Detection of Invalid Test Scores: The Usefulness of Simple Nonparametric Statistics

In recent guidelines for fair educational testing it is advised to check the validity of individual test scores through the use of person‐fit statistics. For practitioners it is unclear on the basis of the existing literature which statistic to use. An overview of relatively simple existing nonparametric approaches to identify atypical response patterns is provided. A simulation study was conducted to compare the different approaches and on the basis of the literature review and the simulation study guidelines for the use of person‐fit approaches are given.     

Deliberate practice in teacher education

Deliberate practice is increasingly recognised as necessary for professional development. This paper sets out to explore in what ways student teachers’ learning activities in a teacher education programme can be characterised as deliberate practice. Based on an in-depth exploration of 574 learning activities, our results highlight the different ways in which activities in teacher education programmes can be designed, the different motivations students have to engage in them repetitively, and different ways in which feedback can be organised, within contextual constraints posed by all professional environments. Results also indicate that self-improvement is not the only motivation for engaging in deliberate practice for student teachers, as pupil improvement is also considered important. These results support a context-specific operationalisation of deliberate practice and provide starting points for teacher education programmes to promote deliberate practice in their curriculum.     

The factor structure and criterion validity of a test for assessment of cognitive abilities. Comparing students in special and regular education

As a consequence of a recent reform of junior secondary education in the Netherlands, instruments for the assessment of cognitive abilities of students who are eligible for special educational support must be designed. In constructing a new test battery contemporary theory on crystallized and fluid intelligence (Gf-Gc theory) was considered. Complete coverage of the factors in Gf-Gc theory was not striven for, because the status of some of these factors in relation to referral to education with special educational support is not entirely clear. The sample in the study consisted of students from regular and special primary as well as secondary education, aged between 11 and 15 years. Approximately two-thirds of the sample was of Dutch origin, whereas the remaining third was of a different ethnic origin. Results show that the factors verbal-crystallized ability, fluid-reasoning ability, spatial-visualization ability and memory capacity can explain the positive correlations between the tests in the battery for the greater part. Students from regular and special education can be distinguished on the basis of their cognitive profiles reasonably accurate, thus supporting the criterion validity of the test battery. Students requiring special educational support are characterized by a significant discrepancy between short-term recall and long-term retention and retrieval.     

An Instrument for the Assessment of Cross-Curricular Skills

An instrument was constructed to assess the level of competence of students (aged 15-16) on eight cross-curricular skills. The instrument, further to be called the cross-curricular skills test (CCST), consisted of 56 multiple-choice items. In the first section cross-curricular skills are defined as general skills which can be taught and practiced in curricula for different disciplines. In the second section we describe how eight cross-curricular skills were selected for testing. We also explain why we decided to compose the test of multiple-choice items, an item-format that is not a customary one for measuring general skills. In the third section we report administration of the test to 465 students in a pilot study and 9,000 students in the main study. Quantitative data are presented concerning p -values, reliability, internal structure, and construct validity of the CCST. Qualitative data were derived from observations, thinking aloud protocols and analysis of the test content. The data warrant the claim that CCST is a valid and reliable test for cross-curricular skills. It is suitable for students of 15-16 years of age and allows administration in large samples. In the final section we discuss some limitations of the test and suggest directions for future research on assessment of cross-curricular skills.     

Students' Perceptions of Teaching in Context-based and Traditional Chemistry Classrooms: Comparing content,learning activities,and interpersonal perspectives

Context-based curriculum reforms in chemistry education are thought to bring greater diversity to the ways in which chemistry teachers organize their teaching. First and foremost, students are expected to perceive this diversity. However, empirical research on how students perceive their teacher's teaching in context-based chemistry classrooms, and whether this teaching differs from traditional chemistry lessons, is scarce. This study aims to develop our understanding of what teaching looks like, according to students, in context-based chemistry classrooms compared with traditional chemistry classrooms. As such, it might also provide a better understanding of whether teachers implement and attain the intentions of curriculum developers. To study teacher behaviour we used three theoretical perspectives deemed to be important for student learning: a content perspective, a learning activities perspective, and an interpersonal perspective. Data were collected from 480 students in 24 secondary chemistry classes in the Netherlands. Our findings suggest that, according to the students, the changes in teaching in context-based chemistry classrooms imply a lessening of the emphasis on fundamental chemistry and the use of a teacher-centred approach, compared with traditional chemistry classrooms. However, teachers in context-based chemistry classrooms seem not to display more ‘context-based’ teaching behaviour, such as emphasizing the relation between chemistry, technology, and society and using a student-centred approach. Furthermore, students in context-based chemistry classrooms perceive their teachers as having less interpersonal control and showing less affiliation than teachers in traditional chemistry classrooms. Our findings should be interpreted in the context of former and daily experiences of both teachers and students. As only chemistry is reformed in the schools in which context-based chemistry is implemented, it is challenging for both students and teachers to deal with these reforms.     

