Forthcoming events

Quantitative analysis of sports performance has been shown to produce information that coaches can use within the coaching process to enhance performance. Traditional methods for quantifying sport performances are limited in their capacity to describe the complex interactions of events that occur within a performance over time. In this paper, we outline a new approach to the analysis of time-based event records and real-time behaviour records on sport performance known as T-pattern detection. The relevant elements of the T-pattern detection process are explained and exemplar data from the analysis of 13 soccer matches are presented to highlight the potential of this form of analysis. The results from soccer suggest that it is possible to identify new profiles for both individuals and teams based on the analysis of temporal behavioural patterns detected within the performances.     

Prospective teachers’ views on the use of calculators with Computer Algebra System in algebra instruction

Although growing numbers of secondary school mathematics teachers and students use calculators to study graphs, they mainly rely on paper-and-pencil when manipulating algebraic symbols. However, the Computer Algebra Systems (CAS) on computers or handheld calculators create new possibilities for teaching and learning algebraic manipulation. This study investigated the views of Turkish prospective secondary mathematics teachers on the use of advanced calculators with CAS in algebra instruction. An open-ended questionnaire and group interviews revealed prospective teachers’ views and beliefs about when and why they prefer three possible uses of CAS—black box, white box, or Symbolic Math Guide (SMG). The results showed that participants mainly preferred the white box methods and especially SMG to the black box method. They suggested that while the black box method could be used after students mastered the skills, the general white box method and SMG could be used to teach symbolic manipulation.     

Exploring formative assessment as a tool for learning: students’ experiences of different methods of formative assessment

This study aims to provide a greater insight into how formative assessments are experienced and understood by students. Two different formative assessment methods, an individual, written assessment and an oral group assessment, were components of a pathology course within a medical curriculum. In a cohort of 70 students, written accounts were collected from 17 students and group interviews were carried out to explore the students’ experiences of these two forms of assessment. All students were engaged in both assessment methods, which were conducted a few weeks apart, and data were collected soon after each assessment. Our findings suggest that formative assessments motivate students to study, make them aware of what they have learned and where they need to study more. Thus, formative assessment can act as a tool for learning, contributing to the process and outcomes of learning. A closer look at students’ experiences of each form of assessment reveals interesting differences.     

Comparing student learning experiences of in-text commentary and rubric-articulated feedback: strategies for formative assessment

This study compares students’ experiences of two types of criteria-based assessment: in-text commentary and rubric-articulated feedback, in an assessment design combining the two feedback channels. The main aim is to use students’ responses to shed light on how feedback strategies for formative assessment can be optimised. Following action research methodology, the study discusses key categories of student responses from three sources: reflective texts, a questionnaire, and interviews. Results show that different functions were attributed to the two feedback channels: in-text commentary to lower-order concerns related to language proficiency, and rubric-articulated feedback to higher-order concerns related to an overview of writing achievement. We argue that the different functions have the potential of creating a sufficiently balanced assessment design with the possibility of serving both short-term and continuous learning goals. On the other hand, some students found it difficult to navigate between the two feedback channels. The article therefore ends with a ‘lessons learned’ section where we list possible ways in which the current assessment design can be improved for optimal use of the synergy effects emanating from a combination of in-text commentary and rubric-articulated feedback for formative purposes.     

Scientists,teachers and the ‘scientific’ textbook: interprofessional relations and the modernisation of elementary science textbooks in nineteenth-century Sweden

In research on the development of a nineteenth-century ‘science for the people’, initiatives by scientists or people well-trained in science has been emphasised, while the writings, roles and initiatives of elementary teachers are normally just mentioned in passing. In this study the development of nineteenth-century elementary science textbooks is analysed. While practitioners and popularisers of science established the genre as such, writing the first textbooks on elementary science and arguing for its place in elementary education, elementary teachers were prime movers in developing the genre both pedagogically and scientifically. In doing this they not only contributed to further strengthening the cultural status of science in late nineteenth-century Sweden but most probably strengthened the elementary teaching profession as a whole, formulating the expertise of the teacher in relation to elementary science.     

Exploring the Adult Learning Research Field by Analysing Who Cites Whom

In this article we report on findings from a large-scale bibliographic study conducted based on the citation practices within the field of research on adult learning. Our data consist of 151,261 citation links between more than 33,000 different authors whose papers were published in five leading international journals in the field of adult learning during the time period 2006–2014. By analysing the composition of the dominating citation clusters we are able to construct a telescopic view of the research field based on an accumulation of bibliographic citations. The results consist of two parts. First we go through the dominating players active in the field, their position and mutual relationship. Secondly, we derive two main structural oppositions inherent in the citation networks, one connected to the research object (studying education or work) and the second to the level of analysis (cognition or policy). We find that the most dominating tradition within adult learning the last few decades – sociocultural perspectives on learning - occupies a very central position in the space of citations, balancing between these opposing poles. We hope that this analysis will help foster reflexivity concerning our own research practices, and will reveal the relations of dominance currently prevailing within the field of adult learning.     

Engineering students’ experiences from physics group work in learning labs

The development and validation of a test of biology‐related attitudes (TOBRA) is described. This instrument was developed for science students in grades 10‐12 in Indonesia; however, the procedures for validation of the instrument will be of general interest to science educators. These procedures included the use of latent partition analysis to examine the conceptual structure of TOBRA.     

The will to (de)liberate: shaping governable citizens through cognitive behavioural programmes in school

Lately, a deliberative conception of democracy has gained influence in policy debates throughout Europe. Individuals are here seen to be fostered into responsible, mature – democratic – citizens by being involved in dialogue. In the 1990s, calls for ‘democratic education’ intensified in Sweden. This article analyses two pedagogical models influenced by programmes developed in the USA that have recently had a great impact in Swedish schools and elsewhere, Social and Emotional Training and Aggression Replacement Training, both teaching pupils the ‘art of democratic deliberation’. By analysing manuals and interviews with school staff, we find that both models are based on the idea that through constant dialogue, pupils develop a ‘democratic mentality’. Referring to Foucault, this kind of dialogue can be seen as a technology of confession, where pupils are encouraged to reflect upon themselves and their behaviour, abilities and qualities as a way to change themselves and become democratic subjects.