Nothing to Fear? An Analysis of College Students' Fear Experiences With Video Games

This study presents the results of a survey of 269 undergraduate students conducted to examine fright experiences caused by video games. Over half of the participants reported game-induced fear. Sex, sensation-seeking, and empathy all emerged as important individual differences in terms of enjoyment of frightening content, consumption of frightening content, and frequency of fright experience. Interactivity and presentations of realism also predicted fear. This work identifies titles, stimuli, and features that caused fright experience.     

Differential effects of reading trainings on reading processes: a comparison in Grade 2

Phonics, fluency, and reading strategy trainings are evidence-based interventions that foster the reading skills of poor readers in primary school. The purpose of the present study was to compare differential effects of the three types of trainings on the efficiency of component processes on word, sentence, and text level immediately after the training and at a 3-month follow-up. The 235 poor readers were randomly allocated to one of the reading interventions or to a control condition. All interventions consisted of 25 sessions that were scheduled twice a week and lasted 45 min. Results indicated short-term effects of the phonics training and the strategy training on the efficiency of a broad range of word-level and sentence-level processes. None of the treatment effects persisted over the long term, indicating the need for instructional efforts to regularly practice the acquired skills after the actual training.     

Teacher stance in creative learning: A study of progression

This paper reports focused findings from a qualitative scoping study undertaken in four sites in England focusing on progression in creative learning (PICL) (February 2005–January 2006), funded by Creative Partnerships, a national development programme. The study sought to explore how progression in creative learning can be described in two curriculum areas. The paper introduces the analytic framework which emerged from the study, and summarises some of the key findings, with a particular focus on teacher stance, taking this slice of analysis further than is done in the original research report and discussing in particular teachers’ attitudes toward creative learning and toward teaching for creative learning.     

Montana's Indian Education for All: Applying Multicultural Education Theory

Montana's constitutional commitment to the cultural heritages of American Indians exemplifies the practical application of multicultural education. In this article, the authors explore the goals and evolution of Indian Education for All within a multicultural education framework, and discuss how educators are best prepared to implement this transformative educational policy.     

Tennessee Promise: A Response to Organizational Change

Community colleges in Tennessee, either directly or indirectly, experienced unprecedented change as a result of Tennessee Promise. The present study explored how student support service administrators at three community colleges responded to organizational change as a result of the Tennessee Promise legislation. Investigators selected community colleges for the multi-site case study because the legislative impact would be actualized by the preparations made to serve incoming Promise recipients. The delivery of orientation services framed organizational change because the service staff facilitate connections and provide information to incoming students. Challenges like a shifting population, ill-equipped infrastructure, inadequate remediation support, heightened interest for social engagement opportunities, misinformation, and unmet fiscal needs left administrators seeking coherence through the change process. Investigators found community college administrators react to change similarly. Administrators acknowledged change as continuous, created a culture of innovation among stakeholders, and were not afraid to fail as responses to the organizational change phenomenon.     

Conceptions of teaching and educational knowledge requirements

Abstract

This paper scrutinises the educational knowledge requirements of craft, technical, and reflective professional conceptions of teaching, as recently outlined by Winch, Oancea, and Orchard. Drawing on Bernsteinian sociology of knowledge we identify the different requirements each conception makes of educational knowledge, and how it is envisaged that this knowledge will be used in educational practice. While craft conceptions dismiss the value of educational knowledge per se, they nevertheless value other forms of disciplined knowledge. Arguing that technical conceptions of teaching may be either narrowly instrumental or autonomous, we suggest that an advanced technical knowledge base requires a disciplinary aspect, while knowledge for purely instrumental purposes offers a reductive view of educational practice. Moreover, the varying notions of reflection suggested by reflective professional conceptions require certain forms of engagement with educational knowledge, which are challenged by contemporary reforms in teacher education globally. It is suggested that there are often interdependencies between forms of educational knowledge and conceptions of teaching, with potential implications for the trajectories of educational reforms. The argument is briefly illustrated with reference to the national contexts of Germany, England, and Finland.     

Teaching Prospect Theory with the Deal or No Deal Game Show

Recent evidence indicates that decision makers are more sensitive to potential losses than gains. Loss aversion psychology has led behavioural economists to look beyond expected utility by developing prospect theory. We demonstrate this theory using the Deal or No Deal game show.     

If I experience formative assessment whilst studying at university,will I put it into practice later as a teacher? Formative and shared assessment in Initial Teacher Education (ITE)

The aim of this article is to analyse whether having experience of formative assessment during their initial teacher education courses (ITE) influences graduates’ subsequent practice as teachers. That is, if the assessment methods that university students are subject to during their learning process are then actually employed by them during their professional practice as schoolteachers. To address this issue, questionnaires were issued and focus groups were held with a sample of ITE graduates. The main results of the study are that: (1) formative and shared assessment (FSA) is not used a great deal during ITE, but is highly valued; (2) some graduates have implemented FSA in their practice as teachers, following their experience on their ITE course; and (3) significant variables are found regarding the implementation of FSA in schools (possible resistance from colleagues and/or pupils’ parents, etc.).