Children's Undrstanding of Epistemic Conduct in Self-Deception and Other False Belief Stories

In self-deception persons accept false belief through a motivated disregard for countervailing evidence. Such epistemic misconduct renders them responsisble for their own deception. It was hypothesized that children's understanding of this responsibility would be associated with an understanding of how evidence informs belief. In the study 4- to 9-year-old children's understanding of the relations between false belief, evidence, and epistemic responsibility was examined using stories involving self-deception, lying, and misleading appearances. Results indicated that younger children who understood false belief understood simpler types of deception, but that understanding self-deceivers' epistmic responsibility was limited to older children who understood the relevance of evidence to belief formation.     

Classroom Management and Socioemotional Functioning of Burmese Refugee Students in Malaysia

ABSTRACT

Access to Malaysian government schools is prohibited for refugee children, and hidden refugee schools only reach a minority of Burmese students in Malaysia. This study used a participatory culture-specific consultation (PCSC) approach to examine the perspectives of Burmese refugee teachers on Burmese refugee student socioemotional issues and classroom management using interviews, observations, a preliminary refugee teacher focus group (N = 10: 4 men, 6 women; M age = 26 years), and a primary focus group with refugee teachers who were Burmese refugees (N = 9: 6 men, 3 women; M age = 30 years). First, themes suggested that societal pressures have an effect on the classroom environment. Second, refugee student behavior and emotions ranged from externalizing to internalizing. Third, refugee teachers relied on traditional Burmese methods for managing serious misbehavior. Fourth, with mild misbehaviors, teachers employed more “modern,” student-centered methods. Results inform culture-specific consultation designed to meet refugee education needs.     

Predicting reading success in a multilevel schoolwide reading model: a retrospective analysis

Despite recent research findings that implicate a long list of student variables that predict reading success or failure, these predictor variables have not been considered in the context of contemporary models of multitiered schoolwide reading intervention. This longitudinal, retrospective study follows 668 kindergarten and first-grade students identified as at risk for later reading difficulties through third grade. Key predictor variables were examined to determine their validity for predicting initial status and growth on oral reading fluency, third-grade oral reading fluency, and third-grade performance on a standardized test of reading. Results are provided in light of the instructional model provided. Implications for instruction and assessment are discussed.     

Price response in enrollment decisions: An analysis of the High School and Beyond Sophomore cohort

Most research on student price response was conducted on students who entered college before the Pell Grant program was implemented in fall 1973. This study uses the High School and Beyond Sophomore cohort, the High School Class of 1982, to analyze the effects of the amount of tuition charged and aid offered on student enrollment decisions. The findings include (1) all forms of financial aid—grants, work, and loans—were effective in promoting enrollment; (2) one hundred dollars of aid (any type) had a stronger influence on enrollment than a one-hundred-dollar reduction in tuition; (3) low-income students were more responsive to increases in grant aid than to increases in loans or work study; and (4) high-income students were not responsive to changes in aid amounts.     

Questionnaire design for student measurement of teaching effectiveness

The design and use of questionnaires in course and faculty evaluation are discussed and the literature surveyed. Problems of questionnaire construction and interpretation of results are described and a questionnaire developed by the authors in the Faculty of Engineering at the University of Waterloo is given as an example.     

Myth, Music, and Science: Teaching the Philosophy of Science through the Use of Non-Scientific Examples

This essay explores the benefits of utilizing non-scientificexamples and analogies in teaching philosophy of science courses. These examples can helpresolve two basic difficulties faced by most instructors, especially when teachinglower-level courses: first, they can prompt students to take an active interest in the classmaterial, since the examples will involve aspects of the culture well-known, or atleast more interesting, to the students; and second, these familiar, less-threatening exampleswill lessen the students' collective anxieties and open them up to learning thematerial more easily. To demonstrate this strategy of constructing and employing non-scientificexamples, a lengthy analogy between musical styles and Kuhn's theory ofscientific revolutions is developed.     

Patterns in the Initial Teaching Assignments of Secondary English Teachers: Implications for Teacher Agency and Retention

This study examined the teaching assignments of English teachers in 13 Mid-Atlantic high schools across five states. Data on the experience levels of 175 English teachers teaching 246 classes and surveys from 85 teacher participants were collected. Findings reveal that major agency-thwarting challenges face new English teachers: They typically are assigned to teach the students who need the most assistance, do not have their own classrooms and believe that teacher tracking occurs in their schools. Results suggest that in order to increase teacher agency, retention, and student learning, we must shift the working conditions, rhetoric, and culture around new teachers.     

The effect of a problem solving in-service program on the classroom behaviors and attitudes of middle school science teachers

This study examines the effect of an in-service education program emphasizing problem solving on teacher attitudes toward teaching science and on teaching behaviors. Twenty-two middle school science teachers participated in the program and another 22 served as the control group. The two groups were similar in terms of gender, teaching status, educational background, and professional activity during the treatment period. Before and after the eight-month project, subjects completed attitude surveys and recorded videotapes of themselves teaching science lessons. No difference was noted between the groups on the attitude measure. The videotapes were analyzed using a coding scheme developed for use in this study. A multivariate analysis of variance performed on the observational data showed a significant difference between the groups on the postworkshop measure. The experimental-group teachers shifted to more student-centered classrooms, with less lecture and procedural talk. This study provides evidence that an extended in-service education program can affect the teaching behaviors of science teachers in the middle grades.