Heterogeneity of student perceptions of the classroom climate: a latent profile approach

Student perceptions are a pivotal point of measurement for understanding why classroom learning environments are effective. Yet there is some evidence that student perceptions cannot be reliably aggregated at the classroom level and, instead, could represent idiosyncratic experiences of students. The present study examines whether heterogeneity in student perceptions of the classroom climate has implications for student achievement. We use data from 1428 seventh grade students in 75 mathematics classrooms from the Michigan Study of Adolescent and Life Transitions. Three dimensions of student perceptions of the classroom were measured: emotional support, autonomy support and performance focus. To obtain a measure of heterogeneity, we first reduced the data using latent profile analysis to describe profiles of students’ perceptions of the classroom. Next, we quantified the heterogeneity of student perceptions within classrooms using Simpson’s D. Classroom-level heterogeneity (Simpson’s D) of students’ perceptions was negatively associated with students’ mathematics achievement, even after controlling for individual- and classroom-level previous achievement, student’s prior perceptions and other variables. Findings suggest that measures of heterogeneity in student perceptions might be important for understanding classroom- and teacher-level effects on student outcomes.     

Children's stroke sequence errors in writing Chinese characters

Each Chinese character is a two dimensional logograph and if character writing is seen as drawing a diagram, then there is no obvious correct sequence in the writing process. However, over the ages and to this day, Chinese children have been taught the proper stroke sequence for forming the characters based on some calligraphic rules when they begin to learn to write in Chinese. The rationale for the teaching of stroke sequence has traditionally been argued on the basis of facilitating better calligraphy and as a memory aid for the exact reproduction of the correct form of the character. This paper reports on a study that tries to determine how far young children can master the correct stroke sequences in writing and the common kinds of errors children made. It further explores the importance of and the possible educational implications for the teaching of stroke sequences in the teaching of handwriting based on the empirical results.     

How the administration grows: A longitudinal study of growth in administration at four universities

Despite numerous speculations regarding the rampant growth of administrative sectors in higher education little concrete research has been generated. The current study takes an objective look at the increase in numbers of administrative personnel at four regional universities in Kentucky during an 11-year period. A tally of the numbers of titles included in university personnel rosters during that time indicates that the growth in numbers of administrators and administrative staff exceeded that of most other indicators of university growth such as numbers of faculty, numbers of students, and numbers of graduates. Suggestions are offered for the causes of the marked growth in administrative sectors. The methodology used in this study could be replicated in other types of institutions.     

Recruiting and retaining secondary mathematics teachers: lessons learned from an innovative four-year undergraduate program

In response to the critical shortage of qualified mathematics teachers in the U.S., the TIME 2000 Program was created with funds from the National Science Foundation, at Queens College of the City University of New York. Now institutionalized, the program is designed to support the recruitment, preparation, and retention of prospective teachers through a close-knit learning community in which participants experience an innovative and multifaceted program for their four years of undergraduate study. This article describes the innovative aspects of the program that show promise of preparing highly competent teachers whose careers span a lifetime. Short- and long-term strategies for recruiting students from high school are described as well as the program components that are designed to increase retention of candidates in the program and in teaching.

Advance organizers: Facilitators of recall

The debate surrounding the facilitating effects of advance organizers rages on despite clearly cited limitations of their nature, use, and definition. The controversy continues because of a perceived imprecision in the definition of advance organizers. This review is organized around summaries of 30 experiments, which used advance organizers written in paragraph form, conducted during the past 14 years. Although not all of the studies report beneficial effects associated with advance organizers, the overall conclusion is that advance organizers facilitate recall. The article, however, first considers Ausubel's original theory of cognitive subsumption, followed by criticisms and changes to the theory. The final section of the article makes suggestions for future research.     

Internet Resources for Middle School Science: Golden Opportunity or “Silicon Snake Oil”?

