Examining the Beliefs and Practices of Four Effective Australian Primary Science Teachers

With trends across many countries still indicating the decline of student interest in school science and diminishing numbers of students studying science beyond the compulsory years, it seems that the field remains in crisis. To address these unfortunate trends, there needs to be a greater emphasis on science education research that highlights the good news stories. For example, what are science teachers actually doing in their classrooms to increase student interest and understanding in science? This article focuses on the science teaching beliefs and practices of four Western Australian primary school teachers. The teachers were nominated by a professional colleague as effective practitioners. The study involved gathering information from classroom observations and teacher interviews to provide background information to assist in developing understandings of these teachers and their science teaching. This article reports on the initial findings drawn from Deanne A, Kate B, Lisa C and Rebecca D. Their practices were organised into the following six categories: classroom environment; conceptual knowledge and procedural skills; teaching strategies and approaches; student-specific considerations; teacher-specific considerations; and context-specific considerations. In examining the components contributing to these categories, it was evident that the teachers’ beliefs, as well as the contextual factors inherent in each classroom environment, influenced how and why they teach science in the ways they do.     

Students' Perceptions and Communicative Management of Instructors' Online Self–Disclosure

Computer-mediated communication has become one of the many teaching strategies used to enhance students' cognitive and affective learning. What happens, however, when instructors use the Internet for personal purposes, such as staying in touch with friends and sharing gossip? This study investigated how college students perceive and communicatively manage their instructors' private information after viewing these profiles. An interpretive analysis of 21 interviews with college students confirmed previous research regarding student perceptions of instructors' self-disclosure, and students reported the information online impacted their communication with the instructor in various ways. Implications and future research suggestions are discussed.     

BOOK REVIEW

This paper describes an investigation in Korea of the extent to which a new general science curriculum, reflecting a constructivist view, has influenced the classroom learning environment in grade 10 science. The Constructivist Learning Environment Survey (CLES) was selected for the investigation and translated into Korean. Other objectives of this study were to determine whether the Korean version of the CLES is valid and reliable, differences between students’ perceptions of their actual and preferred learning environment and associations between students’ perceptions of the constructivist learning environment and their attitude to science. The Korean‐language version of the CLES was found to be valid and reliable and grade 10 students did perceive a more constructivist learning environment than grade 11 students who had not been exposed to the new curriculum. This suggested that efforts of curriculum reform had produced some positive effects. Students tended to prefer a more positive environment than what was perceived to be present and statistically significant relationships were found between classroom environment and student attitudes. These relationships suggest that favourable student attitudes could be promoted in classes where students perceive more personal relevance, share control with their teachers and negotiate their learning.     

The Filipino Nursing Students' Dilemmas in Geriatric Care

The continually rising percentage of the elderly population and the demand for geriatric nursing care are dramatically related. While it is true that most undergraduate programs prepare nurses for the care of geriatric patients, most receive limited academic preparation in the nursing curriculum (Williams & Mezey, 2000 Williams , C. , & Mezey , M. ( 2000 ). Older adults: Recommended baccalaureate competencies and curricular guidelines for geriatric nursing care . American Association of Colleges of Nursing and the John A. Hartford Foundation Institute for Geriatric Nursing . Retrieved August 10, 2008, from http://www.aacn.nche.edu/Education/pdf/Gercomp.pdf  [Google Scholar]). This is particularly true in the Philippines where there is no stand-alone geriatric nursing course.

This phenomenological study purports to capture the lived experiences of Filipino nursing students' dilemmas in geriatric care. Five Filipino senior nursing students and three clinical faculty from a comprehensive university in the Philippines were purposely chosen for the study. A two-part instrumentation was used. The first is the robotfoto, a Dutch term which means a cartographic sketch of the subject (Kelchtermans & Ballet, 2002 Kelchtermans , G. , & Ballet , K. ( 2002 ). The micropolitics of teacher induction: A narrative bibliographical study on teacher socialization . Teaching and Teacher Education , 18 ( 1 ), 105 – 120 .[Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]). The second was a semi-structured face-to-face interview that was recorded with the consent of the participants. The full texts were phenomenologically reduced using a repertory grid to observe both cool and warm analyses, which facilitates the identification of unique conceptual clusters. Findings of this study have described the elements that define student dilemmas in geriatric care. The emerged Students' Dilemmas in Geriatrics Causality Quadrant (SDGCQ), which consists of (a) Foundational Deficit, (b) Psychological Deficit, (c) Relational-Attitudinal Deficit, and (d) Occupational Deficit, are valuable discussion points for needed reforms in the present-day nursing curriculum.     

Technology Acceptance in Social Work Education: Implications for the Field Practicum

The exponential growth and sophistication of new information and computer technology (ICT) have greatly influenced human interactions and provided new metaphors for understanding the world. The acceptance and integration of ICT into social work field education are examined here using the technological acceptance model. This article also explores potential challenges regarding the adoption of ICT into social work field practica. The article concludes with implications for adopting and integrating ICTs in social work field education.     

Language and Memory Development in Children with Down Syndrome at Mainstream Schools and Special Schools: A comparison

Increasingly, children with Down syndrome are receiving their education in mainstream schools but little research has investigated whether these placements may influence language and memory development. The present study compared 22 children with Down syndrome in mainstream school placements matched for chronological age with 22 children attending special schools in a different LEA where mainstream placements were rare. The children were assessed to obtain measures of the following language and memory abilities: receptive vocabulary; grammar comprehension; sentence repetition; digit span; face recognition; and memory for hand movements. Children in mainstream placements achieved significantly higher scores for vocabulary, grammar and digit span measures, but not for non-language based memory measures. More importantly, even after controlling for age and receptive vocabulary, grammar understanding and digit spans were significantly greater for the mainstream children.     

Autobiography in science education: Greater objectivity through local knowledge

In our paper we argue that (1) autobiography ought to be considered both the telling of one's story and the using of that story with others to understand and use difference productively, and (2) autobiography (as telling and interacting) dismantles the universalistic tug of science and replaces it with a push for science as local knowledge. To accomplish this dual task, we share selective autobiographical accounts of lives (autobiography as telling), and then use these accounts to have a conversation about urban science education (autobiography as interacting). Following these autobiographical accounts we then discuss how our different stories apart and together provide a greater objective insight into what it means to come-to-know science. When talking about their lives, people lie sometimes, forget a lot, exaggerate, become confused, and get things wrong. Yet, they are revealing truths. These truths don't reveal the past “as it actually was,” aspiring to a standard of objectivity. They give us instead the truths of our experiences. (Personal Narratives Group (PNG), 1989, p. 261)     

Globalisation,Qualifications and Livelihoods: Towards a research agenda

The economic, political and cultural manifestations of globalisation are distinguishable from its underlying causes. The definition of globalisation used in this paper focuses on 'the reduction of obstacles to trade'. A function of both economic policy and technological advance, trade barriers, financial regulations and cross-border communications have been liberalised. These are contributing to change in the composition, control and locus of livelihoods, the skill requirements of livelihoods, and life chances and social mobility of livelihood seekers more generally. Educational qualifications and assessments mediate livelihood creation and livelihood seeking, to different degrees in different contexts. The role of assessment in the certification and selection for jobs interacts with economic globalisation in two main ways. The first is through the impact of globalisation on the composition and volume of livelihoods and the demand of both livelihood creators and livelihood seekers for qualifications. The second is through the reduction of trade and communication barriers on the internationalisation and commercialisation of the assessment and qualification business. The paper concludes with a research agenda that explores these two strands and emphasises the interactions between global, national and local contexts and influences.