A Social-Studies Unit that Developed Pupils’ Powers of Problem Solving

This article reports the author's experiences using graphic novels with pre-service teachers in a young adult literature course. Drawing on critical response papers two students composed after reading Pride of Baghdad, a graphic novel by Brian K. Vaughan and Niko Henrichon, the author argues that when readers possess the background knowledge needed to approximate the role of the implied reader—that is, the imaginary audience for whom authors envision themselves writing—they are capable of engaging with graphic novels in ways that readers who lack experience with the form, or who question its literary merit, are not.     

Variations of Normal Children

Previous research indicates that academic emotions are largely organized along domain-specific lines. In the present study (N = 1,687; Grades 8/11), the authors explored the domain specificity of academic emotions in terms of the moderating influence of having the same versus a different course instructor across domains. The authors evaluated discrete emotions consisting of enjoyment, pride, anxiety, anger, and boredom as experienced in the academic domains of mathematics and physics. Consistent with previous findings, between-domain relations for these emotions were relatively weak. These relations were, however, significantly stronger in classes having the same instructor in mathematics and physics compared with classes having different instructors for each subject. Nevertheless, the between-domain relations in classes having the same instructor were not strong enough to disconfirm the domain-specific conceptualization of academic emotions. Last, the authors discuss directions for future research on additional factors potentially affecting the strength of between-domain relations of academic emotions.     

Financial Delegation: its effect on the school and the role of the head

At the end of a decade of enhanced marketisation in schools, this article considers the subjective meanings attached to educational marketing by school teachers and the ways they construct and interpret teachers' 'idealised' and 'actual' involvement and contribution to school marketing. Through semi-structured interviews with 12 secondary school teachers from the south of England, the study revealed teachers' perceptions of and attitudes towards competition, marketing and education, their awareness of the marketing activities of their schools, the teachers' role in marketing the school and the perceived impact of the market upon teachers' well being. The results show that there is no coherent, organised view of education marketing among teachers in the study but rather that there are a number of inchoate voices amongst teachers concerning their role in school marketing. Broadly, two voices are revealed that reflect a cognitive dissonance which may exist among school teachers in the era of marketisation. This dissonance may stem from teachers' ideology-based difficulty in perceiving marketing as part of school life, while at the same time, they are aware of its importance to the school's success.     

Theme and variations: one middle school’s interpretation of mandated action research

In the current climate of accountability, action research is one way for teachers to evaluate instructional changes designed to improve assessment results. It may become increasingly common for administrators to mandate teacher involvement in action research, yet few studies have been conducted in such settings. This article focuses on one middle school where the principal mandated action research for all teachers. Projects were carried out within academic departments, and department chairs were given latitude in how to organize and implement projects. This study explores project implementation and teacher perceptions of the action research. Interviews were used as an appropriate tool to explore teacher perceptions, with document analysis providing triangulation. Results from interviews of administrators, department chairs, and department members suggest an overall positive attitude toward action research, as well as variation in how action research projects were carried out. Differences occurred across several dimensions of action research, including context, motivation/ purpose, definition of action research, and organization of projects. Variations appeared to be influenced by each department chair’s experience with action research and approach to departmental work, and each department’s history of working together on instructional improvement efforts. This study suggests that administrators who mandate teacher participation in action research projects need to think about both the positive (providing teacher ownership and interest within the mandated context) and problematic (possibly leading to variation in the instructional impact of projects) aspects of project variation.     

Riding to the Rescue While Holding On By a Thread: Physical Activity in the Schools

The public health burden of obesity, overweight, and physical inactivity suggests schools be actively involved in prevention and treatment. Schools were challenged to take action by the Surgeon General in 2001. Few resources have been allocated to support the schools and in the presence of budget and high stakes testing pressure, resources are decreasing. Sources of support (research, professional organizations, government, coalitions/foundations) often criticize schools and teachers while providing erroneous information and no support. Teachers have responded to recommendations by including lifetime activities, health related fitness, and increasing MVPA. Approximately half the recommended minutes per week are provided in schools where there is any PE, many (5-33%) schools have no PE for their students. Three recommendations for scholars and leaders in the field include the following: Provide clear and consistent messages and interpretation of the scientific and theoretical information about physical activity; secure funded mandates for daily PE; be supportive not critical.     

Teacher job satisfaction: lessons from the TSW Pathfinder Project

Government policy assumes that modernization and remodelling will be effective as external intervention mechanisms to improve job satisfaction. Based on data collected as part of the evaluation of the ‘Transforming the School Workforce Pathfinder Project’, an argument is presented here which suggests that internal management models may be more effective in improving teacher job satisfaction. By comparing the responses of teachers within primary and special schools with those from secondary schools, internal factors are identified which may be more relevant than externally imposed measures.     

Making Sense of Bali: Unintended outcomes of study abroad programs

Study abroad programmes for teacher education students are increasingly being evaluated to determine their effectiveness in achieving intended outcomes. There is a danger, however, that such evaluations will ignore valuable but unintended and serendipitous outcomes of such programmes. This paper investigates an example of such an outcome, the development of a critical perspective towards media constructions of ‘otherness’. In 2002 a group of Australian teacher education students undertook an intensive in‐country Indonesian language programme. The course included mornings of formal immersion language classes and afternoons of cultural experiences with local students. Throughout and following the programme the students were interviewed and wrote about their changing perceptions of Indonesia and the implications of the experience for their professional development. Soon after their return Indonesian–Australian relations were challenged by the terrorist attack in the tourist heart of Bali. Two hundred and two people, including many Australian tourists, were killed in the bomb blast. In some cases the students were personally acquainted with Australian victims. As part of their reflection upon their in‐country experience the students were asked to comment upon whether, and in what ways, the Bali bombings might have affected their perceptions of Indonesia. The students were highly critical of the ethnocentric and stereotyped way in which the Australian media depicted Indonesians in their reporting of the bombing. These students were concerned with the effect that such media constructions might have upon Australian attitudes towards Indonesia and were prepared to challenge such media constructions in the classroom.     

Quality Indicators of Online Programs

The continued growth of online programs in higher education has resulted in concerns about how institutions monitor the quality of their online programs. These concerns indicate a need for a process by which online programs may be evaluated and compared. They provided the impetus for this study, the goals of which were to identify quality indicators specific to community college online programs and to determine stakeholders' perceived importance of those indicators.

Categories of indicators were identified through a literature review, and these items were used to guide the development of a Delphi study to identify potential indicators. The results of the Delphi study were then used to create a three-part Stakeholder Survey designed to collect input on perceived levels of importance for each potential indicator using the magnitude estimation technique. The Stakeholder Survey was also used to validate the results of the Delphi. To refine the results of the Delphi study and Stakeholder Survey, a final survey was distributed to a group of distance learning experts, identified through their scholarly research and professional activity. The participants were asked to review the earlier results and classify each item as a factor, indicator, or other according to definitions provided.

The three research stages produced a set of potential data sources that a community college may want to pursue when assessing the effectiveness of its online programs and services. Each of the potential sources of data will be reviewed with a goal towards identifying specific indicators that may be used in developing future instruments.