The Teacher Research Update Experience: Perceptions of Practicing Science, Mathematics, and Technology Teachers

The purpose of this study was to examine how the practicing science and mathematics teachers participating in the University of Florida's Teacher Research Update Experience (TRUE) perceived their experiences in Summer 2000. We conducted in-depth interviews and collected data from survey questionnaires and addressed research in the following areas: How do participants perceive their experiences during the 7-week program designed to enhance science, mathematics, and technology knowledge and skills? How have these experiences contributed to their professional and personal growth and development, and how will they influence teaching and student learning? Findings from interviews provided insights into the thoughts, motivations, and, in some cases, insecurities of these adult learners. Follow-up studies are indicated on long-term impact of immersion professional development programs.     

Shifting sands: a resilient Asian teacher's identity work in Australia

Many TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) programmes focus on providing professional knowledge to Asian teachers who are pursuing their degrees in English-speaking countries. However, not much attention is given to their expectations, personal lived experiences and identity construction while studying in these countries. These aspects are important in their development as users and teachers of English. This article explores these aspects through interviews and email correspondence with Thinh, a highly accomplished TESOL professional who pursued a Master of TESOL degree as an international student in Australia. Findings suggest that when she was in Australia, she displayed strong agency as she changed some aspects of her identity in order to adapt to studying and living in the country. Nevertheless, there is also continuity in her identity construction, as she maintained other aspects of the identity that she brought from her home country. Her identity construction is best seen in the context of her investment in her career in her home country. As a resilient individual, Thinh demonstrates how she manages her process of identity construction through her reflections and strategic thinking. The findings of this study suggest the need for TESOL programmes to actively connect international students' lived experiences outside class to their pursuit of professional knowledge.     

The role of story and place in Indigenous science education: Bigfoot in a youth-designed ecological restoration plan

Cultural Studies of Science Education - This study explores some of the ways in which the dominant science education system in the United States suppresses Indigenous knowledge systems and...     

Counselor Educators and Qualitative Research: Affirming a Research Identity

The lack of enthusiastic research activity among counseling professionals has been a subject of professional concern for the last 2 decades. Many graduates of counselor education programs are not connected to academic research and do not establish a research identity. Qualitative research methods have the potential for creating this connection for some students. To increase understanding of the nature and potential usefulness of this paradigm for increasing counselors' connection to academic research, the authors conducted a phenomenological study to investigate the experiences of counselor education doctoral students as they encountered qualitative research. Students' positive responses were summarized as they reflected 4 themes: worldview congruence, theory and skills congruence, research identity and professional viability, and holistic nature of perceptions and experiences.     

Teachers with learning disabilities: a view from both sides of the desk

The purpose of this qualitative multicase study was to explore the perceptions of individuals who could speak from both sides of the special education desk--as students and as teachers. The three participants for this study each received special education services for learning disabilities while in school and were currently teaching students with learning disabilities. Specifically the study focused on how participants' past experiences with receiving special education services influenced their current practice as special education teachers. Participants' views on service delivery models, the importance of teacher expectations, and the value of conceiving a learning disability as a tool rather than a deficit are discussed.     

Inhibitory effects of omission training

In Experiment 1, pigeons were trained to peck red or blue keys for food reinforcement at variable intervals, while food was contingent on withholding key pecks in the presence of a vertical line (omission training). When the line was briefly superimposed on red or blue in a compound test, responding was reduced. When the orientation of the line was varied during extinction, generalization gradients were variable but often had most responding at or near vertical. In Experiment 2, pigeons were trained in a discrete trials procedure that made food contingent upon pecking in the presence of triangle, and upon the absence of pecking in the presence of red (omission training). Food was never given on green-key trials (extinction). When red or green backgrounds were presented with the triangle in a compound test, responding was reduced similarly in the presence of both key colors. Subsequent resistance to auto-shaping was also similar for red and green. These data, taken together with reports in the literature, suggest that the inhibitory effects of omission training are quite similar to those of extinction. Thus, the crucial condition for obtaining inhibitory effects is not a negative stimulus-reinforcer correlation, as in extinction, but simply the establishment of low rates of responding to the inhibitory stimulus.     

