Tools for pedagogical inquiry: the impact of teaching thinking skills on teachers

This paper explores the idea of thinking skills approaches as tools for pedagogical inquiry and in so doing seeks to develop the link between the promotion of inquiry‐based learning, which is a central tenet of thinking skills, and inquiry‐based teaching as an approach to professional development and school improvement. The first part of the paper examines the impact of teaching thinking skills on teachers by drawing upon a systematic review of research evidence. The second part of the paper sets the characteristics identified in the context of research into teachers’ development and considers the contribution of a pedagogy based on thinking skills approaches to continuing professional development.     

Photovoice as a research method for higher education research

ABSTRACT

Higher education (HE) research often draws on a range of qualitative research approaches. However, some methods developed in other fields are underutilised in HE research, even though they could be of great use for answering particular kinds of research questions, or for involving students more actively in the research process. In this article, we draw on a study that piloted different methodological approaches to explore students’ conceptions of good teaching and effective learning at university. The participants in our study included 33 high achieving international, Māori, Pacific Island, and (other) local students enrolled in Humanities subjects. Our study used photovoice as a visual data collection approach in conjunction with more traditional methods of data collection: open-ended focus group questions and critical incident technique. In this article, we review the photovoice literature, which is mostly from outside HE. Then, we describe our study, discussing the students’ responses to photovoice, and the different kinds of data it elicited. We note that, while most students expressed appreciation of the photovoice approach, some also found it restrictive and challenging in some respects. We conclude, photovoice offers a useful methodological addition to HE research, while noting, as with all data collection approaches, researchers need to be mindful of its limitations.     

“If the Library Genie Granted You Three Wishes,What Would They Be?”: Results and Lessons Learned From an Annual User Feedback Campaign

The Health Sciences Library at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus implemented a user feedback campaign that successfully provided input about user needs. The library created an engaging marketing theme and employed a simple form to successfully solicit feedback from users. The program has been easy to replicate in subsequent years, and other health sciences libraries have been able to recreate the process at their institutions.     

Changing from a special school to an inclusion service

Members of the Somerset Inclusion Project and Gary Thomas (professor and reader in education at the University of the West of England, Bristol) discuss the need for schools to become more inclusive in response to the Government's recent Green Paper (DfEE, 1997), which emphasises that special schools need to work in different ways and to provide services to local mainstream schools. The notion that inclusion is right and segregation is wrong led the staff to convert the Princess Margaret School (PMS) in Taunton, Somerset to an inclusion service.     

A typology of undergraduate students' conceptions of size and scale: Identifying and characterizing conceptual variation

The importance of “size and scale” in nanoscience and engineering has been recognized by both scientists and science educators. A solid understanding of this concept is key to the learning of nanoscience. Students, however, have been reported to have considerable difficulty grasping this concept; yet little is known regarding their state of understanding. To address this knowledge gap, we conducted a series of studies that were aimed at exploring the different ways students conceive of “size and scale” in the context of undergraduate nanoscience and engineering courses. Informed by Variation Theory of Learning (Marton and Booth, 1997), we identified four major categories (with two sub‐categories within each) of student conception—fragmented, linear, proportional, and logarithmic. These conception categories, together with the aspects of variation that characterize and distinguish them, are summarized in a typology. In addition to serving as a diagnostic tool to describe students' understanding, this typology can also be used to guide the development of instructional interventions that facilitate students to move toward a more sophisticated understanding of “size and scale.” © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc., Inc. J Res Sci Teach 48: 512–533, 2011     

高职高专院校如何优化计算机网络技术课程的教学

计算机网络技术课程的特点是理论性、实践性较强,技术更新快,而高职院校的培养目标又是为社会培养职业技能型人才,因此,围绕"以就业为导向、以专业服务为宗旨"的主线进行教学,对提高学生的整体应用技能以及将来就业很重要。     

Developing an instrument to characterise peer‐led groups in collaborative learning environments: assessing problem‐solving approach and group interaction

Collaborative learning is being used extensively by educators at all levels. Peer‐led team learning in a version of collaborative learning that has shown consistent success in science, technology, engineering and mathematics disciplines. Using a multi‐phase research study we describe the development of an observation instrument that can be used to assess peer‐led group learning. This paper illustrates the development of a classification system for peer‐led learning groups and an instrument based on this classification system. The instrument evaluates small learning groups on two important aspects of group learning: problem solving approach and group interaction style. We provide evidence of the factor structure of the two dimensions using both exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis. We also provide information about the reliability of the two scales as measured by the Cronbach's alpha coefficient. Data from a large peer‐led learning programme was used to conduct the factor analysis. Results from the factor analysis confirmed that the instrument is actually measuring two key characteristics of small learning groups: problem solving approach and group interaction style, characteristics that have been linked to effective functioning of the group and to the student learning outcomes. This instrument may be particularly appealing to practitioners (faculty members, those running small‐group learning programmes, etc.) because it is easy to use and it does not require extensive time for analysis.