Professional knowledge affects action-related skills: The development of preservice physics teachers' explaining skills during a field experience

Professional knowledge is an important source of science teachers' actions in the classroom (e.g., personal professional content knowledge [pedagogical content knowledge, PCK] is the source of enacted PCK in the refined consensus model [RCM] for PCK). However, the evidence for this claim is ambiguous at best. This study applied a cross-lagged panel design to examine the relationship between professional knowledge and actions in one particular instructional situation: explaining physics. Pre- and post a field experience (one semester), 47 preservice physics teachers from four different universities were tested for their content knowledge (CK), PCK, pedagogical knowledge (PK), and action-related skills in explaining physics. The study showed that joint professional knowledge (the weighted sum of CK, PCK, and PK scores) at the beginning of the field experience impacted the development of explaining skills during the field experience (β = .38**). We interpret this as a particular relationship between professional knowledge and science teachers' action-related skills (enacted PCK): professional knowledge is necessary for the development of explaining skills. That is evidence that personal PCK affects enacted PCK. In addition, field experiences are often supposed to bridge the theory-practice gap by transforming professional knowledge into instructional practice. Our results suggest that for field experiences to be effective, preservice teachers should start with profound professional knowledge.     

A General Approach to Defining Latent Growth Components

We present a 3-step approach to defining latent growth components. In the first step, a measurement model with at least 2 indicators for each time point is formulated to identify measurement error variances and obtain latent variables that are purged from measurement error. In the second step, we use contrast matrices to define the latent growth components representing the constructs of substantive interest. The corresponding matrix of structural coefficients is then computed by inverting the contrast matrix. In the third and last step, the first 2 steps are integrated into a structural equation model. The particular strength of this approach is that it permits construction of latent growth components in such a way that they represent interesting contrasts from a substantive point of view. This is illustrated using data of cancer patients obtained from 3 fatigue scales of the multidimensional fatigue inventory measured at 4 time points.     

Kulturelle Bildung an den Schulen in Deutschland

Previous research findings suggest that school types differ in terms of their extracurricular art-aesthetic offers and that at “Gymnasien” (grammar schools) and “Comprehensive Schools” conditions for art-aesthetic education are particularly favorable. Furthermore, at all-day schools they seem to be more favorable than at other schools. To see whether these findings can be confirmed and differences between school types can be found even after controlling for relevant school characteristics, a nationwide representative survey of school leaders at state schools was analyzed. Three dimensions of art-aesthetic education were examined: extracurricular art-aesthetic offers, cooperation with out-of-school cultural institutions and, finally, school profiles. The results allow for a differentiation and complementation of former findings concerning the specific conditions at different school types regarding the advancement of art-aesthetic experiences, because characteristics such as all-day-school organization, school size or resources were considered.     

VideoCulture: conclusions and key findings

This article summarises the main findings of the VideoCulture project, in the light of its three main research questions. It begins by considering some of the difficulties and dynamics of interpretation revealed by audience responses to the VideoCulture films. It then moves on to consider some key differences in the productions, and the extent to which these can be traced to broader cultural and social differences. Finally, it addresses some of the implications of the research in terms of pedagogy and future intercultural work of this nature     

The development of creative personalities through independent academic work in distance education in the German Democratic Republic

This article commences with a presentation of the consultation model of distance education (Fernstudium) as practised in the German Democratic Republic. It then considers the contribution which this form of education can make to the development of creative personalities who are capable of independent academic work.     

Students Explaining Science—Assessment of Science Communication Competence

Science communication competence (SCC) is an important educational goal in the school science curricula of several countries. However, there is a lack of research about the structure and the assessment of SCC. This paper specifies the theoretical framework of SCC by a competence model. We developed a qualitative assessment method for SCC that is based on an expert–novice dialog: an older student (explainer, expert) explains a physics phenomenon to a younger peer (addressee, novice) in a controlled test setting. The explanations are video-recorded and analysed by qualitative content analysis. The method was applied in a study with 46 secondary school students as explainers. Our aims were (a) to evaluate whether our model covers the relevant features of SCC, (b) to validate the assessment method and (c) to find characteristics of addressee-adequate explanations. A performance index was calculated to quantify the explainers’ levels of competence on an ordinal scale. We present qualitative and quantitative evidence that the index is adequate for assessment purposes. It correlates with results from a written SCC test and a perspective taking test (convergent validity). Addressee-adequate explanations can be characterized by use of graphical representations and deliberate switches between scientific and everyday language.