A sense of place in the science classroom

Place‐based science education engages with the laboratories of complex reality where natural processes combine with social practice, going beyond the physical world, to encompass the meanings and sense of attachment local residents feel for places. This brief report describes how a university science methods class in a primary teacher training programme situated scientific understandings in the rich cultural context of the historically rural and socio‐economically disadvantaged area of Galicia in north‐western Spain, where agrarian traditions continue to influence local culture. Focusing on student responses to two assignments, this brief report explores how the preparation of lesson plans related to food and environmental investigation projects served to integrate aspects of the natural, social and cultural environment to foster a critical pedagogy of place.     

Learning Through Reflection in Mathematics Teacher Education

This article is written from our perspective as both researchers and mathematics teacher educators, and describes how our knowledge has grown as we engage concurrently in both teaching and research. Reflection-on-action is a means for us of approaching the relationship between theory and practice that comes out of the development of our work as researchers and mathematics teacher educators. The article presents the different steps we have identified in the relationship between theory and practice during our professional development. In the discussion, we examine the whole sequence of steps showing what we have learnt. Afterwards, we use the sequence of activity of the reflective process as a framework in which we can operate and reflect about our own development.     

Accuracy and Precision in Measurements: Two Complementary Approaches

This article presents two different approaches to studying the accuracy and precision of a measurement.     

Computer skills of initial teacher education students

Abstract

A constant challenge for teacher education lies in keeping courses up to date. This article provides a view of the current skills, attitudes, and perceptions regarding computer technology in the classroom from a preservice candidate perspective. The intent of this research is to help foster discussion about how to further develop pre-service educational technology courses that best meet the needs of a continuously evolving and changing student-teacher population in terms of computer technology skills. The primary instrument was a self-assessment survey of the skills, attitudes, and perceptions about utilizing computer technology in the classroom among firsttime students enrolled in introductory education courses at a large midwestern university in the USA in the fall semester of 1999. Surveys were administered to a total of 205 students. Questionnaires were given to preservice teachers during their initial courses rather than mailed to their homes, in an attempt to increase participation rates. Participants were categorized as being either a ‘Beginner’ or ‘Experienced User’ of computer technology, based on their responses to the skill section of the survey. The article includes an overview of the results and segments them as they pertain to three general issues: general attitudes with regards to teaching with computer technology, intended use of computers when beginning to teach, and perceived problems to be expected with computer technology when beginning to teach. Finally, an informal discussion regarding student expectations of future teacher training programs and the corresponding implications for school districts are presented from the free-response section of the questionnaire.     

Estrategias de intervención para la reeducación de niños con dificultades en el aprendizaje de la lectura y de la escritura

Son innumerables los textos producidos en nuestro país o traducidos a otros idiomas sobre la etiología y las manifestaciones de los denominados trastornos en el aprendizaje de la lectoescritura en sus diversas variantes. Pero pocas veces se aúnan los esfuerzos de investigadores y clínicos para ofrecer herramientas de tratamiento de estos problemas. Los autores de este artículo han conjugado ambos esfuerzos y ofrecen al lector interesado un diseño para tratar educativamente los problemas lectoescritos.     

Association of leisure time and occupational physical activity with obesity and cardiovascular risk factors in Chile

ABSTRACT

The aim of this study was to investigate the association between physical activity (PA), both occupational (OPA) and during leisure time (LTPA), with obesity and cardiovascular risk factors in Chilean adults. 5,157 participants from the Chilean National Health Survey 2009–2010 were included in this study. OPA and LTPA levels were assessed using the Global Physical Activity Questionnaire. The association between both PA with obesity and cardiovascular risk factors was determined using logistic regression. Our findings showed a significant trend between higher LTPA and lower odds for obesity (OR 0.64 [95% CI: 0.53; 0.76], central obesity 0.52 [0.44; 0.61]) and other cardiovascular risk factors including diabetes (OR: 0.72 [0.55; 0.94]), hypertension (OR: 0.59 [0.50; 0.71]) and metabolic syndrome (OR: 0.62 [0.50; 0.78]). In contrast, OPA was only associated with lower odds of diabetes (OR: 0.79 [0.65; 0.98]) and hypertension (0.85 [0.74; 0.98]). In conclusion, LTPA was associated with a lower risk of all major cardiovascular risk factors, whereas OPA was only associated with a lower risk of diabetes and hypertension.     

We can,we know how. But do we want to? Teaching attitudes towards ICT based on the level of technology integration in schools

Teachers’ attitudes towards technology are crucial to foster its use in schools and to improve its educational affordances and this is still a topic for research. This article relates the attitudes school teachers have towards information and communication technologies (ICT) with the different levels of technology integration in schools. A multiple case-study research methodology was applied, and in which the school was the unit of sampling used. Thirty-five schools from eight Spanish regions were selected, and 1222 questionnaires were collected, representing 78.9% of the sample. Three combined variables were utilised to classify schools in four different levels of technology integration. Results suggest level 4 school teachers exhibit better attitudes towards ICT, which results in creating a positive circle which improves the learning process. This becomes relevant for teacher education and professional development, as effective ICT integration in the classroom can perform as a catalyst for educational innovation.     

Evaluation of the teaching guide as an instrument for adaptation to the new European credit system： Case analysis

This paper presents the evaluation of the teaching guide application for the subject of management control in the Business Management and Administration Degree. The evaluation began with the analysis of a questionnaire which aimed to collect the perceptions of learners who have studied this subject in two groups （morning and afternoon） during the first semester of the current academic year. The intention of this analysis was to obtain information that would meet two objectives： to continue upgrading the teaching-learning process and to revise and improve all the components in the teaching guide. There is an analysis of the degree of difficulty involved in the activities proposed and the degree to which specific objectives for different competencies have been attained. Likewise, we have carried out a global assessment of the different methodologies applied in the teaching-learning process, and an assessment of the evaluation system as well as of other aspects that could have hindered reaching the objectives stated in the guide. Furthermore, the relevance of this questionnaire has been vindicated for obtaining the information necessary to adjust the learner＇s workload to the European credit.     

Specific Reading Comprehension Disability: Major Problem,Myth, or Misnomer?

The goal of the present study was to test three competing hypotheses about the nature of comprehension problems of students who are poor in reading comprehension. Participants in the study were first, second, and third graders, totaling nine cohorts and over 425,000 participants in all. The pattern of results was consistent across all cohorts: Less than 1 percent of first‐ through third‐grade students who scored as poor in reading comprehension were adequate in both decoding and vocabulary. Although poor reading comprehension certainly qualifies as a major problem rather than a myth, the term specific reading comprehension disability is a misnomer: Individuals with problems in reading comprehension that are not attributable to poor word recognition have comprehension problems that are general to language comprehension rather than specific to reading. Implications for assessment and intervention are discussed.