Prospective teachers’ analysis of a mathematics lesson: examining their claims and supporting evidence

Journal of Mathematics Teacher Education - This study examined elementary and secondary prospective teachers’ (PTs’) abilities to analyze a classroom lesson in order to make claims...     

Coenrollment for students who are deaf or hard of hearing: friendship patterns and social interactions

Third- and fourth-grade students in two separate classrooms--one a classroom with only hearing students and the other a coenrolled classroom with hearing, hard of hearing, and deaf students--were assessed to determine friendship patterns, attitudes, beliefs, and perceptions about sign language and deafness. Sociograms, interviews, and videotape analysis of the students' responses were done. Results suggest that hearing students in the coenrolled classroom had better sign language skills, a more positive attitude toward deafness, and an improved awareness of certain aspects of hearing loss (such as speech and amplification). Deaf and hard of hearing students' social acceptance was similar to that of their hearing peers.     

Progress to conservation: Conflict or correct answer?

One of the fundamental problems in socio-cognitive conflict theory concerns what it is that leads to cognitive growth. Is it conflict per se, i.e. the fact that two contradictory opinions are brought together, or is it the presence of the correct answer which is essential for growth. In this experiment, dyads, functioning on the same cognitive level, were formed and asked to solve a conservation-of-length task. The classification of the children in the pre-test was not done according to Piagetian norms, but according to Flavell’s appearance-reality (AR) model: AR non-conservers (AR-NC), AR intermediates (AR-I) and AR conservers (AR-C). Many children who would have been scored as non-conservers in a standard Piagetian task, showed an underlying conservation competence and were classified as AR-I. The results of the interaction suggest that conflict does not lead to appropriate change in AR-NC dyads or AR-I dyads. Furthermore, the results suggest that the most effective method for AR-I to become conservers, is to make them think about a problem and then, to create consensus by confronting the children with others who have also reached the correct solution.     

Characteristics of respondents who respond differently to positively and negatively worded items on rating scales

Although evidence prevails that including positively and negatively worded items within the same scale can lead to differential response patterns, little is known about factors that predict how different these responses will be. Thus, three datasets were analysed to investigate the characteristics of respondents whose responses between positively and negatively worded items are most different. The three studies yielded two major findings: (i) responses to the positively worded items yielded statistically significantly higher means than did responses to the negatively worded items, and (ii) several characteristics were identified pertaining to those who tend to have the largest absolute discrepancies in responses between the two sets of items.     

Explaining social class inequalities in educational achievement in the UK: quantifying the contribution of social class differences in school ‘effectiveness’

There are large social class inequalities in educational achievement in the UK. This paper quantifies the contribution of one mechanism to the production of these inequalities: social class differences in school ‘effectiveness’, where ‘effectiveness’ refers to a school’s impact on pupils’ educational achievement (relative to other schools). It builds on the small number of existing studies, whilst overcoming a number of their limitations. It estimates the effectiveness of the (state) schools attended between ages 7/8 and 10/11 by a cohort of children born in the 1990s in Avon, a former county of England, and then compares the effectiveness of the schools attended by children from different social classes. It finds that ‘higher’ social class children attend more effective schools, on average, and that these social class differences in average school effectiveness between ages 7/8 and 10/11 account for 7% of social class differences in average educational achievement age 10/11. This is not a causal analysis, however.     

Creating cultures of disability to control young people in Australian schools

State and territory education departments across Australia have been attempting to respond to reported increases in the levels of disruption in schools. The problem is considered particularly severe in urban secondary schools. This paper examines the way in which integration or “mainstreaming” policies have been subverted in order to control disruptive young people by labeling them as defective.     

Social skills training with early adolescents: Effects on social skills, well-being, self-esteem and coping

This study discusses the educational effects of a social skills training on adolescents’ social skills, self-esteem, well-being and coping. A group of 14- to 16-year-old normal adolescents followed a social skills training based on social learning principles. A pre-test — experiment — post-test design was used and the group’s performance was compared with that of a non-intervention control-group. The training was given at school, and the data were collected by means of self-report measures. The results show that the training was successful in several respects: the adolescents’ social anxiety decreased, their social activity increased, their self-esteem improved, and they made more use of adequate coping-strategies. The implications of the results for different sub-groups of adolescents are discussed. Critical attention is also given to two other issues: the type of assessment used and the short-term nature of the evaluation.