Student teachers' entry perceptions about teaching primary science: Does a first degree make a difference?

It is problematic whether primary teachers benefit by completing a first degree especially when the teaching of specific subjects, here science, is the focus of attention. This study reports the comparative results of interviewing thirteen Canadian and ten Australian student teachers, both about to commence their Bachelor of Education. The Canadian students had completed an initial degree while nine of the Australian students were school leavers. The interviews, which explored views about teaching primary science, were analysed with this factor in mind. Student teacher perceptions reported include: how to recognise a “good” primary science teacher; perceptions of self as a “good” primary science teacher; expectations of how the teacher education program could assist their science teaching; and whether (for the Canadian students) the initial degree will help in becoming a primary science teacher. Analysis of the interviews suggests possible influences a first degree (among other factors) may have on perceptions related to primary science teaching and raises questions about what is the best general approach for preparing primary teachers to teach science effectivly.     

What has happened to intuition in science education?

Intuition was one of the four key themes for science education that emerged from the Woods Hole Conference in 1957. Despite the considerable influence of this conference on a generation of curriculum projects the intuition theme was almost completely ignored. Recent studies of intuition, including an analysis of Nobel laureates' views of scientific intuition, are considered. This enables several conceptions of the nature and role of intuition in science to be defined, and its importance to be assessed. The assumption that it is also important in science education is examined by considering conditions in science teaching and learning that may encourage intuitive thinking in the light of current research developments that could lead to a new agenda for school science. Specializations: science and technology curriculum, environmental education, educational disadvantage. Specializations: phenomenography, ways of knowing, higher education—teaching and learning.     

Registered nurses' constructed meaning of concepts of solution and their use in clinical practice

Since the introduction of nursing into tertiary institutions in Australia in 1975, there has been increasing interest in the teaching of physical science to nurses. Various courses in physical science for nurse students have been developed. They vary in length and content but there is agreement that concepts taught should be closely related to nursing applications. The choice of relevant concepts tends to be made by individual curriculum developers. This paper reports an examination of the use of physical science concepts and their relevance from the perspective of registered nurses practising in general ward areas. Inherent in this study is the premise that for registered nurses to have ideas of the physical science underlying their practice they must have constructed meaning first for these concepts. Specific chemical concepts related to solutions are discussed in these terms. Specializations: phenomenology, thinking, caring, euthanasia and palliative care, curriculum development for nurses. Specializations: thinking, science curricula for nurses, isotope geochemistry, mass spectrometry.     

Learning and teaching: Differentiation and relation

In this paper we discuss the articulation between teaching and learning, how to differentiate them and how to establish relations between them, limiting ourselves to aspects dealing with knowledge. The aim is to allow the design of teaching situations more relevant for learning. The characteristics differentiating teaching and learning are used to analyse research studies relative to two time scales, one of the order of months or years and the other of the order of hours. The comparison shows the importance of the grain size chosen to analyse the knowledge involved both in teaching and in learning. On the first scale, the analysis of the students' knowledge and that of the knowledge to be taught are done independently to the extent that students' knowledge is not analysed in reference to the knowledge to be taught (in terms of error or missing aspect) but on the basis of the student's coherency. The decomposition of these two types of knowledge into similar components allows us to compare them and leads us to propose “intermediate notions” between the usual physics knowledge to be taught and the students prior knowledge. These intermediate notions can be rather far from complete correct physics knowledge but are learnable by the students. On the second scale, detailed analysis of a single teaching session and the students' processes during this session needs a fine level of knowledge granularity. Such a level allows us to make hypotheses based on the elements of students' prior knowledge from which they can construct new knowledge and not only on the prior knowledge which has to be modified. This granularity level allows an emphasis on the positive aspects of students' prior knowledge and enables us to construct hypothesis in order to design teaching situations. Making explicit “intermediate notions” in the knowledge to be taught at a rather large level of granularity of knowledge and the positive aspects of students' prior knowledge at a fine level of granularity, are proposed as ways to improve teaching for fruitful learning.     

