Showing papers on "Curriculum published in 1996"

Enhancing Teaching through Constructive Alignment.

Abstract: Two lines of thinking are becoming increasingly important in higher educational practice. The first derives from constructivist learning theory, and the second from the instructional design literature. Constructivism comprises a family of theories but all have in common the centrality of the learner's activities in creating meaning. These and related ideas have important implications for teaching and assessment. Instructional designers for their part have emphasised alignment between the objectives of a course or unit and the targets for assessing student performance. “Constructive alignment” represents a marriage of the two thrusts, constructivism being used as a framework to guide decision-making at all stages in instructional design: in deriving curriculum objectives in terms of performances that represent a suitably high cognitive level, in deciding teaching/learning activities judged to elicit those performances, and to assess and summatively report student performance. The “performances of understanding” nominated in the objectives are thus used to systematically align the teaching methods and the assessment. The process is illustrated with reference to a professional development unit in educational psychology for teachers, but the model may be generalized to most units or programs in higher education.

Constructivism: Theory, Perspectives, and Practice

Abstract: This enduring bestseller remains the most comprehensive examination of constructivism and its relationship to teaching and learning. Closing the gap between theory and practice, well-known scholars make constructivism accessible by showing its application in everyday classrooms. Building on the success of the first edition, the authors have completely updated this popular text and expanded its scope to include examples of constructivist teaching across all grade levels and disciplines. An ambitious revision of a now classic text, Constructivism: Theory, Perspectives, and Practice, Second Edition is an invaluable resource for practicing teachers, teacher educators, and curriculum specialists in mathematics, science, social studies, and language arts.

Problem‐based learning in medicine and beyond: A brief overview

Abstract: This chapter reviews the motivation for the change to problem-based learning, its definition, and the educational objectives it can serve. It discusses changing an established curriculum to problem-based learning and asks whether problem-based learning is worth the trouble.

Reform by the Book: What Is—or Might Be—the Role of Curriculum Materials in Teacher Learning and Instructional Reform?

Abstract: Commercially published curriculum materials dominate teaching practice in the United States (Goodlad, 1984).' Unlike frameworks, objectives, assessments, and other mechanisms that seek to guide curriculum, instructional materials are concrete and daily. They are the stuff of lessons and units, of what teachers and students do. That centrality affords curricular materials a uniquely intimate connection to teaching. Not only are curriculum materials well-positioned to influence individual teachers' work but, unlike many other innovations, textbooks are already \"scaled up\" and part of the routine of schools. They have \"reach\" in the system. At the local level, text adoptions are the primary routine in most districts for updating the curriculum every five to seven years (Carus, 1990). In our fragmented school system, textbooks are also one way that educators strive for a common curriculum across diverse settings. Despite their central role in the instructional system, however, curriculum materials have played an uneven role in practice.

Autonomy and Independence in Language Learning

Abstract: Contributors General Editor's Preface 1. Introduction: autonomy and independence in language learning, Phil Benson and Peter Voller Part I: Philosophy and practice 2. The philosophy and politics of learner autonomy, Phil Benson 3. Cultural alternatives and autonomy, Alastair Pennycook 4. An exploration of the relationship between self-access and independent learning, Susan Sheerin 5. Teaching and language learning in self-access centres: changing roles?, Gill Sturtridge 6. Self-access: why do we want t and what can it do?, William Littlewood Part II: Roles and relationships 7. Does the teacher have a role in autonomous leanguage learning?, Peter Voller 8. The guru and the conjurer: aspects of counselling for self-access, Philip Riley 9. Shooting arrows at the sun: perspectives on a pedagogy for autonomy, Michael P. Breen and Sarah J. Mann 10. Confidence building for classroom teachers, Felicity O'Dell 11. Learner training for autonomous language learning, Edith M. Esch Part III: Methods and materials 12. Self-access work and curriculum ideologies, Andrew Littlejohn 13. Designing and adapting materials to encourage learner autonomy, David Nunan 14. Involving learners in developing learning methods: exploiting text corpora in self-access, Guy Aston 15. Preparing learners for independence: resources beyond the classroom, Stephen M. Ryan 16. Responding authentically to authentic texts: a problem for self-access language learning?, David Little 17. Providing computerized self-access opportunities for the development of writing skills, John Milton References. Index.

