COGNITIVE CONGRUENCE BETWEEN TEACHERS’ QUESTIONS AND STUDENTS’ ANSWERS

The purpose of the present study was to assess the impact of a teacher‐training workshop in a medical school upon the cognitive congruence between teachers’ questions and students’ answers. The major findings of this study were: (a) The average number of student‐teacher verbal interactions significantly exceeded the number of separate statements by teacher and students, (b) After the workshop, the number of interactions increased, especially in medium‐ and large‐size classes, (c) The extent of cognitive correspondence was greater at basic cognitive levels (knowledge, comprehension, application) than at high cognitive levels (analysis, synthesis, evaluation). This result was observed both before and after the workshop, as well as in all three class sizes, (d) Following the workshop, the cognitive congruence increased, especially in large classes and within the basic levels.     

Didactic use of concept mapping in higher education: applications in medical education

This paper describes the use of concept mapping for didactic purposes in higher education at the university level, namely, in medical schools. The first study involved the use of concept mapping to evaluate students' self learned knowledge of subject matter during their clerkship in a department of surgery. The individually constructed cognitive maps facilitated learning by being used in group discussions with the tutor, to identify correct ideas as well as misconceptions, and to convey the tutor's view, and thereby facilitated learning. The second, unrelated study employed concept mapping to evaluate an inservice Orientation Workshop for medicine school faculty. The cognitive structure characteristics of the participants and their congruence with those of the workshop teachers were assessed. These provided evidence regarding the attainment of the workshop's objectives for different kinds of participant. For example, by using concept mapping in planning instruction or preparing materials for teaching, teachers become learners. Potential didactic uses in higher education are discussed in light of these studies.     

THE CLASS‐SIZE EFFECT UPON ACTIVITY AND COGNITIVE DIMENSIONS OF LESSONS IN HIGHER EDUCATION

This study examines the effects of class size upon the verbal interactions and the cognitive level of medical instruction. The major findings of this study indicate that: (a) the percentage of the teacher's verbal activities increases with the group size; (b) the shortest teacher‐lectures are given in medium‐size classes; (c) the longest student‐answers and student initiations are observed in medium‐size classes; (d) the maximal diversity of verbal interactions is found in medium groups, while the minimal is found in large groups; (e) the percentage of interactions at the lowest cognitive level (knowledge) increases with class size; (f) longer interactions are observed in large classes at the knowledge level, and in smaller classes at the analysis and evaluation levels; (g) the minimal cognitive diversity is found in large groups; (h) both activity and cognitive total scores decrease as the class size increases. The implications of these findings are discussed.     

Fostering Intelligent Moderation in the Next Generation: Insights from Remida-Inspired Reuse Materials Education

ABSTRACT

Ecologically minded leaders and early childhood teacher educators offer a culturally significant shiny fish project in their community as a way to launch an environmental-material reuse project. Questioning if environmental collapse is imminent, their project investigation of developing a locally relevant Remida Reggio-inspired center serves as hope for reconceptualizing early childhood practices, offering innovations, and fostering intelligent moderation of earthly resources. Finding widening circles of influence and engaging participants are key to nurturing hope, and these educators draw implications to manifest a large and impactful vision and call to action.     

Rethinking inequalities between deindustrialisation,schools and educational research in Geelong

Inequalities have historically been conceptualised and empirically explored with primary reference to the human. Both measurements of educational inequalities through the production of data about students, teachers and schools, and ethnographic explorations of inequalities in the spoken accounts of human actors in schools can elide affective histories and material geologies of the earth that entwine with societal inequalities, and political questions of the relation between particular human bodies and the earth. In this article, we question: What might it do to rethink the concept of educational inequalities beyond human relations, from within a specific geographical territory? We seek to rethink inequalities including but exceeding these human relations; we argue that inequalities between humans, and between humans and the more-than-human, are materially generated and perpetuated. We offer three theoretical trajectories that consider the affective, spatial and material dimensions of inequality to rethink the relations between inequality, deindustrialisation and schooling. Educational research is implicated in the (re)production of inequalities, as well as having the potential to be part of the production of more equitable relations.     

The Implicit Curriculum in Social Work Education: The Culture of Human Interchange

This article focuses on the culture of human interchange, which is included as a component of the implicit curriculum in the current EPAS. It presents the use of the implicit curriculum concept in teacher and medical education as a context for its application to social work education. The authors argue that professional behaviors taught in the explicit curriculum of the classroom need to be consciously reinforced in the many venues and through the ongoing interpersonal relations throughout the educational environment. The article identifies the challenges that movement in this direction would create but which the implicit curriculum standard mandates us to address.     

Tenure: An Important Due Process Right or a Hindrance to Change in the Schools?

Teacher tenure is a hotly contested concept in today’s’ school reform battles. Many discussions of tenure, however, use the term in incorrect ways that add little to the concepts that should be debated. Historically, tenure represents due process rights teachers acquire after several years of successful service. Other procedures, such as teacher credentialing, the granting of tenure, and teacher evaluation, if successfully applied, would offer the public adequate protection from less than competent teachers. Future implications and recommendations for legislatures considering reworking tenure laws are given, including extending the term necessary to gain tenure, revamping teacher evaluation procedures, increasing expenditures for supervision, and focusing reform efforts on desired outcomes.J. Coleman, L. Molinaro, M. Green, S. T. Schroth have equal contributions to the finished paper.     

Pedagogical and curriculum renewal in Australia: a visual and intertextual research approach

This article focuses on the intersection between deafness and social class in the context of the unstable economic circumstances in Scotland following the 2007 recession. More specifically, this research investigated the following in the case of young people who are deaf or hard of hearing (DHH): (1) the interaction between educational attainment and post-school outcomes, and social class; (2) post-school educational experiences in relation to social class. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 30 young people (aged 18–24) who are DHH. Interview data were analysed alongside administrative and survey data on school and post-school outcomes, and policy documentation. It was found that, in line with the mainstream population, social class is strongly associated with educational outcomes and post-school destinations. The interviews revealed that middle-class young people who are DHH were able to use social networks and the advocacy of parents to mitigate the negative consequences of deafness; this contrasted with the more troubled post-school experiences of young people from less advantaged social backgrounds. This research suggests that if the life chances of deaf young people are to be improved, both social class and deafness need to be taken into consideration by policy-makers and practitioners.