Teaching high school science using image processing: A case study of implementation of computer technology

An in-depth case study of teachers' use of image processing (a state-of-the-art computer technology used by research scientists) in biology, earth science, and physics classes within one high school science department explored issues surrounding technology implementation. The study, conducted within a districtwide, schoolwide, and classroom context, explored four areas related to the teacher's adoption of image processing: (a) teachers' background with computers outside of instructional use, (b) teachers' attitudes toward educational technology and insights gained from their experience using computers within the science curriculum, (c) training and perceived influence of district and school administrators, and (d) teachers' classroom and computer lab practices. The following factors were deemed critical in teachers' decision to use or not use image processing with their students: (a) time to thoroughly explore and master the technology so they could use it with students to explore science concepts; (b) classroom management skills specific to technology use; (c) perception of the teaching value of the technology; (d) perception of the reasonableness of administrators' expectations for technology use; and (e) understanding of how to implement inquiry-based science teaching, independent of technology issues. These factors have implications for how to help teachers use computer technology to teach high school science. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 35: 297–327, 1998.     

Diversity at Works A Case Study of Using Videotape Training to Enhance Performance

According to Thomas Exter (1992), the latest Bureau of Labor Statistics projections show that between 1990 and 2005, a steady stream of White men will leave the labor force. New workers who are more likely to be minorities and women will replace them. This demographic change in the workforce has caused American businesses to develop training programs that address this issue. As Badi Poster, Gerald Jackson, William Cross, Bailey Jackson, and Rita Hardiman (1988) observed, “The future of American industry will rely in large measure on our human resource potential, and business will have no choice but to learn how to use workforce diversity constructively.” This study discusses what diversity is, where, when and why it developed, and where it is going. It also applies semiotic analysis to a trend‐setting corporate training video that addresses diversity issues. The results of critically viewing this media text display training material that could hinder‐not aid‐in dealing with diversity at work. A semiotic analysis critically views this media text.     

Service Learning Pedagogies to Promote Student Learning in Occupational Therapy Education

The centrality of service learning in the development of students’ professional practice has received worldwide attention. Exposure to appropriately designed service learning experience determines the acquisition of graduate attributes. This article addresses a study in which the key question was: What methods and strategies do students and their clinical supervisors find beneficial in improving their learning experiences during service learning placements? Drawing on the views and experiences of a group of final year occupational therapy (OT) students and their supervisors, the initial focus is on concepts in learning relevant to service learning and professional development, including Vygotsky's zone of proximal development (ZPD), the capability approach and collaborative and peer assisted learning. This is followed by an overview of the methodology and an analysis of the students’ and clinical supervisors’ experiences during service learning. The discussion focuses on the implications of the study findings for practice within a service learning context to enhance the alignment of institutional practices with students’ needs.     

Using possible-selves theory to understand the identity development of new teachers

Questions about identity and future success often occupy the thinking of individuals during life transitions. Possible-selves theory describes how future-oriented thought provides identity-relevant information and motivation to pursue self-relevant goals. Expected and feared possible selves of beginning teachers (n = 221) were analyzed revealing four main categories (i.e., interpersonal relationships, classroom management, instruction, and professionalism). Differences between student and beginning inservice teachers suggest a transitional trajectory that could have implications for understanding the “how” of teacher identity development. Possible-selves theory may help bring a degree of unity across divergent frameworks and help link identity to broader issues of teacher development.     

Make books,not war: workshops at a summer camp in Bosnia

This article focuses on a bookmaking project that was conducted with pre‐adolescent Serbian and Bosnian girls at a summer camp outside Sarajevo, Bosnia in 2005. During this camp, children from Bosnia, Serbia and Croatia were brought together by the Global Children's Organisation to engage in a variety of activities, including conflict resolution, art, athletics and academics. The literacy workshops that were offered gave the children the opportunity to write, illustrate and construct their own books about topics such as peace, friendship and the preservation of nature in Bosnia. The workshops were conducted in English and Serbo‐Croatian, using a variety of pedagogical strategies. Upon completion of their books, the girls hosted a ‘story hour’ for the younger children at the camp and their stories were read aloud and discussed. This article explores the story telling of children in post‐war Bosnia (through writing samples) and discusses the powerful social component of literacy events and their ability to unite and heal disparate groups. Additionally, this article explores writing as a means of imagining a more hopeful future and how as writers, children are shapers of their own cultures and of their individual and collaborative identities within those cultures.     

