Connecting university science experiences to middle school science teaching

Summary Science teachers naturally rely on their university science experiences as a foundation for teaching middle school science. This foundation consists of knowledge far too complex for the middle level students to comprehend. In order for middle school science teachers to utilize their university science training they must search for ways to adapt their college experiences into appropriate middle school learning experience. The criteria set forth above provide broad-based guidelines for translating university science laboratory experiences into middle school activities. These guidelines are used by preservice teachers in our project as they identify, test, and organize a resource file of hands-on inquiry activities for use in their first year classrooms. It is anticipated that this file will provide a basis for future curriculum development as the teacher becomes more comfortable and more experienced in teaching hands-on science. The presentation of these guidelines is not meant to preclude any other criteria or considerations which a teacher or science department deems important. This is merely one example of how teachers may proceed to utilize their advanced science training as a basis for teaching middle school science.     

Similarity grouping of Australian universities

The Unified National System of Australian Universities was created out of universities, institutes of technology and colleges of advanced education. In this study similarity clustering of universities within this system is attempted based on two data sets: one based on evaluative ratings and the other on quantitative performance indicators. With the exception of three traditional universities that tended to cluster together across data sets no consistent clustering emerged. Within data sets there was no tendency for the emergent clusters to reflect the origins of the institutions in any consistent manner. It is suggested that the Unified National System has not reduced diversity.     

The Validity of National Curriculum Assessment

This paper reviews the validity of National Curriculum assessment in England. It works with the concept of 'consequential validity' (Messick, 1989) which incorporates both conventional 'reliability'issues and the use to which any assessment is put. The review uses the eight stage 'threats to validity'model developed by Crooks, Kane and Cohen (1996). The complexity of National Curriculum assessment makes evaluation difficult. These assessments are used for a variety of purposes so that the 'consequential'aspects are compounded. National Curriculum assessment also involves both Teacher Assessment and tests – each of which has strengths and limitations in relation to validity. The main finding is that the validity of National Curriculum assessment hinges on the balance between Teacher Assessment and testing. Between them they can meet Crooks et al.' s requirements of a valid assessment system. The current emphasis on the use of test results for school accountability and as a measure of national standards has undermined Teacher Assessment to a point at which the validity of the system is in question.     

Validating NSSE Against Student Outcomes: Are They Related?

While there exist many examples of institutional use of the results of the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE), there is a relative paucity of research explicitly linking student outcomes to responses on the survey. A major Doctoral-Extensive institution in the Southeast recently conducted a large-scale implementation of the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE). We have linked multiple years of NSSE responses to several student outcomes: freshman retention, GPA, pursuit of graduate education, and employment outcome upon commencement/degree conferral. Our research finds minimal explanatory power in the NSSE benchmarks for these outcomes. A statistically derived model from the individual NSSE items shows greater promise, although there are difficulties in replicating the model for previous student cohorts.

The Human Dimensions of the Research Agenda: Supporting the Development of Researchers throughout the Career Life Cycle

For more than a decade, increasingly explicit attention has been made in the policies of, and guidance from, various funding and overarching bodies to the overall concept of good practice in the development and management of research staff in higher education institutions. That has embodied the concept of developing researchers over the career life cycle. After outlining key aspects of the general trend, this article focuses upon some of the nuances and complexities of the concept of the career life cycle of researchers. Reference is made to illustrations of developmental strategies.     

Paul Willis—Education,Cultural Production and Social Reproduction

Learning to Labour signalled a break from mechanistic ‘social reproduction’ theories within the Sociology of Education, towards a new appreciation of the role of cultural processes within school. This paper reviews the work of Paul Willis, focussing particularly on some of the unresolved themes of Learning to Labour and the development of his own thought since this study was produced. Areas which have been under emphasised in the past include Willis’ attempt to formulate a methodological and analytical base for cultural studies within education, the theoretical relationship between culture and ideology and the essentially active, transformative nature of cultural production within educational sites. This paper aims to clarify some of these issues.     

Do teachers’ own learning behaviors influence their classroom goal orientation and control ideology?

This study explored the relationship between teachers’ own learning behaviors and their teaching practices. Experienced teachers taking graduate courses responded to an instrument measuring their self-regulated learning as students and their teaching practices as indicated by how they conveyed the purpose of engaging in academic work (i.e., goal orientation) and their approach toward discipline (i.e., control ideology). The data were analyzed using structural equation modeling. The results indicate that teachers own self-regulated learning behaviors influence the extent to which teachers convey a mastery goal orientation, which in turn leads to a more humanistic control ideology. Implications for teacher education programs are discussed.     

government policies for technological innovation: criteria for an experimental approach

The United States Government has had only limited success in conducting complex experiments on incentives to promote technological innovation in the public and private sectors. Political pressure for early success has distorted programme objectives and encouraged policy demonstrations under conditions favouring ‘successful’ outcomes, rather than true policy experiments.A wide range of conceptual and practical problems must be confronted before undertaking a major programme of experimentation in national policy related to technological innovation. Experiments to test the effect of specific governmental policies on the rate of and direction of technological innovation should be rigorously selected and designed so as to provide valid results that are useful to decision-makers. The problem of selecting experiments can be dealt with by applying selection criteria that relate to the importance of the problem or barrier in the innovation process to be overcome, to the implications of implementing the policy that will over-come the problem, and to the technical design and feasibility of conducting the experiment. Suggested criteria include: (1) value of the information generated; (2) leverage of the solution; (3) importance of the target population; (4) political acceptability of the policy; (5) legal aspects of the policy; (6) target population support; (7) cost acceptability; (8) policy effectiveness and range; (9) policy equity; (10) understanding of the policy; (11) administrative feasibility; (12) ease of policy monitoring; (13) organizational structure for implementation; (14) sound experimental hypothesis; (15) careful experimental design; (16) experimental feasibility; (17) time scale of the experiment; (18) experimental cost, and (19) relative cost-effectiveness.The proposed selection criteria are demonstrated using a current experiment of the US National Science Foundation.     

Longitudinal associations between marital instability and child sleep problems across infancy and toddlerhood in adoptive families

This study examined the longitudinal association between marital instability and child sleep problems at ages 9 and 18 months in 357 families with a genetically unrelated infant adopted at birth. This design eliminates shared genes as an explanation for similarities between parent and child. Structural equation modeling indicated that T1 marital instability predicted T2 child sleep problems, but T1 child sleep problems did not predict T2 marital instability. This result was replicated when models were estimated separately for mothers and fathers. Thus, even after controlling for stability in sleep problems and marital instability and eliminating shared genetic influences on associations using a longitudinal adoption design, marital instability prospectively predicts early childhood sleep patterns.     

LISTENING AS EMBRACING THE OTHER: MARTIN BUBER'S PHILOSOPHY OF DIALOGUE

In this essay, Mordechai Gordon interprets Martin Buber's ideas on dialogue, presence, and especially his notion of embracing in an attempt to shed some light on Buber's understanding of listening. Gordon argues that in order to understand Buber's conception of listening, one needs to examine this concept in the context of his philosophy of dialogue. More specifically, his contention is that closely examining Buber's notion of embracing the other is critical to making sense of his conception of listening. Gordon's analysis suggests that, in Buber's model, listening involves a kind of active attentiveness to another's words or actions, engaging them as though they are directed specifically at us. Gordon's discussion of dialogue and listening also indicates that the relation between speaking and listening is one of reciprocity and mutual dependence and that listening plays an essential role in initiating many dialogues by creating a space in which two people can embrace each other as complete individuals.