Making sense of technology in educational leadership programs

Conclusion Identify standards, align curricula, support technology—these are the three strategies that bring clarity to the process. As technology changes, the standards, curricula and support must change. ACTIVStudio, interactive whiteboards and cyber diaries are not just buzzwords — they are the new language of technology. The Citadel School of Education is paying attention — making sense of the challenge of keeping current technology in educational leadership programs. She is a former teacher and school administrator and currently teaches graduate courses, including microcomputers and school management, to aspiring administrators. Ms. Alice B. Hambright, a former public school teacher.     

Performance of Montessori and traditionally schooled nursery children on tasks of seriation, classification, and conservation

It was hypothesized that the Montessori curriculum accelerates the acquisition of a number of concrete operational skills. To test this, eighty 4-year-old children were given three Piagetian problems—seriation, classification, and conservation. Half of the subjects were from Montessori schools, and the other half were from more traditional nursery settings. Within each type of school, half of the children were first year and the other half were second year enrollees. Results showed that significantly more Montessori than traditional children seriated and classified objects like concrete thinkers but that there were no differences on the conservation problem. Year of enrollment did not influence performance on any of the tasks. It was concluded that the hypothesis was confirmed and that the failure to find acceleration of conservation performance was due to its advanced nature relative to the other problems and/or the tangential manner in which Montessori exercises deal with the critical concepts that underly it.     

Information use and needs in manufacturing organizations: Organizational factors in information behaviour

In this paper assumptions about the nature of complex organizations are examined in relation to the design of information systems. Models of organizational structure which have been used in relation to information need are discussed in the light of recent findings of a research project which has investigated the information use and needs of managers in manufacturing companies. Qualitative and quantitative data are presented and discussed. The findings do not support some of the current assumptions about information in complex organizations and the implications of this are discussed.     

Preservice Teachers Adrift on a Sea of Knowledges

The paper argues for fresh recognition of the complexities faced by preservice teachers, particularly during the practicum, where they are expected to bring their stockpile of diverse, and sometimes conflicting, knowledges about effective teaching to immediate use with classroom learners. The paper abo draws on insights from postmodern theorising on the privileging of knowledges. While the major focus of the paper is on issues surrounding multiplicity of knowledges about effective classroom teaching, it is also recognised that much of learning to teach occurs in affective, ethical and interpersonal ways as well as cognitive. Several suggestions are made to assist preservice teachers negotiate the complexities of the process of becoming teachers. It is argued that the practicum in preservice teacher education can be seen as a rich site for further exploration of this process—and should be resourced commensurately. Such explorations have the potential to illuminate the ways in which preservice teachers mesh knowledges about effective teaching with their own personal values and beliefs within the specific contexts of their classrooms. Associated with the recognition of the complexities of the processes involved, is a call for university and school based teacher educators to model, with respect to their programmes and practices, the same level of critical reflection they advocate for student teachers.     

School psychologists' perceptions of priorities for dealing with the dropout problem

A sample of 444 (245 males and 199 females) Nationally Certified School Psychologists were surveyed to determine which causes of dropping out should be national priorities. A Principal Axis Factoring with oblimin rotation was conducted using the 42-item School Psychologist's Dropout Survey. The five factors which emerged were Criminal/Victimization, Different from Peer Group, School Conflict, Dysfunctional Family/Lack of Support, and Family Responsibilities. The factors comprised of items with loadings of .40 or higher were added together for each factor to obtain subscale total scores for each participant. Then, for each subscale all total scores were added together and divided by 444 to obtain an average subscale total score for the entire sample. This process was followed for all five subscales. Finally, the average subscale scores were ranked to identify which causes of dropping out were viewed by school psychologists as the most important national priority. School psychologists perceived school conflicts and dysfunctional families as the primary causes of dropping out that should be national priorities. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Dynamic mental models in learning science: The importance of constructing derivational linkages among models

