Transformative Learning Through an Online Global Class Project in Teacher Education

This exploratory research study aimed to understand teacher candidates' experiences and perspectives in a global class project and to explore a way to develop global understanding in a teacher education program, by means of technology rather than study abroad. Using a qualitative approach, seven U.S. education majors were given opportunities to communicate online with teacher candidates in South Korea, while creating and discussing a concept map and movie presentation about “good teaching” on the Learning Management System. Results showed how the preservice teachers' global perspectives of education were developed through the project, and confirmed the significance of instrumental and communicative learning in transformative learning as well as direct communication and comparison with people from a different context using a carefully designed task-based course and immersive learning environment.     

Using Student Video Cases to Assess Pre-service Elementary Teachers’ Engineering Teaching Responsiveness

Our study addresses the need for new approaches to prepare novice elementary teachers to teach both science and engineering, and for new tools to measure how well those approaches are working. This in particular would inform the teacher educators of the extent to which novice teachers are developing expertise in facilitating their students’ engineering design work. One important dimension to measure is novice teachers’ abilities to notice the substance of student thinking and to respond in productive ways. This teacher noticing is particularly important in science and engineering education, where students’ initial, idiosyncratic ideas and practices influence the likelihood that particular instructional strategies will help them learn. This paper describes evidence of validity and reliability for the Video Case Diagnosis (VCD) task, a new instrument for measuring pre-service elementary teachers’ engineering teaching responsiveness. To complete the VCD, participants view a 6-min video episode of children solving an engineering design problem, describe in writing what they notice about the students’ science ideas and engineering practices, and propose how a teacher could productively respond to the students. The rubric for scoring VCD responses allowed two independent scorers to achieve inter-rater reliability. Content analysis of the video episode, systematic review of literature on science and engineering practices, and solicitation of external expert educator responses establish content validity for VCD. Field test results with three different participant groups who have different levels of engineering education experience offer evidence of construct validity.     

Beatrix Potter: A Hundred Years in Translation

This year, 2016, marks the 150th anniversary of the birth of Beatrix Potter (1866–1943), the much-loved author and illustrator of children’s books. Although translation has made a vital contribution to her international success, Potter’s work remains relatively under-researched from a translation studies perspective. This article aims to provide a clearer picture of Potter’s work in translation over the last hundred years. It identifies early translated editions and discusses Potter’s involvement in their preparation, before examining the appearance of her stories in translation around the world and outlining particular trends in Potter translation. This study is based on extensive research using numerous databases, Potter’s published biographies and correspondence, and on an analysis of the first French editions of her tales. The study reveals that the first published translations of Potter’s works are both of an earlier date and more numerous than is recognised in existing scholarship. It also shows that Potter’s preferred approach in the translation of her stories into French was to adapt the tales to their new French readership, rather than staying close to the originals. Her works are found to have been extensively translated during the last century, especially into European languages, as well as into a significant number of Asian languages. Other matters discussed include the involvement of Potter’s official publisher, Warne, in the publication of international editions; the existence of translations based on American editions with new illustrations; and the posting of online translations by Potter enthusiasts.     

Associations of Parenting Styles and Dimensions with Academic Achievement in Children and Adolescents: A Meta-analysis

Parents and researchers alike are interested in how to promote children’s academic competence. The present meta-analysis integrates the results of 308 empirical studies on associations of general parenting dimensions and styles with academic achievement of children and adolescents assessed via grade point average or academic achievement tests. Parental responsiveness (warmth), behavioral control, autonomy granting, and an authoritative parenting style were associated with better academic performance both concurrently and in longitudinal studies, although these associations were small in a statistical sense. Parental harsh control, and psychological control, as well as neglectful, authoritarian, and permissive parenting styles were related to lower achievement with small to very small effect sizes. With three exceptions, parenting dimensions and styles also predicted change in academic achievement over time. Moderating effects of child age, ethnicity, reporter on parenting and academic achievement, quality of the parenting and achievement measure, and publication status were identified. It is concluded that associations of academic achievement with general parenting dimensions/styles tend to be smaller than associations of school-specific parental involvement which have been addressed in previous meta-analyses.     