Philips,Rob et al (2012) Evaluating e‐learning Routledge (New York & London) isbn 978‐0‐415‐88194‐4 207 pp £25.99 http://www.routledge.com/books/details/9780415881944/

This book seeks to formalise approaches to e‐learning by ensuring that e‐resource design is evaluated and appropriately supported by evidence. The book is aimed at academics who design e‐learning systems and need to devise scholarly evaluation research to assess their success. If this book's likely to relate closely to what you do, I suggest you borrow a copy so you can assess it for yourself. John G Hedberg     

Introduction: Political Communication in Asia

This study analyses the structure of programmes of the Bangladesh Television (BTV) broadcast over a period of 23 years (1966–89). It presents an analysis of programmes of ten different time‐points, and determines the changes over this time period. The ratio of imported and domestic programmes in Bangladesh Television is also studied. One of the findings of this study is that television in Bangladesh is used predominantly as a medium of entertainment since its inception in 1964 and is still being treated as such. Despite phenomenal development in the technical facilities, its structure of programmes remains almost the same. This study also reveals that Bangladesh Television is still dependent upon imported programmes to a large extent to feed its transmission hour.     

ONE'S OWN TEACHER AND THE CHOICE OF THE TEACHING PROFESSION

Gustafsson, J.‐E. Differential Effects of Imagery Instructions on Pupils with Different Abilities. Scandinavian Journal of Educational Research, 21, 157‐179. A study investigating interactions between imagery instructions and aptitude variables is presented. A group of seven fifth‐grade classes was given imagery instructions in the reading of a short text, while another group read the text in a regular way. Three different outcomes covering different types of learning were registered. Tests of verbal ability and spatial (or imagery) ability were used as aptitude variables. The data analysis indicated that there were differences for the girls between the treatment groups among the aptitude variables; the results for the girls thus had to be excluded. A positive effect of imagery instructions was found for boys high in verbal and imagery ability with respect to the acquisition of simple terms. For other outcomes and groups of subjects either no effect or a negative effect was found.     

Graduate study and research

Speech Correction on the Contract Plan. By Ruth B. Manser. New York: Prentice‐Hall, Inc., 1935; pp. xix + 333.

Leadership in a Changing World. Ed. by M. David Hoffman and Ruth Wanger. New York: Harper and Bros., 1935 ; pp. xv + 418.

Your Telltale English. By Sophie C. Hadida. New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1935 ; pp. 419. $2.00.

Propaganda; Its Psychology and Technique. By Leonard W. Doob. New York: Henry Holt and Co., 1935; pp. x + 424. $3.00.

The 1932 Campaign: An Analysis. By Roy V. Peel and Thomas C. Donnelly. New York: Farrar and Rinehart, 1935; pp. viii + 242. $1.50.

A B C of Reading. By Ezra Pound. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1934; pp. xii + 197.

Lotteries. Compiled by Helen M. Muller. New York: H. W. Wilson Co., 1935 ; pp. 128. $0.90.

Old Age Pensions. Compiled by Julia E. Johnsen. New York: H. W. Wilson Co., 1935 ; pp. 295. $0.90.

Socialized Medicine. A debate reprinted from the University Debaters’ Annual for 1933–1934. New York: H. W. Wilson Co., 1935 ; pp. 31: $.35.

Road To War: America 1914–1917. By Walter Millis. Boston and New York: Houghton Miffiin Company, 1935 ; pp. ix + 466. Index. $3.00.

Speech Therapy. By Emil Fröschels. Translated from the German by Joseph Noyes Haskell. Boston: The Expression Company, 1933 ; pp. 252.

Speech in Childhood: Its Development and Disorders. By George Seth and Douglas Guthrie. New York: Oxford University Press, 1935 ; pp. x + 224. $3.50.

A Study of Illiteracy in C.C.C. Camps. Washington: Bulletin 110068 of the United States Office of Education, Department of the Interior, 1935.

Propaganda and Promotional Activities. An Annotated Bibliography. By H. D. Lasswell, R. D. Casey, and B. L. Smith. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1935 ; pp. 450.

World Politics and Personal Insecurity. By H. D. Lasswell. New York: Whittlesey House, 1935 ; pp. 307.

Fox. By Christopher Hobhouse. Boston and New York: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1935; pp. 320. $3.50.

Architecture for the New Theatre. Edited by Edith J. R. Isaacs. Published for the National Theatre Conference. New York: Theatre Arts, Inc., 1935 ; pp. 125. $2.50.

Directing for the Amateur Stage. By Leslie Crump. New York: Dodd, Mead &; Co., 1935; pp. xi + 235. $2.50.

