Short-term professional learning that focuses on beliefs and practice: Improvements in preschool teachers’ ongoing literacy practice

An intervention study was conducted with preschool teachers to address their beliefs and practice in the area of language and literacy. A total of 27 preschool teachers, each from different early childcare centers, participated in three 1-day professional learning sessions over the course of 9 months. Learning sessions focused on three different language and literacy topics. Study participants completed a pre- and post-session questionnaire and were observed in the classroom before and after each session. Significant differences were observed in both their beliefs and practice after the intervention. Specifically, preschool teachers’ beliefs were related to their practice in two areas: oral language and vocabulary; and book reading. Based on the data, a focus on beliefs and practice in future short-term PL or workshop models may support successful outcomes in teaching practice.     

UNDERSTANDING AND SUPPORTING ADOLESCENTS’ MENTAL TOUGHNESS IN AN EDUCATION CONTEXT

This study sought to explore the concept of mental toughness (comprising the attributes challenge, commitment, control, and confidence) from the perceptions of adolescents, to better understand their views on these attributes and the extent to which each were regarded as important within an educational setting. In total, 54 adolescents (31 female) aged 12–17 participated. Focus group interviews (n = 15, average group size 3–4) were conducted, audio‐recorded, and transcribed verbatim. Data were analyzed using the principles of abbreviated grounded theory. The students’ views are discussed with reference to relevant psychological theory and literature and implications for teachers interested in encouraging these positive psychological attributes among adolescents are discussed.     

School inspections in low- and middle-income countries: Explaining impact and mechanisms of impact

Many efforts to implement and improve school inspections have been modelled on examples from high-income countries, and many studies on the effectiveness of such systems have also only been carried out in these countries. However, local contexts in low- and middle-income countries are very different from those in developed countries, and findings about the effectiveness of school inspections from Western studies are therefore not easily transferable to low- and middle-income countries. Existing literature portrays complex and varied links amongst governance context, policy, design of accountability systems, mechanisms of impact and school outcomes that make translation of conditions across studies challenging. This paper presents the results of a systematic review about the conditions under which school inspections lead to improvement in schools and to positive learning outcomes for schoolchildren in low- and middle-income countries, especially the poorest and most marginalised.     

Does God Make It Real? Children’s Belief in Religious Stories From the Judeo‐Christian Tradition

Four- to 6-year-old children (N = 131) heard religious or nonreligious stories and were questioned about their belief in the reality of the story characters and events. Children had low to moderate levels of belief in the characters and events. Children in the religious story condition had higher levels of belief in the reality of the characters and events than did children in the nonreligious condition; this relation strengthened with age. Children who used God as an explanation for the events showed higher levels of belief in the factuality of those events. Story familiarity and family religiosity also affected children's responses. The authors conclude that God's involvement in a story influences children's belief in the reality of the characters and events in that story.     

Cybersupervision: Further Examination of Synchronous and Asynchronous Modalities in Counseling Practicum Supervision

The authors used an intensive single‐subject quantitative design to examine cybersupervision of counseling practicum students in a university setting. Five female supervisees volunteered to receive their required weekly supervision online during a 14‐week, semester‐long counseling practicum. Following a face‐to‐face orientation meeting, all remaining interactions among the supervisees and with the supervisor occurred electronically. Data were collected about the utility of the synchronous and asynchronous modalities, changes in supervisee competence and confidence during the practicum, and supervisee attitudes about the cybersupervision approach. The findings offered evidence that the web‐based modality could be used in similar settings.     

The Random‐Effect Generalized Rating Scale Model

Rating scale items have been widely used in educational and psychological tests. These items require people to make subjective judgments, and these subjective judgments usually involve randomness. To account for this randomness, Wang, Wilson, and Shih proposed the random‐effect rating scale model in which the threshold parameters are treated as random effects rather than fixed effects. In the present study, the Wang et al. model was further extended to incorporate slope parameters and embed the new model within the framework of multilevel nonlinear mixed‐effect models. This was done so that (1) no efforts are needed to derive parameter estimation procedures, and (2) existing computer programs can be applied directly. A brief simulation study was conducted to ascertain parameter recovery using the SAS NLMIXED procedure. An empirical example regarding students’ interest in learning science is presented to demonstrate the implications and applications of the new model.     

Laboratory materials: Affordances or constraints?

Laboratory instruction is critical to the understanding of biology and is a central piece of biological sciences instruction. Although much investigation has focused on the content of biology laboratory exercises, we contend that understanding the extent to which the laboratory materials can aid or limit experimental investigation is of equal importance. In this study, therefore, we investigate the role of timing and availability of laboratory equipment in the context of two different laboratory exercises. We use both case study and an experimental approach to investigate how laboratory materials guide the planning, context, creativity, and timing of ideas shared among students. Our data support the notion that providing students with laboratory equipment before students plan and consider different experimental approaches can constrain students' ideas and encourage tool‐focused solutions to experimental design tasks. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 48: 1010–1025, 2011     

The effects of cooperative learning on enhancing Hong Kong fifth graders' achievement goals,autonomous motivation and reading proficiency

Research indicates that cooperative learning with teacher‐guided instruction is more effective in helping young children to learn than cooperative learning with minimal guidance. In the present study, two different cooperative learning activities (jigsaw and drama) and a control condition (a traditional teacher‐led approach) were compared. The participants were 279 Grade 5 Hong Kong students located in nine classrooms. The two experimental conditions emphasised teachers' cognitive support in helping students to understand a text through both teacher‐led and student‐led activities. Post‐test data included a reading comprehension test and three questionnaires that investigated students' goal orientations, initial level of relative autonomy and perceptions of instructional practices. Findings indicate that students in the jigsaw group outperformed students in both the drama group and the control group in the reading comprehension test. The implications of conducting cooperative learning activities with well‐planned teacher guidance are discussed.     

Kindergarten teachers adjust their teaching practices in accordance with children’s academic pre‐skills

This study examined the extent to which kindergarten children’s academic pre‐skills are associated with their teachers’ subsequent teaching practices. The pre‐skills in reading and math of 1268 children (655 boys, 613 girls) were measured in kindergarten in the fall. A pair of trained observers used the Classroom Assessment Scoring System instrument to observe 49 kindergarten teachers on their emotional support, classroom organisation and instructional support in kindergarten in the spring. The results of the multilevel modelling showed that low levels of academic pre‐skills in kindergarten classrooms in the fall predicted high classroom quality in the classrooms later on. The results suggest that the overall level of children’s academic pre‐skills in the classroom plays an important role in the ways in which teachers adapt their instructional practices to the needs of a particular classroom.