EXAMINING TEACHERS�� STRUGGLES AS THEY ATTEMPT TO IMPLEMENT DIALOGICAL INTERACTION AS PART OF PROMOTING MATHEMATICAL REASONING WITHIN THEIR CLASSROOMS

This study examines the changes in teaching practices during the implementation of a pedagogical model called the mathematics reasoning approach (MRA), which was founded on 2 critical areas in mathematics, problem solving, and writing to learn. Three algebra teachers implemented the approach with their classes, which were divided into control (traditional) and treatment (student-centered approach) groups, with their levels of implementation measured by the Reformed Teaching Observation Protocol (RTOP) instrument. The implementation of the model resulted in positive changes in teachers’ pedagogical practices and yet showed the struggles they faced. In the control classes (traditional classes), the level of teaching remained the same throughout the study, whereas in the treatment classes (MRA classes), a significant improvement in the level of teaching was observed. Even though the teachers’ implementation levels differed from each other, the patterns of the change for all 3 teachers showed similarities; that is, their MRA teaching level was initially equivalent to their control teaching, but as the semester progress, there was a separation between the 2 approaches. This separation between the 2 approaches appeared to be dependent upon the pedagogical area on which the teacher put emphasis. The skill of questioning seemed to be 1 which each teacher first changed.     

How much effort is needed to keep up with the literature relevant for primary care?

OBJECTIVES: Medicine must keep current with the research literature, and keeping current requires continuously updating the clinical knowledge base (i.e., references that provide answers to clinical questions). The authors estimated the volume of medical literature potentially relevant to primary care published in a month and the time required for physicians trained in medical epidemiology to evaluate it for updating a clinical knowledge base. METHODS: We included journals listed in five primary care journal review services (ACP Journal Club, DynaMed, Evidence-Based Practice, Journal Watch, and QuickScan Reviews). Finding little overlap, we added the 2001 "Brandon/Hill Selected List of Print Books and Journals for the Small Medical Library." We counted articles (including letters, editorials, and other commentaries) published in March 2002, using bibliographic software where possible and hand counting when necessary. For journals not published in March 2002, we reviewed the nearest issue. Five primary care physicians independently evaluated fifty randomly selected articles and timed the process. RESULTS: The combined list contained 341 currently active journals with 8,265 articles. Adjusting for publication frequency, we estimate 7,287 articles are published monthly in this set of journals. Physicians trained in epidemiology would take an estimated 627.5 hours per month to evaluate these articles. CONCLUSIONS: To provide practicing clinicians with the best current evidence, more comprehensive and systematic literature surveillance efforts are needed.     

Examining the Value of a Scaffolded Critique Framework to Promote Argumentative and Explanatory Writings Within an Argument-Based Inquiry Approach

This study investigated the value of using a scaffolded critique framework to promote two different types of writing—argumentative writing and explanatory writing—with different purposes within an argument-based inquiry approach known as the Science Writing Heuristic (SWH) approach. A quasi-experimental design with sixth and seventh grade students taught by two teachers was used. A total of 170 students participated in the study, with 87 in the control group (four classes) and 83 in the treatment group (four classes). All students used the SWH templates as an argumentative writing to guide their written work and completed these templates during the SWH investigations of each unit. After completing the SWH investigations, both groups of students were asked to complete the summary writing task as an explanatory writing at the end of each unit. All students’ writing samples were scored using analytical frameworks developed for the study. The results indicated that the treatment group performed significantly better on the explanatory writing task than the control group. In addition, the results of the partial correlation suggested that there is a very strong significantly positive relationship between the argumentative writing and the explanatory writing.     

David F. Treagust: congenial soul, science educator, and international research leader

For almost a half century David F. Treagust has been an exemplary science educator who has contributed through his dedication and commitments to students, curriculum development and collaboration with teachers, and cutting edge research in science education that has impacted the field globally, nationally and locally. A hallmark of his outstanding career is his collaborative style that inspires others to produce their best work.     

