An examination of knowledge prioritisation in secondary physical education teacher education courses

A number of terms have been used to describe knowledge needed for teaching, one of which is subject knowledge. How knowledge for teaching is conceptualised in teacher education prioritises some knowledge bases over other knowledge bases. Further, knowledge prioritised by student teachers is influenced by socialisation prior to and during an initial teacher education course and priorities for student teachers as they develop as teachers. Previous research in physical education teacher education points to the pre-eminence of content knowledge above other knowledge bases. The purpose of this study was to look at what knowledge is prioritised by student teachers, school-based mentors and university tutors working on three secondary physical education initial teacher education courses in England. Results showed that content knowledge was seen as having greater importance for student teachers and mentors, but university tutors generally conceptualised subject knowledge more broadly, suggesting that it should be seen as covering a number of knowledge bases needed for teaching. These results are discussed in relation to socialisation processes in education and phases of development. Although there is a clear physical education focus to this work, it is possible that student teachers learning to teach other subjects may also focus excessively on subject content knowledge above other knowledge bases.     

Inferring Longitudinal Relationships Between Variables: Model Selection Between the Latent Change Score and Autoregressive Cross-Lagged Factor Models

This research focuses on the problem of model selection between the latent change score (LCS) model and the autoregressive cross-lagged (ARCL) model when the goal is to infer the longitudinal relationship between variables. We conducted a large-scale simulation study to (a) investigate the conditions under which these models return statistically (and substantively) different results concerning the presence of bivariate longitudinal relationships, and (b) ascertain the relative performance of an array of model selection procedures when such different results arise. The simulation results show that the primary sources of differences in parameter estimates across models are model parameters related to the slope factor scores in the LCS model (specifically, the correlation between the intercept factor and the slope factor scores) as well as the size of the data (specifically, the number of time points and sample size). Among several model selection procedures, correct selection rates were higher when using model fit indexes (i.e., comparative fit index, root mean square error of approximation) than when using a likelihood ratio test or any of several information criteria (i.e., Akaike’s information criterion, Bayesian information criterion, consistent AIC, and sample-size-adjusted BIC).     

One Click,Many Meanings: Interpreting Paralinguistic Digital Affordances in Social Media

In this study we conceptualize cues in social media that require a single click (e.g., Likes, Favorites) as paralinguistic digital affordances (PDAs). Why do people use PDAs and how do they interpret them when they are the recipient? Through focus groups (N = 25) and interviews (N = 26) we address these research questions within a uses and gratifications framework. Using adaptive structuration theory as a lens for analysis, we examine both faithful and ironic uses of PDAs, finding they contribute more than phatic communication and may indicate just as much about the relationship between sender and receiver as they do content.     

The postdigital challenge of redefining academic publishing from the margins

ABSTRACT

This paper explores relationships between knowledge production and academic publication and shows that the current political economy of mainstream academic publishing has resulted from a complex interplay between large academic publishers, academics, and hacker-activists. The process of publishing is a form of ‘social production’ that takes place across the economy, politics and culture, all of which are in turn accommodating both old and new technology in our postdigital age. Technologies such as software cannot be separated from human labour, academic centres cannot be looked at in isolation from their margins, and the necessity of transdisciplinary approaches does not imply the disappearance of traditional disciplines. In the postdigital age, the concept of the margins has not disappeared, but it has become somewhat marginal in its own right. We need to develop a new language of describing what we mean by ‘marginal voices’ in the social relations between knowledge production and academic publication. Universities require new strategies for cohabitation of, and collaboration between, various socio-technological actors, and new postdigital politics and practice of knowledge production and academic publishing.     

Overcoming barriers to using precision teaching with a web-based programme

Precision Teaching (PT) is an evidence-based intervention, which research indicates is frequently not implemented following training, with few teachers using it in schools after training events. The web-based programme in this research focuses on word-level reading skills and targets blending and segmenting skills rather than whole word reading. This research, undertaken with 10 schools, explored whether a web-based PT programme would provide favourable implementation rates, and support the fidelity of the programme delivery. The study also measured the impact of the PT programme on word decoding and sight word reading using the Test of Word Reading Efficiency. Results suggest favourable implementation rates with 7 of the 10 schools implementing the programme. Full impact data for 34 children suggest that the programme has a positive impact on decoding (effect size 0.7) and sight word reading skills (effect size 0.6). A timed assessment provides evidence that fluency improved as well as accuracy. Gains were sustained at two-month follow-up.     

Psychosocial Aspects of the Development of Gifted Underachievers: Review and Implications

Gifted underachievers are children who display a discrepancy between expected high achievement and actual performance. Focussing on gifted children with a long‐standing pattern of underachievement not explicable in terms of learning disability, this paper adopts a developmental perspective to the problem of gifted underachievement. Literature is reviewed on the affective development of gifted underachievers and the environmental factors which may foster or diminish success in school. It is argued that cognitive and affective variables do not operate independently and should not be considered in isolation from the environmental context of development. Further, gifted underachievers are not a homogeneous group, and some influences on achievement are situation‐specific and highly variable. Finally, implications for intervention are discussed in light of the need to view children's development not as a dichotomy of cognitive and affective change but holistically, as a complex interaction of child and environment.     

The value of learning English in Thailand and its impact on Thai: perspectives from university students

English is widely regarded as an essential skill for the globalized economy by governments around the world which devote considerable resources to its teaching in formal education, though often with limited success in terms of achievement levels. Thailand is a case in point. Set against the putative benefits of acquiring proficiency in English, concerns have been raised that the spread of English has a negative impact, threatening the vitality of the first languages and cultures of its learners. Examining whether these concerns are valid in Thailand, this article reports on a study amongst Thai university students which investigated their perceptions of English alongside their first language, Thai. Results indicate that these Thai students subscribe to the notion of English as a tool for personal economic advancement but that the position of Thai as the language of national identity remains unchallenged.     

Approaches to learning by undergraduate students: A longitudinal study

The purpose of this study was to determine if the success of students at a highly selective combined baccalaureate/MD degree program is affected by their different approaches to learning. One hundred freshmen students at the University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Medicine (UMKC) were surveyed using the Lancaster Approaches to Studying Inventory (short survey by Entwistle, 1981). Analysis of the data indicates that the learning styles of students from this combined-degree school tend to be similar to the learning styles of students from other baccalaureate-degree programs in medicine. It appears there are some relationships between approaches to learning and success in the program. This association between learning styles and success also appears to be related to gender differences.Presented at the Annual Forum of the Association for Institutional Research, Louisville, KY, May 13–16, 1990.     

Making all the flashy stuff work: the role of the principal in ICT integration

The pervasiveness of new technologies and their rapid spread around the globe belie the fact that educational leaders still struggle with how to integrate information and communication technologies (ICT) in schools. This article describes the form of these struggles for a small group of Australian principals. Their stories emerged from a set of five longitudinal case studies of ICT integration in a range of Government schools in the state of New South Wales. During the three years over which the study was conducted, the difficulties associated with leading the integration of educational technologies in schools were common and recurring themes that emerged in interviews with principals. These cases reveal the local variations and specificities of ICT integration through a range of issues including infrastructure development, human resource development, curriculum design, pedagogical practices and futures oriented planning. In describing these issues, many of the effects of ICT integration in schools are discussed. One such effect is the requirement for principals to develop the skills of new knowledge workers, in particular they require access to knowledge and support that is sufficiently flexible to deal with immediate and practical problems.