Teacher–Student Interactions in Korean High School Science Classrooms

This paper provides a preliminary picture of teacher–student interaction in Korean senior high schools. In order to do this, the Questionnaire on Teacher Interaction (QTI) was translated into Korean and administered to 439 students (99 science-independent stream students, 195 science-oriented stream students and 145 humanities stream students). Based on the results from this survey, interviews with some students and teachers were also carried out and three science classrooms were also observed. It was found that the teacher–student interactions in Korean senior high school science classrooms reflect the general image of the youth-elder relationship in society as well as the senior high school's unique nature – portraying a scene of directing teachers and obeying students. It was also found that students experience unique interactions in their science classrooms with their particular teachers. It was considered that this difference comes from the overlapping of a teacher's personal characteristics with the nature of a stream (e.g., curriculum, expectation towards the students in that stream). This article reports part of a larger study conducted with Korean senior high school students and teachers. The aim of the main study was to investigate three different aspects of the high school science classroom environments in Korea, namely, the degree of implementation of constructivism, the pattern of teacher–student interactions, and the learning environment in laboratory classes. Based on the realisation that teacher–student interactions have not been systematically dealt with especially at the senior high school level in Korea, this article pays particularly attention to this aspect. The intention was also to provide useful insights for improving the current situation in senior high school science classrooms in Korea.     

Book Reviews – Buchbesprechungen – Analyses Bibliographiques: BALDACCHINO,GODFREY, and CHARLES J. FARRUGIA (eds.). 2002. Educational Planning and Management in Small States: Concepts and Experiences. London: Commonwealth Secretariat. 305 pp. ISBN0-85092-729-3

International Review of Education -     

School-Level Environment and Student Outcomes in Mathematics

The purpose of this study was to investigate whether a relationship exists between school-level environment and student outcomes. The study involved 620 teachers and 4645 students from 57 Australian secondary schools. Student outcome measures included mathematics achievement, career aspirations and students' attitudes and beliefs about success in mathematics. Teachers' perceptions of their school environment were measured using the School-Level Environment Questionnaire (SLEQ). Because previous research has shown that factors at the school level, such as environment, influence education at the classroom level, data regarding the instructional practices of teachers were included in the analysis in order to investigate this further. The results of these analyses show that various factors of the school-level environment were linked to improved student outcomes. Relationships were also found between teaching practices and student outcomes. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Referring and Reporting Research Participants at Risk: Views from Urban Adolescents

Researching developmental risks of urban youth raises ethical concerns when an investigator discovers a participant is in jeopardy. This study collected data on 147 seventh, ninth, and eleventh graders' views of 3 investigator options: (1) taking no action and maintaining confidentiality, (2) reporting the problem to a concerned parent or adult, and (3) facilitating adolescent self-referrals. Participants judged these options within the context of 5 risk domains: substance abuse, child maltreatment, life-threatening behaviors, delinquency, and shyness. Judgments of reporting options were related to grade and ratings of risk severity, but not to moral reasoning. Confidentiality was viewed favorably for risk behaviors of low perceived severity or for which the consequences of adult discovery might introduce greater risk. Confidentiality was viewed unfavorably and reporting to adults favorably for child maltreatment and threats of suicide. Self-referral was viewed favorably across all grades and risk behaviors. Implications of adolescent perspectives for research ethics are discussed.     

Effects of Client Race‐Ethnicity on Perceptions of Counselor Trainees: Study 1 and Study 2

The authors investigated the impact that racial stereotypes have on counselor trainees' perceptions of the attributes and behaviors of ethnically diverse male clients. Two studies were conducted in which participants were counselor trainees (Study 1, N = 58; Study 2, N = 75) who received a case study in which a male student sought counseling for problems affecting his school work. No differences were revealed in Study 1. In Study 2, counselor perceptions of client attributes differed across client race–ethnicity. The results are discussed in terms of their implications for training counselors, particularly regarding multicultural courses and workshops.     

