The politics of educational success: a realist evaluation of early school leaving policies in Catalonia (Spain)

The objective of the article is to examine what is ‘taken for granted’ in the policies designed to combat Early School Leaving (ESL) in Catalonia, identifying their implicit ontologies, causal assumptions and logics of action. In order to do so, the realist evaluation is applied. Specifically, this methodology has been applied to compare the discourses, priorities and policies of two key agents in defining and implementing policies to combat ESL in Catalonia: the Catalan Department for Education (Regional Government body) and the Barcelona Education Consortium (Local Government body). In each case, systematic documentary analysis has been conducted as well as in-depth interviews with educational experts and policymakers. The results of the analysis allows opening up the black box of the political priorities defined by this two political agents, identifying two highly controversial logics to understand educational success and to consequently address ESL     

Collaborative action research between schools,a continuing professional development centre for teachers and the university: a case study in Spain

This article describes a collaborative action research project developed over the course of the 2011/12 academic year in the Faculty of Education at Cordoba University (Spain). The RIECU school–continuing professional development centre for teachers–university learning network is part of this research process. The aim is to create and consolidate a community of practice made up of continuing professional development advisers to teachers, infant education teachers, university students who are training to become infant education teachers and university teaching staff. The most relevant findings, which respond to the questions raised, are: the action research conducted indicates that teamwork between teacher, adviser, researcher and university student is an effective strategy to facilitate the acquisition of professional competences among student teachers; and student-teachers involved in the case study have evolved in their conception and approach to childhood and have had the opportunity to learn by modelling the professional conduct of their mentor teachers.     

Strategies of Number Sense in Pre-service Secondary Mathematics Teachers

This paper presents some results of an investigation on the number sense of a group of pre-service secondary teachers from Spain. The objective of this research was to analyze students’ use of strategies associated to number sense and compare them with those obtained in a previous study with pre-service primary teachers in Taiwan, (Yang, Reys & Reys, International Journal of Science and Mathematics Education, 7, 383–403, 2009). Pre-service secondary teachers showed lower success than pre-service primary teachers in a number sense test. Nevertheless, these last based their reasoning mainly on rules and algorithms, while pre-service secondary teachers used more strategies of number sense. In an attempt to delve into the low success shown by of Spanish pre-service secondary teachers, some students were interviewed. Those interviews showed that a deeper work on number sense in the training of these students is needed.     

The Oil Drop Experiment: Do Physical Chemistry Textbooks Refer to its Controversial Nature?

Most general chemistry textbooks consider the oil drop experiment as a classic experiment, characterized by its simplicity and precise results. A review of the history and philosophy of science literature shows that the experiment is difficult to perform (even today!) and generated a considerable amount of controversy. Acceptance of the quantization of the elementary electrical charge was preceded by a bitter dispute between R.A. Millikan and F. Ehrenhaft, that lasted for many years (1910–1925). The objective of this study was to investigate whether physical chemistry textbooks refer to the controversial nature of the experiment. Based on six criteria developed previously, 28 physical chemistry textbooks were evaluated. Analysis of the texts using six identified criteria demonstrated that the textbooks neither referred to the controversial nature of the experiment nor recognized the difficulty of the experimental procedure. Only a few texts even attempted to include any discussion of the history or philosophy of the experiment. The instructor of a physical chemistry course could include aspects of the Millikan–Ehrenhaft controversy to motivate classroom discussion and help facilitate an understanding of the role that controversy has in scientific progress.     

Spanish validation of the Basic Psychological Needs at Work Scale: A measure to predict teachers’ well-being in the workplace

The present study aimed to validate a Spanish-version of the Basic Psychological Needs at Work Scale (BPNWS-Sp) and to examine the associations between needs satisfaction and engagement and burnout in secondary education teachers. Using a sample of 584 secondary education teachers, the results supported the three-factor model, composite reliability, measurement invariance, and nomological validity of the BPNWS-Sp. This study contributes to validating the first instrument in Spanish to measure the satisfaction of the three BPNs separately in secondary education teachers. The measurement of teachers’ BPNs could effectively provide guidance for school policies to improve teaching and learning.     

“It’s Everybody’s Job”: Youth and Adult Constructions of Responsibility to Take Action for School Change through PAR

The Urban Review - Participatory action research (PAR) with youth holds potential to spur social justice-oriented change due to its explicit orientation to transform systemic inequity. Whereas...     

Performance and Perception in the Flipped Learning Model: An Initial Approach to Evaluate the Effectiveness of a New Teaching Methodology in a General Science Classroom

“Flipped classroom” teaching methodology is a type of blended learning in which the traditional class setting is inverted. Lecture is shifted outside of class, while the classroom time is employed to solve problems or doing practical works through the discussion/peer collaboration of students and instructors. This relatively new instructional methodology claims that flipping your classroom engages more effectively students with the learning process, achieving better teaching results. Thus, this research aimed to evaluate the effects of the flipped classroom on the students’ performance and perception of this new methodology. This study was conducted in a general science course, sophomore of the Primary Education bachelor degree in the Training Teaching School of the University of Extremadura (Spain) during the course 2014/2015. In order to assess the suitability of the proposed methodology, the class was divided in two groups. For the first group, a traditional methodology was followed, and it was used as control. On the other hand, the “flipped classroom” methodology was used in the second group, where the students were given diverse materials, such as video lessons and reading materials, before the class to be revised at home by them. Online questionnaires were as well provided to assess the progress of the students before the class. Finally, the results were compared in terms of students’ achievements and a post-task survey was also conducted to know the students’ perceptions. A statistically significant difference was found on all assessments with the flipped class students performing higher on average. In addition, most students had a favorable perception about the flipped classroom noting the ability to pause, rewind and review lectures, as well as increased individualized learning and increased teacher availability.     

The Phenomenon of False Assumption in Historical and Educational Texts

This article describes two heuristic strategies for problem solving: the use of false assumption strategy and the use of double false assumption strategy. Both of these strategies have their roots deep in history. In this article, we define these two strategies and illustrate their use in a problem developed by Frances Pellos. The article provides an overview of occurrences of these two strategies in various mathematical and educational texts. The texts show clearly that both of these strategies played a significant role in mathematics education in the past. We present some examples from concrete historical documents, which we use later for the preparation of a teaching experiment. We also present the conclusions of an experiment conducted on three lower secondary schools in the Czech Republic, the goal of which was to test the applicability of the use of false assumption strategy as a propaedeutic to solving word problems using equations.     

The Role of Civility and Metacommunication in Facebook Discussions

Social media’s potential for political and social discussion provides great promise since deliberation is key for democracy. Unfortunately, there is a problematic presence of incivility in conversations on digital platforms. We conducted an experiment to examine the effects of this phenomenon, driven by the elaboration likelihood model. Each of our four conditions showed a media outlet’s Facebook post with a story about genetically modified organisms and a comment section beneath with one of the following: a civil discussion, an uncivil discussion, an uncivil conversation with metacommunication encouraging civility, and a control group. Results revealed a mediated relationship of exposure to civil and metacommunicative comments on willingness to engage in a discussion through mental elaboration. We also found evidence of modeling behavior for civility and metacommunication.