Quantifying Stress in Children

Today there is a greater awareness than hitherto of the existence and effects of pupil stress. There is also the recognition that the causes of pupil stress may be increasing in number and seriousness. However, recognition of this situation does not necessarily increase our understanding of it. In this paper, Ewen Rennie provides an example of the ways in which greater understanding might be achieved. A group of teachers were asked to rate the degree of stress engendered by a number of events. Though the results revealed significant differences from those of similar work undertaken in the past, their real value would be as a basis for comparison with the perceptions of parents and pupils.     

Three approaches to measuring children's perceptions about technology

Abstract

This paper reports the development and use of three instruments which comprise a comprehensive technique for describing children's perceptions about technology. The instruments are a questionnaire for upper primary school children, a quiz using pictures instead of written items for lower primary school children and, for both age‐groups, a combined writing/drawing activity which complements the questionnaire or quiz. The instruments are designed to cater for children from a range of age levels, provide information helpful to teachers about children's perceptions of technology, and be suitable for use in research. The instruments were trialled in a total of 28 classes in Western Australian schools and construct validity established by examining the pattern of responses between pairs of instruments completed by the same children. The teachers stated that participating in the processes of developing and administering the instruments was useful and gave them valuable information about children's views of technology.     

The relationship between affect and achievement in science

The relationship between affect and achievement in science was examined in two stages. First, a model was developed and tested for science-related affect, the complex of students' attitudes toward, interests in, and perceptions about science at school. The LISREL approach to path analysis was used to demonstrate the fit of the model to data collected from grade 8 students in two different schools on two different occasions. In the second stage of the research, multiple linear regression was used to examine the direction of the relationship between science related affect and achievement and to apportion variance common between previous and subsequent achievement and the components of science-related affect. It was found that affect is related more strongly to previous than subsequent achievement and that much of the common variance can be attributed to students' perceptions of their competence in science.     

Teacher Collaboration in Curriculum Change: The Implementation of Technology Education in the Primary School

The problem which stimulated this research is that in Australia, primary school teachers are expected to teach a new subject, Technology, but have had little training consistent with the newly adopted technology curriculum. Using case studies from two Western Australian schools, the paper documents the ways in which one teacher from each school has established successful classroom strategies for incorporating technology into her classroom, and how she has had a significant effect on the practice of other teachers in her school. The relationship between one pair of teachers in each school is used to explore the nature of their collaboration. One pair used joint work, with shared responsibility for the work of teaching, an example of deep collaboration. The other pairing was more one-sided, a collaborative relationship better described as one of aid and assistance. Both relationships were based on mutual respect, and demonstrate how teachers choose to work together towards a common purpose, the implementation of technology education. Implications from the study are discussed in terms of leadership and collaboration, time and integration, and teachers' knowledge.