Identifying distinctive approaches to studying

Dimensions which have been used to describe various aspects of studying are reviewed. These draw attention to three distinctive approaches to studying which contain elements of both study processes and motivation. The development of an inventory of approaches to studying is reported which confirmed the importance of these three dimensions, but also drew attention to the importance of characteristic styles of learning in describing the processes through which students arrive at different levels of under-standing.     

Assessing the added value of the self-system model of motivational development in explaining school engagement among students at risk of early leaving from education and training

European Journal of Psychology of Education - Tackling early leaving from education and training (ELET) is one of the headline targets for education policy in the European Union. Although ELET...     

Inquiry in interaction: How local adaptations of curricula shape classroom communities

In this study, we seek a better understanding of how individuals and their daily interactions shape and reshape social structures that constitute a classroom community. Moreover, we provide insight into how discourse and classroom interactions shape the nature of a learning community, as well as which aspects of the classroom culture may be consequential for learning. The participants in this study include two teachers who are implementing a new environmental science program, Global Learning through Observation to Benefit the Environment (GLOBE), and interacting with 54 children in an urban middle school. Both qualitative and quantitative data are analyzed and presented. To gain a better understanding of the inquiry teaching within classroom communities, we compare and contrast the discourse and interactions of the two teachers during three parallel environmental science lessons. The focus of our analysis includes (1) how the community identifies the object or goal of its activity; and (2) how the rights, rules, and roles for members are established and inhabited in interaction. Quantitative analyses of student pre‐ and posttests suggest greater learning for students in one classroom over the other, providing support for the influence of the classroom community and interactional choices of the teacher on student learning. Implications of the findings from this study are discussed in the context of curricular design, professional development, and educational reform. ? 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 41: 905‐935, 2004.     

Meritocracy,deficit thinking and the invisibility of the system: Discourses on educational success and failure

Socio‐ethnic stratification and segregation processes present in Flemish society are reflected in the everyday school environment. Pupils with a different socio‐ethnic background than the dominant majority and middle class seem to be confronted with a lot of difficulties in this school system. The dominant meritocratic discourse frequently applies a deficit thinking perspective to frame educational success and failure, focusing on deficiencies originating outside of the school. In this paper we analyse newly collected survey data (N = 11,015 pupils) and a large amount of qualitative data (from pupils, parents, teachers, principals) to answer our two main research questions: (i) how is educational success/failure defined, and (ii) how is educational success/failure explained? The factor analyses as well as the qualitative analyses illustrate how the idea of meritocracy relates to individualistic features such as effort, merit and competence. However, the findings also reveal that this individualistic approach goes hand‐in‐hand with a focus on the family environment and ‘culture’ which seems to limit individual agency to a large extent. In these discourses, pupils, parents and even teachers are presented as being largely determined by their direct social environment with almost no regard for social inequalities within the educational system. The paper ends with a discussion on how processes of victimization and the denial of systemic bias, influence educational trajectories and proposes a different approach to multiculturalism and the appreciation of cultural background and specific family resources as positive elements in these trajectories.     

Problem Solving in the Professions

The authors express the view that algorithms and heuristics may be used to help improve professional problem solving abilities provided that they are appropriately contextualised within the relevant discipline.

The first part of this paper presents a basic algorithm applied to the engineering discipline. A similar algorithm applicable in the solving of legal problems is presented later in the paper. Problem complexity and related variables are discussed as are ways of teaching problem solving and integrating problem solving into the curriculum. Typical problem solving exercises are described.     

Radio-Television Books

Harry Sova's American Radio: 1927 (available from the author c/o Department of Radio and Television, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana 47401, 4)1.00).

Robert Lewis Shayon's Open to Criticism (Beacon Press, $9.95)

LeRoy E. Kennel's Ecology of the Airwaves (Focal Pamphlet No. 21, Herald Press, Scottsdale, Arizona 15683, $1.50 paper).

Noel B. Gerson's Talk Show (William morrow, $6.95) which deals with a Carson or Cavett-like personality and you guessed it–his sex hang-ups which lead to his TV Downfall. The second is Allan Prior's The Contract (Simon and Schuster, $7.95)

John M. Stormes and James P. Crumpler's Television Communications Systems for Business and Industry (Wiley/Interscience, 4)11.95).