Where Do All the STEM Graduates Go? Higher Education,the Labour Market and Career Trajectories in the UK

Journal of Science Education and Technology - Problems with the supply of highly skilled science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) workers have been reported by employers and...     

Remediating Computational Deficits at Third Grade: A Randomized Field Trial

The major purposes of this study were to assess the efficacy of tutoring to remediate 3rd-grade computational deficits and to explore whether remediation is differentially efficacious depending on whether students experience mathematics difficulty alone or concomitantly with reading difficulty. At 2 sites, 127 students were stratified on mathematics difficulty status and randomly assigned to 4 conditions: word recognition (control) tutoring or 1 of 3 computation tutoring conditions: fact retrieval, procedural computation and computational estimation, and combined (fact retrieval + procedural computation and computational estimation). Results revealed that fact retrieval tutoring enhanced fact retrieval skill, and procedural computation and computational estimation tutoring (whether in isolation or combined with fact retrieval tutoring) enhanced computational estimation skill. Remediation was not differentially efficacious as a function of students' mathematics difficulty status.     

What a Scientist Looks Like: How Community Colleges Can Utilize and Enhance Science Identity Development as a Means to Improve Success for Women of Color

ABSTRACT

This article explores the application of science identity development theory for women of color interested in the science disciplines; and it advocates for taking an intersectional approach to understanding how women of color form science identities. The article also challenges community college administrators and scholars to focus on redefining science identity development theory within the community college setting as a means to enhance success for women of color pursuing academic work in scientific disciplines.     

The association of precollege use of calculators with student performance in college calculus

This study investigates how the use of calculators during high school mathematics courses is associated with student performance in introductory college calculus courses in the USA. Data were drawn from a nationally representative sample of 7087 students enrolled in college calculus at 134 colleges and universities. They included information about students’ demographics, standardized test scores, and high school mathematics course enrollment and performance. Factor analysis reduced ten items describing high school calculator usage to two composites: how extensively calculators were employed and teacher-imposed restrictions on their use. Hierarchical linear models predicted students’ college calculus grades, reported by their professor, while controlling for differences between colleges and student backgrounds. The more extensively students had used calculators in high school, the lower their grade in college calculus. However, students earned higher college calculus grades to the extent that their high school teachers had limited calculator use on quizzes and exams and had restricted calculator use until paper-and-pencil methods had been mastered, which offset the negative association of extensive calculator use with grades. The effect sizes of both calculator composites were very small. Overall, the findings raise doubts about any substantial long-term effects on college mathematics performance of calculator use in high school.     

Faculty and administrator perceptions of their environments: Different views or different models of organization?

Individuals' perceptions of the culture and climate of the organizations in which they work influence their motivation and individual performance. Using a theoretical model of institutional culture, organizational climate, and faculty motivation, this study examines how faculty and academic administrators differ in their perceptions; whether these differences in perceptions are affected by institutional type; and to what extent faculty and administrators have different implicit models of their institutions (i.e., see different organizational variables as predictors of faculty motivation and involvement). The goals of this investigation are to shed additional light on the relationship between institutional variables and faculty performance, to examine the existence of differing implicit models, and to provide new insights for administrators in managing their postsecondary institutions.The research reported in this paper is part of the Research Program on The Organizational Context for Teaching and Learning in the National Center for Research to Improve Postsecondary Teaching and Learning (NCRIPTAL). The research is supported by a grant from the Office of Educational Research and Improvement (OERI), U.S. Department of Education (ED), to the University of Michigan (grant number G008690010). The opinions expressed herein are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the position or policy of the OERI/ED or the Regents of The University of Michigan, and no official endorsement should be inferred.     

