Let's help teachers attack science problems

Dr. McElhinney presents some sound ideas on the teaching of elementary science and specific suggestions to supervising teachers.     

Language as a confounding variable in the diagnosis of misconceptions

The study reported in this paper examines the possibility that language confusion can be mistaken for misconception. A written test, consisting of 20 multiple choice items that had been used by other authors to diagnose misconceptions in physics was administered to a sample of matric level, English first language, South African students. A sub-sample of these subjects was then interviewed to explore the reasoning behind their choices in the written test. An analysis of the interviews showed that in several cases, distractors were chosen by subjects who did not hold the target misconceptions the items were intended to diagnose, and that language usage, for example misinterpretation of the question text, was frequently the reason behind the choices. The findings indicate that caution is needed in interpreting students' responses to multiple choice questions.     

Women and Leisure in Feminist Fiction

Leisure–defined as a state of mind characterized by feelings of freedom, pleasure, and growth–is employed as a vehicle for examining changing women's roles in feminist fiction. Such fiction suggests that many women experience a dearth of leisure in the traditional roles of wife, homemaker, and mother. Women who assume these roles more often view their lives as dominated by antileisure, that is, by activity undertaken compulsively, as a means to an end, and from a perception of necessity. In the novels chosen for consideration, a pattern emerges. The sequence of getting married, making a home, and having children means an increasing abridgement of leisure for women, while this same sequence results in an increasing realization of leisure for men. The recurring theme in this literature is that women, like men, have compelling leisure needs which may take them beyond the bounds of homemaking and child-rearing.     

Can we,should we,and do we integrate values education into adult distance education? Opinions of stakeholders at the Open University of Hong Kong

Because of the changing needs of society, brought about in part by workplace, family and social structures and partly by the decline of moral and ethical values, it is becoming increasingly urgent to address issues of values education at all levels of schooling. Recently there has been an increasing body of literature challenging those who teach adults at universities or other higher education institutions to incorporate values education, either directly or indirectly into the learning environments they create. This challenge extends to distance higher education, although there are many questions about how this can be done in an environment that is typically intended for independent learning with a focus on cognitive development. This paper reports the outcomes of interviews with three small groups of distance educator stakeholders at the Open University of Hong Kong, namely course co-ordinators, tutors and students, to explore their feelings and beliefs about values education being a component of their programmes. The interviews sought opinions about three broad questions: Should we take responsibility for values education in our distance education programmes? Can we take responsibility for values education in our distance education programmes? Do we take responsibility for values education in our distance education programmes? Responses suggested that, in the context of this study, we should and that it is possible to do so, particularly directly through the use of counselling and support services and indirectly through incorporating appropriate examples into course materials, but that currently not very much is being done. While the course co-ordinators and tutors were concerned that students might resent the inclusion of values education in their courses, the students themselves appeared to be more open to the suggestion.     

Book Review

Steve Adams, Derbyshire LEA/University of Nottingham School of Education, The Evaluation of Pastoral Care, Clemett, Tony & Pearce, John, 1986, Blackwell, £5.95 pp. 180

Margaret Bowes, John Port School, Art Therapy for Groups, Marian Liebmann 1986, Croom Helm Ltd., £9.95 [Paperback], ISBN 0-7099-4108-0

Sylvia Lindoe, Westhill College, The Education of Children with Severe Learning Difficulties: Bridging the gap between Theory and Practice Coupe, J. & Porter, J. (1986), London, Croom Helm Paperback £9.95

Michael Marland, North Westminster School, “You don't have to fill in a form to have a baby” The frustrations and fulfilment of the adoption process Margaret S. Evans, 1986. Family Welfare Association. £2.95     

Theories,generalisation and practice in distance education

Otto Peters was the first Vice‐Chancellor (or Rektor) of the Distance Teaching University in West Germany, The Fernuniversitat, a post he occupied from 1975‐84. Since that time he has been mainly occupied with research. His interpretation of distance study as an industrialised form of teaching and learning has attracted unusual attention. It is often referred to in discussions about distance education, and has been quoted and dealt with more than 50 times in the literature since Borje Holmberg and Desmond Keegan first began reporting it in the late seventies and early eighties. As can be expected with such a controversial issue discussion of it suffers from a number of misunderstandings. Otto Peters agreed to respond to them.     

EDUCATION,TASK MEANINGFULNESS,AND COGNITIVE PERFORMANCE IN YOUNG‐OLD AND OLD‐OLD ADULTS

Previous research has indicated that when tasks are made more meaningful, the performance of the elderly generally improves. A closer look, however, reveals that improvement occurs mostly for educationally disadvantaged elderly, highly educated older adults not benefiting differentially from meaningful material. Consequently, the present study compared performance of high‐ and low‐education adults on traditional and meaningful space and reasoning measures. A total of 246 male and female volunteers were divided into subgroups by age (53‐65 and 70‐78 years) and by education (high and low). Separate analyses of variance for reasoning and space revealed main effects for education and age on both abilities. In addition, main effects for test and sex, and a significant age by test interaction were found for space, with the performance differential between the familiar and traditional tests being much greater for the young‐old group. A trend for an education X age X test X sex interaction was found for reasoning, as expected, with low education, young‐old men doing more poorly on the traditional form. Suggestions for future related research are discussed.