Teaching and Learning and the Challenge of Educational Reform

Creemers, B. (1994). The Effective Classroom. London Cassell. ISBN: 0-304-32709-3. Freiberg, H.J. & Driscoll, A. (1996). Universal Teaching Strategies. Needham Heights: Allyn and Bacon. ISBN: 0-205-16722-5. Hargreaves, A. (1994). Changing Teachers, Changing Times. London: Cassell. ISBN: 0-304-32281-4. Sizer, T.R. (1996). Horace's Hope. New York: Mariner Books. ISBN: 0395-87754-7. Slavin, R. (1996). Education for all. Lisse: Swets & Zeitlinger. ISBN: 90-265-1472-7.     

Preparing beginning teachers for inclusion: designing and assessing supplementary fieldwork experiences

Inclusive education requires restructuring educational provision so that mainstream schools are able to provide for the needs of all students in their communities. To help realise this goal, initial teacher education programmes need to better prepare new graduates for teaching students with complex special education needs, including students with intellectual disability. Concerns about the capacity of current school-based placements to prepare new teachers for inclusive classrooms have led some teacher education institutions to develop supplementary fieldwork experiences. The current study involved an investigation into such an experience and looked at the benefits to pre-service teachers (PSTs) of tutoring a young adult with intellectual disability. The findings indicate that PSTs learned effective strategies for differentiating a programme of work and, in their first year of study, were developing a teacher identity. The importance of aligning experiences with coursework units is highlighted and the need for valid assessments of how well initial teacher education programmes are preparing beginning teachers for inclusion, and what these assessments may look like, is discussed.     

Effects of a short-term pre-season training programme on the body composition and anaerobic performance of professional rugby union players

Abstract

Pre-season rugby training develops the physical requisites for competition and consists of a high volume of resistance training and anaerobic and aerobic conditioning. However, the effects of a rugby union pre-season in professional athletes are currently unknown. Therefore, the purpose of this investigation was to determine the effects of a 4-week pre-season on 33 professional rugby union players. Bench press and box squat increased moderately (13.6 kg, 90% confidence limits ±2.9 kg and 17.6 ± 8.0 kg, respectively) over the training phase. Small decreases in bench throw (70.6 ± 53.5 W), jump squat (280.1 ± 232.4 W), and fat mass (1.4 ± 0.4 kg) were observed. In addition, small increases were seen in fat-free mass (2.0 ± 0.6 kg) and flexed upper-arm girth (0.6 ± 0.2 cm), while moderate increases were observed in mid-thigh girth (1.9 ± 0.5 cm) and perception of fatigue (0.6 ± 0.4 units). Increases in strength and body composition were observed in elite rugby union players after 4 weeks of intensive pre-season training, but this may have been the result of a return to fitness levels prior to the off-season. Decreases in power may reflect high training volumes and increases in perceived of fatigue.     

Using Skill Tests to Identify Successful and Unsuccessful Basketball Performers

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship of 21 selected basketball skill tests to successful basketball performance. The 21 skill test items were administered to 70 boys ranging in age from 12 to 17 attending the 1977 University of Minnesota-Duluth basketball camp for boys. Based on the ratings of three high school and three college coaches, camp participants were designated as successful (n = 32) and unsuccessful (n = 38) performers. The stepwise discriminant analysis procedure was used. Six skill tests were identified as significantly contributing to discriminating between group membership. These tests, in order of the magnitude of their standardized discriminant function coefficients, were (1) speed pass, (2) zig-zag run, (3) free jump, (4) side step, (5) front shot, and (6) zig-zag dribble. It was concluded that a basketball skill test battery comprised of these six test items would objectively measure basketball playing ability and discriminate between successful and unsuccessful performers.     

