Teacher education students' reflections on how problem‐based learning has changed their mental models about teaching and learning

Abstract

Students develop robust mental models of teaching and learning during their school years, and as such, often teach as they were taught—possibly perpetuating practices that limit intellectual inquiry in classrooms. This paper reports on an analysis, using a conceptual framework and NUD?1ST software, of a cohort of 3rd‐year teacher education students' reflections on changes in their mental models following their experiences in a problem‐based learning (PBL) topic. Results provide evidence that students do report changing mental models in areas such as (a) the value of case studies for engaging with subject content, motivating learning, and connecting theory with practice; (b) self‐reflection and peer collaboration for cognitive and professional growth; and (c) processes of inquiry for developing self‐regulated learning practices.     

Speech and language therapy and the Knowles Edge Standards Fund Project: an evaluation of the service provided to a cluster of primary schools

In 2000, 25 speech and language therapy projects were established in schools in England, funded through the Standards Fund. An evaluation commissioned by the Government reported positive results and gave an overview of all the projects at a point approximately six months after their inception. Although there were common themes, it was quite clear that the projects differed widely in their structure and interpretation of the original brief.
In this article, Sue Roulstone, Professor of Speech and Language Therapy at the University of the West of England, and Rosalind Owen and Lucy French, both specialist speech and language therapists working for the United Bristol Healthcare NHS Trust, provide an in-depth report of one of the projects and its evaluation after 18 months.
The project, based on a systems analysis approach, targeted its interventions at the individual child, the parents, the teachers and therapists, the classrooms and schools, and more strategic levels in the health and education services. The article gives details of the 'interventions' for each component. An independent evaluation gathered qualitative and quantitative data that suggest that the new service had a positive impact on all aspects of the system. Children made gains in their speech and language; parents were informed and involved; therapists and teachers were more satisfied about their knowledge base; and systems changed within the schools to reflect and support the collaboration. The outcomes of the project led to a rolling out of the model to two more cluster groups of schools. A number of organisational structures were identified which support the ongoing collaboration. Details given in this article will enable others to identify whether or not this model might suit their local circumstances and be replicable in their context.     

Readiness: Should we make them ready or let them bloom?

The current emphasis on achievement of minimum competencies, basic education, and the pressure for early maturity has surfaced in early childhood as pressure for teachers to get their students ready for the next level. As teachers and caregivers, it is important for each of us to evaluate our view of the concept of readiness. We need to reconsider our definitions of readiness and how we apply these definitions to practice.Rosalind Charlesworth is Associate Professor at the College of Education, Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge.     

Small-group discussion in physics: Peer interaction modes in pairs and fours

The importance of group discussion in facilitating learning in science is widely acknowledged. At the same time, it is recognized that in the social context of small groups, peers' discussion processes and their subsequent learning are influenced by factors other than students' conceptual understanding. Focusing on the social processes of knowledge construction in group settings, this article investigates the ways Greek secondary school students interacted in pairs and fours while discussing and attempting to explain simple physical phenomena. The study showed that students progressed significantly more in their physics reasoning after participation in fours than pairs. Moreover, the analysis of discourse in the different groupings suggested that the differences in progress were related to the more constrained modes of interaction of pairs. © 1996 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Understanding Chinese online users and their visits to websites: Application of Zipf's law

Competition for consumers to visit company websites has intensified in recent years. An important indicator of website popularity (and consequent survival) is the extent to which the website can draw consumer visits vis-à-vis other websites. A majority of the current understanding on consumer visits is limited to a single website, and leaves little knowledge on the performance of one website compared with others. In tracking the Internet usage behavior of 200 individuals in Mainland China for 30 consecutive days, we applied Zipf's law to identify the divergence points separating popular websites from non-popular ones. Two measurements were used, namely, visit traffic (number) and visit engagement (time spent). We observed that 94.87% of the entire visit traffic is devoted to 15.08% of all visited websites, whereas 84.63% of engagements are on the top 6.16% visited websites. These findings suggest that few websites accounted for the bulk of online traffic and time. Further, we segmented the dataset based on two key proxy variables of user demographics, which are gender and occupation. The findings on visit traffic remained salient after considering user segments, but the findings on website engagement varied across different user segments. Our further analysis, which categorized the visited websites by their main service, revealed the type of Internet users attracted to popular websites.     

Not the nine o'clock service: Using children's culture

This paper discusses current thinking and practice about the use of popular culture in the primary school to teach literacy. It attempts to question the methods that attempt to galvanise children's interest in popular texts to teach the current literacy curriculum. It argues that there is an incompatibility between the pleasures and practices of the world of popular culture and the traditional environment and curricula of school. The paper argues that instead of ‘using’ children's culture to teach the literacy curriculum in school, children's vibrant, sophisticated and valuable culture needs to be embedded within it.     

Successful Alternative Middle Schools for Urban Minority Children: A Study of Nativity Schools

Much continues to be written about the failure of U.S. schools to provide a quality education for at-risk urban students. Private Nativity model schools have been instituted in response to the need to provide quality education at the middle school level for such students. As the number of these and other alternative middle schools increases, a thorough examination of the strengths and weaknesses of the model is needed. This study provides such a multimethod examination of 9 such schools. Analyses of students' self-perceptions, perceptions of the quality of the climate at their schools, and academic performance, as well as classroom observations, interviews with teachers, administrators, and students are provided. Results suggest that the success of the Nativity model rests primarily with: (a) a strong and committed teaching staff, (b) an extended school day in which students receive homework assistance and tutoring, (c) small class sizes and student-teacher ratios that afford considerable individual attention from teachers, and (d) a supportive peer environment.