Inclusive STEM High School Design: 10 Critical Components

Historically, the mission of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) schools emphasized providing gifted and talented students with advanced STEM coursework. However, a newer type of STEM school is emerging in the United States: inclusive STEM high schools (ISHSs). ISHSs have open enrollment and are focused on preparing underrepresented youth for the successful pursuit of advanced STEM studies. They promise to provide a critical mass of nontraditional STEM students, defying stereotypes about who does STEM and creating positive STEM identities. In this article, we advance a conceptual framework designed to systematically capture the qualities of ISHSs that can provide exciting new possibilities for students and communities. An iterative review of the literature suggests 10 critical components that may work together across 3 dimensions: design, implementation, and outcomes. Our goal is to apply this framework in various school models to better understand the opportunity structures that emerge and to create a theory of action of ISHSs.     

Self-efficacy from the perspective of adolescents with LD and their specialist teachers

This study used qualitative methodology to investigate the self-efficacy beliefs of early adolescents with learning disabilities (LD). We conducted a series of focus group interviews with 28 Grade 8 and 9 students with LD and individual interviews with 7 specialist LD teachers. Content analyses of the student and teacher data resulted in 2 a priori and 3 inductive themes: self-efficacy, calibration and levels of self-efficacy, students' self-awareness, attributions for failure, and problems and solutions. The students viewed themselves as low in self-efficacy and generally accurate in the calibration of their efficacy and performance, whereas the teachers viewed the students as overconfident about academic tasks. In contrast to the teachers, the students viewed verbal persuasion as a valued source of self-efficacy. Students attributed their failures to lack of effort, whereas their teachers attributed student failure to uncontrollable deficits. Problems and solutions related to student motivation were discussed from student and teacher perspectives.     

Inclusive educational practices in Kenya: Evidencing practice of itinerant teachers who work with children with visual impairment in local mainstream schools

This article presents a findings from an investigation of the work of 38 specialist itinerant teachers (ITs) supporting the educational inclusion of children with visual impairment in Kenya. The research was designed around a participatory action research framework involving in-country researchers and participants (teachers) working in collaboration with researchers in the United Kingdom. Following an introductory training workshop, participants kept research journals over a 2-month period in which they recorded details of their itinerant duties (including the processes and content of their visits). Findings provide information about local practices of ITs support for children with visual impairment in mainstream schools and raise broader questions about the barriers to learning and development facing children with disabilities in mainstream schools in Kenya and other developing countries.     

The language of science and preferential thinking styles: A comparison between hindi speaking students (in India) and english speaking students (in Tasmania)

A study of science textbooks and students' responses indicates that many key concepts are treated at different levels of meaning. As a consequence of these observations we have attempted to examine what we have termed students' “preferential thinking style.” To do this, the level of meaning that students preferred when thinking about each of 16 key concept definitions associated with the theme, the nature of matter, was measured for each concept. The same concept definitions had already been studied in respect to students' ability to recognize them. Each of the 16 concept terms was formulated at the three levels of meaning defined by us as: membership, partial association, and generalization. The resulting test of preferential thinking style was administered to representative samples of Hindi-speaking high school students in India (826) and English-speaking high school students in Tasmania (1635). Some marked changes in the relative development of preferential thinking styles for the two groups were observed which raises questions associated with the importance of this notion as an outcome of science teaching.     

Common Elements Correlation

This work demonstrates common elements correlation, its extension to negative correlation, and the production of bivariate normal samples for a specified correlation matrix.     

An Observational Study of Print Literacy in Canadian Preschool Classrooms

The purpose of this study was to examine the role of print literacy in preschool classrooms. There were seven preschool teachers working in central Canada who were observed over three sessions. The process of analytic induction was used to formulate categories based on interviews, classroom observations and documents. The following categories were identified from the data: book engagement and availability, writing engagement, and print displays and materials. There were some consistencies across centres in the availability of print materials; however, variation often existed in the types of interactions with print. For example, in some preschool classrooms, teachers had a more structured approach toward writing development while in others, they did not. Such differences in practice may be attributed to different beliefs and knowledge of early literacy development. The results of this study offer insight on the role of print literacy in preschool classrooms.