The impact of bargaining and bargaining statutes on the earnings of public school teachers: A comparison in California and Missouri

Among labor economists there is a long-standing interest in the effects of collective bargaining in the public sector. Among industrial relations experts interest exists in the impact that differences in the legal status of public bargaining have on the outcomes of the bargaining process. It is the purpose of this article to shed some light on both questions by estimating the impact of collective bargaining on the earnings of public school teachers in the state of Missouri and then comparing the results with those obtained in the previous study for the state of California. The results reveal the same basic patterns and magnitudes of bargaining effects in the two states despite the differences in the legal status of bargaining.     

High and low implementers of content literacy instruction: Portraits of teacher efficacy

This study used a teacher efficacy framework to describe the perceptions of high and low implementers of content literacy instruction in the context of a year-long professional development program. Interviews from middle and high school content teachers illustrated efficacy differences between teachers who demonstrated high and low levels of content literacy implementation. High implementers exhibited higher levels of general, personal, and collective efficacy, whereas low implementers exhibited lower levels of efficacy for literacy teaching. Although both high and low implementers perceived content literacy positively, high implementers were characterized by persistence in overcoming barriers associated with content literacy implementation.     

Trainee Primary Teachers’ Ideas about the Ozone Layer

The ideas of trainee primary teachers about the ozone layer have been examined. Students were well informed about the nature and location of the ozone layer and appreciated that it screens the Earth from ultraviolet (UV) rays, although some thought that it protects the Earth from acid rain. Most identified real causes of ozone layer depletion, but many thought that radioactivity and factory and vehicle emissions cause ozone layer degradation. Almost all realised that ozone depletion might cause more skin cancers; fewer recognised other potential biological problems. Many confused ozone layer depletion with global warming. The proportions holding these ideas were similar to those of older secondary school children, suggesting that misconceptions persist to the adult population. Since these ideas were found in final year trainee teachers, there is a danger that erroneous ideas or the attitudes based on them might be perpetuated in a formal learning context.     

Using Group Viewing of Television to Teach Preschool Children Social Skills

This quasi‐experimental field study assessed whether group viewing of television in a day‐care setting can be used to encourage prosocial behavior in young children. Drawing from social learning theory and cognitive‐developmental stage theory, four short‐ term programs were designed and tested. Children (aged 3‐5 years) from eight day‐care centers in Montreal (n = 150) were part of the study. Intact groups (two settings randomly assigned to condition) participated in 8 days of intervention consisting of group viewing of video‐taped segments of Sesame Street, followed by participation in activities. The programs were evaluated using a 2 X 2 X 2 factorial pretest—post‐test design with video‐type (prosocial, cognitive), activity‐type (cooperative, individualistic), and gender as the three factors. Measures included free‐play observations, a perspective‐taking ability test, and two qualitative measures describing the context. Analysis of covariance (pretest and age combined as covariates) revealed a significant main effect for video‐type on prosocial behavior, and a significant interaction between video‐type and activity‐type on antisocial behavior. Results suggest that prosocial modelling using television can encourage prosocial behavior in the day‐care setting. A group‐viewing context, with or without post‐viewing enactive prosocial training, may enhance prosocial modeling effects.     

Increasing the Use of Student-Centered Pedagogies from Moderate to High Improves Student Learning and Attitudes about Biology

Student-centered strategies are being incorporated into undergraduate classrooms in response to a call for reform. We tested whether teaching in an extensively student-centered manner (many active-learning pedagogies, consistent formative assessment, cooperative groups; the Extensive section) was more effective than teaching in a moderately student-centered manner (fewer active-learning pedagogies, less formative assessment, without groups; the Moderate section) in a large-enrollment course. One instructor taught both sections of Biology 101 during the same quarter, covering the same material. Students in the Extensive section had significantly higher mean scores on course exams. They also scored significantly higher on a content postassessment when accounting for preassessment score and student demographics. Item response theory analysis supported these results. Students in the Extensive section had greater changes in postinstruction abilities compared with students in the Moderate section. Finally, students in the Extensive section exhibited a statistically greater expert shift in their views about biology and learning biology. We suggest our results are explained by the greater number of active-learning pedagogies experienced by students in cooperative groups, the consistent use of formative assessment, and the frequent use of explicit metacognition in the Extensive section.     

Developing a Topic-Centered First-Year Seminar with an Emphasis on Information Literacy at a Large Regional University

In this article, the authors describe the process through which faculty and staff members at Georgia Southern University (GSU) have collaborated to revamp our First-Year Seminar. In 2006, a university task force reviewed results of GSU self-study data as well as best practices at other institutions to make recommendations for improvements to the first-year experience for our students. The task force made several recommendations that included significantly modifying our First-Year Seminar to include a focus on information literacy and to set a more academic tone. A set of online tutorials was developed to support the learning outcomes related to information literacy within the new seminar. The benefits and challenges of implementing this new seminar are discussed.     

Learning to be human in a digital world: a model of values fluency education for physical education

ABSTRACT

It is argued that negotiation and performance of identity in contemporary society is linked with the value-laden spaces in which individuals spend time. Concepts of space, place and identity have become important when looking to understand elements of social practice, in light of the recognition that life is becoming progressively more mobile, varied and challenging. This has resulted in a shift in how subsequent generations experience space and place within digitally-mediated social landscapes. It is asserted that young people in contemporary society can be seen to occupy a hybrid virtual-real world (Jordan, B. (2009). Blurring boundaries: The ‘real’ and the ‘virtual’ in hybrid spaces. Human Organisation, 68.) where they experience the multiplication of place or duplication of space (Papacharissi, Z. (2011). A Networked Self: Identity Community and Culture on Social Network Sites. New York: Routledge). Such complex social geographies, we contend, have important implications for young people’s negotiation and performance of identity, the acquisition of socio-technical capital (Resnick, (2002). Beyond b?owling t?ogether: SocioTechnical c?apital. In J. M. Carroll (Ed.), Human-c?omputer i?nteraction in the n?ew m?illennium (pp. 647–?672). Upper Saddle River, NJ: ACM Press.) and, ultimately, digital well-being. In a time when there is a focus on developing global and connected citizens (Greene, M. (1995). Releasing the Imagination: Essay on education, the arts and social change. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.) we argue that pupils need to be both digitally fluent and values fluent as they negotiate spaces of reality and virtual reality. Both constructs require the learner to engage critically with information and misinformation as presented on ever-changing digital interfaces (Kahne, J., & Bowyer, B. (2017). Educating for Democracy in a Partisan Age: Confronting the Challenges of Motivated Reasoning and Misinformation. American Educational Research Journal, 54, 3–34.) and to make value choices. Given that physical education (PE) has been identified as a significant place for meaning-making (Spracklen, K. (2015). Digital Leisure, the Internet and Popular Culture: Communities and Identities in a Digital Age. London: Palgrave Macmillan.) and a core site for values-based education (Mccuaig, L., Marino, M., Gobbi, E., & Macdonald, D. (2015). Taught not Caught: Values based Education through physical education and School Sport: Literature Review. AIESEP Partners for WADA, ICSSPE, IOC, Fairplay & UNESCO.) it is identified as a key context in which to examine some of the challenges posed for students and educators with regard to values-based practices in digitally-mediated spaces. Within this conceptual paper, we propose a praxis model of values fluency to help PE teachers to support young people to recognise and successfully navigate hybrid spaces, to critically engage with sociotechnical capital and become adept at transferring and translating values across and between social contexts.