'Your View of Nature is Not Mine!': Learning about pluralism in the classroom

This paper describes a multidisciplinary action research project that aimed to develop a theoretical framework and four exemplary teaching modules for elementary and secondary school that promote a pluralistic view on nature. In a 2-year study, researchers from three disciplines (pedagogy, sociology and philosophy) collaborated with curriculum developers and textbook authors. This paper presents the theoretical framework that was developed during the project. The teaching modules are described, and one of the modules is delineated. Finally, the results are discussed.     

Tracking and the effects of school‐related attitudes on the language achievement of boys and girls

In this study we examined whether the underachievement of boys in language at the end of secondary education is related to school‐related attitudes. Data were drawn from the LOSO project, a longitudinal research project in secondary education. The results showed that there were gender differences in language achievement in favour of girls in the lower tracks, but not in the highest track. The underachievement of boys was associated with boys’ less positive relationships with teachers, less positive well‐being at school and less positive attitude towards schoolwork. Furthermore, the results showed that—in the lower tracks—boys who were the least attentive in the classroom, the least interested in learning tasks and the least motivated towards learning tasks achieved better than expected. Post‐hoc analyses revealed that these are the more intelligent boys. Possible explanations of the demotivation of the more intelligent boys in the lower tracks are discussed.     

Literacy Assessment and Student Diversity: An Australian case study

This article describes the reported practices in literacy assessment, recording, and reporting in 12 Australian schools characterised by populations of diverse learners. The findings indicate the problems and challenges teachers face in providing socially just and inclusive literacy assessment in heterogeneous classrooms. We make a number of suggestions related to enhancing assessment, recording, and reporting at the classroom level and argue for systemic support for teachers.     

Changes in self-concept and academic skills during a multimodal summer camp program

The impact of a six-week multimodal summer camp program on the self-concept and reading/writing skills of a group of dyslexic students (n=42) was assessed. Campers ranged in age from 9 to 14 years (mean=11 years, 5 months) and came from public, private, and specialized private schools serving students with learning disability (LD). Twenty-six percent of the sample had a comorbid diagnoses of attention deficit disorder (ADD) and 11 percent had attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Campers improved significantly in phonetic reading and spelling skills, but not in sight word vocabulary or reading speed. Campers also exhibited significant improvements in self-concept, both on a general level and in the specific areas of reading and overall academic competence. The kinds of changes observed on the more general measures of self-concept, however, were not the same for the various groups of campers. Campers from regular private schools and from public schools typically experienced greater gains in general self-concept than did campers from LD private schools. Campers with diagnosed comorbid disorders typically realized little or no gains, whereas campers without ADD or ADHD displayed significant improvement in general self-concept.     

What they say is what they do? Comparing task-specific self-reports,think-aloud protocols,and study traces for measuring secondary school students’ text-learning strategies

European Journal of Psychology of Education - This study investigates the correlation between three data gathering methods for uncovering differences in secondary school students’...     

Diversity at Work: Do Men and Women Differ in their Organizational Citizenship Behavior?

ABSTRACT : In this paper, we use social role theory to develop hypotheses predicting differences in the organizational citizenship behavior of males and females at work. Results, based on questionnaire responses of 257 restaurant workers and their supervisors, demonstrate that females in our service-worker sample engaged in more altruism, loyalty, and obedience than males, but that males and females did not differ in their advocacy participation. Results also demonstrate that organizational tenure moderated the relationship between sex and two forms of citizenship behavior: altruism and advocacy participation. We discuss the implications of our findings and conclude with suggestions for future research.