Perceived Parental Influence on Mathematics Learning: A Comparison Among Students in China and Australia

This paper explores the perceived parental influence (PPI) on mathematics learning among over 700 students across three year levels (Years 5, 7, 9) in China and Australia. It was found that the PPI of students was less strong as year levels increased in both countries. Students in China had stronger perceived parental encouragement and higher perceived parental educational expectation than students in Australia. The PPI of students from different home language backgrounds was also investigated. Students in China demonstrated stronger perceived parental encouragement and parental expectation than English speaking students and other language speaking students in Australia, and they also demonstrated stronger perceived parental expectation than Chinese speaking students in Australia, and similar perceived parental encouragement. Within the three groups of students in Australia, Chinese speaking students and other language speaking students demonstrated similar levels of perceived parental encouragement and expectation, but they both demonstrated a higher level of perceived parental encouragement and expectation than English speaking students. Possible reasons for the similarities and differences between the different groups of students were discussed.     

Critical thinking as room for subjectification in Education for Sustainable Development

Issues of sustainability are complex and often steeped with ethical and political questions without predefined or general answers. This paper deals with how secondary and upper secondary teachers discuss these complex issues, by analysing their aims for Education for Sustainable Development. With inspiration from discourse theory, their articulations about students as political subjects are analysed. Critical thinking emerged as a nodal point in teachers’ discussions. In this study, critical thinking is articulated as having various qualitative meanings related to different epistemological views. On one hand, critical thinking is articulated to invite room for subjectification; but on the other hand, room for subjectification is challenged when critical thinking is articulated through the educational aims of qualification and socialisation. A consequence of changing epistemological view might be that political and ethical issues take a back seat.     

Reviews

The Development of Scientific Thinking Skills. Deanna Kuhn, Eric Amsel, and Michael O'Loughlin, Academic Press, 1988. 249 pp.

Understanding the Representational Mind, Josef Perner, MIT Press, 1991. 348 pp.

Literacy as Involvement: The Acts of Writers and Readers, and Texts. Deborah Brandt. Carbondaie: Southern Illinois, 1990. 159 pp.

Dialogue, Dialectic, and Conversation: A Social Perspective on the Function of Writing. Gregory Clark. Carbondale: Southern Illinois, 1990. 93 pp.

Hypermedia and Literary Studies. Ed. Paul Delany and George P. Landow. Cambridge: MIT P, 1991. 352 pp.

Writing Space: The Computer, Hypertext, and the History of Writing. Jay David Bolter. Hillsdale: Lawrence Erlbaum, 1991. 258 pp. Also from Erlbaum, Writing Space: A Hypertext for Macintosh.

Writing and Speaking in Business. Gretchen N. Vik, Clyde W. Wilkinson, and Dorothy C. Wilkinson. 10th ed. Homewood: Irwin, 1990. 636 pp.

Communication for Management and Business. Norman B. Sigband and Arthur H. Bell. 5th ed. Glenview: Scott, 1989. 783 pp.

Business Communication Today. Courtland L. Bovee and John V. Thill. 2nd ed. New York: Random, 1989. 680 pp.

Guidelines for Preparing Proposals: A Manual on How to Organize Winning Proposals. Roy Meador. Chelsea: Lewis, 1985. 116 pp.     

‘I understood the complexity within diversity’: preparation for partnership with families in early childhood settings

‘Partnership between parents and teachers’ is a taken-for-granted feature of the philosophy and practice of early childhood education. Yet, the literature suggests this rhetoric belies a more complex and problematic reality for teachers. Making connections with the families and communities they will serve may help teacher education students confront understandings of the realities of family lives and assist them to prepare for their professional responsibilities. Teacher education literature suggests that supported field experiences may assist student teachers to examine their beliefs and reflect on their practices with families. This paper reports on the experiences of student teachers who undertook a community placement in order to interact with children and families outside their normal range of teaching practice experience. Three themes of changes in student learning are discussed: (1) beliefs about partnerships; (2) notions of complexities within diversity; and (3) developing relationships with diverse families. The paper argues that the change in placement setting prompted student reflection in relation to these themes and shifts in beliefs, towards more authentic and complex understandings of partnership.     

