The nature and development of middle school mathematics teachers’ knowledge

In this article, we report on the use of a teacher profiling instrument with 62 middle school teachers at the start of a 3-year professional learning programme. The instrument was designed to assess the aspects of teachers’ knowledge identified by Shulman (1987) refined by Ball et al. (2008) and extended to include teachers’ confidence to use and teach various topics in the middle school mathematics curriculum and their beliefs about mathematics teaching and learning. Based on a hierarchical coding of items, the application of the partial credit Rasch model revealed that the profile items were measuring a single underlying construct and suggested that the various facets of teacher knowledge develop together. We describe the characteristics of four levels of the hierarchical construct measuring teacher knowledge and understanding for teaching mathematics in the middle years of schooling, and discuss the unique affordances of a holistic view of teacher knowledge in contrast to considerations of multiple knowledge categories.     

The rise and fall of the MTL: an example of European policy borrowing

The success of Finland in the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) highlights the quality of Finnish teacher education underpinning its consistently high performance in the survey. In 2010 the UK government initiated a masters in teaching and learning (MTL) in order to raise the education level of teachers, following Finland’s teacher education model. Educationists both past and present, however, warn against ‘quick fix’ political solutions and of the consequences of ‘uncritical policy transfer’. For an educational policy to be effectively borrowed, it must travel through different stages. In this article we argue that the MTL has been implemented in the hope of quick solutions to long-term difficulties; we also maintain that the MTL has applied distinctly English factors into the Finnish model and was achieving informed policy transfer. Nevertheless, the rapid introduction and withdrawal of the programme has not allowed for the MTL to reach complete policy borrowing.     

A Multidimensional Assessment of Children in Conflictual Contexts: The Case of Kenya

Children in Kenya’s Kisumu District Primary Schools (N?=?430) completed three measures of trauma. Respondents completed the My Worst Experience Scale (MWES; Hyman and Snook 2002) and its supplement, the School Alienation and Trauma Survey (SATS; Hyman and Snook 2002), sharing their worst experiences overall and specifically in schools. Participants also completed the Trauma and Attachment Belief Scale (TABS; Pearlman 2003), addressing their experiences of violence. The study examined children’s perceptions about themselves and others in the aftermath of violent experiences and the relationship between children’s trauma symptoms from experiencing violence and their social and academic functioning. Differences in the presence, frequency, and severity of symptoms emerged, with a large percentage attaining statistical and clinical significance. Research and practice implications are provided.     

Academic Libraries as Digital Gateways: Linking Students to the Burgeoning Wealth of Open Online Collections

ABSTRACT

Digital collections of full-text e-books are proliferating on the Web and provide a wealth of open content for students. To examine whether academic libraries are providing a digital gateway to these resources, ten e-book titles from open digital collections were searched in the online catalogs and Web pages of ten academic libraries serving distance learners. Only three of the digital collection e-books were available from any of the library catalogs, and none were found on library Web pages. Availability of the ten e-book titles through Google and other digital discovery tools also had mixed results. Continued projects for improved delivery of open online content are necessary. In order to fulfill their role as digital gateways for their academic communities, libraries must pursue metadata standards to support cross-searching, collaborative projects, and development of e-resource search software, which integrates with the library catalog.     

Audiences and metaphors of globalization in the daimlerchryslerag merger

This paper examines the metaphors and discourse used to strategically explain and justify the 1999 global merger of the Chrysler Corporation and Daimler Benz‐ The metaphors “a single global entity,”; “a good fit,”; and “a marriage of equals”; were used by management to help construct a favorable meaning for the merger, and enhance the probability of success. These metaphors were used in messages directed toward a variety of internal and external stakeholders. The metaphors appear to have failed due to their increasing internal inconsistency and contrast with the reality of the merger.     

Boys Will Be Boys and Girls Better Be Prepared: An Analysis of the Rare Sexual Health Messages in Young Adolescents' Media

Despite concerns about high rates of teen pregnancy and sexually transmitted disease in the United States, the mass media adolescents attend to most frequently include little accurate information about sexual health. In this study, a preliminary quantitative analysis of the sexual content in four media (television, magazines, music, and movies) popular among 3,261 Black and White adolescents (12–14 years old) found that less than one half of 1% of the content included information about or depictions of sexually healthy behavior. A qualitative analysis of the relatively rare instances of sexual health content revealed that across all four media the sexual health content was ambiguous and/or inaccurate, reinforced traditional gender stereotypes that males seek sex and females are responsible for protection against pregnancy, and presented puberty as funny and contraception as embarrassing or humiliating. These analyses suggest that significant changes in the media's presentations of sexuality would be required if the media are ever to be considered a healthy part of adolescents' sexual socialization.     

Communications Research

Thomas F. Gordon and Mary Ellen Verna Mass Communication Effects and Processes: A Comprehensive Bibliography, 1950-1975 (Beverly Hills, Calif.: Sage Publications, 1978—$15.00),

Charles Winick, Deviance and Mass Media (Beverly Hills, Calif.: Sage Publications, 1979—$18.50/8.95),

Mail and Telephone Surveys: The Total Design Method by Don A. Dillman (New York: Wiley-Interscience, 1979—$19.95)

Fundamental Statistics in Psychology and Education by J.P. Guilford and Benjamin Fruchter (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1979—$16.00)

Jane T. Bertrand Communications Pretesting (Chicago: University of Chicago Community and Family Study Center, 1978—$3.50, paper)

Gary Gumpert and Robert Cathcart, Inter/Media: Interpersonal Communication in a Media World ( New York: Oxford University Press, 1979—$S.95, paper)     

A distance education contribution to a social strategy to combat poverty: Open University Community Education courses in Glasgow

Attacking widespread under‐education with limited resources in the scattered, oppressed adult population of South Africa is a formidable challenge. One way of meeting this challenge could be to develop adults’ critical thinking skills, using their own experience as their main educational resource. Experiential learning technology, facilitated from a distance, could provide a means of achieving this aim. Research carried out at a conference on experiential learning at Natal University, Durban, provided an opportunity to assess the viability, desirability and usefulness of this educational method and aim. Participants’ responses indicate that the method is promising, although further experiment and development are necessary, particularly with different groups.

Three issues are discussed in this paper: the nature of the South African educational context, the promotion of critical thinking skills as an adult education aim, and the potential of employing experiential learning technology, facilitated from a distance, as a method of developing critical thinking skills.     

Relational agency and teacher development: a CHAT analysis of a collaborative professional inquiry project with biology teachers

Teacher quality largely determines student outcomes and many argue for high quality teacher training and professional development (PD). Much PD has been heavily critiqued and what constitutes effective provision for teachers remains contested. Disenfranchisement of teachers, through neglect of prior expertise and failure to acknowledge teachers’ working contexts, some argue, are to blame. A PD project with five biology teachers and a teacher educator, grounded within a cultural, historical activity theoretical (CHAT) tradition, was initiated to address these shortcomings. Edwards’ concept of relational agency was employed to investigate and interpret teacher collaboration. Teachers’ perceptions about the project were gathered using free-response questionnaires and semi-structured interviews, with the data being analysed using a CHAT framework. The positive impact on teacher practice reported here was related to having opportunities to own and be responsible for one’s own and others’ development, exploiting the distributed expertise available and supporting collaborative work.