Bacchus,M. Kazim. 1994. Education as and for Legitimacy. Developments in West Indian Education between 1846 and 1895

International Review of Education -     

Four dialogues and metalogues about the nature of science

We analyse and explore, in the form of dialogues and metalogues questions about the dialogic nature of beliefs and students belief talk about the nature of science and scientific knowledge. Following recent advances in discursive psychology, this study focuses not on students' claims but on the discursive resources and dialogical practices that support the particular claims they make. We argue that students' discourse is better understood as a textual bricolage that is sensitive to conversational context, common sense, interpretive repertoires, and textual resources available in the conversational situation. Our text is reflexive as it embodies the discursive construction of knowledge and undercuts any claims to authoritative knowledge. The very conception of “belief” is itself an expression or construction from within the mundane idiom.... We learn to use “belief” in conditions when the “objective facts” are unknown or problematic and we want to indicate the tenuous character of our claim.... The notion of “real world” or “objective reality” is embedded in an extensive, pervasive language game which includes as an intelligible move or possibility the use of the very concept of “belief” itself. (Pollner, 1987, p. 21)     

Geographical education and ideology in England and Wales

Conclusion If ideology is a nexus of ideas which represent the values of a society and the way that society operates, then clearly such ideas, in so far as they are held by those who have power in society, are bound to affect what is taught within the system of education. This may not be openly avowed, though in totalitarian regimes the education system is determinedly used to enforce the only ideology—that of those in power. The saving grace in a democratic system is that those being educated have access ideologies other than the dominant one. In England and Wales and to some extent elsewhere in the United Kingdom, there is little doubt that the geography curriculum has tended to serve the dominant ideology during the heyday of the British Empire and even during its period of decline in the 1930s and 1940s. In the 1960s and 1970s, an alternative ideology stressing the rights of the underprivileged became manifest in a geography curriculum that was not controlled centrally. The 1980s saw a reversal of this trend by those who had political power, though the reason advanced for the greater control of the curriculum was couched in terms of the economic needs of the nation and the desire to raise standards. But clearly those in power considered that theraison d'être of education was to promote an enterprise culture. However, in practice no ideology is ever pure. When the enterprise culture came into contact with long-cherished ideas of national sovereignty, marrying the two proved difficult. This was reflected in the neutral (not to say negative) position of the national curriculum in geography with respect to the European Union. Original language: English Norman Graves (United Kingdom) Professor Emeritus of Geography Education at the University of London Institute of Education. He is consultant to UNESCO in association with the International Geographical Union. Author of numerous works on geography education, he is involved in curriculum and textbook planning and is an acknowledged expert in his field of research.     

The influence of history of science courses on students' views of nature of science

This study (a) assessed the influence of three history of science (HOS) courses on college students' and preservice science teachers' conceptions of nature of science (NOS), (b) examined whether participants who entered the investigated courses with a conceptual framework consistent with contemporary NOS views achieved more elaborate NOS understandings, and (c) explored the aspects of the participant HOS courses that rendered them more “effective” in influencing students' views. Participants were 166 undergraduate and graduate students and 15 preservice secondary science teachers. An open‐ended questionnaire in conjunction with individual interviews, was used to assess participants' pre‐ and postinstruction NOS views. Almost all participants held inadequate views of several NOS aspects at the outset of the study. Very few and limited changes in participants' views were evident at the conclusion of the courses. Change was evident in the views of relatively more participants, especially preservice science teachers, who entered the HOS courses with frameworks that were somewhat consistent with current NOS views. Moreover, explicitly addressing certain NOS aspects rendered the HOS courses relatively more effective in enhancing participants' NOS views. The results of this study do not lend empirical support to the intuitively appealing assumption held by many science educators that coursework in HOS will necessarily enhance students' and preservice science teachers' NOS views. However, explicitly addressing specific NOS aspects might enhance the effectiveness of HOS courses in this regard. Moreover, the study suggests that exposing preservice science teachers to explicit NOS instruction in science methods courses prior to their enrollment in HOS courses might increase the likelihood that their NOS views will be changed or enriched as a result of their experiences with HOS. © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 37: 1057–1095, 2000     

