Geographical education and ideology in England and Wales

Conclusion If ideology is a nexus of ideas which represent the values of a society and the way that society operates, then clearly such ideas, in so far as they are held by those who have power in society, are bound to affect what is taught within the system of education. This may not be openly avowed, though in totalitarian regimes the education system is determinedly used to enforce the only ideology—that of those in power. The saving grace in a democratic system is that those being educated have access ideologies other than the dominant one. In England and Wales and to some extent elsewhere in the United Kingdom, there is little doubt that the geography curriculum has tended to serve the dominant ideology during the heyday of the British Empire and even during its period of decline in the 1930s and 1940s. In the 1960s and 1970s, an alternative ideology stressing the rights of the underprivileged became manifest in a geography curriculum that was not controlled centrally. The 1980s saw a reversal of this trend by those who had political power, though the reason advanced for the greater control of the curriculum was couched in terms of the economic needs of the nation and the desire to raise standards. But clearly those in power considered that theraison d'être of education was to promote an enterprise culture. However, in practice no ideology is ever pure. When the enterprise culture came into contact with long-cherished ideas of national sovereignty, marrying the two proved difficult. This was reflected in the neutral (not to say negative) position of the national curriculum in geography with respect to the European Union. Original language: English Norman Graves (United Kingdom) Professor Emeritus of Geography Education at the University of London Institute of Education. He is consultant to UNESCO in association with the International Geographical Union. Author of numerous works on geography education, he is involved in curriculum and textbook planning and is an acknowledged expert in his field of research.     

The influence of history of science courses on students' views of nature of science

This study (a) assessed the influence of three history of science (HOS) courses on college students' and preservice science teachers' conceptions of nature of science (NOS), (b) examined whether participants who entered the investigated courses with a conceptual framework consistent with contemporary NOS views achieved more elaborate NOS understandings, and (c) explored the aspects of the participant HOS courses that rendered them more “effective” in influencing students' views. Participants were 166 undergraduate and graduate students and 15 preservice secondary science teachers. An open‐ended questionnaire in conjunction with individual interviews, was used to assess participants' pre‐ and postinstruction NOS views. Almost all participants held inadequate views of several NOS aspects at the outset of the study. Very few and limited changes in participants' views were evident at the conclusion of the courses. Change was evident in the views of relatively more participants, especially preservice science teachers, who entered the HOS courses with frameworks that were somewhat consistent with current NOS views. Moreover, explicitly addressing certain NOS aspects rendered the HOS courses relatively more effective in enhancing participants' NOS views. The results of this study do not lend empirical support to the intuitively appealing assumption held by many science educators that coursework in HOS will necessarily enhance students' and preservice science teachers' NOS views. However, explicitly addressing specific NOS aspects might enhance the effectiveness of HOS courses in this regard. Moreover, the study suggests that exposing preservice science teachers to explicit NOS instruction in science methods courses prior to their enrollment in HOS courses might increase the likelihood that their NOS views will be changed or enriched as a result of their experiences with HOS. © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 37: 1057–1095, 2000     

Cognitive assessment of function knowledge

Two theories of assessing function knowledge were compared for intuitive physics. The choice assessment theory, derived from Piaget, presents subjects with two physical situations, each specified by the values of two physical variables; subjects choose the situation which will yield the greater value of a dependent variable. Functional measurement presents subjects with a single physical situation; subjects make a quantitative estimate of the dependent variable. Forty subjects made both choice and functional measurement responses for two situations of intuitive physics. The choice theory showed substantial frequencies of stepwise rules, implying that subjects failed to integrate the two given physical variables. Functional measurement, in contrast, showed that most subjects integrated the two variables, following exact addition or multiplication rules. It is concluded that functional measurement gives a more correct assessment of function knowledge and should be useful in science instruction. J Res Sci Teach 34: 359–376, 1997.     

Teachers' understanding of the nature of science and classroom practice: Factors that facilitate or impede the relationship

The purpose of this multiple case study was to investigate the relationship of teachers' understanding of the nature of science and classroom practice and to delineate factors that facilitate or impede a relationship. Five high school biology teachers, ranging in experience from 2 to 15 years, comprised the sample for this investigation. During one full academic year, multiple data sources were collected and included classroom observations, open‐ended questionnaires, semistructured and structured interviews, and instructional plans and materials. In addition, students in each of the teachers' classrooms were interviewed with respect to their understanding of the nature of science. Using analytical induction, multiple data sources were analyzed independently and together to triangulate data while constructing teacher profiles. The results indicated that teachers' conceptions of science do not necessarily influence classroom practice. Of critical importance were teachers' level of experience, intentions, and perceptions of students. The results have importnat implications for teacher education as well as the successful implementation of current reforms. © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 36: 916–929, 1999     

