Characteristics of the research supervision of postgraduate teachers’ action research

Today, many institutions of higher education support students in conducting practice-oriented research. This research refers to a broad array of approaches geared toward practitioners’ practice. The supervision of such research is of crucial importance, but little is known about its nature and characteristics. This study examined what research supervisors and postgraduate, in-service teacher students perceive are key elements of successful action research supervision. Four action research supervisors and eight postgraduate students were interviewed. Data were analysed by using theory and empirical data. Findings reveal 24 key elements of action research supervision, which refer to supervisors’ (1) skills in supporting knowledge development through and about action research and creating a supportive environment for developing knowledge, (2) knowledge and expertise in supervising action research, (3) attitude in the supervision of action research and (4) the motives driving supervisors’ actions in the student-supervisor relationship.     

Stability and Variability in Young Children's Understanding of Floating and Sinking During One Single‐Task Session

Intraindividual variability is a key component in explaining children's development and learning. Studying this type of variability on the micro‐timescale can help us understand real‐time constructive processes and the subsequent long‐term development. The aim of this article is to study the process of children's understanding of floating and sinking during one single‐task session. A total of 38 kindergartners were asked to explain the floating or sinking of 14 different objects. The results reveal that the majority of children showed a high degree of intraindividual variability. In general, most children had a decrease in variability of both content and complexity of explanations during one task session and stabilized in both complexity and content toward the end of the task. The analyses indicated that hypothesis testing was not related to changes in children's explanations. These results can be the starting point for further research about change on different, nested timescales.     

Supporting Communication in a Collaborative Discovery Learning Environment: the Effect of Instruction

We present a study on the effect of instruction on collaboration in a collaborative discovery learning environment. The instruction we used, called RIDE, is built upon four principles identified in the literature on collaborative processes: Respect, Intelligent collaboration, Deciding together, and Encouraging. In an experimental study, a group of learners (ages 15–17) receiving this instruction was compared to a control group. The learners worked in dyads on separate computers in a shared discovery learning environment in the physics domain of collisions, communicating through a chat channel. Qualitative and quantitative analyses of the logged actions in the learning environment and the chat protocols showed that the RIDE instruction can lead to more constructive communication, and improved discovery learning activities, as expected, although no direct effect on discovery learning results was found. This study shows the benefits of providing instruction on effective communication and the learning process in a collaborative discovery learning situation.     

Formative assessment in an online learning environment to support flexible on-the-job learning in complex professional domains

This article describes a blueprint for an online learning environment that is based on prominent instructional design and assessment theories for supporting learning in complex domains. The core of this environment consists of formative assessment tasks (i.e., assessment for learning) that center on professional situations. For each professional situation, three levels of situational complexity are defined, and within each of these three levels, tasks are offered that differ in the degree of support offered to the learner. This environment can support (beginning) professionals in complex domains in gaining insight into the available repertoire of behavior in professional situations, as well as into the quality and effectiveness of that behavior (assessment criteria), while simultaneously helping them to develop insight into the standards that their own behavior should (eventually) match.     

PISA mathematics and reading performance differences of mainstream European and Turkish immigrant students

Lower reading and mathematics performance of Turkish immigrant students as compared to mainstream European students could reflect differential learning outcomes, differential socioeconomic backgrounds of the groups, differential mainstream language proficiency, and/or test bias. Using PISA reading and mathematics scores of these groups, we examined the role of bias and various measures related to immigrant integration policies of the host societies. Results of a multilevel analysis of reading and mathematics tests demonstrated that at individual level, students with higher scores on an index of economic, social, and cultural status obtained higher achievement scores. At country level, MIPEX scores of education and the human development index of participating countries could predict differences in reading results but not in mathematics. After correction for background characteristics, effect sizes showed a difference of .65 SD (down from a value of .96 before correction) for reading and .58 SD (down from .78) for mathematics. However, a similar correction for background variables increased the score differences between Turkish immigrants and mainstreamers.     

