How to activate teachers through teacher evaluation?

There is a general doubt on whether teacher evaluation can contribute to teachers’ professional development. Recently, standards-based teacher evaluation has been introduced in many countries to improve teaching practice. This study wants to investigate which teacher evaluation procedural, leadership, and teacher characteristics can stimulate teachers’ feedback utility perceptions and professional learning activities in the context of teacher evaluation. Data were collected in 32 secondary schools from 298 teachers and 32 school leaders, both quantitatively and qualitatively. We put forward a research model which is investigated through path analysis. Results nurture optimism about teacher evaluation indicating that teacher evaluation can stimulate teachers to undertake professional learning activities when they perceive feedback as useful. The important role of the school leader (through both instructional and transformational leadership) is stressed. Teacher participation and teacher collaboration also have a positive influence on teacher evaluation and its outcomes.     

'That's what scientists have to do': Preservice elementary teachers' conceptions of the nature of science during a moon investigation

In a science methods course for elementary education majors, students investigated the phases of the moon for six weeks. The moon investigation emphasized that scientific knowledge: a) is empirically based; b) involves the invention of explanations; and c) is socially embedded. After the moon investigation, students realized that scientists make observations and generate patterns, but failed to recognize that observation could precede or follow theory building. Students could separate the processes of observing from creating explanations in their learning, but did not articulate the role of invention in science. Similarly, students valued the social dimensions of learning, but were unable to apply them to the activity of scientists. Although our teaching was explicit about students' science learning, we did not help them make direct connections between their science learning activities and the nature of science [NOS]. We provide a set of recommendations for making the NOS more explicit in the moon investigation.     

Generative mechanistic explanation building in undergraduate molecular and cellular biology*

ABSTRACT

When conducting scientific research, experts in molecular and cellular biology (MCB) use specific reasoning strategies to construct mechanistic explanations for the underlying causal features of molecular phenomena. We explored how undergraduate students applied this scientific practice in MCB. Drawing from studies of explanation building among scientists, we created and applied a theoretical framework to explore the strategies students use to construct explanations for ‘novel’ biological phenomena. Specifically, we explored how students navigated the multi-level nature of complex biological systems using generative mechanistic reasoning. Interviews were conducted with introductory and upper-division biology students at a large public university in the United States. Results of qualitative coding revealed key features of students’ explanation building. Students used modular thinking to consider the functional subdivisions of the system, which they ‘filled in’ to varying degrees with mechanistic elements. They also hypothesised the involvement of mechanistic entities and instantiated abstract schema to adapt their explanations to unfamiliar biological contexts. Finally, we explored the flexible thinking that students used to hypothesise the impact of mutations on multi-leveled biological systems. Results revealed a number of ways that students drew mechanistic connections between molecules, functional modules (sets of molecules with an emergent function), cells, tissues, organisms and populations.     

Por los ojos de madres: Latina mothers’ understandings of college readiness

In this study, data from six focus groups with 30 Latina mothers in South Texas were analyzed utilizing a “funds of knowledge” approach to uncover their understandings of college readiness and their role in ensuring their children are college ready. Findings indicate that Latina mothers perceived college readiness in a holistic fashion, similar to the concept of educación, in that being college ready encompasses academic preparation and other particular personal attributes that ensure success in college. Mothers also believed they had a shared responsibility in college readiness efforts by providing emotional, financial, and moral support while school personnel and students were responsible for other aspects. Such findings are crucial given that current college readiness research does not explicitly consider the role of parents in college readiness efforts or how parents perceive this notion.     

Factors associated with physical activity referral uptake and participation

Abstract

The aim of this study was to examine participant and scheme characteristics in relation to access, uptake, and participation in a physical activity referral scheme (PARS) using a prospective population-based longitudinal design. Participants (n = 3762) were recruited over a 3-year period. Logistic regression analyses identified the factors associated with the outcomes of referral uptake, participation, and completion (≥80% attendance). Participant's age, sex, referral reason, referring health professional, and type of leisure provider were the independent variables. Based on binary logistic regression analysis (n = 2631), only primary referral reason was associated with the PARS coordinator making contact with the participants. In addition to the influence of referral reason, females were also more likely (odds ratio 1.250, 95% confidence interval 1.003 – 1.559, P = 0.047) to agree to be assigned to a leisure provider. Referral reason and referring health professional were associated with taking up a referral opportunity. Older participants (1.016, 1.010 – 1.023, P < 0.001) and males were more likely to complete the referral. In conclusion, the PARS format may be less appropriate for those more constrained by time (women, young adults) and those with certain referral reasons (overweight/obesity, mental health conditions). More appropriate targeting at the point of referral could improve participation rates by revealing or addressing barriers that might later result in dropout.     

