Teacher pupil control ideology and pupils' projected feelings toward teachers

The relationship between teacher pupil control ideology and pupils' projected feelings toward teachers was examined. The Pupil Control Ideology Form, based on a custodial-humanistic continuum, served as the operational definition for teacher views toward pupil control. Lemeshnik's Draw-A-Teacher technique, a projective device based on a negative-positive continuum, served as the operational definition of pupils' projected feelings toward teachers. A sample of 131 teachers and their students responded to these instruments, respectively. Pearson product-moment correlations indicated that custodialism in teacher pupil control ideology was directly related to pupils' negative feelings toward teachers. Multiple regression analysis indicated that pupil control ideology, followed by teacher sex and grade level, predicted pupils' feelings toward teachers. Further analysis revealed that boys projected more negative feelings toward teachers than did girls.     

A training model in consultation

An investigation of the teachability of 11 consultation-related skills was conducted. Thirty-two subjects, all students in graduate reading courses at The Ohio State University, participated in the study—16 in a control group and 16 in an experimental group. A Solomon Design (Solomon, 1949) was employed. Experimental group subjects participated in a six-session workshop that provided training in the 11 consultation skills. The control group received no such training. A factor analysis of the data yielded two significant factors. One factor loaded highest on the verbal consultation variables, and the second factor loaded highest on the nonverbal consultation variables. Therefore, Factor I was named “Verbal Consultation,” while Factor II was named “Nonverbal Consultation.” Four analyses of variance were completed, using the two factors. The primary conclusions of the analyses of variance were that the experimental group subjects significantly outperformed the control group subjects in Verbal Consultation on the posttest (p<.05), but the experimental and control groups did not differ significantly in Nonverbal Consultation on the posttest. Suggestions for further research in the area of consultation are given.     

Concurrent validity of the test of nonverbal intelligence with learning disabled children

Results of the TONI, WISC-R, and WRAT were compared for a sample of 66 learning disabled children: 51 males (32 white, 19 black) and 15 females (9 white, 6 black) whose mean age was 9–5 (SD = 1–10). The mean score of the TONI was significantly different from the Performance IQ. Nonsignificant differences were found between the TONI and Full Scale IQ and between the TONI and Verbal IQ. Correlation coefficients between the TONI and WISC-R ranged from a low of .35 for the Verbal IQ to .44 for both the Full Scale and Performance IQs. The correlation coefficients between the TONI and standard scores of the WRAT were .38, .27, and .23, for Reading, Spelling, and Arithmetic, respectively. Implications of these findings are discussed.     

Light's retention scale: Does it have content validity?

The content validity of the Light's Retention Scale (LRS) was examined by assessing the use of selected retention criteria from the scale. Results indicated that several criteria were not typically considered in retention decisions and the remaining criteria varied widely in their use. Suggestions for limitations on use of the LRS were included.     

New Vision and Challenges in Inquiry-Based Curriculum Change in Singapore

A new primary science syllabus with strong inquiry focus has been implemented in Singapore since 2008. In this study, we attempted to understand how teachers experience the emphasis of inquiry-based curriculum under the current educational conditions that is routined and highly teacher fronted. We invited 50 pre-service and 41 in-service teachers to participate in survey questionnaires and narratives, reflective writings, and group discussions related to science inquiry which formed our data corpus. Data analysis in the form of thematic coding was carried out using NVivo8, with over 80% inter-rater coding agreement level. Three key aspects of teachers’ perceptions of science inquiry were revealed: (1) teachers’ responsibilities as facilitators, (2) privileging content knowledge rather than process skills, and (3) pressure of assessment systems in current educational contexts. These understandings bring out conflicts of inquiry teaching between teacher- and student-centredness, content and process, and curriculum and assessment. Based on these teachers’ perceptions and dilemmas of inquiry science teaching, the visions and challenges of inquiry science curriculum change against assessment requirements are discussed.