Respecting Respect: Exploring a great deal

For some people, respect is due to people of particular standing and involves formality and deference. For others, respect is based on regard and attention. This approach is essentially informal. This article explores young people's interpretations of respect and shows how an understanding of its theory and practice may enhance relationships between adults, especially those employed in the social professions, and young people. Two frameworks are employed to assist in exploring the issues involved; one is located in communication theory within educational contexts (Burbules, 1993) and the other in the politics of self-definition (Wilson, 1993). The discussion draws on three pieces of empirical research involving young people and professionals. The different interpretations of respect are shown to provide a means of understanding a source of conflict between professionals with positions of authority in young people's lives and the young people themselves.     

‘Start treating me like a Dad!’ The impact of parental involvement in education on the paternal identity of fathers in the English prison system

Notwithstanding the increasing number of UK and international studies focused on parental involvement in education and parental imprisonment there remains little focus upon the involvement of imprisoned fathers in children’s education and the impact of this upon paternal identity. Despite the now accepted perspective that parental imprisonment often impacts negatively on family functioning, child outcomes and parental identity, this qualitative study is distinctive in drawing on the discourse of parental involvement in education, using the lens of identity theory to examine the experiences of 15 imprisoned fathers regarding their involvement in their children’s education and their parenting possible selves as educators. Participants demonstrated limited identity standards in relation to education and sometimes a reduced commitment as a result of this. All offered a vision of their possible selves as educators if contextual barriers were addressed. Possible implications are suggested.     

Targeted Tuition Delivered by Personal Videoconferencing for Students with Mathematical Learning Difficulties

The effectiveness of an individual, conceptual instruction‐based tuition program delivered by personal videoconferencing (PVC), compared to face‐to‐face (FtF) delivery for 30 upper primary and middle school students with mathematical learning difficulties (MLD), is described in this article. The experimental intervention targeted number sense, conceptual understandings of mathematical operations, and fluency with basic number facts. Results showed that significant improvements were achieved in accuracy on basic number fact tasks and standardized test results for both experimental groups. Implications for students with MLD living regionally and remotely are discussed.     

Active-learning versus teacher-centered instruction for learning acids and bases

The prevalence of the ideas of Year I undergraduate biology students about the consequences, causes and cures of the 'greenhouse effect' was determined using a closed-form questionnaire, and the results compared with a parallel study undertaken nearly 10 years ago. Many of the students in the present study were unaware of the potential effect of global warming on the distribution of crop pests, or that ground level ozone acts as a 'greenhouse gas'. Prevalent misconceptions were that global warming is caused by increased penetration of solar radiation, that it is connected with holes in the ozone layer, that it would result in increased skin cancer, and that use of unleaded petrol would reduce it. There appeared to be a general conflation of thinking about global warming and ozone layer depletion. Despite an increased certainty about the existence and effects of global warming among experts, the results are broadly similar to, and certainly no better than, those obtained with an equivalent group of students in a previous study, suggesting that despite media publicity and inclusion of the issue of global warming in the formal curriculum, insecure knowledge and misconceptions persist.     

School Work,Homework and Gender

This paper explores female and male students' attitudes towards school work in terms of application and achievement. The data are drawn from interviews with students, teachers, careers officers and welfare officers in three semi‐rural comprehensive schools in one local education authority (LEA) [1]. (The students were in their last year of compulsory schooling, Year 11, and were aged 16 [2].) The three schools had invited the authors to explore why boys were achieving below their potential in terms of course work and end of course grades. The findings of the study show how school, peer group and community factors influence students' attitudes towards school work and homework. However, the situation is not just one of boys' under‐performance: the pattern of girls' achievement at 16 (the school leaving age) is not always carried through post‐16 or into career destinations. The problem is one of ‘equalising opportunities’ for all young people, taking into account the different patterns of need at different stages in their school careers.