Meeting in school: Cultural diversity approaches of teachers and intergroup contact among ethnic minority and majority adolescents

This study investigated the associations between cultural diversity approaches endorsed by teachers and adolescents' positive and negative intergroup contact in schools. Participants were 984 adolescents (M_age = 14.66; 62.7% female; 24.8% ethnic minority) involved in a three-wave longitudinal study between 2019 and 2020. Results highlighted that perceived equal treatment by teachers was related to higher positive and lower negative contact over time. However, perceived support for contact and cooperation and interest of teachers in children's cultural background were not related to either positive or negative contact over time. Importantly, the results were replicated across ethnic minority and majority adolescents. This study provides novel insights into the key role that teachers can play in promoting cultural diversity approaches to facilitate harmonious intergroup interactions in schools.     

Seeking insights into young children’s beliefs about mathematics and learning

Challenges for researchers wishing to gain insights into student beliefs about mathematics and learning include the identification of prompts to which young children can respond easily and which have the potential to provide meaningful insights into their beliefs. This article reports on a selection of such prompts used within an exploratory study that investigated beliefs about mathematics, learning and helping factors for learning mathematics of eight children of 8 to 9 years of age. These prompts, described as creative interviewing procedures, are classified under the key categories of visual, verbal and text-based. The article provides brief details of the study as background but focuses on discussing the nature of the tasks, and, through the inclusion of a selection of responses, illustrates their potential value as research tools for gaining insights into young children’s beliefs about mathematics and learning. It seems that teachers could use the prompts to gain alternate perspectives into children’s beliefs which in turn might inform their instruction.     

Meaning in life and school guidance programs: Adolescents’ voices from Hong Kong

International Journal for Educational and Vocational Guidance - This study provides insights into how Chinese adolescents in Hong Kong interpret the concept of “meaning in life.” Data...     

Dynamics of the atmosphere of Jupiter

Atmospheric jets and vortices on Jupiter persist for decades in the presence of vigorous turbulence which might be expected to destroy organized flows. The penetration depth of the jets into the planet has been a major question, and new data from the NASA Galileo entry probe suggest that they are not shallow atmospheric phenomena. Numerical simulations and Galileo orbiter data promise further progress in the near future.     

Analysis of teaching physical education to second-grade students using sport education

The purpose of this article was to provide an account of second-grade students and teachers, as well as a non-participant observer, after they participated in a season of Sport Education. For a total of 12 lessons, students participated in a season of developing throwing and catching and kicking skills. Interviews were conducted at the conclusion of the season to collect data from students and teachers regarding their experience. Field notes from the non-participant observer were also recorded. Although Sport Education is commonly introduced to students no earlier than the fourth grade, results revealed that there is the potential for introducing Sport Education to students as early as the second grade, a year in which the children typically turn eight years old. It is suggested that future studies of Sport Education with second-grade students could potentially enhance the learning experience of physical education students at the beginning of their school career.     

Service user and carer involvement in students’ classroom learning in higher education

The following article presents a small-scale qualitative study in which the student learning experiences from service user and carer (SUAC) involvement in social work, mental health nursing and social welfare courses at an English university were evaluated for any effects on student perceptions, knowledge, skills and practice. Using focus group methodology, student participants reported positive outcomes from exposure to SUAC classroom inputs such as a greater valuing of SUAC knowledge as expert knowledge, help with the development of empathy and an appreciation of constructive challenges to mainstream curricular delivery. Notes of caution were identified, particularly in respect of the sometimes unexpected levels of emotion displayed by SUAC presenters. Recommendations for meaningful SUAC involvement in higher education are made regarding the need to involve SUACs across the whole duration of a course; the need for the preparation of both students and presenters regarding boundaries; the fit of presentations with intended learning outcomes; more partnership delivery in classrooms between academics and SUACs (possibly with a differentiation between theoretical and practice inputs); the opportunities for SUACs to present their own situations as real rather than hypothetical case studies for students and the possibilities that may result from introducing a ‘buddying’ system between students and SUACs throughout their studies. It is suggested that the insights from this small-scale study merit further exploration on a larger scale if policy and practice in the field of service and user involvement in higher education are to move forward in an inclusive manner.     

Place and Space in the Design of New Learning Environments

The development of online and virtual teaching and learning environments to augment formal face-to-face environments raises questions about the way the new communication and information technologies (CITs) are being incorporated into the on-campus environment. More importantly, this development challenges the meaning of the on-campus student learning experience. The new CITs require institutions, teachers and researchers to reconsider the relationship of the physical setting to the student learning experience. This paper highlights examples of recent developments of new learning environments which have been enhanced by the contribution of educational developers at several Australian universities. It also proposes a set of pedagogically informed principles to guide the development of on-campus teaching and learning environments which may feature the use of CITs.     

The Value of a Programme-wide Approach to Assessment

Reliability is important in the academic judgements that higher education institutions pass to employers, graduate schools and other stakeholders. However, there are well-known limits to the levels of reliability that can be reached at reasonable cost and without sacrificing validity. It is argued that a systemic approach to the assessment of student learning shows how resources may be freed up to invest in securing more reliable assessments where they are desirable and might reasonably be had.