Improving the judgment of task difficulties: prospective teachers’ diagnostic competence in the area of functions and graphs

To teach adaptively, teachers should be able to take the students’ level of knowledge into account. Therefore, a key component of pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) is the ability to assume the students’ perspectives. However, due to the so-called expert blind spot, teachers tend to misestimate their students’ knowledge, such as when estimating the difficulty of a given task. This empirically well-documented estimation bias is predicted by Nickerson’s anchoring and adjustment model, which generally explains how people take on other people’s perspectives. In this article, we present an intervention study that aims to improve the accuracy of prospective teachers’ judgments of task difficulty in the area of functional thinking. Two types of treatments are derived from Nickerson’s model. In the first condition (PCK group), participants acquire knowledge about task characteristics and students’ misconceptions. The second condition (sensitizing group) serves to control the idea that potential improvements in the PCK group are not merely based on a pure sensitization of the expert’s estimation bias. Accordingly, these participants are only informed about the general tendency of overestimating task difficulties. The results showed that the PCK group improved both in terms of the accuracy of the estimated solution rates and the accuracy of rank order, whereas the sensitizing group only improved in regard to the former. Thus, the study shows that prospective teachers’ diagnostic judgments can be improved by teaching them relevant PCK in a short amount of time.     

论杨昌济的教育思想

杨昌济是中国近代一位杰出的教育家,他一生热衷于教育事业,具有强烈的爱国主义精神。他的教育思想对于发展我国社会主义教育事业仍然具有十分重要的启迪意义。     

Mediated Effects of Technology Competencies and Experiences on Relations among Attitudes Towards Technology Use,Technology Ownership,and Self Efficacy about Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge

This study examined the relations of preservice science teachers’ attitudes towards technology use, technology ownership, technology competencies, and experiences to their self-efficacy beliefs about technological pedagogical content knowledge (TPACK). The present study also investigated interrelations among preservice teachers’ attitudes towards technology use, technology ownership, technology competencies, and experiences. The participants of study were 665 elementary preservice science teachers (467 females, 198 males) from 7 colleges in Turkey. The proposed model based on educational technology literature was tested using structural equation modeling. The model testing results revealed that preservice teachers’ technology competencies and experiences mediated the relation of technology ownership to their TPACK self efficacy beliefs. The direct relation of their possession of technology to their TPACK self efficacy beliefs was insignificant while the indirect relation through their technology competencies and experiences was significant. The results also indicated there were significant direct effects of preservice teachers’ attitudes towards technology use, technology competencies, and experiences on their TPACK self efficacy beliefs.     

Sex differences in quantitative and analytical GRE performance: An exploratory study

The exploratory data analysis method of median polishing was used in this study to examine patterns of differences in male and female performance on the Graduate Record Examination quantitative and analytical tests. Consistent with results of previous studies using a younger cohort of students, males were found overall to outperform females on the quantitative measure but not on the analytical measure. However, this pattern was found not to be consistent across all undergraduate majors. Women in the engineering and physical science majors were found to perform higher on both measures than would be expected.     

Prediction of elementary mathematics grades by cognitive abilities

European Journal of Psychology of Education - In the present study, the relationship between the mathematics grade and the three basic cognitive abilities (inhibition, working memory, and...     

The process of supervision in the turkish educational system: purpose, structure, operation

The aim of this study is to provide information on the purposes, structure and operation of the process of supervision in the Turkish educational system. In this paper, the historical development of supervision services in the Turkish educational system, as well as the purposes and principles of educational supervision in Turkey and the structure of supervision in the Turkish educational system are defined. Moreover, the organization of sub-systems of the Ministry of National Education and that of supervision at elementary schools, hiring supervisors, their training, duties and responsibilities as well as working principles are presented. In addition, a detailed analysis of the supervision of institutions and teachers by supervisors is included.     

