Personalization in science: Preliminary investigation at the middle school level

A science program in which students were encouraged to select their own project goal as well as the apparatus to accomplish this goal was developed and tried in two fifth-grade classes. The program was designed to foster children's logical thinking skills. The classes in the study had not previously experienced any individualized program. The advantages, disadvantages, problems, and questions that resulted from the program are discussed. Observations during the program revealed that the transition from group to personalized work is a complicated process. Changes in the classroom social structure, reward structure, and general organization are described. Evaluation of student progress revealed that the major intellectual goal of the program was accomplished. Children in the program performed better on measures of describing variables and interpreting experiments than did control children. Differences in individuals which affect success in the program are discussed.This research was supported by a grant from the National Science Foundation. An earlier version of this research was presented at the National Association for Research in Science Teaching meeting, Chicago, 1974. We wish to thank Joan C. Randle for teaching the classes and the Moraga School District for their cooperation.Advancing Education through Science Oriented Programs (AESOP).     

The common denominators: A collaborative approach to teaching reasoning skills through literature and mathematics

At a highly technical institution, this interdisciplinary problem-solving course was designed for students who had been placed on probation or suspended. Two professors, with divergent backgrounds in mathematics and literature, collaborated in the research, planning and teaching. The course stresses the cross-disciplinary applications of tools such as analogy, using a variety of assignments in mathematics, logic and literature. The importance of both ill-structured and well-structured problems is discussed, as is the rationale for including oral presentations, group problems, and a formal debate in the curriculum. The article emphasizes the value of cross-disciplinary collaboration for studentsand faculty, as it presents an approach to teaching reasoning skills that could be applied to a variety of academic settings.She is currently Chairman of the Reading and Writing Department of the Learning Development Center at Rochester Institute of Technology where she also teaches courses in the College of Liberal Arts. She has given professional presentations on teaching interdisciplinary problem solving, using student research to examine ethical issues, and implementing writing across the curriculum. She has also reviewed several contemporary novels and written on the fiction of Henry James.She is currently an assistant professor in the Mathematics Department of the College of Science at Rochester Institute of Technology. She has given numerous presentations at regional and national conferences on interdisciplinary problem solving, mathematical problem solving, using writing to teach mathematics, art and mathematics, and math anxiety. She is Past-President of the New York College Learning Skills Association and a 1983 recipient of the Eisenhart Award for Outstanding Teaching at Rochester Institute of Technology.     

Strengthening information literacy in a writing-designated course in the mathematics major

When a campus has not integrated information literacy education into the curriculum, many students will not have the opportunity to learn these necessary skills before they embark on their career paths. This pilot study explores the possibility of teaching information literacy skills to students enrolled in a writing-designated course offered to mathematics majors who are about to complete their undergraduate studies. Outcome-based objective evaluations were used to guide teaching strategies as well as to gauge student progress. Embedded one-on-one consultations were found to be critical in strengthening these students’ information literacy abilities.     

Older and Wiser?: A Comparison of the Learning and Study Strategies of Mature Age and Younger Teacher Education Students

‘Non‐traditional’ students are increasingly a part of university populations. This study examined differences between mature age and younger university students in their learning and study strategies as measured by the Learning and Study Strategies Inventory (LASSI). Subjects were 21 mature age and 104 younger teacher education students enrolled in The Bachelor of Teaching (Primary) course at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology. Significant correlations were found between the students' LASSI scores and both their self‐reported level of global skill and their perceptions of how difficult the course was. There were significant differences between the two groups in terms of their learning and study strategies, with mature age students reporting themselves to be using effective strategies more often, on average, than younger students. The validity and implications of these findings in terms of student learning, support and instruction in study and learning and in predicting academic success are discussed.     

Confronting,Challenging, and Changing Teachers' Beliefs: Implications from a Local Systemic Change Professional Development Program

Journal of Science Teacher Education -     

Mediated transfer testing provides evidence for common coding of duration and line samples in many-to-one matching in pigeons

A three-phase transfer design was used to determine whether pigeons use a single, common code to represent line and duration samples that are associated with the same comparison stimulus. In Phase 1, two sets of samples (two lines and two durations) were associated with either a single set of comparisons (Group MTO, many-to-one) or with different sets of comparisons (Group OTO, one-to-one). In Phase 2, one set of samples was associated with a new set of comparisons. In Phase 3 (transfer test), the alternate set of samples was substituted for the Phase 2 samples. Group MTO, but not Group OTO, demonstrated immediate transfer. It was concluded that associating a line and a duration sample with the same comparison stimulus results in representation of those samples by a single code.     

The places of pedagogy: or,what we can do with culture through intersubjective experiences

Beginning by highlighting considerations of the intersections among social and ecological issues and the recent diversification of critical pedagogy, this paper suggests means by which approaches such as Gruenewald’s (2003 Gruenewald, D.A. 2003. The best of both worlds: A critical pedagogy of place. Educational Researcher, 32(4): 3–12. [Crossref] [Google Scholar]) “critical pedagogy of place” can be expanded to accommodate a broader range of possible places of pedagogy. The paper is centrally concerned with what happens when we consider socio‐ecological learning, not as occuring via cognitive critique or embodied place‐based experience, but rather as taking place in between the thought and the sensed via a range of intersubjective experiences. It suggests that these intersubjective locations that comprise the “where” of the learning of the student can be particular physical places, but can also be in and of experiences of friendship, art, literature, irony, cultural difference, community. By expanding our possible repertoire of “pedagogical arts,” or the range of intersubjective places and spaces of pedagogy engaged, we are able to conceptualise and practise education in ways that enable a deeper connection to place but also opportunities for other modes and outcomes of student learning. In particular, the paper outlines the possibilities for learning and cultural formation enabled by spaces of collective youth engagement.