Integrating data in a complex mixed-methods classroom interaction study

Mixed-methods (MM) designs have gained increasing interest in educational research. Still, many studies collect quantitative and qualitative data but report these data separately and do not attempt to integrate them in practice. The aim of this article is to discuss the purposes and processes of integrating qualitative and quantitative data in an MM classroom interaction study. Issues regarding mixing and integration, including how to overcome integration barriers, are discussed. Based on this outline, the study then presents details about the various integration processes adopted in a recent MM study on classroom interaction in Norway. The possibilities and challenges of integration to produce new knowledge and a deeper understanding throughout the research process in classroom studies are illustrated with a specific focus on points of interface. A key issue is whether the new knowledge obtained in an MM study is more than the sum of the individual quantitative and qualitative parts. Using selected questions from the MM alphabet proved a helpful heuristic for guiding the iterative processes of integration and provided richer explanations and an enhanced understanding of the implementation and impact of a complex classroom intervention initiative. The study provides a new methodological contribution to the MM literature by examining the integration processes and challenges faced in a specific study.     

Effects of the Active Smarter Kids (ASK) Physical Activity School-based Intervention on Executive Functions: A Cluster-Randomized Controlled Trial

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of a seven-month curriculum prescribed physical activity (PA) intervention (the Active Smarter Kids [ASK] intervention) on executive functions in 10-year-old Norwegian children. A linear mixed model was used to analyze data from 971–1,123 fifth grade children at 28 intervention schools and 29 control schools. The intervention constituted three PA elements: PA educational lessons, PA breaks, and PA homework, adding 165 minutes of PA to the mandatory 135 minutes of PA and physical education. There was no effect of the intervention on executive functions in the intention-to-treat analyses. Per protocol analyses (n?=?776–850) revealed small effects of the intervention on the composite score of executive functions, cognitive flexibility, and motor skills. Cognitively engaging and coordinative demanding activities/games seem viable options to increase executive functions and possibly improve academic performance in children.     

公共服务体系建设与电大教育发展

公共服务体系建设是电大教育发展战略的重复组成部分.本文在公共服务体系建设与研究的已有成果的基础上,进一步提出了对公共服务体系内涵的再认识,总结了公共服务体系建设的基本经验,剖析了建设公共服务体系对电大教育改革和发展的重要意义,分析了当前公共服务体系建设和发展中的制约因素,并提出了推进公共服务体系建设和发展的建议.     

Spelling Remediation: a systematic long‐term approach to teaching spelling to an aphasic boy

TJ, a 10‐years, 7‐months‐old spelling‐disabled boy suffering from aphasia, was exposed to a spelling remediation programme introduced in the autumn term of Grade 4 and concluded in the spring term of Grade 6. A systematic strategy instructional approach was used to teach the boy 65 phonetically irregular words. The remedial spelling programme was successful in developing appropriate spelling strategies which were applied to the processing of these words and maintained at follow‐up at 2 months. Generalisation of programme effects was shown on standardised spelling tests administered during training. However, the programme did not seem to be very successful in lessening the disparity between the boy's spelling performance and average spelling performance for his grade. It was concluded that spelling‐disabled students suffering from neurological impairment probably need more cumulative training than other spelling‐disabled students. The potential role of a verbally orientated strategy approach in spelling remediation was also discussed in relation to a visually orientated approach.     

Imaginaries and problematisations: A heuristic lens in the age of artificial intelligence in education

This paper suggests that artificial intelligence in education (AIEd) can be fruitfully analysed as ‘policies frozen in silicon’. This means that they exist as both materialised and proposed problematisations (problem representations with corresponding solutions). As a theoretical and analytical response, this paper puts forward a heuristic lens that can provide insights into how AI technologies (or advocated AI technologies) function as proposed solutions to certain problematisations based on various imaginaries about how education and learning are best performed or supported. The combined reading of imaginaries and problematisations can thereby aid in our understanding of why and how visions of learning and education are framed in relation to AIEd developments. The overall ambition is to advance theoretical and analytical approaches towards an educational system which is (anticipated as) increasingly permeated by AI systems—systems that also support and implement, more or less, invisible models, standards and assessments of learning, as well as more grand visions of (technology-augmented) education in society.

Practitioner notes

What is already known about this topic

• Artificial intelligence in education (AIEd) is repeatedly presented as a solution for a range of educational ‘problems’.
• This means that such ‘solutions’ must also frame certain aspects as ‘problems’.
• Such problems and ‘solutions’ (problematisations) also exist within certain imaginaries of the present times and of the future, where these problematisations are presented as particularly significant and acute, and promoting specific anticipations of learning and ideals of education.

What this paper adds

• An exposition of problematisations in educational settings.
• An exposition of educational imaginaries.
• A heuristic lens for understanding the ‘present’ and ‘future’ in a particular imaginary as entangled in, and dependent on, a certain ‘past’.

Implications for practice and/or policy

• The approach presented in this paper provides a heuristic lens for examining how AI technologies (or advocated AI technologies) function as proposed solutions to problematisations based on imaginaries about how education and learning are best performed or supported.
• This aids our understanding of how and why certain visions of learning and education are framed in relation to AIEd developments (real or imagined).
• It also advances theoretical and analytical approaches towards an educational system, which is (anticipated as) increasingly permeated by AI systems—systems that also support and implement, more or less, invisible models, standards and assessments of learning, as well as more grand visions of (technology-augmented) education in society.

     

Local education authority’s quality management within a coupled school system: Strategies,actions, and tensions

Journal of Educational Change - International policy trends point to an increased focus on student achievement, teaching quality, and school outcomes. Attention to Swedish students’ poor...