Collaborative Interactions at the Microcomputer Keyboard

Abstract Two studies are reported, both concerned with microcomputer use in the context of collaborative groups. The first study, conducted with eight year‐olds, examines whether the opportunity to practise a problem solving task in pairs produces better subsequent individual performance on the task than does individual practice. Evidence was found for such peer‐facilitation only when children were constrained to collaborate by the imposition of a ‘dual key’ entry requirement. The second study, conducted with 11‐year‐olds, compares the functioning of two types of group over a series of sessions during which the children were introduced to database software. Groups formed on the basis of nominations of preferred working partners were found to demand less teacher intervention and to make fewer minor errors than groups formed on the basis of arbitrary allocation. The possibilities offered by the microcomputer in the classroom for experimentally rigorous but ecologically valid research are discussed.     

Teachers as writers: learning together with others

In the context of renewed interest in teachers' identities as writers and the writers as artist‐educators, this paper reports upon the findings of “Teachers as Writers” (2015–2017). A collaborative partnership between two universities and a creative writing foundation, the study sought to determine the impact of writers' engagement with teachers on changing teachers' classroom practices in the teaching of writing and, as a consequence, in improving outcomes for students. The project afforded opportunities for writers and teachers to work together as learners in order to improve student outcomes. The study involved two complementary datasets: a qualitative dataset of observations, interviews, audio‐capture (of workshops, tutorials and co‐mentoring reflections) and audio‐diaries from 16 teachers; and a randomised controlled trial (RCT) involving 32 primary and secondary classes. The findings reveal that the teachers' identities and assurance as writers shifted significantly. The Arvon experience also led to pedagogic shifts which the students reported impacted positively upon their motivation, confidence and sense of ownership and skills as writers. However, these salient dispositional shifts did not impact upon the young people's attainment. The professional writers gained new understandings which substantially altered their conceptions of writers' potential contribution in schools.     

Social critique or social control: Some problems for evaluation in environmental education

Environmental education is often thought of as the branch of science education whose field of inquiry encompasses those necessarily value-laden issues of human intervention in the natural world. While this perception would be contested by those who see the origins of environmental education lying in the sociopolitical arena of community concerns about exploitation of the environment, it is true to say that environmental education and science education are commonly associated in ways that other disciplines are not, and thus it is perhaps to be expected that the dominant paradigm of evaluation in environmental education should be applied science in character. This article raises the issue of the appropriateness of applied science approaches to evaluation in environmental education. The article begins with a critique of applied science approaches to evaluation, drawing arguments from the broader field of educational evaluation. The relationship between characteristics of applied science approaches to evaluation on the one hand and the special characteristics of environmental education on the other is then explored, and the article concludes with an argument for a deliberative choice of research paradigm in environmental education.     

The Effect of Personal Development Planning on Attitudes,Behaviour and Understanding

This paper explores the impact of a personal development planning (PDP) project on the attitudes, behaviour and understanding of students in Years 11 and 12. It examines levels of motivation, personal understanding, communication skills and the responsibility of the students with regard to their own learning at the beginning of the project and again after 6 months. Findings may be of interest to tutors involved in PDP, action planning and similar initiatives driven by the one‐to‐one dialogue.     

Student Perceptions of a Summer Robotics Camp Experience

Research on the effectiveness of STEM-focused (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics-focused) schools and other learning experiences (e.g., short-term camps) on student outcomes is sparse. This study documented perceptions of STEM content and careers for elementary, middle, and secondary school students participating in university-based summer camps focused on robotics. Attitudes before and after the camp experiences were compared across gender groups and grade levels. Middle school students showed greater growth on the surveys compared to their elementary and secondary school peers. Implications for the design and evaluation of STEM experiences include looking at longer, more intensive experiences.     

Attitudes to reading at ages nine and eleven

A survey was conducted with the aim of identifying attitudes towards reading amongst upper primary pupils, and establishing whether these attitudes had changed over the five‐year period from 1998 to 2003. A sample of 5076 pupils in Years 4 and 6 completed questionnaires. Attitudes were generally positive, but declined somewhat between the younger and older of these age groups. A sub‐sample of 2364 of these pupils were in the same schools where the same questionnaire had been completed in 1998. Enjoyment of reading had significantly fallen over the five years, whilst confidence as readers had significantly increased over the same period. The changes may be related to the introduction of the National Literacy Strategy, but other explanations are also possible.     

The Effects of Special Education Support on Young Australian School Students

Determining the effectiveness of many special education interventions is most difficult because of the practical and ethical limitations associated with assigning participants to a control or non-treated group. Using Longitudinal Study of Australian Children data, this article utilised eight different propensity score analysis methods to determine if a cohort of young primary school children receiving special education services significantly improved their literacy and numeracy skills, social skills and their behaviour, two years after the commencement of the special service, in comparison to a “matched” group of students who did not receive special education support. The children receiving special education support performed statistically significantly less well than the different matched groups across all outcome measures. This result is consistent with the findings from two similar studies in the US and calls into question the effectiveness of special education services for the majority of Australian students with additional needs.     

Teacher education and family–school partnerships in different contexts: A cross country analysis of national teacher education frameworks across a range of European countries

Abstract

Collaboration with parents is widely regarded as important in the education of children and young people, yet teachers rarely feel sufficiently prepared for this task. Several studies indicate that initial teacher education (ITE) programmes struggle to address issues of family–school partnerships (FSP). Our purpose in this study was to assess whether national ITE frameworks in seven European countries enable or constrain effective FSP preparation for preservice teachers. Our data, drawn from document analysis and national surveys, suggests that, despite the importance officially attributed to FSP at both governmental and ITE institutional levels, no single country presents a satisfactory picture in terms of FSP provision within their ITE programmes or in the extent to which preservice teachers are prepared to deal with the issue. Regardless of the existence (or not) of a national curriculum and variations, both in terms of legally-required competences and the amount of attention given to FSP in ITE programmes, it appears that simply making FSP compulsory is not the solution. Nor do national frameworks, in themselves, really appear to shape and direct the provision offered. Essentially FSP preparation still seems to depend upon the proclivities and expertise of individual teacher educators.     

When summative computer-aided assessments go wrong: disaster recovery after a major failure

This case study outlines the events of a recent summative computer‐aided assessment (CAA) failure involving 280 first‐year undergraduate students. Post‐test analysis found that the central server had become unexpectedly overloaded, thereby causing the CAA to be abandoned. Practical advice on just what to do in the event of a summative CAA failure is virtually non‐existent in the related literature. In response, this paper provides a detailed account of the post‐failure analysis and recovery activities from a practitioner's (ie, academic) viewpoint. Supported by empirical evidence, the research shows how the concept of “optional substitution” was developed as a pragmatic, equitable, and broadly acceptable solution to the problem.