AbstractsContext led science courses: a review
Number 19, Winter 2015;
Pages 7–13
Science curricula are widely seen as content-heavy, abstract and disconnected from students’ lives, so that they have difficulty applying what they learn to new contexts. One attempt to address these concerns is the development of ‘context led’ science courses. Instead of starting from a concept, such as cell biology, context led science commences from an authentic situation which students are likely to have heard of, and have an interest in, such as global food security, in which scientific concepts are applied or illustrated. The context includes social and cultural as well as purely scientific dimensions of the issue. The context led approach is also seen as a way to engage groups historically less engaged in science study, such as girls and some ethnic minorities, and also to acquaint students with a range of science-based careers that they might otherwise be unaware of. For younger students, ‘context’ is likely to refer to situations or issues personally familiar to them, while for older students context may refer to any practical application of science. Toe be successful, context led science courses meet a number of criteria. Students must recognise the chosen context's relevance to science; they must have an interest in the topic; and they must recognise the context’s current social relevance. The context must exemplify important concepts in the subject area; lead towards activities characteristic of the subject, eg lab experiments; and lead students to use disciplinary language. The issue should draw from and build on students’ prior knowledge. The context must make sense to students in terms of their cultural backgrounds; this is more difficult when the student population is diverse. The context must not be allowed to obscure the concept being taught. Context led courses typically use a ‘spiral’ curriculum, in which scientific issues raised in one context are revisited in other contexts, at greater levels of complexity. In these situations it is important that the underlying concept is sufficiently clear to allow students to connect it between the two contexts. Generally context led courses use student-centred approaches to learning, which may introduce a learning challenge to teachers. The article describes four context led courses: the Salters course in England, Im Kontext in Germany, Chemistry in Context in the USA, and learning undertaken via the South Africa’s National Curriculum Statement. Key Learning AreasScienceSubject HeadingsTeaching and learningScience teaching Curriculum planning Local text cohesion, reading ability and individual science aspirations: key factors influencing comprehension in science classes
Volume 41
Number 1, February 2015;
Pages 122–142
A text is said to have 'high cohesion' when conceptual relationships are spelt out to the reader, eg through the use of grammatical links, such as ‘because’, or through the use of short passages within the text that explicitly connect one concept to another. A text has low cohesion when readers must take the trouble to infer conceptual relationships for themselves. However, high cohesion texts are also thought to be more dense and complex, raising other demands on the reader: this potentially makes them more difficult for readers, and for struggling readers in particular. The issue of text cohesion has significance for secondary science education, as science textbooks frequently have low cohesion. A study has examined the influence of ‘local’ text cohesion (ie cohesion between adjacent sentences) on the reading comprehension of early secondary science students. The study involved 56 female and 48 male students in a mixed-ability, mixed-ethnicity secondary school in England. The study used extracts from four science texts. The researchers prepared high- and low-cohesion versions of each text. The students were divided into two groups: each group read high-cohesion versions of two texts and low- cohesion versions of the other two texts. The texts read in low-cohesion form by one group were read as high-cohesion by the other. The students’ comprehension levels were tested via multiple-choice questions. Students’ comprehension levels were found to be higher for high-cohesion texts. Students with higher reading ability had higher comprehension levels than other students, across both low and high-cohesion texts. Comprehension levels were not significantly related to individual differences between students with regard to general intelligence, conscientiousness, science self-concept, experience of school science, parental support, or peer orientation. However, students with higher aspirations regarding science showed higher levels of comprehension on high-cohesion texts than other students. Strong reading ability appears to prepare students to manage the density of high-cohesion texts and also to manage the need to make inferences in low-cohesion texts. Key Learning AreasScienceSubject HeadingsEducational evaluationSecondary education Reading comprehension Science literacy Who has a good relationship with the teachers? A comparison of comprehensive education systems with education systems using between-school tracking
Volume 41
Number 1, 2015;
Pages 3–25
‘Between school tracking’ refers to the tracking, or streaming, of students into separate schools according to students’ academic performance, as distinct from streaming at classroom level, or within-class ability grouping. It has been suggested that tracked schooling may make teachers’ relationships with students more equitable, since there is evidence that teachers tend to favour high-performing students within academically diverse classes. However, it has also been suggested that tracked schooling risks generating anti-academic cultures amongst low-achieving students congregated at the same schools. A study has examined the quality of student-teacher relationships (STRs) at education systems using tracked schooling, comparing them to STRs at education systems based on comprehensive schools. As part of this issue, the study investigated how STRs differed for high- and low-achieving students, and high- and low-SES students, within each type of system. The study used data from the PISA 2003 mathematics tests of 15 year olds in 40 countries. The researchers drew on results from at least 150 representative schools within each country. PISA results ‘were used to operationalise STR, mathematics achievement, SES, schools’ achievement composition, schools’ social composition’ and the use of tracked schooling within each country. In comprehensive systems, STRs were found to be stronger for higher-achieving and higher-SES students. In tracked schooling systems, by contrast, the strength of STRs were not related either positively or negatively to students’ academic achievement or SES. The study also found that within tracked systems, schools serving lower-SES students had stronger STRs than other schools. There are several possible explanations for the latter result. It may be that the need to cultivate strong STRs amongst disadvantaged students is more heavily emphasised in tracked systems, operating via curricula, teacher education courses, or the values of teachers. However, it should also be noted that while low-SES students have stronger STRs within tracked systems, these systems also have a wider gap in academic achievement than comprehensive systems. This raises the possibility that greater attention to STRs is accompanied by less demanding academic content and expectations for low-SES students in tracked systems. (Access via Taylor & Francis home page.) KLA Subject HeadingsEducational evaluationTeacher-student relationships Ability grouping in education Creating community