We present a theory of learning in science based on students deriving conceptual linkages among multiple models which represent physical phenomena at different levels of abstraction. The models vary in the primitive objects and interactions they incorporate and in the reasoning processes that are used in running them. Students derive linkages among models by running a model (embodied in an interactive computer simulation) and reflecting on its emergent behaviors. The emergent properties they identify in turn become the primitive elements of the more abstract, derived model. We describe and illustrate derivational links among three models for basic electricity: a particle model, an aggregate model, and an algebraic model. We then present results of an instructional experiment in which we compared high school students who were exposed to these model derivations with those who were not. In all other respects, both groups of students received identical instruction. The results demonstrate the importance of enabling students to construct derivational linkages among models, both with respect to their understanding of circuit theory and their ability to solve qualitative and quantitative circuit problems. © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 36: 806–836, 1999     

Effects of diagnostic label,race, gender,educational placement,and definitional information on prognostic outlook for children with behavior problems

Across the United States, children with behavioral and emotional problems receive one of a variety of labels if they are determined eligible for special education services. Labels like SED, EBD, and BD can result in lowered or negative expectations that others have for these children. This study investigated the effects of label, child's gender and race, child's educational placement, and availability of definitional information on prognostic judgments for children with behavior problems. Three‐hundred‐sixty‐three undergraduate students enrolled in teacher education courses read a vignette and completed a prognostic outlook questionnaire. The questionnaire items asked for judgments about the likelihood of further behavioral disruption, the likelihood of developing and maintaining adequate interpersonal relationships, and requested an estimate of overall adjustment of the child. The vignette described an elementary school child with behavior problems and its content was held constant. Gender (boy vs. girl), race (African American vs. Caucasian), educational placement (receiving special education services full‐time through inclusion vs. self‐contained), diagnostic label (BD vs. EBD vs. SED) and definition of the disorders (present vs. absent) were varied. There was a label × race × placement interaction and a label × definition interaction for the behavioral disruptiveness dependent measure. Under the inclusion condition White children who had the SED or EBD label were rated to be significantly more likely to be disruptive than children with the BD label. For the 2‐way interaction when no definitional information was given children who had the SED label were rated more likely to be disruptive than children who had either the EBD or BD labels. There was also a significant gender × race × definition interaction on the overall adjustment measure. However, post hoc contrasts were not significant and no conclusions were drawn other than that the effect was minimal. There was a significant main effect of gender on the interpersonal relationships variable. Girls were judged as significantly more likely to develop appropriate interpersonal relationships with others than were boys. No other significant effects were noted. © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Scientific Modeling for Inquiring Teachers Network (SMIT’N): The Influence on Elementary Teachers’ Views of Nature of Science, Inquiry, and Modeling

This paper summarizes the findings from a K-6 professional development program that emphasized scientific inquiry and nature of science within the theme of scientific modeling. During the 2-week summer workshop and follow up school year workshops, the instruction modeled a 5-E learning cycle approach. Pre and posttesting measured teachers’ views of nature of science, inquiry, and scientific modeling. Teachers improved their views of nature of science (NOS) and inquiry by including scientific modeling in their definitions of how scientists work, the empirical nature of science, and the role of observations and inferences in science. Their definitions of science expanded from a knowledge-based orientation to a process-based orientation. Teachers added the use of mathematical formulas to their views of scientific modeling. Using scientific modeling as the central theme was effective in providing positive influence on teachers’ views of inquiry and NOS.     

Gender and Management in HEIs: Changing organisational and management structures

This paper reports on the second phase of a multi-country study examining cross cultural perspectives of gender and management in Higher Education Institutions (HEIs). It examines the broader labour market context and legislative frameworks for higher education in each country and then analyses the literature on women in university management. The paper presents the findings of research with male and female senior managers about their perceptions of women as HEI managers within changing organisational and management structures. It concludes that although HEI’s are now largely aware of barriers to women getting into and on in senior management, they have not addressed the organisational structures and cultures that perpetuate this inequity.