Faith schools,social capital and academic attainment: Evidence from TIMSS‐R mathematics scores in Flemish secondary schools

Social capital theory, recent developments in the theory of identity and a small econometric literature all suggest positive attainment effects from faith schooling. To test this hypothesis, the authors use a unique data set on Flemish secondary school students from the 1999 repeat of the Third International Mathematics and Science Study to estimate an education production function. The results suggest modest attainment benefits in mathematics when schools are influenced by faith communities but not when they are influenced by trade unions or business groups. The authors estimate models with exogenous and endogenous switching to investigate the robustness of this result to school selection policy and parental/student self‐selection. These additional results not only suggest that the positive attainment effects of faith schooling do not reflect selection bias but also provide evidence suggesting that such attainment effects reflect forms of social capital that are more readily available in faith schools than in non‐faith schools. However, the limitations of social capital theory and evidence caution against radical policy conclusions.     

Children’s Developing Ability to Resolve Disagreements by Integrating Perspectives

Children live in a world where disagreement is commonplace. Although disagreement can sometimes be explained by differences in people’s reliability, disagreement may also indicate that the referent elicits multiple perspectives. The present studies (total N = 129, 5- to 12-year-old ethnically diverse U.S. children, 42% girls) examined children’s ability to resolve disagreement among two individuals by identifying referents that integrated the perspectives, and considered the extent to which any age-related change could be explained by epistemological understanding (i.e., acknowledging that two perspectives can be right). Children’s age was positively correlated with their ability to integrate perspectives, and children performed at above-chance levels by approximately 10 years of age. Age differences in integrating perspectives were partially accounted for by epistemological understanding.     

Training engaged student employees: A small college library experience

Student employees are often the first people patrons contact when they enter an academic library, and thus their knowledge level and service skills are crucial to academic library success. This article presents a case study of the job-related knowledge and customer service skills of undergraduate student employees in a small liberal arts college after the implementation of a training program more focused on patron service. Both successes and failures are discussed.     

Science, Art, and Experience: Constructing a Science Pedagogy From Dewey’s Aesthetics

Drawing on the work of Dewey, we present a view of science education from the perspective of art and aesthetics. This perspective places a transformative, aesthetic experience at the forefront of educational objectives. Such experience involves the application of learning in everyday contexts, expansion of perception, and development of an increased interest in science ideas and aspects of the world illuminated by those ideas. We present a pedagogical model focused on fostering transformative, aesthetic experiences. This model involves two general categories of instructional methods: (a) methods of crafting ideas out of concepts, and (b) methods of modeling and scaffolding transformative, aesthetic experiences. We discuss how the methods comprising this pedagogical model relate to established science education methods.     

PowerPoint slide provision and student performance: the moderating roles of self-efficacy and gender

Research on the pedagogical value of providing students with PowerPoint (PPT) slide handouts has produced mixed results. One reason for the inconsistent findings may be that most studies in this stream of research have neglected to examine individual differences. In the current study, we aimed to advance research on the pedagogical value of providing students with access to PPT slide handouts by examining whether self-efficacy and gender influence the effect of PPT slide provision on academic performance. We found no evidence to suggest that the provision of slide handouts has broad, unconditional pedagogical value. Instead, we found that both self-efficacy and gender moderated the extent to which the availability of the handouts enhanced or hindered students’ performance. As predicted, both students high on self-efficacy and males performed significantly better when they were provided with handouts. Conversely, students low on self-efficacy performed significantly worse when the handouts were provided. Female students also trended toward lower performance when the handouts were provided. Additionally, we found that students who were provided with PPT handouts perceived their instructor as more effective, and that this relation was mediated by students’ feeling of preparation. Finally, students also considered the provision of PPT handouts more valuable to their learning and course performance than one-to-one interactions with the professor. Implications for research and practice are discussed.     

Portfolios, Accountability, and an Interpretive Approach to Validity

How can the results of classroom-based portfolio assessment be communicated outside the classroom? How might a portfolio-based assessment system be designed and implemented? How can we evaluate the merits of portfolio-based assessments?     

Cognitive Illusions as Hindrances to Learning Complex Environmental Issues

Journal of Science Education and Technology - Teaching and learning complex issues is often confounded by the presence of simplistic mental models that are held by students. These simplistic models...     

Brief Research Report: The Message Behind Teacher Emotions

Abstract

We hypothesized that students use the message behind teacher emotions to interpret the cause of their failure and to form competence beliefs; hence, in failure situations teacher anger could be beneficial. In Experiment 1, participants made judgments about another student’s failure in the face of teacher pity versus anger. Lack of ability attributions were made and low competence was perceived, when pity was interpreted as the teacher attributed the failure to lack of ability. Lack of effort attributions were made when anger was interpreted as the teacher attributed the failure to lack of effort. Experiment 2 replicated and extended these findings by examining students responses to their own failure. Findings imply that expressing anger is less detrimental than many teachers suppose.