科妮莉亚的最后一次情报检索

<正> 真正重要的是,得阐明社会在过去的200年里,已在处理情报方面取得了多么大的成就,科妮莉亚·亨利达样想.她作为大众图书馆情报科学协会(ULA)的现任主席,根据安排将要作就职演说,眼下正在进行构思.演说将在协会的200周年纪念大会     

Fairness and Consequential Validity of Teacher Work Samples

Acknowledging the necessity to establish the fairness and consequential validity of teacher candidate performance assessments when they are used to make high-stakes decisions impacting entry into the profession, we investigated whether there were any adverse results from the use of the Renaissance Teacher Work Sample (TWS) assessment at two universities as a consequence of the age, gender, or race/ethnicity of teacher candidates. We also investigated education program and program entrance requirements, such as Praxis I scores, and measures of grade point average, as general predictors of TWS success. The findings indicated no disparate impact or adverse consequences based on the gender, age, or race/ethnicity of the teacher candidates. Selected variables did predict a moderate amount of the variance of the TWS total scores of both preinterns and student-teaching interns. The process used to determine the value implications of the results was also discussed.     

Class-wide Positive Behavior Support in Preschool: Improving Teacher Implementation Through Consultation

As the number of young children displaying challenging behavior in early childhood grows, so too does the need to implement evidence-based practices that prevent challenging behavior. Positive Behavior Support (PBS) provides a framework of tiered interventions focused on promoting social-emotional development and preventing challenging behavior. This study investigated the effects of consultation on teachers’ implementation of universal PBS practices and children’s academic engagement. A multiple-baseline design was applied across four preschool classrooms serving children from 33 to 63 months of age. A strong relationship was documented between consultation and teachers’ implementation of PBS skills. High levels of academic engagement were maintained following consultation. Implications of the results are provided for applications of universal PBS practices in early childhood settings.     

Situated Learning: Conceptualization and Measurement

A focus on the interaction between cognitive schemas and context in situ has been suggested as fundamental in organizational decision making and information interpretation. Past research suggests that the situation and the social interaction that occur during learning at the cognitive level consist of factors that affect the process, but the research lacks a coherent explanation for how those factors affect it. We propose a conceptualization of learning, termed situated learning, which accounts for these factors. By drawing on situated cognition theory, social learning theory, and the theory of mental models, we identify and measure four components of situated learning, that is, thematic focus, cognitive absorption, social structure, and participation. Among the most important lessons for researchers and practitioners is the need to consider learning as a constellation of the four components instead of an indivisible phenomenon. This perspective can enhance our understanding of cognitive processes, such as information interpretation and decision making.     

Governing indigenous recreation at a distance: a critical analysis of an after school active health intervention

Within the Canadian context, the physical activity levels of children and youth in the after school time period has become a source of public health concern. We argue that this concern is informed by broader public health crises, in particular the ‘global obesity epidemic’ and the closely related ‘global pandemic of physical inactivity', and that these so-called ‘crises’ operate as part of a discursive regime that serves to justify after school interventions aimed at increasing the physical activity practices of children and youth. Although the objectives of such interventions are seemingly well intentioned, we suggest that such interventions nonetheless harbor difficult to discern, but potentially pernicious consequences, for the communities in which they are implemented. We focus our attention on the place-specific effects of one Public Health Agency of Canada-funded after school physical activity intervention – After the School Bell Rings (ASBR) – that was implemented in the mostly Indigenous, northern community of Placid, Manitoba. Based on a critical analysis of the ASBR program itself, along with interviews and focus groups with children, parents and recreation providers (n?=?10) from the community of Placid, we contend that the ASBR serves to govern Indigenous recreation at a distance. We argue that when implemented in the place-specific context of Placid, the ASBR functions as part of a broader governmental assemblage composed of loosely connected discourses, institutions, socio-structural conditions and individuals that, when assembled, ultimately serve to govern geographically and culturally distinct communities. We conclude by suggesting that the objectives of broad-based health interventions, such as the goal of increasing after school physical activity levels, should not be universally implemented across diverse locales, but need to account for the diverse, place-specific priorities and needs of the communities into which they are implemented.     

A toy model that predicts the qualitative role of bar bend in a push jerk

In this work, we describe a simple coarse-grained model of a barbell that can be used to determine the qualitative role of bar bend during a jerk. In simulations of this model, we observed a narrow time window during which the lifter can leverage the elasticity of the bar in order to lift the weight to a maximal height. This time window shifted to later times as the weight was increased. In addition, we found that the optimal time to initiate the drive was strongly correlated with the time at which the bar had reached a maximum upward velocity after recoiling. By isolating the effect of the bar, we obtained a generalized strategy for lifting heavy weight in the jerk.