Volume 36
Number 4, 2015;
Pages 16–18
Encouraging students’ sense of identity as a part of a community is an often-overlooked part of schools’ role in society. Recruiting parents for school tasks is an effective way for school leaders to develop collaborative links with them, which can then be spread to the wider community. Schools need to take the initiative in this process. Sharing the responsibility of creating a community identity in students strengthens community ties. It also leads to enhanced learning outcomes for students as well as increasing attendance and improving behaviour. The article describes six types of parent/community partnerships that can be used to help strengthen a sense of community identity in students. One is by helping parents to develop their child-rearing skills; this process also develops the schools’ understanding of each student. The second is to have a free flowing communication between parents and schools. Thirdly, schools can create opportunities for families to be involved in the school as volunteers. Fourthly, the school should provide learning activities in the home, apart from formal homework, designed to involve other members of the student’s family. The fifth type of partnership is to include families as part of the decision making process for school issues and events. Finally, families should be enlisted to help build the school’s links into the broader local community. For example, the school and family members might be able to provide certain services within the community. The article includes an annotated bibliography of relevant resources and organisations that may be useful to emerging school leaders interested in creating a sense of community identity in their students. KLA Subject HeadingsSchool and communityParent and teacher Community service The effect of drama-based pedagogy on preK–16 outcomes: a meta-analysis of research from 1985 to 2012
Volume 85
Number 1, March 2015;
Page 3–49
Drama based pedagogy (DBP) refers to a range of strategies that employ the use of drama to engage students in the learning of both drama and nondrama subject areas. It is facilitated or directed by either a classroom teacher, teaching artist, or another facilitator trained in the area; it is designed to achieve both academic and psychological benefits for the student, and draws on a number of theatrical strategies. DBP applies constructivist learning principles and addresses students' psychological needs to achieve autonomy, competence, and relatedness to others. The potential value of DBP has been examined via a meta-analysis of studies on this topic published since 1985, and spanning the entire K-16 year range. The meta-analysis found that the average student taking part in DBP achieved a higher academic standard than two thirds of peers who had not participated in DBP, and were also slightly more likely than peers to value their teachers, and the subject area where they had experienced DBP. Overall, the benefits of DBP were found to be highest for student in preschool or the early primary years. However, in the relation to the 21st century skills of creativity, critical thinking and communication, the benefits of DBP were most pronounced in the upper primary and middle school years. KLA Subject HeadingsEducational evaluationTeaching and learning Drama Embedding sustainability in school cultures
Volume 19
Number 1, February 2015;
Pages 1–5
In schools, the issue of sustainability is moving from an optional way to address environmental concerns to an ongoing, practical part of operations. However, the development of an effective sustainability policy is likely to require cultural change at the whole-school level. School leaders can help to generate such a culture by modelling appropriate behaviour; by providing symbolic recognition of sustainability issues, for example by giving it a prominent place on meeting agendas; and through systematic measures, such as routinely rewarding efforts towards sustainability within the school. There are at least five key areas in which schools should consider the issue of sustainability. One is school finances and the financial trade-offs required to manage the rising costs of education. For example, class sizes might be reduced by cutting back teacher’s non-contact time: the relative value of smaller classes and teacher professional learning time need to be carefully considered and balanced. A second issue to consider is sustainability in the area of teaching. The article describes six practices that can help embed a ‘culture of improvement’ into a school’s teaching team. Sustainability in terms of resources and infrastructure is a third area to consider. For instance, the school may need to decide between building new infrastructure and renovating existing structures. Other aspects of this issue include ICT requirements, sustainable building designs, and finding efficiencies through multiple-use spaces. Personnel sustainability is a further issue. Measures are needed to attract, and retain, quality staff members; including the development of a compassionate workplace culture and the formation of a collaborative professional development system. Finally schools needs to attend to common, familiar environmental sustainability practices, from recycling and composting, to solar panels and energy monitors. KLA Subject HeadingsSchoolsValues education Sustainability Environment Exploring teachers' perceptions of wikis for learning classroom cases
Volume 39
Number 2, 2014;
Pages 101–120
In the higher education sector there is a burgeoning global trend in the use of wikis as a part of the learning process. As wikis allow for peer interaction and allow group members to build and edit on a single page they create a flexible, easily accessible learning space. Learners are able to utilise wikis to access, edit, and comment on the resources they are being taught with. The article reports on a case study of the use of wikis as aids for teachers’ learning. This research was conducted across the use of two wiki platforms, LAMS and Google Sites. For the research 32 teachers were selected from 20 randomly chosen schools in Singapore. The teachers were then split into two separate groups. One group worked with a wiki developed with LAMS while the other worked on one developed with Google Sites. The question was asked of each system: The study provides an extensive analysis of the results of a teacher survey completed after lengthy use of the wikis. This survey indicated that teachers from both groups perceived ‘similar high degrees of technical and social affordance’ in their wikis. However, both groups indicated that the value of wikis to enhance learning was relatively modest. To maxmise the value of wikis for learning, teachers are encouraged to design activities in which students themselves can select and share both learning resources, and the academic work they have produced, with peers. KLA Subject HeadingsEducational evaluationTeaching and learning Social media There are no Conferences available in this issue. |