Fostering a community of practice through a professional development program to improve elementary teachers' views of nature of science and teaching practice

This study explored the development of a community of learners through a professional development program to improve teachers' views of nature of science (NOS) and teaching practice. The Views of Nature of Science questionnaire and interviews were used to assess teachers' conceptions of NOS three times over the course of the study. Notes and videotapes taken during workshops and classroom observations were used to track influence of the community of learners on classroom practice. The community of practice (CoP) was fostered through an intensive summer workshop, monthly school site workshops, and classroom support to aid teachers in incorporating new techniques and reflecting upon their learning and practice. We found that teachers became aware of their changes in views about NOS once they struggled with the concepts in their own teaching and discussed their struggles within the professional development community. The CoP on its own was not sufficient to change teacher's practice or knowledge, but it created a well‐supported environment that facilitated teacher change when paired with NOS modeling and explicit reflection. Cases of three teachers are used to illustrate changes in views and teaching practice common to the teachers in this study. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 46: 1090–1113, 2009     

Effects of Self-Efficacy,Emotional Intelligence,and Perceptions of Future Work Environment on Preservice Teacher Commitment

This study was designed to examine the effects of self-efficacy, expectations of future work environment, and emotional intelligence on preservice teacher commitment to the teaching profession on a sample of 209 preservice teachers. The purpose of the study was to add to the existing knowledge surrounding preservice teacher commitment and promote new ways to approach teacher education. Using correlation and regression analyses, we found that preservice teacher self-efficacy expectations surrounding classroom management, instructional strategies, and student engagement were positively correlated with commitment. Preservice teacher expectations of future work environment influenced their satisfaction with the profession, which was also positively correlated with their commitment to enter the profession. Preservice teachers with greater emotional awareness and pro-motivational thinking also demonstrated higher levels of commitment.     

A pilot study of a family focused,psychosocial intervention with war-exposed youth at risk of attack and abduction in north-eastern Democratic Republic of Congo

Rural communities in the Haut-Uele Province of northern Democratic Republic of Congo live in constant danger of attack and/or abduction by units of the Lord's Resistance Army operating in the region. This pilot study sought to develop and evaluate a community-participative psychosocial intervention involving life skills and relaxation training and Mobile Cinema screenings with this war-affected population living under current threat. 159 war-affected children and young people (aged 7–18) from the villages of Kiliwa and Li-May in north-eastern DR Congo took part in this study. In total, 22% of participants had been abduction previously while 73% had a family member abducted. Symptoms of post-traumatic stress reactions, internalising problems, conduct problems and pro-social behaviour were assessed by blinded interviewers at pre- and post-intervention and at 3-month follow-up. Participants were randomised (with an accompanying caregiver) to 8 sessions of a group-based, community-participative, psychosocial intervention (n = 79) carried out by supervised local, lay facilitators or a wait-list control group (n = 80). Average seminar attendance rates were high: 88% for participants and 84% for caregivers. Drop-out was low: 97% of participants were assessed at post-intervention and 88% at 3 month follow-up. At post-test, participants reported significantly fewer symptoms of post-traumatic stress reactions compared to controls (Cohen's d = 0.40). At 3 month follow up, large improvements in internalising symptoms and moderate improvements in pro-social scores were reported, with caregivers noting a moderate to large decline in conduct problems among the young people.     

Consulting with groups of teachers. Evaluation of a pilot project in Ireland

This article reports on a two year project in which educational psychologists offered consultation to groups of teachers, to help them find solutions to school-based problems. Teachers were drawn from within individual schools and from across a number of schools. Typically, teachers were trained by educational psychologists in group consultation processes. Group consultation sessions were usually offered on a termly basis (three times per year). The group consultation sessions were facilitated by two psychologists. A formal process was followed, using a problem-solving structure. A pilot project ran for two years and was evaluated using quantitative and qualitative methods. Data were collected from teachers, school principals and psychologists. Findings indicate that group consultation is an effective method of service delivery, particularly for clusters of small, rural schools. The evaluation considers aspects of group consultation that could be further developed and new directions for this model of working.     

