Developing a Collaborative Research Strategy with Teachers for the Study of Classroom Computing

ABSTRACT

This paper reflects on a three‐year study of computers in high school classrooms undertaken by members of an education faculty. By reviewing the process we followed, we hope to encourage another iteration in the development of a model of educational research which respects the needs and abilities of teachers, while at the same time striving to achieve theoretical insights which can enrich education as both an academic discipline and a professional practice.

In designing a collaborative research strategy for a study of computers in high school classrooms, a number of difficult decisions had to be faced. Choices had to be made between styles of ‘research’ and ‘evaluation'; among competing methods of data gathering and analysis; and among many different ways of relating to the participants in the study.

In making these difficult choices, we were guided by the basic ethical and epistemological demands of a social constructionist perspective, and by the central imperative of providing a ‘fair trade’ to all the parties involved. By adhering to these guiding principles we were able to fashion a research strategy which moved beyond the technical issues of computer implementation, to provide a story of action within a theory of context.     

Docile bodies: commonalities in the history of psychiatry and schooling

The following paper sketches a parallel between the development of professional psychiatry in nineteenth century France and the development of geography as a school subject in England in the late nineteenth and early part of the twentieth centuries. In each case, the activities were developed, not in response to clients#shlearners needs, but in the interest of professional status and authority. The authors contend that until complex relations between professional power and professional knowledge are studied, “schooling” will not become true education, and psychiatry will not be synonymous with mental health.     

Group composition and National Curriculum assessment at seven years

This paper presents the initial findings of a long-term study to examine whether the introduction of compulsory school science for pupils in UK schools in 1991 is effective in raising the general level of scientific literacy. The use of the term 'scientific literacy' in the literature is considered and a definition of the term as it is applied in this study is offered. The scientific literacy level of two groups of initial teacher training studentswith contrasting experiences of school sciencewas compared. Students completed a simple science test that had been originally written for 11-year-old children. The average test score of students who had experienced compulsory school science from the ages of 11 to 16 was found to be significantly higher (p = 0.014) than that of students for whom school science was optional at secondary level. The study also highlights specific areas of conceptual difficulty in basic science experienced by almost all of the students tested. Test questions relating to the circulatory system, light and sound produced very low scores from almost all students, regardless of their science background. The paper considers the implications of these findings for science teachers and policymakers in both the primary and secondary sectors.     

The Lexical Approach is dead： long live the lexical dimension!

Ivor Timmis argues that while the Lexical Approach may be dead,we should add a Lexical Dimension to our teaching. In 1996,Michael Swan reported a teacher saying to him,"We don't do grammar any more,we've all gone over to the lexical approach",and a couple of years later,our own Director of Studies reported that"most UK centres now use a lexical approach".The revolu-     

Social Histories of Educational Change

This article sets out new directions for thinking about educational change theory. In particular, a number of different segments in educational change processes are examined – the internal, the external and the personal.In analyzing the importance of these different segments of educational change, a socio-historical approach is adopted. It is noted that in the expansionist period of the 1960s and 1970s internal change agentry was dominant and, as a result, modernist change theory located in that period stressed the importance of the internal processes which had become central in orchestrating the change process. In the 1980s and 1990s external change mandates have become dominant, with a number of downsides related to internal and personal missions.In the new millennium it is argued that, as well as internal and external segments, increasing attention will need to be paid to the personal missions and purposes which underpin commitment to change processes. Without a fully conceptualized notion of how the internal, external and personal will interlink, existing change theory remains underdeveloped and of progressively less use.In the final sections, a tentative model of change processes is defined. In this model, the internal, external and personal are integrated in ways that seek to provide new momentum for change processes and their study.