Providing vertical coherence in explanations and promoting reasoning across levels of biological organization when teaching evolution

Students' explanations of biological phenomena are frequently characterized by disconnects between levels and confusion of levels. The purpose of this research is to investigate the effects of a hands-on lab activity that aims at fostering the ability to reason across levels. A total of 197 students (18 years of age) participated in a randomized, pre–post-test design study. Students in the experimental group engaged in a lab activity focused on artificial selection and designed to demonstrate how selection affects both phenotypes and genotypes. In contrast, the lab activity in the comparison group focused on phenotype alone. Data sources for the study included pre-tests of basic concepts in genetics and evolution and two post-test items requiring the students to reproduce and apply their knowledge about artificial selection. The findings indicated that the lab activity which allowed students to explore the interplay between different levels, provided vertical coherence and enhanced students’ ability to explain evolutionary change in both reproduction and transfer items. In contrast, the lab activity in the comparison group failed to do so, and most students did not improve their ability to explain evolutionary change. Implications for instruction and recommendations for further research are discussed in light of these findings.     

Approval and disapproval of textbooks in the late Ottoman Empire

During the rapidly changing political atmosphere of the 1910s, the practice of sanctioning scholastic knowledge began to be implemented in the yearly selection of textbooks due to political contingencies. The study shows the procedures of approval and disapproval practised by the Grand Council of Education and the Copyright and Translation Office through archival pursuit in the Ministry of Education. The basis of the research material is constituted by documents of the textbook selection commissions for approval and disapproval practices, and rejection petitions written by textbook authors, as well as the incorporation of supportive primary sources such as records of parliament sessions, and critical books and articles on education from the Second Constitutional Period (1908–1918). Tracing a path through the Ottoman archives, the study pursues the frictions between the authors and the Office in the political ambience of the period and exposes the inefficiency of modern bureaucratic units crippled by favouritism and corruption. Thus, it reveals that the well-organised curricula and guidelines in modern schooling did not always yield uniformity. It contributes to questioning the overemphasised impact of modernisation of education, which is often associated with a smooth progression in the history of education literature.     

Driving change from ‘the middle’: middle leading for site based educational development

ABSTRACT

Educational researchers have invested much in isolating the specific ‘drivers’ that influence school change and teacher professional development. In this vein, this article draws attention to necessarily situated understandings of practice development through research into the nature of ‘middle leading’ for site based education development in one primary school district in regional Australia. Drawing on practice theory, the analysis reveals how developing and sustaining change in schools is contingent on middle leaders’ insider knowledge, shared responsibility and capacity to sustain and ‘drive’ teachers’ learning. The article argues more situated understandings of middle leading practices are essential for sustainable educational reform.     

Enhancing learning from hypertext by inducing a goal orientation: Comparing different approaches

As learning from hypertext requires a highdegree of self-monitoring, having a clearlearning goal in mind should enhance learning.Our concern in this study was to investigatethree different kinds of approaches forinducing learning goals: A Tutorial providedexternal and specific learning objectives, aGoal-Based Scenario (GBS) for inducing externaland general learning goals, and a Strategytraining leading to internal goal generation. Ahypertext resource was combined with each ofthese three learning arrangements. The threeconditions were compared regarding learningoutcomes and motivational effects. A total of 60adults participated in our study.Results suggest that GBS students are moremotivated, acquire a better overview and arebetter able to apply their knowledge in anargumentation task. Students in the Tutorialperformed better in fact-relatedknowledge-tests as a result of their directaccomplishment of learning objectives, butfailed to create a coherent overview on thetopic and were less motivated. Participantsthat received a strategy training onself-questioning failed to apply thismeta-cognitive strategy in order to formulatetheir own learning goals when working with thehypertext.     

Learning through culture: seeking “critical case studies of possibilities” in the history of education

Abstract

In Radical Education and the Common School (2011), Michael Field and Peter Moss argue for a radical alternative to the failed and dysfunctional contemporary discourse about education and the school with its focus on markets, competition, instrumentality, standardisation, and managerialism. They argue that it is necessary, if we are to progress “social alternatives” in education, to construct micro-histories of schools that have developed as “real utopias” through radically revising their practice. They call these micro-histories “critical case studies of possibilities”. In To Hell with Culture (1963), the art educator and anarchist Herbert Read returned to a theme he had been exploring since the early 1930s – the purpose of education. For him, “education” implied many things, but he saw modern practice as “socially disintegrating”. Instead, Read offered an alternative to the dominant discourse about education under capitalism in the 1960s which would create “that collective consciousness which is the spiritual energy of a people and the only source of its art and culture”. To what extent was Read’s conception of education an ideal, a dream unfulfilled? Following Fielding and Moss this paper will seek to trace “critical case studies of possibilities” drawn from the past which reflect the fundamental connection identified by Read between school learning, “collective consciousness”, art, and culture.     

Creativity:What Is It? Can You Assess It? Can It Be Taught?

This article takes the subject of visual arts in Sweden as the point of departure in a discussion of how, with the help of portfolios, assessments may extend to include both the unpredictable and the ambiguous. The notion that assessments of learning outcomes must be either limited to superficial knowledge or completely arbitrary is shown to be a misconception. The author has made a study of the progression of young people's creativity in the visual arts from preschool to upper secondary school. The assessment was based on both product criteria and process criteria (investigative work, inventiveness, ability to use models, capacity for self‐assessment). The materials assessed were portfolios of work containing sketches, drafts and finished works, log books, sources of inspiration and videotaped interviews with the students. Is there any progression in students' visual design, in their ability to work independently and assess their work? What is the degree of correlation in the assessments of different judges of student portfolios? These are some of the questions that this article attempts to answer, which concludes with a discussion of how schools can build a culture of learning that fosters the creative powers of young people.