Development of a metaconceptual awareness and regulation scale

This study aimed to develop the Metaconceptual Awareness and Regulation Scale (MARS) – a self-report instrument for measuring the extent to which students realise, monitor, and evaluate their ideas. MARS consists of 10 items scored on a six-point Likert scale for two factors: metaconceptual awareness and metaconceptual regulation. A pilot study was conducted with 349 10th grade students while 338 11th grade students participated in the validation study. In order to test the two-factor structure of MARS, confirmatory factor analysis was employed with data from the validation study. Findings supported the two-factor structure of the MARS instrument. For further validity evidence, the relationship between students’ metaconceptual awareness and regulation and their use of learning strategies were examined using canonical correlation analysis. A significant correlation was found between the factors of MARS and learning strategies. Research and practical applications of MARS by science education researchers and teachers are discussed.     

Meeting the Access Challenge: An Examination of Indiana's Twenty-First Century Scholars Program

Early intervention programs can promote access by providing encouragement for academic preparation, but adequate grant aid may be necessary to ensure access for students who prepare. This study examines the impact of Indiana's Twenty-first Century Scholars Program, an intervention that provides supplemental grant aid and academic support for low-income middle and high school students. Hierarchical logistic regression analyses indicated that 8th grade students who participated in the program were more likely to apply than their peers, indicating that encouragement had a modest influence on preparation. Receiving grant aid had a substantial influence on enrollment, indicating adequate aid is an important aspect of a comprehensive postsecondary encouragement program.     

Education eldership and pastoral care in schools

The paper sets out a discussion on the theme of eldership in the context of schools, with particular reference to implications for school eldership and pastoral care. The author provides a commentary on the decline of available support for school leaders in terms of informal eldership networks and the changing demographic of the teaching profession. The discussion considers specific consequences of this changing demographic, and a subsequent shift in focus amongst new entrants to teaching, with particular attention to the impact for delivering pastoral care. The author presents a perspective on eldership, suggesting a range of qualities and expertise that constitute the role of the elder, raising questions and challenges for re-establishing eldership in education.     

Elementary science education library resources in graduate and undergraduate teacher education programs of new England

The purpose of this study was to compare elementary science education library resources available in graduate and undergraduate teacher education institutions in New England. A 31-item survey was sent to teacher education institutions certified to prepare elementary teachers. The survey had four components: (1) services (i.e., ERIC, computer search, etc.), (2) journal holdings/science (i.e., Science and Children, Science Education, etc.), and nonscience (i.e., Reading Teacher, Instructor, etc.), (3) resources available (i.e., elementary science textbooks, audio-visual materials, computer software, etc.), and (4) an open-ended question about what major resources were needed to help prepare preservice students to teach science. There was a 72% return rate from the 87 institutions. Data were analyzed by the FREQUENCIES and ONEWAY subprograms of SPSSX. Less than 34% of the non-graduate libraries had ERIC microfiche available, Dissertation Abstracts, and computer search capabilities services. There was significant difference between graduate and nongraduate institutions journal holdings for science education journals and indexes. The surveyed libraries had more elementary science textbooks published prior to 1980 than those published after 1980 and were severely lacking in computer software.     

Experimental Impacts of the “Quality Preschool for Ghana” Interventions on Teacher Professional Well-being,Classroom Quality,and Children’s School Readiness

We assessed the impacts of a teacher professional development program for public and private kindergartens in the Greater Accra Region of Ghana. We examined impacts on teacher professional well-being, classroom quality, and children’s readiness during one school year. This cluster-randomized trial included 240 schools (teachers N?=?444; children N?=?3,345, M_age?=?5.2) randomly assigned to one of three conditions: teacher training (TT), teacher training plus parental-awareness meetings (TTPA), and controls. The programs incorporated workshops and in-classroom coaching for teachers and video-based discussion groups for parents. Moderate impacts were found on some dimensions of professional well-being (reduced burnout in the TT and TTPA conditions, reduced turnover in the TT condition), classroom quality (increased emotional support/behavior management in the TT and TTPA conditions, support for student expression in the TT condition), and small impacts on multiple domains of children’s school readiness (in the TT condition). The parental-awareness meetings had counteracting effects on child school readiness outcomes. Implications for policy and practice are discussed for Ghana and for early childhood education in low- and middle-income countries.     

