To jump the wave or not: teachers’ perceptions of research evidence in education

This article presents a microanalysis of how a group of primary school teachers deals with research evidence in their work. Based on analysis of a group of Norwegian teachers’ interactions over issues of educational research and research-based knowledge, we find that teachers’ representations of educational research particularly center on the following issues: educational research being perceived as circular, ‘polyphonic’, and a matter of accommodation to their experience-based knowledge. These metaphors also shed light upon the dilemmas that arise when research evidence meets teachers’ more contextual knowledge. We conclude that teachers’ practice-based evidence may take new forms with an increased policy focus on research-based evidence, as well as bringing forth challenges for teacher work and professionalism.     

Teaching physics to prospective elementary teachers: Bridging gaps or widening chasms

The education of prospective Elementary and Early Childhood (E&EC) teachers to teach science has been an on-going challenge for science teacher educators. Accordingly, a course in physical science was planned and implemented especially for prospective E&EC teachers. The purpose of this study was to understand the nature of the enacted curriculum and about the forces which constrained its evolution. Miller, the teacher of the course, had no prior experience in teaching prospective E&EC teachers and many of his experiences as a university level teacher were based on his teaching of physics majors. These experiences shaped his approach to teaching the course as did his years as a basketball coach. Miller was an expert in physics and constructed his role as teaching students significant scientific truths. Miller saw the purpose of the course as being to educate the students in science, not to prepare them to teach science. He was unwilling to address the goals of students that were oriented strongly toward becoming better teachers. The beliefs of the teacher constrained the enacted curriculum to an extent that gaps between the needs of students and the enacted curriculum were wider at the end of the course than they were at the beginning. Armstrong College In my opinion I think I failed completely, but I am quite happy with what I am trying to do. I just don't think I executed it well. So I was pretty unhappy with the whole experience in terms of the results, but I was not unhappy with the experience in terms of whether it was worth doing. I think it is important in science to develop free-thinking and being able to come to conclusions. Science is being able to reflect on the human condition, and being able to think about things you don't know about. (Miller)     

Why do not more prisoners participate in adult education? An analysis of barriers to education in Norwegian prisons

International Review of Education - From a lifelong learning perspective, education during incarceration is crucial for prisoners’ rehabilitation. This article describes the authors’...     

One of the few: the experiences of female elite-level coaches in Norwegian football

The aim of this article is to explore the experiences of female elite-level Norwegian coaches in football. More precisely, we wanted to find out the meaning of gender for these coaches’ football experiences. The results presented are based on five in-depth interviews with female elite-level coaches between 36 and 50 years of age. A feminist cultural and a gender perspective are used to understand and discuss the findings. As shown in other studies, the culture of football in Norway is very gendered. This has an impact on the female football coaches’ experiences, both in relation to how they perceive their own role, their coach education and with respect to their self-confidence and how they look upon their own chances in the job market. As a group, they represent a form of pariah femininity, and very little resistance femininity and a liberal feminist perspective, i.e. equality on the men’s premises.     

‘We Have to Go Where the Money Is’—Dilemmas in the Role of Nutrition Scientists: An Interview Study

In Western societies scientists are increasingly expected to seek media exposure and cooperate with industry. Little attention has been given to the way such expectations affect the role of scientific experts in society. To investigate scientists’ own perspectives on these issues eight exploratory, in-depth interviews were conducted in Denmark with reputable nutrition scientists. Additionally, eight interviews were held with ‘key informants’ from the field of nutrition policy. It was found that nutrition scientists experience two dilemmas: first, between their aspiration to make a collective impact on public health and the powerful incentives of each to appear frequently in the media with new messages; second, between their need to cooperate with the food industry for financial reasons and their fear that this may compromise their independence and scientific integrity. It is argued that the dilemmas identified in this study should be dealt with openly by the relevant groups of scientists.     

Comparison of two Actigraph models for assessing free-living physical activity in Indian adolescents

This aim of this study was to compare the new Actigraph (GT1M) with the widely used Model 7164. Seven days of free-living physical activity were measured simultaneously using both the Model 7164 and GT1M in 30 Indian adolescents (mean age 15.8 years, s = 0.6). The GT1M was on average 9% lower per epoch than model 7164, thus a correction factor of 0.91 is suggested for comparison between the two monitors. The differences between monitors increased in magnitude with intensity of activity (P < 0.001) but remained randomly distributed (r = 0.01, P = 0.96). No significant difference was observed between monitors for time spent in moderate (P = 0.31) and vigorous (P = 0.34) physical activity when using the same epoch length. The Model 7164 classified less time as sedentary (P < 0.001) and more time as light-intensity activity (P < 0.001) than the GT1M. In conclusion, data from the GT1M can be compared with historical data using average counts per minute with a correction factor, and the two models might be comparable for assessing time spent in moderate to vigorous physical activity in children when using the same epoch length.