Issues Arising from the Long-Term Evaluation of Cognitive Acceleration Programs

Since the early 1980s we have been engaged in the design, implementation, and evaluation of “cognitive acceleration” programs, which claim to enhance students’ general intellectual processing skills. We have published extensive data showing long-term effects of these programs on students’ cognitive development and academic achievement. In this paper the theory base of cognitive acceleration will be briefly outlined and some typical results re-presented. The main body of the paper will be devoted to a discussion of a number of issues which arise from the analysis of long-term effects. Although the examples will be drawn from the cognitive acceleration programs, the issues are general ones which might apply to any long-term study.     

Student teachers’ knowledge about children with ADHD and depression and its relations to emotions

Student teachers’ knowledge about children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and depression and its relations to reporting experiencing emotions during teaching practice were studied. The participants were 186 teacher education students in Estonia. Student teachers’ general knowledge and confidence in knowledge varied a lot. Knowledge about children with ADHD was generally limited. Knowledge and confidence in knowledge were negatively related to reporting negative emotions (anxiety, anger, shame) experienced during teaching practice. Findings are discussed, taking into account recent changes in scientific knowledge about ADHD and depression and democratic changes in schools. As knowledge of special educational needs has become important due to applying inclusive education, the findings also refer to the need for modifications in teacher education curricula.     

The development of students’ ways of thinking and practising in three final-year biology courses

Findings are presented from an ongoing study of three final-year, honours-level course units in the biosciences with a combined intake of 85 students. The data on which the analysis draws comprise semi-structured interviews with students together with findings from an Experiences of Teaching and Learning Questionnaire. The investigation forms part of a wider project concerned with the enhancement of teaching–learning environments in undergraduate courses in contrasting subject areas. The findings presented in the paper focus on two interrelated aspects of the students experiences within the teaching–learning environments represented by the three course settings. First, salient aspects of high-quality undergraduate-level learning are identified in the form of the students evolving grasp of characteristic ways of thinking and practising in the subject. These ways of thinking and practising in the biosciences were evident in the students engagement with the research literature and with experimental data, and in their efforts to master the requirements and conventions of the subject for written and oral discourse. The second part of the analyses focuses on the teaching–learning environments represented by the three course settings. It was found that, despite taking markedly different forms in the three settings, the teaching–learning and assessment strategies pursued appeared to be broadly congruent with the promotion of ways of thinking and practising in the subject. The quality of feedback to students also seemed pivotal, but needed to be understood in terms of the interplay of various factors, including opportunities for intrinsic as well as extrinsic feedback. Finally, the later years of undergraduate studies had called for a significant process of adjustment on the students part to a step-change in study demands.     

Secondary modern schools: are their pupils disadvantaged?

There are still 10 English local educational authorities (LEAs) that are wholly selective and a further 10 with some grammar and secondary modern schools. This article examines the academic performance of pupils in secondary modern schools and the funding of these schools using national data sets matching pupils' performance at Key Stage 2 and General Certificate of Education (GCSE) as well as data on funding from Section 52 statements. Students in secondary modern schools gained one less grade on average than equivalent students in comprehensive schools while grammar school pupils obtained five grades more. After taking account of the cost factors and grant entitlements that influence funding per pupil, secondary modern schools in the years 2000/01–2002/03 were funded around £80 less per pupil while grammar school pupils received over £100 more per pupil compared to comprehensive schools. Secondary modern schools were more likely to be in financial deficit than comprehensive and particularly grammar schools. Thus, students are academically disadvantaged by attending secondary modern schools, which in most selective LEAs do not receive sufficient additional funding to offset the depressing effects on attainment of the increased social segregation arising from a selective system.     

