The effects of computer-assisted instruction and locus of control upon preservice elementary teachers' acquisition of the integrated science process skills

The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of computer-assisted instruction (CAI) versus a text mode of programmed instruction (PI), and the cognitive style of locus of control, on preservice elementary teachers' achievement of the integrated science process skills. Eighty-one preservice elementary teachers in six sections of a science methods class were classified as internally or externally controlled. The sections were randomly assigned to receive instruction in the integrated science process skills via a microcomputer or printed text. The study used a pretest-posttest control group design. Before assessing main and interaction effects, analysis of covariance was used to adjust posttest scores using the pretest scores. Statistical analysis revealed that main effects were not significant. Additionally, no interaction effects between treatments and loci of control were demonstrated. The results suggest that printed PI and tutorial CAI are equally effective modes of instruction for teaching internally and externally oriented preservice elementary teachers the integrated science process skills.     

Coloniality and Education: Negotiating Discourses of Immigration in Schools and Communities Through Border Thinking

In this article, we examine the discursive construction of knowledge about immigration in two geographic spaces whose “border” many students navigate: a school context meant to support English Language Learners and an out-of-school faith based organization serving immigrant communities. We draw on the concept of “border thinking” (Mignolo, 2000, p. 18) to understand how colonial histories continue to influence contemporary educational contexts. Through examples from students’, community members’, and educators’ interactions with available discourses of immigration, we elaborate on the implications of community knowledge for revising school practices to represent a fuller complexity of immigration experiences.     

Use of Intellective and Non-Intellective Factors in Classifying Female Elementary and Secondary Teacher Trainees

Undergraduates (N = 94) enrolled in an educational psychology course read an assigned article of about 3, 700 words. A 30-item multiple-choice test was then administered and followed by one of four treatments: 1.) no feedback, 2.) immediate feedback, 3.) one day or, 4.) seven days delayed feedback. A retention test, consisting of the original items and distractors randomly reordered, was administered seven days after the feedback. No overall differences in performance were observed. Likewise, there were no significant differences for the test items analyzed according to initial performance or according to item difficulty. Questionnaire data indicated that immediate feedback stimulated the most rereading. These results bring into question the importance of controlling feedback intervals carefully in applied instructional settings.     

Predicting the academic achievement of first-year,pre-service teachers: the role of engagement,motivation, ATAR,and emotional intelligence

Australian universities are enrolling a larger and more diverse undergraduate student population. Counter to this trend, several states have developed plans to restrict entrance into the teaching profession. This study investigates the role of engagement, motivation, Australian Tertiary Admission Rank (ATAR), and emotional intelligence in the academic achievement of first-year, pre-service teachers. Eighty-three regionally enrolled pre-service teachers agreed to complete self-report questionnaires that assessed engagement with learning and emotional intelligence. The questionnaire data were supplemented with findings from a series of focus groups. Although ATAR scores were found to be a significant predictor of academic achievement, scores on the Motivation and Engagement Scale emerged as a much stronger predictor of first-year grade point average. Measures of emotional intelligence did not add to the model. The results support the need to consider pre-service teachers’ motivation and engagement with learning, especially given the high stakes nature of proposed reforms to initial teacher education programmes.     

The problem trap: implications of Policy Archaeology Methodology for anti‐bullying policies

James Scheurich argues that practices of policy – normalized over time through repetition – serve three purposes. They structure social problems for which policy is designed to address; construct certain people, implicitly or explicitly, as problem individuals; and shape policy solutions. Following Foucault, he offers what he calls Policy Archaeology Methodology as an approach to policy analysis that emphasizes how particular social problems (but not others) are socially constructed in certain ways within certain political and social contexts. The purpose of policy archaeology as a mode of analysis is ‘to investigate … the grid of conditions, assumptions, forces which make the emergence of a social problem … possible’. Drawing from his method of inquiry, I identify, through examination of policy documents, how the problem of bullying in schools has come to be understood in certain ways (the dominant narrative) and how policy solutions are constrained and limited accordingly, thereby confounding their purpose. I suggest that Scheurich’s perspective provides a way of addressing bullying that accounts for complexity in ways that current approaches mostly do not even consider.     

