Lessons from team work: towards a systematic scheme for course development

Differences in practice and culture between distance and face to face universities are examined in the light of course design and production. This paper then proposes that a team approach which has been developed and refined for the production of distance teaching courses, and more particularly for the management of the production process, be used as a starting point for the development of a systematic scheme capable of being used in a conventional university setting not only by teams but also by individuals. Examples of ways in which this scheme might be used are given, and the benefits pointed out; these include improvements in the efficacy of course production and in the integration and cohesiveness of the resulting courses. There are also indirect gains to be made, in educational development and in increased professionalism, as well as in the enrichment of academic life.     

The Development of Reasoning about Causal and Noncausal Influences on Levers

2 studies examined 5–12-year-olds' judgments regarding the behavior of balance scales and other levers whose arms varied in a causal (the number of equally weighted objects or their distances from the fulcrum) or a noncausal (the color, position, or orientation of objects) variable. There were age-related increases in correct judgments for each causal and noncausal variable, with children tending to make correct judgments about the influence of physical features of objects (their number and color) at an earlier age than they did about spatial relations between objects (their distance, orientation, and position). Children's patterns of errors judging the influence of causal (particularly distance) and noncausal (particularly position and orientation) variables were different, and there was no relation between children's correct judgments regarding causal and noncausal variables The results suggest that there are separate processes underlying children's ability to identify causal and dismiss noncausal influences on levers which are dependent on the kinds of features (physical or both physical and spatial) which children conceive of as potentially influencing the behavior of levers.     

The effect of systematic training in elaboration on word meaning and prose comprehension in poor readers

This paper reports two interrelated, exploratory training studies to promote word knowledge and textual comprehension through elaboration in poor readers compared with their controls. The results suggest that systematic, sustained in situ training helped these poor readers, although both the training approaches and stimulus materials would need refinement. The study was assisted in part by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada with SSHRCC research grants Nos. 410-87-0058 and 410-89-0128 awarded to Che Kan Leong.     

Effects of Technology-Mediated Vocabulary Intervention for Third-Grade Students with Reading Difficulties

Abstract

In this experimental study, we examined the effects of a technology-mediated intervention to improve students’ understanding of academic vocabulary and its impact on measures of vocabulary and comprehension. The Vocabulators program was implemented in two states involving 24 teachers and 200 third-grade students identified as in need of supplemental vocabulary instruction. Individual students within each classroom were randomly assigned to treatment (n?=?100) or typical instructional practices (n?=?100) conditions. In the treatment condition, students received, on average, 29 lessons on vocabulary and comprehension. Results of linear regression analyses showed statistically significant and practical effects on experimenter-developed proximal measures of decoding (ES = 0.52), expressive vocabulary (ES = 0.78), receptive vocabulary (ES = 0.51), and near transfer measures of understanding vocabulary in sentences (ES = 0.65), and informational text comprehension (ES = 0.28). Group performance did not differ statistically on near transfer measures of sentence verification with vocabulary and narrative text comprehension as well as distal standardized measures of general vocabulary or reading comprehension. Findings suggest the potential impact of technology-based vocabulary/comprehension lessons to supplement typical instruction.     

Instruction in Pre‐reading Skills in Preschool Children and its Effect on the Subsequent Rate of Reading Attainment

The effect of three preschool conditions on early reading attainment in the first four terms at primary school was studied. The conditions were: (a) nursery education with computer‐presented structured pre‐reading instruction comprising visual and auditory discrimination and recognition of letter shapes and sounds, (b) ‘normal’ nursery activities, and (c) no formal nursery education. The initial reading performance of these children in the three conditions was then monitored during their first two terms in the same class group of a first school. The group who received pre‐reading skills training was found not only to learn to read more quickly in terms of the number of books in the reading scheme read, but for this superiority to increase over the two terms, compared to the nursery only and the no‐nursery groups. Both the nursery conditions were superior to the no‐nursery group. The results were interpreted as indicating the importance of structured learning of basic pre‐reading skills and of the computer as an effective means of presenting them.     

