Perspectives of mothers of children with dyslectic difficulties concerning their encounters with school: a Swedish example

The aim of this study was to acquire in‐depth understanding of parental experiences and encounters with the school system relative to having a child with dyslexia or experiencing difficulties with reading and writing (dyslectic difficulties). Mothers of seven children who attended lower or upper secondary school were interviewed. The interviews were analyzed using qualitative methods. According to the participants, schools often failed to identify their child’s difficulties that led to lack of appropriate support. The mothers were active in allocating support and developing strategies to alleviate lowered self‐esteem. individual education programmes (IEPs) were not used regularly. Highlighted is the need for a more explicit national policy regarding parental and children’s rights in regard to dyslectic difficulties.     

Design and Validation of MAPS for Educators: A Performance Support System to Guide Media Selection for Lesson Design

The importance of adopting technology‐supported performance systems for on‐the‐job learning and training is well‐recognized in a networked economy. In this study, we present a performance support system (PSS) designed to support technology integration for lesson design. The goal is to support educators in the development of appropriate and effective technology integration strategies for learning and training events. The system is based on the PSS design architecture created by Hung and Chao (2007) called Matrix‐Aided Performance System (MAPS). MAPS was created to minimize navigational confusion and enhance users' comprehension and synthesis of information gathered from the PSS. Fifteen educators and instructional technologists were invited to evaluate the system's readiness as well as to identify potential practical constraints that might hinder its use in a real‐world setting. Findings from a perception survey and focus group interviews confirm the beneficial effects of the unified interface on navigation and orientation of content materials. Feedback provided by participants to improve the system interaction and functionality are also reported to further validate the design architecture of MAPS.     

School Culture and School Effectiveness in Emergencies: Lessons from Israeli Experience during the Gulf War∗

This paper examines the relationship of school culture to school effectiveness in emergencies. It presents a study of: (a) the nature and variability of Israeli schools’ emergency preparation and response to the Gulf War, and (b) the association of school culture with school effectiveness during this emergency. The findings show that two dimensions of school culture, religious orientation and school level educational approaches, have different associations with preparation for the war and with different measures of effectiveness during the war. Results indicate that policy guidelines for preparation for emergencies need to address aspects of school culture that may influence school effectiveness in emergencies.

     

New trends in science education

I intend to review the main contributions from the impressive developments made in science education research during the last decade. These developments have made the construction of a coherent body of knowledge possible allowing us to expect a significant improvement in the science teaching/learning process. I shall refer, in particular, to the new trends in science education research, both in the domain of science learning and science teacher‐training.     

Scientific literacy in developed and developing countries

The concept of scientific literacy is now widely used to represent goal statements for science education. These tend to be remarkably similar in developing and developed countries. It is argued that, although this is desirable idealistically, a more realistic approach is required in determining priorities, given the differing cultural and economic contexts of science education. Exposure to science and technology varies in developed and developing countries, yet students in both contexts have difficulty defining science. However, the problem of equating science with progress, but not understanding why, is most acute in developing countries, for it leads to blind faith.

Many students in developing countries receive a limited exposure to science, those in developed countries are bombarded, The question for both is what is most important for them to know. The recognition of science as process is offered as a solution.     

Contextualising Learning through the Participatory Construction of an Environmental Education Programme

Strengthening links between school and community is critical for improving people’s participation in environmental issues. However, Mexican education programmes are generally unrelated to rural students’ life experience and are planned without considering either teachers’ or students’ opinions. This article describes the participatory construction of a preparatory school environmental education (EE) programme in Ixtlan de Juarez, a Mexican indigenous community internationally recognised for sustainable forest management. The qualitative research methods used are based on the action research methodology. Results from interviews conducted with the preparatory school’s headmaster, the coordinator, and nine teachers provided the needed documentation of the school site for contextualising learning activities. Feedback during focus groups with six students, three teachers, five local communal authorities, and two researchers highlighted that all participants perceived the need for creating an educational programme focused on local forest management. The contents and activities of the programme were designed by the focus group’s participants. The programme has been continuously taught by teachers and forest workers since 2005 and was officially integrated with the preparatory school science curriculum in 2006. This participative educational experience has thus transformed the mandatory school curriculum in Ixtlan.     

Elementary Students' Laboratory Record Keeping During Scientific Inquiry

The present study examines the mutual interaction between students' writing and scientific reasoning among sixth‐grade students (age 11–12 years) engaged in scientific inquiry. The experimental task was designed to promote spontaneous record keeping compared to previous task designs by increasing the saliency of task requirements, with the design goal of making the relationship between record keeping and inquiry strategies more explicit and visible. Compared to previous studies, this new task design resulted both in a higher amount of record keeping overall and in a higher quality of information, which is interpreted to be a result of increased participants’ metatask and metastrategic knowledge arising from greater engagement with the task. The study found a significant relationship between the quality of students' record keeping and the inquiry strategies that were investigated. However, this relationship varied depending on the type of inquiry strategy. Strategies that are employed during the design of experiments (i.e., factorial combination strategy and control‐of‐variables strategy [CVS]) were statistically related to the number of complete comments (plans and intents), but not with the total number of comments. In contrast, the study found that for strategies employed while evaluating evidence (i.e., drawing inferences), student production of quality records is a necessary but not sufficient condition for effective evidence evaluation; in addition to recording high‐quality information, students must also review their records (both from design and evaluation phases).     

Professional Identity Development of Teacher Candidates Participating in an Informal Science Education Internship: A focus on drawings as evidence

This study investigated the professional identity development of teacher candidates participating in an informal afterschool science internship in a formal science teacher preparation programme. We used a qualitative research methodology. Data were collected from the teacher candidates, their informal internship mentors, and the researchers. The data were analysed through an identity development theoretical framework, informed by participants’ mental models of science teaching and learning. We learned that the experience in an afterschool informal internship encouraged the teacher candidates to see themselves, and to be seen by others, as enacting key recommendations by science education standards documents, including exhibiting: positive attitudes, sensitivity to diversity, and increasing confidence in facilitating hands‐on science participation, inquiry, and collaborative work. Our study provided evidence that the infusion of an informal science education internship in a formal science teacher education programme influenced positively participants’ professional identity development as science teachers.     

Field‐text process analysis: the Brown v. Board of Education ruling

The 1954 Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court ruling remains a most prominent and influential event in one's perceptions of educational (in)equality. This research focuses on identity politics in education, paying special attention to whiteness as it manifests in a student‐centered university‐sponsored open‐forum public speaking event centering on the 50th anniversary of this landmark case. To this end, the authors develop and utilize the method of field‐text process analysis. By combining ethnography and rhetorical/textual criticism to form field‐text process analysis, they are able to scrutinize the process and event of the forum for the ways it both perpetuates and works against whiteness in its many manifestations.