The Role of Perceptions of Prejudice and Discrimination on the Adjustment of Minority Students to College

Abstract: College participation by minority students declined in the middle 1980s following a period of sustained growth [21]. This trend was particularly evident among African Americans and Hispanics [46] who exhibited both the lowest participation rates as well as the highest propensity to drop out from college. Porter's [45] analyses of the high-school senior class of 1980, for instance, revealed that Hispanic college students were 13 percent more prone to withdraw from college than were white students, whereas African American college students were 22 percent more likely to drop out than their white counterparts over a six-year period. These low persistence rates (even over extended periods of enrollment in college) are particularly troublesome from a policy perspective given the relationship that the attainment of a bachelor's degree has on subsequent occupational and economic attainment [44]. Several reasons have been advanced to account for these trends. Hauser and Anderson [21] explored the extent to which declines in college participation rates could be attributed to changes in college aspirations as well as to changes in high-school completion rates among African Americans. After analyzing college aspiration trends for both minorities and nonminorities over a period of thirty years and taking into account high-school completion rates and indicators of socioeconomic status, Hauser and Anderson could not find support for this hypothesis. Other researchers have speculated that the decline could be attributed to changes in the composition of federal assistance and to patterns of financing higher education exhibited by minority students. Porter [45] noted that declines in minorities' college participation rates correlated with the growth of student loans at the expense of grants. Olivas [41], Mortenson and Wu [31], and Mortenson [30] observed that African American and Hispanic students were less willing to go into debt to finance their college education than were white students. Moreover, Ekstrom [19] helped to establish and test the proposition that students willing to go into debt to finance their education were more likely to enroll and persist in college. An alternative explanation to the role of finances in the persistence process has stressed the influence of academic preparation for college. Tinto [56] argued that overall differences in persistence rates between minorities and nonminorities were primarily due to differences in their academic preparedness rather than differences in their socioeconomic backgrounds. Tinto further contended that these ability differences arise from prior educational experiences at the elementary and secondary educational levels which tend to favor the educational achievement of nonminorities relative to minorities. Some degree of support has been given to this hypothesis. St. John, Kirshstein, and Noell [50], for instance, reported that the effects of ethnicity disappeared once academic preparation for college was taken into account for the high-school class of 1980. The proposition that a lack of adjustment to predominantly white institutions and that perceptions of prejudice (racial climate) may lower the quality of college experiences of minority students has emerged as a competing explanation for the differences in persistence rates between minority and nonminority college students [for example, 1, 18, 23, 24, 28, 34, 35, 36, 53]. Fleming [18], in particular, has argued that adjustment problems with the curriculum, lack of support services, financial problems and the nature of interpersonal relationships with faculty, peers and academic staff are some of the experiences that negatively impact minority students attending predominantly white institutions. Likewise, Tracey and Sedlacek [57, 58, 59] have contended that noncognitive factors (that is, self-concept, an understanding of racism, and the ability to cope with it) play a more critical role in shaping academic performance in college and persistence decisions among minority students than do cognitive factors such as academic ability and study habits. …

The Evolution of Peer Coaching

Abstract: Fifteen years have passed since we first proposed peer coaching as an on-site dimension of staff development (Joyce and Showers 1980). In the 1970s, evaluations of staff development that focused on teaching strategies and curriculum revealed that as few as 10 percent of the participants implemented what they had learned. Rates of transfer were low even for those who had volunteered for the training. Well-researched curriculum and teaching models did not find their way into general practice and thus could not influence students' learning environments.