Stichwort: Übergänge im Bildungssystem

Zusammenfassung Der vorliegende Beitrag gibt einen überblick über theoretische Konzepte für die Analyse von Bildungsüberg?ngen und ihre Anwendung in der empirischen Forschung. Bei der zusammenfassenden Darstellung des Forschungsstandes wurde der übergang von der Primar-in die Sekundarstufe in den Fokus gerückt. Dieses Vorgehen lag darin begründet, dass der übergang von der Grundschule in die Sekundarstufe I nach wie vor eine der wichtigsten Statuspassagen im Leben eines jungen Menschen ist. Bei dieser übergangsentscheidung werden soziale und ethnische Disparit?ten des Kompetenzerwerbs und der Bildungsbeteiligung nicht nur im relativen Schulbesuch der Sekundarstufe dokumentiert, sondern — nach allem was wir wissen — auch in erheblichem Ma?e verst?rkt. Zuerst wurde ein theoretischer Bezugsrahmen vorgestellt, der vor allem auf den mikrosoziologischen Ansatz von Boudon (vgl. 1974) zurückgeht. Zentrale Elemente sind in diesem Zusammenhang die von Boudon vorgenommene Unterscheidung zwischen prim?ren und sekund?ren Effekten der Sozialschichtzugeh?rigkeit, die Integration werterwartungstheoretischer Modellvorstellungen sowie eine theoretisch-inhaltliche Anbindung an die Analyse von Bildungsentscheidungen. Einen Schwerpunkt des Beitrags bildete die Darstellung unterschiedlicher theoretischer Konzepte zur Analyse von Bildungsentscheidungen. Dabei wurden sowohl soziologische als auch psychologische Modelle berücksichtigt. Die soziologischen und psychologischen Forschungstraditionen verliefen bisher (erstaunlicherweise ohne wechselseitige Beeinflussung) parallel. Ausgehend von den Annahmen der Wert-Erwartungs-Theorie gibt es in der Soziologie verschiedene Formalisierungen des Entscheidungsprozesses. Beispielhaft wurden hier die Arbeiten von Erikson/Jonsson (vgl. 1996), Breen/Goldthorpe (vgl. 1997) sowie Esser (vgl. 1999) vorgestellt. Die in diesen Modellen vorgenommenen Formalisierungen stellen eine Adaptation des Grundmodells des Wert-Erwartungs-Ansatzes dar und haben sich für die Analyse von Bildungsentscheidungen sowohl in der soziologischen als auch in der erziehungswissenschaftlichen Forschung etabliert und bew?hrt. In der Psychologie sind werterwartungstheoretische Modelle zwar umfassend empirisch (vor allem experimentell) untersucht sowie differenziert instrumentiert, wurden aber bislang nicht explizit für die Analyse von Bildungsüberg?ngen angewendet. Sie integrieren, wie die hier berücksichtigten Ans?tze von Ajzen (vgl. 1991) und Eccles (vgl. Eccles u.a. 1983), oftmals ebenso wie die soziologischen Modelle Wert-und Erwartungskomponenten verschiedener Wahlalternativen und spezifizieren diese zum einen weiter aus und erg?nzen zum anderen die Modelle durch Annahmen zu den psychologischen Wirkmechanismen hinter diesen Komponenten. Unserem Erachten nach ist daher eine Verknüpfung und wechselseitige Erg?nzung soziologischer und psychologischer Modelle ein vielversprechender Ansatz, um Bildungsentscheidungen und überg?nge im Bildungssystem zu analysieren.      

Schulformwechsel im zweigliedrigen Schulsystem

This study focuses on students who change from the academic to the non-academic school track after grade 7 (probationary year) in Berlin. We examined which individual student characteristics (e.?g., performance, school biography, family background) predict school change after the probationary year. We were particularly interested as to whether there are secondary effects of social background, after controlling for differences in performance. Our analyses were based on data from a study which included a whole cohort of school track changers (N?=?754) who were compared with students that remained at the academic track (N?=?1470). In order to predict the change of school type, multivariate logistic regression analyses were performed. Results revealed significant differences between both groups regarding all observed characteristics. Performance-related characteristics were the best predictors of track change. After controlling for these characteristics, no further significant effects for other predictors were observable (i.?e., no secondary effects of social background were present).