The effect of exploratory talk on the development of sentence structure in able writers

This one‐term practitioner research study, conducted with 33 Year 5 children, considers the impact of teaching exploratory talk skills on the learning of the class, with particular consideration of the development of the ability of gifted and talented children to manipulate and control sentence structure to create effect. Beginning with metatalk activities, the class defined new talk rules, putting them into practice in an action‐research project. The study then went on to consider the detailed application of these skills in a focus group of six gifted children. In order to meet with the requirements of a wider study, the impact of this focus group on the learning of the whole class was observed. While many children, both those in the focus group and the wider class, appeared to embrace exploratory talk as a route to independence of the class teacher, some children were more reluctant to engage. The article concludes with an evaluation of the impact of exploratory talk.     

Thai pre-service science teachers engaging action research during their fifth year internship

As a key element in teacher education programmes, action research is a learning process in which pre-service teachers inquire, reflect on and improve their teaching practices. This qualitative study sought to understand what enhanced or hindered Thai pre-service teachers' action research projects during their student teaching. This study drew upon written reflections, focus-group interviews and observations of seminar sessions. Data analysis was inductive, involving categorical aggregation followed by a search for correspondence and patterns. The results indicated that the pre-service teachers misunderstood action research, and also held a negative attitude toward it, both of which led them to superficial analyses of practice. They struggled with time limitations, data gathering and interpretation strategies. In spite of the struggles they experienced, these pre-service science teachers did learn more about the action research through collaboratively working with cooperating teachers and university supervisors and on-campus seminar discussions held concurrently with the fifth year internship. Recognizing and understanding the reasons and thinking patterns at the root of these teachers' difficulties with learning about action research can form the basis for reflecting on and rethinking the components of science teacher preparation programmes in Thailand.     

Decolonising curriculum practice: developing the indigenous cultural capability of university graduates

Higher Education - The pedagogical urge to decolonise student thinking has been at the heart of the drive to embed Indigenous knowledge in universities throughout the western world. Despite ongoing...     

Making the Pap smear into the "right tool" for the job

Despite being a rather recalcitrant tool, the "Pap smear" is today the major cancer screening technology in the world. This paper examines how and why hetrogeneous actors chose to advocate the Pap smear as a screen for cervical cancer in the late 1940's, and to tinker both in and far beyond the diagnostic laboratory for over 50 years to make the Pap smear "fit" as a screening and clinical technology. Tinkerings included gendering the division of labour, attempting to automate reading of smears, juggling costs, exploring alternative screening technologies, pushing for regulation of laboratories, and settling for locally-negotiated orders of clinical accuracy instead of global standardization, still elusive today.     

The status of girls’ education in Education for All Fast Track Initiative partner countries

This viewpoint examines girls’ performance in primary education in the countries that joined the Education for All Fast Track Initiative between 2002 and 2008. At the time they joined the initiative, a first group of countries (high performers) had already achieved high and equal enrollment of girls and boys. Significant progress is evident in a second group of countries (good performers) after joining the initiative. In contrast, a third group of countries (weak performers) continue to struggle to achieve any increase in girls’ enrollment. The article summarizes the various interventions that countries have adopted to encourage girls to attend school and then highlights the importance of developing strategic plans based on extensive collaboration between development partners and government. The viewpoint concludes by describing the three challenges that remain: increasing learning, reducing the number of out-of-school girls, and improving girls’ performance in fragile and post-conflict countries.