Adult-child interaction in children’s learning from “Sesame Street”

This study examined whether children’s learning from “Sesame Street” could be improved by having adults ask the children questions and provide them with feedback while they watched the show. Subjects were 23 three- and four-year-old, white, middle-class children who were randomly assigned to one of two conditions. Children in both conditions watched three specially edited versions of “Sesame Street” with an adult. While they did so, children in the experimental condition were asked to name the letters and numbers shown on the programs. Results indicated that 3 days after watching the last program, children in the experimental condition were better able to name and identify the letters and numbers they had seen (p < .01). Three features of the experimental treatment that may have contributed to these results are discussed, as are the implications of the findings.     

Notes on Classroom Practice and the Ownership and Use of Personal Computers Amongst Egyptian Science and Mathematics Teachers

This paper reports a study of the acquisition and use of personal computers by Egyptian science and mathematics teachers. Self-report data was collected from the same teachers on how they had changed their classroom activities and professional practice since their return to Egypt following a twelve-week in-service course in the United Kingdom. The data from this sample of teachers is compared with that from a second sample, who also attended the same in-service programme, but did not report the purchase of a personal computer. Analysis indicates that the Egyptian teachers with personal computers have tended to concentrate on improving the quality of current practice, through better preparation and student testing, rather than introducing major, paradigmatic, changes to their teaching.     

Preparing preservice teachers to use computers effectively in elementary schools

Abstract

Computers and computer software have become integral components of the elementary school curriculum. Classroom teachers often express concern about the inadequate training they receive in the use of technology in the classroom. To meet the needs of future teachers, three university professors added issues related to using technology with young children to existing courses for elementary education majors. In addition, they introduced criteria for evaluating software and gave students opportunities to select software for instruction. After completing the courses, students were more comfortable with using computers, felt more competent about reviewing software, and were more aware of the issues related to using technology for instruction.     

The Difference a Year Makes: An Exploratory Self-Directed IEP Case Study

The Self-Directed IEP has been found effective in increasing student participation in the first Individualized Education Plan (IEP) meeting following Self-Directed IEP instruction. To date, no published reports have examined the extent students are involved during their second IEP meeting following Self-Directed IEP instruction. This study presents an exploratory mixed method case study analysis of a student with a learning disability in sophomore and junior year IEP meetings to illustrate the difference a year can make in IEP meeting participation, the development of postschool goals, confidence, maturity, and self-advocacy. Results indicate a marked increase from year one to year two in the student's word count and speaking rate, a more focused postschool employment vision, and an increase in meeting leadership. Discussion of these results and suggestions for additional research are offered.     

Learning objects and the e-learning cost dilemma

The creation of quality e-learning material creates a cost dilemma for many institutions, since it has both high variable and high fixed costs. This cost dilemma means that economies of scale are difficult to achieve, which may result in a consequent reduction in the quality of the learning material. Based on the experience of creating a masters level course at the UK Open University, the article suggests that the adoption of learning objects represents one possible resolution to this dilemma. They achieve this through the reduction of the fixed costs by four means: reuse, rapid production, ease of updating and cost-effective pedagogy.     

For-profit schools in England: the state of a nation

Abstract

Trends towards the marketisation of the schooling sector have led to suggestions that state-funded schools in England will soon be allowed to operate on a for-profit basis. This article has two aims: to contribute to understanding of the regulation and characterisation of existing for-profit schools in England; and to assess the claim that for-profit schools ‘significantly outperform’ all independent schools by exploring the use of large scale databases including the National Pupil Database (NPD). This study highlights the growth of the for-profit sector, and the scarcity of legislation detailing the financial governance, educational oversight and staffing requirements of schools in the for-profit schooling sector. The for-profit schooling sector is found to be underperforming in terms of school inspection ratings at a level of statistical significance in comparison to the state funded schooling sector. Furthermore, performance indicators relating to GCSE and A level results suggest that the for-profit sector is underperforming compared to the not-for-profit independent sector. As such, the findings of this research have implications in undermining the neoliberal argument that has driven significant change in the schooling landscape in recent times.     

Cold comfort in the primary school

This paper contributes to the debate about conceptualising policy research by considering Howell's (1990) call that researchers reveal the ‘principle of choice’ which guides the selection of topics, strategies and resources in research. Specifically, it addresses the question of what information must be made available to other researchers so that there can be productive continuing conversations’ (Ball 1994:174) about policy research and its conceptualisation. An examination of the policy sociology literature indicates that the specification of the ‘principle of choice’ requires discussion of the intellectual resources deployed in the research and a consideration of the processes of intellectual work which render these resources meaningful. This specification is then applied in relation to my current research, the ‘Social Organisation of Education Practice’ (soep) project to investigate the changing relationship between education and training in Australia. The products and processes of intellectual work that have constituted the principle of choice in my own research are outlined and justified. The way this principle of choice has shaped the conceptualisation of the soep project is discussed and attention drawn to the practical limits of explicit conceptualisation and justification in research. The paper concludes by affirming the importance of making the principle of choice explicit but queries how this can be done in shorthand.     

Behind the Rhetoric: women academic staff in colleges of higher education in England

The paper is based on research into the position of women academic staff in a sample of colleges of higher education in England. This reveals a pattern of entrenched sexual inequality in these institutions, especially at middle and senior management levels. A similar pattern has been found in the university and polytechnic sectors of higher education. However, in the colleges there is an even greater disjunction between the sexual distribution of students and staff. The research is related to recent literature on equal opportunities in education. It is argued that the formal curriculum of equal opportunities is continually subverted by a hidden curriculum of unequal opportunities. Finally, several approaches to positive intervention are suggested.     

Distance education: A particular context for teaching and learning. Introduction to this special issue

This editorial introduction positions distance education in the larger context of educational research and theory construction. Next to a definition of key concepts, the authors elaborate three major issues that are dealt with in distance education research in relation to educational materials. The first issue centres on curriculum and values. The second topic concentrates on the creation of appropriate learning environments. The third issue focuses on the evaluation of effects of materials in use. In discussing the three issues the authors stress the particularities of the distance education context.     

Black boxes on wheels: research challenges and ethical problems in MEA-based robotics

Robotic systems consisting of a neuron culture grown on a multielectrode array (MEA) which is connected to a virtual or mechanical robot have been studied for approximately 15 years. It is hoped that these MEA-based robots will be able to address the problem that robots based on conventional computer technology are not very good at adapting to surprising or unusual situations, at least not when compared to biological organisms. It is also hoped that insights gained from MEA-based robotics can have applications within human enhancement and medicine. In this paper, I argue that researchers within this field risk overstating their results by not paying enough attention to fundamental challenges within the field. In particular, I investigate three problems: the coding problem, the embodiment problem and the training problem. I argue that none of these problems have been solved and that they are not likely to be solved within the field. After that, I discuss whether MEA-based robotics should be considered pop science. Finally, I investigate the ethical aspects of this research.