Voices of teacher candidates of color on white race evasion: ‘I worried about my safety!’

Abstract

This qualitative study investigated the negative impacts minority teacher candidates receive from white teacher candidates in a required multicultural education class. The findings reveal that four teacher candidates of color had difficulty positioning themselves among the overwhelming silencing power of whiteness in the class. The white students were tactful at evading power and race and flattening the existing hierarchical power relations through the discourses of colorblindness and by preying on the minority instructor. Their understanding of diversity was also shallow. On the other hand, the teacher candidates of color were afraid that they might be labeled as the ones who spoke up against the white students and fearful of the possibility of retaliation and ostracism from the white peers. It seems that the teacher education program’s structure allowed the white candidates to impose strong negative peer pressure on the teacher candidates of color.     

Paired peer learning through engineering education outreach

ABSTRACT

Undergraduate education incorporating active learning and vicarious experience through education outreach presents a critical opportunity to influence future engineering teaching and practice capabilities. Engineering education outreach activities have been shown to have multiple benefits; increasing interest and engagement with science and engineering for school children, providing teachers with expert contributions to engineering subject knowledge, and developing professional generic skills for engineers such as communication and teamwork. This pilot intervention paired 10 pre-service teachers and 11 student engineers to enact engineering outreach in primary schools, reaching 269 children. A longitudinal mixed methods design was employed to measure change in attitudes and Education Outreach Self-Efficacy in student engineers; alongside attitudes, Teaching Engineering Self-Efficacy and Engineering Subject Knowledge Confidence in pre-service teachers. Highly significant improvements were noted in the pre-service teachers’ confidence and self-efficacy, while both the teachers and engineers qualitatively described benefits arising from the paired peer mentor model.     

Peer facilitated writing groups: a programmatic approach to doctoral student writing

Very few empirical studies have investigated programmes in which doctoral students act as peer facilitators in faculty writing groups. We report on the development of a centrally delivered doctoral student writing programme in which twenty student participants were mentored and provided with the resources to initiate their own faculty-based doctoral writing groups. ‘Legitimate peripheral participation’ was used as a conceptual lens to interpret the data collected during the establishment and evaluation of the programme. All student participants in the preparatory training course, which was developed in consultation with postgraduate students and research supervisors, went on to become doctoral writing peer facilitators of peer writing groups. Insights from seven of these showed how a well-structured and supportive programme harnessed the benefits of peer learning by bringing personal rewards to participants and building institutional capacity around doctoral research writing literacies.     

Increasing the uptake of peer feedback in primary school writing: findings from an action research enquiry

This article reports on how an action research strategy was used to increase children's uptake of feedback during peer assessment in primary school writing. Several different strategies were used in the study that had been successful in increasing students’ uptake of peer feedback in contexts such as higher education. In order to evaluate how successful these actions were, several different data collection methods were drawn upon to triangulate findings including children's work, observations, informal interviews and mind mapping. Thematic analysis was used to analyse the data generated. Findings are consistent with those from research in other settings which suggest that pupils make better use of feedback if: it is task-involving and useful; there is sufficient time given for them to act on it and discuss it with their peers; and they are asked to reflect on how it has been used to improve the quality of the assessed work.     

Assessing postgraduate student perceptions and measures of learning in a peer review feedback process

Peer review feedback, developed to assist students with increasing the quality of group reports and developing peer review skills, was added to a master’s level Climate Change Policy and Planning unit. A pre- and post-survey was conducted to determine whether students found the process a valuable learning opportunity: 87% of students responding to the post-review survey indicated they saw benefit in both developing and receiving peer review feedback. Peer review design minimising the potential for plagiarism resulted in low levels of student concern surrounding plagiarism. Marks allocated by students were valid (consistent with the lecturer) and were generally reliable; however, distribution of marks had a higher variance where group report quality was low. Training on completing the peer review template could result in more reliable feedback. Consistent with the literature, the feedback developed during the peer review process focused on style and presentation preferentially to content. Seven out of eight group reports improved between report submissions, with all groups responding to peer review feedback. Peer review feedback and changes made to group reports indicated students had limited capacity to judge the quality of referencing and critical analysis.     

Peer-Collaborator Preferences of African American and White Sixth-Graders in Mathematics Classrooms

Abstract

This study focused on academic and social correlates of collaborator preferences of African American and White sixth-graders in mathematics classrooms in fall and spring. Students’ appraisals of emotional risk were examined as a moderator. Nomination procedures identified collaborator preferences, group affiliations, and social centrality; students self-reported engagement and emotional risk; school records provided achievement scores. Results indicated students preferred group affiliates, but not exclusively, as collaborators. Students with greater centrality, achievement, and engagement received more nominations. In the fall, high achievers received more nominations when appraisals of risk were high; whereas, engaged students whose appraisals of risk were low received more nominations. Results are interpreted in relation to coordinating social and academic factors in peer collaboration.     

知乎问答社区回答者知识贡献行为受同伴效应影响研究

社会化问答社区的出现改变了原有的问答模式并拓展了知识获取的途径。回答者作为知识的主要贡献者,是促进问答社区内知识传递的核心要素。现有关于问答社区用户的研究普遍以用户的属性数据为依据,较少考虑使用个体连接所形成的关系数据进行分析。本文以中文问答社区"知乎"为研究对象,爬取了"流行音乐"和"英语学习"两个话题下的大规模数据,通过构建回答者关注关系网络,定义和量化直接连接和间接连接两类同伴关系,使用网络自回归模型探究同伴效应对知识贡献行为的影响。研究发现,回答者的知识贡献行为会受到直接和间接连接同伴效应的正向影响,但是间接连接同伴效应会随着回答者网络密度的增加而逐渐减弱甚至消失,聚类系数对回答者的知识贡献行为有负向影响。     

融合环境中的同伴支持:一个未被利用的资源

在融合教育日益成为一种发展趋势的今天,如何让更多的残障学生在普教课堂中得到多种多样的支持与帮助,是我们必须面对和解决的问题。在融合环境中,全班配对同伴指导、同伴辅助式学习策略、跨年龄指导计划、高年级同伴指导、同伴指导课程和合作课堂等,被证明是较为有效的同伴支持策略和方法。通过融合环境中的同伴支持,建立一个所有人都能得到重视与尊重的社会,才能真正实现教育公平。同时,残障学生与健全学生都可在合作与支持的融合过程中,寻得彼此的受益点。     

同伴评估的理论基础和现实基础的研究

近年来,同伴评估在我国第二语言教学的领域里逐步渗透,已经出现很多在口语和写作方面的研究报告。其中,多数研究的方向为同伴评估的可行性分析。但是对于同伴评估在英语教学方面的理论基础与现实基础是否能够在一定程度上融合鲜有研究分析。中国教育体制下的课堂有其自身的特点,在国外已认可的同伴评估的方式,是否适合中国的学生、中国的教育模式有待进一步探讨。