The Education of Future Aeronautical Engineers: Conceiving, Designing, Implementing and Operating

This paper will outline answers to the two central questions regarding improving engineering education: (1) What is the full set of knowledge, skills, and attitudes that engineering students should possess as they leave the university, and at what level of proficiency? (2) How can we do better at ensuring that students learn these skills? The suggested answers lie within an innovative educational framework, the CDIO (conceive–design–implement–operate) Initiative. This initiative will be described along with the needs it meets, its goals, context, vision and pedagogical foundation. The first question is answered by the CDIO Syllabus and the process for reaching stakeholder consensus on the level of proficiency that students should attain in a given program. The second question is addressed through a best practice framework, which discusses curriculum design, design-implement experiences, teaching and learning, student assessment, program evaluation and faculty competence. Examples are provided of the implementation of best practices within the CDIO program in Aeronautics and Astronautics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Reprinted with the permission from International Council of the Aeronautical Sciences (ICAS) www.icas.org This paper was originally presented at ICAS 2006 Congress in Hamburg, Germany and included in the congress proceedings.     

Unbonded beams on a two-parameter foundation

Unbonded beams supported by a foundation are studied. The foundation is assumed that tensile stresses cannot be transmitted across the interface between beams and their supporting subgrade. The subgrade is characterized by a two-parameter model proposed by Vlasov and Leont'ev, Pasternak and Filonenko-Borodich. Thus the shear strength of the foundation material is taken into account. With a suitable choice of parameters, analytical solutions are obtained and compared to experimental results reported by Durelli et al. The effects of the “lift up” of the beam and a discussion of the foundation parameters are also presented.     

“What is a good digital library?” – A quality model for digital libraries

In this article, we elaborate on the meaning of quality in digital libraries (DLs) by proposing a model that is deeply grounded in a formal framework for digital libraries: 5S (Streams, Structures, Spaces, Scenarios, and Societies). For each major DL concept in the framework we formally define a number of dimensions of quality and propose a set of numerical indicators for those quality dimensions. In particular, we consider key concepts of a minimal DL: catalog, collection, digital object, metadata specification, repository, and services. Regarding quality dimensions, we consider: accessibility, accuracy, completeness, composability, conformance, consistency, effectiveness, efficiency, extensibility, pertinence, preservability, relevance, reliability, reusability, significance, similarity, and timeliness. Regarding measurement, we consider characteristics like: response time (with regard to efficiency), cost of migration (with respect to preservability), and number of service failures (to assess reliability). For some key DL concepts, the (quality dimension, numerical indicator) pairs are illustrated through their application to a number of “real-world” digital libraries. We also discuss connections between the proposed dimensions of DL quality and an expanded version of a workshop’s consensus view of the life cycle of information in digital libraries. Such connections can be used to determine when and where quality issues can be measured, assessed, and improved – as well as how possible quality problems can be prevented, detected, and eliminated.     

All Things Considered: Educational Radio as the First MOOCs

Those who do not learn history, even educational technology history, are doomed to repeat it. Every windshield has a rear-view mirror: using historical trends can yield lessons and guidance as we navigate the future. Take for instance MOOCs and their relatively rapid rise to popularity and fame in practice, predictions, and scholarship. Existing literature on MOOCs generally does not predate 2008 in terms of historical foundations. However, this approach fails to look beyond the immediate past, assuming a brave new world in massive, open, distance learning which actually has existed for over a century. To address this shortsighted view, we present a brief history of educational radio, making the case for this medium as the first MOOCs and draw upon the literature around this medium to present a cautionary tale and lessons from which we might learn going forward.     

An approach to investigate anxiety and hostility in consultee-centered consultation

This paper presents an approach to investigating affect in the process of consultee-centered consultation. The anxiety and hostility of three consultants and consultees was assessed from an intensive analysis of their verbal behavior during consultation. Comparisons to normative data suggested that the anxiety and hostility expressed by consultees was high, relative to that expressed under more neutral conditions, and a relationship was observed between consultee anxiety and consultation outcome. It was concluded that this provides a potentially productive direction for future research in consultation.