Conceptions and Contexts: On the Interpretation of Interview and Observational Data

Research within a constructivist approach often relies on interview data, which are used to reveal beliefs held by the interviewee or to expose conceptions or conceptual structures that are supposed to reside within the interviewee. From a sociocultural perspective, severe criticism has been leveled against the neglect of the problems of inferring conceptions held by a participant from what is uttered in an interview. Utterances should be looked upon as cultural tools used to realize discursive practices, rather than as propositions mirroring mental entities. It is argued that the clinical interview, often used by constructivists, disregards the impact of a situation and discursive norms with regard to what is uttered in a conversation. Here, it is argued that by taking into account an interviewee's conceptions of the situation, as well as of the subject matter being talked about, some sort of a bridge between the methodological standpoints of constructivism and sociocultural theory can be formed. It is proposed that utterances should be regarded as actions, and thus the problem of ascribing meanings to behavior is in focus, that is, how a series of behaviors can be regarded as an intentional action. It is argued that by means of such an approach, it is possible to make inferences about conceptions and conceptual structures much in the same way as is done in research on conceptual change. However, this means that utterances cannot just be “read off.” The interviewee's aims, conceptions of the subject matter talked about, as well as the interviewee's conceptions of the situation to hand must be taken into account. A reinterpretation of data reported by Andrea diSessa and Bruce Sherin is used as an illustration.     

Classroom conditions to secure enjoyment and achievement: the pupils' voice. Listening to the voice of Every child matters

This paper argues that pupil voice and the active engagement of pupils in shaping their own educational experience are integral to the success of the ‘Enjoy and Achieve’ strand of the Every child matters: Change for children programme. Through accessing the voice of Key Stage 2 pupils, insight was gained into what pupils believe to be the ideal ‘classroom conditions’ which enable them to enjoy and achieve at school. Pupil voice was accessed using an innovative form of group interview incorporating an Ishikawa or fishbone tool. The data was collected from 180 pupils, from Years 3–6 (aged 7–11) in a UK Junior school. The findings identify eight ‘classroom conditions’ which pupils see as being critical for them to be able to enjoy and achieve at school. Two of these ‘classroom conditions’ do not appear to be supported by previous research.     

The Role of Linguistic Diversity in the Prediction of Early Reading Comprehension: A Quantile Regression Approach

ABSTRACT

Using classical and quantile regression analyses, we investigated whether predictor variables for early reading comprehension differed depending on language background and ability level in a mixed group of 161 monolingual (L1) and bilingual (L2) children in second grade (6–8 years). Although L2 readers scored lower on oral language skills and reading comprehension, the prediction of reading comprehension was similar for L1 and L2 readers. Classical regression identified decoding, vocabulary, and morphosyntactic knowledge as unique predictors with no interaction with language background. Quantile regression demonstrated that the prediction of reading comprehension differed across ability levels; decoding and morphosyntactic knowledge were consistently unique predictors, but vocabulary was uniquely related only for poor comprehenders and working memory only for good comprehenders. In both types of analysis, language background did not explain unique variance, indicating that individual differences in the predictor variables explained the L1–L2 performance gap in early reading comprehension across the ability range.     

Working together: Lessons learned from school,family, and community collaborations

Recent advances in treatment modalities and the manner in which services are organized have made it possible to serve children with severe emotional or behavioral disorders (EBD) in a more responsive and less restrictive manner. Current approaches rely on collaboration among child‐serving agencies as well as between parents and service providers. In this article, we explore the role of schools in collaborative efforts on behalf of children with EBD. The demands on school personnel in local school districts are examined, the elements required for effective collaboration are articulated, and an exemplary model of comprehensive collaboration is described. Impediments to effective collaboration are summarized, and suggestions for how to create and sustain reliable partnerships are offered at the level of individual provider and child‐serving organization. Attention is given to contextual factors, such as financing and organizational structure, and also to programmatic issues. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Psychol Schs 43: 419–428, 2006.     

Teaching primary mathematics with challenging tasks: How should lessons be structured?

Engaging students in a challenging (cognitively demanding) task and launching a mathematics lesson with a task before instruction are two characteristics of a reform-oriented approach to mathematics instruction often considered together. The authors systematically contrasted teaching with challenging tasks using a task-first lesson structure with that of a discussion-first lesson structure to three composite classes of first- and second-grade students (n = 73). Subsequent assessments of mathematical performance revealed that the discussion-first lesson structure was somewhat more efficacious in improving fluency performance but both structures similarly improved problem-solving performance. The findings suggest there is more than one way of incorporating challenging tasks into mathematics lessons to produce sizeable learning gains.