Interaction in the Language Curriculum: Awareness, Autonomy and Authenticity

Abstract: Interaction in the Language Curriculum offers an innovative theory of language education integrating curriculum practice, research and teaching It emphasises the interdependence of knowledge and values and stresses the central importance of learning as a social processLeo van Lier argues that moral as well as intellectual and practical principles must underlie curriculum development and everyday teaching, captured in his triple focus on Awareness, Autonomy, and Authenticity In addition to its rich grounding in language education practice, the book draws support for his position from diverse sources in sociology, philosophy and cognitive science, from the work of Bourdieu, Giddens, Wittgenstein, Peirce, Vygotsky, Bakhtin, and Dewey In the current broadening context of language education this study makes an important contribution to research It presents a coherent philosophical theory as well as considering practical issues in implementation of a new language curriculum As such, it will be of great benefit to teachers, applied linguists and educationalists generally

Beyond the Classroom: Why School Reform Has Failed and What Parents Need to Do

Abstract: Beyond the Classroom: Why School Reform Has Failed and What Parents Can Do, by Laurence Steinberg, B. Bradford Brown, and Sanford Dornbusch. New York, NY: Simon & Schuster, 1996. 233 pp. $22.00, paper. Reviewed by William Franklin, California State University-Monterey Bay. Beyond the Classroom provides parents, students, teachers, and administrators with a thought-provoking analysis of out-of-school factors that lead to academic underachievement. The authors of this book contend that the "real" problem with America's educational system is not a matter of school reform, diversity, mass media, or disadvantaged populations; rather, it is the disproportionate number of disengaged students. They further claim that America's classrooms are primarily filled with students who have not made an investment in their education, who spend more time participating in extracurricular activities and after school jobs, watching television, and hanging out with friends than studying. Moreover, their parents are unwilling or unable to sustain interest in their youngsters' educational endeavors after their elementary school years. They draw these conclusions after conducting a 10-year longitudinal study that examined out-of-school factors contributing to low commitment and achievement levels in adolescents. A multidisciplinary team of scholars surveyed over twenty thousand adolescents from nine high schools in Wisconsin and California. They not only surveyed and interviewed students but also consulted teachers, parents, counselors, and administrators. Clearly written for a general audience, the book is organized in such a way that the authors are able to present their case using language unobstructed by statistical inferences, tables, graphs, and scientific nomenclature. However, Steinberg et al. assert in the opening chapter that their findings and recommendations are supported by legitimate scientific research procedures. Chapter one, entitled "The Real Problem," provides an alarming and disturbing overview of the state of education in the United States and the role of student disengagement. The authors define disengagement as typifying those students who "do not exert much effort in the classroom, are easily distracted during class, and expend little energy on inschool or out-of-school assignments. They have a jaded or cavalier attitude toward education and its importance to their future success or personal development" (p. 15). Engagement is defined as "the degree to which students are psychologically connected to what is going on in their classes" (p. 15). Engaged students, according to the authors, "concentrate on the task at hand. . strive to do their best when tested or called upon, and when. . given homework or other outside assignments. . .do them on time and in good faith" (p. 15). In chapter two, the authors argue that not only is the U.S. a nation at risk, but it is also a nation in denial regarding the long-term negative effects of underachievement. They examine educational indices such as the Scholastic Aptitude Test and conclude that poor school performance is evident for students at all grade levels and in all social classes. When comparing educational achievement internationally, they find that U.S. students fare worse than their counterparts from nearly all other industrialized nations. They also cite research showing that even when comparing this nation's best students with their international counterparts, U.S. students fare worse. Beyond the Classroom contends that America's school reform efforts have been disproportionately directed at changing structural elements of the system such as curricula, pedagogy, school calendars, school choice options, teacher training methods, and so forth. Millions of dollars and hours have been directed at changing how we deliver services to students within schools, without any substantial regard to factors outside the classroom that contribute to underachievement. …

Problem Solving as a Basis for Reform in Curriculum and Instruction: The Case of Mathematics

