Grief and Loss Education: Recommendations for Curricular Inclusion

Currently, the Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs (2009) does not require course work on grief and loss, and it is possible for counselors to practice without any formal training in the area. The purpose of this article is to highlight the need for additional grief and loss education in the curriculum, provide a brief overview of the current literature surrounding grief and loss, and suggest pedagogical strategies for counselor preparation.     

Science Teacher Attitudes Toward Inquiry-Based Teaching and Learning

The purpose of this study was to determine teachers’ attitudes, values, and beliefs about inquiry. The participants of this study were 275 middle grade and secondary science teachers from four districts in North Carolina. Issues such as class size, accountability, curricular demands, and administrative support are perceived as constraints, impeding the use of inquiry. These are the issues that must be effectively dealt with in the professional education and professional development of all science teachers.     

Allowing the Voices of Parents to Help Shape Teaching and Learning

The authors observe that the nature of knowledge is multidimensional, and that current efforts to shape curriculum are guided by patterns of cognitive interests. Building from an example related to teacher education, they argue that higher education experiences represent a clash between freedom and conformance that relates to these curricular interpretations. They discuss the impact of these ideas on teacher education curricula and posit a curriculum model that emphasizes depth and connectedness at all levels, calling for a reconceptualization of curriculum to bring about a more fulfilling learning process.     

Rural–Nonrural Differences in College Attendance Patterns

Using data from the National Education Longitudinal Study of 1988, this study documented college attendance patterns of rural youth in terms of the selectivity of first postsecondary institution of attendance, the timing of transition to postsecondary education, and the continuity of enrollment. The study also examined how these college attendance patterns among rural students differed from those among their nonrural counterparts and which factors explained these rural–nonrural differences. Results showed that rural youth were less likely than their nonrural counterparts to attend a selective institution. In addition, rural youth were more likely to delay entry to postsecondary education compared to their urban counterparts. Finally, rural students were less likely than their urban counterparts to be continuously enrolled in college. Much of these rural–nonrural disparities in college attendance patterns were explained by rural–nonrural differences in socioeconomic status and high school preparation. Policy implications, limitations of the study, and future research directions are also discussed.     

Comparing the curriculum development process in special (MLD) schools: a systematic qualitative approach

ABSTRACT

The present paper describes a comparative study of ten special schools for pupils with moderate learning difficulties in England and Wales. Qualitative analysis of interview data and curriculum documentation collected from the schools provide a model of the curriculum process which is firmly grounded in the data. Comparisons across the categories of the model indicate strong differences between the schools in certain categories, e.g. use of objectives, specification of curriculum intention, monitoring of pupil progress and curriculum evaluation.     

The inclusion and construction of the worthy citizen through lifelong learning: a focus on the OECD

This paper argues that underlying the OECD’s promotion of inclusion in, for and through lifelong learning is the notion of an ‘active citizen’ who establishes their worth through learning and, ultimately, competence. Through the critical examination of recent OECD policy documents on adult and lifelong learning, the paper also calls for a re‐examination of the purported goals of inclusion and participation, essential elements of ‘inclusive liberalism’.     

Content Analysis in Science Education

Summaries

English

The analysis of subject matter (content analysis) is an important facet of science education, especially in connection with studies of learning, student evaluation and curriculum planning. Of the various methods suggested for such analysis, the authors have adopted the semantic network technique by Rumelhart and Norman and by Lindsay and Norman. In this article, they describe this technique and explore its application to the area of genetics.     

Hierarchical task analysis ‐ An approach for diagnosing students’ conceptual difficulties

Pupils’ conceptual difficulties in scientific problem‐solving are examined on the basis of their performance on complex tasks and on the simple tasks of which the complex tasks are composed. A theoretical analysis reveals that identical errors on a complex task are not necessarily due to the same errors on the associated component tasks. This is illustrated by reference to actual research findings. The educational implications of this finding are discussed.     

Crossing borders: Learning and teaching primary science in the pre-service to in-service transition

This paper reports on a 4-year longitudinal case study of two Australian primary science teachers during their transition from pre-service to in-service teaching. An analytic framework suggested by Aikenhead (1996) was used to interpret teachers' change and professional growth as instances of sub-cultural border crossing. The same framework provides an opportunity for reflexivity on the part of the researchers in coming to understand their own role in the construction of the borders crossed by beginning teachers. The study examines the hazards encountered by teachers as they cross borders and proposes ways of assisting teachers to manage border crossing into the sub-culture of science teaching.