Developing narrative skills through case-studies

This article describes the adaptation of ‘story grammar’ to developing the subject understanding and literacy of 14–16-year-old students. ‘Story grammar” analyses the structure of episodes of a typical story and it was developed through research into the narrative development of younger, frequently language-delayed, children. Reasons for expecting this story grammar to provide a helpful basis for teaching older students are summarized. An application of story grammar in teaching business studies is described through the activities designed for students and evidence from students' work. Implications for understanding of literacy in a subject context are discussed.     

School English,literature and the knowledge-base question

This article takes up questions about knowledge and the school curriculum with respect to literary studies within subject English. Its intention is to focus on literary studies in English from the context of current waves of curriculum reform, rather than as part of the conversations primarily within the field of English, to raise questions about the knowledge agenda, and the knowledge-base agenda for teaching and teacher education. The selection of texts and form of study of literature within the English curriculum has long been an area of controversy. Without assuming a particular position on knowledge in this area, this article shows that important questions of what knowledge-base teachers are expected to bring to their work are elided both in current regulations and debates, and in research on ‘good teaching’ in this area. If ‘literary studies’ (as a discipline or university major) is itself an unstable and changing field, what kind of knowledge does a good English teacher bring to their work? This paper takes up these questions in the context of the Australian Curriculum and standards for teacher registration, but it also points to the way these issues about knowledge are of broader relevance for researchers and teacher education.     

“Project Screen” — A Follow‐up Study of a Pre‐school Screening Battery

This study examines a pre‐school screening survey battery with an aim to validate it in terms of predicting school performance. Subjects participating in the screening were tested at the end of their first year at school. Analysis of the data, using a canonical correlation procedure, suggested elimination of a number of test items ‐‐ age, sex, age of walking, socio‐economic rating, Draw‐a‐Man Test, balance and posture, body image, perceptual motor match, height and weight. Measures of general ability, visual discrimination, visual reception, general development, receptive language, language concepts and positional concepts were the best predictors of school performance.     

The new moral education: A northwestern perspective

Lynne A. Munson graduated from Northwestern University in June 1990, where she was editor of theNorthwestern Review.     

Lecturers on teaching within the ‘supercomplexity’ of Higher Education

While a vast literature exists on students and their learning, work on lecturers and their teaching continues to lag some way behind. This paper explores the notion that the complexity of Higher Education (HE) today significantly impacts upon what goes on in the classroom through a two-tiered study. Semi-structured interviews were conducted to explore lecturers’ perceptions and experiences of teaching a specific module. Interviewees raised issues pertaining to the wider departmental, institutional and socio-political context. Consequently, focus groups were run with key people in the University to explore their perceptions of teaching and learning within the current HE climate. The findings suggest that lecturers perceive numerous external factors to impinge upon their teaching and attempt to militate against these in various ways in order to achieve ongoing enhancement of learning for students.

Mitigating the Effects of Poverty and Crime: the Long-Term Effects of an Early Intervention Programme for Children who were Developmentally Delayed and Prenatally Exposed to Cocaine

This study explores the long-term impact on participation in the Linda Ray Intervention Program (LRIP) for children (n = 54) who were developmentally delayed and prenatally exposed to cocaine. By identifying a group of programme graduates from a high crime/high poverty neighbourhood in Miami-Dade County using ArcGIS 10.2 software, a quasi-experimental design was used to compare children living in this area who participated in the centre-based modality (5 h a day; 5 days a week) to children living in this area who participated in the home-based modality (3 h per week) on their Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test (FCAT) reading and math scale scores in public school. The children who participated in the centre-based modality reported stronger outcomes in both math and reading FCAT scale scores at the p < .05 level and also out-performed their school-age peers on both math and reading FCAT scores at the p < .05 level.     

Young Voices on Climate Change: The Paul F-Brandwein 2010 NSTA Lecture

Lynne Cherry Brandwein Lecture March 2010 National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) Conference, Philadelphia, PA. Young Voices on Climate Change: Inspired and Empowered Youth Tackle Climate Science and Find Climate Solutions. As a child, Lynne Cherry was profoundly connected to the natural world and a special place. She watched the destruction of her world. Now, through her Young Voices on Climate Change project, she is trying to give teachers and young people the tools to prevent planetary meltdown on a greater scale. Global climate change is upon us and the need for education and action is immediate. Outreach, visual storytelling, and scientific understanding are especially necessary in light of the recent polls that show that the public is becoming more confused and less concerned about climate change. Cherry’s climate book, co-authored with photojournalist Gary Braasch, and her Young Voices on Climate Change films feature climate solutions. They’re about win–win—save the environment, protect human health, reduce global warming gases, demonstrate youth making a difference with practical tools, motivate engagement in climate science, take pride in increased science literacy, reach young people through their hearts as well as their minds, and save money. Although young people can help their parents, peers and communities understand climate science, they can also show them that reducing CO₂ is in their economic interest, and spur them to take action. School carbon reduction initiatives are spilling over into communities yielding measurable results in both global warming gas reductions and significant monetary savings.     

A large-scale test of the relationship between procrastination and performance using learning analytics

Abstract

Many studies have found a relationship between students’ self-reported procrastination and their grades. Few studies have used learning analytic data as a behavioural measure of procrastination in order to predict performance, and there is no systematic research on how this relationship may differ across assessments or disciplines. In this study we analyse nine years’ worth of institutional electronic submission records, a total of 73,608 assignment submissions, to examine the relationship between submission time and grades across assignments, students, courses, and disciplines in higher education. A significant negative relationship was found overall, with students who submitted closer to the deadline obtaining lower grades, however the size of the relationship was negligible, accounting for less than 1% of the variance in grades. The relationship varied significantly depending on student, assignment, course and discipline.