Abstract: We argue that reform in curriculum and instruction should be based on allowing students to problematize the subject. Rather than mastering skills and applying them, students should be engaged in resolving problems. In mathematics, this principle fits under the umbrella of problem solving, but our interpretation is different from many problem-solving approaches. We first note that the history of problem solving in the curriculum has been infused with a distinction between acquiring knowledge and applying it. We then propose our alternative principle by building on John Dewey’s idea of “reflective inquiry,” argue that such an approach would facilitate students’ understanding, and compare our proposal with other views on the role of problem solving in the curriculum. We close by considering several common dichotomies that take on a different meaning from this perspective

Race, identity, and representation in education

Abstract: Three separate themes form the basis of this collection: the conceptualization of race as a category within the literature; the presentation of multidisciplinary theoretical and empirical work that discusses the issue of race and education; and the creation of a forum for scholars in the First and Third Worlds which would allow for dialogue on national and international levels. The volume brings together many of the most articulate and visible scholars across the humanities and social sciences. The issue of race and representation is explored in the fields of education, cultural and women's studies, literature, sociology and African-American studies. Despite differing orientations, however, the contributors all share a common concern for stressing the importance of social context, nuance and language in understanding the dynamics of race relations. McCarthy has published "Race and Curriculum" (Falmer Press, 1990); Crichlow has published "Becoming Somebody" (Falmer Press, 1992).

Curriculum Action Research. A Handbook of Methods and Resources for the Reflective Practitioner. Second Edition.

Abstract: Historical and philosphical background The teacher as researcher and professional. Action Research Methodology Observational and narrative research methods Non-observational, survey and self-report methods Discourse analysis and problem-solving methods reflective and evaluative methods. Problems and Issues in Action Research Analysing action research data Towards critical communities of discourse: Networks dissemination and the ethics of action research.

Young People's Images of Science

Abstract: This book should be of interest to all science educators, whether they teach students, advise or inspect or are involved in planning a science curriculum. The content is essentially an account of a research project undertaken to find out and to report the range and nature of school students' understanding of the nature of science. The authors designed a cross-age study, giving the same task to samples of pupils of three different ages: 9, 12 and 16 years. The collected data were analysed to see the ways in which understanding seemed to change with age and experience. The researchers' interest in students' ideas about science has grown from their observation that learners' responses to observations and ideas are constrained and limited in significant ways by their perception of the nature of scientific work and of scientific knowledge. The result is that students often misinterpret information and experiences presented in the classroom and laboratory. The authors hope that, by knowing more about these misperceptions, we may understand better the processes of science content learning and hence achieve more effective teaching. The book is divided into three sections. In the first 70 pages the authors set out the arguments for giving the nature of science a more prominent place in the curriculum. Next they present an overview of the major schools of thought about science and scientific knowledge, followed by a summary of previous research on students' ideas about the nature of science. The section concludes with the questions, methods and tools used in the research. In the next 60 pages the main findings of the study are presented and discussed. In the final chapter the authors bring together the theoretical arguments for the place of teaching about the nature of science with the results of the research study and consider the possible implications for science teaching in schools, discussing ways in which the curriculum could be adapted to assist students to become better citizens in a modern technological world. The book is well laid out, carefully planned and argued at every stage, with excellent clear headings and summaries. It is possible to read it on a superficial level, dwelling more on the conclusions, or to select sections for closer study using either the index or section headings. There are several appendices, one of which contains the 174 references to other publications quoted in the text. There is considerable food for thought and/or discussion or debate, not only for new teachers but as timely reminders to those who have been in the classroom, laboratory or management for many years, about their aims and objectives and whether they are being realized. This is a volume which should find its way into the resource library of every science teaching department.

