Kenyan Secondary Teachers’ and Principals’ Perspectives and Strategies on Teaching and Learning with Large Classes

The reality that teachers in developing countries teach large, and even overcrowded classes, is daunting and one that may not go away any time soon. Class size in Kenyan public secondary schools is generally 40–59 students per class. This article reports initial findings on teachers’ and principals’ perspectives related to large classes. We used questionnaires, interviews and classroom observation data to examine teachers’ and principals’ perspectives regarding their capacities to teach and manage large classes; what challenges large class sizes present; and what additional supports teachers and principals perceive to be necessary. Both teachers and principals reported that the current class size has a negative impact on teaching and learning. Additionally, both teachers and principals cited a need for more support in the form of (a) professional development; (b) workload reduction; and (c) increased resources. These areas of support could help to mediate the effects of large class size, including an almost sole reliance on lecturing with little teacher-to-student and studentto-student interaction.     

A Technology-Based Peer Education Intervention: Results from a Sexual Health Textline Feasibility Study

Sexuality health education is moving beyond the classroom, with technology expanding youth access to sexual health information. While text message services are increasingly being used to provide information, a peer education approach has yet to be incorporated. Results from this feasibility study support a sexual health textline (IOTAS), incorporating teens asking and answering questions. Our findings suggest IOTAS fills a gap for sexual health information, and the technology-based approach offers peer educators an opportunity to expand their knowledge of healthy sexual behaviors and educate an extended peer network. Further work to refine IOTAS will enable dissemination of the intervention model.     

Seasonal changes in body composition of inter-county Gaelic Athletic Association hurlers

Longitudinal change in body composition for elite-level inter-county hurlers was reported over a single season and four consecutive seasons. Body composition measured by dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry (DXA) of 66 senior, male, outfield players was obtained. Four successive measurements were taken: off-season (OFF₁), pre-season (PRE), mid-season (MID) and the off-season of the following season (OFF₂). A subsample of 11 hurlers were measured at all time points over 4 consecutive seasons. DXA-derived estimates of fat and lean mass were normalised to stature for analysis (kg?m^?2); data are (mean [lower: upper, 95% confidence interval]). A concurrent increase of lean mass (0.31 [0.19: 0.43] kg?m^?2) and loss of fat mass occurred (?0.38 [?0.50: ?0.26] kg?m^?2) OFF₁ to PRE. Lean mass accrual was maintained PRE to OFF₂ while the initial loss of fat mass was restored MID to OFF₂ (0.52 [0.40: 0.64] kg ? m^?2), with the trunk acting as the primary region of change. Over the four seasons, a net increase of lean mass was observed (~ 0.9 [0.4: 1.4] kg per annum) with a negligible overall change for fat mass over time. However, the cycling of fat mass (OFF to PRE and MID to OFF) within each season was recurrent season-to-season.     

“Lift Up a Living Nation”: Community and Nation,Socialism and Religion in The English Hymnal, 1906

The lead editors of The English Hymnal (1906), Percy Dearmer and Ralph Vaughan Williams, found Victorian hymnody in need of serious revision, and not just aesthetically. This musical book was intended as an expression of the editors' Christian socialist politics involving in the participation of the congregation. This article examines how they achieved this by the encouragement of active citizenship through communal music-making, using folksong tunes alongside texts which affirmed community. This article argues that the editors wedded religion and high-quality music with a focus on citizenship drawn from British Idealism; using a cultural movement to seek social change.     

The challenges of facilitating arts learning in home education

Home education, or home schooling, is a rapidly growing global educational phenomenon. Given the emphasis that educators, policy makers and researchers have placed upon the arts as an important element in a holistic education, the ways in which the growing home education community are facilitating arts learning warrants consideration. Facilitating quality arts learning has been found to be extremely challenging, especially for generalist classroom teachers who may not possess background learning across the range of arts subjects represented in most arts curricula. Revelations from this study on Australian home educating parents identifies a similar dilemma with the facilitation of arts learning in home contexts, and a significant proportion of the home educating participants acknowledged little to no educational or artistic training. In this project, an online survey was conducted to develop insights into the ways Australian home educators (n = 193) approach arts education, the challenges associated with facilitating arts learning and the strategies they employ in light of these challenges. The research highlights that, while home education is pedagogically unique and distinct from traditional classroom education, the challenges participants expressed regarding teaching in the arts aligned closely with those expressed by classroom teachers in wider research; however, the uniqueness of home education contexts means that support structures for classroom teachers are less helpful for home educators. Implications arising from the research are thus beneficial in understanding the nature of support that might be tailored for arts learning in home education.     

Disturbing the silence of women metal workers

This reflection explores the challenges encountered at the beginnings of a PhD thesis looking at the history of women in the metal trades in Australia. As workers in a traditionally male-dominated industry, initially excluded from both occupations and union membership, these women have been in many ways silenced in the archival record. Confronting and disturbing that silence has been important in the early stages of this project. In doing so, the author has been guided by longstanding scholarship in women’s labour history and more recent explorations in archival studies.     

Leveraging the power of music to improve science education

We assessed the impact of music videos with science-based lyrics on content knowledge and attitudes in a three-part experimental research study of over 1000 participants (mostly K-12 students). In Study A, 13 of 15 music videos were followed by statistically significant improvements on questions about material covered in the videos, while performance on ‘bonus questions’ not covered by the videos did not improve. Video-specific improvement was observed in both basic knowledge and genuine comprehension (levels 1 and 2 of Bloom’s taxonomy, respectively) and after both lyrics-only and visually rich versions of some videos. In Study B, musical versions of additional science videos were not superior to non-musical ones in their immediate impact on content knowledge, though musical versions were significantly more enjoyable. In Study C, a non-musical video on fossils elicited greater immediate test improvement than the musical version (‘Fossil Rock Anthem’); however, viewers of the music video enjoyed a modest advantage on a delayed post-test administered 28 days later. Music video viewers more frequently rated their video as ‘fun’, and seemed more likely to revisit and/or share the video. Our findings contribute to a broader dialogue on promising new pedagogical strategies in science education.