Changes in primary science over the past decade: Implications for the research community

During the early 1980s in Australia there was a new wave of expectancy about primary science as new curricula were being considered or introduced and research findings were beginning to identify new directions for both teaching and research. In an expression of this, six authors were invited to present papers to a symposium on primary science held in 1984 to address the question: “What do you believe should be the state of primary science (in Australia) in 1995 and what are the steps which need to be taken to achieve the desired state?” This study set out to identify what had been said at that time, to compare that with actual developments, and to identify possible future directions for research. Relevant publications includingResearch in Science Education were analysed as a means of comparing what had happened since 1984 with the hopes of those authors. It was only in the latter half of the decade that some of the scenarios painted by the authors in 1984 began to emerge. A key implication for the research community drawn from the analysis shows that science education researchers have tended to neglect working in collaboration with education departments and authorities for the improvement of primary science education.     

RESEARCHING RESISTANCE: CAMPAIGNS AGAINST ACADEMIES IN ENGLAND

ABSTRACT:  This article uses social movement theory to analyse campaigns against a new type of government-sponsored school – the Academy – in four areas of England. It seeks to identify the social composition of anti-Academy campaigns, to track their encounters with proponents of the new schools and to describe the characteristic forms of their campaigning strategies. In doing so, the article aims to help place research into educational opposition and contestation closer to the centre of researchers' agendas.     

Factors influencing anaphoric processing in ESL reading comprehension

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of some factors that influence English as Second Language (ESL) readers’ ability to resolve anaphoric expressions. Fifty full-time ESL students randomly drawn from three different proficiency levels served as unpaid volunteers for the project. Data were elicited by means of multiple-choice and cloze tests. The experimental design contains one between-subjects factor (proficiency level) and three within-subjects factors, all orthogonally manipulated (number of antecedents, case of pronominal anaphor, and propositional distance from antecedent). A four-way mixed ANOVA for the multiple-choice tests indicated significant effects for proficiency level, case of anaphor, and the interaction of case and number of antecedents. A similar four-way ANOVA for the cloze tests indicated significant effects for proficiency level, number of antecedents, case of anaphor, distance from antecedent, and for the interactions of case and antecedents, antecedents and distance, and case and distance. Similarities in the findings from this study and other first and second language studies are noted. Latent trait measurement procedures were employed to produce a rank order of difficulty for the different item types examined in this study.     

The effect of processing depth on ESL reading comprehension

This study investigated the effect of depth of processing on second-language reading comprehension. It was hypothesized that questions which entailed shallow cognitive processing would be easier to answer than questions which entailed deeper cognitive processing. Three of the four research hypotheses were confirmed. Previous training (or lack of it) may account for why one of the predictions was not confirmed. This paper concludes with a cautionary note about the types of reading performance teachers can expect, and the recognition of open-ended testing techniques in secondlanguage reading assessment.     

Arm-waving Mathematics: Sound,if Not Rigorous

This article suggestes some teachniques, herein referred to as ‘arm-waving’, which utilise analogies, graphs and examples to illustrate the contribution of mathematisc to statistical concepts without a rigorous treatment of the mathematics used.     

Perspectives on the standards agenda: exploring the agenda's impact on primary teachers' professional identities

ABSTRACT

This study aimed to investigate teachers' perspectives on the practical implementation of the standards agenda and its impact on their professional identities. Q-methodology was used alongside semi-structured interviews with UK primary school teachers. The study explored the views of 25 teachers in six schools, selected through purposive sampling to give a range of individual and institutional demographics. Teachers in this research commented on the impact the standards agenda has had on parental and societal judgements that affect their identity as professionals. Teachers held differing positions on whether they experienced constraint or flexibility when implementing standards objectives. These differing positions were mainly influenced by whether they taught above or below Year 3. Teachers who found flexibility in the agenda's objectives had less occupational stress and increased ownership of their own actions and the standards agenda. Teachers' positions were complex and changed according to situational influences at a classroom level.