ASSESSING STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES OF TEACHER KNOWLEDGE IN ASIA, EASTERN EUROPE, AND WESTERN COUNTRIES: DIFFERENTIAL ITEM FUNCTIONING IN TEDS-M

The “Teacher Education and Development Study in Mathematics” assessed the knowledge of primary and lower-secondary teachers at the end of their training. The large-scale assessment represented the common denominator of what constitutes mathematics content knowledge and mathematics pedagogical content knowledge in the 16 participating countries. The country means provided information on the overall teacher performance in these 2 areas. By detecting and explaining differential item functioning (DIF), this paper goes beyond the country means and investigates item-by-item strengths and weaknesses of future teachers. We hypothesized that due to differences in the cultural context, teachers from different countries responded differently to subgroups of test items with certain item characteristics. Content domains, cognitive demands (including item difficulty), and item format represented, in fact, such characteristics: They significantly explained variance in DIF. Country pairs showed similar patterns in the relationship of DIF to the item characteristics. Future teachers from Taiwan and Singapore were particularly strong on mathematics content and constructed-response items. Future teachers from Russia and Poland were particularly strong on items requiring non-standard mathematical operations. The USA and Norway did particularly well on mathematics pedagogical content and data items. Thus, conditional on the countries’ mean performance, the knowledge profiles of the future teachers matched the respective national debates. This result points to the influences of the cultural context on mathematics teacher knowledge.     

Premature closure and guided reinvention: a case study in a web‐based learning environment

Just as linguistic errors have provided insights into the nature of linguistic competence(s), detailed analyses of blind spots or marked trajectories in the reflection cycles of novice teachers may provide a window on their underlying beliefs, and thus on relevant zones of proximal development. In this paper we analyse a case study in an experimental web‐based learning environment in which a novice teacher demonstrably just reproduces the assumptions she started out with rather than re‐inspecting them. Having located a problem of motivation uniquely inside the learners’ heads, she pointedly ignores hints in the feedback that her own verbal and nonverbal behaviour in the classroom might be a relevant domain of enquiry. Our findings show the need for structural interventions within a priori hypothesized, linearly ordered, stages in reflection models. We report on two small‐scale experiments that implement suggested changes in the architecture of the web site which yield more context‐sensitive ways of scaffolding reflection. In conclusion we argue that detailed discursive accounts of successful and less successful reflection trajectories are needed to refine and further develop models in teacher thinking.     

Safe Schools for LGBTQI Students: How Do Teachers View Their Role in Promoting Safe Schools?

This literature review presents insights from existing research on how teachers view their role in creating safe schools for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer/questioning, and intersex (LGBTQI) students. Analysis of the literature shows that there are concerns for LGBTQI students’ safety in schools, that educational settings operate from a position of heteronormativity, and that heterosexual teachers are uniquely positioned as part of the dominant group in which they help to define what is normal and what is deviant in school culture. Research findings on the ways heterosexual teachers respond to institutional heteronormativity are summarized and compared. This review of research provides considerations for and recommendations to school administrators and teacher educators to address needs of teachers. Areas for future research also are identified.     

THROUGH OUR EYES: HELPING EMERGING TEACHERS SEE THEMSELVES

Preservice teachers benefit from opportunities to intentionally and systematically evaluate their practice. Teachers Observational Tools (TOTs) described in this article are useful instruments that effectively guide teaching interns’ and their coaching teachers’ observations. They give education students opportunities to draw conclusions and evaluate their own work rather then relying on coaching teachers’ opinions. These tools are appealing to constructivist teacher educators. These observational techniques have been used effectively by students preparing to teach young children, but could be used effectively by those working with students of all ages. They are popular with preservice teachers and their supervisors and have, additionally, made an important contribution to our University's professional development school partnerships.     

Applying HOPSCOTCH as an exer-learning game in English lessons: two exploratory studies

This article describes HOPSCOTCH, a design concept for an exer-learning game to engage elementary school children in learning. Exer-learning is a new genre of digital learning games that combines playing and learning with physical activity (exercise). HOPSCOTCH is a first design concept for exer-learning games that can be applied to support the acquisition of factual knowledge. HOPSCOTCH is based on the popular playground game in which a course is drawn on the pavement with numbers that indicate the course to be hopped. In two exploratory studies at a German elementary school, we investigated the potential of HOPSCOTCH to engage students, as well as to facilitate the acquisition of factual knowledge (English vocabulary) and to improve the attitudes of students towards learning English as a second language. The results of these studies indicated that the students remembered and correctly spelled about the same number of new vocabulary words after learning with HOPSCOTCH as they did after a teacher-centred lesson. Importantly however, the students enjoyed playing this exer-learning game very much and they reported better attitudes towards studying English after learning vocabulary with HOPSCOTCH compared to a teacher-centred lesson. These encouraging first results support the assumption that HOPSCOTCH as a design concept may have the potential to actively engage players in learning activities leading to a virtuous circle of reduced low level disruption and self-exclusion, increased assimilation of knowledge and greater engagement in lessons to the benefit of the whole class, not just the better-motivated individual. As such we suggest that exer-learning games could serve as additional classroom control and teaching aids in schools.     

Conservation of stained glass windows with protective glazing: Main results from the European VIDRIO research programme

The methodology of protecting the European stained glass windows against environmental risk (e.g. meteorological factors, air pollution, microorganisms) by means of an external glazing is not new. In spite of many scientific studies carried out in the last 20 years, some questions were still up for discussion. The European VIDRIO (2002–2005) project gave an answer to these questions. The research carried out by the different project partners established a new multidisciplinary approach aimed at evaluating the efficiency of the protective glazing systems and their effects on stained glass windows conservation, and finally at assessing the most appropriate strategy to preserve stained glass windows. Scientific results showed that the so-called isothermal glazing (i.e. ventilation by the air coming from the inside of the building) protected efficiently the ancient stained glass window from environmental attack (i.e. rain, pollutants, condensation, thermal shocks) with very limited secondary effects. The scientific research highlighted that its efficiency was strongly related to the technical design of the protective system. In particular, the ventilation and the size of the interspace had to be carefully considered. The research developed within the VIDRIO project was turned into general recommendations to the owners and practitioners on the best practice for the stained glass windows future conservation.     

HPT and small business: Gold mine or land mine?

Performance consulting is typically applied to large organizations. Almost all of the literature on the topic discusses the art and science of human performance technology in these types of organizations. In the United States, however, 99.7% of employer organizations are small businesses. This article addresses some of the opportunities and challenges of working with smaller organizations and presents ways that performance consultants can build a sustainable practice in this market.     

Kawaii Killers and Femme Fatales: A Textual Analysis of Female Characters Signifying Benevolent and Hostile Sexism in Video Games

ABSTRACT

Game developers potentially convey socio-cultural values about gender through design choices. This study interpreted the designs of 11 purposively selected female game characters, developed by studios located in the United States and Japan, through the lens of ambivalent sexism. This social psychological theory posits that sexism consists of hostile and benevolent attitudes about women. Two themes emerged across characterizations: bodies as objects, bodies as weapons and (in)dependence. Both consisted of empowering qualities paired with problematic beliefs about women. This analysis contributes to interdisciplinary literature by using an empirical perspective to interpret gender representations in video games.