Middle School Engagement with Mathematics Software and Later Interest and Self-Efficacy for STEM Careers

Research suggests that trajectories toward careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) emerge early and are influenced by multiple factors. This paper presents a longitudinal study, which uses data from 76 high school students to explore how a student’s vocational self-efficacy and interest are related to his or her middle school behavioral and affective engagement. Measures of vocational self-efficacy and interest are drawn from STEM-related scales in CAPAExplore, while measures of middle school performance and engagement in mathematics are drawn from several previously validated automated indicators extracted from logs of student interaction with ASSISTments, an online learning platform. Results indicate that vocational self-efficacy correlates negatively with confusion, but positively with engaged concentration and carelessness. Interest, which also correlates negatively with confusion, correlates positively with correctness and carelessness. Other disengaged behaviors, such as gaming the system, were not correlated with vocational self-efficacy or interest, despite previous studies indicating that they are associated with future college attendance. We discuss implications for these findings, which have the potential to assist educators or counselors in developing strategies to sustain students’ interest in STEM-related careers.

     

In defence of speech codes

It has been strongly maintained that speech codes at universities interfere with academic freedom, and also, to the contrary, that such speech codes must be developed to restrain appeals to academic freedom that function to restrain the freedom of marginalized groups to participate fully in the university. This essay argues that forms of speech can in fact constrain the freedom, including legitimate academic freedom, of many persons, not only, but importantly including, marginalized groups; that speech codes have always existed; and that reasonable ones can be developed which do not interfere with freedom of teaching, learning, and research in the university; and in particular that definitions of academic freedom such as that developed by the Canadian Association of University Teachers (CAUT) are compatible with such speech codes.     

Reviewing a European Union Initiative on Environmental Education within Programmes of Pre‐service Teacher Education

The need for coherent programmes of environmental education in all aspects and in all phases of education systems has been strongly and persuasively argued within the European Union (EU) and beyond. However, nowhere yet across the EU has environmental education been introduced in a consistent or coherent fashion into pre‐ or in‐service teacher education programmes. Although a range of factors are at work here, the lack of a commonly understood and agreed pedagogical‐didactical basis to this aspect of the curriculum and the lack of teaching/resource materials may be seen as a major contributory factor to this lack of consistency and coherence. As a consequence, opportunities for broad pan‐European developments in this essential area are constrained. This paper discusses development work carried out under the auspices of the Association of Teacher Education in Europe (ATEE) with the assistance of funding from the European Commission's Directorate General XI and from individual institutions. The five papers which follow are written by members of the project and provide examples in greater detail of work carried out in five member states. Fuller detail of the work of the Environmental Education into Initial Teacher Education in Europe project in all eleven countries has been reported to the Directorate General XI and a number of aspects have already been published (see Brinkman & Scott, 1994).     

Effects of problem solving after worked example study on secondary school children’s monitoring accuracy

Monitoring accuracy, measured by judgements of learning (JOLs), has generally been found to be low to moderate, with students often displaying overconfidence, and JOLs of problem solving are no exception. Recently, primary school children’s overconfidence was shown to diminish when they practised problem solving after studying worked examples. The current study aimed to extend this research by investigating whether practising problem solving after worked example study would also improve JOL accuracy in secondary education. Adolescents of 14–15 years old (N = 143) were randomly assigned to one of five conditions that differed in timing of JOLs, whether practice problems were provided, and timing of the practice problems provided: (1) worked examples – JOL, (2) worked examples – delay – JOL, (3) worked examples – practice problems – JOL, (4) worked examples – practice problems – delay – JOL or (5) worked examples – delay – practice problems – JOLs. Results showed that practice problems improved absolute accuracy of JOLs as well as regulation accuracy. No differences in final test performance were found.     

Promoting versatility in mentor teachers’ use of supervisory skills

Mentor teachers need a versatile supervisory skills repertoire. Besides taking the prevalent role of daily advisor and instructor, mentor teachers should also be able to stimulate reflection in student teachers. Video recordings of 60 mentoring dialogues were analysed, both before and after a mentor teacher training aimed at developing the encourager role. Mentor teachers’ repertoires of supervisory skills were found to consist of an average of seven supervisory skills. After training, a shift was observed in the frequencies and duration with which supervisory skills were used. Although considerable inter-individual variability existed between mentor teachers, training positively affected the use of supervisory skills for stimulating reflection in student teachers.     

An investigation of 3rd‐grade Taiwanese students’ performance in number sense

The main purpose of this study was to investigate the number sense performance of 3rd‐graders in Taiwan, and to diagnose areas of weakness or deficiency in number sense development. A total of 808 3rd‐graders participated in this study. The results indicated that these students did not perform well on each of the five number sense components (correct rates approx. 34%), and they appeared worst on the performance of “Judging the reasonableness of computational results”. Boys and girls did not show any appreciable difference in their ability to solve number sense problems. The importance of number sense should be highlighted both by teachers and in textbooks and more time and opportunity provided for students to work on this type of exercise at lower grade levels. This would require that “drill and practice” exercises in mathematics should not indeed be over‐ taught, and the teaching of number sense to children should begin as early as possible.     

Uncovering Hidden Histories: Evaluating Preservice Teachers’ (PST) Understanding of Local Indigenous Perspectives in History Via Digital Storytelling at Australia’s Sovereign Hill

Non-Indigenous-led organizations and education programs have long been criticized for sanitized teachings of Aboriginal perspectives in history, while scholarship touts the transformative benefits offered up via decolonial and immersive pedagogical approaches. In this case study, we explore the impact of a cross-cultural venture, titled Hidden Histories: The Wadawurrung People, between a living history museum, the local Aboriginal community, and a regional university on teacher preparedness to incorporate Aboriginal perspectives in history curricula. Through a cultural interface lens, we examine the ontological and epistemological developments of 112 preservice teachers postinteraction with an intercultural digital-kinaesthetic education tool. Our findings suggest that PSTs enjoy engaging with the tool, yet while on site, they prefer to immerse themselves in the museum environment. Our findings indicate also, however, that the tool is an accessible cross-cultural predatory tool that encourages a lifelong commitment to integrating Aboriginal perspectives in history curricula.