笨拙,但却美丽着

should we pity the poor young pelican?The ugly duckling, after all, grew up to be a beautiful swan, while the baby     

Using teacher inquiry to support technology-enhanced formative assessment: a review of the literature to inform a new method

In this paper we review the literature on teacher inquiry (TI) to explore the possibility that this process can equip teachers to investigate students’ learning as a step towards the process of formative assessment. We draw a distinction between formative assessment and summative forms of assessment [CRELL. (2009). The transition to computer-based assessment: New approaches to skills assessment and implications for large-scale testing. In F. Scheuermann & J. Björnsson (Eds.), JRC Scientific and technical reports. Ispra: Author; Webb, M. (2010). Beginning teacher education and collaborative formative e-assessment. Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, 35, 597–618; EACEA. (2009). National testing of pupils in Europe: Objectives, organisation and use of results. Brussels: Eurydice; OECD. (2010b). Assessing the effects of ICT in education (F. Scheuermann & E. Pedró, Eds.). Paris: JRC, OECD]. Our review of TI is combined with a review of the research concerning the way that practices with technology can support the assessment process. We conclude with a comparison of TI and teacher design research from which we extract the characteristics for a method of TI that can be used to develop technology-enhanced formative assessment: teacher inquiry into student learning. In this review, our primary focus is upon enabling teachers to use technology effectively to inquire about their students’ learning progress.     

Research-supported practices for improving attendance in high schools: a review of the literature

High rates of absenteeism are often an early warning sign for negative long-term outcomes. Typical high school attendance policies, especially those that are punitive in nature, can make attendance problems worse. Fortunately, evidence suggests that even small improvements in student attendance can lead to meaningful outcomes. To support this recovery, high schools must have access to the most effective and efficient attendance interventions. The purpose of this systematic literature review is to summarize the current empirical research related to improving attendance in high schools. Results indicate that the 3 most common elements of high school attendance interventions with desired outcomes were skills training, family support, and incentive-based strategies. We discuss implications for future research and suggest that developing a continuum of research-supported practices within a multi-tiered system of support framework may be an effective way for schools to proactively and efficiently improve student attendance at the high school level.     

Educational reform in Britain: Beyond the National Curriculum

The essay begins with an account of why Britain introduced a National Curriculum for English and Welsh schools in 1988 in place of its previously more autonomous system. It goes on to analyse the content and aims of the National Curriculum and includes a comparison with Stalin's curriculum for schools in the USSR. An alternative to the National Curriculum is sketched out, centring around the aim of promoting personal autonomy for all. In the last part of the paper recent British experience of greater centralization and vocational orientation of the curriculum is contrasted with recent moves by the USSR State Committee on Education towards the democratization and humanization of the Soviet school system.

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Zusammenfassung Die Abhandlung beginnt mit einem Bericht, warum Großbritannien 1988 anstelle seines bis dahin eher autonomen Systems einen nationalen Lehrplan für englische und walisische Schulen einführte. Anschließend analysiert der Verfasser Inhalt und Ziele des nationalen Lehrplans und zieht einen Vergleich zwischen diesem und Stalins Lehrplan für Schulen in der UdSSR. Er umreißt eine Alternative zum nationalen Lehrplan, die im wesentlichen die Förderung der persönlichen Autonomie für alle zum Ziel hat. Im letzten Teil des Artikels werden die jüngsten britischen Erfahrungen einer größeren Zentralisierung und einer beruflichen Orientierung des Curriculums den kürzlich unternommenen Schritten des staatlichen sowjetischen Komitees für Bildung in Richtung Demokratisierung und Humanisierung des sowjetischen Schulwesens gegenübergestellt.

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Résumé Le présent article commence par un exposé sur les raisons qui ont poussé la Grande Bretagne à introduire un curriculum national dans les écoles anglaises et galloises, qui a remplacé en 1988 le système plus autonome jusqu'alors en vigueur. On donne ensuite une analyse du contenu et des objectifs de ce programme d'études national qui est comparé à celui établi par Staline pour les écoles soviétiques. On esquisse une solution alternative à ce curriculum national, qui est centrée sur la promotion de l'autonomie personnelle pour tous. Dans la dernière partie de cet article, on compare les expériences faites récemment en Angleterre en matière de plus grande centralisation et de formation professionnelle du curriculum avec les changements introduits depuis peu par le Comité d'Etat de l'Education de l'URSS en vue de la démocratisation et de l'humanisation du système éducatif soviétique.