Creating a space where teachers can locate their voices and develop their pedagogical awareness

The claim is made here that we need to prepare teachers who can locate their voices in teaching situations, recognize their relationship with other voices in those situations, and reflect on their pedagogical intentions. In a teacher education course, stories written about practicum experiences offered students an opportunity to reflect on the location of their voice in classroom situations and to discuss with peers different classroom situations and possibilities for teaching and learning. This study examines more closely the reflections of two of the students with seemingly distinct orientations to learning to teach. Their practicum stories and reflective essays were analyzed for positioning of voice as described by Belenky et al. (1986). The two students located their voices in distinct ways, and also expressed growing awareness of classroom dynamics and the value of peer dialogue in broadening and deepening their understandings of teaching and learning.     

Weak Ties in Networked Communities

Communities with high levels of social capital are likely to have a higher quality of life than communities with low social capital. This is due to the greater ability of such communities to organize and mobilize effectively for collective action because they have high levels of social trust, dense social networks, and well-established norms of mutuality (the major features of social capital). Communities with “bridging” social capital (weak ties across groups) as well as “bonding” social capital (strong ties within groups) are the most effective in organizing for collective action. People who belong to multiple groups act as bridging ties. When people with bridging ties use communication media, such as the Internet, they enhance their capability to educate community members and to organize, as needed, for collective action. This article summarizes evidence from stratified household survey data in Blacksburg, VA, showing that people with weak (bridging) ties across groups have higher levels of community involvement, civic interest, and collective efficacy than people without bridging ties among groups. Moreover, heavy Internet users with bridging ties have higher social engagement, use the Internet for social purposes, and have been attending more local meetings and events since going online than heavy Internet users with no bridging ties. These findings may suggest that the Internet—in the hands of bridging individuals-is a tool for enhancing social relations and information exchange, and for increasing face-to-face interaction, all of which help to build both bonding and bridging social capital in communities.     

Close to you? Bias and precision in patent-based measures of technological proximity

Patent data have been widely used in research to characterize firms’ locations in technological or knowledge space, as well as the proximities among firms. Researchers have measured firms’ technological or knowledge proximities with a variety of measures based on patent data, including Euclidean distances (using the technological classifications listed on patents), and overlap in cited patents. Often research has employed only the first listed patent classification in measures of proximities. We explore the effects of using the first listed patent class as well as other methods to measure proximities. We point out that measures of proximity based on small numbers of patents are imprecisely measured random variables. Measures computed on samples with few patents or a single patent class generate both biased and imprecise measures of proximity. We discuss the implications of this for typical research questions employing measures of proximity, and explore the effects of larger sample sizes and coarser patent class breakdowns in mitigating these problems. Where possible, we suggest that researchers increase their sample sizes by aggregating years or using all of the listed patent classes on a patent, rather than just the first.     

Examining the effect of positive behaviour support on academic achievement of students with disabilities

Students who engage in challenging behaviour compromise the fundamental ability of schools to educate children. Consequently, teachers face the daunting task of designing effective strategies to promote positive educational outcomes for their students. Since the 1997 Individuals with Disabilities Education Act amendments, the use of positive behaviour supports (PBS) to address the behavioural needs of children challenged by disabilities has expanded. There is evidence to support the utility of PBS in reducing challenging behaviour among students. However, successful schools are also gauged by the academic achievement of their students. Hence, it is important to examine the extent to which behavioural outcomes are related to academic outcomes. The purpose of this paper is to examine the extent to which PBS interventions aimed at reducing challenging behaviour result in corresponding improvement in academic achievement. A meta‐analysis of extant research indicated a positive correlation of 0.40 between improvement in problem behaviour and academic achievement. A video abstract of this article can be viewed at: http://youtu.be/c9OUU0GkGrw .     

Signature pedagogies in support of teachers’ professional learning

Signature pedagogies [Shulman, L. 2005 Shulman, L. 2005. “Signature Pedagogies in the Professions.” Daedalus 134 (3): 52–59. doi: 10.1162/0011526054622015[Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]. “Signature pedagogies in the professions.” Daedalus 134 (3): 52–59.] are a focus of teacher educators seeking to improve teaching and teacher education. The purpose of this paper is to present a preliminary common language of signature pedagogies for teacher professional development (PD). In all, 24 papers from the study of physical education PD projects with clearly articulated pedagogical objectives and documentation on achieving those objectives were included in the analysis. In total 479 teachers and 48 facilitators across the US and Europe were interviewed and/or surveyed. Three discrete PD signature pedagogies holding potential to enhance teacher growth and learning within the context of PD were identified: critical dialogue (process of acquiring knowledge through communicative interactions), public sharing of work (testing out practices in classrooms and share ideas with larger audiences), and communities of learners (collective learning around a shared concern or a passion). It is our hope in providing the beginnings of a common vocabulary for pedagogies of teacher professional learning we have encouraged additional steps toward developing signature pedagogies for learning across different PD settings and content areas.     

Globalization,values education,and school music education in China

This paper examines music education’s legitimation of values as a means of preparing students for entry into the new ‘knowledge society’ of the People’s Republic of China in a global age. It explores the ways in which values education relates to the teaching of both musical and non‐musical meanings in the dual context of nationalism and globalization, and discusses some problems that values education faces in school music classrooms. It examines the ways in which globalization has pressured values education into resolving the apparent contradiction between national identity and national unity in the ever‐changing play of Chinese history and politics. It concludes with a discussion of how music education might juggle three pairs of apparently contradictory relationships in the curriculum: between contemporary cultural and social values on the one hand, and traditional Chinese and Communist ideologies on the other; between collectivism and individualism; and between national and global cultures.     

Is the Simple View of Reading too Simple?

According to the Simple View of Reading (SVR), reading comprehension is the product of word decoding ability and linguistic comprehension (R = D × C). However, there is also evidence showing that an additive model (R = D + C) explains just as much or even more of the variance in reading comprehension than the product model. To further evaluate these models, 467 Norwegian students in grade 6 were administered measures of reading comprehension, decoding ability, listening comprehension, phonemic awareness, and rapid digit naming. Hierarchical regression analyses were conducted to evaluate the explanatory power of each model, in addition to the influence of phonemic awareness and rapid naming. The preliminary hierarchical regression analyses were replicated among Swedish students. According to the present study, the additive model explained more of the variance in reading comprehension than the product model, and only rapid naming contributed significantly to explain variance in reading comprehension, above and beyond that explained by the SVR.     

Changes in the Multi‐Level Effects of Socio‐Economic Status on Reading Achievement in Sweden in 1991 and 2001

This study examines the changes in educational inequality at the school‐ and individual‐levels in 1991 and 2001. Comparisons are made between the IEA Reading Literacy Study 1991 and the so called 10‐Year Trend Study in PIRLS 2001. The between‐school differences in reading achievement variance and the size of the relationship between SES and reading achievement at school‐level are the two main focuses. Applying a two‐level structural equation modeling technique, it was found that the between‐school differences in reading achievement were greater in RLS 2001 than in RLS 1991, and the school SES effect has been strengthened over time. These changes indicate that educational inequality in Sweden has increased over time. Some possible explanations to these changes are discussed with reference to school reforms and demographic changes.