Freedom of the Press. By George Seldes. Indianapolis: The Bobbs‐ Merrill Co., 1935 ; pp. 380. $2.75.

Psychology of Acting. By Lorenz Kjerbühl‐Petersen, translated by Sarah T. Barrows. Boston: Expression Company, 1935 ; pp. 255. $3.50.

Congress or the Supreme Court. Edited by Egbert Ray Nichols. New York: Noble &; Noble, Inc., 1935; pp. 476. $2.00.

Aphasia: A Clinical and Psychological Study. By Theodore Weisenburg and Katherine McBride. New York: The Commonwealth Fund, 1935 ; pp. 634. $5.00.

Current English. By Arthur G. Kennedy. Boston: Ginn &; Co., 1935; pp. xiii + 737. $3.50.

The Development of Modern English. By Stuart Robertson. New York: Prentice‐Hall, Inc., 1934; pp. vii + 559. $2.50.

The Politician: His Habits, Outcries, and Protective Coloring. By James Harold Wallis. New York: The Frederick A. Stokes Co., 1935; pp. x + 333. $3.00.

Play Production. By M. V. C. Jeffreys and R. W. Stopford. London: Methuen &; Co., New York: E. P. Dutton &; Co., 1933; pp. xviii + 199. $2.50.

The Genesis and Growth of English. By J. S. Armour. New York: Oxford University Press, 1935; pp. xi + 182. $1.25.

The Neutrality Policy of the United States. Compiled by Julia E. Johnsen. The Reference Shelf, vol. X, no. 7. New York: The H. W. Wilson Company, 1936; pp. 267. $0.90.

How to Conduct Group Discussion. By A. F. Wileden and H. L. Ewbank. Madison: Extension Service of the College of Agriculture, University of Wisconsin, 1935; pp. 64.

Who Should Pay the Doctor Bills. By H. L. Ewbank and Martin P. Anderson. Madison: Extension Service of the College of Agriculture, University of Wisconsin, 1936; pp. 38.

Effective Speech: First Course. By Lousene Rousseau and Mary E. Cramer. New York: Harper &; Bros., 1936; pp. xii + 300. $1.20.

The Science and Art of Speech. By Charles Robert Walsh. New York: Benziger Bros., 1935; pp. xvii + 193. $2.60.

Mediaeval Artes Praedicandi: A Supplementary Hand‐List. By Harry Caplan. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1936; pp. 36.

Masks and Marionettes. By Joseph Spencer Kennard. New York: The Macmillan Company, 1935; pp. ix + 129. $3.50.

The Public Speaker's Scrapbook. By William G. Hoffman. New York: Whittlesey House, 1935; pp. xi + 269. $2.50.

For Stutterers. By Smiley Blanton, M.D., and Margaret Gray Blanton. New York: D. Appleton‐Century Co., 1936; pp. xi + 191. $2.00.

Basic Speech and Voice Science. By L. S. Judson and A. T. Weaver. Madison: The College Typing Company, 1933; pp. iv + 218. $4.25.

Anecdotal History of the Science of Sound, to the Beginning of the 20th Century. By Dayton C. Miller. New York: The Macmillan Company, 1935 ; pp. xi + 114. $2.50.

Lucius Q. C. Lainar. By Wirt Armistead Cate. Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, 1935 ; pp. xiii + 594. $5.00.

Disorders of Speech and Voice, 4th ed. By Robert West. Madison: College Typing Co., 1935; pp. 144. $2.75.

Bibliography of Disorders of Speech and Voice. By Robert West. Madison: College Typing Co., 1934; pp. 21. $0.50.

Signals and Speech in Electrical Communication. By John Mills. New York: Harcourt, Brace and Company, 1934; pp. 281. $2.75.

Something About Words. By Ernest Weekley. New York: E. P. Dutton and Co., 1936; pp. 233. $1.75.

A History of the Philadelphia Theatre 1835–1855. By Arthur. Herman Wilson. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1935 ; pp. 724. $6.00.

How to Develop Your Speaking Voice, By E. H. Baxter Rinquest. Denver: Frank J. Wolf Publishing House, 1935; pp. 228.

An Experience Curriculum in English. A Report of a Commission of the National Council of Teachers of English. W. Wilbur Hatfield, Chairman. New York: D. Appleton‐Century Company, Inc., 1935; pp. x + 323. $1.50. (To members of the N.C.T.E. $1.00.)