Conceptual difficulties experienced by senior high school students of electrochemistry: Electric circuits and oxidation-reduction equations

The purpose of this research was to investigate students' understanding of electrochemistry following a course of instruction. A list of conceptual and propositional knowledge statements was formulated to identify the knowledge base necessary for students to understand electric circuits and oxidation-reduction equations. The conceptual and propositional knowledge statements provided the framework for the development of a semistructured interview protocol which was administered to 32 students in their final year of high school chemistry. The interview questions about electric circuits revealed that several students in the sample were confused about the nature of electric current both in metallic conductors and in electrolytes. Students studying both physics and chemistry were more confused about current flow in metallic conductors than students who were only studying chemistry. In the section of the interview which focused on oxidation and reduction, many students experienced problems in identifying oxidation-reduction equations. Several misconceptions relating to the inappropriate use of definitions of oxidation and reduction were identified. The data illustrate how students attempted to make sense of the concepts of electrochemistry with the knowledge they had already developed or constructed. The implications of the research are that teachers, curriculum developers, and textbook writers, if they are to minimize potential misconceptions, need to be cognizant of the relationship between physics and chemistry teaching, of the need to test for erroneous preconceptions about current before teaching about electrochemical (galvanic) and electrolytic cells, and of the difficulties experienced by students when using more than one model to explain scientific phenomena.     

Catching sight of talk: Glimpses into discourse groups

This article reports on a study conducted in a graduate teacher research class with elementary and secondary classroom teachers. Wanting to create a collaborative environment in which their students could use language to support each other's learning, the instructors formed discourse groups. The article introduces a theoretical framework for discourse groups and using examples from the groups, presents a methodology for analyzing the social practices reflected in the teachers’ talk. It concludes with a discussion of the nature of the discourse that supported (and in some cases did not support) the re-storying of teachers’ knowledge.     

Supporting Teachers' Professional Learning by Navigating Openings in the Curriculum

Researchers agree that achieving thefundamental changes called for by currentreforms in mathematics education requires newlearning on the part of teachers. Currently,across the United States there exists atremendous variety of teacher-enhancementprojects representing a range of perspectivesand approaches to supporting teachers'learning. This paper presents a comparativeanalysis of three teacher educators using acurriculum designed for use with elementaryteachers in an inquiry-group setting. The aimof the study was to examine the process anddemands of supporting teachers' learning andteachers' efforts to reform their practices. Analyses revealed that the central demand ofsupporting teachers' learning through inquiryinvolved navigating through what we have calledopenings in the curriculum. Theseopenings took the form of unanticipatedquestions, challenges, observations, or actionsby participating teachers that requiredfacilitators to make on-the-spot judgmentsabout how to guide the discourse. Examinationsof the facilitators' processes of navigatingthese openings revealed a set of threeactivities they employed in determining how torespond. Analysis of the activities offacilitators in response to openings furtherilluminates the work involved in supportingteachers' learning and has implications for theskills needed by teacher educators engaged inthis work.     

Adult-child interaction in children’s learning from “Sesame Street”

This study examined whether children’s learning from “Sesame Street” could be improved by having adults ask the children questions and provide them with feedback while they watched the show. Subjects were 23 three- and four-year-old, white, middle-class children who were randomly assigned to one of two conditions. Children in both conditions watched three specially edited versions of “Sesame Street” with an adult. While they did so, children in the experimental condition were asked to name the letters and numbers shown on the programs. Results indicated that 3 days after watching the last program, children in the experimental condition were better able to name and identify the letters and numbers they had seen (p < .01). Three features of the experimental treatment that may have contributed to these results are discussed, as are the implications of the findings.     