Investigating provision and impact of the primary Physical Education and Sport Premium: a West Midlands case study

In March 2013, the UK government announced that it was to award the Primary Physical Education and Sport Premium funding to all English state-funded primary schools to improve provision of Physical Education and sport following the London 2012 Olympic Games. This study reports on seven schools in close geographical proximity to each other within the West Midlands region of England to find out about the provision and impact of the Physical Education and sport premium funding so far.     

Tuition fees and the challenge of making higher education a popular commodity in South Africa

The funding of higher education in South Africa has in the recent past been a subject of animated debate. This debate has ranged from the adequacy of government funding of higher education, the suitability of the funding framework, to protestations against frequent tuition fee increases. At present, the debate is mainly about “free” higher education. Unlike most African countries, South Africa has an established history of cost sharing. But, for a while now, students, especially Black students, have been demanding tuition free higher education even though the country has a student financial aid scheme to support talented but poor students. The demands for tuition free higher education suggest, among others, the possible existence of financial barriers to higher educational opportunities. This paper is a sequel to the debate on free higher education in South Africa. It seeks, in the main, to understand and examine the rationale and drivers for the students’ demand for “free” higher education. What are the financial barriers to higher educational opportunities that the current funding architecture has failed to address? Secondly, why are students demanding free higher education when there is a scheme to support talented but poor students? Is cost sharing inconsistent with the country’s post-apartheid transformation policy in higher education? Finally, is “free” higher education the panacea to the access and participation challenges facing Black students?     

A trajectory of teacher development in early and mid-career

Scholars in recent years have studied the professional development of teachers, identifying stages or phases that teachers characteristically experience during their careers. Little research, however, has focused specifically on the professional development of teachers during early and mid-career (years 1–10), which is the aim of the present study. An understanding of such development is important for school administrators and teacher educators if they are to respond effectively to teachers’ professional needs and help them achieve their full potential as practitioners. Our study is based on interviews we conducted with 53 teachers who had graduated from a particular 5-year teacher education programme in western United States over a 10-year period. They taught students ages 5 through 13. Through analysis of the interviews, we identified six themes that, we argue, reveal a trajectory of professional development teachers experience as they become increasingly able practitioners. We explain how the themes are related to the concepts of teacher identity and teacher agency, and we suggest ways that administrators, inservice teacher educators, and policymakers can better support teachers during their early and mid-careers. The study adds a new dimension—that of a multifaceted trajectory—to current theory on teacher development.     

Academic achievement in first-year university: who maintains their high school average?

The present study investigates the characteristics which differentiate between first-year university students who maintain their high school averages (Maintainers: n = 165) and those whose averages decrease at least one letter grade (Decliners: n = 435). The 600 students entered first year at one of six Canadian Universities, which varied in size and ethnic diversity. Data were collected in August, prior to the start of school, and in November of first year. Multivariate analyses indicated significant group differences between Maintainers and Decliners on familial variables (gender, fathers’ education level, but not family income, parental reciprocity, parental support or immigrant/generational status), psychological well-being (perceived stress in August and November, and November depression, self-esteem and health), and university adjustment (university plans, transition perception, time management and university adaptation). The current study addresses a gap in the existing academic achievement literature, while providing practical information to students, parents, and educators involved in the transition to university.     

The effects of health delivery systems and self‐efficacy on patient compliance and satisfaction

This study analyzed the satisfaction and compliance of 91 in‐clinic patients based on their affiliation with a Health Delivery System and the patient's self‐efficacy. Several significant results emerged from the study. A patient's Health Delivery System and the patient's self‐efficacy interact to predict communication satisfaction. It was also discovered that a patient's Heath Delivery System and the patient's self‐efficacy interact to predict compliance. Implications and limitations of this research are discussed.