Explanations from intra- and inter-group discourse: Students building knowledge in the science classroom

This article discusses the relation and patterns of intra- and inter-group discourse as middle school students explain particular phenomena. We present a framework of the dynamic process involved in generating collaborative knowledge. Our focus is on connecting students' thinking and experience with science concepts and explanations. Using the perspective of learning as a social activity, we are interested in science teaching that engages students in collaborative inquiry as a means for learning science content. Specifically, we examine the role of shared inquiry and the nature of consensus-building in students' development of explanations from a collaborative knowledge-building stance. Student discourse, in small (intra-group) and large (inter-group) contexts, is examined as an explicit mode of inquiry. While additional study is needed, we contend these two forms of discourse (constructive and generative; dialectic and persuasive) effectively promote progressive discourse and thereby facilitate shared coherent explanations of phenomena. If we now consider dialectics rather than method as the logic of science, the whole image changes because of the essential, constitutive role played by interlocutors. Due to this role, science becomes a game with three players: an inquiring mind, or, more realistically, a group of the communityC ₁, natureN, and another group of the communityC ₂. (Pera, 1994, p. 133).     

Exact Small-Sample Differential Item Functioning Methods for Polytomous Items With Illustration Based on an Attitude Survey

Exact nonparametric procedures have been used to identify the level of differential item functioning (DIF) in binary items. This study explored the use of exact DIF procedures with items scored on a Likert scale. The results from an attitude survey suggest that the large-sample Cochran-Mantel-Haenszel (CMH) procedure identifies more items as statistically significant than two comparable exact nonparametric methods. This finding is consistent with previous findings; however, when items are classified in National Assessment of Educational Progress DIF categories, the results show that the CMH and its exact nonparametric counterparts produce almost identical classifications. Since DIF is often evaluated in terms of statistical and practical significance, this study provides evidence that the large-sample CMH procedure may be safely used even when the focal group has as few as 76 cases.     

How do beginners learn to read irregular words as sight words?

Learning irregular words involves mental marking of irregular letters in the spelling, a process not fully understood. In a within‐subjects experiment, we manipulated the type of scaffolding given to beginning readers to evoke mental marking. We pretested to sort 103 kindergarten and first‐grade participants into sequential decoders, who decode letter by letter, and hierarchical decoders, who recognise vowel patterns. In the control phase, children read irregular words in sentence contexts with minimal scaffolding. In the experimental phase, participants read additional irregular words in sentence contexts by ‘operating on the word’ to mark irregular letters. Results indicated that the experimental condition induced better untimed word reading, but it did not improve spelling or reading in a flash presentation. Hierarchical decoders were significantly more successful than sequential decoders in untimed word reading, spelling and reading in the flash presentation. These results suggest that learning hierarchical decoding predisposes readers to learn irregular words.     

Modelling the influences on learning outcomes of study processes in university mathematics

The field trialling of inventory scalesreflecting variation in students' mathematicsstudy and learning processes is described.These scales predict learning outcomes (finalmarks), but with differentiated patterns ofrelationship to those outcomes. In combination,the scales also detect cohorts of students atrisk of study failure. The work reported is inthe broader context of developing anindividual-differences-based model of studentlearning. Although this model is sitedspecifically within mathematics learning, themethodology of its development is transferableto other discipline contexts. The trialledscales complement others already developed thatreflect affective variation in students'mathematics study.     

Design of an evidence-based diversity workshop to support participation of older people in their community care

Diversity is what makes a person unique, with the intersection of diversity characteristics potentially a strength or a barrier to accessing healthcare, and thereby affecting health and well-being outcomes. Many older people with diverse needs are not accessing appropriate services to meet their needs, leading to suboptimal health and well-being. Community aged care workers are at the frontline, working with diverse older people with complex needs; yet there is a dearth of training available in this sphere. This paper outlines the development and pilot evaluation of a diversity training workshop for managers and frontline community aged care workers. The aim of the workshop was to empower the workforce to support increased participation of older people with diverse needs in their own care, to ultimately lead to their improved health and well-being.

Workshop development was underpinned by sound education principles, a competency framework and research evidence. First iteration of the workshop underwent pilot testing with three groups, two in metropolitan Melbourne (n = 31) and one in regional Victoria (n = 10), Australia. Feedback was gathered via an independent observer (field notes), pre- and post-workshop surveys, and phone interviews with participants 3-month post-workshop. Pilot data and feedback informed changes to workshop content (type of knowledge, application of knowledge and skills), workshop structure and androgogical (adult learning) approach.

An evidence-informed diversity training workshop was developed through an iterative process, with the aim of enhancing knowledge, skills and attitudes of community aged care workers. This approach has developed a workshop that aims to better meet the needs of an aged care workforce, so that they may better support older people with diverse needs to increase engagement and participation in their care, optimizing their health and well-being.     

Editorial

Ohne Zusammenfassung

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Editorial

     

Promoting Inclusion Via Cross‐Group Friendship: The Mediating Role of Change in Trust and Sympathy

To understand the conditions fostering positive outcomes of inclusive schooling, this two‐wave study examined the role of individual change in trust and sympathy for adolescents' cross‐group friendships and inclusive attitudes toward students with low academic achievement. Cross‐group friendships, intergroup trust, intergroup sympathy, and inclusive attitudes were obtained from surveys completed by 1,122 Swiss adolescents (M_{age T1} = 11.54 years, M_{age T2} = 12.58 years) from 61 school classes. Results from a parallel latent change score model revealed that the number of cross‐group friendships positively related to individual change in trust and sympathy; this growing trust and sympathy in turn predicted adolescents' inclusive attitudes. These findings are discussed regarding theories of intergroup contact and inclusive schooling.     

Teachers’ professional learning to affirm transgender,non-binary,and gender-creative youth: experiences and recommendations from the field

Abstract

This paper critically examines the professional learning needs called for by educators working to support transgender, non-binary, and gender-creative (trans) youth and makes recommendations for practice. Interviews were conducted with 26 educators (preschool to secondary) who have worked directly with trans students (any child whose behaviour does not match stereotypes for their sex category assigned at birth, or who identifies with a gender different from their sex category assigned at birth). We examine two new concepts related to professional learning and educator preparation that emerged from theorising the data and related literature: pedagogies of exposure and culture of conversation. The limits and possibilities offered by these approaches are critically examined through the research base on teacher learning. Recommendations are made for teacher preparation, professional development and related practices to better create and sustain learning environments that affirm gender diversity.