Using teacher stories to reveal quality educational practice: An Eastern Cape experience

The University of Fort Hare Distance Education Project set out to improve qualifications of primary teachers in rural and township schools in the Eastern Cape of the Republic of South Africa. At the culmination of an 11-year AUSAid collaboration between the University of Fort Hare and University of South Australia a research project to reveal quality educational practice was undertaken. Using oral histories as the methodology, teacher stories were gathered through a sequence of interviews and classroom observations. This collection of oral histories constitutes the basis for the paper. Its research focus has been the science and mathematics practices of eight teachers who typify the many hundreds who participated in the project. This paper explores the use of oral history as a methodology for documenting quality educational practice.     

Knowing,Believing, and Understanding: What Goals for Science Education?

Science &; Education - What is a teacher to do when confronted with a student who says “I understand that theory (e.g., evolution), but I don't believe it”? The purpose of this...     

Current conceptions of literacy – insights from work with children and older learners with sensory needs

There have been many efforts to conceptualise literacy, both in terms of its essence and component parts, but it has proved difficult to define. This paper considers work that is undertaken with children and older learners with sensory needs in order to promote the early stages of literacy. Recent government initiatives aimed at fostering literacy development have caused teachers of children with sensory needs to re-examine their practice. The paper discusses early literacy as part of children's attempts to communicate and describes children with sensory needs engaging in a range of activities that are termed 'literacy' by those working with them. By taking into account these activities, the authors endeavour to throw light on the broader questions around concepts of literacy.     

International organizations,educational development,and conflict: A (world) cultural perspective

PROSPECTS - Many analyses of globalized education have directed growing attention to a problematic local-global nexus, with a particular focus on international organizations (IOs) as coercive and...     

Push-Penny: Are you a Random Player?

Several measures of “success” for a simple game are discussed. Comparisons between players, and between a player and a simulation, can be made in several ways.     

The empirical derivation of equations for predicting subjective textual information

Parameters pertaining to information processing by human beings have, in the past, been determined by learning and memory experiments with nonsense syllables, number sequences, etc. However, in the real world we are concerned with the processing of meaningful information, not senselles texts. Therefore, the determination of subjective information directly from meaningful material becomes extremely important in the instruction-learning process.This study derives an equation for predicting the subjective textual information contained in a text of material written in the English language. Specifically, this investigation describes, by a mathematical equation, the relationship between the subjective information content of written textual material and the relative number of errors committed by a learner when asked to predict, letter by letter, the content of given textual material. This relationship shows that the subjective information of a given text for a specific learner is directly proportional to the number of wrongly guessed signs made by that learner. This is expressed mathematically by% MathType!MTEF!2!1!+- % feaafeart1ev1aaatCvAUfeBSjuyZL2yd9gzLbvyNv2CaerbuLwBLn % hiov2DGi1BTfMBaeXatLxBI9gBaerbd9wDYLwzYbItLDharqqtubsr % 4rNCHbGeaGqiVu0Je9sqqrpepC0xbbL8F4rqqrFfpeea0xe9Lq-Jc9 % vqaqpepm0xbba9pwe9Q8fs0-yqaqpepae9pg0FirpepeKkFr0xfr-x % fr-xb9adbaqaaeGaciGaaiaabeqaamaabaabaaGcbaGaamysaiabg2 % da9iaaiodacaGGUaGaaGymaiaabccacaWGfbaaaa!3B57! \[ I = 3.1{\rm{ }}E \] 0935 0212 VWhere: I = Information in bits E = Number of wrongly guessed signsThe application of Shannon's guessing procedure (1951) in this study permits the measurement of the subjective information of a given text for a specific learner. Unlike senseless texts, the subjective information of a meaningful text varies from learner to learner. Therefore, the derived equation permits the measurement of information in terms of a value that is dependent not only upon the inherent qualities of the subject matter, but also upon the internal state of the learner.The derived equation for the English language is then compared to an equation derived by Weltner (1967) for the German language and found to be remarkably similar.This work was, in part, supported by United States Air Force Contract F41609-71-C-0027 entitled Flying Training Research on Airborne and Ground Training Systems, and a research grant from Arizona State University.     

The innovation paradox: a selective review of the literature on action learning and innovation

This paper explores selective literatures in the two fields of action learning and innovation, and seeks insights into the processes of, and connections between, innovation, engagement and implementation. We searched the action learning articles for references to innovation, beginning with the work of Revans, who highlights the innovation paradox, which becomes a key theme of this paper. We searched the very large innovation literature for references to innovation as a learning process and as a factor in organisational learning. The paper surveys the factors said to enable innovation, and briefly outlines some inhibitors, before considering Revans’ contribution to thinking about innovation. This is followed by a consideration of developments in action learning and innovation since Revans. The findings suggest that paradox theory is a useful way of thinking about innovation, conceived of as a practical problem involving resistances and frequent failures of implementation and adoption, and also propose action learning as a means of working with and addressing paradox. A limitation of this study is its lack of empirical data. Further research could usefully interrogate examples of innovation practices and ask such questions as to why innovation remains so elusive, and how innovative capacities and capabilities can be developed and enhanced.     

‘Question Moments’: A Rolling Programme of Question Opportunities in Classroom Science

This naturalistic study integrates specific ‘question moments’ into lesson plans to increase pupils’ classroom interactions. A range of tools explored students’ ideas by providing students with opportunities to ask and write questions. Their oral and written outcomes provide data on individual and group misunderstandings. Changes to the schedule of lessons were introduced to explore these questions and address disparities. Flexible lesson planning over 14 lessons across a 4-week period of high school chemistry accommodated students’ contributions and increased student participation, promoted inquiring and individualised teaching, with each teaching strategy feeding forward into the next.