Integrating qualitative and quantitative methods to monitor an intervention program

Teachers in one-teacher schools have often experienced problems when implementing enquiry-based science programs. An innovation was developed to address these problems in isolated one-teacher schools in the far-west of NSW. It consisted of 18 science kits and an associated teaching sequence. Each kit contained 15 student activity sheets, equipment and supplementary resources. An intervention program was designed to support the implementation of the innovation. The purpose of this study was to monitor the teacher's process of change and to ascertain the outcomes of the intervention program in one of the schools. Data were collected using, diagnostic dimensions from the Concerns-Based Adoption Model Project as well as qualitative methods. The results indicated that the teacher's concerns about the innovation focused on how it affected the students. The teacher used the innovation to support her student-centred teaching methods and the students had positive perceptions about learning science. Specializations: K-6 Science and Technology curriculum and instruction.     

From digital literacy to digital competence: the teacher digital competency (TDC) framework

Over the years, a variety of frameworks, models and literacies have been developed to guide teacher educators in their efforts to build digital capabilities in their students, that will support them to use new and emerging technologies in their future classrooms. Generally, these focus on advancing students’ skills in using ‘educational’ applications and digitally-sourced information, or understanding effective blends of pedagogical, content and technological knowledge seen as supporting the integration of digital resources into teaching, to enhance subject learning outcomes. Within teacher education institutions courses developing these capabilities are commonly delivered as standalone entities, or there is an assumption that they will be generated by technology’s integration in other disciplines or through mandated assessment. However, significant research exists suggesting the current narrow focus on subject-related technical and information skills does not prepare students adequately with the breadth of knowledge and capabilities needed in today’s classrooms, and beyond. This article presents a conceptual framework introducing an expanded view of teacher digital competence (TDC). It moves beyond prevailing technical and literacies conceptualisations, arguing for more holistic and broader-based understandings that recognise the increasingly complex knowledge and skills young people need to function ethically, safely and productively in diverse, digitally-mediated environments. The implications of the framework are discussed, with specific reference to its interdisciplinary nature and the requirement of all faculty to engage purposefully and deliberately in delivering its objectives. Practical suggestions on how the framework might be used by faculty, are presented.

     

Characteristics of Children Who Struggle with Reading: Teachers and Speech-Language Pathologists Collaborate to Support Young Learners

Speech language pathologists (SLPs) have developed specialized knowledge about oral language and its relationship to early literacy development that can be particularly useful to early childhood educators. The purpose of this article is to highlight ways in which an SLP can support early childhood teachers in a Response to Intervention role by assessing and facilitating young students’ early literacy acquisition. In this article, we observe students who are struggling to attain one of the Common Core State Standards, discuss factors that may inhibit their typical development of early literacy, and illustrate several evidenced-based instructional practices to assist young students who struggle with reading to achieve success.     

Using “Slowmation” to Enable Preservice Primary Teachers to Create Multimodal Representations of Science Concepts

Research has identified the value of students constructing their own representations of science concepts using modes such as writing, diagrams, 2-D and 3-D models, images or speech to communicate meaning. ??Slowmation?? (abbreviated from ??Slow Animation??) is a simplified way for students, such as preservice teachers, to make a narrated animation using a combination of modes. In this study, 13 preservice primary teachers learned how to create a slowmation during a two-hour class in a science methods course and then created one about an allocated science topic as an assignment. The research question that guided this study was, ??What are the preservice teachers?? perceptions of making a slowmation and how was the science concept represented in the animation??? Data included pre and post individual interviews, concept maps constructed during the interviews and the animations as artifacts. Three case studies provide a window into the perceptions of preservice teachers making a slowmation and show how they represented their concept. Slowmation is a new form of student-generated representation which enables them to use their own technology to construct a narrated animation as a multimodal representation to explain a science concept.     

Oranges aren't the only fruit. Ask a Gardner

This article draws upon a research and development project ‘TASTE’ (teaching-as storytelling), based at the School of Education at Cambridge University and conducted in Greenwich, London and King's Lynn, Norfolk. Over the last two years, teachers and children have been working with professional storytellers to improve teaching and learning. The project highlights interesting similarities between the practices of teachers and storytellers and suggests that teacher education has much to learn from the art of storytelling. Such a perspective is particularly important because teaching is increasingly subject to centralised control and standardisation; and under so much pressure to improve learners' literacy. Parallel arguments are pursued in respect to the curriculum. The TASTE project developed stories emphasising a locality's identity, and diversity, for teachers to use within National Curriculum subjects such as English, history, geography and science.     

Play therapy in elementary schools

Because the child's world is a world of action and activity, play therapy provides the psychologist in elementary‐school settings with an opportunity to enter the child's world. In the play therapy relationship, toys are like the child's words and play is the child's language. Therefore, children play out their problems, experiences, concerns, and feelings in a manner that is similar to the process of talk therapy. This article provides practical information for developing a play therapy program, a discussion of the skills needed by the psychologist, how to involve parents and teachers in the treatment process, and a review of impressive effect sizes found in play therapy research studies. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Educational Needs of School-Aged Children Born Very and Extremely Preterm: A Review

Recent decades have witnessed dramatically improved survival rates for infants born prematurely, especially those born very and extremely preterm. Follow-up studies concerned with long-term neurodevelopmental outcomes for children born preterm indicate that these children are at high risk for a range of cognitive, learning, neuromotor, and behavioral difficulties. However, to date, most of the existing literature has tended to focus on the medical and developmental impact of preterm birth, with little consideration given to the educational implications. Addressing this research gap is important since cognitive and educational difficulties represent the most commonly occurring cluster of adverse outcomes affecting children born very or extremely preterm, with up to two thirds likely to require educational assistance during their school years. The goal of this review is to provide an overview of existing research findings relating to the educational needs of school-age preterm children. Methodological issues that need to be addressed in future outcome research relating to the developmental and educational needs of very preterm children are also highlighted. Finally, implications of existing findings for educational psychologists, counselors, teachers, and teacher educators are discussed in terms of the roles of society, education systems, schools, and teachers.     

Consultation outcome as a result of in-service resource teacher training

The effects of learning disabilities teacher training for consultation with classroom teachers were investigated. Twelve learning disabilities resource teachers and 60 elementary school classroom teachers within one school system served as subjects. Four learning disabilities resource teachers received communication skills training, and four resource teachers received conceptual assumptions training. In addition, four resource teachers served as a control group for the study. Each resource teacher conducted three 20- to 30-minute conferences with each of five elementary school teachers. Following the third conference, information was collected concerning: (a) classroom teacher ratings of satisfaction with services, (b) joint ratings of the child's progress toward goals set during the first conferences, (c) the percentage of recommendations implemented, and (d) classroom teacher ratings of joint responsibility, and of resource teacher respect, empathy, and congruence. There were three findings in this study. First, no differences resulting from either type of training were found at posttest for classroom teacher respect, resource teacher congruence, joint responsibility, or joint ratings of the child's progress. Second, training resource teachers in communication skills resulted in significantly higher classroom teacher ratings of resource teacher empathy. Finally, significant differences due to resource teacher experiences prior to this study were noted with classroom teacher ratings of the child's progress, and the number of recommendations implemented.