The self‐perceptions of bullies in Cyprus primary schools

Bullying is a matter of significant concern in the Cypriot educational setting. Teachers usually report their difficulties in understanding bullies and their anxiety to find effective ways to deal with them. This project investigated the self‐concepts of a sample of nine boys identified as bullies at the end of primary schooling in Nicosia, Cyprus. The bullies’ self‐concepts were examined by the use of two instruments, namely, the Butler Self‐image profile for children (SIP‐C), which is derived from Personal Construct Theory, and the Harter Self‐perception profile for children (SPPC), derived from Self‐concept Theory. The results reveal that the bullies who participated in this study understood that their behaviour was usually inappropriate. Their self‐perceptions varied across a number of dimensions, indicating the need to examine the complexity of their view of themselves as part of any attempt to seek to implement behavioural change.     

A cross‐cultural comparison of childhood developmental disorders between schoolchildren in the Netherlands and Greece

The scope of the present study was first to evaluate the cross‐cultural reliability and validity of the Social Emotional Questionnaire (SEQ) and second to estimate and compare the prevalence rates of childhood developmental and psychiatric disorders in the general population of young children in the Netherlands and Greece. To this end, the caregivers of 1748 Dutch and 384 Greek 4–12‐year‐old children from the general population completed the SEQ. The number of children displaying symptoms of childhood developmental disorders was estimated by applying the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders‐IV criteria of symptom occurrence. Results showed that the reliability and the construct validity of the SEQ were acceptable in both countries and for all the age‐groups of children. Concerning the prevalence, the Greek children were found to display overall significantly more symptoms of developmental disorders than the Dutch children. However, when the number of children suffering from psychiatric symptoms in the clinical range was estimated using the clinical criteria provided by categorical classification systems, no statistical significant differences emerged between the two countries. This finding suggests that when the criterion of clinical impairment is applied in diagnostic procedures, the number of children suffering from severe psychiatric disorders is about equal in the two countries. The implications of the study are discussed.     

Multi‐sensory storytelling as an aid to assisting people with profound intellectual disabilities to cope with sensitive issues: a multiple research methods analysis of engagement and outcomes

The importance of storytelling in social, cultural and educational contexts is well established and documented. The extension of storytelling to people with profound intellectual and multiple disabilities (PIMD) has in recent years been undertaken with an emphasis on the value of sensory experience and the context storytelling provides for social interaction. The present study builds on earlier curriculum orientated research with a view to describe patterns of social and story‐oriented interaction during storytelling. The stories dealt with sensitive topics raised by family carers who wished the young person with PIMD to understand. Behavioural observation during storytelling sessions explored changes in engagement while semi‐structured interviews with parents and professionals explored the extent to which the experience had benefitted the young person with respect to the sensitive topic. Positive changes in engagement with the story were shown for seven of the eight participants. For six of the seven, a parent and a professional agreed that the outcome of the experience positively enabled the participant to cope better with the sensitive topic. The specific multi‐sensory storytelling factors leading to these outcomes are discussed, as is the issue of proxy reporting and determining the nature of understanding in people with PIMD.     

Integration of physically disabled students

Abstract

The article reviews research in four areas: impact of integration on children's self‐concept, attitudes toward physically disabled children, effects on their school achievement and teacher reactions to integration. Research evidence suggests that being together with non‐disabled peers makes the disabled child more aware of his physical impairment and restraints. But there are also signs indicating that psychological factors essential for a positive self‐evaluation are activated to a higher degree in the integrated environment. With respect to attitudes of peers there are some, although not conclusive, results suggesting positive influence of integration. Research on school achievement demonstrates the great variability among the physically disabled pupils, in comparison with which the impact of school placement is relatively minor. Teacher opinions about integration of physically disabled pupils are mainly positive, but if the handicap is severe integration is considered possible only with a rich supply of teaching material, reduced class size and support from specialists. The review concludes with glimpses from reports on practical experience with integration.     

