‘Risky fun’ or ‘Authentic science’? How teachers’ beliefs influence their practice during a professional development programme on outdoor learning

Teaching outdoors has been established as an important pedagogical strategy; however, science classes rarely take place outside. Previous research has identified characteristics of teachers who have integrated out-of-classroom opportunities into their teaching repertoire; yet little is understood as to why teachers make these different pedagogical decisions. This paper explores the relationship between secondary science teachers’ beliefs and their pedagogical practice during a two-year professional development programme associated with the ‘Thinking Beyond the Classroom’ project. Using data from lesson observations, interviews, session questionnaires and field notes, six teacher case studies were developed from participants completing the programme. Data analysis reveals that teachers who successfully taught outside generally held social constructivist beliefs about learning and valued ‘authentic’ science opportunities. Conversely, teachers who were less successful in teaching outside generally held traditional learning beliefs and simply valued the outdoors for the novelty and potential for fun. All the case study teachers were concerned about managing student learning outside, and for the majority, their concerns influenced their subsequent pedagogical practice. The findings are discussed in detail, as are the implications for pre-service and in-service professional development programmes related to outdoor science learning.     

Writing and reading knowledge of Spanish/English second-generation bilinguals

Written bilingualism represents a particular type of bilingualism that is not frequently approached. The aim of this study was to investigate the writing and reading abilities of second-generation immigrants, Spanish–English bilinguals in South Florida. 58 participants (36 females, 22 males; 18–39 years of age) were selected. Both parents were native Spanish speakers and the home language was Spanish; 37 were born in the United States and 21 were born in a Latin American country, but arrived to the US before the age of 10. Equivalent reading and writing tests were administered both in Spanish and English. Performance was significantly higher in English than in Spanish in the following tests: reading aloud (speed and errors), writing sentences, spontaneous writing number of words, and spontaneous writing errors (spelling and grammatical). When comparing those participants born in the US and abroad, no significant differences were found in Spanish, but in English; participants born in the US did better in reading aloud (errors), and spontaneous writing errors (spelling and grammatical). It was concluded that reading and writing abilities are in general higher in English than in Spanish in this group of bilinguals, which is correlated with the language used in the school they attended. This study emphasize the importance to analyze not only oral but also written bilingualism. Toward the future, it would be particularly important to study written bilingualism in other types of bilingualism.     

父与子

Steven steeled himself for the conflict to come as his father, Ronald, slowly entered the front door.     

Solving Hitchcock’s transportation problem by a genetic algorithm

IntroductionTheHitchcock’sTransportationProblem(HTP)canbeformulatedasaclassiclinearprogrammingprobleminwhichthesetofconstraintsisofaspecialstructure[1,2].TheHTPisapracticaltransportationprobleminproductiondistributionsector.Alotofpracticaltrans-portationandassignmentproblems,suchastheminimumcostroadnetworktrafficflowproblemwithsolidchargeinlogistics,canbeformulatedinthisway,anditisclearlythattheHTPmaybehasmorethanoneoptimalsolution.Itisveryimportantforadecision-makertoselectafavorableone…     

Development of Automated Scoring Algorithms for Complex Performance Assessments: A Comparison of Two Approaches

Performance assessments are typically scored by having experts rate individual performances. The cost associated with using expert raters may represent a serious limitation in many large-scale testing programs. The use of raters may also introduce an additional source of error into the assessment. These limitations have motivated development of automated scoring systems for performance assessments. Preliminary research has shown these systems to have application across a variety of tasks ranging from simple mathematics to architectural problem solving. This study extends research on automated scoring by comparing alternative automated systems for scoring a computer simulation test of physicians'patient management skills; one system uses regression-derived weights for components of the performance, the other uses complex rules to map performances into score levels. The procedures are evaluated by comparing the resulting scores to expert ratings of the same performances.     

The relationship of teacher ratings of executive functions to emergent literacy in Head Start

Reading and Writing - The purpose of this study was to investigate the concurrent relationships between selected teacher-rated executive function (EF) and a comprehensive array of emergent literacy...     

隐蔽在醒目处——教科书中的性别偏见

教科书是学生学习的主要媒介,隐蔽在教科书中的性别偏见是制约女性教育发展及教育性别平等的关键因素.本文综合了智利、格鲁吉亚、巴基斯坦和泰国的相关研究,分析了这些国家教科书性别偏见的背景、现状及共同特点,总结了这些国家教科书性别平等改革的进展、阻碍因素以及改革成功的必要条件和措施,并从教育决策者、教科书编制者和教师等角度对未来的性别平等教育改革提出了有效建议.     

Latinx students’ experiences with college access and preparation at college preparatory charter schools

Charter schools that target underserved communities, including Latinxs, have proliferated in the U.S., claiming a unique, more autonomous and successful alternative to traditional public schools, often with a promise of increased postsecondary access and preparation. However, there is conflicting evidence regarding their effectiveness on academic outcomes, prompting additional research on charter schools. This study examined the college access and preparation experiences of 14 Latinxs attending college preparatory charter schools within one school system in Texas. Findings highlight how schools assisted students in preparing for college, but challenges in accessing college knowledge and assistance still existed, particularly for undocumented students.