To risk or not to risk it: student (non‐)engagement with seen examination questions

This case study explores students’ perceptions of seen examination questions about topics not covered by the formal curriculum of a final‐year economics module and of the associated group support sessions. Eight semi‐structured interviews with a total of 13 students were analysed. Contrary to expectations, learners taking a strategic approach to the module were not attracted by the seen questions. The uncertainty of an unfamiliar assessment format and the prospect of undertaking independent research and group work were perceived as involving more risks than the familiar unseen examination. Take‐up for the seen examination questions was low, and the students who did not answer a seen question tended to make workload considerations as well as concerns about group work for assessment purposes responsible for their decision. Despite not participating in the group support sessions, a few students researched the seen question in conjunction with trusted fellow students or on their own. The students who answered a seen question enjoyed the autonomy which the seen exam questions provided, while other students were critical of the way in which their autonomy might be externally controlled. The study provides insight into the impact of assessment on risk taking and students’ perception of risk associated with this type of assessment.     

Participatory planning for project sustainability of environmental education projects: a case study of the Secondary Teacher Training Environmental Education Project (St2eep) in Zimbabwe

Within the first year of the Secondary Teacher Training Environmental Education Project (St²eep) in Zimbabwe, project stakeholders, including lecturers, college administrators, local project coordinators, and donor representatives, expressed concern about the non‐sustainability of the project due to its over‐reliance on its international donor. In response to this challenge, a process of critical self‐reflection through self‐assessment workshops was started to give an opportunity for key project stakeholders to explore the challenge of project sustainability. Applying the principles of expansive learning theory to St²eep’s reflection processes, this paper shows how the contradictions that emerge from the interaction between different project stakeholders can be powerful sources for learning. This has resulted in new forms of activity to address the challenge of project sustainability in St²eep. The insights of this paper may be useful for other donor‐funded environmental education projects that are confronted with the challenge of project sustainability.     

Environmental projects of Jewish and Arab youth in Israel: the adult leaders’ views

Socio‐environmental projects involving Arab and Jewish youth in Israel are uncommon. In this study, we interviewed 16 adult leaders of two projects that were carried out in the Galilee in northern Israel, to better understand the views of the leaders and their motives. The two projects focused on mutual environmental issues and dealt with social, cultural, and political aspects with respect to the environmental context. The participants were teachers and principals of the students who participated in the projects and facilitators of two environmental organizations. We found diverse views with respect to environmental education, local environmental issues, and possible solutions. The Arab adults expressed stronger attachment to the local environment than the Jewish ones. The major projects’ goals according to the leaders included: (improving) knowledge, awareness, and environmental behavior of the students and their communities; an opportunity for taking part in community collaboration and action; an opportunity for multicultural interaction; and meaningful long‐term learning in the outdoors. Our findings highlight the importance of identifying the views of educators of diverse cultures in order to carry out future successful multicultural environmental projects. Our findings also suggest adopting critical pedagogy of place while designing and implementing such projects in sensitive regions such as Israel.     

Creating a Digital Jamaican Sign Language Dictionary: A R2D2 Approach

The Jamaican Association for the Deaf, in their responsibilities to oversee education for individuals who are deaf in Jamaica, has demonstrated an urgent need for a dictionary that assists students, educators, and parents with the practical use of “Jamaican Sign Language.” While paper versions of a preliminary resource have been explored with some success, the need for a digital version, including multimedia, is both timely and boasts better pedagogical potential. In a joint action research project, the author has prepared a pilot DVD in Adobe Acrobat format using a collaborative recursive, reflective design, and development (R2D2) design model. This article addresses the design and concomitant processes involved as the pilot study and feedback loops become implemented.     

Effort Self-Talk Benefits the Mathematics Performance of Children With Negative Competence Beliefs

Children with negative competence beliefs often achieve below their potential in school. This randomized field experiment tested whether engaging in positive self-talk may benefit these children’s mathematics performance. Participants (N = 212, Grades 4–6, M_age = 10.6) worked on the first half of a standardized mathematics test, engaged in effort self-talk (“I will do my very best!”), ability self-talk (“I am very good at this!”), or no self-talk, and worked on the second half of the test. Compared to both the conditions, effort self-talk benefited the performance of children holding negative competence beliefs: It severed the association between negative competence beliefs and poor performance. By internally asserting that they will deliver effort, children with negative competence beliefs can optimize their achievement in school.     

Building literacy in alphabetic, abjad and morphosyllabic systems

Preschoolers?? metalinguistic and visual capabilities may be associated with the writing system of their culture. We examined patterns of performance in phonological awareness, naming of letters, morphological awareness, and visual-spatial relations, in 5-year-old native speakers of Spanish (n?=?43), Hebrew (n?=?40), and Cantonese (n?=?63) and the relations of these literacy related skills to concurrent word writing and word reading. The writing systems in these languages represent three major categories, i.e., alphabetic (Spanish), abjad (Hebrew), and morphosyllabic (Chinese). Phonological awareness, letter naming, and perception of visual-spatial relations differed across groups, whereas morphological awareness showed a similar level of attainment in all three languages. Stepwise regression analyses explaining writing and reading for each language separately revealed both commonalities and differences between languages. Phonological awareness assessed by initial syllable deletion contributed to writing and to reading in Cantonese and in Spanish. Phonological awareness assessed by final phoneme isolation explained reading in Hebrew, whereas final and initial phoneme isolation explained writing in Hebrew. Letter naming predicted both writing and reading in Spanish and in Hebrew, while perception of visual-spatial relations did so in Cantonese. At age 5, children??s metalinguistic knowledge and visual discrimination abilities are already attuned to the particular features of the writing system to which they are exposed.     

Absence of girl images: the gender construct in personal and social education in Hong Kong

Education Ordinance 1971 in Hong Kong not only provided girls with a much greater chance of receiving education than had hitherto been the case, it also had the effect of incorporating them into the regulatory framework of the school system. This paper examines how the discourses of civic education and sex education before and after reunification with mainland China have interchanged the concept of gender with the biological sex in the construction of the girl. In particular, it argues that, in the name of maintaining the stability of society, the developmental path for girls has been limited in the discourses of sex, personal and social education. As a result, girls are only presumed to become women and take up their appropriate gender roles according to the social norms of contemporary Hong Kong.