Transient response of piles-bridge under horizontal excitation

Moving ships and other objects drifting on water often impact a bridge's pile foundation. The mechanical model of the piles-bridge structure under horizontal forcing was established, and a time-domain approach based on Finite-difference Method was developed for analyzing the dynamic response of the piles-bridge structure. For a single pile, good agreement between two computed results validated the present approach. The slenderness ratio of the pile, the pile-soil stiffness ratio and the type of the structure influence the dynamic response of the piles-bridge structure. The computed results showed that the stiffness of the structure determines the dynamic response of the piles-bridge structure under horizontal forcing. Project (No. 001110442) supported by the Science and Technology Bureau of Zhejiang Province, China.     

The use of virtual reality simulation to improve technical skill in the undergraduate medical imaging student

In recent years, simulation has increasingly underpinned the acquisition of pre-clinical skills by undergraduate medical imaging (diagnostic radiography) students. This project aimed to evaluate the impact of an innovative virtual reality (VR) learning environment on the development of technical proficiency by students. The study assessed the technical skills of first year medical imaging students. The learning experience by each student was either via traditional laboratory-based simulation or VR simulation, for two specified anatomical protocols. Following the learning experience, the students performed role-plays and were assessed on their technical proficiency. The type of learning environment, laboratory-based or VR simulation, was recorded for each radiographic procedure, as well as demographic data. Data demonstrated an improved total role-play skill score for those students trained using VR software simulation compared with the total role-play skills score traditional laboratory simulation. Demographic multivariable analysis demonstrated no statistically significant association of age, gender, gaming skills/activity with the outcome. The novel medical imaging VR simulation learning tool facilitated technical skill acquisition, equal to, or slightly better than traditional laboratory training. Ongoing data collection will evaluate the impact this VR software has on the undergraduate medical imaging student.

Abbreviations: QUT: queensland university of technology; VR: virtual reality; SLE: simulated learning environment; PA: posterio-anterior; DP: dorsi-plantar; CP: central point; CR: central ray; SID: source image distance; HWA: health workforce Australia     

Moving beyond enhancing pedagogies with digital technologies: Frames of reference,habits of mind and transformative learning

Abstract

Digital technologies are a part of schooling, however, given the significant focus on using of digital technologies in teaching and learning, there is little evidence of wide scale transformation. It is within this context that this paper reports on a qualitative, explanatory case study of six teachers, with experience in enhancing pedagogies in a well-established ubiquitous technologies environment, consciously seeking to transform their practice to enact personalized digital learning. The findings indicate three interacting factors contributed to the degrees of transformation: teachers’ frames of reference (beliefs and attitudes), habits of mind (prior experience), and modes of transformative learning. This paper highlights how diversification of classroom roles, relationships and actions created challenges for teachers with experience integrating digital technologies in teaching and learning.     

Exploring Understandings and Responses to Science: A Program of Longitudinal Studies

This paper will report on the development of a research program by a group of science educators at Kristianstad University, which has its roots in a longitudinal study I conducted concerning students’ developing understandings of ecological processes. Following the insights generated in this first study concerning the nature of student understandings, and the potential of the longitudinal design, a research group has developed at Kristianstad which has extended this work into related areas. This paper will describe my own work and its development, and link it with three projects that use a longitudinal design, which we have subsequently undertaken and in some cases completed. The emphasis within the paper will be on the findings generated by these studies on student learning and response to science, and the particular features of the longitudinal design that allow such insights to emerge. The paper will explore patterns of change, and continuity, as a way of appreciating the particular contributions of longitudinal studies.     

Pre-service teachers' use of problem-solving in primary science

The use of problem-solving in science instruction implies a change in the teacher's role from dispensing content information to encouraging critical reflective thinking in the student. For problem-solving to become an integral part of the science curriculum, teachers must make it the focus of their instruction. This study investigated the extent to which pre-service primary teachers used the problem-solving approach in their science instruction. It also identified the factors affecting their efforts to teach science using this approach. The issues considered are important in whether problem-solving becomes part of the science curriculum, as teaching behaviour influences student learning outcomes. Specializations: science eeducation Specializations: educational measurement, research methodology.