Introduction

This paper conceptualises think tanks and edu-businesses in relation to education policy work in the Australian polity. It situates the enhanced influence of both in relation to the restructured state, which has lost some key capacities in relation to the generation of research and ideas for policy. This restructuring has been strongly influenced by the techniques of new public management, the auditing of education through national and international testing and new forms of network governance, which have opened up spaces for the increased influence of think tanks and edu-businesses across the policy cycle in education. We see here the workings of a ‘polycentric state’. The paper also considers changing concepts of ‘evidence’, ‘expertise’ and ‘influence’ in respect of the involvement of think tanks and edu-businesses in circulating policy ideas and affecting policy development in Australian education. This introduction to this special issue of The Australian Educational Researcher serves as a provocation to further research on this new policy scenario.     

Datafication,testing events and the outside of thought

Education is undergoing various transformations due to new data-driven educational technologies and the management of educational data through data infrastructures. These technologies are frequently promoted to parents and the profession as being ‘revolutionary’ because they represent a new generation of learning. While computer adaptive tests may arguably improve various efficiencies, the argument that they will revolutionise education requires evaluation. In this paper we draw on the philosophy of Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari to theorise (a) the desire for data amongst policymakers and (b) the effects of data infrastructures as systems that coordinate educational thought. We argue that, rather than revolutionising learning as promised, datafication in computer-based modes merely offers more intense expressions of longstanding possibilities for learning. We describe three types of events—breaks, cracks and ruptures—and argue that data-events translate cracks (imperceptible changes that constitute learning) into breaks (information), but either cannot generate rupture (difference) or represent rupture as error. However, the intensification of learning through datafication may, we suggest, rupture educational thought more broadly.     

The Role of Content Knowledge in Ill-Structured Problem Solving for High School Physics Students

While Physics Education Research has a rich tradition of problem-solving scholarship, most of the work has focused on more traditional, well-defined problems. Less work has been done with ill-structured problems, problems that are better aligned with the engineering and design-based scenarios promoted by the Next Generation Science Standards. This study explored the relationship between physics content knowledge and ill-structured problem solving for two groups of high school students with different levels of content knowledge. Both groups of students completed an ill-structured problem set, using a talk-aloud procedure to narrate their thought process as they worked. Analysis of the data focused on identifying students’ solution pathways, as well as the obstacles that prevented them from reaching “reasonable” solutions. Students with more content knowledge were more successful reaching reasonable solutions for each of the problems, experiencing fewer obstacles. These students also employed a greater variety of solution pathways than those with less content knowledge. Results suggest that a student’s solution pathway choice may depend on how she perceives the problem.     

Assessing Competencies of Counselors‐in‐Training: Complexities in Evaluating Personal and Professional Development

In this article, the authors examine the complexities of assessing the professional and personal development of counselors‐in‐training. The authors discuss a set of issues the profession must address in an effort to reduce inconsistencies and uncertainties related to student assessment, and the authors provide questions, recommendations, and future directions for assessing student competencies in the areas of professional and personal development.     

Tangles and Glimmers: How African Immigrant Students in an Urban Charter School Describe Congruencies and Disconnections in Caring Between Home and School

The Urban Review - Misalignments in caring between home and school can often be a source of alienation for minoritized students. This study explores how African immigrant middle school students at...     

Squishing Circuits: Circuitry Learning with Electronics and Playdough in Early Childhood

While circuitry lessons have traditionally been first introduced in late elementary school, they remain challenging conceptually for undergraduates in physics and engineering courses. Seeking to provide a higher quality and earlier introduction to circuitry learning for young children (ages 3–5), this paper investigates the affordances of utilizing the Squishy Circuits toolkit, a circuitry kit that combines circuit components and playdough, as a first introduction. Our study engaged 45 children across three nursery school classrooms in open-ended play with Squishy Circuits toolkits for seven sessions over a period of 2 weeks. Here, we focus on six children in one focal classroom in order to illustrate the concepts that children are developing during play and open exploration with the kits and a range of crafting materials. Findings indicated that the Squishy Circuits toolkit enabled children to explore concepts important to circuitry learning, including current flow, polarity, and connections. Additionally, analysis of whole class conversations before and after the circuitry explorations indicated significant gains in children’s ability to discuss circuitry concepts over the course of the study. Through individual case studies, we illustrate how children enacted these concepts through their play and how the transparency afforded by the toolkit make the big ideas of circuitry visible. This work serves to illustrate how very young children can successfully begin to engage with science topics commonly introduced in later elementary school when those topics are framed through play and discovery with transparent and malleable materials.

     

Cadaveric Dissection in Relation to Problem-Based Learning Case Sequencing: A Report of Medical Student Musculoskeletal Examination Performances and Self-Confidence

Mercer University School of Medicine utilizes a problem-based learning (PBL) curriculum for educating medical students in the basic clinical sciences. In 2014, an adjustment was piloted that enabled PBL cases to align with their corresponding cadaver dissection that reviewed the content of anatomy contained in the PBL cases. Faculty had the option of giving PBL cases in sequence with the cadaveric dissection schedule (sequential group) or maintaining PBL cases out of sequence with dissections (traditional group). During this adjustment, students’ academic performances were compared. Students’ perception of their own preparedness for cadaveric dissection, their perceived utility of the cadaver dissections, and free-response comments were solicited via an online survey. There were no statistically significant differences when comparing student mean examination score values between the sequential and traditional groups on both multidisciplinary examinations (79.39 ± 7.63 vs. 79.88 ± 7.31, P = 0.738) and gross anatomy questions alone (78.15 ± 10.31 vs. 79.98 ± 9.31, P = 0.314). A statistically significant difference was found between the sequential group's and traditional group's (63% vs. 29%; P = 0.005) self-perceived preparedness for cadaveric dissections in the 2017 class. Analysis of free-response comments found that students in the traditional group believed their performance in PBL group, participation in PBL group and examination performance was adversely affected when compared to students with the sequential schedule. This study provides evidence that cadaveric dissections scheduled in sequence with PBL cases can lead to increased student self-confidence with learning anatomy but may not lead to improved examination scores.     

An examination of major IS planning problems

Knowing what problems to expect in an IS planning exercise enhances the probability of a successful outcome. This study identifies the major IS planning problems associated with the three phases of IS planning: the launching phase, the plan development phase, and the implementation phase. Data were collected using a questionnaire survey mailed to senior IS executives in 600 firms. Of the 175 responses received, 138 responses (comprising firms practising IS planning) were used for data analysis. In all the three phases, failing to secure top management support for the IS planning effort is the most serious problem. Not having free communication flow, and not being able to obtain sufficiently qualified personnel are the other two major problems in the planning phase. In the plan development phase, respondents reported ignoring business goals and failing to translate these goals/strategies into action plans as major problems as well. Neglecting to adjust the IS plan to reflect major environmental changes is the other major problem in the implementation phase. Probable explanations were provided for these and other problems.