Feedback loops and the longer-term: towards feedback spirals

A key challenge for feedback practice involves promoting student uptake through the closing of feedback loops. This paper investigates feedback loops by using the concepts of single and double-loop learning to interrogate student responses to feedback. Single-loop learning tackles an identified problem or task, whereas double-loop learning additionally re-evaluates how the problem or task is approached. Evidence from a five-year longitudinal enquiry into four undergraduate students’ experiences of feedback is used to analyse feedback loops. Students reported a variety of experiences: failing to engage significantly with end-of-semester comments; short-term uptake within modules which had two assignments; and longer-term efforts at improving their learning strategies. A model of long-term student engagement with feedback is proposed, including single-loop feedback processes, double-loop feedback processes and unresolved learning puzzles. Whereas feedback loops are mainly focused on the shorter-term, it is suggested that feedback spirals represent an alternative way of analysing complex, iterative longer-term learning processes. Implications for practice focus on student self-regulation and the development of student feedback literacy.     

Using Markov Chain Analyses in Counselor Education Research

This study examined the efficacy of an infrequently used statistical analysis in counselor education research. A Markov chain analysis was used to examine hypothesized differences between students' use of counseling skills in an introductory course. Thirty graduate students participated in the study. Independent raters identified the microskills students used and the effectiveness of participants' counseling sessions. Significant differences were found in the counseling processes of students who were rated as effective and ineffective using a Markov chain analysis. Implications for future research using Markovian analyses in counselor education research are explored.     

SCAN: A method of community collaboration

Recent research has highlighted the complexity of the battered child syndrome. Clinical experience suggests that treatment of troubled families is a long-term process, draining financial resources of agencies and emotional resources of professionals. The need to provide support and case consultation to professionals working in the area of child abuse and neglect evolved in the establishment, in 1968, of the Suspected Child Abuse and Neglect (SCAN) Program at Children's Hospital, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. This program provides an effective method of intervention through identification, consultation, referral and follow-up of at-risk families. Weekly meetings offer multi-disciplinary case coordination, treatment recommendations, and a channel of communication for representatives of community agencies. This paper traces the history and present status of the SCAN Program, as well as the role of SCAN as a force for change of community attitudes.     

An afterschool intervention program for educationally disadvantaged young children

The research investigated the premise that if educationally disadvantaged children experience increased instructional time combined with an educational setting that is sensitive to their culture and that provides perceptions of control, enhanced achievement and interest in learning will result. The research setting was the Hilltop Emergent Literacy Project (HELP), an afterschool educational program serving poor, mostly African American five- to nine-year-olds (kindergarten to third grade) who reside in a subsidized apartment complex. A treatment group of 12 kindergartners was compared to a control group of 12 kindergartners. In the spring of kindergarten, the treatment group was outperforming the control group on standardized test scores, but both groups were below national norms. In the spring of first grade, the treatment group was still outperforming the control group and was above national norms in some areas. Report card data and qualitative indicators also provide evidence of the effectiveness of the program.We thank the Hilltop Emergent Literacy Project (HELP) head teachers Teresa Bunge and Diana Reamsnyder, the HELP students, and the many graduate and undergraduate students who have served at HELP. This program was partially funded through grants from the University of Toledo, Ohio Board of Regents, General Mills Foundation, and Toledo Public Schools.     

Some ‘Spill‐over’ Effects of a Home‐based Reinforcement Programme in a Secondary School

Abstract A home‐based reinforcement (H‐BR) programme was carried out in a secondary school to increase rule‐following and work completed by two groups of disruptive students. Of particular interest was whether the positive effects of the programme on target students would ‘spill‐over’ to equally disruptive control students in the same classes. The results showed highly significant improvements in the work and behaviour of both sets of target students but positive ‘spill‐over’ effects on controls were only apparent in one of the classes. Possible explanations for this are discussed. It is concluded that the already considerable value of H‐BR programmes in secondary schools as minimal intervention techniques would be enhanced even more if ‘spill‐over’ effects on non‐targeted, classroom sub‐groups could be planned for, rather than hoped for.     

