Exploring the Usefulness of Kelly's Personal Construct Theory in Assessing Student Learning in Science Courses

We explore the utility of George Kelly's Personal Construct Theory, specifically his repertory grid technique, to the assessment of student learning in undergraduate science courses. We provide an in-depth review of the assumptions underlying Personal Construct Theory and how these were reflected in the repertory grid technique Kelly developed. We explain how an adapted version of the repertory grid, sharing some yet not all of Kelly's assumptions, was utilised as a research tool in a recent study involving science instructors and their students. We argue that as well as having applicability as an innovative research tool, an adapted version of Kelly's repertory grid is a useful heuristic for university teachers when used as a classroom assessment technique (CAT) and indicate several features it shares with the more widely-known conceptual mapping technique, which has been used in the study of science teaching and learning for many years. We conclude by highlighting several advantages the use of repertory grids has for both students and instructors.     

Discipline‐based academic development through a tripartite partnership

Abstract

This paper describes a discipline‐based academic development project based upon a tripartite relationship between departmental staff, work‐based practitioners and the central academic development unit which took place over one academic year within the Department of Physiotherapy, Queen Margaret College, Edinburgh. The purpose of the project was to discuss and debate the concept of the ‘reflective practitioner’, to develop strategies for enabling undergraduate students to be reflective, and to devise a framework for assessment of reflective practice in clinical work‐based learning. The outcomes of the project, most important of which was a change in the learning experience for students, demonstrate that academic development can be valuable and productive when undertaken as a partnership and placed in a disciplinary context. The authors identify key elements important to the success of the academic development process which should be applicable in similar situations and which could serve as guidelines for the planning and delivery of staff development through similar kinds of partnerships.     

Using a structural equation modelling approach (SEM) to examine leadership of heads of subject departments (HODs) as perceived by principals and vice-principals,heads of subject departments and teachers within ‘school based management’ (SBM) secondary schools: some evidence from Hong Kong

This article reports the use of a Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) technique as a means of exploring our understanding of the leadership of Heads of Subject Departments within School Based Management (SBM) secondary schools in Hong Kong. Arguments made by Gronn (1999, 2000), Spillane et al. (2001) suggest that studies of leadership need to focus more on a distributed model rather than seeing leadership as residing solely in the titular head of the organisation. Other recent studies (Busher & Harris 1999; Harris 2001) have examined the role of middle managers. This article explores SEM as a means of offering important measurement and insight in this complex area. The structural models generated and presented support a new integrative model of the leadership activities and behaviours of the HODs within SBM secondary schools in Hong Kong. Some initial findings (Au 2003) are reported based on a return rate of 83% from a dataset of 2739 teachers, HODs, school principals and vice- principals taken from a sample of 110 government and non-government SBM secondary schools in Hong Kong.     

1265: An examination of some of the management implications of directed time

This enquiry seeks to establish how some secondary school headteachers have directed their DEs‐prescribed allocation of 1265 hours. Investigations focus particularly on those management processes used to determine the budget, the measures employed to ensure a flexibility in a budget once it has been defined, and some effects of budgeting on meetings. The allocation of hours to specific school tasks is scrutinized and the authors conclude with recommendations and suggestions for improving budgeting decisions in the future.     

Forces affecting change in small rural schools

Selected curriculum changes were studied in two rural shcool‐community contexts. Both qualitative and quantitative data indicated that implementation was at a low level of use and that factors related to isolation were particularly powerful influences in the change process. A major implication of the study is demonstrated need for detailed curriculum implementation plans that account for local school community factors.     

