Too Important to Quit: A Call for Teacher Support of Art

The author argues that general education teacher candidates must learn to “­re-start” art to empower them with the skills needed to realize art’s promise within their future classrooms. Entry/exit surveys completed by candidates ­revealed that an art methods course corrected misconceptions about the nature of creativity and improved candidates’ confidence in their artistic skills.     

An Ecological Momentary Assessment of Burnout,Rejuvenation Strategies,Job Satisfaction,and Quitting Intentions in Childcare Teachers

Guided by affective events theory, the purpose of this study was to examine the temporal aspects of childcare teacher burnout, particularly as to how feelings of exhaustion throughout the day relate to perceptions of end-of-day job satisfaction and quitting intentions. A secondary purpose of the study was to explore the frequency and type of rejuvenation strategies childcare teachers use to relieve perceived stress throughout the day. Ecological momentary assessment procedures were employed for 1 week to assess exhaustion levels (3 times/day), frequencies and types of rejuvenation strategies (3 times/day), and end-of-day job satisfaction perceptions and quitting intentions (1 time/day) among 50 childcare teachers. Results indicated that childcare teachers’ quitting intentions were positively predicted by emotional exhaustion (β?=?0.52) and negatively predicted by overall job satisfaction (β?=??0.28). Short (≤15 min), infrequently used (one to two times/day) physical or cognitive health reprieve strategies were reported by 86?% of teachers as the most effective for reducing daily stress. Findings suggest that daily accounts of burnout and quitting intentions have both exhaustive and restorative properties.     

Action learning for strategic innovation in mature organizations: key cognitive,design and contextual considerations

This article lays out a model of action learning for catalyzing strategic innovation in mature organizations that are faced with a new competitive playing field. Central to this model is the development of a set of sophisticated cognitive capabilities—sensemaking, strategic thinking, critical thinking, divergent thinking, conceptual capacity and a malleable learning orientation. The learning design provides challenge, opportunity and support for overcoming organizational orthodoxy that can otherwise hamper innovation. Examples from the Chubb Global Executive Program are used to identify and discuss key cognitive, contextual, learning and design elements of this model.     

Where class size really matters: Class size and student ratings of instructor effectiveness

We examine the impact of class size on student evaluations of instructor performance using data on all economics classes offered at the University of California, Santa Barbara from Fall 1997 to Spring 2004. A particular strength of this data is the opportunity to control for both instructor and course fixed effects. In contrast to the literature examining class size effects on test-based outcomes—where results can vary considerably across specifications—we find a large, highly significant, and nonlinear negative impact of class size on student evaluations of instructor effectiveness that is highly robust to the inclusion of course and instructor fixed effects.     

Our Path to Engagement,Learning, and Stewardship: The Oak Park Public Library,the American Library Association,and the Harwood Institute

How do we engage with our community in a more meaningful way? How do we make the user experience the center of all we do? What impact are we having and how do we measure it? In an effort to better answer these questions and make a tighter connection between library objectives and the broader needs of the community, the Oak Park Public Library embarked on a journey to “turn outward.” Following the Harwood model for community engagement, Oak Park has made strides in unifying its internal operations and strengthening strategic partnerships. Its intention is wider and deeper community impact.     

Does memory development belong on an endangered topic list?

Although memory has long been regarded as a central and well-defined topic within the field of cognitive development, developments in and related to the study of memory increasingly suggest that the study of memory needs to be situated in a number of broader conceptual and research contexts. Four of these contexts are identified here and the ways they accommodate memory phenomena are examined: (1) knowledge (what is remembered?); (2) comprehension (what does it mean?); (3) context/function (why remember?); and (4) strategy (how to remember?). Memories, it is suggested, are best examined as knowledge structures that are the product of efforts to understand and to know, and memorizing is a socially situated activity undertaken in the service of individual or social goals.     

Science Teacher Beliefs and Intentions to Implement Science-Technology-Society (STS) in the Classroom

Journal of Science Teacher Education -