A case study of an implementation of the ‘new literacy’ paradigm

Within this article, the authors discuss a research project which entailed using teacher journals as a source of program development, assessment and change. Over the course of one year, teachers from the West Deptford school system voluntarily participated in a professional development program entitled the PENN Literacy Network. This training program was led by a member of the West Deptford school district, and its aim was to promote new ways of integrating reading, writing and talking into language arts classrooms and across the curriculum. During the course of this training year, teachers were asked to keep journals detailing their experiences and understanding of the critical experiences which they were presented with, and these journals were responded to by the facilitator of the course and were read by researchers associated with the PENN Literacy Network in order to answer questions and identify emergent themes. This paper addresses some findings, analysis and interpretation of the qualitative evaluation research project which grew out of a university/school district collaboration. It describes the Pennsylvania Framework and the critical learning experiences associated with this Framework and details, using journal citations, teachers’ reactions to the changes taking place within their classrooms and their teaching philosophies as they adapt such critical experiences to their own daily practice. The changes which occur in the program due to teacher feedback and concerns are discussed. Throughout this case study, the authors seek to answer the following questions:‘In what ways have teachers who participated in the professional development program utilized the concepts and practices of the new literacy effort in their classrooms?’ and ‘How do these teachers feel about these changes?’ They believe that using such questions to analyze the journals helps to provide validation data supporting the assumption that the PENN Literacy Network does facilitate change and this data helps the facilitator of the course, the organizers of the Network and the university researchers to integrate teacher voices into the program itself. In addition, teachers are able to use the journals to experiment and learn while sharing their thoughts and feelings with their colleagues as a form of teacher research.     

The relations of proper character introduction to narrative quality and listening comprehension for young children from high poverty schools

The present study explored the types and frequency of literate language features in children’s narratives, and the relation of literate language and proper character introduction to children’s oral language skills in a sample of 184 prekindergarten, kindergarten, and first grade students from high-poverty schools. Using hierarchical regression, the results showed that literate language features were not predictive of listening comprehension or narrative quality outcomes. In contrast, children’s skill in properly introducing characters significantly accounted for variance in all outcome measures (narrative comprehension, narrative quality, and listening comprehension) above and beyond the control variables (age, total number of words, and mean length of utterance) and literate language features (adverbs, conjunctions, mental and linguistic verbs, and elaborated noun phrases). These results indicate that the child’s retell and language comprehension skills may develop concurrently with proper character introduction.     

Proceedings of the British hackademy

As journalism has become a ‘profession’, universities around the country have begun offering courses which prepare students to enter the field. The author, a journalist, discusses his experiences of teaching on one such course.     

Exploring the retention and success of students with disability in Australian higher education

The proportion of higher education students with disability is increasing. We know there is institutional variation in retention and performance of higher education students with disability, and there is a need to understand the reasons for this. This exploratory national study examines supports and adjustments provided by universities, including the role of disability practitioners, influence retention and performance of students with disability. The study uses a mixed-methods approach. National equity retention and performance data are analysed by higher education institution. Qualitative data on institutional policies and practices collected from a purposive sample of Australian higher education institutions are then analysed. Findings from the study include identification of factors linked to retention and performance of students with disability, including different types of disability.     

A Level

This article discusses the new specification for English Advanced Subsidiary and Advanced Level Examinations and what is new about it. It considers the way the examination has been developed in the past, the purposes of the examination, its relation to the National Curriculum, to GCSE and university courses and its usefulness as an assessment tool.     

The Pendulum as a Vehicle for Transitioning from Classical to Quantum Physics: History,Quantum Concepts,and Educational Challenges

In this article we use the pendulum as the vehicle for discussing thetransition from classical to quantum physics. Since student knowledgeof the classical pendulum can be generalized to all harmonic oscillators,we propose that a quantum analysis of the pendulum can leadstudents into the unanticipated consequences of quantum phenomenaat the atomic level. We intend to illustrate how classical deterministicphysical ideas are replaced by a point of view that contains bothdeterministic and probabilistic aspects. For example, the wave functioncontains probabilistic information but it evolves in time according toa fixed law, the Schrodinger equation. Discussion of the transition fromclassical to quantum thinking is historically grounded in the work oftwentieth-century physicists who developed quantum ideas. We seeapplication to current science in areas such as semiconductors, optics,GPS systems, and superconductivity. Our notion is that ascientifically-literatepublic should have a sense of the broad, conceptual schemes in modernphysics, as well as those associated with classical physics. We discusseducational challenges and strategies connected to including quantum theoryin a general education physics course. Our work would have otherapplications in college and secondary school settings.