It has been suggested that culturally relevant literature can be beneficial to elementary school students' learning. Yet, less research has focused on African American students' perspectives of that literature, including aspects of that engagement that may benefit their learning. Therefore, the main goal centred on US elementary school students' perspectives of African American children's literature in an after-school book club. There were 15 second- and third-grade African American students from a low-income area who participated in the 6-week book club. The book club sessions were recorded, student artefacts were collected and a focus group was held with students. Following the book club, there were two classroom teachers interviewed along with an after-school teacher facilitator. Based on the analysis, four themes were found. These focused on increased reading motivation, the role of cultural and personal associations with literature for comprehending, engagement in communal learning and improved access to culturally relevant texts. The results extend previous research on the importance of social collaboration and culturally relevant books to promote motivation and reading comprehension among learners and highlight the value of collaborative and culturally based learning for Black children in the American context. 相似文献
Postgraduate master’s programs for in-service teachers may be a promising new avenue in developing research partnership networks that link schools and university and enable collaborative development, sharing and use of knowledge of teacher research. This study explores the way these knowledge processes originating from master’s students’ research occurs in the school–university network of a master’s program embedded in the K–12 school environment of a Central Management Organization in the US. Questionnaires, interviews, and logs were used to collect quantitative and qualitative data at four time-points over a 10-month period. Data were analyzed at three network levels: school, dyad, and individual. Findings indicate that the school network context provided both master’s students and research advisors with a supportive context for collaboratively engaging in knowledge processes during research as well as after they graduated. However, the network context was not enough to build sustainable and productive relationships in the partnership network. 相似文献
This study tested the effectiveness of a facilitated educational program in a museum for promoting family conversations and children's learning about STEM. A sample of 130 families (71 European-American; 33 African-American; and 26 Hispanic-American) with children M age = 6.42 years were observed in a building construction exhibit. Prior to building, families were randomly assigned to conditions that varied in terms of the instructions about a key engineering principle and elaborative question-asking they received. Conversation instruction resulted in adults’ asking double the number of Wh-questions compared to families who did not receive the instruction. The building instruction was important in promoting increases in adults’ STEM-related talk during the building activity, as well as in the children's STEM talk when prompted for information about what they had learned. The effects of the instructions did not vary by families’ ethnic background. Implications for facilitating family conversations and children's learning related to STEM are discussed. 相似文献
Designing, developing, and administering assessments has remained fairly unchanged across the past century. However, recent developments in instructional technology, learning science theory, and advances in the design of assessments necessitate a newfound perspective on assessment. The objective of the present article is to review the topic of assessment in depth—past, present, and future. Specifically, we focus on the use of technologically rich learning environments that have spurred advances in student assessment, new methods and procedures from these advances, and consequently the need to consider implementing comprehensive assessment systems that provide rigorous and ubiquitous measurement of the whole student learning experience. 相似文献
AbstractThis case report explored the implementation of flipped classrooms at two higher education institutions. Experiences and publications from the institutions were used to identify and describe common themes, including successes and challenges encountered along with potential solutions to common misalignments, particularly as related to technology-enhanced learning. Strategies for selecting and delivering pre-class content, designing and implementing in-class activities, and identifying and using assessments to inform practice are described. Overall design considerations include instructor skill development, student buy-in, and institutional support for the model. This report highlights several critical approaches to effectively designing and implementing the flipped classroom model, with consideration given to the use of technology to support this innovation. 相似文献
Each learner brings a unique mix of personality traits, preferences, and talents to the educational setting. These factors can influence the extent to which learners are able to effectively deploy skills and strategies to achieve their academic goals. Gaining a deeper awareness of how specific personality traits play a role in the choice and deployment of SRL strategies provides opportunities to anticipate which learners might be effective or ineffective self-regulators. Doing so would enable instructional designers, educators, or higher education administrators to better plan and deliver effective educational experiences for a wide range of learners. The purpose of this study was to investigate the extent to which the use of SRL strategies was impacted by learner differences in Big Five personality traits. This mixed methods study examined the potential of utilizing the Big Five Inventory classification as a predictor of self-regulated strategy use. Specifically, the study investigated the relationship between the existence of openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism traits as possible predictors of learner use of SRL strategies. Results indicated that learners high in openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, and agreeableness were shown to be more skilled self-regulators than those high in neuroticism. Those high in neuroticism were less skilled self-regulators and tended to use help-seeking strategies more frequently than those in other personality trait categories. The qualitative findings highlighted the need for effective time management as an important self-regulation strategy, a preference for face to face versus an on-line delivery format, and a lack of motivation. However, responses did not seem to systematically vary by personality trait.
Every faculty member knows that exams drive student behavior. Testing and grading are part of every course, but generally of lesser importance to faculty members than course content itself. Recently, instructional methods and pedagogy. But as issues of grade inflation, student attrition, accountability, and authentic assessment grow in importance, we see some interesting innovations in testing methods and some interesting innovations. The authors are publishing a collection of some of these as described in their own words, by faculty themselves. Two questions underlie the study: 1) why is it so difficult to change tests and testing traditions in college-level science and 2) will the enormous efforts underway to reform pedagogy and curriculum in these disciplines have any lasting effect if testing does not have a prominent place on the reform agenda? 相似文献
This study investigated the relationships among parents’ self‐efficacy beliefs, parents’ gender, children’s reader self‐perceptions, reading achievement and gender. This study consisted of 66 students, aged eight and nine, and 92 parents involved in a family literacy project for approximately one year. The study was conducted in a rural area of Eastern Canada. There were three instruments used in this study: a Questionnaire for Parents, a Reader Self‐Perception Scale (RSPS) (Henk & Melnick, 1995), and a standardised reading test (Test of Early Reading Ability‐2 – TERA‐2) (Reid, Hresko & Hammill, 1989). The Pearson‐Product‐Moment method and t‐tests were used to determine relationships in the data and to identify significant differences in scores on the instruments. Significant positive and negative relationships were found between mothers’ and fathers’ self‐efficacy beliefs and children’s reader self‐perceptions. Children’s self‐perceptions as readers significantly related to their reading achievement. Mothers had stronger beliefs than did fathers in their ability to help improve boys’ reading achievement. Significant differences favouring females were found in children’s reader self‐perceptions and their reading achievement. The findings of this study provide a basis for understanding factors related to young children’s reading achievement. 相似文献
Genetic and environmental influences on prereading skills in preschool and on early reading and spelling development at the
end of kindergarten were compared among samples of identical and fraternal twins from the U.S. (Colorado), Australia, and
Scandinavia. Mean comparisons revealed significantly lower preschool print knowledge in Scandinavia, consistent with the relatively
lower amount of shared book reading and letter-based activities with parents, and lack of emphasis on print knowledge in Scandinavian
preschools. The patterns of correlations between all preschool environment measures and prereading skills within the samples
were remarkably similar, as were the patterns of genetic, shared environment, and non-shared environment estimates: in all
samples, genetic influence was substantial and shared environment influence was relatively weak for phonological awareness,
rapid naming, and verbal memory; genetic influence was weak, and shared environment influence was relatively strong for vocabulary
and print knowledge. In contrast, for reading and spelling assessed at the end of kindergarten in the Australian and U.S.
samples, there was some preliminary evidence for country differences in the magnitude of genetic and environmental influences.
We argue that the apparently higher genetic and lower shared environment influence in the Australian sample was related to
a greater emphasis on formal reading instruction, resulting in more advanced reading and spelling skills at the end of kindergarten,
and thus there was greater opportunity to observe genetic influences on response to systematic reading instruction among the
Australian twins. 相似文献