 days apart at baseline. Disruptions were tracked for the subsequent 12 months. Other potential predictors of disruption were examined, including the child's age, gender, and ethnicity, the foster parent's ethnicity, the number of other children in the foster home, and the type of placement (kin or non-kin). RESULTS: Foster/kin parents reported an average of 5.77 child problems per day on the PDR checklist. The number of problem behaviors was linearly related to the child's risk of placement disruption during the subsequent year. The threshold for the number of problem behaviors per day that foster and kinship parents tolerated without increased risk of placement disruption for these latency-aged children was 6 or fewer. Children in non-kin placements were more likely to disrupt than those in kinship placements. There was a trend for increased risk of disruption as the number of children in the home increased. CONCLUSIONS: The PDR Checklist may be useful in predicting which placements are at most risk of future disruption, allowing for targeted services and supports.