The Mobile Teaching Package in Africa

Conclusion The developed design of the MTP can only result from an inter-disciplinary study, including not only educators, but also audio-visual specialists and furniture designers, and its accommodation and conditioning might include several grades of complexity. Implementation as well may include a range of possibilities of production, from a minimum technical level (timber) up to the most sophisticated means (metal, plastic, etc.). This range would also allow a choice among the possible production frameworks, including major industries, sponsored by external assistance according to more general policy considerations. Finally, implementation must, as an absolute necessity, be accompanied by the action of special teacher training to assure optimum use.The MTP proposes a reassessment of conventional thinking related to school building. The multipurpose nature of the MTP makes it possible to share school facilities with health, social guidance, library resource, arts and crafts, functional literacy programmes and continuation schooling. By means of the MTP each locality can vary the means of school shelter within available budgets and according to environmental requirements, while still being assured of adequate technical equipment to carry on a school programme of the best quality. A reassessment of prestige requirements is needed for the acceptance of the MTP and the minimum school structure. A further study by REBIA on possible solutions to this aspect of the school problems is now under way.     

Preservice teachers' theory development in physical and simulated environments

We report a study of three prospective secondary science teachers' development of theories‐in‐action as they worked together in a group to explore collisions using both physical manipulatives and a computer simulation (Interactive Physics). Analysis of their investigations using an existing theoretical framework indicates that, as the group moved from physical experiments to the computer simulation, their attention shifted from planning their experiments to processing system feedback, which impeded the iterative refinement of their theories‐in‐action. The nature of the theories they developed also changed. Learners' attitudes toward science and prior experiences affected the exploration process in both environments. In particular, prior instruction in physics and an authoritarian view of science seemed to impede engagement in the development and testing of theories‐in‐action. Certain features of the computer system itself also impeded exploration. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 43: 907–937, 2006     

What do we know in English: facts and fiction in an arts based English curriculum

This article explores the nature of knowledge in English. Using assessment practices as one way of understanding what constitutes knowledge in English, this article asks whether the subject is being subtly changed and whether it is changing in a direction that is profitable. Drawing on the work of Dewey and Eisner, it seeks to understand English as an arts subject and define what it means to know in English seen through this frame.