Aid effectiveness in education: Why it matters

This article introduces the special issue of Prospects on “Aid effectiveness in education”. It brings together case studies of attempts in several very different contexts to improve the effectiveness of the use of aid in the education sector. By drawing on the historical evolution of the new paradigm over the last 20 years, the authors make the case for a closer focus on aid’s effectiveness in education, as well as the need to reform the aid effectiveness architecture. In particular, they identify two major obstacles that need to be overcome to improve aid’s effectiveness in education: the lack of sufficient institutional and staff incentives for coordinated and harmonized behaviour; and factors that lead to risk-aversion and discourage innovation in delivering aid effectively.     

Pupils’ pedagogical well-being in comprehensive school—significant positive and negative school experiences of Finnish ninth graders

Basic education has two main goals: to promote high quality learning outcomes and pupils’ personal growth and well-being. The interrelated nature of learning and well-being is here referred to as pedagogical well-being. In this study, we explore Finnish comprehensive school pupils’ (N = 518) experienced pedagogical well-being by examining the kinds of situations that pupils themselves find either highly positive or highly negative during their school career. Pupils’ pedagogical well-being is empirically examined in two complementary aspects: (1) determining the point in the pupils’ school career in which the critical incidents are situated and (2) identifying the primary contexts of pupils’ experienced critical incidents of pedagogical well-being. Results showed that critical incidents for pedagogical well-being reported by the pupils were situated all along their school career. A variety of episodes causing empowerment and satisfaction, as well as disappointment and anxiety, were reported by the pupils. Pupils perceived the social interactions within the school community as being the most rewarding as well as the most problematic part of their school career.     

Personal Universes: revealing community college students’ competences though their organization of the cosmos

In this article I present a study on learners’ conceptions in cosmology by situating the results in the context of broader historical and sociocultural themes. Participants were community college students in California from non-dominant cultural and linguistic backgrounds finishing their first semester of astronomy. Data were collected through a drawing activity and card sort given during clinical-style interviews. This type of work is typically done from the perspective of conceptual change theory, using drawings to reveal student “misconceptions.” I argue that in analyzing this kind of data, we need to come from the perspective that students are competent, and put their conceptions in context. I begin by presenting traditional frameworks for evaluating and describing learning, all of which rely on an outdated “banking” or “transmission” model of learning that puts an over-emphasis on the performance and attributes of individuals. Not only do these theories provide an incomplete picture of what learning looks like, they create and reify unnecessary divides between “scientific” and “unscientific” that can contribute to student alienation from the world of science. To illustrate this, I present my own results as a window into the logic of learners’ assumptions within a sociocultural context, and suggest ways to support their learning trajectories, rather than figuring out how to unlearn their misconceptions. Through this analysis, I hope to show how taking student conceptions out of sociocultural context can potentially exclude students from non-dominant cultural and linguistic backgrounds from science.     

PART VI: NUTRITION

Food intake of Kalenjin runners in Kenya: A field study.     

Understanding a High School Physics Teacher’s Pedagogical Content Knowledge of Argumentation

Scientific argumentation is an important learning objective in science education. It is also an effective instructional approach to constructivist science learning. The implementation of argumentation in school settings requires science teachers, who are pivotal agents of transforming classroom practices, to develop sophisticated knowledge of argumentation. However, there is a lack of understanding about science teachers’ knowledge of argumentation, especially the dialogic meaning of argumentation. In this case study, we closely examine a high school physics teacher’s argumentation-related pedagogic content knowledge (PCK) in the context of dialogic argumentation. We synthesize the teacher’s performed PCK from his argumentation practices and narrated PCK from his reflection on the argumentation practices, from which we summarize his PCK of argumentation from the perspectives of orientation, instructional strategies, students, curriculum, and assessment. Finally, we describe the teacher’s perception and adaption of argumentation in his class. We also identity the barriers to argumentation implementation in this particular case and suggest solutions to overcome these barriers.     

