Networked Resources, Assessment and Collection Development

This project provides a critical evaluation of networked resources as they relate to the library's collection development policy, identifies areas of the curriculum not well represented, establishes a reliable method of assessing usage across all resources, and develops a framework of quantitative data for collection development decision making.     

The Influence of Experimental Design on the Detection of Performance Differences

We demonstrate the effect of sample and trial size on statistical outcomes for single-subject analyses (SSA) and group analyses (GA) for a frequently studied performance activity and common intervention. Fifty strides of walking data collected in two blocks of 25 trials for two shoe conditions were analyzed for samples of five, eight, 10, and 12 subjects and five, 10, 25, and 50 trials. SSA revealed a greater number of differences (p < .05) than GA for all sample and trial sizes. Increasing sample size resulted in consistent increases in the number of differences for GA; differences for SSA were independent of sample size. Increasing trial size from five to 50 resulted in increased differences for SSA; GA were independent of trial size. Detecting significant differences in group designs is more dependent on the number of subjects, while SSA are more dependent on the number of trials.     

Some Characteristics of Effective Science Teaching

Summaries

English

In this paper, the authors summarize the main findings which resulted from a recent major research study of the processes and products of science teaching in English schools. For the purpose of this study, a Science Teaching Observation Schedule (STOS) was developed by means of which the intellectual transactions taking place between teacher and pupils during science lessons, can be recorded and analysed. Using STOS, the teaching behaviour of some 94 teachers of biology, of chemistry and of physics was studied. On the basis of this, three main styles of science teaching were identified. These styles are described and discussed both in terms of their educational effectiveness (as measured by pupil achievement) and in relation to the implementation of modern school science curricula.     

Book reviews

International Review of Education -     

Classroom Transactions of Student‐Teachers of Science

Summaries

English

The report describes a study of the teaching behaviour of student‐teachers of science disciplines during the one‐term teaching practice of the English ‘Post‐Graduate Certificate in Education’ course, using the Science Teaching Observation Schedule by Eggleston et al.

The results suggest that in several behavioural dimensions, students and teachers achieve a close match. These dimensions, it is suggested, could represent the ‘stable’ elements in the students’ perception of science teacher behaviour learnt during their time as pupils, or they might represent ‘safe’ transactions which do not involve students extensively in problems of classroom management and control.

For other behaviour categories, it was found that students tended to behave less like experienced teachers as the training practice proceeded, but this was to some extent determined by the subject taught. Physics student‐teachers substantially maintained their similarity to experienced teachers, whilst chemistry and biology students drifted away. The nature of these drifts is discussed.