Development of metacognitive skillfulness: A longitudinal study

This study shows the results of a two-year longitudinal study where the same participants were followed for two consecutive years as they enter secondary school (aged 12–14 years). The main issue was to investigate the development of both the quantity and the quality of metacognitive skills. Another issue was to establish whether the development of metacognitive skillfulness is intelligence-related or relatively intelligence-independent. Finally, the generality vs. domain-specificity of developing metacognitive skillfulness was investigated. Thirty-two secondary school students participated in this study. While thinking aloud they performed two different tasks representing two different domains: A text-studying task for history and a problem-solving task for math. Participants' intellectual ability, metacognitive skillfulness and learning performance were assessed. Results show a quantitative as well as a qualitative growth in metacognitive skillfulness. Furthermore, results of both years show that metacognitive skillfulness contributed to learning performance (partly) independent of intellectual ability. A parallel development of metacognitive and intellectual ability was found. Finally, metacognitive skills predominantly appear to be general. Domain-specific metacognitive skills, however, played a substantial, but minor role as well in both years. Instructional implications are being discussed.     

Three‐dimensional printing of X‐ray computed tomography datasets with multiple materials using open‐source data processing

Advances in three‐dimensional (3D) printing allow for digital files to be turned into a “printed” physical product. For example, complex anatomical models derived from clinical or pre‐clinical X‐ray computed tomography (CT) data of patients or research specimens can be constructed using various printable materials. Although 3D printing has the potential to advance learning, many academic programs have been slow to adopt its use in the classroom despite increased availability of the equipment and digital databases already established for educational use. Herein, a protocol is reported for the production of enlarged bone core and accurate representation of human sinus passages in a 3D printed format using entirely consumer‐grade printers and a combination of free‐software platforms. The comparative resolutions of three surface rendering programs were also determined using the sinuses, a human body, and a human wrist data files to compare the abilities of different software available for surface map generation of biomedical data. Data shows that 3D Slicer provided highest compatibility and surface resolution for anatomical 3D printing. Generated surface maps were then 3D printed via fused deposition modeling (FDM printing). In conclusion, a methodological approach that explains the production of anatomical models using entirely consumer‐grade, fused deposition modeling machines, and a combination of free software platforms is presented in this report. The methods outlined will facilitate the incorporation of 3D printed anatomical models in the classroom. Anat Sci Educ 10: 383–391. © 2017 American Association of Anatomists.     

Quality of infants' attachments to professional caregivers: relation to infant-parent attachment and day-care characteristics

75 infants (mean age 15 months) were observed 3 times in the Strange Situation with their professional caregivers, mothers, and fathers. Sensitivity of these attachment figures to the infant's signals during free play, as well as a number of day-care characteristics, were assessed. Attachment classification distribution of infant-caregiver dyads did not differ significantly from infant-mother or infant-father attachment classification distributions. The quality of infant-caregiver attachment was independent of both infant-mother and infant-father attachments. About 10% of the infants had 3 insecure attachments. Professional caregivers observed with more than 1 infant did not have similar types of attachment classifications to all infants with whom they were observed. Infants who were securely attached to their professional caregivers spent more hours per week in day-care, and came from a middle-class background. Their caregivers appeared to be younger and more sensitive during free play than caregivers with whom the infants developed an insecure relationship.     

How Good an Historian Shall I Be?

The book begins with a discussion of the debates on history education as they developed in Great Britain during the last decades of the previous century. In these debates, reference is often made to the views of the philosopher and historian R. G. Collingwood. However, according to the author, his philosophy of history is usually misunderstood. Besides correcting the various misinterpretations of Collingwood's views on history, special attention is paid to his theory of (historical) imagination. In the final part of the book, the relevance of Collingwood's philosophy for more general educational issues is discussed and compared with the views of Hirst, Bloom and Bruner.     

Metriken für UML-Modelle

Zusammenfassung. Um einen auf UML basierenden Entwicklungsprozess bewerten und verbessern zu können, werden Metriken für UML-Modelle definiert. Wir stellen einen Satz derartiger Metriken vor und diskutieren ihre Tauglichkeit. Unsere Metriken sind generisch definiert, sie werden zur Bewertung der einzelnen UML-Diagramme spezialisiert. Wir berichten vom Einsatz der Metriken zur Evaluation eines Prozessmodells, das in der Lehrveranstaltung Software-Praktikum eingesetzt wird. Eingegangen am 2. Januar 2001/Angenommen am 20. Dezember 2002CR Subject Classification: D.2.2, D.2.8, D.2.9, K.3.2, K.6.3