Preparing teachers to create a mainstream science classroom conducive to the needs of English‐language learners: A feminist action research project

A feminist action research team, which consisted of a science educator, an English‐language learner (ELL) educator, a first‐year science teacher, and a graduate assistant, set a goal to work together to explore the process a beginning teacher goes through to establish a classroom conducive to the needs of middle‐level ELL learners. The guiding questions of the study were answered by gathering a wealth of data over the course of 5 months and taken from the classroom, planning sessions, and researchers and students. These data were collected by observations, semistructured interviews, and written document reviews. The progressive analysis ultimately revealed that: (a) successful strategies a beginning teacher must utilize for teaching middle‐level ELL children in a mainstream classroom involve complex structural considerations that are not part of the teacher's preparation; (b) learning increases for all children, but there are differences in learning achievement between ELL and non‐ELL children; and (c) student and peer feedback proved to be an effective means of enhancing the growth of a beginning teacher seeking to increase her skills in teaching ELL learners. The experiences and findings from this project have implications for teacher preparation programs committed to preparing educators to teach science to all children. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 42: 1013–1031, 2005     

Using Biomedically Relevant Multimedia Content in an Introductory Physics Course for Life Science and Pre-health Students

We will describe a one-quarter pilot algebra-based introductory physics course for pre-health and life science majors. The course features videos with biomedical experts and cogent biomedically inspired physics content. The materials were used in a flipped classroom as well as an all-online environment where students interacted with multimedia materials online and prior to engaging in classroom activities. Pre-lecture questions on both the medical content covered in the video media and the physics concepts in the written material were designed to engage students and probe their understanding of physics. The course featured group discussion and peer-lead instruction. Following in-class instruction, students engaged with homework assignments which explore the connections of physics and the medical field in a quantitative manner. Course surveys showed a positive response by the vast majority of students. Students largely indicated that the course helped them to make a connection between physics and the biomedical field. The biomedical focus and different course format were seen as an improvement to previous traditional physics instruction.     

The Adult Student and Course Satisfaction: What Matters Most?

Student satisfaction with a course is important because it can contribute to student retention, and it can also be used as one way to assess faculty effectiveness. This investigative work suggests that course satisfaction among non-traditional, adult students seeking business degrees is positively influenced by giving attention to four specific service-based factors. Based on feedback from 1,725 such students and 214 instructors at five institutions of higher education, a service-based model of course satisfaction is proposed. This model focuses on four manageable variables that are observed as influencing adult students’ satisfaction with a business course: relevancy of subject-matter, faculty subject-matter competency, faculty classroom management, and student workload.     

Film Genre Studies

Les Adams and Buck Rainey's Shoot-em-Ups: The Complete Reference Guide to Westerns of the Sound Era (New Rochelle, N.Y.: Arlington House, 1978---$30.00)

David Rothel's The Singing Cowboys (Cranbury, N.J.: A.S. Barnes, 1978---$19.95)

Lawrence H. Suid's Guts & Glory: Great American War Movies (Reading, Mass.: Addison-Wesley, 1978---$12.95/6.95)

Jack G. Shaheen, ed. Nuclear War Films (Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 1978---$10.00/4.95)

Thomas Cripps' Black Film as Genre (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1978---$10.00)

Neil P. Hurley's The Reel Revolution: A Film Primer on Liberation (Maryknoll, N.Y.: Orbis Books, 1978---$7.95, paper)

Anita Loos' San Francisco, A Screenplay (Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 1979---$10.00/4.95)

Eugene Rosow's Born to Lose: The Gangster Film in America (New York: Oxford University Press, 1978---$19.95)     

Impact of Course and Fieldwork on Multicultural Beliefs and Attitudes

This study investigated preservice teachers’ beliefs and attitudes about teaching culturally and linguistically diverse students when progressing through specially designed courses. Data were collected using the Teacher Multicultural Attitude Survey and semi-structured interviews. Analyses indicated that preservice teachers who received more multicultural preparation held more positive attitudes and based their attitudes more on academic preparation than on personal experiences. Preservice teachers who completed the multicultural course and English for speakers of other languages field placement had a more in-depth understanding of how to help culturally and linguistically diverse students.