Prospective teachers navigating intersecting communities of practice: early school placement

An issue of particular concern in mathematics teacher education is the relationship between theory and practice, and the nature of university–school partnerships. We report here on results from a research project answering the call for a more systematic understanding of the practice learning context. The study focuses on the new Norwegian elementary teacher education programme and highlights the difficulties involved in connecting theory and practice and how prospective teachers may be supported in this respect. Focus group interviews involving 51 first-year prospective teachers and 25 teacher–mentors investigated early school placements, specifically prospective teachers’ positions in the classroom as teachers of mathematics, and the ways in which the mentoring relationship supported their developing role. Taking a communities of practice perspective, we found that the idea of movement across intersecting and sometimes conflicting communities of practice is helpful in aiding our understanding of the difficulty of connecting theory and practice. Additionally, variations in mentoring styles and perceptions of prospective teachers’ mathematics and pedagogic knowledge competencies play a part in some prospective teachers’ difficulties in taking up a role as legitimate peripheral participant in the school. We conclude by considering ways in which prospective teachers might be better supported to cope with school placement.     

Social learning strategies

In most studies of social learning in animals, no attempt has been made to examine the nature of the strategy adopted by animals when they copy others. Researchers have expended considerable effort in exploring the psychological processes that underlie social learning and amassed extensive data banks recording purported social learning in the field, but the contexts under which animals copy others remain unexplored. Yet, theoretical models used to investigate the adaptive advantages of social learning lead to the conclusion that social learning cannot be indiscriminate and that individuals should adopt strategies that dictate the circumstances under which they copy others and from whom they learn. In this article, I discuss a number of possible strategies that are predicted by theoretical analyses, includingcopy when uncertain,copy the majority, andcopy if better, and consider the empirical evidence in support of each, drawing from both the animal and human social learning literature. Reliance on social learning strategies may be organized hierarchically, their being employed by animals when unlearned and asocially learned strategies prove ineffective but before animals take recourse in innovation.     

Maternal scaffolding of attention between 5 and 8 months

Infants’ abilities to focus attention on objects and mothers’ behaviors mobilizing the attention of their child were studied in a sample of 30 dyads, at 5 and 8 months of age. It was hypothesized that at the younger age infants need their mothers’ scaffolding to explore their environment, and that the frequency of mothers’ encouragements at that age is related with their attentional capacities at 8 months; at this later age, mother’s and infant’s behaviors should no more be correlated. Data concerning both the total frequency of the target behaviors and the length of individual occurrences strongly confirm the hypotheses. They imply that in the mother attention getting should be distinguished from attention holding, and are discussed in terms of educational consequences.     

Splitting Clips and Telling Tales: Students Interactions with Digital Video

This paper reports on an experimental project in digital video editing with 10 year olds in the UK which explored their interactions with creative digital technologies. Data on the pupil’s interactions with the software was gathered on video and analysed. A theoretical framework drawn from second generation activity theory was applied and tensions resulting from mismatches between pupil’s approaches to the task and the ways the task were framed are reported on. The paper argues that pupils exhibit a number of behaviour based roles in relation to the technology dependent on compliance with the instructions of the teachers, creativity and their desire to explore the affordances of the technology. The paper concludes by asking questions about how new forms of cultural production such as digital video work can be incorporated authentically into school settings, and how a pedagogy to support learning with new types of technology can be developed by drawing on insights provided by socio-cultural approaches to understanding technology use in human activity systems.     

Networking and the use of information technologies in the French education system

Conclusion It may be pointed out in conclusion that the two connotations of the word ‘network’— the fact of working together coupled with that of the new information and communication media—finally come together and situate the French education system in a real context of change, for both connotations are obviously complementary. Communication, co-operative work, the pooling of resources and skills, with a view to improving the quality and effectiveness of education and promoting equality of opportunity through access to knowledge, are central to these various projects. Thanks to the greater flexibility made possible by these tools, a new public—those who are isolated or those who find it impossible to move—are and will be taken into account. The purpose of these projects is to increase the performance of the education system and adapt it to the social and economic realities of the community. This shows how important it is to facilitate their implementation, in association with all partners concerned. Original language: French Fran?ois Louis (France) University degrees in public law and labour law and a graduate of the French école nationale d'administration (ENA) (1979). Since 1989, he has been head of the Planning and Resources Management Unit of the French Direction des lycées et collèges, after having held the post of Secretary-General of educational administration for the Paris region. In 1994, he published a book entitledDécentralisation et autonomie des établissements [Decentralization and school autonomy], as well as a report published by OECD in 1995 entitledL'enseignement secondaire en France, la mutation des dix dernières années [Secondary education in France, a decade of change].