Exploring the Development of Student Teachers’ PCK of the Multiple Meanings of Chemistry Topics

In chemical education, many secondary school students experience difficulties in understanding three mutual related meanings of topics, that is, the macroscopic meaning, the microscopic meaning, and the symbolic meaning. As a consequence, student teachers should be prepared carefully to learn how to teach this difficult issue. This article presents a naturalistic case study of the development of eight student teachers pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) of the multiple meanings of chemistry topics. The student teachers (all M.Sc.) participated in a teacher education program of which the initial phase focused on learning from teaching instead of learning of teaching. They were asked individually to choose and teach a chemistry curriculum topic with a focus on the macro-micro-symbolic issue. Research data were obtained by interviewing the student teachers individually before and after the lessons. The outcomes indicated a development of student teachers knowledge of teaching difficulties, for instance, too fast and mainly implicit reasoning between macro- and micro-meaning, and a dominant orientation towards the micro-meaning of topics. A development of knowledge of students difficulties was also indicated, for instance, difficulties in understanding the macro- and micro-meaning of reaction equations. Implications for the follow-up phases of the program are presented.     

Personality characteristics of engineers

The objective of the current study was to investigate the personality characteristics of a group of engineers with a variety of years of experience. It was executed to remedy shortcomings of the literature concerning this issue and to produce suggestions for a postgraduate training programme for engineers. A total of103 engineers were tested with the five-factor personality inventory (FFPI), a ‘big five’ personality test of Dutch origin. The engineers were shown to score lower on the factor agreeableness, and higher on the factors extraversion, conscientiousness, emotional stability, and autonomy than a national comparison group. The older the engineers, the more conscientious and autonomous they were. In addition, engineers with lower degrees were more conscientious than engineers with higher degrees. A practical implication of the findings for the postgraduate training of engineers is that more attention should be paid to the development of interpersonal skills.     

教育敏感性和教师行动中的实践性知识

在日常的课堂生活中,教师每一刻所做的、所说的,甚至什么都不做,都具有教育实践意义。无论教育目标或目的是什么,也不管教学中使用何种方法和手段,它们对教和学都有教育价值,都会产生教育效果。这些都是教师在和学生的交往活动中所体现出来的实践性知识,本文就是探究教师这种实践性知识的本质和意义。教师行动中的实践性知识需要教育敏感性,也可以说需要教育关切和机智,或身体化的、直觉的理解。     

Feedback,a powerful lever in teams: A review

This paper reviews the literature on the effects of feedback provided to teams in higher education or organizational settings. This review (59 empirical articles) showed that most of the feedback applications concerned “knowledge of results” (performance feedback). In contrast, there is a relatively small body of research using feedback conveying information regarding the way individuals or the team performed a task (process feedback). Moreover, no research compared the effectiveness of process versus performance feedback. Concerning feedback effectiveness, half of the studies implementing performance feedback research reported uniformly positive effects while the other half resulted in positive effects on some dependent variables and no effect on others. All the studies using solely process feedback showed mixed positive results: some dependent variables improved while some others did not change. None of the studies reported any negative effects. This review also highlighted 28 key factors supporting feedback interventions effectiveness.     

Students’ Involvement in Authentic Modelling Practices as Contexts in Chemistry Education

In science education students should come to understand the nature and significance of models. A promising strategy to achieve this goal is using authentic modelling practices as contexts for meaningful learning of models and modelling. An authentic practice is defined as professionals working with common motives and purposes, pertaining to a similar type of procedure and applying relevant knowledge on the modelling issue they work on. In this study we evaluate whether the use of authentic practices initiates adequate students’ involvement. This was done by investigating students’ interests, ownership, familiarity and complexity. In addition, we evaluated students’ expressed modelling procedures in response to the modelling issues. We designed learning tasks which were enacted by a focus group of students. Three primary data sources were used to collect data. Firstly, a group discussion was organised in which students’ reflected on both authentic practices. Secondly, students filled in written questionnaires containing items on affective and cognitive aspects. Thirdly, the realised modelling procedures by students were analysed. The results show that students’ involvement was successfully initiated, evidenced by motivated students, willingness to continue and the completeness and quality of the realised modelling procedures. The design of the learning tasks proved to be successful in realising this involvement. The results obtained in this study support the strategy of using authentic modelling practices as contexts for meaningful learning of models and modelling.     

The (in)convenience of care in preschool education: examining staff views on educare

It is generally accepted that Early Childhood Education and Care should adopt a holistic view on education, in which education and care are inseparable concepts. Perspectives of staff members themselves are, however, often absent in these educare debates. We conducted six video-elicited focus groups with various preschool staff members (n = 69) in Flanders (Belgium), which is well known for its split system in which children between two and a half and four years old are confronted with the pivotal transition from an informal or formal caring environment (home or childcare service) to a formal learning environment (preschool). With Maurice Hamington’s theory of embodied and performative care as a theoretical lens for this empirical study, we propose a new direction for pre- and in-service training, in which the use of emotions, embodied exchange and social responsibility has a central place.     

What Makes the Difference in Reading Achievement? Comparisons Between Finland and Shanghai

Finland and Shanghai are strong performers in the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA). The current study explored the similarities and differences in educational effectiveness between these 2 strong performers. To this end, 14 predictors representing student background and school process characteristics were selected from the PISA 2009 database. The results show that the Finnish educational system is more efficient in transforming given inputs, specially student background characteristics, into reading achievement, while the general condition of the school climate in Shanghai, in terms of value and effect size of the predictors, contributes a large part to its comparative strength in reading achievement. Suggestions for improvement at school and system level are given.     

Stimulating pre-service teachers’ content and pedagogical content knowledge on rational numbers

This study explored the perspectives of mathematics teacher educator-researchers (MTE-Rs) on the use of theory in facilitating teacher growth. We adopted the framework of the theory-centered scholarship triangle (Silver & Herbst, 2007) to probe the underlying meanings of perspectives on theory use expressed by MTE-Rs. Qualitative analysis revealed three distinct types of perspectives: a perspective focusing on research, a perspective focusing on practice, and a perspective on the connection between research and practice. For the perspective on the connection between research and practice, two sub-categories were identified: connection with consideration of context and that without consideration of context. Different perspectives that MTE-Rs possess may influence their actions taken in professional development and consequently influence teachers’ learning of theory. Specifically, the cyclic process of decontextualizing and recontextualizing theory between research and practice domains is the key to the development of MTE-Rs’ educative power so that they can better facilitate teachers in learning theory.     

Using Social Stories with Students with Social,Emotional, And Behavioral Disabilities: The Promise and the Perils

Social skills are necessary for success in school as they facilitate peer acceptance and student-teacher relationships and promote academic achievement. One social skills intervention that has received significant attention from researchers and has been endorsed by special education teachers is Social Stories. However, the extant research on this intervention has methodological flaws that limit the conclusions about its effectiveness. Although several literature reviews and meta-analyses of the Social Stories literature have been conducted, the findings have been inconsistent and sometimes contradictory, and the bodies of literature reviewed have been varied. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to (a) review the existing Social Stories literature reviews and meta-analyses, and all of the studies they represent, (b) summarize the existing knowledge on the use of Social Stories for students with disabilities, and (c) propose guidelines for practitioners and for empirical research. Results from 16 literature reviews and meta-analyses representing 55 studies do not support the use of Social Stories to improve students’ social skills and behavior. Future directions are discussed.