Written feedback: Response certitude and durability

This study tested assumptions of a servocontrol model of test item feedback. High school students responded to multiple-choice items and rated their certainty of correctness in each response. Next, learners either received feedback on the items or responded again to the same test. The same items were tested again after 1 and 8 days, with the order to alternatives randomized for half of the subjects in each feedback group. The results generally supported the control model and suggest that response certitude estimates can be treated as an index of comprehension.     

Literacy and Numeracy Events in Social Interactive Contexts

Experiences relevant to emergent literacy and numeracy in 2‐year‐ old and 3‐year‐old children were examined in 10public nurseries. The research was guided by three aims, ie. to describe the frequency and variety of such experiences and investigate the contexts in which they occur; to gauge the quality of the experiences in terms of the type of adult‐child interaction in which they are embedded: and to examine variation between nurseries with regard to the frequency of relevant experience. Observations showed numeracy experiences to be infrequent relative to literacy experiences; both were highly context‐ dependent and related to adult input. Variation between the nurseries on a number of measures was examined and showed consistent patterns between variables relating to staff background and nursery organisation on the one hand and the frequency of literacy and numeracy experiences provided for children on the other. In those nurseries with smaller groups, more effectively implemented staff‐child assignment systems and younger staff, the children were more frequently observed involved in some kind of literacy or numeracy experience, and more often seen having positive and less often negative interaction with adults around these experiences. The importance of the interactive basis of early learning is stressed by these findings.     

Collaborative action research for middle grades improvement

Technology’s rapid evolution applies constant pressure to educational organizations, suggesting a need to continually re-envision schools for the digital age. Yet educators often struggle to understand the growing chasm between students’ out-of-school and in-school technology lives. This gap is particularly noticeable during the middle grades years, when home technology use increases dramatically. The purpose of this research was to examine the experiences of teachers and students engaged in collaborative action research for middle school improvement in technology-rich settings. We begin by outlining our theoretical framework, emphasizing Fletcher’s Ladder of Student Involvement. We then describe our case-study design and methods. Findings are organized by action research components and a discussion of key themes follows. Finally, we consider the implications of this study for action research as a means of student involvement and teacher learning.     

The Role of the Teacher

Despite the popular belief that fun has a positive impact in learning contexts, empirical research on fun in the classroom has been limited. To extend research in this area, the goal of this study was to develop and validate a new scale to assess fun in the classroom and examine its relationship with student engagement. The multi-stage scale development effort resulted in a two-dimensional measure, including fun activities and fun delivery. Fun activities reflect a variety of hands-on exercises and ways to promote social involvement among students. Fun delivery is more instructor-focused, including the use of humor, creative examples, and storytelling. Interestingly, fun delivery, but not fun activities, was positively related to student engagement. These findings suggest that not all fun is equal and highlight the need for additional research to validate the impact of fun on meaningful student outcomes.     

Towards a Language of Possibility: critical reflection and mentorship in initial teacher education

Abstract

This paper examines a programme which aimed at creating alternative school‐based experiences for postgraduate students following a 1‐year higher diploma of education course at the University of Natal in Pietermaritzburg. The programme was premised on the belief that critical reflection is necessary for educational transformation, and that teacher educators increasingly will be expected to raise the quality of teaching in schools. The background to the Mentor Programme is described and the underlying rationale is discussed. Whilst the evidence from the study reflects mentor satisfaction at the quality and range of teaching skills developed by students during the programme, the investigators express disappointment at their lack of success in attaining critical reflection by their students. Students generally did not look critically, as they had been encouraged to do, at the institutional or societal context of their teaching. The discussion identifies three possible reasons for this, but concludes that any approach to teacher education which does not encourage teachers to reflect critically on their own educational views and on the nature of education as it is realised in the institutional setting of schools will be inherently flawed.     

Crossing borders to teach English language learners

A teacher’s identity is thought to evolve in a continuous, situated fashion, amidst dynamic interaction between cognitive, affective, social, cultural and political factors. However, the literature provides little insight into the impact on the ongoing identity construction of class teachers when they encounter a few students with English as an additional language (EAL) in their mainstream classes. This paper reports on a year‐long study involving eight class teachers in four different New Zealand primary schools. Data from in‐class observations, interspersed by a series of individual reflective discussions, revealed how the presence of EAL students in the mainstream setting created tensions, the resolution of which shaped class teachers’ professional identities. Tensions surfaced in data on class teachers’ self‐efficacy perceptions, selection of teaching roles, relations with support teachers and professional development priorities. These findings thus provide fresh insights into how new situations may impact on class teachers’ self‐identities. In particular, this investigation suggests the need for schools, teacher educators and policy makers to assist teachers in challenging, and indeed moving outside of the socially prescribed borders that have traditionally defined their professional identities within the school, in order to build shared practices and more collaborative ways of solving problems.     

Educational Media and Telecommunications

James W. Brown, ed. Educational Media Yearbook: 1977 (New York: R.R. Bowker, 1977 –$19.95)

Ben Armstrong and M. Lay Vay Sheldon (eds.) Religious Broadcasting Sourcebook (National Religious Broadcasters, Box 2254R, Morristown, N.J. 07960, 1976—price not given, but about $15.00, paper)

Telecommunications Policy (IPC Business Press Ltd., 205 East 42nd St., New York, N.Y. 10017– S78.00/year for four quarterly issues)

Person to Person (Washington: Smithsonian Institution National Museum of History and Technology, 1976—$2.00, paper)     

Views from the Margins: News Coverage of Women in Abortion Protests, 1960–2006

This study links two traditionally marginalized groups in media coverage: women and protesters. Both have generally been found to be underrepresented and misrepresented in mainstream news coverage. Employing a content analysis of abortion protest coverage over 46 years, this study assesses the impact of protesters' goals and tactics on the proportion of women in news coverage. Results indicate that female mentions were more likely to appear when protesters supported the status quo and when protesters were treated more favorably in coverage. Overall, however, the focus on men as sources over women as sources remained quite apparent. Implications for news treatment of women in protest coverage are discussed.