Cognitively Guided Instruction: A Knowledge Base for Reform in Primary Mathematics Instruction

Abstract: In this article we propose that an understanding of students' thinking can provide coherence to teachers' pedagogical content knowledge and their knowledge of subject matter, curriculum, and pedagogy. We describe a research-based model of children's thinking that teachers can use to interpret, transform, and reframe their informal or spontaneous knowledge about students' mathematical thinking. Our major thesis is that children enter school with a great deal of informal or intuitive knowledge of mathematics that can serve as the basis for developing much of the formal mathematics of the primary school curriculum. The development of abstract symbolic procedures is characterized as progressive abstractions of students' attempts to model action and relations depicted in problems. Although we focus on one facet of teachers' pedagogical content knowledge, we argue that understanding students' thinking provides a basis for teachers to reconceptualize their own knowledge more broadly.

Service-Learning in Higher Education: Concepts and Practices

Abstract: Foreword, Thomas Ehrlich FOUNDATIONS AND PRINCIPLES OF SERVICE-LEARNING 1. Service-Learning in Today's Higher Education - Barbara Jacoby 2. Principles of Good Practice in Service-Learning - Suzanne D. Mintz & Garry W. Hesser 3. Enhancing Student Learning and Development Through Service-Learning - Marylu K. McEwen 4. Developing Campus-Community Relationships - Catherine R. Gugerty & Erin D. Swezey DESIGNING A SPECTRUM OF SERVICE-LEARNING EXPERIENCES 5. One-Time and Short-Term Service-Learning Experiences - Mark D. McCarthy 6. Ongoing Cocurricular Service-Learning - Cesie Delve Scheuermann 7. Service-Learning in the Curriculum - Sandra L. Enos & Marie L. Troppe 8. Intensive Service-Learning Experiences - Gail Albert 9. Integrating Service-Learning Experiences into Postcollege Choices - Irene S. Fisher ORGANIZATIONAL, ADMINISTRATIVE, AND POLICY ISSUES 10. Starting a Service-Learning Program - Diana A. Bucco & Julie A. Busch 11. Administering Successful Service-Learning Programs - Penny Rue 12. Issues Related to Integrating Service-Learning into the Curriculum - Keith Morton 13. Institutionalizing Service-Learning - Sharon Rubin 14. Securing the Future of Service-Learning in Higher Education: A Mandate for Action - Barbara Jacoby.

Play, Learning and the Early Childhood Curriculum

Abstract: List of figures About the Author Preface A Note from the Author Add-on Material Understanding Play: Complexity and Challenge Understanding Children's Learning: Contemporary Theoretical Perspectives Play in National Policies: International Perspectives Play and the Curriculum Play and Pedagogy Play and Learning in Outdoor Environments Assessing Children's Learning in Play Developing Play Appendix Bibliography Author index Subject index

The Calgary-Cambridge Referenced Observation Guides: an aid to defining the curriculum and organizing the teaching in communication training programmes

Abstract: Effective communication between doctor and patient is a core clinical skill. It is increasingly recognized that it should and can be taught with the same rigour as other basic medical sciences. To validate this teaching, it is important to define the content of communication training programmes by stating clearly what is to be learnt. We therefore describe a practical teaching tool, the Calgary-Cambridge Referenced Observation Guides, that delineates and structures the skills which aid doctor-patient communication. We provide detailed references to substantiate the research and theoretical basis of these individual skills. The guides form the foundation of a sound communication curriculum and are offered as a starting point for programme directors, facilitators and learners at all levels. We describe how these guides can also be used on an everyday basis to help facilitators teach and students learn within the experiential methodology that has been shown to be central to communication training. The learner-centred and opportunistic approach used in communication teaching makes it difficult for learners to piece together their evolving understanding of communication. The guides give practical help in countering this problem by providing: an easily accessible aide-memoire; a recording instrument that makes feedback more systematic; and an overall conceptual framework within which to organize the numerous skills that are discovered one by one as the communication curriculum unfolds.

Teacher Learning and the Mathematics Reforms: What We Think We Know and What We Need to Learn.