Economic Deprivation and Early Childhood Development

We consider 3 questions regarding the effects of economic deprivation on child development. First, how are developmental outcomes in childhood affected by poverty and such poverty correlates as single parenthood, ethnicity, and maternal education? Second, what are the developmental consequences of the duration and timing of family economic deprivation? And, third, what is the comparative influence of economic deprivation at the family and neighborhood level? We investigate these issues with longitudinal data from the Infant Health and Development Program. We find that family income and poverty status are powerful correlates of the cognitive development and behavior of children, even after accounting for other differences—in particular family structure and maternal schooling—between low- and high-income families. While the duration of poverty matters, its timing in early childhood does not. Age-5 IQs are found to be higher in neighborhoods with greater concentrations of affluent neighbors, while the prevalence of low-income neighbors appears to increase the incidence of externalizing behavior problems.     

The “Autodidact”, the Pursuit of Subversive Knowledge and the Politics of Change

This paper contrasts two types of “autodidact” located in the UK in different historical periods, which utilised different learning/research technologies to different ends. From the 1920s to the 1960s some working-class activists committed to the Communist Party of Great Britain became “educated” in Marxism (and more) through the processes intrinsic to their politics. This radical acculturation was undertaken outside the universities in consequence of both an absence of access to higher education and because of the relatively enclosed social world of British Communism. The widening of educational opportunities and the decline of political Marxism effectively extinguished this kind of autodidact. New technologies have meant that the 21st century is witnessing individuals and cyber-communities that are creating knowledge-based challenges to professional and institutional power in the face of personal/family “medical” crises. The paper outlines the characteristics of these two categories of autodidact and a new terrain of counter-hegemonic learning.     

The retention and success of under-represented groups in a Bachelor of Education program in New Zealand

For several decades researchers have raised questions regarding factors that enable undergraduate students, particularly those from ethnic minority groups living in low socio-economic areas, to persist with their studies to degree completion. Seeking answers to these questions becomes more urgent as universities around the world enrol increasingly diverse cohorts of students. This article reviews the patterns of participation and success for students enrolled in a Bachelor of Education program at one university, distributed across three different locations and attracting different cohorts of students. This provided the university with a unique opportunity to learn about the retention and success of diverse cohorts, particularly those traditionally under-represented at undergraduate-level study. At least 75% of students in the under-represented groups passed their courses. Surprisingly the pass rates of students at the three campuses were similar, despite dissimilarities in ethnicity, socio-economic status and previous academic success.     

THE UTILITY OF MAZE ACCURATE RESPONSE RATE IN ASSESSING READING COMPREHENSION IN UPPER ELEMENTARY AND MIDDLE SCHOOL STUDENTS

This study examined the predictive utility of five formative reading measures: words correct per minute, number of comprehension questions correct, reading comprehension rate, number of maze correct responses, and maze accurate response rate (MARR). Broad Reading cluster scores obtained via the Woodcock–Johnson III (WJ III) Tests of Achievement served as the criterion variable. Examiners administered all reading measures to 98 students enrolled in upper elementary (UES) and middle school (MS) grades (grades 4 through 8). Results indicated significant intercorrelations within all predictor variables for the combined and UES samples; fewer intercorrelations existed at the MS level. MARR exhibited the highest correlation with WJ III Broad Reading across all correlational analyses. Additional regression analyses indicated that the MARR technique best predicted WJ III Broad Reading cluster scores across all groups analyzed. Limitations of the current study and suggestions for future research are discussed.     

GENDER DIFFERENCES IN WRITTEN EXPRESSION CURRICULUM‐BASED MEASUREMENT IN THIRD‐ THROUGH EIGHTH‐GRADE STUDENTS

Many studies have found gender differences in certain areas of academic achievement, such as reading and math. Fewer studies have examined gender disparities in writing skills. The current study explored gender differences in written expression performance. Participants were 1,240 male and female students in third through eighth grade, representing five schools in a rural southeastern school district. Each student was administered an AIMSweb curriculum‐based measurement writing probe during the district's regularly scheduled fall, winter, and spring benchmarks. All measures were scored for total words written and correct writing sequences. Two‐way repeated measures analyses of variance were used to determine whether differences existed in the sample. A significant female advantage was found on both scoring indices at each grade level. These findings have strong instructional and theoretical implications for practicing school psychologists and other educators.