This study examines the experiences of six teachers at three schools in learning about and beginning to implement or enhance project-based learning in their middle school science classrooms using a variety of resources available through the Internet. Data were gathered over a one-year period ending in March, 1996. As a result of their experience, teachers became aware of the possibilities and the problems created by both the nearly unlimited quantity of information available on the Internet and the limited quality and relevance of much of that information. Positive and negative experiences described by teachers and the variety of issues and concerns which they reflect are compared and contrasted, including: unreliability of network connections; potential availability to students of inappropriate resources; consistency of classroom organization structures necessary to facilitate Internet access with normally preferred teaching methods; the dependence of the efficiency and motivational value of project-based units on students' appreciation of the nature and power of the technology; conflict between curriculum space devoted to teaching about technology and that devoted to substantively using the technology to teach about science and related subjects; the on call convenience of the Internet; the up-to-date nature of much of the scientific information available on the Internet; Internet-based information (versus textbook information) as authoritative yet not impersonal.     

Theoretical Influences on the Establishment of Inclusive Practices

The purpose of this study was to examine strategies used by classroom teachers for including students with severe multiple disabilities in elementary general education classrooms. Interviews and participant observations were conducted across a 10 month period at four sites. Categorical coding procedures for qualitative data were used to identify themes related to instructional practices in these inclusive classrooms. Results revealed influences of constructivist, Vygotskian and multiple intelligence theories on teacher decisions and perceptions. The tenets of each theory are presented, the impact of theoretical assumptions on teacher practice is examined and three lessons exemplifying such influences are illustrated.     

Why do students drop out? Turning points and long-term experiences

Understanding the reasons that individuals drop out of high school is fundamental to improving intervention efforts to promote graduation. The authors present a mixed methods analysis of the reasons individuals drop out of high school before graduating. Using a survey methodology with young adults who left school before graduating (N?=?1,047, M age?=?21.5?years, SD?=?2.2 years, age range =18–25 years), the authors assessed ongoing life stressors, as well as the turning points individuals identified as the top reason for why they left school. Qualitative analysis provided seven categories of turning points: mobility, family, peers, school engagement and environment, health, crime, and multiple categories. More than half of respondents indicated that the reason they dropped out was related to school engagement and environment. Results showed differences across profiles of lived experiences, reported turning points, and sex.     

Use of comics to enhance students’ learning for the development of the twenty-first century competencies in the mathematics classroom

Abstract

This paper discusses the use of comics in teaching mathematics in the secondary mathematics classroom. We explicate how the use of comics in teaching mathematics can prepare students for the twenty-first century competencies. We developed an alternative teaching package using comics for two lower secondary mathematics topics. This alternative teaching package consists of (1) several sets of comic strips expounding all related mathematical concepts in a lively way; (2) tiered practice questions for learning reinforcement; and (3) a set of proposed lesson outlines with suggestions on how to use the comics for mathematics teaching. We also report how one of the teachers in our study used this teaching package in her mathematics lessons. Her lessons were video-recorded and 11 students were interviewed to help us understand how the mathematics comics lessons were enacted and the students’ perception of comics as instruction. We identified instances in which the teacher tweaked the provided resource to further enhance student learning and incorporated elements of the twenty-first century competencies during her lessons. Through selected student interviews, we also identified instances in which students commented on their gain from the new approach from the perspective of the twenty-first century competencies.     

Does weak reading comprehension reflect an integration deficit?

Seven‐ and eight‐year‐old skilled and less‐skilled comprehenders were compared on a sentence recognition task in two conditions varying in memory load and retention interval. Integration of story information during comprehension was indexed by inflated recognition errors of foils that had been constructed by integrating information across original story sentences. Skilled comprehenders exhibited more accurate memory for sentences than less‐skilled comprehenders. However, the groups did not differ in the degree to which they integrated information with minimal memory demand, or in their tendency to integrate information and retain the integrated representations with increased memory demand. These results were interpreted as evidence that integration deficits do not lie at the root of reading comprehension difficulties in mainstream children.