Abstract: The work of professional development is as uncertain as practice itself, Ms. Ball points out. Our challenge is to experiment, study, reflect on, and reformulate our hypotheses. All of these are necessary if we are to successfully engage a wider community - to "scale up" reform by sowing ideas. These are times of ambitious efforts to reform curriculum and instruction in mathematics. Reformers have invested time and energy in the creation of new mathematics standards and state curriculum frameworks.(1) A host of innovative curriculum projects are under development, and many states are in the midst of changing their state assessments.(2) Now there is increasing talk of "scaling up" the reform effort, of developing ways to reach more teachers.(3) As one who has been engaged in mathematics reform at several levels - as an elementary teacher, as a district-based resource teacher, as a teacher educator, as a researcher, and as a contributor to the Professional Standards for Teaching Mathematics, published by the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) - I suggest that we take a closer, more skeptical look at what we think we know about teacher learning and about the teaching envisioned by the reforms and that we consider what "scaling up" might mean. A central tenet of my argument is this: because the mathematics reforms challenge culturally embedded views of mathematics, of who can - or who needs to - learn math, and of what is entailed in teaching and learning it, we will find that realizing the reform visions will require profound and extensive societal and individual learning - and unlearning - not just by teachers, but also by players across the system.(4) What might such ambitious learning entail? In this article I focus on the learning of teachers. I examine four questions: 1) What do we think we currently know about how teachers learn? 2) What do we know about the thing to be learned - this new approach to the teaching of mathematics? 3) What do we know about teachers and what they bring to learning about such teaching? 4) What don't we know about teaching and teacher learning that might matter in trying to "scale up" the mathematics reform effort, and how could we go about learning more? What Do We Think We Know About Teacher Learning? Over the past decade, research and practice have yielded a mass of working ideas about teacher learning.(5) Some of these ideas have been investigated in studies of teacher learning and teacher education. Some have emerged from the practice of experienced teacher educators. Others are part of the current ideology. I use words like "ideas" and "beliefs" deliberately here. To call these tenets "knowledge" seems problematic, for they are unevenly inspected and warranted. For example, the proof of some of these ideas about teacher learning is circular. That is, professional development projects are designed with these ideas in mind; then, when the project is judged "successful" by some standard, this result is taken as validation of the ideas. Other ideas about teacher learning are not supported with evidence at all but are advanced as moral positions. They are seen as an inherent good. This does not automatically reduce their potential value, but it should shape our understanding of what they represent. I am not saying that any of the ideas we currently have are wrong. But I am urging that we be more skeptical of what we think we know. Some of the ideas in the following list are so vague as to need considerably more development, while others may be true only in certain ways or in some situations. Despite their varied genesis, a small number of ideas about teacher learning show up repeatedly - in discussions, in professional development projects, and in the literature. They concern teachers, what teachers need to know, and the conditions and arrangements that support teacher learning. * Prior beliefs and experience. What teachers bring to the process of learning to teach affects what they learn. …

Improving the clinical practice of violence risk assessment. Technology, guidelines, and training.

Abstract: Despite a long history of interest in, and criticism of, the ability of mental health professionals to assess and predict violence, there have been few efforts to develop or evaluate interventions to improve decision making in this area. This article provides a brief overview of recent research developments on violence risk. Drawing on these advances, 3 recommendation are outlined for improving the clinical practice of risk assessment: (a) to improve assessment technology, (b) to develop clinical practice guidelines, and (c) to develop training programs and curricula. Language: en

Academic Self-Concept: Beyond The Dustbowl

Abstract: Publisher Summary Self-concept enhancement activities are included as a component of the school curriculum in some school districts. Also, teachers are sometimes called on to make judgments about the self-concepts of their students as part of the normal classroom assessment and school reporting practices. The importance placed on the enhancement of self-concept is usually based on the premise that high self-concept will lead to feelings of self-worth and self-acceptance. The research summarized in this chapter suggests that the attainment of a positive academic self-concept affects academic behavior, academic choices, educational aspirations, and subsequent academic achievement. The purpose of the chapter is to summarize research on the structure, assessment, measurement, and enhancement of academic self-concept in educational settings. It provides an overview of the theoretical structure of self-concept and the nature of valid and reliable self-concept measurement instruments. It also discusses the relationship of self-concept to other constructs and self-concept enhancement interventions. This discussion focuses on a model of self-concept originally developed by Richard Shavelson and his colleagues and subsequently revised by Marsh in collaboration with Shavelson and other colleagues. Throughout the chapter, the classroom implications of recent advances in self-concept theory and research are discussed.

