Preparing for National Monitoring in Poland

Like many of the countries in Central and Eastern Europe, Poland is currently in the throes of a major educational reform. The systems of primary and secondary schooling have been restructured, much of the responsibility for education is in the process of decentralisation, new curricula are being introduced into schools and a new school leaving certificate, the Nowa Matura, is to be implemented, along with a new examination infrastructure. A national monitoring programme could play a crucially important role in this context, providing a useful tool for medium to long-term evaluation of the effects of the reform in terms of pupil achievement. To this end, and within the support framework of the EU SMART initiative, pilot pupil performance surveys were carried out on a national scale in Poland in both the primary and secondary sectors. This paper outlines some of the main features of the reform, considers the potential value of a national monitoring programme for reform evaluation, offers some salient results from the pilot monitoring surveys and highlights some important implications of the experience for future programme design and use.     

Learning from our own lessons: pre-service teachers’ narratives of teaching as an experiment

Pre-service teachers need to develop habits of mind that allow them to grow as new teachers. This article describes an elementary mathematics methods course in which teaching as an experiment was used a framework for pre-service teachers to participate in action research by developing learning goals, observing and analyzing student thinking, hypothesizing and enacting teaching strategies, and reflecting on the effectiveness of a lesson. Through analysis of reflections and lesson plans, the article explores three groups of pre-service teachers’ reflections on teaching as well as their confidence across the semester. By treating lessons as experiments, the pre-service teachers were able to develop appropriate teaching responses over time as well as gain confidence in their abilities.     

Relationship between cooperation in an iterated prisoner's dilemma game and the discounting of hypothetical outcomes

A number of authors have proposed that preference for a larger, delayed reward in delay discounting is similar to cooperation in a repeated prisoner's dilemma game versus tit-for-tat. This proposal was examined by correlating delay-discounting (Experiment 1) and probability-discounting (Experiment 2) rates for hypothetical monetary gains and losses with performance in a repeated prisoner's dilemma game. Correlations between rate of delay discounting (discounting parameters and area under the curve) and proportion of cooperation in the repeated prisoner's dilemma game versus tit-for-tat were significant across three magnitudes, and correlations were generally higher with discounting for losses than with that for gains. As was expected, correlations between rate of delay discounting and performance versus a random strategy in the prisoner's dilemma game were not significant. Correlations between rate of probability-discounting and cooperation rate in a repeated prisoner's dilemma game versus neither a tit-for-tat nor a random strategy were significant.     

The influence of students' values and educational attitudes on their evaluation of faculty

The study determined the influence of students' values and educational attitudes on their evaluation of faculty. Sixty-five graduate students completed an evaluation form, a value survey, and an attitude scale at the end of an adult learning theory course. Multiple regression and path analysis showed that (a) educational attitudes and selected values accounted for 27% of the variance in student evaluation of faculty, (b) educational attitudes were responsible for 8% of the variance in student evaluation of faculty, and (c) values per se were not significantly related to student evaluation of faculty. A path model suggested that values influenced student evaluation of faculty through educational attitudes. The findings suggested that students' values and attitudes play a major role in their evaluation of faculty and should be recognized by teachers when interpreting the results of such ratings.     

Implementing Effective Group Work for Mathematical Achievement in Primary School Classrooms in Hong Kong

The Hong Kong Education Bureau recommends that primary school pupils’ mathematical achievement be enhanced via collaborative discussions engendered by group work. This pedagogic change may be hindered by Confucian heritage classroom practices and Western-dominated group work approaches that predominate in Hong Kong. To overcome these obstacles, we introduced a relational approach to group work in a quasi-experimental study. Our sample included 20 teachers randomly allocated to experimental (12) and control (8) conditions and their 504 mathematics pupils (aged 9–10). The relational approach focused on the development of peer relationships in a culturally appropriate manner and was implemented over 7 months. Pupils were pre-/post-tested for mathematical achievement and systematically observed, and the teachers were assessed for subject knowledge and pre-/post-tested for pedagogic efficacy. Analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) and hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) results show enhanced mathematical achievement, supported by improved peer-based communication skills and time-on-task for the experimental pupils. Experimental teachers raised their pedagogic efficacy. Results indicate the potential of the relational approach for boosting academic achievement via enhanced child-peer-teacher interaction and the need to reassess the role of peer-based latent collectivist learning in Confucian heritage classrooms.     