Biology Teachers Designing Context-Based Lessons for Their Classroom Practice—The importance of rules-of-thumb

In science education in the Netherlands new, context‐based, curricula are being developed. As in any innovation, the outcome will largely depend on the teachers who design and implement lessons. Central to the study presented here is the idea that teachers, when designing lessons, use rules‐of‐thumb: notions of what a lesson should look like if certain classroom outcomes are to be reached. Our study aimed at (1) identifying the rules‐of‐thumb biology teachers use when designing context‐based lessons for their own classroom practice, and (2) assessing how these personal rules‐of‐thumb relate to formal innovative goals and lesson characteristics. Six biology teachers with varying backgrounds designed and implemented a lesson or series of lessons for their own practice, while thinking aloud. We interviewed the teachers and observed their lessons. Our results suggest that rules‐of‐thumb, which differed substantially among the teachers, indeed to a great extent guide the decisions teachers make when designing (innovative) lessons. These rules‐of‐thumb were often strongly associated with intended lesson outcomes. Also, teachers’ personal rules‐of‐thumb were more powerful in determining the lesson design than formal innovative goals and lesson characteristics. The results of this study encourage more research into how rules‐of‐thumb reflect teachers’ practical knowledge, for which suggestions are made.     

Simulation games in science education‡

The astronomy concepts of 345 young people were studied over a 10‐year period using a multi‐media, multi‐modal methodology in a research design where survey participants were interviewed three times and control subjects were interviewed twice. The purpose of the research was to search for evidence to clarify competing theories on conceptual coherence versus knowledge‐in‐pieces, distinguishing between coherence as revealed in the representational systems at any particular stage in a young person’s development and the changes evident in mental growth thereafter. Thus five research questions concerned with the elements and structure of understanding were investigated: (1) conceptual coherence shown as patterns of high correlation of concept representations between the media used to assess subjects’ understanding within a survey, as well as (2) coherence revealed as consistency of representation of those concepts across media and modalities; (3) enhanced conceptual understanding and skill through repeated interviews across (longitudinal) surveys, as young people develop their knowledge; (4) cultural similarity in subjects’ representations of basic static concepts (e.g. the shape of the Earth); and (5) improved understanding of basic dynamic concepts (e.g. the motion of the Earth) and complex dynamic concepts (e.g. seasons and eclipses), through “knowledge‐skill compounding”. The research findings supported conceptual coherence and rejected the counter argument of knowledge‐in‐pieces (at an alpha level of .05). Further research is recommended to replicate current research in cultures other than those of China and New Zealand studied here to confirm the view that cognition and knowledge are inherently coherent in young people.     

Logical positivism as a tool to analyse the problem of chemistry's lack of relevance in secondary school chemical education

Secondary school chemical education has a problem: namely, the seeming irrelevance to the pupils of chemistry. Chemical education prepares pupils for participation in society. Therefore, it must imply a model of society, of chemistry, and of the relation between them. In this article it is hypothesized that logical positivism currently offers this model. Logical positivism is a philosophy of science that creates a divide between science and society. It is therefore further hypothesized that the adoption of logical positivism causes chemistry's lack of relevance in chemical education. Both hypotheses could be confirmed by an analysis of a grade nine course.     

Essential Criteria to Characterize Constructivist Teaching: Derived from a review of the literature and applied to five constructivist‐teaching method articles

Constructivism is an important theory of learning that is used to guide the development of new teaching methods, particularly in science education. However, because it is a theory of learning and not of teaching, constructivism is often either misused or misunderstood. Here we describe the four essential features of constructivism: eliciting prior knowledge, creating cognitive dissonance, application of new knowledge with feedback, and reflection on learning. We then use the criteria we developed to evaluate five representative published articles that claim to describe and test constructivist teaching methods. Of these five articles, we demonstrate that three do not adhere to the constructivist criteria, whereas two provide strong examples of how constructivism can be employed as a teaching method. We suggest that application of the four essential criteria will be a useful tool for all professional educators who plan to implement or evaluate constructivist teaching methods.     

RESEARCH REPORT

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between student understanding of the nature of science and their problem-solving strategies. Six hundred and twenty Year 8 students in Taiwan twice completed two conceptual problem-solving tests and a questionnaire on the nature of science. Four of these students were selected for follow-up interviews. The result of stepwise multiple regression indicated that the subscale on the nature of the scientific method consistently appeared as the best predictor for student problem-solving ability, explaining about 22% of the variance. It was also found that problem-solving strategies were more conceptually based for students that were high scorers on the nature of science survey.     

Complexity of Secondary Scientific Data Sources and Students’ Argumentative Discourse

This study examined the learning opportunities provided to students through the use of complex geological data supporting scientific inquiry. Through analysis of argumentative discourse in a high school Earth science classroom, uses of US Geological Survey (USGS) data were contrasted with uses of geoscience textbook data. To examine these differences, we conducted a review of frameworks for argumentation analysis, and through adaptation to the research foci of this study, developed a new analytic approach. Applying this approach to student classroom discourse revealed the affordances and constraints of both the complex USGS datasets and the filtered textbook data sources. The challenges of teaching with complex data are presented.