Clay modeling versus written modules as effective interventions in understanding human anatomy

The effectiveness of clay modeling to written modules is examined to determine the degree of improvement in learning and retention of anatomical 3D relationships among students with different learning preferences. Thirty‐nine undergraduate students enrolled in a cadaver dissection course completed a pre‐assessment examination and the VARK questionnaire, classifying learning preference as visual, auditory, read/write, or kinesthetic. Students were divided into clay, module, and control groups with preference for learning style distributed among groups. The clay and module groups participated in weekly one‐hour classes using either clay models or answering written questions (modules) about anatomical relationships, respectively. The control group received no intervention. Post‐assessment and retention examinations were administered at the end of the semester, and three months later, respectively. Two variables (Δ1, Δ2) represented examination score differences between pre‐ and post‐assessment and between post‐assessment and retention examinations, respectively. The Δ1 for clay and module groups were each significantly higher than controls (21.46 ± 8.2 vs. 15.70 ± 7.5, P ≤ 0.05; and 21.31 ± 6.9 vs. 15.70 ± 7.5, P ≤0.05, respectively). The Δ2 for clay and module groups approached but did not achieve significance over controls (?6.09 ± 5.07 vs. ?8.80 ± 4.60, P = 0.16 and ?5.73 ± 4.47 vs. ?8.80 ± 4.60, P = 0.12, respectively). No significant differences were seen between interventions or learning preferences in any group. However, students of some learning styles tended to perform better when engaging in certain modalities. Multiple teaching modalities may accommodate learning preferences and improve understanding of anatomy. Anat Sci Educ. © 2013 American Association of Anatomists.     

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.     

The University of Fort Hare’s learner‐centred Distance Education Programme

The Open University has been working with the University of Fort Hare on its Distance Education Project since 1997, helping to develop its innovative distance education programme for primary teachers in the Eastern Cape. Recently the OU has been involved in researching the impact of this programme on teachers’ perceptions of their practice and their classroom practice. This case study explores the context in which the programme was developed, the philosophy that underpinned its development, its structure, materials and the role played by the Open University. Using preliminary findings of teacher‐learner perceptions of the programme, the case study examines the effectiveness of the teacher support and their responses to the programme. Initial findings from questionnaires and semi‐structured interviews highlight the cohesive and holistic impact of the programme. The focus on context and culture in developing the programme is seen as significant by all teacher‐learners in challenging and motivating different ways of thinking about their teaching, learning and their practice.     

Public accountability in the age of neo‐liberal governance

In this paper we consider two discussion-based parents' forums at two secondary schools. We ask whether such forums can be considered as part of the small, local associative mechanisms which theorists claim have the potential to encourage a more vibrant and interactive public conversation concerning state provided welfare services. We conclude that they cannot - at least in any simple way. However, a study of the forums does raise several interesting issues to do with parents' relationships with schools, the differential resources that particular class fractions bring to bear in developing their relations with teachers, and the responses of the schools to parental voices. Access to higher education and good jobs emerges as the most important element in securing children's futures (and thus of ‘putting the family first’). Yet all the respondents see this as involving their children gaining advantages over others. What is missing from these accounts is an attempt to describe what might be done about any injustice that is recognised, or how the life-chances of the others' might be better protected. Equality of opportunity and equality of citizenship do not emerge as public issues in these versions of access to higher education and good jobs. Instead we have accounts of how to do the best for one's children in a situation of scarcity of both these resources, (Jordan et al. 1994:197) I think it goes right back to the family and they [the parent body] put the children first, right the way through life they put the children first, and they recognise that to get a good job in the end they've got to have qualifications and they want a good school (headteacher, Carson School).     

Planning to Unmask Potential Through Responsive Curriculum: The “Famous Five” Exercise

Barriers to the identification of gifted students from traditionally underserved groups have been well documented. Although contemporary definitions of giftedness give heed to both performance and potential, the literature provides little concrete direction for how “potential” can be recognized, particularly in underperforming students who have lacked access to the kind of high-quality, personally relevant, and appropriately challenging curriculum likely to bring their talents to the fore. It is argued that high-quality curriculum can serve as an effective catalyst for the emergence of diverse talent but that such an objective must be a deliberate focus of curriculum planning. The “Famous Five” exercise presented in this article is a heuristic procedure that has been used with experienced educators and is designed to stimulate the thinking of curriculum developers as they design opportunities for unmasking diverse gifted potential.     

Transition to postgraduate study: postgraduate ecological systems and identity

This paper explores and examines the distal and proximal systems which construct social science postgraduate study in the UK and analyses the emergent identities of postgraduate students as they negotiate the multiple and interacting practices in their transition to study. The data represent part of a one-year research project, funded by the Higher Education Academy, in which staff and students from five UK universities participated. The paper takes a socio-cultural perspective and situates staff and students in the wider macro context of policy and practice surrounding postgraduate study as well as exploring the micro processes which construct the proximal experience of the transition. We argue that the silence surrounding postgraduate transition in the literature must be addressed in light of existing literature and the present research, both of which suggest that the systems which construct postgraduate study are complex and challenging to students, who do not always receive the support they require. We discuss the practices which implicitly assume expertise in postgraduate students in contrast to student self-identification as confused and struggling. Commonalities with other educational transitions are identified but we argue that there are distinct aspects to postgraduate transition which require greater breadth of research with both successful and unsuccessful postgraduate students.