Factors and Interactions Influencing Technology Integration During Situated Professional Development in an Elementary School

This study examined factors that influence K–5 teachers’ technology integration efforts during a semester-long Collaborative Apprenticeship. Results suggest that shared planning time, shared curriculum, connection to an individual, expertise, physical proximity, and comfort level influenced interactions across the community of practice. Posing and responding to task-based questions, giving and seeking advice, and sharing ideas composed more than 70% of interactions between teachers. However, the nature of interactions changed as teachers assumed increased responsibility for designing technology-enhanced lessons. Teacher-leaders initially modeled exemplar applications of technology-enhanced lessons and gave advice on their classroom use. Subsequently, the community of teachers brainstormed ideas collaboratively as teacher-leaders supported peers to develop original lessons independently. Implications for collaborative apprenticeships and learning in professional environments are provided.     

Examining focus,duration, and classroom impact of literacy and mathematics professional development

Over $18 billion is spent annually on professional development for in-service teachers. This study examined the focus, duration, and impact of professional development activities in which elementary (students ages 5–11) and middle school (students ages 11–14) teachers participated. Ninety-eight teacher-participants completed an online survey about their professional development experiences. In the analysis of literacy survey items and mathematics survey items, there were similarities in focus areas that received greater participation and areas that received less. There were also noticeable differences in frequency of participation in literacy and mathematics professional development. Comparisons between literacy and mathematics professional development indicated that more teachers reported participating in literacy experiences. This included workshops as well as ongoing support through planning meetings and mentorship. Overall, the consensus from teachers was that professional development was effective and has a beneficial impact on their classroom. Researchers share implications for the design and research of future professional development programs.     

Low opinions,high hopes: revisiting pupils' expectations of sex and relationship education

This paper analyses data from a focus group conducted with a group of female pupils aged 13–14 to re-examine the assumption that pupils' negative assessments of sex and relationship education (SRE) should be understood only as a reflection of inadequate teaching. Focusing on the emotional aspects of their accounts, and the inconsistencies in their efforts to present a collective story of SRE, findings suggest that there are other ways in which such accounts can be read. Drawing on insights from psychoanalytic theory concerning the emotional aspects of learning and the teacher–pupil relationship, it is suggested that these accounts can also be understood as a result of transference. Using psychoanalytic understandings of the role of sexual learning in adolescence, findings reveal that pupils' relationships to SRE are complex and need to be understood as being tied up with internal struggles and anxieties about their own sexual development. This reading is presented as an additional perspective for teachers and is one that would benefit from further exploration.     

Validity on Trial: Psychometric and Legal Conceptualizations of Validity

The psychometric literature is replete with comprehensive discussions of test validity, test validation, and the characteristics of quality assessment programs. The most authoritative source for guidance regarding sound test development and evaluation practices is the Standards for Educational and Psychological Testing. However, the Standards are not legally binding. In this article, we review the way in which validity is conceptualized in the Standards and compare this conceptualization with validity evidence presented in specific court cases involving legal challenges to tests. Our review indicates that, in general, there is strong congruence between the Standards and how validity is viewed in the courts, and that testing agencies that conform to these guidelines are likely to withstand legal scrutiny. However, the courts have taken a more practical, less theoretical view on validity and tend to emphasize evidence based on test content and testing consequences.     

How Does Ongoing Task-Focused Mathematics Professional Development Influence Elementary School Teachers’ Knowledge, Beliefs and Enacted Pedagogies?

This study examined how a task-focused, year-long mathematics professional development program influenced elementary school teachers’ knowledge, beliefs, and practices. Participants completed 84 h of professional development over 13 months that were focused on exploring, modifying and implementing cognitively-demanding mathematical tasks. Using a multi-methods approach, teacher-participants completed pre- and post-measures of mathematical knowledge for teaching, teachers’ beliefs about teaching and learning mathematics, and teachers’ self-reports of enacted instructional practices. Further, three teacher-participants were randomly selected to be observed 3 times over the course of the school year. Data analyses indicated that the professional development had a statistically significant positive impact on participants’ mathematical knowledge for teaching, use of student-centered instructional practices, and beliefs towards mathematics as a subject area. Further, the observed teachers enacted some high-level mathematical tasks and questions, but these were more visible at the end of the study compared to the beginning of the study. Implications for future work are also shared.     

Elementary School Teachers’ Use of Technology During Mathematics Teaching

Various educational technologies have been advanced as potential vehicles to transform teaching and learning. Still, research studies have documented that primary school teachers struggle to integrate technology in meaningful ways. This article presents the findings of a year-long study in which the author frequently observed three primary school teachers’ enactments of technology into their mathematics teaching. Each teacher was observed between 25 and 30 times during the school year. The types of technologies used as well as the types of mathematical tasks and problems that participants posed while teaching with technology were inductively analyzed. Inductive qualitative analyses indicated that participants’ technology use focused on presentation technologies such as the document camera or interactive whiteboard more than computer-based technologies or interactive activities. Further, teachers varied widely in their enacted pedagogies while integrating technology, and two participants demonstrated more frequent enactments of learner-centered pedagogies toward the end of the school year. Implications for researching teachers’ use of technology in the future are also shared.     

Broadcasting

Vernon Stone and Bruce Hinson's Television Newsfilm Techniques (New York: Hastings House, 1974—$4.95, paper edition only)

Polly Carpenter-Huffman, Richard C. Metter, and Robert K. Yin's Cable Television: Developing CommunityServices (New York: Crane, Russak, 1974—$12.75)     

Fatigue decreases skilled tennis performance

The aim of this study was to examine the effect of fatigue from maximal tennis hitting on skilled tennis performance. Eighteen senior county tennis players (9 males, 9 females) volunteered to participate in the study. Their mean ( - s x -macron ) age and body mass were as follows: males 20.7 - 0.9 years and 60.6 - 2.7 kg respectively, females 21.7 - 0.6 years and 71.5 - 1.8 kg respectively. The players undertook two performance tests, both against a tennis ball serving machine, on an indoor tennis surface: (1) a pre- and post-skill test of groundstrokes and service; (2) the Loughborough Intermittent Tennis Test (4 min work plus 40 s recovery) to volitional fatigue. Body mass decreased by 1.5% ( P ? 0.0001). Mean heart rates differed between rest, post-warm-up and all intermittent test values ( P ? 0.01), between the pre- and post-skill tests ( P ? 0.0001) and between bouts and recoveries ( P ? 0.01). Peak blood glucose and lactate concentrations were 5.9 mmol· l -1 (50% into the intermittent tennis test) and 9.6 - 0.9 mmol· l -1 (25% into the test) respectively. Mean time to volitional fatigue was 35.4 - 4.6 min. Groundstroke hitting accuracy decreased by 69% from start to volitional fatigue in the intermittent test ( P ? 0.01). Service accuracy to the right court declined by 30% after the intermittent tennis test. The results of this study suggest that fatigue was accompanied by a decline in some but not all tennis skills.