Correlations between serum and salivary hormonal concentrations in response to resistance exercise

Abstract

The aim of present study was to examine the relationships between serum and salivary values of free testosterone, dehydroepiandrosterone, and cortisol before and after a session of resistance exercise. Twenty-eight healthy men (mean age 40 years, s = 4) participated in the present study. Serum and salivary samples were collected at rest and after a multiple-sets resistance exercise protocol, of approximately 25 minutes duration. Concentrations of free testosterone, dehydroepiandrosterone, and cortisol were measured using radioimmunoassay kits. No significant correlation was observed between serum free testosterone and salivary testosterone (r = 0.22 to 0.26, P > 0.05). Serum cortisol was significantly correlated with salivary cortisol before (r = 0.52, P = 0.005) and after (r = 0.62, P = 0.001) the exercise protocol. Serum and salivary concentrations of dehydroepiandrosterone were significantly correlated before (r = 0.68, P < 0.001) and after (r = 0.7, P < 0.001) exercise. The results of the present study suggest that even under exercise conditions, the salivary values of cortisol and dehydroepiandrosterone can reflect the behaviour of these hormones in blood. However, further studies are necessary to verify if salivary testosterone reflects the behaviour of serum free testosterone during resistance exercise.     

Online Resources for New Mothers: Opportunities and Challenges for Perinatal Health Professionals

Studies have shown increasing Internet use for health information and service facilities. After consulting a convenience sample of new mothers, this study applied select terms and phrases to a widely accepted search engine and investigated its potential for providing resources for new mothers. Results of this quantitative content analysis showed that only four of the 13 phrases used in the search generated 50% or more websites containing content relevant to new mothers. Findings indicate that informational support by way of electronic fact sheets is available using the Google search engine. However, functional support (e.g., social networks, consultation phone details, and mother–infant activities) configured limited data resources using the Google search engine. In addition, because websites can be difficult to navigate, users’ technical proficiency needs to be taken into consideration as well as the sites’ up-to-date information. With Internet technology rapidly expanding, perinatal educators and other perinatal health-care professionals need to be informed about current online resources to help direct consumers to useful online resources and mitigate the often overwhelming and confusing information.     

Technology,learning and instruction: distributed cognition in the secondary English classroom

In this paper, we analyse interactions between secondary students and pre‐service teachers in an online environment in order to understand how their meaning‐making processes embody distributed cognition. We begin by providing a theoretical review of the ways in which literacy learning is distributed across learners, objects, tools, symbols, technologies and the environment in modern English language arts classrooms. This is followed by a case study where we identify how programme values, textual resources and cultural schema function as distributed tools. In traditional schools, with an emphasis on taking standardised tests, the learning environment is designed on the view that learning is a transaction that happens solely ‘inside the head’. Unfortunately, this pushes many students to the margins of classroom engagement and participation. By analysing students' and pre‐service teachers' online discourse, we argue that virtual spaces can facilitate critical dialogue and can act as catalysts for a distributed theory of mind.     

Winning Is(n't) Everything: The Paradox of Excellence and the Challenge of Organizational Epideictic

Encompassing both the controlled messages of values advocacy and less explicit rhetorical actions such as philanthropy, community programs, and volunteerism, organizational epideictic affirms common values. This essay argues that such common values are problematized by the presence of paradox even in seemingly innocuous epideictic subjects. Through a case study of the National Collegiate Athletic Association's “Stay in Bounds” program teaching children to be good sports both on and off the field, the essay demonstrates the challenges of organizational epideictic through the paradox of excellence. It also provides suggestions for the management—but not elimination—of paradox in organizational epideictic, particularly directed at external publics.