Surveying Adolescent Worries: Development of the ‘Things I Worry About’ Scale

Steve Decker, Anglia Polytechnic University, Death and Loss: Compassionate Approaches in the Classroom, Oliver Leaman. London: Cassell, 1995. 160pp. hb ISBN 0 304 33087 6, pb ISBN 0 304 33089 2, price not available

Alan Dodds, The Ferrers School, Rushden, Northamptonshire, Bullying at School: What We Know and What We Can Do, Dan Olweus. Oxford: Blackwell, 1993. 140pp. pb ISBN 0 631 19241 7

Richard Smith, Elliott School, London, Combating Truancy in Schools, Edith Le Riche. London: David Fulton/ The Roehampton Institute, 1995. 112pp. ISBN 1 85346 337, £11.95

Ron Best, Roehampton Institute, London, Psychology in the Classroom: Reconstructing Teachers and Learners, Phillida Salmon. London: Cassell, 1995. 98pp. hb ISBN 0 304 33254 2, £40.00, pb ISBN 0 204 33256 9, £12.99

David Lambourn, NAPCE Base, Warwick, Primary Teachers at Work, R. J. Campbell and S. R. St.J. Neill. London: Routledge, 1994. 252pp. pb ISBN 0 415 08863 1, £14.99     

Implementing the flipped classroom: an exploration of study behaviour and student performance

The flipped classroom is becoming more popular as a means to support student learning in higher education by requiring students to prepare before lectures and actively engaging students during lectures. While some research has been conducted into student performance in the flipped classroom, students’ study behaviour throughout a flipped course has not been investigated. This study explored students’ study behaviour throughout a flipped and a regular course by means of bi-weekly diaries. Furthermore, student references to their learning regulation were explored in course evaluations. Results from the diaries showed that students’ study behaviour in the flipped course did not appear to be very different from that of students in a regular course. Furthermore, study behaviour did not appear strongly related to student performance in both the flipped and the regular course. Exploration of student references to their learning regulation in the course evaluations showed that some students experienced the flipped course design as intended to support their learning process. Other students, however, demonstrated resistance to changing their study behaviour even though changing study behaviour is expected in order to benefit from the flipped classroom. Further research on the relationship between students’ learning regulation and actual study behaviour and course results is necessary to understand when and why implementing the flipped classroom is successful. Recommendations that may help more effective flipped classroom implementation include considering the prior history between students and instructor(s), the broader curriculum context, and frequent expectation communication especially with large numbers of students and non-mandatory lecture attendance.     

Design and Evaluation of Digital Learning Material to Support Acquisition of Quantitative Problem-Solving Skills Within Food Chemistry

One of the modules in the course Food Chemistry at Wageningen University (Wageningen, The Netherlands) focuses on quantitative problem-solving skills related to chemical reactions. The intended learning outcomes of this module are firstly, to be able to translate practical food chemistry related problems into mathematical equations and to solve them and secondly, to have a quantitative understanding of chemical reactions in food. Until 3 years ago the learning situation for this module was inefficient for both teachers and students. For this learning situation a staff/student ratio of 1/25 was experienced to be insufficient: the level of student frustration was high and many students could not finish the tasks within the scheduled time. To make this situation more efficient for both students and teachers and to lower the level of frustration, digital learning material was designed. The main characteristic of this learning material is that it provides just-in-time information, such as feedback, hints and links to background information. The material was evaluated in three case studies in a normal educational setting (n = 22, n = 31, n = 33). The results show that now frustration of students is low, the time in classes is efficiently used, and the staff/student ratio of 1/25 is indeed sufficient. A staff student ratio of around 1/40 is now regarded as realistic.     

教育：青年与青年奥运会

有人把体育运动中的兴奋剂归咎于参赛运动员违背了体育运动精神的价值取向,从不太严格的意义上讲,体育精神可以这样来描述,即运动员通过努力的训练及顽强的意志（而不是使用违禁物质与方法）,来实现对体育运动的热爱、卓越的追求,并由此获取相应的物质回报。另一方面,运动员是否以为他（她）的对手在使用兴奋剂也会影响他们的态度,因为他们往往会为了取得同等的竞争条件而做同样的事情;另外一些影响运动员是否使用兴奋剂的因素来自于他（她）的同伴、支持者、赞助商、媒体、公众舆论等,这些因素都有可能左右他（她）们的决定,即在比赛当中是否应使用提高运动成绩的违禁药物或措施。     

Reading and Writing: Digital Directions

The authors show that IT hardware and software are having an effect on literacy. As well as being aware of those changes, English teachers, they argue, should be exploiting IT for the development of those reading and writing skills necessary for the future. The article goes on to exemplify, through an exploration of how it came to be written, some of the processes and opportunities identified earlier.     

The triangel (socio-therapeutical institute)

We have given a brief outline of the work which is being done at the Triangel. We do not pretend to present a report based on a scientific justification. The aid we give seems to be better described as “the arm around the shoulder of someone in distress” than by the use of precise scientific terms. The common, natural reaction to a disturbed person is a spontaneous gesture of help. We should not try to classify him, or to adopt an attitude of cool scientific interest. The natural, instinctive approach seems to us the most obviously supportive and in this respect the Triangel would seem to serve as a model for all assistance agencies.     

Group Behavior and Learning in Electronic Forums: A Sociotechnical Approach

The term community is widely and often uncritically used to characterize groupings of people who meet in electronic forums (e-forums). The research reported here shows how the casual use of the term community to characterize these groups can actually undermine their transformation into forms of social organization that are justifiably characterized as communities. This article examines how transforming a group into a community is a major accomplishment that requires special processes and practices. Primary data come from a particular project, the Inquiry Learning Forum (ILF), that aimed to develop "communities of practice" (CoPs) among high school science and mathematics teachers through an elaborate dedicated web site. We examine participants' behaviors in some of the differently structured forums within the ILF web site. While the project's developers expected CoPs to develop autonomously, there was no evidence of CoP formation in open public online forums. The article contrasts two approaches to building online communities that differ sharply: "IT-led community development" and "IT-supported community development." The experience of the ILF project shows that IT-led strategies community development strategies are much more difficult to make workable than are the "IT-supported" strategies.