The reliability and validity of the pupil behaviour questionnaire: a child classroom behaviour assessment tool

ABSTRACT

This paper assesses the reliability and validity of the teacher-completed Pupil Behaviour Questionnaire (PBQ), by comparing it to the already extensively validated teacher-completed Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ). Participants included 2074 primary school children participating in a universal school-based trial and 41 vulnerable children who were taking part in a study exploring the impact of exclusion from school. Exploratory factor analysis results (first factor accounts for 80.8% of the variation in the items) and the high Cronbach’s alpha value of 0.85 indicate that the PBQ consists of one substantive factor/dimension. Strong correlations between the total PBQ score and the conduct sub-scale (Spearman’s correlation coefficient (r_s) = 0.67) and total difficulties score (r_s = 0.59) of the SDQ indicate convergent validity. This study suggests that the PBQ is a reliable measure, and provides some evidence of validity. Further work is needed to test the PBQ in an older, more diverse populations and to measure sensitivity to change.     

Improving sexual health for young people: making sexuality education a priority

How well do young people understand their developing sexuality and what this means? This paper reports on findings from the Our Lives: Culture, Context and Risk project, which investigated sexual behaviour and decision-making in the context of the everyday life experience and aspirations of Indigenous and non-Indigenous young people (16–25 years) in the Northern Territory, Western Australia and in South Australia. Using qualitative data, this paper focuses on what participating young people thought was necessary to improve the quality of sexuality education. Participants suggest that current forms of sexuality education are too clinical, didactic and unengaging, and are missing in relevant content. Young people requested more information on relationships, first sexual experiences and negotiating condom use. These requests indicate that young people realise that they need more knowledge in order to have healthy relationships, which conflicts with the popular belief that providing young people with open, honest information around sex will encourage them to have sex or increase sexual risk taking. Making sexuality education more of a priority and listening to the needs of young people could be a positive step towards improving sexual health and well-being.     

Microstructural analysis of negative anticipatory contrast: A reconsideration of the devaluation account

An animal’s appetitive behavior is not a fixed response to current stimulation but can be affected by the anticipation of future events. For example, rats regularly given access to a moderately valued solution followed by a higher value solution (e.g., 4 % sucrose → 32 % sucrose) consume less of the initial solution than in control conditions where the initial solution is not followed by a higher value solution (e.g., 4 % sucrose → 4 % sucrose). Previous analyses have suggested that this negative anticipatory contrast effect does not depend on the “expectation” of a valuable stimulus producing a functional devaluation of a currently available stimulus of lesser value. In a within-subjects anticipatory contrast procedure, this study revealed that both consumption and the mean size of licking clusters were smaller for a 4 % sucrose solution on days when it preceded 32 % sucrose than on days when 4 % preceded 4 %. Since lick cluster size typically bears a positive monotonic relationship with the concentration of palatable solutions, this reduction is indicative of a decrease in the palatability/hedonic value of the solution subject to contrast. As such, we provide direct evidence that negative anticipatory contrast does produce a functional devaluation of the solution, thus challenging prevailing theoretical assumptions.     

Right or Wrong? Toward a Theory of IRBs’ (Dis)Approval of Research

No one would disagree that scientific research has been unethical—even criminal—at times. Institutional review boards (IRBs) play a fundamental role in protecting people from unethical criminological research. At the same time, IRBs, as social entities, are subject to a wide range of influences that may affect their decisions regarding the ethicality of research. This research note draws on the paradigm of pure sociology and the logic underpinning Black’s theory of law to propose a preliminary theory of IRBs’ (dis)approval of research. Specifically, it suggests that IRBs apply less social control to criminological research involving higher status researchers and lower status research participants and, therefore, those persons are more often involved in research. The paper concludes with theoretically situated, practical advice for how (1) IRBs can reduce their discrimination, and (2) criminological researchers can reduce IRBs’ disapproval of their projects and thereby increase their research output.     

Lombroso's Legacy: The Miseducation of Criminologists

This study examines the extent to which criminal justice and criminology Ph.D. students are exposed to contemporary biological and genetic findings associated with aggression and violence. Drawing on multiple sources of information, we find little evidence showing that Ph.D. students are exposed to any biological research on crime and offending. We examine the consequences for this “trained incompetence” and offer suggestions for remedying this deficiency.

If all mankind minus one were of one opinion, and only one person were of the contrary opinion, mankind would be no more justified in silencing that one person, than he, if he had the power, would be justified in silencing mankind. (John Stuart Mill)