Young children's play qualities in same-, other-, and mixed-sex peer groups

This research examined how children's play varied as a function of the sex of the child, the sex of the play partner, and whether they played in dyads or groups. Children (mean age = 52 months) were observed during their free play. Data revealed that boys' same-sex play was more active-forceful, further from adults, and more stereotyped than girls' play, and that this pattern was generally exaggerated in groups versus dyads. Children rarely played only with children of the other sex (other-sex peers), but about one fourth of their interactions involved children of both sexes (mixed-sex peers). Compared with same- or dyadic other-sex play, mixed-sex play was more likely to occur near adults, and was intermediate in active-forceful and stereotyped activity choices. Findings confirmed that children's experiences in peer groups vary depending on the sex of the child and sex of play partners.     

Students as ‘Producers’: using videodisc technology to create stories

The use of videodisc technology to teach a variety of subject matter across many disciplines is an area of interest to many educators. This paper discusses an interactive videodisc program that was implemented in a classroom setting with fifth and sixth grade children. The program, called Producer, was introduced to children and then used as part of a six‐week summer enrichment classroom. A discussion of how children interacted with the Producer program to create stories is discussed based on videotapes of the teaching sessions. The implications of using videodisc technology to teach children are reviewed.     

2020 Vision: Envisioning a new generation of STEM learning research

In this issue, we have compiled six original papers, outcomes from the U.S. National Science Foundation (US-NSF)-funded REESE (Research and Evaluation on Education in Science and Engineering) 2020 Vision: The Next Generation of STEM Learning Research project. The purpose of 2020 Vision was to re-envision the questions and frameworks guiding STEM research in the twenty-first century, given that notions of learning have changed significantly in the last decade. The papers present diverse research principles that emerged from an initial 2020 Vision conference at Oregon State University (OSU), were then vetted more broadly with the science education community nationally and internationally, and presented in a public 2020 Vision symposium series also at OSU. Individually and as a group, these papers argue that if STEM learning is lifelong, life-wide and life-deep, research designs need to cut across the diverse settings and investigate the multiple contexts and media in which learners live and interact. Authors call for research paradigms that holistically reflect questions of the “what, when, where, why, how and with whom” of STEM learning. Associated Forum papers respond and expand the conversation by critically examining the recommended research principles and in some cases, challenging both authors and editors to think even more broadly. Two Key Contributor pieces highlight the contributions of researchers who have helped to push on these research boundaries, advancing science education research nationally and internationally. A final synthesis paper, a case study of research being conducted in a diverse, under-resourced community in Portland, Oregon provides one example of how the 2020 Vision research principles might be integrated into a comprehensive STEM learning research study.     

Development and validation of two scales to measure elaboration and behaviors associated with stewardship in children

This investigation examines the development of two scales that measure elaboration and behaviors associated with stewardship in children. The scales were developed using confirmatory factor analysis to investigate their construct validity, reliability, and psychometric properties. Results suggest that a second-order factor model structure provides the best fit. This model produced: (1) a stewardship elaboration scale measuring interest and cognitive engagement in stewardship issues, and (2) a stewardship behavior scale measuring in-park, community, and home behaviors. These scales will be useful for evaluating environmental educational programs focused on environmental and park stewardship. The scales may also help researchers assess whether environmental education results in participants elaborating on persuasive messaging, thereby increasing the likelihood that behavioral intentions leading to behavior change will occur.