Are they ready to teach? Student teachers’ readiness for the job with reference to teacher competence frameworks

This is the first report in a series of studies concerning student teachers’ readiness-for-the-job, defined by a framework of 11 international teacher competences (ITCs). Attaining readiness-for-the-job is connected to four characteristics of teacher education, namely; (1) employing the ITCs in day-to-day teaching in initial teacher education, (2) integrating the ITCs in the curricula of teaching programmes, (3) exercising the ITCs through practicum at schools and (4) by teacher educators modelling the ITCs. In the present study, a student sample from four teacher education colleges (n = 226) was surveyed to explore the extent to which students felt ready-for-the-job. The study outlines the degree to which the characteristics of teacher education are associated with student teachers’ readiness-for-the-job. The results identify the critical areas to be developed in these prospective teachers before they can actually become ready-for-the-job, and especially the central role of their teacher educators in shaping their professional competence.     

Validity and Reliability of the School Physical Activity Environment Questionnaire

The goal of the current study was to establish the factor validity of the Questionnaire Assessing School Physical Activity Environment (Robertson-Wilson, Lévesque, & Holden, 2007 Robertson-Wilson, J., Lévesque, L. and Holden, R. R. 2007. Development of a questionnaire assessing school physical activity environment. Measurement in Physical Education and Exercise Science, 11: 93–107. [Taylor & Francis Online] , [Google Scholar]) using confirmatory factor analysis procedures. Another goal was to establish internal reliability and test–retest reliability. The confirmatory factor analysis results of this study supported a slightly altered version of the Questionnaire Assessing School Physical Activity Environment's school physical activity environment subscale. Internal reliability was adequate, while test–retest reliability was questionable. In brief, the pattern of findings indicated that while the original Questionnaire Assessing School Physical Activity Environment is likely adequate for some research purposes, a slightly modified version (Questionnaire Assessing School Physical Activity Environment-R) was psychometrically stronger. However, given the distinct differences in samples used in the original validation study and the current study, more research on the psychometric properties of the Questionnaire Assessing School Physical Activity Environment is needed to determine if the current results and Robertson-Wilson et al.'s (2007 Robertson-Wilson, J., Lévesque, L. and Holden, R. R. 2007. Development of a questionnaire assessing school physical activity environment. Measurement in Physical Education and Exercise Science, 11: 93–107. [Taylor & Francis Online] , [Google Scholar]) results are sample specific.     

Beyond inductive and deductive reasoning: The search for a sense of knowing

Examination of data from several mathematics education research projects has led the author to postulate a form of mathematical reasoning that learners engage in spontaneously and that is not inherently inductive or deductive. Transformational reasoning is generated through the learner's inquiry into how a mathematical system works. This sense of how it works may lead to a sense of understanding that may not be provided by inductive and deductive reasoning.     

Experimental measurement of the quantum geometric tensor using coupled qubits in diamond

Geometry and topology are fundamental concepts, which underlie a wide range of fascinating physical phenomena such as topological states of matter and topological defects. In quantum mechanics, the geometry of quantum states is fully captured by the quantum geometric tensor. Using a qubit formed by an NV center in diamond, we perform the first experimental measurement of the complete quantum geometric tensor. Our approach builds on a strong connection between coherent Rabi oscillations upon parametric modulations and the quantum geometry of the underlying states. We then apply our method to a system of two interacting qubits, by exploiting the coupling between the NV center spin and a neighboring ¹³C nuclear spin. Our results establish coherent dynamical responses as a versatile probe for quantum geometry, and they pave the way for the detection of novel topological phenomena in solid state.     

Science education for sustainability, epistemological reflections and educational practices: from natural sciences to trans-disciplinarity

In this three-part article we seek to establish connections between the emerging framework of sustainability science and the methodological basis of research and practice in science education in order to bring forth knowledge and competences for sustainability. The first and second parts deal with the implications of taking a sustainability view in relation to knowledge processes. The complexity, uncertainty and urgency of global environmental problems challenge the foundations of reductionist Western science. Within such debate, the proposal of sustainability science advocates for inter-disciplinary and inter-paradigmatic collaboration and it includes the requirements of post-normal science proposing a respectful dialogue between experts and non-experts in the construction of new scientific knowledge. Such a change of epistemology is rooted into participation, deliberation and the gathering of extended-facts where cultural framings and values are the hard components in the face of soft facts. A reflection on language and communication processes is thus the focus of knowledge practices and educational approaches aimed at sustainability. Language contains the roots of conceptual thinking (including scientific knowledge) and each culture and society are defined and limited by the language that is used to describe and act upon the world. Within a scenario of sustainability, a discussion of scientific language is in order to retrace the connections between language and culture, and to promote a holistic view based on pluralism and dialogue. Drawing on the linguistic reflection, the third part gives examples of teaching and learning situations involving prospective science teachers in action-research contexts: these activities are set out to promote linguistic integration and to introduce reflexive process into science learning. Discussion will focus on the methodological features of a learning process that is akin to a communal and emancipatory research process within a sustainability scenario.     

Art and Science in Education: The Common Ground

Recent work aimed at establishing a rational, objective basis for aesthetics and the arts repudiates the division between the ‘two cultures’ which is used politically to justify marginalization of the arts in education and society. Far from weakening this cultural division, however, such writing and research has reinforced it. With the aim of reversing this trend, it is argued that ‘scientism’ is a myth, that objectivity of knowledge in science is comparable but not superior to that in aesthetics and the arts, and that polarization of the ‘two cultures’ and marginalization of the arts is based on ideology, not reason. There is and always has been significant common ground between art and science, encompassing not only issues of mutual concern but also modes of enquiry, many of which are far more similar than seems commonly to be supposed. A consideration of some of the similarities and differences between art and science shows that there is no fundamental division between them: both are part of one culture, not paradigms of two. This observation leads to ideas on the possible re-integration of art and science in education, particularly through development of observation and common curriculum content.     

Introduction: Discourse Ethics and the Educational Possibilities of the Public Sphere

Jürgen Habermas argues that principles of justice should be decided through rational agreement as opposed to force or coercion. Christopher Martin argues in this essay that the success of such a project presupposes sufficiently developed capacities for discursive agency equally distributed within a diverse public sphere. This epistemic presupposition is not explicitly recognized in Habermas's current formulation of his theory and as such the theory implicitly excludes the interest that future citizens have in the development of their own capacities for competent deliberative engagement. Martin argues that this omission is serious enough that Habermas's principle of universalization (U) should be modified, and he articulates this modification in terms of a prohibition against “developmental coercion.” Martin concludes by elaborating on the concept of developmental coercion, and he points to the implications of this addition to discourse ethics for the institutionalization of deliberative democracy.