The Complexity of Learning: Exploring the Interplay of Different Mediational Means in Group Learning with Digital Tools

The relationship between the different mediational means for supporting students’ learning with digital tools in science group work in a Norwegian lower-secondary school is examined. Analyses of teacher-student and student-student interactions are located in cultural-historical theory and draw on Galperin’s conceptualisation of learning processes. Findings show that digital tools, task design, peer collaboration, and teacher’s interventions dialectically interplay to shape how learners use mediational means: (1) digital tools are the resources that enable students to explicate their (mis)understandings; (2) compare-and-contrast tasks promote analytical thinking; (3) peers present themselves as resources who promote development of conceptual understanding; (4) the teacher guides learners’ attention towards the potential of the mediational resources, elicits, organises, and structures students’ knowledge. The dialectical interplay of these mediational means creates a system that supports and guides students’ learning.     

A rubric to track the development of secondary pre-service and novice teachers’ summative assessment literacy

Abstract

Teachers require specialised assessment knowledge and skills in order to effectively assess student learning. These knowledge and skills develop over time through ongoing teacher learning and experiences. The first part of this paper presents a Summative Assessment Literacy Rubric (SALRubric) constructed to track the development of secondary science teachers’ summative assessment literacy. The analytic rubric consists of 10 dimensions spread across three categories drawn from the literature and context-specific empirical evidence: knowledge of assessment, understanding the context for assessment, and recognising the impact of assessment. The second part of this paper applies the SALRubric in a case study to explore the development of summative assessment literacy of New Zealand secondary science pre-service and novice teachers. An increasing sophistication in these teachers’ summative assessment literacy was evident over 20 months albeit in a nuanced manner for individual teachers. The rubric was a very useful tool for evaluating and documenting shifts in teachers’ summative assessment literacy over time. Implications of the use of SALRubric are discussed in terms of summative assessment literacy practice and development.     

Changing the face of reference: adapting biomedical and health information services for the classroom, clinic, and beyond

This article describes how the reference department at a large academic health sciences library evolved to address the clinical and research information needs of the parent organization without losing its close connections to the classroom and curriculum. Closing the reference desk, moving to on-call and house call models, designing positions such as clinical research librarian and basic biomedical sciences librarian, finding alternative funding to grow the department, providing technology and training to facilitate librarians' work, and developing programming for and taking advice from library clients facilitated efforts to create a relevant presence and solidify the library's place in the university community.     

The influence of temporal spacing on time-place discrimination

The conditions under which circadian and interval-timing mechanisms are used in time-place discrimination were investigated. Rats earned the first daily meal by pressing a lever beginning 3.5 h after the start of the session and a second daily meal by pressing another lever. The second meal started 3.5 or 7 h (Experiment 1) or 0.75 or 1.75 h (Experiment 2) after the start of the first meal, using independent groups. In Experiment 1, approximately half of the rats used an interval-timing mechanism, and the other half used a circadian mechanism. In Experiment 2, the rats timed two intervals, one from the start of the session until the first meal and the other from the first to the second meal. A circadian mechanism is relevant to timing intervals in the range of 1.75–3.5 h, and an interval-timing mechanism can be used to time intervals from 0.75–7 h.     

Discrimination of what, when, and where is not based on time of day

Rats (n=6) visited four baited locations (randomly chosen on each trial; study phase), one of which was randomly selected to provide chocolate. After short (1-h) or long (25-h) retention intervals (RIs), eight locations were available, and the four locations not available in the study phase provided food (test phase); the chocolate location also provided food after long RIs. More visits to the chocolate location occurred after long RIs than after short RIs. Next, chocolate was paired with LiCl during the long RI (i.e., after encoding the chocolate location). Fewer revisits to the chocolate location occurred after LiCl than in previous testing with the long RI. The rats demonstrated complete transfer when grape replaced chocolate after LiCl-chocolate pairing. The discrimination of what, when, and where could not be based on adopting different revisit strategies at different times of testing.     

Organizational Dysfunction: A Conflict of Trust and Control

The objective of our article is to examine organizational dysfunction as a consequence of misfit between organizational controls and levels of workforce trust within nations. By examining three elements of trust, we suggest that trust varies among national workforces. This relationship provides a basis for a theoretical framework which posits that a negative relationship between trust and control can produce organizational dysfunctions when there is a misfit between organizational control and societal trust. We propose that financial accounting practices serve as an important indicator of inherent societal trust which should fit controls implemented at the managerial accounting level. The paper concludes with a discussion of contributions and implications for future research.