Reformation of VET and demands on teachers’ subject knowledge – Swedish vocational teachers’ recurrent participation in a national CPD initiative

This study investigates continuing professional development (CPD) of vocational teachers, with a focus on recurrent participation. Vocational teachers need to be competent as teachers and in relation to their vocational teaching subject. Reformation of Swedish vocational education in order to strengthen the working-life connection imposes demands on teachers to have up-to-date knowledge about the vocations related to their vocational subjects. To support the reform, vocational teachers have been offered to participate in a new national CPD initiative targeting their vocational competence. The study concerns participation in this initiative. Drawing on a socio-cultural perspective, vocational teachers’ CPD implies boundary-crossing between school and working-life. Theory concerning adults’ participation in education is considered relevant to understand conditions for such boundary-crossing, and learning, among vocational teachers. The article specifically investigates patterns in vocational teachers’ recurrent participation, which is expected to clarify the factors influencing further participation in professional development. The strongest predictor of recurrent participation, when adjusting for the influence of other factors, is the type of municipality that the teacher comes from, with low populated municipalities having the lowest likelihood of participation. Furthermore, recurrent participation is more likely by participating teachers from adult education or from privately owned schools, and by male teachers.     

A sociocultural perspective on mediated activity in third grade science

This ethnographic study of a third grade classroom examined elementary school science learning as a sociocultural accomplishment. The research focused on how a teacher helped his students acquire psychological tools for learning to think and engage in scientific practices as locally defined. Analyses of classroom discourse examined both how the teacher used mediational strategies to frame disciplinary knowledge in science as well as how students internalized and appropriated ways of knowing in science. The study documented and analyzed how students came to appropriate scientific knowledge as their own in an ongoing manner tied to their identities as student scientists. Implications for sociocultural theory in science education research are discussed. John Reveles is an assistant professor in the Elementary Education Department at California State University, Northridge. He received his Ph.D. from the University of California, Santa Barbara in 2005. Before pursuing his Ph.D., he worked as a bilingual elementary school teacher for 3 years. His research focuses on the development of scientific literacy in elementary school settings; sociocultural influences on students' academic identity; equity of access issues in science education; qualitative and quantitative research methods. Within the Michael D. Eisner College of Education, he teaches elementary science curriculum methods courses, graduate science education seminars, and graduate research courses. Gregory Kelly is a professor of science education at Penn State University. He is a former Peace Corps Volunteer and physics teacher. He received his Ph.D. from Cornell in 1994. His research focuses on classroom discourse, epistemology, and science learning. This work has been supported by grants from Spencer Foundation, National Science Foundation, and the National Academy of Education. He teaches courses concerning the uses of history, philosophy, sociology of science in science teaching and teaching and learning science in secondary schools. He is editor of the journal Science Education. Richard Durán is a Professor in the Gevirtz Graduate School of Education, University of California, Santa Barbara. His research and publications have been in the areas of literacy and assessment of English Language Learners and Latino students. He has also conducted research on after school computer clubs, technology and learning as part of the international UC Links Network. With support from the Kellogg Foundation, he is implementing and investigating community and family-centered intervention programs serving the educational progress of Latino students in the middle and high school grades.     

Impact of Anatomy Boot Camp on Students in a Medical Gross Anatomy Course

Lincoln Memorial University‐DeBusk College of Osteopathic Medicine (LMU‐DCOM) offers an optional three‐week summer Anatomy Boot Camp course (ABC) to facilitate students' transition into medical school and promote retention of anatomy subject matter. The pre‐matriculation program is a supplemental instruction course that utilizes a small group learning format. Boot camp instruction is led by teaching assistants and two anatomy professors. Enrollees gain early exposure to Medical Gross Anatomy (MGA) course subject matter, which is taught in the fall semester, and learn study skills necessary to excel in medical school. No grade is assigned for the course, therefore participants can study without the fear of potentially affecting grades. This study evaluates the effectiveness of the LMU‐DCOM ABC course using data from four consecutive summers. Independent two‐sample t‐tests were used to compare ABC to non‐ABC students for the following variables: incoming grade point average (GPA) and Medical College Admission Test® (MCAT®) scores, MGA written and laboratory practical examination grades, and final MGA course grade. Additionally, a 26‐question survey was administered to 2012–2014 boot camp participants. There were no significant differences in incoming GPA and MCAT scores. However, boot campers scored significantly higher on the first two lecture and laboratory examinations (P < 0.05) for each year of the study. Thereafter scores varied less, suggesting a faster head start for boot camp participants. Mean MGA final grade was on average 3% higher for the boot camp cohort. The survey feedback supports that the ABC course assists with the academic and social transition into medical school. Anat Sci Educ 10: 215–223. © 2016 American Association of Anatomists.     

