The development of elementary teacher identities as teachers of science

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this qualitative study was to investigate the contributions of pre-service teachers’ memories of science and science education, combined with their experiences in a STEM-focused teacher preparation programme, to their developing identities as elementary school teachers of science. Data collected over three years include a series of interviews and observations of science teaching during elementary teacher preparation and the first year of teaching. Grounded within a theoretical framework of identity and using a case-study research design, we examined experiences that contributed to the participants’ identity development, focusing on key themes from teacher interviews: memories of science and science instruction, STEM-focused teacher preparation programme, field experiences, first year of teaching, and views of effective science instruction. Findings indicate the importance of exposure to reform strategies during teacher preparation and are summarised in main assertions and discussed along with implications for teacher preparation and research.     

Exploring student ideas about biological variation

ABSTRACT

An understanding of biological variation is important for understanding ecological interactions, ecosystem function, and species’ response to environmental change. Biological variation is essential to species survival because natural selection acts upon the phenotypic variation within a population: the more varied the population’s genetic resources, the more likely that the population will persist into the future. We explored how students think about biological variation by evaluating written assessments and interviews of grades 6–16 students about starting a captive breeding programme for species conservation. We created a qualitative framework that describes levels of proficiency in student ideas about biological variation. Lower level responses reason about attributes related to an individual’s reproduction and survival rather than population-level variability. Student responses at a middle level of sophistication point to the importance of variation but do not link it mechanistically to species survival and resilience. We also describe alternative conceptions related to biological variation and natural selection which exist at all grade levels. Educators can use these findings to inform curriculum and instruction in terms of addressing important concept areas (e.g. variation at the population scale) and some common alternative conceptions that may impact an accurate understanding of natural selection and evolution.     

‘Seeing the trees not just the wood’: steps and not just journeys in teacher action research

Either action research by teachers uses the approach as a methodology to examine pedagogical change in a single intervention or it is used as means of understanding a journey of change. In contrast, this paper examines the significant impact of using action research in a second cycle of learning in the same context and with the same participants. Employing a number of data-gathering tools (reflective journals, unit diaries, post-cycle reflective analyses, student interviews and observations) this paper examines the residual and emergent effects of cooperative learning on the participants in a second, sequential unit of track and field athletics taught a year after the first intervention. It suggests that learning was both academic and social, and that participants felt the unit built on their prior learning about track and field because it was progressive, motivational and student-centred. The paper concludes by suggesting that, in seeking to understand a teacher’s pedagogical and curricular change process, we need to intersperse research that focuses on the journey toward change with research that explores the individual processes of change.     

Framing the Work of Art: Spirituality and Career Discourse in the Nonprofit Arts Sector

Based on qualitative data from participant interviews, this study explores how nonprofit arts managers construct the notion of career, and more specifically, how they frame the nature of their work and career choices. Findings revealed that participants employed a spiritual framework of calling, service, sacrifice, and personal rewards to socially construct, understand, and legitimate their nonprofit careers. These framing devices provided the language for participants to make sense of their career decisions and to define their career successes in terms of their own values instead of traditional measures of extrinsic rewards. As contemporary workers place increasing importance on meaningful work, spiritually centered discourse has implications for career theory and organizational practices in both for-profit and nonprofit sectors.     

The Persuasive Effects of Audiovisual PSAs to Promote Organ Donation: The Mediating Role of Psychological Reactance

The use of shared experiences and an accurate representation of real life situations is critical to effective speech education. This essay examines the use of role playing and principles of learning applied to the modern speech classroom.     

Powerless Language in Health Media: The Influence of Biological Sex and Magazine Type on Health Language

Powerless language influences how media consumers perceive the believability and trustworthiness of news sources. Past studies have suggested females use more powerless language, which can negatively influence credibility. However, previous research also suggests powerless language may be preferred in certain contexts. To investigate powerless language use in written health media, a content analysis investigated health-related articles in issues of 12 magazines between October 2008 and September 2009. Analysis compared differences in powerless language frequencies relative to three variables: biological sex of the author, biological sex of the audience, and the magazine's overall topic focus. Female authors and health-focused magazines used more powerless language than male authors and generic-focused magazines, and powerless language was more often directed towards a female audience than a male audience.     

Hiding behind the camera: social learning within the Cooperative Learning Model to engage girls in physical education

Research suggests that girls are disengaged in physical education due to the ‘traditional’ way that it is taught, i.e. teacher-centred approaches with a primary focus on motor performance. In contrast, Cooperative Learning, a student-centred pedagogy focusing on learning in multiple domains, has had success in engaging girls in physical education. Furthermore, when cooperative group work has been combined with technology, student engagement with learning is heightened. This article discusses the use of Cooperative Learning and video cameras to bring about a positive change to the learning environment for girls who were identified as being disengaged in physical education. Two classes of adolescent girls were taught an eight-lesson unit of Basketball using Cooperative Learning. Students worked in learning teams, participating in different roles, such as a coach or a camerawoman, to help each other learn and to film video clips of their learning. Data collection included a teacher's reflective journal, post-lesson teacher analysis tool, student interviews and the analysis of learning teams' movies. Inductive analysis and constant comparison was used for data analyses. Findings suggest that the role of the coach and the camerawoman was pivotal to girls' engagement. Some girls only ‘fully’ participated in lessons when learning was within the social and cognitive domains, since they could ‘hide behind the camera’ and were not required to participate physically. We controversially suggest that, in order to engage girls in physical education, we may have to temporarily remove the physical domain of learning (at least for some girls) in order to positively affect their longer term engagement in the subject.     

Paid maternal leave is associated with infant brain function at 3 months of age

The first months of life are critical for establishing neural connections relevant for social and cognitive development. Yet, the United States lacks a national policy of paid family leave during this important period of brain development. This study examined associations between paid leave and infant electroencephalography (EEG) at 3 months in a sociodemographically diverse sample of families from New York City (N = 80; 53 males; 48% Latine; data collection occurred 05/2018–12/2019). Variable-centered regression results indicate that paid leave status was related to differences in EEG power (ps < .02, R²s > .12). Convergent results from person-centered latent profile analyses demonstrate that mothers with paid leave were 7.39 times as likely to have infants with EEG profiles characterized by increased higher-Hz power (95% CI, 1.9–36.9), potentially reflecting more mature patterns of brain activity.     

Reimagining adult education and lifelong learning for all: Historical and critical perspectives

International Review of Education -     

Multi-informant assessment of treatment integrity in the classroom

Assessing the degree to which interventions are implemented in school settings is critical to making decisions about student outcomes. School psychologists may not be available to regularly conduct observations of intervention implementation, however, their data may be used alongside other methods for multi-informant assessment. Teacher self-report is a commonly used and feasible assessment method. Students have been trained to implement interventions with their peers in instances where traditional adult interventionists were unavailable. This exploratory study investigated the accuracy with which classroom teachers and middle and high school students assessed implementation of the Good Behavior Game and the impact of performance feedback on their accuracy. Results indicated that most students and teachers were able to provide accurate assessments of treatment integrity compared to researcher direct observation; however, some required performance feedback to do so. These findings suggest that multi-informant assessment may be a feasible and accurate way for school psychologists to collect formative treatment-integrity data in the classroom. Limitations and future directions are discussed.