Technology student learning preferences and the design of flexible learning programs

The learning preferences of three hundred and thirty eighttechnology students enrolled in sub-degree programs at an Australian institution of Technical andFurther Education were tested using the Canfield Learning Styles Inventory (CLSI). The results have been interpreted in a learning preferences framework and providesupportive evidence for the preferences factors of print-nonprint, collaborative, dependent,and autonomous learning identified by Sadler-Smith & Riding (1999). Although theresearch focussed on learning preferences the analysis also indicated support for theWholist-Analytic cognitive style proposed by Riding & Cheema (1991). Genderdifferences were shown for the Interest subscales of the CLSI. Age-group differenceswere shown for several Conditions of Learning and Modes of Learning subscales.Implications for the design of training programs, and the skillsthat may need to be developed in technology learners to enable effective use offlexible delivery, are also discussed.     

Driving change from ‘the middle’: middle leading for site based educational development

ABSTRACT

Educational researchers have invested much in isolating the specific ‘drivers’ that influence school change and teacher professional development. In this vein, this article draws attention to necessarily situated understandings of practice development through research into the nature of ‘middle leading’ for site based education development in one primary school district in regional Australia. Drawing on practice theory, the analysis reveals how developing and sustaining change in schools is contingent on middle leaders’ insider knowledge, shared responsibility and capacity to sustain and ‘drive’ teachers’ learning. The article argues more situated understandings of middle leading practices are essential for sustainable educational reform.     

我国信用缺失的文化根源探析

信用是一种重要的社会资源,目前我国的信用资源十分稀缺.造成我国信用缺失的原因是多方面的,从文化深层看,主要原因有传统文化思想的影响、东西方文化交流的碰撞、转型期社会的文化断层以及我国现代制度的不完善等.     

Early Predictors of Later Attainment in Reading and Spelling

A good deal of research has tried to establish the precursors of literacy in terms of the abilities in children which are most likely to lead to good progress in reading and writing. As Monica Lazo and Peter Pumfrey point out, several aspects of metalinguistic ability have been identified as important and in their research, reported here, they found that three aspects of this ability were particularly significant to children's literacy development. These aspects, phonological awareness, print awareness and semantic/syntactic awareness seem to play crucial roles in children's reading and spelling but not in isolation. It is the combination of these which seems to make the difference, a finding with important implications for teachers of early literacy.     

Patterns of interaction between a mother and her Down's syndrome child: A single case ethological study

The study reports the analysis of a mother/child interaction sequence. Its focus is on the mother's teaching strategies. The child was presented with two tasks. The first task was new and not previously experienced by the child; the second task was one that had been experienced. The mother's teaching of the tasks was videotaped and analysed. The material was analysed according to ‘on task’ behaviours. The results indicated that:

1. (a) both the mother and child were able to maintain a continuous communication sequence;

2. (b) the mother structured both tasks, but structured the new task more, and allowed some flexibility in the old task;

3. (c) the language used by the mother was ‘restricted';

4. (d) in responding to her child's behaviour, the mother made more use of verbal cues and used fewer non‐verbal cues

     

Learning for a Sustainable Environment: professional development and teacher education in environmental education in the Asia‐Pacific region

The close link between environmental education and development education advocated by major international reports of the last decade is operant in the UNESCO Asia‐Pacific region. A regional collaborative effort sponsored by the Asia‐Pacific Centre of Educational Innovation for Development (ACEID), UNESCO and Griffith University is creating an action research network to support teacher education in environmental education. The process is informed by Paul Hart's and Ian Robottom's argument that constructivist epistemology is consistent with an ecological world view and, therefore, provides an appropriate grounding for professional development in environmental education. Teacher educators from some 20 countries in the region are sharing in the writing of workshop modules for pre‐ and in‐service teachers; these are then critiqued and adapted in accordance with the needs of other countries. A culture of action research is being created by encouraging those involved to write case studies of their design, critique, adaptation and use of the materials as part of their professional development     

Do troublesome pupils impact teacher perception of the behaviour of their classmates?

The widely supported wish for more inclusive education places ever greater expectations on teachers’ abilities to teach all children, including those with special needs and challenging behaviours. The present study aimed at the question whether teachers judge pupil behaviour more negatively if there are more children with difficult behaviour in class. The teachers of 184 classes in 31 regular primary schools were asked to complete the Strength and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ-L) for 3649 pupils. Six linear mixed models were carried out with as independent variable the number of pupils that teachers perceived to have ‘abnormal behaviour’, and the class mean without these pupils as the dependent variable. For all SDQ-L subscales – emotional problems, behavioural problems, problems with hyperactivity, problems with peers, poor prosocial behaviour and total problems – the number of pupils perceived as problematic was associated with less favourable teacher perceptions of the rest of the class. The results of this study are a plea for a contextual perspective on pupil behaviour in class, both where teachers are asked to report on individual pupils, as well as where interventions are done on emotional and behavioural problems in class.