Approaches to Studying and Perceptions of the Academic Environment in Students Following Problem-Based and Subject-Based Curricula

To investigate the effects of different kinds of curriculum, the Course Experience Questionnaire (CEQ) and a short form of the Approaches to Studying Inventory (ASI) were administered to 225 2nd-year students at six different schools of occupational therapy. Their curricula were classified as problem-based, subject-based or hybrid. Their scores on the scales of the CEQ and ASI were closely related, insofar as they shared more than half of their respective variance. Problem-based curricula were associated with higher scores on the scales of the CEQ concerned with appropriate assessment and emphasis on independence. With the ASI, problem-based curricula were associated with lower scores on all of the scales concerned with a reproducing orientation, and with higher scores on the scale concerned with a deep approach. These findings suggest that the implementation of a problem-based curriculum has desirable effects on the quality of learning, and these are at least in part mediated by students' perceptions of their academic environment.     

Attendance, schooling quality, and the demand for education of Mexican Americans, African Americans, and non-Hispanic whites

This study examines the influence of the opportunity costs of school attendance, educational quality attributes, and household socioeconomic status on the educational demand of Mexican Americans, African Americans, and non-Hispanic whites using the 1988–1990 surveys of the National Education Longitudinal Study. Implementing a utility-maximizing framework, educational demand assumes the form of schools' average daily attendance rates and student dropout decisions between the 8th and 10th grades. The basic results suggest that a school's attendance rate is sensitive to educational quality and student characteristics. Moreover, the demand for education measured by student attrition inversely relates to unexplained school attendance, and is positively affected by household socioeconomic status. Some policy recommendations based on the results are discussed.     

A challenge for vocational guidance in Peru

Previously University Director of Student Welfare and Students' Concerns at that university. Has also worked as Vocational Counsellor and teacher at several universities in Peru. Is interested in psychological research and in vocational and psychological guidance.     

Constant and variable irrelevant cues during intra- and extradimensional transfer

Experiment I compared constant (CI), variable-between (VBI), and variable-within (WVI) irrelevant cues during an extradimensional (ED) shift discrimination. Performance was better for CI than for VBI and better for VBI than for VWI. Experiment II combined CI, VBI, and VWI cues with ED or intradimensional (ID) shifts. Irrelevant-cue conditions did not affect ID performance but did affect ED performance. The typical superiority of ID, as compared to ED, shifts was observed in the VWI condition but not in the CI condition. Implications for mediating-response (i.e., attention or observing-response) theories were indicated.     

Child abuse potential in parents with histories of substance use disorder

OBJECTIVE: To examine the relationship between parental history of substances use disorders (SUDs) and abuse potential. METHOD: Milner's (1986) Child Abuse Potential Inventory (CAPI) was administered to fathers and mothers (with and without histories of SUDs) of 10- to 12-year-old boys. RESULTS: Fathers and mothers with lifetime histories of SUDs had higher Abuse Scale scores and were more likely to score in the Elevated range (as determined by clinically significant cutoff scores) than parents without such histories. No differences were found between parents with current diagnoses of SUD and those with past (but not current) histories of SUD. Fathers and mothers with a partner who had a history of SUD were more likely to score in the Elevated range, regardless of their own SUD histories. Separate regression models revealed that, for both fathers and mothers, emotional dysregulation (positive and negative affectivity) predicted Abuse Scale scores. Additional contributors to Abuse Scale scores were SUD status in fathers, and lack of involvement with the child in mothers. CONCLUSIONS: History of SUDs in both fathers and mothers increases abuse potential. Contributors to abuse potential differed in fathers and mothers, underscoring the importance of examining parents separately in child maltreatment research.