Conceptualising transitions from vocational to higher education: bringing together Bourdieu and Bernstein

Abstract

In this paper we provide a framework for conceptualising transitions from Vocational Education and Training (VET) programmes to Higher Education (HE), by bringing together Bourdieu’s and Bernstein’s theoretical approaches with the view to attend to the often side-lined epistemic and pedagogical parameters. We utilise the Bourdieusian tools of field, habitus and capital to capture the relational, material and cultural aspects of HE transitions. In using a Bernsteinian lens we shed further light into how social agents acquire differentially structured and valorised knowledges and develop a sense of themselves as hierarchically positioned knowers. The metaphor of transitional frictions is utilised to capture the ongoing struggles that students with a VET background experience as they make the transition to HE. We argue for the need of widening epistemic access and putting in place enabling pedagogies that can ease these transitional frictions, thereby potentially increasing the chances of successful HE participation and completion.     

Undergraduate Students’ Conceptions of Mathematics: An International Study

In this paper, we report on an international study of undergraduate mathematics students’ conceptions of mathematics. Almost 1,200 students in five countries completed a short survey including three open-ended questions asking about their views of mathematics and its role in their future studies and planned professions. Responses were analysed starting from a previously-developed phenomenographic framework (Reid et al., 2003) which required only minor modification. Students’ conceptions of mathematics ranged from the narrowest view as a focus on calculations with numbers, through a notion of mathematics as a focus on models or abstract structures, to the broadest view of mathematics as an approach to life and a way of thinking. Broader conceptions of mathematics were more likely to be found in later-year students (p<0.001) and there were significant differences between universities (p<0.001). The information obtained from the study not only confirms previous research, but also provides a basis for future development of a monitoring questionnaire.     

Unsung Heroes: Exploring the roles of school-based professional experience coordinators in Australian preservice teacher education

The literature on practicum in preservice teacher education provides varied and detailed accounts of the roles of the student teacher, the supervising teacher, and the university-based teacher educator. However, the school-based professional experience coordinator, usually the principal or deputy principal, has been dismissed as an administrative outsider to the essential triad of supervision. Feedback from the field suggested that the coordinator's role may in fact be crucial in ensuring that practicum is an occasion for quality learning. This paper reports on a study to explore ways in which a small selection of professional experience coordinators contribute to the establishment, support and appraisal of high quality practicum experience in a variety of settings. The research fills a gap in the existing literature on the practicum by providing some illumination of the varied ways the school-based coordinator role is filled. In addition, the paper raises questions about selection and support of coordinators, about ownership of the practicum, and argues for a reconceptualisation of the practicum as the site where all shareholders engage in the partnership, with continual opportunities for construction, reconstruction and renewal of the teaching profession.     

What Difference Does a Major Make? The Influence of College Major Field on Persistence by African American and White Students

The results from this study indicate similarities and differences in the factors related to the persistence of White and African American students in their freshman and sophomore years in college. Using random samples of data from students enrolled in public institutions of higher education in a Midwestern state, OLS regression analyses indicated that African American sophomores in the high-demand major fields (e.g., Business, Health, and Engineering/Computer Science) were more likely to persist than were those in other major fields, but there were no statistically significant differences in persistence for African American freshmen in other fields. While major fields were not statistically significant for White sophomores, White freshmen in social sciences or undecided about their majors were less likely to persist. The effects of financial aid packages on persistence varied across race.     

Twenty-four things to do with a book

During a summer workshop course, a group of teachers in British Columbia recently considered ways of encouraging the response of readers in their classes. Time was limited, and their ideas reflect a sustained brainstorming session rather than an attempt to produce a definitive list. More-idiosyncratic ideas which depended upon the peculiar skills of individual teachers have been omitted, as have highly specific illustrations relating to particular books. A dance drama version ofWatership Down, for example, was not seen as a readily transferable classroom activity.The suggestions below are for individual work, for work in pairs, groups, or with the whole class. The Canadian teachers were concerned to confirm a climate in which books were readily handled, shared and exchanged as a central and regular practice of the class.Geoff Fox has taught in secondary schools in both England and America. He has been Visiting Professor at Harvard University and the University of British Columbia and is on the staff at Exeter University. He has collaborated on several books, both for the classroom and for teachers, and is Secretary to the U K Editorial Committee ofCle.