Accelerating the development of formal thinking in middle and high school students

In an attempt to accelerate the development of formal operations in average young adolescents, intervention lessons relating to all formal schemata were designed in the context of school science courses. Over a period of two years, up to 30 intervention lessons were given by science teachers to their classes in eight schools. Boys who started the program aged 12+ showed a pre-posttest effect size on Piagetian tests of 0.89 SD compared with control classes. In terms of British norms for the development of operational thinking this was a mean change from the 51st to the 74th percentile. Neither the middle school students nor the 12+ girls showed greater gain than the controls. Gains were shown by girls in one 11+ class and in the two 11+ laboratory classes. In the laboratory school students given intervention lessons by the researchers maintained their gains over controls in formal operations at a delayed posttest one year after cessation of the program. There was no effect on tests of science achievement during the intervention. It was argued that the interventions needed to be accompanied by in-service training designed to enable teachers to change their teaching style in line with their students' increased operational thinking capacity.     

Enhancing use of learning sciences research in planning for and supporting educational change: Leveraging and building social networks

This paper explores practical ways to engage two areas of educational scholarship—research on science learning and research on social networks—to inform efforts to plan and support implementation of new standards. The standards, the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS; NGSS Lead States in Next generation science standards: For states, by states. National Academies Press, Washington, DC, 2013), have been adopted by U.S. states serving more than one-quarter of all students, and they are grounded in decades of research on how students learn science. In this paper we discuss efforts to leverage recent research on social networks to inform standards implementation across a set of professional associations and school districts. These efforts are being undertaken by the Research + Practice Collaboratory which is testing a set of conjectures related to how the knowledge base from both research and practice can mutually inform STEM education improvement.     

Assessing the Nature of Science: What is the Nature of Our Assessments?

This paper discusses the nature of the instruments used to assess students' and teachers' conceptions of the nature of science during the last four decades. Two salient points emerge from critically reviewing the various research emphases and associated assessment instruments specifically related to the nature of science. The first is to question the validity of much of the research presented on the grounds that (a) assessment instruments are interpreted in a biased manner, and (b) some assessment instruments appear to be poorly constructed. Although such comments are well founded, it is important to note that the research conclusions were unusually uniform regardless of the particular instrument used in an investigation. The second point is a more critical concern about the traditional paper and pencil approach to the assessment of an individual's understanding of the nature of science. Although not a new insight, discrepancies between the interpretation of a written response to a traditional instrument (e.g., multiple choice assessment) and the intent of the respondent have been well documented. It is suggested that the current educational research shift toward more qualitative, open-ended approaches to assessment of individuals' understanding (of any concept) be applied to the assessment of individuals' nature of science conceptions.     

Can we be intelligent about intelligence?: Why education needs the concept of plastic general ability

The notion of general cognitive ability (or ‘intelligence’) is explored and why the time might now be ripe for educators to re-consider the power offered by a general intellectual capacity which is itself amenable to educational influence. We review existing knowledge concerning general intelligence, including the cohabitation of general and special abilities, cognitive modules, development, and evidence for plasticity of the general processor. We examine why this knowledge is generally absent from educational practice and present a number of models that attempt to synthesise the main aspects of current psychological theories. We explore how the models might be used in educational applications and look at examples of effective cognitive stimulation considering both practicalities and theoretical notions of what in our cognitive models is affected by stimulation. We discuss finally the possible political, cultural and social barriers to the inclusion of general ability as central to educational aims.     

Access,attrition, test scores,and grades of college entrants and persisters: 1965–1973

This study contrasts the distributions of indices of academic abilities and achievements of entering freshmen classes and of classes at the end of the first year of college over an eight-year period. The data reported are based on two groups of students: one comprised of all students who completed the ACT Assessment Program and subsequently enrolled in college, and the other group comprised of all students in the first group completing their first year of college. Data collected show a decline in ACT test scores, an increase in the high school grades of college entrants, and the stability of test scores and increases in college grades of freshmen completing their first year of college.Presented at the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers National Conference, Minneapolis, Minnesota, April, 1975.     

Changing lives: improving care leaver access to higher education

ABSTRACT

Australian and international research documents the limited access of young people transitioning from out-of-home care (OOHC) to further and higher education. This paper examines the processes, outcomes, and key findings of the Raising Expectations project, a collaborative university and industry approach to promote higher education among care leavers at two Australian universities. That approach was informed by the co-authors' previous research, including interviews with enrolled care-leaver students. The paper highlights the relevance of that research in the design and implementation of Raising Expectations. Our findings reiterate the importance of policy and practice reforms informed by rigorous research, particularly involving the voices and agency of care leavers. We outline strategies adopted by the participating universities resulting in a fourfold increase in enrolments, growth in school outreach activities, and significantly improved retention rates. The paper also highlights barriers to higher education access and success, through care-leaver student interviews and policy analysis. These interviews revealed the need for better university outreach and information to prospective care-leaver students, improved support for enrolled care-leaver students, and better capturing of data by universities and governments. The paper also highlights policy barriers to the greater expansion of care-leavers at university, especially in the absence of extended state care.     

Types of errors made by Papua New Guinean students

This exploratory study used an interview technique to find the frequency of different types of errors which a group of year 6, Papua New Guinean students made on a mathematics test. A further investigation was made into reading, comprehension and careless errors. Although the general trend for errors was the same for western students, some striking differences were found. In particular Papua New Guinean students made far fewer careless errors.     

Emergence and constructvalidation of the big five factors in early childhood: a longitudinal analysis of their ontogeny in Sweden

Researchers have shown that the five major dimensions of personality (extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, neuroticism, and openness to experience) and two additional factors (irritability and positive activity) are evident from adolescence. This study attempted to replicate and extend these results in a longitudinal study of 102 Swedish children, followed from 2.3 to 15.2 years of age. Item analyses revealed consistently reliable irritability, conscientiousness, and positive activity factors, whereas the internal reliability of the extraversion, agreeableness, neuroticism, and openness to experience factors increased over time. Irritability and positive activity were not independent of the other factors. Scores on most of the personality factors were fairly stable over time. Over time, children became less extraverted, more agreeable, and more conscientious. Neuroticism and openness to experience increased in Phase III, although openness then decreased in Phase V. Validity of the original factors was demonstrated by correlations with independent assessments of the children's cognitive performance and adjustment to school.     

Influence of Computer-Generated Visuals on Word-Problem Solving

This study investigated the effects of different visual strategies in the solving of word problems in computer-based lessons. There were three visual treatments, namely, visual-supplied, self-generated, and no-visual. Together with this, students were given two option-control treatments of programme-control where subjects solved ten problems, and learner-control where subjects solved six problems and were then allowed to choose up to ten additional problems.

Primary four students (n = 138) from two schools were randomly assigned to treatments in a (3 x 2) factorial design. To complete the experimental task, subjects worked individually at the computer for three sessions, each lasting approximately forty-five minutes. During the lessons, subjects were shown examples and prototype solutions, and solved word problems. A delayed post-test was administered a week later. Using on-task scores as the dependent variable, no visual treatment effect was detected. The self-generated group's post-test mean scores were significantly higher than those of the other two visual groups. Subjects in the learner-control group attempted five more problems than subjects in the programme-control group but the post-test scores were lower in the learner-control group. Results from this study suggest that requiring students to generate their own visuals is an effective strategy for solving word problems. Although students in the learner-control group attempted additional problems, their additional exposure did not result in higher post-test scores.