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.     

Expertise Research Methodology: Identifying Differences and Factors Influencing High and Low Performance

Expertise research methodologies have focused upon the identification of differences and factors influencing high and low performance at the individual, process, and organizational level. The goal of this review is to use the results to facilitate performance improvement through the investigation of high and low performing entities. Various approaches are reported in the literature to investigate expertise and quantify factors relating to development of this expertise at the individual, group, and organizational level. This review of research literature focuses upon studies utilizing expertise methodologies outside of the laboratory for identification of differences and factors influencing high and low performance. Studies cited emphasize performance at the individual, process, or organizational level. Statistical methods and techniques for identifying high and low performance are identified. Results have implications for use in performance improvement initiatives in assessing differences or factors influencing performance as well as identification of interventions and outcome measures.     

Detection and correction of incomplete duplicate 24-hour urine collections – theory and practical evidence

IntroductionThe intraindividual variability in urinary creatinine excretion is notoriously large. The aims of this study were to investigate the variability of duplicate consecutive 24-hour urinary creatinine excretions in patients and to develop a model for the detection and correction of discrepant creatinine excretions.Materials and methodsA group of 270 patients (82 men and 188 women) were included in the study. We collected the following data: urinary 24-hour volumes (volumetric/gravimetric) and urinary creatinine concentrations (Jaffé/enzymatic) on both collection days. We performed specific calculations to detect discrepant creatinine excretions.ResultsIn 60 patients (22%) discrepant collections were found. Among the remaining 78%, 22% of the patients collected very accurately (almost identical urinary creatinine excretions). In this subgroup the volume ratios and the creatinine concentration ratios behave inversely as in a dilution curve. A theoretical model and six collection scenarios were developed to detect, interpret and correct discrepant collections. Practical examples are given to illustrate the use of the model in successful correction of creatinine and other analytes for under- or overcollection.ConclusionsWe conclude that missed or overcollected urine volumes are the largest source of variation in creatinine excretion. Discrepancies in consecutive duplicate 24-hour creatinine excretions can be detected and corrected with specific calculations by means of the presented model. The effectiveness of these corrections is demonstrated with examples from daily practice. These calculations can be easily automated.     

Book reviews

International Review of Education -     

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