The Training of Future Teachers in Ukraine and China

This paper explores distinctive features of Bachelor of Education (B. Ed.) training at several well known Ukrainian and Chinese universities. Comparative analysis was performed taking into consideration important criteria in the educational process of the degree programs (legislative, social, organizational, technological). The Chinese experience is of particular interest to Ukrainian educators because of China’s ancient history and educational traditions. Radical changes took place in the education systems of both countries in the period of transition to a market-based economy in the 1990s and to knowledge-based societies. The contribution of the educational system to fast economic development of China has brought the county to second place among the largest economies in the world. The authors found similarities in the documentation on the organization of educational processes at the universities, the shared purpose of the training, the use of traditional forms of education, and the emphasis on the practical part of the training. At the same time, different features were found in the content of theoretical training, the organization of practical training, the approaches to innovation, the social benefits provided to teachers, the prestige of the teaching profession, principles of moral education, as well as financial and technical support. The authors considered a number of progressive ideas in China’s B. Ed. training, the implementation of which, at national and institutional levels in Ukraine, might contribute considerably to the modernization of pedagogical education.     

Analyzing Longitudinal Data Using Natural Cubic Smoothing Splines

The analysis of longitudinal data has received widespread interest in the behavioral, educational, medical, and social sciences for many years. Many modeling techniques have been suggested for conducting such analyses, especially when the data exhibit complex nonlinear trajectory patterns. A major problem with many of these modeling techniques, however, is that they often either impose overly restrictive assumptions or can be computationally demanding. The purpose of this paper is to introduce a less known but highly effective modeling procedure that can be used to model complex nonlinear longitudinal data patterns. The procedure is illustrated using empirical data along with an easy to use computerized implementation.     

THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN ICT USE AND SCIENCE KNOWLEDGE FOR CZECH STUDENTS: A SECONDARY ANALYSIS OF PISA 2006

The 2006 Programme for International Student Assessment focussed on students’ scientific competencies, measured their knowledge and provided questionnaires focussed on different aspects of life. One aspect was students’ experience with information and communication technology (ICT). A secondary analysis of variance of the Czech Republic data (N?=?5,932 students) was conducted using the science knowledge test score and ICT familiarity items. The science knowledge items explored different thematic areas, such as evolution, mousepox, genetics and acid rain. The main result was that students who were connected in some way with ICT achieved better scores on the science knowledge test in comparison with students who were not. Furthermore, students whose ICT activity was connected with the educational process achieved a higher score in comparison with students whose ICT activity was not connected with the educational process.     

Social Influences on False Belief Access: Specific Sibling Influences or General Apprenticeship?

Some recent studies have found a relation between the number of siblings 3–4-year-old children have and their performance on false belief tasks. 2 experiments reported here examine a variety of factors in children's social environments, including daily contact with peers and adults as well as the numbers of their siblings, on a battery of false belief tests. In Experiment 1, 82 preschoolers were studied in Rethymnon, Crete, in order to obtain a range of extended kin available as a resource for the child. In Experiment 2, 75 Cypriot preschoolers were studied in Nicosia in order to examine the influences of each child's daily social contacts, as measured by maternal questionnaire. Logistic regression revealed that the factors which account for most of the predicted variance on the theory of mind tests were ( a ) the number of adult kin available (Experiment 1) or adults interacted with daily (Experiment 2), ( b ) the child's age, ( c ) the number of older siblings a child has, and ( d ) the number of older children interacted with daily. The results suggested that theory of mind is not simply passed from one sibling to another in a process of social influence. It seems more likely that a variety of knowledgeable members of her or his culture influence the apprentice theoretician of mind.     

Toward Integration: From Quantitative Biology to Mathbio-Biomath?