What Matters Most: A Competent Teacher for Every Child.

Abstract: The report of the National Commission on Teaching and America's Future offers a blueprint for recruiting, preparing, supporting, and rewarding excellent educators in all of America's schools, according to Ms. Darling. Hammond. For the details, read on. We propose an audacious goal . . . by the year 2006, America will provide all students with what should be their educational birthright: access to competent, caring, and qualified teachers.(1) With these words, the National Commission on Teaching and America's Future summarized its challenge to the American public. After two years of intense study and discussion, the commission - a 26-member bipartisan blue-ribbon panel supported by the Rockefeller Foundation and the Carnegie Corporation of New York - concluded that the reform of elementary and secondary education depends first and foremost on restructuring its foundation, the teaching profession. The restructuring, the commission made clear, must go in two directions: toward increasing teachers' knowledge to meet the demands they face and toward redesigning schools to support high-quality teaching and learning. The commission found a profession that has suffered from decades of neglect. By the standards of other professions and other countries, U.S. teacher education has historically been thin, uneven, and poorly financed. Teacher recruitment is distressingly ad hoc, and teacher salaries lag significantly behind those of other professions. This produces chronic shortages of qualified teachers in fields like mathematics and science and the continual hiring of large numbers of "teachers" who are unprepared for their jobs. Furthermore, in contrast to other countries that invest most of their education dollars in well-prepared and well-supported teachers, half of the education dollars in the United States are spent on personnel and activities outside the classroom. A lack of standards for students and teachers, coupled with schools that are organized for 19th-century learning, leaves educators without an adequate foundation for constructing good teaching. Under these conditions, excellence is hard to achieve. The commission is clear about what needs to change. No more hiring unqualified teachers on the sly. No more nods and winks at teacher education programs that fail to prepare teachers properly. No more tolerance for incompetence in the classroom. Children are compelled to attend school. Every state guarantees them equal protection under the law, and most promise them a sound education. In the face of these obligations, students have a right to competent, caring teachers who work in schools organized for success. The commission is also clear about what needs to be done. Like the Flexner report that led to the transformation of the medical profession in 1910, this report, What Matters Most: Teaching for America's Future, examines successful practices within and outside the United States to describe what works. The commission concludes that children can reap the benefits of current knowledge about teaching and learning only if schools and schools of education are dramatically redesigned. The report offers a blueprint for recruiting, preparing, supporting, and rewarding excellent educators in all of America's schools. The plan is aimed at ensuring that all schools have teachers with the knowledge and skills they need to enable all children to learn. If a caring, qualified teacher for every child is the most important ingredient in education reform, then it should no longer be the factor most frequently overlooked. At the same time, such teachers must have available to them schools and school systems that are well designed to achieve their key academic mission: they must be focused on clear, high standards for students; organized to provide a coherent, high-quality curriculum across the grades; and designed to support teachers' collective work and learning. We note that this challenge is accompanied by an equally great opportunity: over the next decade we will recruit and hire more than two million teachers for America's schools. …

Approaches to Algebra - Perspectives for Research and Teaching

Abstract: The introduction of school algebra can take many different directions: the rules for transforming and solving equations (to which current teaching often reduces algebra), the solving of specific problems or classes of problems (which has played an important role historically in the development of algebra and its teaching), the generalization of laws governing numbers (a very strong focus in certain curricula), the more recent introduction of the concepts of variable and function (which appeared much later historically and which occupy a position of growing importance in some programs), and the study of algebraic structures (which marked the school curriculum in the 1960s under the influence of modern mathematics).

