Why bright college students won't teach

A case study of the career expectations of noneducation college seniors (primarily in high demand fields) reveals that present policies, such as career ladders, merit pay, and traditional college loan programs, may have little positive impact on their consideration of teaching as a career alternative. For the brightest of the students, the most significant reasons why they won't teach relatenot to the lack of financial reward in teaching, but to frustrating working conditions, bureaucratic requirements, the lack of professional control, and few opportunities for intellectual growth, as well as their intolerance for diversity in the workplace and their perception of teaching as a boring job. In most cases, these negative lessons about teaching were learned while they were public school students. The recent movement to professionalize teaching would appear to be an important step in luring these bright students into teaching. However, professionalism alone will not ensure a school district's ability to attract and retain bright college students as teachers.     

Developmental effects of social reinforcement on eye‐contact and speech in mildly intellectually handicapped children.

This study investigates the developmental effects of soical reinforcement on the interview behaviour of 58 mildly intellectually handicapped children (CA = 11.8 years; IQ = 75). The subjects were divided into three age groups (8‐10 years, 10‐13 years, 13‐15 years) and categorized as dominant or dependent by teacher ratings. In the experiment, high and low social reinforcement for eye‐contact was given in an interview by one of their teachers. The data were analyzed, for each age group, according to the amount of speech and eye‐contact under the various conditions. Support for the earlier Exline and Messick (1967) findings indicated a feedback rather than reward model in explaining the effects of social reinforcement on eye‐contact. More important, however, for the mildly intellectually handicapped, no evidence was found for significant variations in eye‐contact as a function of age, sex or IQ.     

Legitimizing subjectivity: Meritorious performance and the professionalization of teacher and principal evaluation

An earlier version of this article was a paper presented at the 1988 Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association, New Orleans     

Mathematical modelling at a distance

In this paper we describe the mathematical modelling components of the Open University second level course in applied mathematics called Mathematical Models and Methods. The teaching of mathematical modelling has been introduced in many British Universities and Poly technics. But teaching modelling at a distance is fraught with difficulties. What these are and how we overcame them is described by the authors. In doing so we,hope that other distance education institutes will find it attractive to offer components on mathematical modelling in some of their courses.     

Novice teachers’ conceptions of fairness in inclusion classrooms

The issue of “fairness” troubles some general education teachers, who may be reluctant to teach students with disabilities. Journals written by 47 general education preservice and novice teachers were data sources for examining teachers’ concerns about fairness. Five areas of concern emerged: general responses, definitions of fairness, dealing with students, classroom applications (e.g., grading), and negative views. These themes are illustrated and discussed within the theoretical framework of principles of distribution of benefits. Suggestions are offered for helping teacher education students move toward acceptance of needs-based principles of fairness.     

Becoming a teacher educator – the motivational factors

This study explores the factors that influenced the transition made by three participants from primary class teacher (or first-order practitioner) to Teacher Education (TE) lecturer (or second-order practitioner) in a Scottish Teacher Education Institution. The self-study case study methodology explored the factors that encouraged, and potentially inhibited, this career change. Data collection utilised auto-ethnographic narrative and findings were reviewed using a thematic analysis. Results are considered using a theoretical framework provided by Deci and Ryan’s Self-Determination Theory. The study identified three common, key themes leading to the participants’ career change: exploration and reinvention, key figures and lifelong learners. The findings suggest the participants were largely intrinsically motivated to make the career change. The results provide an insight for teachers considering this move and administrators within TE. The personal development implications for the participants are also considered.     

Four studies dealing with mediated persuasive messages,attitudes, and learning styles

Conclusions A fundamental assumption of the research presented above was that attitude change is an important concern of the educator, and that if attitudes are important, information on how attitudes might be formed or changed with media is needed. Four studies were conducted to examine the use of media to deliver persuasive messages. The results of the four studies presented in this article tended to support the following conclusions. First, attitudes toward educationally relevant topics, such as conservation, smoking, and disabled persons, can be modified by using persuasive messages delivered by media. Next, it appeared that some types of media may be more effective than others at delivering information designed to change attitudes. Motion pictures seem to be more effective than slides. There also seems to be sufficient evidence to warrant further investigation into the relationship between the content of persuasive messages, the media used to deliver those messages, and the learning styles of the target audience. In short, attitudes can be modified by mediated messages, and the degree of modification may be related to the characteristics of the students who view the message and to the way the message is mediated.     

Attentional Bias for Exercise-Related Images

Abstract

This research examined attentional bias toward exercise-related images using a visual probe task. It was hypothesized that more-active participants would display attentional bias toward the exercise-related images. The results showed that men displayed attentional bias for the exercise images. There was a significant interaction of activity level by gender, and simple slopes analysis showed that active women displayed attentional bias toward the exercise-related images and inactive women displayed attentional bias toward the control images. A similar analysis with explicit attention to the pictures as the outcome variable was not significant. These findings confirm that attention for exercise-related images can be captured automatically regardless of whether people report they are attending to them.