Assessing metacognitive activities: the in-depth comparison of a task-specific questionnaire with think-aloud protocols

Teaching and assessing metacognitive activities are important educational objectives, and teachers are calling for efficient instruments. The advantages of questionnaires in measuring metacognitive activities are obvious, but serious validity issues appear. For example, correlations of questionnaire data with think-aloud measures are generally moderate to low. An explanation may be that these questionnaires are not constructed in line with the metacognitive activities measured by the think-aloud method. In the present study, a questionnaire is constructed based directly on a taxonomy for coding think-aloud protocols. Twenty ninth-graders studied a text while thinking aloud, after which they immediately received the questionnaire. The overall correlation between the questionnaire and the think-aloud protocols (r?=?0.63) was promising. However, scale and item analyses clearly demonstrate some new validity issues. Comparing the questionnaire and the think-aloud results, the students seem to report overt metacognitive activities corresponding more with their behavior reported in the protocols than covert ones. In-depth explorations are presented.     

Supporting presence in teacher education: The connection between the personal and professional aspects of teaching

This study follows one individual student teacher during a period of one single school year in which she was supported in developing ‘presence’ while teaching. The notion of ‘presence’ was formulated by the teacher herself, and coincides with the growing interest in this aspect in psychology, and in theories about becoming a teacher. In her supervision, the so-called core reflection approach was used, which strongly builds on the concept of presence and on positive psychology. Based on analyses of audio taped supervisory sessions, six stages were identified in the teacher's development. These stages are described and related to theories about positive psychology and core reflection. The supervisor's interventions leading to the transitions between the stages were identified, analysed, and related to key principles of core reflection. It appeared that the teacher's growth not only led to experiencing ‘presence’ while teaching, but also to a greater use of her personal qualities. Taken together, it appeared that after the supervision the teacher was much more ‘in flow’, and that she was more effective as a teacher. In this article, both the teacher's growth and the supervisor's interventions are described in detail, and illustrated using quotations from supervisory sessions, logbooks, and interviews. A case is made for connecting professional and personal aspects in supervising student teachers.     

Hugo de Vries on heredity, 1889-1903. Statistics, Mendelian laws, pangenes, mutations.

The essay describes the development of Hugo de Vries's thinking on heredity from the publication of his Intracellulare Pangenesis in 1889 to the publication of Die Mutations-theorie, Volume 2, in 1903. De Vries's work in the 1890s can be characterized as an attempt to defend his theory of pangenes, especially the fundamental and controversial idea that different characters have different material hereditary carriers. Hybridization experiments served his goal. Recently discovered research notes on hybridization from 1896 suggest that, though he was unaware of Mendel's work, De Vries used the laws of dominance and recessiveness, segregation, and independent assortment to explain the 75:25 ratio in the second generation. He had discovered these laws by applying insights from probability theory to his research. In Die Mutationstheorie De Vries combined central concepts of intracellular pangenesis and his mutation theory by modifying the meanings of important terms and introducing new states of pangenes. In his attempts to describe Mendelian crossings in terms of pangenes and mutations, he became entangled in a number of contradictions. Some of his remarks suggest that he was aware that the Mendelian laws and his own theories of pangenes and mutations could not be made consistent.     

Learning by Passion: The Literary Arts Tradition and the Mass Media

The question as to whether books and reading still have a future, is discussed in both the general press and by (literary) authors themselves. The impact of the modern mass media, especially television, is thought to be considerable in this context. Television and books appear as opposites, symbolizing irreconcilable cultural epochs. That opposition is shown here to be prejudiced, which clears the way for an understanding of the continuity within the literary arts and humanities of the West from ancient Greece to the present. Various forms, such as, the tragedy, the novel, the cinema, and television, play a part in that tradition, and as such they have a contribution to make to education. The educational significance of this tradition lies in its essential contribution to the development of the faculty of practical judgment: phronesis or prudence.