Criterion‐Related and construct validity of the pervasive developmental disorders rating scale and the autism behavior checklist

This study investigated the validity of the Autism Behavior Checklist (ABC; Krug, Arick, & Almond, 1993) and the Pervasive Developmental Disorders Rating Scale (PDDRS; Eaves, 1993a). Both instruments are screening devices designed to measure characteristics of individuals with autistic disorder or, more broadly, pervasive developmental disorders. Results showed that the total scores of the ABC and PDDRS measure significantly overlapping constructs (r= .80). Further, both instruments significantly discriminated between participants with autistic disorder and children with diagnoses frequently confused with autistic disorder. Both instruments provided respectable indices for classification accuracy (PDDRS overall accuracy = 88%, ABC overall accuracy = 80%). Finally, the ABC and PDDRS agreed in their classifications of 85% of the 136 participants; a phi coefficient based on the instruments' nominal classifications of the participants equaled .68 (p< .001). © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Cognitive assessment of function knowledge

Two theories of assessing function knowledge were compared for intuitive physics. The choice assessment theory, derived from Piaget, presents subjects with two physical situations, each specified by the values of two physical variables; subjects choose the situation which will yield the greater value of a dependent variable. Functional measurement presents subjects with a single physical situation; subjects make a quantitative estimate of the dependent variable. Forty subjects made both choice and functional measurement responses for two situations of intuitive physics. The choice theory showed substantial frequencies of stepwise rules, implying that subjects failed to integrate the two given physical variables. Functional measurement, in contrast, showed that most subjects integrated the two variables, following exact addition or multiplication rules. It is concluded that functional measurement gives a more correct assessment of function knowledge and should be useful in science instruction. J Res Sci Teach 34: 359–376, 1997.     

Teachers' understanding of the nature of science and classroom practice: Factors that facilitate or impede the relationship

The purpose of this multiple case study was to investigate the relationship of teachers' understanding of the nature of science and classroom practice and to delineate factors that facilitate or impede a relationship. Five high school biology teachers, ranging in experience from 2 to 15 years, comprised the sample for this investigation. During one full academic year, multiple data sources were collected and included classroom observations, open‐ended questionnaires, semistructured and structured interviews, and instructional plans and materials. In addition, students in each of the teachers' classrooms were interviewed with respect to their understanding of the nature of science. Using analytical induction, multiple data sources were analyzed independently and together to triangulate data while constructing teacher profiles. The results indicated that teachers' conceptions of science do not necessarily influence classroom practice. Of critical importance were teachers' level of experience, intentions, and perceptions of students. The results have importnat implications for teacher education as well as the successful implementation of current reforms. © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 36: 916–929, 1999     

The growing (but still limited) importance of evidence in education policy and practice

The last decade of education change has been characterized by the rise of evidence-based policy and practice agendas. Internationally, we are witnessing efforts to increase and incorporate research use in public services. This article examines efforts in education to address the research–practice gap through an emerging field we term knowledge mobilization (KM). We explore some of the controversy surrounding the use of ‘evidence’, outline national and international KM initiatives and consider some of the issues and challenges that arise from the increased interest in evidence and research use in education. We also assess the current state and desirable future directions of efforts to strengthen the role of research and evidence in education.     

Fairness and Consequential Validity of Teacher Work Samples

Acknowledging the necessity to establish the fairness and consequential validity of teacher candidate performance assessments when they are used to make high-stakes decisions impacting entry into the profession, we investigated whether there were any adverse results from the use of the Renaissance Teacher Work Sample (TWS) assessment at two universities as a consequence of the age, gender, or race/ethnicity of teacher candidates. We also investigated education program and program entrance requirements, such as Praxis I scores, and measures of grade point average, as general predictors of TWS success. The findings indicated no disparate impact or adverse consequences based on the gender, age, or race/ethnicity of the teacher candidates. Selected variables did predict a moderate amount of the variance of the TWS total scores of both preinterns and student-teaching interns. The process used to determine the value implications of the results was also discussed.