An introduction to education research methods: exploring the learning journey of pre-service teachers in a transnational programme

Internationally there is interest in developing the research skills of pre-service teachers as a means of ongoing professional renewal with a distinct need for systematic and longitudinal investigation of student learning. The current study takes a unique perspective by exploring the research learning journey of pre-service teachers participating in a transnational degree programme. Using a case-study design that includes both a self-reported and direct measure of research knowledge, the results indicate a progression in learning, as well as evidence that this research knowledge is continued or maintained when the pre-service teachers return to their home university. The findings of this study have implications for both pre-service teacher research training and transnational programmes.     

Teacher educators for new times? Redefining an important occupational group

Teacher educators are an occupational group currently experiencing increased scrutiny by international policy makers and researchers alike. This occupational group however is increasingly difficult to define and identify in a complex, internationally changing teacher education policy reform environment. The question posed is an enduring one: who is a teacher educator? The answer is more complicated. To better understand this occupational group, a literature review and local policy analysis study using the Australian context was conducted to reveal more about their identity; career trajectories and; professional learning needs. Analysis revealed that three sub-groups belonging to the broader teacher educator occupational group have emerged as a result of shifting teacher education policies. Namely, university-based; school-based and community-based teacher educators, each with an important role to play and each positioned differently within the research and policy landscape. Findings suggest that all three groups are important to educating teachers across their career and to best meet the needs of all students for new times. Recommendations are made for future research and practice into how these groups can work collectively together, within and across the multiple sites of learning to teach.     

Defining 'Early Career' in Research

In order to ensure the future of high qualityresearch in some disciplines it may benecessary to provide special consideration inprestigious research funding schemes for earlycareer researchers who will otherwise becomedisenchanted with academic research and leaveit behind in their search for a stable andfruitful future. Milestones in progressionthrough research studies and academic life toestablishment as an academic researcher areoutlined. Within this context, a range ofpotential criteria for determining promisingearly career status are reviewed. Thediscussion leads to derivation of thedefinition of early career which has beenadopted by the Australian Research Council forits prestigious Discovery – Projects grantsscheme.     

Developments in style and purpose of research on the learning of science

Recent years have seen a substantial growth in research that probes children's ideas about natural phenomena. This article places the research in a context that enables comprehension of how it informs and influences the practice of science education. To this end, past, present, and developing styles of research are discussed. The predominant style of past research was based on elaborate experimental designs and complex statistical analyses of data. Studies employing that style helped focus concern on questions about individual learning which the studies did not actually seek to answer, e.g., why does the learning resulting from a particular treatment vary between individuals? What is understanding and how can it be assessed? Such questions lie at the heart of current probing of children's ideas. Some issues of importance in the probing of children's ideas are considered, as are ways in which these issues have influenced the development of a current style of research. From this present context, developing styles in the research field are described. These focus particularly on research on the strategies used by learners, and on the continued growth of interaction between research and practice.     

Dynamic mental models in learning science: The importance of constructing derivational linkages among models

We present a theory of learning in science based on students deriving conceptual linkages among multiple models which represent physical phenomena at different levels of abstraction. The models vary in the primitive objects and interactions they incorporate and in the reasoning processes that are used in running them. Students derive linkages among models by running a model (embodied in an interactive computer simulation) and reflecting on its emergent behaviors. The emergent properties they identify in turn become the primitive elements of the more abstract, derived model. We describe and illustrate derivational links among three models for basic electricity: a particle model, an aggregate model, and an algebraic model. We then present results of an instructional experiment in which we compared high school students who were exposed to these model derivations with those who were not. In all other respects, both groups of students received identical instruction. The results demonstrate the importance of enabling students to construct derivational linkages among models, both with respect to their understanding of circuit theory and their ability to solve qualitative and quantitative circuit problems. © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 36: 806–836, 1999     

Net Neutrality and Libraries: Conflicts of Access

The United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit recently heard a suit brought against the Federal Communications Commission by Verizon concerning the 2010 Open Internet Rules. These rules were meant to protect consumers and ensure net neutrality by Internet service providers (ISPs). The Court struck down these rules, and now ISPs will have more power about how content is delivered to users. Librarians should be knowledgeable of net neutrality and this ruling, as it potentially affects abilities of users to exercise intellectual freedoms and could impact the library’s ability to provide services to its users.