Serial Monogamy: Extended Fictions and the Television Revolution

Changes in television technology have fostered changes in how we view fiction on television. This article explores some of these changes in the context of the teenage series, Felicity (WBTV, 1998–2002). It draws comparisons with the experience of reading series fiction in print, referring to the children’s print series, The Beverly Gray College Mystery Series (Burt, Grosset & Dunlap, 1934–1955). The article also looks at the impact of the Internet on series reading and viewing.     

The Effect of Instructional Modality and Prior Knowledge on Learning Point Group Symmetry

Many topics in chemistry are difficult for learners to understand, including symmetry. Reasons for this difficulty include its multi-level content, instructional methodologies utilized, and learner variables. This study examined the effect of initial instructional modality and prior knowledge on learning of point group symmetry. Forty-four students in a sophomore-level inorganic chemistry class at a small private university were divided by pre-selected lab groups into two groups, lecture and computer, for introductory information about point group symmetry. Both groups had low prior knowledge of symmetry elements although the lecture group had significantly higher knowledge than the computer group. After initial instruction, the lecture group scored significantly higher than the computer group on a point group assessment, even when prior knowledge was controlled. A second assessment, given after both groups had follow-up information from computer courseware, showed no significant difference between the groups. The computer group significantly improved between the two assessments, the lecture group did not. At the end-of-the semester post-test showed no significant difference between the two groups, although only 50% of the students in each group achieved mastery. Factors affecting the significant improvement of the low prior knowledge, computer group were examined and recommendations for future research provided.     

Teachers’ Perceptions of Factors Influencing the Curriculum

This paper describes a two‐part investigation into how teachers perceive the curriculum. In the primary stage, teachers were asked to assess how much freedom they felt they should have to determine the content of what they taught in their own classrooms, and how much freedom they fell they actually had, in this respect. A sample of 196 teachers, from varied schools and teaching backgrounds, took part. It was found that there was a very definite tendency to take a ‘middle way’ between total freedom and total constraint, in both cases. By and large, these teachers seemed to feel that they should have some freedom to determine what they taught in their own classrooms, but that there should be restraints as well. The general lack of discrepancy between what the teachers wanted, and what they felt they had, seemed to indicate that the great majority of the teachers were happy with the situation as they perceived it.

The same sample of 196 teachers was then asked to assess thirty varied potential influences, in terms of their power to shape the content of what they themselves taught in their own classroom. These potential influences included LEA advisers, parents, school governors, national educational associations etc. A factor analysis of the ratings made by the respondents showed that they regarded EXTERNAL‐PROFESSIONAL influences as the most important of all. This category included such influences as local colleges, and universities, national reports (such as the Warnock Report), professional journals and articles, local teachers’ centres, LEA advisory personnel, H.M. Inspectorate, etc. Four other types of influence were seen as important, but the EXTERNAL‐PROFESSIONAL category was seen as the most important by far. It was concluded that teachers’ perceptions of the influences which they felt shaped their curricula were positive and optimistic.     

Learning How to Make Inquiry into Electricity and Magnetism Discernible to Middle Level Teachers

As university professors we sought to disrupt the practice of giving our students the actions we felt they should imitate in their teaching practice. Instead, we sought to actively engage teachers in the creation of workable solutions to real-life problems. We accomplished this by conducting a participatory action research project. This paper illustrates our action research project focused on preparing middle level science teachers to foster inquiry-based learning in their classrooms. The findings of this study not only lead to a revised professional development opportunity for science teachers, but also provided an example of university faculty engaging in pragmatic research focused on addressing contemporary issues in K-12 science education. The work reported within was partially supported by a National Science Foundation Grant. The opinions, views and conclusions expressed in this paper may not reflect those of the funding agency.     

University‐community engagement: exploring service‐learning options within the practicum

Since 1999, pre‐service teachers undertaking the Bachelor of Teaching (Secondary) Program at the University of Western Sydney have participated in an alternate practicum called Professional Experience 3 (PE3). This practicum encourages students to engage in broader educational settings within local communities. Increasingly, a number of service‐learning opportunities have been developed, most notably, senior student tutoring programs and the involvement of students in the Plan‐It Youth project in conjunction with the Department of Education and Training (DET) and the South‐western Sydney Institute of TAFE. A focus of these programs has been to address the issues related to students at risk of leaving school early within the local South‐western Sydney community.

In this paper we discuss the benefits of these programs to the university, pre‐service‐teachers, school students and school communities, and the broader local community. Specifically, we examine service learning as a conduit for the development and maintenance of meaningful symbiotic relationships between the university and the educational community, and pre‐service teachers and the local community. Finally, we look towards the future and highlight the challenges and opportunities for service‐learning programs within the practicum.