Private Nonprofit Organizations for Child Welfare Cases of South Korea and People’s Republic of China

Private organizations and public sector regarding child welfare services have been two main actors in improving the quality of children ’s lives. In this paper, the author examines two cases of childre...     

Learning to Value Mathematics and Reading: Relations to Mastery and Performance-Oriented Instructional Practices

Changes in students' achievement values in mathematics and reading were examined in a sample of children and early adolescents. Hierarchical linear modeling techniques were used to account for both classroom- and student-level effects. At the student level, positive changes in students' achievement values were associated positively with self-concept of ability and the previous year's achievement values in both reading and math. Measures of teachers' mastery- and performance-oriented instructional practices were included in the full HLM model. Students experienced decrements in achievement values, after controlling for other student and classroom-level variables, in classrooms where performance-oriented instructional practices were used. In the full model, self-concept of ability was related positively to increases in achievement values, whereas gender was unrelated to changes in achievement values. Copyright 2001 Academic Press.     

Social scientists' data reuse behaviors: Exploring the roles of attitudinal beliefs,attitudes, norms,and data repositories

Many disciplines within the social sciences have a dynamic culture of sharing and reusing data. Because social science data differ from data in the hard sciences, it is necessary to explicitly examine social science data reuse. This study explores the data reuse behaviors of social scientists in order to better understand both the factors that influence those social scientists' intentions to reuse data and the extent to which those factors influence actual data reuse. Using an integrated theoretical model developed from the theory of planned behavior (TPB) and the technology acceptance model (TAM), this study provides a broad explanation of the relationships among factors influencing social scientists' data reuse. A total of 292 survey responses were analyzed using structural equation modeling. Findings suggest that social scientists' data reuse intentions are directly influenced by the subjective norm of data reuse, attitudes toward data reuse, and perceived effort involved in data reuse. Attitude toward data reuse mediated social scientists' intentions to reuse data, leading to the indirect influence of the perceived usefulness and perceived concern of data reuse, as well as the indirect influence of the subjective norm of data reuse. Finally, the availability of a data repository indirectly influenced social scientists' intentions to reuse data by reducing the perceived effort involved.     

Science-specialist Student-teachers Consider Promoting Technological Design Projects: Contributions of Multi-media Case Methods

In school science, students often experience simplistic representations of knowledge-building practices in science and technology – which, in reality, are complex, unpredictable and theory-limited. While there are a great variety of reasons (many of which are beyond teachers' direct control), this occurs partly because teachers of science generally have not had such realistic experiences. While student-teachers can develop this kind of meta-scientific literacy in university-based science teacher education programmes, this depends on the extent to which activities are legitimised through close associations with authentic school contexts. In this paper, we report effects on science-specialist student-teachers' conceptions about science and technology, and corresponding priorities for school science, after interacting with a case documentary that depicted students collaborating in development and evaluation of pneumatic-controlled robotic arms. Data, including video footage of student-teachers' interactions with cases and audio recordings of interviews with them and their teacher, indicated that many student-teachers developed more naturalistic perspectives on knowledge development in science and technology and corresponding pedagogical priorities. At the same time, most also recommended an apprenticeship for students, gradually moving them from unrealistic (e.g., following a linear model for technological design) to more realistic (e.g., accommodating flexibility in design, while pointing out such limits to creativity as techno-determinism) problem solving contexts.     

Graphs in the COVID-19 news: a mathematics audit of newspapers in Korea

Educational Studies in Mathematics - Visual displays in the news media become critical during escalating events such as the COVID-19 pandemic, as they facilitate the communication of complex...     

The use of educational comics in learning anatomy among multiple student groups

Understanding basic human anatomy can be beneficial for all students, regardless of when, or if, they will later undertake a formal course in the subject. For students who are preparing to undertake a formal anatomy course, educational comics on basic anatomy can serve as a concise and approachable review of the material. For other students, these comics can serve as a helpful and fun introduction to the human body. The objective of the comics in this study was to promote an understanding of fundamental human anatomy through self‐learning among students. Based on the authors' previous teaching experience, these anatomy comics were produced in a simple, direct style. The comics were titled after the two main characters, “Anna” (a girl) and “Tommy” (a boy). These comics were then presented to groups of elementary school students, high school students, premedical students, and medical students to assess the comics' ability to enhance student interest and comprehension of basic anatomy. Quiz scores among high school students and premedical students were significantly higher among participants who read the educational comics, indicating a deeper comprehension of the subject. Among medical students, close reading of the comics was associated with improved course grades. These educational anatomy comics may be helpful tools to enrich a broad spectrum of different students in learning basic human anatomy. Anat Sci Educ 10: 79–86. © 2016 American Association of Anatomists.     

Clothing as a source of fibres within museums

This paper examines the role of visitors’ clothing as a source of fibres and dust in museums. Some idealised experiments determined the mass of fibres and dust emitted from clothing and the range of particle sizes found. In chamber studies it was possible to examine the effect of different humidity and airflow on fibre release. Image analysis was used to determine particle size from sub-micron to giant particles including clothing fibre. Clothing was a significant contributor to fibre and dust generation and at low humidity winter garments composed largely of wool was especially large. High air velocity increased particle shedding from clothing. Clean clothing typically released a third to a tenth the weight of particulate material from dirty clothing. It is possible that the fibres and dust produced indoors from visitors could be reduced by an air-shower at the entrance, but less intrusive procedures such as keeping visitors at a distance from objects may be preferable.     

Mapping physical education teachers’ professional learning and impacts on pupil learning in a community of practice in South Korea

Background: A new national physical education (PE) curriculum has been developed in South Korea and PE teachers have been challenged to deliver new transferable educational outcomes in character development through PE. In one geographical area, in order to support teachers to make required changes, a Communities of Practice (CoP) approach to continuing professional development (CPD) was adopted. Rather than being based in a single-school, this CoP brought PE teachers together from a number of schools with the aim of sharing learning and impacting on pedagogies, practices and pupils’ learning in character development through PE.

Aims: To map and analyse the ways in which teachers (i) learnt about character education in a CoP, (ii) used this learning to inform their pedagogies and practices, and (iii) impacted on pupil learning in and beyond PE.

Method: The participants were a university professor, 8 secondary school PE teachers from 8 different schools and 41 pupils. Data collection was undertaken in two phases in Autumn 2014 and Spring 2015. In-depth qualitative data were collected in the CoP and the teachers’ schools using individual interviews, focus groups with pupils, observations of lessons, open-ended questionnaires and document analysis. Data were analysed using a constructivist revision of grounded theory.

Findings: There was clear evidence of teacher learning in the CoP and changes to their pedagogies and indirect teaching behaviours (ITBs). Pupils were also able to identify the new intended learning about character development at both cognitive and behavioural levels, although there was little evidence of understanding about or intention to transfer this learning beyond PE (which was the original aim of the Government’s character education initiative). Barriers to teacher and pupil learning are also discussed.

Conclusion: Teachers’ professional learning in the CoP impacted on the development of both teachers’ pedagogies and ITBs which then influenced pupils’ learning, however, linking teachers’ professional learning to pupils’ learning remains challenging. This study has added further insights into the complexity of the processes linking policy, teachers’ learning and pupils’ learning outcomes. While it was possible to trace clear pathways from the CoP to teachers’ learning, and in some cases to pupils’ learning, it was also apparent that a wide range of factors intervened to influence the learning outcomes.