An exploratory study of pre-service middle school teachers’ knowledge of algebraic thinking

Using algebraic habits of mind as a framework, and focusing on thinking about functions and how they work, we examined the relationship between 18 pre-service middle school teachers’ ability to use the features of the algebraic thinking (AT) habit of mind “Building Rules to Represent Functions” and their ability to recognize and interpret the features of the same AT habit of mind in middle school students. We assessed the pre-service teachers’ own ability to use the AT habit of mind Building Rules to Represent Functions by examining their solutions to algebra-based tasks in a semester-long mathematics content course. We assessed the pre-service teachers’ ability to recognize and interpret students’ facility with the AT habit of mind Building Rules to Represent Functions by analyzing their interpretations of students’ written solutions to algebra-based tasks and their ability to plan and analyze AT interviews of middle school students during a concurrent field-based education course. The data revealed that the pre-service teachers had a limited ability to recognize the full richness of algebra-based tasks’ potential to elicit the features of Building Rules to Represent Functions in students. The pre-service teachers’ own overall AT ability to Build Rules to Represent Functions was related to their ability to recognize the overall ability of students to Build Rules to Represent Functions, as exhibited during one-on-one interviews, but not to their ability to recognize the overall ability to Build Rules to Represent Functions exhibited exclusively in students’ written work. Implications for mathematics teacher education are discussed.     

Caring in the Ivory Tower

In this paper I argue that the teacher educators who deliberately create and nurture caring teacher–student relationships, despite the many challenges, benefit both themselves and their students in several ways. Although the notion that teachers should care for their students is not new, it may well be that professors too seldom communicate their caring clearly to students. First, I outline the literature on caring in education and provide examples of how professors show they care – and why students find this so important. Building on my belief that all (good) teaching involves humans in relation, I then describe how I use beginning-of-the-semester, one-to-one meetings with new students as one example of how caring can be operationalized. In an era when content-matter dissemination and accountability are increasingly reified, it is crucially important to see and treat our students as whole people rather than consumer-critics so that the dominant reductionist and consumerist traditions can be challenged and ultimately transformed.     

General Communication

THE MEDIA MONOPOLY by Ben H. Bagdikian (Boston, Massachusetts: Beacon Press, 1983—$8.95, paper).

COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGIES &; SOCIETY: CONCEPTIONS OF CAUSALITY &; THE POLITICS OF TECHNOLOGICAL INTERVENTION by Jennifer Daryl Slack (Norwood, New Jersey: Ablex Publishing, 1984—price not given).

THE MIRROR MAKERS: A HISTORY OF AMERICAN ADVERTISING AND ITS CREATORS by Stephen Fox (New York: William Morrow, 1984—$17.95).

INSTEAD OF REGULATION: ALTERNATIVES TO FEDERAL REGULATORY AGENCIES edited by. Robert W. Poole, Jr. (Lexington, Massachusetts: Lexington Books, 1982—$28.50).

MASS MEDIA ISSUES: ANALYSIS AND DEBATE edited by George Rodman (Chicago, Minois: SRA Inc., 1984— price not given, paper).     

A Review of: “HMO/PPO Directory: Detailed Profiles of U.S. Managed Healthcare Organizations & Key Decision Makers, 2010. 22nd ed.”

The Fourth-year Academic Clinical Training and Teaching Selective (FACTTS) is a course taught by medical and library faculty on the practice of evidence-based medicine and critical appraisal of the medical literature. This study assesses the impact of the course on students' understanding of the subject matter by examining three years of pre- and post-test data and addresses whether the number of sessions in the course affects the knowledge gained by the students. The data show an improvement in the students' understanding of course material, but no benefit was found in having two versus three sessions.     

‘Learning the basics’: young people’s engagement with sexuality education at secondary schools

School-based sexuality education remains a key response to the HIV epidemic. Drawing on findings from an ethnographic study, this study explores how young people engage with sexuality and HIV- and AIDS-related education as it is delivered through the Life Orientation (LO) learning area in South Africa, in order to understand the dynamics that support or hinder engagement. Focus group discussions were held with Grade 9 and 11 learners (aged 14–18 years) from 16 randomly selected public secondary schools across three provincial districts. Results show that enjoyment of LO education was related to perceived relevance and distinctiveness, informal lesson delivery, subjective assessment standards and seemingly minimal effort. However, the perception of reduced effort tarnished the status of LO and young people’s motivation to participate. Learner engagement is influenced by a variety of cognitive, affective and behavioural pathways including internalised discourse around HIV and AIDS, gender and sexuality; the quality of youth–educator relations and teaching competencies; peer pressures; and broader cultural dynamics. The cultivation of a learning environment in which young people share and debate their views promotes engagement and critical thinking. In-service and pre-service educator training, structured activity plans and monitoring are recommended to advance the content knowledge and pedagogy of educators.     

Creating a Context for the Learning of Science Process Skills Through Picture Books

This article provides suggestions on ways in which science process skills can be taught in a meaningful context through children’s literature. It is hoped that the following examples of how process skills can be taught using children’s books will provide a starting point from which primary teachers can create additional examples. Many possibilities exist within the world of children’s literature to develop process skills in a meaningful way.     

Australian engineering educators’ attitudes towards Aboriginal cultures and perspectives

In Australia, representation of Aboriginal populations within the engineering profession is very low despite participation targets set by Government departments, professional bodies and Universities. Progressing the Aboriginal inclusion agenda within Australian Engineering Education requires a clearer understanding of engineering educators’ preparedness for increased numbers of students from this non-traditional cohort. This research stems from a recently completed project that explored Aboriginal perspectives in engineering education and proposed a model for embedding perspectives in curricula. Nine engineering academics were interviewed to explore attitudes towards Aboriginal perspectives in engineering and the viability of the proposed model. Results of the interviews indicate efforts to embed Aboriginal perspectives are starting from a small base of knowledge and experience. Individuals’ motivations and values indicate that there is significant support for improving this, but that efforts can be hampered by conceptions of Aboriginal perspectives that do not consider how Aboriginal knowledges may change engineering itself.     

Issues in development of the test battery for Australian sign language morphology and syntax

In this article, we outline the initial stages in development of an assessment instrument for Australian Sign Language and explore issues involved in the development of such a test. We first briefly describe the instruments currently available for assessing grammatical skills in Australian Sign Language and discuss the need for a more objective measure. We then describe our adaptation of an existing American Sign Language test, the Test Battery for American Sign Language Morphology and Syntax. Finally, this article presents some of the data collected from a group of deaf native signers. These data are used to demonstrate the range of variability in key grammatical features of Australian Sign Language and to raise methodological issues associated with signed language test design.