In response to the call of BIO2010 for integrating quantitative skills into undergraduate biology education, 30 Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) Program Directors at the 2006 HHMI Program Directors Meeting established a consortium to investigate, implement, develop, and disseminate best practices resulting from the integration of math and biology. With the assistance of an HHMI-funded mini-grant, led by Karl Joplin of East Tennessee State University, and support in institutional HHMI grants at Emory and University of Delaware, these institutions held a series of summer institutes and workshops to document progress toward and address the challenges of implementing a more quantitative approach to undergraduate biology education. This report summarizes the results of the four summer institutes (2007–2010). The group developed four draft white papers, a wiki site, and a listserv. One major outcome of these meetings is this issue of CBE—Life Sciences Education, which resulted from proposals at our 2008 meeting and a January 2009 planning session. Many of the papers in this issue emerged from or were influenced by these meetings.     

Online training of TPACK skills of higher education scholars: a cross-institutional impact study

Higher education institutions should provide adequate training for teachers in order to increase their awareness of the complex interplay between technology, pedagogy and the cognitive knowledge in their disciplines. However, research has shown that providing effective staff development from teacher educators to support these teachers’ skills is not straightforward. An online teacher training programme created and implemented by a team of 14 teacher educators in a cross-institutional programme in the Netherlands was followed by 67 teachers. Data were gathered using a TPACK (Technological, Pedagogical, Content Knowledge) instrument in a pre-post test design. Furthermore, (perceived) learning satisfaction was measured in order to determine whether the design was appropriate. The results indicate that the teachers’ TPACK skills increased substantially. Furthermore, most participants were positive about the design and implementation of the online professionalisation programme. Nonetheless, not all teachers were able to effectively learn in this context, requiring further fine-tuning and research.     

Understanding teenagers' personal contexts to design technology that supports learning about energy consumption

Energy sustainability is prevalent in political and popular rhetoric and yet energy consumption is rising. Teenagers are an important category of future energy consumers, but little is known of their conceptions about energy and energy saving. We report on empirical research with two groups of teenagers. This is part of ongoing work to design learning technologies that support teenagers learn about personal energy consumption. In this paper we describe our analysis and methodology, which are shaped by the Ecology of Resources (EoR) design framework [Luckin, R. (2010). Re-designing learning contexts: Technology-rich, learner-centred ecologies. London and New York, NY: Routledge]. Our findings informed the development of an EoR model of the participants' personal context, which includes their world resources (people, tools, knowledge, skills, and environment) and their personal resources (conceptions, motivations and concerns around energy consumption). We discuss the range of methods we employed to understand learners' personal contexts. These findings contribute to our understanding of how to explore teenagers' personal contexts and have implications for the design of technology to support learning about personal energy consumption.     

Employing the principles of universal design for learning to deconstruct the Greek-Cypriot new national curriculum

The present paper discusses issues related to inclusive education and curricula development based on the principles of universal design for learning (UDL), and it reports on the results of a qualitative content analysis of the new national curriculum (NNC) developed for the public Greek-Cypriot schools in Cyprus. According to the findings, the NNC does not accommodate the principles of the UDL to an extent that would enable teachers differentiate their teaching. The argument is advanced that the UDL principles could act as a starting point in developing a more inclusive curriculum; a curriculum that reflects the expressed political commitment to inclusive education and is based on research findings that inform the way curriculum components are addressed.     

Competency-Based Reforms of the Undergraduate Biology Curriculum: Integrating the Physical and Biological Sciences

The National Experiment in Undergraduate Science Education project funded by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute is a direct response to the Scientific Foundations for Future Physicians report, which urged a shift in premedical student preparation from a narrow list of specific course work to a more flexible curriculum that helps students develop broad scientific competencies. A consortium of four universities is working to create, pilot, and assess modular, competency-based curricular units that require students to use higher-order cognitive skills and reason across traditional disciplinary boundaries. Purdue University; the University of Maryland, Baltimore County; and the University of Miami are each developing modules and case studies that integrate the biological, chemical, physical, and mathematical sciences. The University of Maryland, College Park, is leading the effort to create an introductory physics for life sciences course that is reformed in both content and pedagogy. This course has prerequisites of biology, chemistry, and calculus, allowing students to apply strategies from the physical sciences to solving authentic biological problems. A comprehensive assessment plan is examining students’ conceptual knowledge of physics, their attitudes toward interdisciplinary approaches, and the development of specific scientific competencies. Teaching modules developed during this initial phase will be tested on multiple partner campuses in preparation for eventual broad dissemination.