WHAT SHOULD WE TEACH AS CONTROVERSIAL? A DEFENSE OF THE EPISTEMIC CRITERION

Abstract There is an emerging consensus that to teach something as controversial is to present it as a matter on which different views are or could be held and to expound those different views as impartially as possible. This raises an important normative question that has yet to receive the attention it deserves from educational theorists: how are we to decide which topics to teach in this way? The answer suggested by Robert Dearden is that we should apply the epistemic criterion: a matter should be taught as controversial when contrary views can be held on it without those views being contrary to reason. In this essay, Michael Hand aims to defend that answer. In the first part of the article he revisits Dearden’s rather thin and unsatisfactory justification for the epistemic criterion and attempts to mend its deficiencies. In the second part, Hand examines an alternative to the epistemic criterion in the area of moral education, an alternative he labels the political criterion, and explains why he thinks we should reject it.     

Influences of Writing Tasks on Students' Answers to Recall and Higher-Level Test Questions

This paper reports on two inter-related studies that examined the use of non-traditional writing strategies within secondary school science classrooms. The first study involved Year 10 students who incorporated one letter writing experience into the learning sequence when studying genetics. The second study was with Year 9 students who used both a non-traditional laboratory writing heuristic and letter writing as part of the learning sequence when studying a topic on light. The same teacher was involved in both case studies. A higher-level analogy question was added to the teacher-prepared tests for each study to examine if students who participated in writing-to-learn activities were able to perform significantly better as a group than a group of students who completed traditional teacher directed laboratory activities and note-taking. Results indicate that for the first study there was not a significant difference using t-test analysis, while for the second study involving two writing treatments there was a statistically significant difference using t-test analysis. There was no statistically significant difference in responses between treatment and control groups when answering low level recall questions for either case study. Student interviews indicated awareness by students of the metacognitive value gained by using the non-traditional writing types.     

Aligning Teaching to Learning: A 3-Year Study Examining the Embedding of Language and Argumentation into Elementary Science Classrooms

How can classrooms become communities of inquiry that connect intellectually challenging science content with language-based activities (opportunities to talk, listen, read, and write) especially in settings with diverse populations? This question guided a 3-year mixed-methods research study using the Science Writing Heuristic (SWH) approach in cooperation with 2 universities, area education agencies, 6 school districts, 32 elementary teachers, and over 700 students each year. The participating teachers engaged in a yearly summer institute, planned units, implemented this curriculum in the classroom, and contributed to ongoing data collection and analysis. Findings demonstrate that critical embedded language opportunities contribute to an increase in student Iowa Tests of Basic Skills (ITBS) scores in science and language based on level of implementation particularly for elementary students who receive free and reduced lunch (an indicator of living at the poverty level).     

Seeing culture and power in mathematical learning: toward a model of equitable instruction

This paper is centered on creating equitable opportunities for learners in mathematics education. Through observations of teacher practice, the paper seeks to theorize how teachers enact their dispositions toward mathematics instruction. These observed propensities, in relation to teachers’ aims for students to “take up their space” in and beyond the mathematics classroom, then inform a model of equitable mathematics instruction. Teachers’ dispositions are considered in relation to Mason’s discipline of noticing and Bourdieu’s notion of the symbolic violence of dominant discourses.     

The impact of embedding multiple modes of representation within writing tasks on high school students’ chemistry understanding

This study investigated the impact on chemistry learning of the degree to which students embedded or integrated multiple modes of representation in end of unit writing-to-learn activities. A multi-case study approach utilizing quasi-experimental methodology involving intact high school chemistry classes taught by two different teachers was employed. Approximately half of the classes for each teacher were designated treatment classes and students in these classes participated in specific classroom activities designed to encourage the use of strategies to embed multiple modes within text in student writing. Control classes did not participate in these activities. All classes with the same teacher participated in identical end of unit writing tasks followed by identical end of unit assessments. Writing tasks and end of unit assessments were teacher designed and were therefore unique to each setting. Data from each teacher was initially analyzed independently to explore characteristics of student writing and student performance on end of unit assessments. This was followed by cross case analysis. Analysis of quantitative data indicated that for the first teacher (n = 70 students), treatment classes significantly outperformed control classes on two different measures of writing characteristics during a first unit of study, two measures of writing for the second unit, and three categories of end of unit instruction for the second unit. For the second teacher (n = 95), treatment classes outperformed control classes on two writing characteristics and three end of unit assessment categories during the only unit of study assessed. In addition, at both sites, significant positive correlations were found between all writing characteristic measurements and end of unit assessment performance. These results not only support the use of multimodal writing-to-learn tasks as a pedagogical tool to improve chemistry learning, but specifically suggest benefit when multiple modes are effectively linked within these tasks.