Teacher‐child interaction in the teaching of reading: a review of research perspectives over twenty‐five years

Taking as a starting point a paper published in 1981, this paper considers the importance of interaction between teacher and pupil in learning to read. Twenty‐five years ago, the study of classroom language was relatively new. Research perspectives have moved from describing the process of interaction between teacher and child to considering the outcomes. At the same time a greater awareness of the sociocultural nature of language and classrooms has developed. An enduring theme in research from a variety of perspectives has been the call for more extended opportunities for exchanges about texts and more reciprocity in teacher‐child dialogue. Studies of classroom practice, however, evidence persistence in the use of triadic dialogue in which the teacher controls the interaction and effectively closes down discussion. Despite initiatives calling for high‐quality interaction, it is argued here that there is still no agreement about what high‐quality interaction should look like.     

Robustness Conditions for MIIV-2SLS When the Latent Variable or Measurement Model is Structurally Misspecified

Most researchers acknowledge that virtually all structural equation models (SEMs) are approximations due to violating distributional assumptions and structural misspecifications. There is a large literature on the unmet distributional assumptions, but much less on structural misspecifications. In this paper, we examine the robustness to structural misspecification of the model implied instrumental variable, two-stage least square (MIIV-2SLS) estimator of SEMs. We introduce two types of robustness: robust-unchanged and robust-consistent. We develop new robustness analytic conditions for MIIV-2SLS and illustrate these with hypothetical models, simulated data, and an empirical example. Our conditions enable a researcher to know whether, for example, a structural misspecification in the latent variable model influences the MIIV-2SLS estimator for measurement model equations and vice versa. Similarly, we establish robustness conditions for correlated errors. The new robustness conditions provide guidance on the types of structural misspecifications that affect parameter estimates and they assist in diagnosing the source of detected problems with MIIVs.     

Immediate Effects of a School Readiness Intervention for Children in Foster Care

Research Findings: School readiness is a strong predictor of adjustment in elementary school and beyond. Children in foster care are at particular risk for academic and social difficulties in school. Limitations in self-regulatory skills and caregiver involvement among these children might contribute to a lack of school readiness. This study presents the immediate effects on school readiness of a targeted, short-term intervention designed to improve children's early literacy, prosocial, and self-regulatory skills during the summer before kindergarten entry: Kids in Transition to School. Using a randomized controlled trial design, we assigned 192 children in foster care to either an intervention or services as usual comparison condition. Multimethod, multi-informant assessments were conducted immediately prior to and following the completion of the intervention. The results from structural equation modeling indicated that the intervention had significant positive effects on early literacy and self-regulatory skills. Practice or Policy: An efficacious, short-term, readily scalable, theoretically based intervention targeted at specific vulnerabilities for children in foster care may help to improve the school readiness and eventual school adjustment of these children.     

Prospective elementary school teachers’ professional noticing of children’s early numeracy

The goal of this study is to develop the professional noticing abilities of prospective elementary school teachers in the context of the Stages of Early Arithmetic Learning. In their mathematics methods course, ninety-four prospective elementary school teachers from three institutions participated in a researcher-developed five-session module that progressively nests the three interrelated components of professional noticing—attending, interpreting, and deciding. The module embeds video excerpts of diagnostic interviews of children doing mathematics (representations of practice) to prepare the prospective teachers for similar work. The module culminates with prospective teachers implementing similar diagnostic interviews (approximations of practice) to gain experience in the three component skills of professional noticing. A pre- and post-assessment was administered to measure prospective teachers’ change in the three components. A Wilcoxon signed ranks test was conducted and found the prospective elementary school teachers demonstrated significant growth in all three components. Selected prospective elementary school teacher responses on the pre- and post-assessment are provided to illustrate sample growth in the prospective teachers’ abilities to professionally notice. These results, the first in an ongoing study, indicate the potential that prospective teachers can develop professional noticing skills through this module. Continued data collection and analysis from the ongoing study by these authors and future, longer-term emphasis on professional noticing for prospective teachers should be studied.