Tradutore,traditore: Can the aect code of ethics “speak” across cultures?

Conclusion Although many questions remain unanswered, these early translations of the AECT Code of Ethics will be available at the AECT Web site to ensure that access to the principles is offered in languages other than English. As they become available, more translations will be added to the English, Farsi, French, Mandarin Chinese, Portuguese, and Spanish versions. The translations will be saved as PDF files to retain the unique characters of each language. Additional translators with expertise in both educational technology and the targeted languages will be identified. Exploration of ways to encourage debate regarding the viability of the translations within diverse cultures continues. The ultimate hope is that collaboration among members of the professional ethics committee of AECT, the translators, and interested educators will result in the development of a Code of Ethics that “speaks” across cultures and establishes a meaningful guide to professional conduct around the world. Authors’ Note: This article expands on earlier work published in the (2002) Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Association for Educational Communications and Technology, edited by M, Simonson.     

What’s the Technology For? Teacher Attention and Pedagogical Goals in a Modeling-Focused Professional Development Workshop

This paper explores the role that technology can play in engaging pre-service teachers with the iterative, “messy” nature of model-based inquiry. Over the course of 5 weeks, 11 pre-service teachers worked in groups to construct models of diffusion using a computational animation and simulation toolkit, and designed lesson plans for the toolkit. Content analyses of group discussions and lesson plans document attention to content, representation, revision, and evaluation as interwoven aspects of modeling over the course of the workshop. When animating, only content and representation were heavily represented in group discussions. When simulating, all four aspects were represented to different extents across groups. Those differences corresponded with different planned uses for the technology during lessons: to teach modeling, to engage learners with one another’s ideas, or to reveal student ideas. We identify specific ways in which technology served an important role in eliciting teachers’ knowledge and goals related to scientific modeling in the classroom.     

Students' Misbehaviours in Turkish and English Primary Classrooms

This paper deals with the comparison of students' misbehaviours in Turkish and English primary classrooms. A field study was conducted in order to discern students' misbehaviours based on students' age, gender, time of day, seating arrangement, types of learning activities and subject matter. Semi-structured in-depth interview and systematic classroom observation were used to collect data from two different cultural contexts. Participants in this study were 20 primary school teachers. The results show that there are differences and similarities between Turkish and English primary classrooms in terms of the causes and types of students' misbehaviours. Certain misbehaviours that are caused by different cultural and educational contexts are frequently observed either in English or in Turkish classrooms.     

Teacher Perceptions of South Asians in Birmingham Schools and Colleges

The views of a range of teachers towards South Asians in schools and colleges in Birmingham are explored in this paper. Based on 23 teachers, often senior in nature, from 11 educational institutions (9 schools [1 independent, 2 selective, 6 comprehensive] and 2 further education colleges), analysis of attitudes is in relation to gender and religion; socialisation and language differences between South Asian groups; and teacher ethnicity and antiracist multicultural education policy. It was broadly found that teachers viewed the education of South Asians based on the modus operandi of the educational institution they represented as well as the way in which differing South Asians based on socio-economic status, ethnicity and gender were thought to act and behave. There are implications for how South Asians are perceived as individuals as well as groups by teachers, as well as how schools can make a real attempt to improve existing home-school relations.     

Diagnosing Competency Mastery in Science: An Application of GDM to TIMSS 2011 Data

Numerous diagnostic studies have been conducted on large-scale assessments to illustrate the students’ mastery profile in the areas of math and reading; however, for science a limited number of investigations are reported. This study investigated Iranian eighth graders’ competency mastery of science and examined the utility of the General Diagnostic Model (GDM) to produce diagnostic information using TIMSS 2011 data. Eight diagnostic attributes were extracted, using documentary analysis of the major large-scale assessment frameworks, including basic science knowledge, using models, reasoning, using science, representing data, explaining of phenomena, predicting, and scientific inquiry. These attributes were then assigned to each item in order to construct the Q matrix, through focus group discussions, survey of head science teachers, think-aloud verbal protocol, and analysis of written answers. Results show the utility of GDM to generate rich diagnostic information for a national large-scale assessment. Moreover, the findings indicated that students performed relatively well in using science, but performed weakly in reasoning, explaining of phenomena, and scientific inquiry, which all required complex skills and higher-order thinking abilities.     

How do students’ accounts of sociology change over the course of their undergraduate degrees?

In this article we examine how students’ accounts of the discipline of sociology change over the course of their undergraduate degrees. Based on a phenomenographic analysis of 86 interviews with 32 sociology and criminology students over the course of their undergraduate degrees, we constituted five different ways of accounting for sociology. These ranged from describing sociology as a form of personal development focused on developing the students’ opinion to describing sociology as a partial way of studying the relations between people and society. The majority of students expressed more inclusive accounts of sociology over the course of their degrees. However, some students’ accounts suggested they had become disengaged with sociology. We argue that the differences in the ways that students were disengaged were not captured by our phenomenographic categories. In conclusion, we argue that our analysis illustrates the crucial role that students’ relations to knowledge play in understanding the transformative nature of higher education.     

Normal delivery induced stress alters glutathione peroxidase and TNF-α in elderly primigravidas mononuclear cells

To probe the glutathione peroxidase (GPx) activity coupled to ROS and TNF-α levels in younger versus elderly primigravidas. Monocytes were isolated from blood of young and elderly primigravidas after 12 hrs, 24 hrs and 14 days postpartum. Age-matched healthy female donors served as controls. Thereafter, the above monocytes were subjected to evaluation of GPx activity, levels of pro-inflammatory cytokine TNF-α and reactivity/specificity towards anti-TNF-α antibody. Suppression in GPx activity with simultaneous enhancement of TNF-α levels in monocytes was observed after 12 hrs and 24 hrs of spontaneous labor pain-induced maternal delivery through normal vaginal route. Conversely, an enhancement of GPx activity and decrease in TNF-α levels were observed on day 14 of postpartum, thereby indicating reversal of the impaired neutralizing mechanisms. The antioxidant network combating ROS was stronger in younger primigravidas. Capability of TNF-α and ROS suppression was somewhat lesser in elderly primigravidas even 14 days of postpartum via normal vaginal route. The capability of GPx activity enhancement with simultaneous suppression in ROS and TNF-α, decreases in elderly primigravidas. This may act as one of the important parameters leading to a variety of complications encountered by elderly primigravidas.