The parental milieu: Biosocial connections with nonhuman animals,technologies, and the earth

This article develops the concept of the “parental milieu” as a theoretical tool for biosocial research in environmental education and the emerging field of critical life studies. Using the concept of milieu as a catalyst for theoretical inquiry, we map several movements and variations of the term through the 20th century works of von Uexkull, Simondon, and Deleuze and Guattari. This results in the development of four propositions that connect the parental milieu with the territorial milieu of the animal world; the technical milieu of ubiquitous digital networks; the metabolic milieu of consumption; and the trans-qualitative milieu of fluid relations and queer kinships. We conclude with a call for transgenerational research that addresses the ways that the parental milieu intersects with children's environmental learning and ­ethico-aesthetic sensibilities.     

New strategies for learning geography: a tool for teachers' professional development in England and The Netherlands

Following a constructivist view on learning and based on the work of Adey and Shayer a group of teachers and lecturers in geographical education from north‐east England developed some successful strategies to stimulate pupils' thinking skills. At the start of this century the ideas reached The Netherlands. This article presents the results of a survey among Dutch geography teachers who participated in an in‐service training about thinking skills strategies for geography. Did these teachers really use the strategies in their classrooms after the in‐service training? What kind of impact had it on their opinions about the usability of the strategies, their beliefs about students' learning and about their own teaching? This study shows that, in line with experiences in England, most Dutch geography teachers appreciate the thinking skills strategies as a good way to stimulate students' and their own learning.

Animés d'une vision constructiviste de l'enseignement et de l'apprentissage, et sur la base des travaux d'Adey et Shayer, un groupe d'enseignants et de chargés de cours du Nord‐Est de l'Angleterre dont la discipline est la géographie ont mis au point plusieurs stratégies efficaces pour stimuler les aptitudes de réflexion des élèves. Au début des années 2000, leurs théories sont parvenues jusqu'aux Pays‐Bas. Le présent article présente les résultats d'une étude menée auprès de professeurs de géographie néerlandais qui ont suivi une formation ‘in‐service’ sur les stratégies de développement des aptitudes de réflexion pour la géographie. Les professeurs ont‐ils réellement utilisés les stratégies dans leurs classes à l'issue de la formation? Quel type d'impact cette dernière a‐t‐elle eu sur leur opinion quant à l'utilité des stratégies? Cette étude révèle que la plupart des professeurs de géographie apprécient les stratégies de développement des aptitudes de réflexion et qu'elles constituent un bon moyen de stimuler les élèves et leur apprentissage de cette discipline.

Siguiendo un punto de vista constructivista del aprendizaje y basándose en la obra de Adey y Shayer, un grupo de maestros y profesores de educación geográfica del noreste de Inglaterra desarrolló con éxito algunas estrategias para estimular las habilidades de pensamiento de los alumnos. A principios de este siglo, estas ideas llegaron a los Países Bajos. El presente artículo ofrece los resultados de un estudio realizado entre profesores de geografía holandeses que participaron en un curso de formación durante el trabajo sobre estrategias para estimular las habilidades de pensamiento para la geografía. ¿Utilizaron estos profesores realmente las estrategias en sus clases una vez finalizada la formación? ¿Cómo influyó ésta en sus opiniones sobre la aprovechabilidad de las estrategias? El presente estudio demuestra que la mayoría de los profesores de geografía consideran que las estrategias dirigidas a las habilidades de pensamiento son una buena manera para estimular tanto el aprendizaje de los alumnos como su propio aprendizaje.

Nach einer konstruktiven Untersuchung im Unterrichtsbereich und unter Zugrundelegung des Werkes von Adey und Shayer entwickelte eine aus Geografie‐Lehrern und ‐Lehrbeauftragten bestehende Gruppe aus Nordostengland erfolgreiche Strategien, um die Denkfähigkeiten der Schüler und Schülerinnen anzuregen. Zu Beginn dieses Jahrhunderts erreichten die Ideen die Niederlande. In diesem Artikel werden die Ergebnisse einer Untersuchung bei niederländischen Geografielehrern dargelegt, die an einem Lehrerfortbildungskurs über Denkfähigkeitsstrategien für den Geografieunterricht teilnahmen. Haben diese Lehrer wirklich die Strategien in ihren Klassenräumen nach dem Fortbildungskurs genutzt? Wie wirkte sich dieser Kurs auf ihre Meinungsbildung zur Brauchbarkeit der Strategien aus? Diese Studie zeigt, dass die meisten Geografielehrer die Denkfähigkeitsstrategien als gutes Mittel zur Anregung des Lernens der Schüler‐ und Schülerinnen und ihres eigenen Lernens schätzen.