The level of awareness and understanding of copyright laws and policies among academic librarians in Ghana

Awareness and understanding of copyright laws are critical in the proper administration of copyright in academic libraries. Data from 38 library staff and 4 head librarians was used in a sequential explanatory mixed methods approach to assess the level of awareness and understanding of copyright laws among library staff with regards to balancing user rights with rightsholder rights in academic libraries in Ghana. The data was collected using questionnaires and qualitative interviews. Though awareness of all the copyright laws, which was not influenced by the educational status of staff was high, the level of understanding was lower. Work experience, schedule of work and current position of staff significantly influenced the level of understanding. The generally moderate level of understanding of copyright laws for library staff; particularly for fair use and creative commons licensing, is a worrying development for copyright administration in academic libraries in Ghana.     

Eigentaste: A Constant Time Collaborative Filtering Algorithm

Eigentaste is a collaborative filtering algorithm that uses universal queries to elicit real-valued user ratings on a common set of items and applies principal component analysis (PCA) to the resulting dense subset of the ratings matrix. PCA facilitates dimensionality reduction for offline clustering of users and rapid computation of recommendations. For a database of n users, standard nearest-neighbor techniques require O(n) processing time to compute recommendations, whereas Eigentaste requires O(1) (constant) time. We compare Eigentaste to alternative algorithms using data from Jester, an online joke recommending system.Jester has collected approximately 2,500,000 ratings from 57,000 users. We use the Normalized Mean Absolute Error (NMAE) measure to compare performance of different algorithms. In the Appendix we use Uniform and Normal distribution models to derive analytic estimates of NMAE when predictions are random. On the Jester dataset, Eigentaste computes recommendations two orders of magnitude faster with no loss of accuracy. Jester is online at: http://eigentaste.berkeley.edu     

Reggio Emilia,Maria Montessori,and John Dewey: Dispelling Teachers’ Misconceptions and Understanding Theoretical Foundations

During the past century Loris Malaguzzi (1920–1994), a principal figure in the establishment and creation of the preschools of Reggio Emilia, Italy, was one of the seminal thinkers in early childhood education. The influence of John Dewey, one of the most important American philosophers, is visible in contemporary early childhood classrooms of Reggio Emilia. However, as this editorial contends, in the author’s experience, many pre-service teachers have the misconception that the two programs that originated in Italy—Maria Montessoir and Reggio Emilia—are synonymous. This editorial discusses another connection; namely, the relationship between John Dewey’s philosophy of education and the pedagogy of Reggio Emilia preschools. Pre-service teachers’ understanding of Dewey’s theory and the Reggio Emilia experience makes an important contribution to the development of their personal teaching philosophy and understanding of best practices in the field.     

Characterizing the importance of clarity of roles and responsibilities in government inter-organizational collaboration and information sharing initiatives

Previous research has shown that clarity of roles and responsibilities (CRR) influences the performance of individual organizations as well as inter-organizational efforts. In the context of cross-boundary information sharing (CBIS), CRR has been found to enable other important determinants of success, such as building trust among members, increasing their willingness to participate, and mitigating some of their concerns about security, among others. However, few studies have attempted to understand the determinants of CRR in government CBIS initiatives. Sayogo, Gil-Garcia, and Cronemberger's (2016) analysis of results of a national survey identified three significant determinants of CRR in CBIS, (1) the extent participants use boundary objects, (2) participant skills in terms of collaboration, coordination, and communication, and (3) the diversity of the participating organizations and their goals. Seeking to expand on their findings in terms of new understanding about the influence of significant determinants of CRR in CBIS, this study draws on findings from eight U.S. state and local government public health and criminal justice CBIS cases. This study contributes to existing knowledge about CBIS in the public sector by characterizing the determinants and providing new understanding of the nature of the influence of the determinants of CRR on CBIS. In particular, it shows how the extent of boundary object use, collaboration, and the diversity of participants affect CBIS initiatives in different contexts. In practical terms, creating new understanding of the determinants of CRR has value for public managers and their leadership as they must increasingly collaborate and share information across the boundaries of organizations in the process solving increasingly complex public problems.     

Integrating Community-based Research into a Criminal Justice Capstone Course

There have been a number of themes influencing teaching approaches in undergraduate education in recent years. These include experiential learning and an emphasis on providing research opportunities to students. Couple these themes with the current emphasis in the criminal justice field for researcher–practitioner collaboration and the confluence points toward a community-based research (CBR) approach. This study discusses CBR pedagogy and provides a specific example of its implementation in a criminal justice capstone course. Student outcomes indicate that CBR is a positive way to integrate collaborative, experiential research opportunities for undergraduate students.