Encountering science education’s capacity to affect and be affected

What might science education learn from the recent affective turn in the humanities and social sciences? Framed as a response to Michalinos Zembylas’s article, this essay draws from selected theorizing in affect theory, science education and science and technology studies, in pursuit of diverse and productive ways to talk of affect within science education. These discussions are framed by desires to transcend traditional epistemic boundaries and practices. The article concludes offering some associated ambiguities and tensions involved.     

A longitudinal study of deaf students’ use of an associational strategy on a reading comprehension test

The present investigation focused upon the use of a choice-dependent associational strategy by hearing-impaired students during a test of reading comprehension. An analysis of selected test items from the Stanford Achievement Test indicated that hearing-impaired students significantly favoured answers based upon association cues unrelated to the overall meaning of the preceding paragraph or stimulus sentence. The use of this strategy was highly stable over time; nearly seven of every ten students who used the strategy during an initial test administration reused the strategy a year later. Significant numbers of students also shifted away, after the year's interval, from the selection of correct answers or other incorrect distractor choices to the selection of the association-based answers. Finally, those students with the most profound hearing losses were even more likely to use and reuse the strategy, suggesting that hearing-impaired students are limited in those reading skills required for inferential processing and thus rely upon more concrete and comprehensible semantic cues.     

Undergraduates' attitudes and beliefs about subject matter and pedagogy measured periodically in a reform‐based mathematics and science teacher preparation program

This study describes the design and use of a valid and reliable instrument to measure teacher candidates' attitudes and beliefs about mathematics and science and the teaching of those subjects. The instrument, Attitudes and Beliefs about the Nature of and the Teaching of Mathematics and Science, was developed for the Maryland Collaborative for Teacher Preparation (MCTP), a statewide, standards‐based project in the National Science Foundation's Collaborative in Excellence in Teaching Preparation (CETP) Program. We report on two applications of the instrument: (a) a contrast between MCTP teacher candidates' and non‐MCTP teacher candidates' attitudes and beliefs about mathematics and science as they initially encountered reform‐based instruction in their undergraduate courses, and (b) a landscaping of how the MCTP teacher candidates' attitudes toward and beliefs about mathematics and science evolved over a 2.5‐year period. In support of current reform in science and mathematics teacher education, we determined that over an extended period the MCTP teacher candidates' attitudes and beliefs moved substantively and significantly in the direction intended. However, we also found that the non‐MCTP teacher candidates in the same reform‐based courses did not mirror this improvement in their attitudes and beliefs about mathematics and science or the teaching of those subjects. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 39: 713–737, 2002     

Interpersonal relations between school children and their peers,parents, and teachers

This article describes the nature of school children's relationships with parents, peers, and teachers, and identifies some interpersonal and academic consequences of unhealthy relationships. Also described are trends of relationship development, tools for assessing relationships, and finally, some intervention techniques available to enhance relationship building. The article points to the following conclusions: Healthy relationships are characterized by mutually reinforcing exchanges that lead to socially desirable consequences; quantification of the prevalence of unhealthy relationships is difficult; students who exhibit unhealthy relationships are at significant risk for problems later in life, such as dropping out of school, criminality, and marital maladjustment; educators have a number of assessment tools and techniques available to assess and promote social skills acquisition; and cooperative learning environments offer the greatest promise to educators for promoting healthy relationship building among students.     

'The visual helps me understand the complicated things': pupil views of teaching and learning with interactive whiteboards

This study is one element of a government‐sponsored evaluation into the introduction of interactive whiteboards (IWBs) to Years 5 and 6 in English primary schools. This element of the research aimed to gather information regarding pupil views of IWBs and the impact these tools can have on teaching and learning. To extend current literature, the method targeted pupils’ views of how IWBs can impact on metacognition: thinking about learning. Using a template that has been developed by the Centre for Learning and Teaching at Newcastle University, pupils were encouraged to talk about learning in different contexts: this methodology and its rationale are described. The results show that overall comments from the pupils are positive, with the resulting themes encompassing how the IWB can facilitate and initiate learning and impact on preferred approaches to learning. The pupils describe how different elements of software and hardware can motivate, aid concentration, and keep their attention. On the negative side, pupils candidly describe their frustration when there are technical difficulties, their desire to use the board themselves and their perceptions of teacher and pupil effects. As IWBs are becoming more and more prevalent in schools, we discuss implications and make re‐commendations for teachers and manufacturers.     

What has <Emphasis Type="Italic">Harry Potter</Emphasis> Done for Me? Children’s Reflections on their ‘<Emphasis Type="Italic">Potter</Emphasis> Experience’

This article reports findings from a small-scale focus-group study funded by the British Academy. Drawing on Herbert Marsh and Richard Shavelson’s notion of “Academic Self-Concept” and David Barton and Mary Hamilton’s view of literacy as context-specific social practices, the authors examine what young British Harry Potter enthusiasts perceive as the influence of the novels on their subsequent reading behaviour and academic development. Specifically, they consider whether these children feel that Harry Potter has helped improve their literacy skills and whether they think the books have changed their attitudes to reading. Moreover, the article sheds light on the role of the films and the possible effect of gender. The authors conclude that the Potter enthusiasts they have interviewed see the series as formative in terms of their literacy. However, regarding gender, intra-group variation (differences among individual readers in a group of either boys or girls) is far more significant than inter-group variation (differences between single-sex groups of boys and girls).     

Stress on campus: An interactional perspective

Faculty stress was investigated with the use of an interactional model of stress including roles, personal characteristics, coping strategies, and environmental characteristics. A random sample of 191 faculty members and 67 student-affairs staff members completed standardized measures of stress, strain, and coping resources and open-ended questions regarding sources of stress. Significant differences were found among faculty from different academic disciplines, between genders, and across semester time periods. Major stressors included time pressures, work overload, and interpersonal relationships. Body signals and poor interpersonal relationships were primary indicators of stress, and taking specific action and exercising were frequent coping behaviors. These findings have implications for administrative policy and faculty development programs.     

Professionalisation of operating department practice: an evolutionary perspective

The health care professionals staffing the operating theatres of UK hospitals are pursuing a professionalisation agenda based around increasing the academic level of the credential required for entry to their professional register. This paper explores the impact of this on registered Operating Department Practitioners (ODPs) and Theatre Nurses by proposing a theory of professionalisation as an inter- and intra-professional evolutionary process, which resonates with the Red Queen's Hypothesis. The findings show how registered professionals carry out a benchmarking exercise to determine the most suitable route of professional development. The ODPs and nurses who decide to participate in credentialised continuing professional development do so to remain competitive with the new breed of graduates entering the profession. However, their continued study only serves to bring them to the level of the new breed professionals; they are running fast to stand still. We explore and comment on the ripple of behaviours the rise in academic credential produces.