Globalization, uncertainty and changes in early life courses

Summary Increasing uncertainty about economic and social developments is a definitive feature of globalization in advanced economies. However, increasing uncertainty does not impact all regions, states, organizations or individuals in the same way. There are institutional settings and social structures, historically grown and country-specific, that determine the degree to which people are affected by rising uncertainty. This paper develops a multilevel theoretical framework and summarizes the main empirical results from the first phase of the international research project GLOBALIFE. There is empirical evidence that youth in all countries are clearly exposed to more uncertainty in the course of globalization. Yet uncertainty is unequal, with risk accumulating in certain groups, generally those at the bottom. Uncertainty impacts family formation, with those in more precarious positions more likely to postpone or forgo partnership and parenthood. Youth develop rational responses to this uncertainty, which we identified in the form of diverse behavioral strategies. A notable result is that young men and women are affected and respond differently to uncertainty, resulting in an unmistakable gender-specific strategy, particularly in the male-breadwinner societies. We show overwhelming support for the expectation that nation-specific institutions serve to shield or funnel this uncertainty in unique ways and to particular groups of youth.

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Globalisierung, Ungewissheit und Wandel in Lebensl?ufen Jugendlicher und junger Erwachsener

Zusammenfassung Globalisierung, Ungewissheit und Wandel in Lebensl?ufen Jugendlicher und junger Erwachsener Zunehmende Flexibilit?tserfordemisse und wachsende Unsicherheiten bezüglich ?konomischer und sozialer Entwicklungen sind ein wesentliches Merkmal des Globalisierungsprozesses in modernen Gesellschaften. Diese Unsicherheiten betreffen aber nicht alle Regionen, Staaten, Organisationen und Individuen in derselben Weise. Historisch gewachsene, l?nderspezifische Institutionen und soziale Strukturen kanalisieren diese Prozesse und bestimmen die Intensit?t, in der die Individuen den wachsenden globalen Unsicherheiten ausgesetzt sind. Der vorliegende Beitrag entwickelt eine Mehrebenen-Theorie für diese Prozesse und fasst die ersten empirischen Ergebnisse des GLOBALIFE-Projekts, das sich zun?chst mit den Effekten der Globalisierung auf den übergang vom Jugendlichen zum Erwachsenen besch?ftigt hat, kurz zusammen. Die international vergleichende Studie liefert insbesondere Belege dafür, dass vor allem Jugendliche und junge Erwachsene den Ver?nderungen durch den Globalisierungsprozess besonders stark ausgesetzt sind. Wachsende Unsicherheiten werden vor allem auf sie abgew?lzt und Flexibilisierungsbestrebungen gehen insbesondere zu ihren Lasten. Dabei kumulieren diese Risiken bei den benachteiligten Gruppen, die sich am wenigsten wehren k?nnen. Vermittelt über die wachsenden Unsicherheiten in den Besch?ftigungsverh?ltnissen ergeben sich auch indirekte Wirkungen für die Familienbildung. Junge Leute mit befristeten Besch?ftigungsverh?ltnissen, Teilzeitarbeit oder anderen prek?ren Arbeitsverh?ltnissen entwickeln neue Strategien, schieben ihre Familienbildung deutlich auf, optieren vermehrt für nicht-eheliche und damit flexiblere Partnerschaften oder verzichten sogar ganz auf Kinder. In diesem Zusammenhang zeigen sich auch deutliche geschlechtsspezifische Unterschiede, vor allem in den L?ndern mit eher traditionellem Familiensystem.

     

Addressing the challenge of legitimate international comparisons of classroom practice

In this article, we address the choice of suitable instructional units that might serve as the basis for cross-cultural analyses of classroom practice. Our argument draws on analyses undertaken as part of the Learner's Perspective Study (LPS). The database comprised a three-camera video record of sequences of 10 consecutive lessons in each classroom, supplemented by post-lesson video-stimulated interviews with teachers and students: a total of over 180 videotaped lessons, over 50 teacher interviews and almost 400 student interviews. The results of these analyses challenge the suitability of the lesson as the unit of comparative analysis. In particular, the location of the lesson in the topic sequence is seen to be a key influence on the lesson's structure, critically affecting the teacher's deployment of the constituent activities that we have called ‘lesson events.’ The lesson event is proposed as an alternative unit of international comparative analysis of classroom practice.