‘Getting the pieces together’: negotiating the transition from pre-service to in-service teacher

For beginning teachers to make the transition to full professional membership they need to increase their professional knowledge of the art and science of teaching. This paper explores the difference in knowledge growth between beginning teachers who commence teaching in fragmented teaching situations in the first two years of teaching, and their colleagues who have stable, secure and continuing employment during this time. This paper argues that the employment context in which beginning teachers take up their profession has a significant, but hitherto largely unacknowledged, effect on the capacity of teachers to develop the craft of teaching (Elbaz, 1983 Elbaz, F. 1983. Teacher thinking: A study of practical knowledge, London: Croom Helm.  [Google Scholar]); on their continuing commitment to the profession; and on their self-confidence and self-image as teachers It is concluded that long-term, secure employment in one school, with full responsibility for a class of students and access to effective mentoring, is necessary if beginning teachers are to move beyond ‘survival’ to developing competency in the first two years of teaching.     

Understanding the Dialectical Relations Between Everyday Concepts and Scientific Concepts Within Play-Based Programs

In recent times there has been an enormous interest in Vygotsky’s writing on conceptual development, particularly his insights on the differences between everyday and scientific thinking. In drawing upon cultural–historical theory, this paper seeks to examine the relations between everyday concepts and scientific concepts within playful contexts, such as preschools, with a view to better understanding how very young children develop conceptual understandings in science. This paper presents an overview of a study which sought to map the transformation and appropriation of scientific concepts within two early childhood settings. Approximately ten weeks of data gathering took place, with video recordings, field notes, photographic documentation, and child and teacher interviews for recording child concept formation within these naturalistic settings. The findings indicate that when teacher programs are more oriented towards concepts rather than materials, children’s play is focused on conceptual connections. Importantly, the study showed that: It was possible to map the multiple and dynamic levels or stratas of thinking that a child or group of children may exhibit within play-based contexts; An analysis of ‘unorganised heaps’ and ‘complexive thinking’ evident in conceptually or materially oriented play-based programs can be determined; the dialectical relations between everyday concepts and scientific concepts in play-based programs can be understood; and greater understanding about the nature of concept formation in situated playful contexts have been possible.     

Increasing Diversity in Science and Health Professions: A 21-Year Longitudinal Study Documenting College and Career Success

Despite decades of precollege science education programs, African Americans, Latinos, and Native Americans remain critically underrepresented in science and health professions. This report describes college and career outcomes among graduates of the Stanford Medical Youth Science Program (SMYSP), a 5-week summer residential program for low-income high school students among whom 97% have been followed for up to 21 years. Approximately 24 students are selected annually, with participation limited to low-income students who have faced substantial personal hardships. Undergraduate and medical students provide key program leadership and training. The curriculum is based on science inquiry education and includes hospital internships, anatomy practicums, research projects, faculty lectures, college admissions/standardized test preparation, and long-term college and career guidance. A total of 476 high school students participated between 1988 and 2008, with 61% from underrepresented ethnic minority groups. Overall, 78% of African American, 81% of Latino, and 82% of Native American participants have earned a 4-year college degree (among those admitted to college, and excluding those currently attending college). In contrast, among 25–34-year old California adults, 16% of African Americans, 8% of Latinos, and 10% of Native Americans earn a 4-year college degree. Among SMYSP’s 4-year college graduates, 47% are attending or have completed medical or graduate school, and 43% are working as or training to become health professionals. SMYSP offers a model that expands inquiry-based science education beyond the classroom, and recognizes the role of universities as “high school interventionists” to help diversify health professions.     

A Controlled Evaluation of a High School Biomedical Pipeline Program: Design and Methods

Given limited funding for school-based science education, non-school-based programs have been developed at colleges and universities to increase the number of students entering science- and health-related careers and address critical workforce needs. However, few evaluations of such programs have been conducted. We report the design and methods of a controlled trial to evaluate the Stanford Medical Youth Science Program’s Summer Residential Program (SRP), a 25-year-old university-based biomedical pipeline program. This 5-year matched cohort study uses an annual survey to assess educational and career outcomes among four cohorts of students who participate in the SRP and a matched comparison group of applicants who were not chosen to participate in the SRP. Matching on sociodemographic and academic background allows control for potential confounding. This design enables the testing of whether the SRP has an independent effect on educational- and career-related outcomes above and beyond the effects of other factors such as gender, ethnicity, socioeconomic background, and pre-intervention academic preparation. The results will help determine which curriculum components contribute most to successful outcomes and which students benefit most. After 4 years of follow-up, the results demonstrate high response rates from SRP participants and the comparison group with completion rates near 90 %, similar response rates by gender and ethnicity, and little attrition with each additional year of follow-up. This design and methods can potentially be replicated to evaluate and improve other biomedical pipeline programs, which are increasingly important for equipping more students for science- and health-related careers.     

An assessment model and methods for evaluating distance education programmes

This paper is adapted from a keynote address given to the AUA Annual Conference, held at Warwick 14–16 March 2005     

“Hit and Run Research” with “Hit and Miss” Results in Early Childhood Science Education

Research in Science Education - Constructivism has provided us with a useful pedagogy and a powerful methodological framework for over twenty years. We now know a great deal about children's...     

Effect of pictures on children’s comprehension of written text

Studies have shown that under certain conditions pictures can facilitate young children’s oral prose comprehension. Can pictures also aid comprehension when the information is presented in written form rather than orally? If so, what kinds of pictures, under what conditions? These experimenters analyzed a prose passage into 350 idea units, then interspersed throughout the text pictures depicting either the 179 main ideas or both the main ideas and the 171 nonessential details, or included no pictures. The subjects, fourth and sixth graders, wrote down all they could remember of the story immediately and again 5 days later. Pictures did facilitate both immediate and delayed recall, but only of the main ideas.