Difficulties in defining mobile learning: analysis,design characteristics,and implications

Educational technology research and development - Mobile learning, or m-learning, has become an umbrella term for the integration of mobile computing devices within teaching and learning. In the...     

How can we Teach History through Television?

This article contrasts the often ambivalent attitudes of teachers towards television and generalised research on teachers’ uses of television, with detailed empirical evidence from primary school history co‐ordinators describing their reactions to and expectations of the medium. The data describes a wide variety of reasons why television is educationally useful in the teaching and learning of history. The argument is articulated that teachers and children can be sophisticated viewers of televisual schools history, offering useful guidelines for programme makers; but that teacher conservatism and lack of advisory support for teachers’ deployment of the medium may be hindering its educational effectiveness.     

Our shrinking ozone layer

Depletion of the Earth’s ozone layer is one of the major environmental concerns for the new millennium having serious implications on human health, agriculture and climate. In the past decades, research by the international scientific community has been directed towards understanding the impact of human interference on the Earth’s atmosphere. The importance of ozone radiation absorption in the atmosphere and the general kinetics of the stratospheric ozone depletion mechanisms have motivated many theoretical and experimental studies on various chemical species. The distribution of ozone and other trace gases in the atmosphere is governed by the complex interaction of dynamical, chemical and radiative processes. This article concentrates on the basic concepts underlying the problems that may be faced by humankind due to reduction in the ozone layer in coming decades, and the ways in which the scientific community can contribute to predicting and remediating these effects through design of international treaties, regulations and amendments.     

Learning to teach with the web: Factors influencing teacher education faculty

Professional development at postsecondary institutions has primarily been supported through a central faculty development center. With purposive sampling, this small case study explored the ways in which teacher education faculty members were influenced to participate in decentralized professional development focused on learning to teach with WebCT. Results suggest that university faculty were influenced by both intrinsic factors (including convenience, comfort, common interests, and future purposes) and an extrinsic factor (external pressures). This research suggests that these factors also contributed to the faculty's satisfaction with the professional development. A follow-up interview explored how faculty coped with budgetary limitations and encouragement to pursue other distance education technologies.     

Measures of reading comprehension: do they measure different skills for children learning English as a second language?

The validity of two measures of English reading comprehension was examined across three different groups of English language learners (ELLs; 64 Portuguese, 66 Spanish and 65 Cantonese). All three groups were achieving within the average range in second grade. An exploratory principal components analysis of reading skills was carried out to determine which skills were related to two commonly used tests of reading comprehension, the Woodcock Language Proficiency Battery??s test of Passage Comprehension (WLPB-PC; Woodcock, 1991) and the Gray Oral Reading Test-4 (GORT-4; Wiederholt & Bryant, 2001). The factor solutions were different for the three language groups but showed many similarities in that the GORT-4 and WLPB-R tests of reading comprehension fell on the same factor within each group. Hierarchical regression analyses examining relationships among vocabulary, decoding and reading comprehension showed that language group membership did not significantly predict performance on either measure of reading comprehension. Differences that arose are likely due to issues with task validity and not ELL status. Limitations and future research are discussed.     

Little pitchers use their big ears: preschoolers solve problems by listening to others ask questions

Children ask questions and learn from the responses they receive; however, little is known about how children learn from listening to others ask questions. Five experiments examined preschoolers' (N = 179) ability to solve simple problems using information gathered from listening to question-and-answer exchanges between 2 parties present in the same room. Overall, the ability to efficiently use information gathered from overheard exchanges improved between ages 3 and 5. Critically, however, across ages children solved the majority of problems correctly, suggesting preschoolers are capable of learning from others' questions. Moreover, children learned from others' questions without explicit instruction and when engaged in another activity. Implications for the development of problem-solving skills are discussed.     

The power of information: health information and UK agendas

The Department of Health published a new health information strategy in May 2012. The document provides a framework for health information in England over the next 10 years. Health information developments in England, however, do not mirror developments in other parts of the United Kingdom. This article is a personal reflection on the new health information strategy in England, including comparison with developments in the other UK nations.