Reading and spelling acquisition in two different teaching methods: A test of the independence hypothesis

The development of word reading and word spelling was examined in French speaking children initially instructed either by a phonic or a whole-word method. Second, fourth and sixth graders were administered to reading and spelling tests in which grapho-phonological regularity, frequency, length and lexicality were manipulated. The results showed that in both curricula, reading and spelling acquisition can be characterized by a parallel increase in the use of sub-lexical correspondences and in the reliance on word-specific information. Contrary to a simple view of lexical development according to which the use of analytical knowledge and the use of word-specific knowledge correspond to two different cognitive processes that develop independently from each other, whole-word children did not appear to rely more on whole-word knowledge. On the contrary, and paradoxically, grade 2 whole-word children tended to use analytical correspondences to a greater extent than their peers. In later development, reading matched phonic and whole-word groups did not differ from each other. It is argued that the results support the hypothesis that the acquisition of sub-lexical correspondences constitutes a necessary step in the acquisition of reading and spelling. We conclude that the analytic comparison of different curricula provides a naturalistic tool for the study of the dynamics of development.     

Performance of Montessori and traditionally schooled nursery children on tasks of seriation, classification, and conservation

It was hypothesized that the Montessori curriculum accelerates the acquisition of a number of concrete operational skills. To test this, eighty 4-year-old children were given three Piagetian problems—seriation, classification, and conservation. Half of the subjects were from Montessori schools, and the other half were from more traditional nursery settings. Within each type of school, half of the children were first year and the other half were second year enrollees. Results showed that significantly more Montessori than traditional children seriated and classified objects like concrete thinkers but that there were no differences on the conservation problem. Year of enrollment did not influence performance on any of the tasks. It was concluded that the hypothesis was confirmed and that the failure to find acceleration of conservation performance was due to its advanced nature relative to the other problems and/or the tangential manner in which Montessori exercises deal with the critical concepts that underly it.     

A pedagogical alliance for academic achievement: Socio-Emotional effects on assessment outcomes

Assessment of student learning outcomes is often discussed in relation to curriculum, standards and even administration practices. However, assessment of learning outcomes is rarely discussed in light of students’ socio-emotional contexts, which might help or hinder learning outcomes. For example, do students’ perceptions of the teacher as trustworthy influence their empathic views on classmates, learning engagement, academic achievement and wellbeing? The present paper reports the results of a theoretically-driven, short-term longitudinal study designed to explore the effects of socio-emotional variables, specifically students’ trust in teachers and empathy towards self and peers on engagement for learning, academic achievement, and wellbeing. Grounded in attachment theory and the LEAFF model, Panel Structural Equation Modeling (P-SEM) results revealed three significant pathways, which provide evidence that student trust in teachers may serve to launch a domino effect of outcomes, predicting students’ empathic views of classmates, learning engagement, academic achievement, and wellbeing.     

Teaching in inclusive classrooms: efficacy and beliefs of Canadian preservice teachers

This study provides a Canada-wide snapshot of the self-efficacy and beliefs of 1490 preservice teachers in relation to inclusive teaching using the Teacher Efficacy for Inclusive Practice and the Beliefs about Learning and Teaching Questionnaire. At the time of data collection, these preservice teachers were in the final stages of their teacher education programmes. Based on the results of surveys in 11 Faculties of Education, men have higher self-efficacy than women for managing behaviour in the classroom, elementary preservice teachers have higher self-efficacy in collaboration than those teaching in secondary schools, those enrolled in the 1-year post-degree programme show lower self-efficacy than those enrolled in programmes of other durations, and those who have experience with people with special education needs show higher self-efficacy than those who do not. Differences illustrated that women were more inclusive than men, 1-year post-degree preservice teachers were less inclusive than others, and those who have experience with people with special education needs are more inclusive than those who do not. Recommendations for teacher education and limitations surrounding the practical significance of the findings are discussed.