We are All Winners: Training Silents to Millennials to Work as a Team

No abstract available for this article.     

Principled Improvement in Science: Forces and proportional relations in early secondary-school teaching

In response to continuing concerns about student attainment and participation in science and mathematics, the epiSTEMe project took a novel approach to pedagogy in these two disciplines. Using principles identified as effective in the research literature (and combining these in a fashion not previously attempted), the project developed topic modules for early secondary-school teaching in the UK, arranged for their implementation in classrooms, and evaluated the results. This paper reports the development, implementation, and evaluation of one of the epiSTEMe science modules. Entitled Forces and Proportional Relations, the module covers standard curricular material in the domain of forces, while paying particular attention to the proportional nature of many key constructs. It was developed in collaboration with a small group of teachers; implemented subsequently in 16 classrooms, in all cases involving students from the first year of secondary school; and evaluated through comparison with first-year students in 13 control classrooms who were studying the topic using established methods. Evaluation addressed topic mastery and opinions about the topic and the manner in which it was taught. While further research is required before definite conclusions are warranted, results relating to topic mastery provide grounds for optimism about the epiSTEMe approach. Furthermore, student opinions about the module were positive.     

Research as a vital action in the DIPEC territory

The authors present the Didáctica de las Prácticas Escolares Cotidianas – The Didactics of Everyday School Practice (DIPEC). From their point of view, it owes its specificity to certain special characteristics, one of which is the inevitable presence of concrete, immediate teaching action, which presents particular problems and therefore particular ways of dealing with them. This article includes an example of a problematic situation, the way it was handled using Paulo Freire's methodology and the action subsequently developed.     

Learning the ropes – the transition from a teacher to an administrator

ABSTRACT

New vice-principals (VPs) inevitably experience high levels of uncertainty when assuming the position, and undergo a process of socialisation, involving engaging with both professional and relational sources of support in schools, to adjust to their changing role. Drawing on socialisation theories, this exploratory study proposes that novice VPs would rely on the school’s structural feedback mechanism, peer affirmation and principal’s sponsorship in their adaptation process; the first of these is professionally oriented whereas the remaining two are relationally oriented. The study further argues that VPs would experience varying degrees of dependence on these factors corresponding to the stage of their development in the socialisation process. Findings of the study, informed by a Hong Kong data set covering VPs in their first, second, and third years of tenure respectively, support these propositions. Peer affirmation appears to be a continuous source of support to VPs in all tenure groups and it stands at odds with principal’s sponsorship. The effects of the structural feedback mechanism and principal’s sponsorship on VP’s transition are only evident in the 2-year group, with the former being positive and the latter negative. Implications of the findings are discussed.     

Marine Aerosol Weathering of Mediterranean Calcarenite Stone: Durability of Ethyl Silicate,Nano Ca(OH)2, Nano SiO2, and Nanostructured Consolidating Products

ABSTRACT

Calcarenite stone samples from a historic building (Bizerte, Tunisia) were collected and treated under different environmental conditions with several consolidating products: alkoxysilane (ethyl silicate), a surfactant-templated novel sol–gel, Ca(OH)₂, and SiO₂ nanoparticles. These were subjected to marine aerosol accelerated aging cycles and studied by several non-destructive tests and techniques to assess the stability of the products. Results show that weathering caused by salt crystallization is not inhibited but it is slowed down due to the enhancement of superficial mechanical properties (surface cohesion and micro-hardness) achieved after one month of treatments application. A high or low relative humidity of the consolidation environment significantly affects the final mechanical and aesthetical physical properties and therefore conditions the durability of the treated substrates, even producing higher damage than observed in the blank specimens, depending on the product.     

Deafness and attention in deaf children

The study shows the differences between hearing parents and deaf instructors interacting with deaf children and directing their attention. Data were collected at home and at a service for special needs in Bristol, England. The mother or instructor was asked to play naturally with the child with the toys provided. When the child's attention was focused during their play, the mother or instructor had to try to direct the child's attention to each of the toys. The results suggest that both groups (mothers and instructors) were effective in directing attention to objects not in the immediate area of play; however, hearing mothers were more successful than deaf instructors.     

Secondary school vice‐principals: Commitment,challenge, efficacy and synchrony

The study sought to investigate Hong Kong secondary school vice‐principals’ job facets leading to overall job satisfaction, and to differentiate the satisfaction of vice‐principals of different career orientations and gender groups. The findings indicated that there are four main facets of satisfaction, in rank order of influence on overall satisfaction, ‘professional commitment’, ‘level of personal challenge’, ‘sense of efficacy’ and ‘sense of synchrony’. The study also found that vice‐principals who aspired to the principalship exhibited a higher degree of professional commitment, a stronger sense of efficacy, and experienced lower levels of stress associated with personal challenge than vice‐principals who did not aspire to a principalship.