Learning outcomes in higher education

Abstract: The design of learning experiences in higher education is becoming increasingly outcome-led, but there is confusion regarding what constitutes these outcomes, disquiet concerning their ostensible association with behaviourism, and apprehension concerning their implementation. This article traces the evolution of learning outcomes through rational curriculum planning to the development of expressive outcomes, and suggests a definition of learning outcomes which includes subject-based, personal transferable and generic academic outcomes. The three principal criteria of behavioural objectives are analysed in relation to learning outcomes. Outcomes may subsume learning objectives, but the two are not synonymous and learning outcomes are not fettered by the constraints of behaviourism. Learning outcomes represent what is formally assessed and accredited to the student and they offer a starting point for a viable model for the design of curricula in higher education which shifts the emphasis from input...

Learner-centered education

Abstract: There is a revolution taking place in education, one that deals with the philosophy of how one teaches, of the relationship between teacher and student, of the way in which a classroom is structured, and the nature of curriculum. At the heart is a powerful pedagogy, one that has been developing over the past hundred years. It embraces social issues, the culture of the classroom, life-long learning concerns, and perhaps both last and least, technology.

Teaching Secondary School Science: Strategies for Developing Scientific Literacy

Abstract: I. INTRODUCTION. 1. Becoming a Science Teacher. 2. Beginning Your Instructional Theory. II. HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVES AND CONTEMPORARY TRENDS. 3. Historical Perspectives on Science Education. 4. National Standards and Scientific Literacy. III. GOALS AND OBJECTIVES. 5. The Goals of Science Teaching. 6. The Objectives of Science Teaching. IV. CURRICULUM PERSPECTIVES. 7. Designing School Science Curriculum. 8. The Middle School Science Curriculum. 9. The High School Science Curriculum. 10. Science and Other Disciplines: Interdisciplinary Approaches to Curriculum. V. INSTRUCTIONAL STRATEGIES. 11. Inquiry and Conceptual Change. 12. Questions and Discussion. 13. Investigation and Problem Solving. 14. Demonstration and Laboratory Work. 15. Models for Effective Science Teaching. 16. Planning for Effective Science Teaching. 17. Controversy in the Classroom. VI. ASSESSMENT. 18. Assessing Student Learning. 19. New Models for Assessment. VII. UNDERSTANDING AND WORKING WITH STUDENTS. 20. The Psychological Basis for Effective Science Teaching. 21. Individual Differences in Science Classrooms. 22. Teaching Science for Cultural and Gender Differences. 23. Classroom Management and Conflict Resolution. VIII. TEACHER RESOURCES. 24. Incorporating Educational Technology into the Science Classroom. 25. Materials for Science Teaching. IX. PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT. 26. Student Teaching and Professional Growth. 27. Being a Science Teacher. Appendixes. Appendix A. Interesting Web Sites for Science Educators. Appendix B. Teaching Science Activities. Appendix C. Daily Lesson Plans.

Rallying the Whole Village: The Comer Process for Reforming Education

Abstract: Rallying the Whole Village: The Comer Process for Reforming Education, edited by James P. Comer, Norris M. Haynes, Edward T. Joyner, and Michael Ben-Avie. New York: Teachers College Press, 1996. 185 pp. $21.95 paper. Reviewed by Donna Y. Ford, The University of Virginia. As its name implies, Rallying the Whole Village addresses the role and responsibility of the educational community, the neighborhood community, the business community, and families in promoting the academic, psychological, social, ethical, and physical well-being of students. In rallying these various communities, the editors and authors also highlight the importance of focusing on the whole child. They further recognize that effective teaching is a multidimensional enterprise that must be grounded in a holistic educational philosophy. The primary objectives of this book are to close the gap between theory and practice, and to guide educators, parents, and decision-makers through the process of developing educationally relevant and sound programs for minority and economically disadvantaged students. The authors encourage readers to stop finger-pointing and share the responsibility of helping all children reach their optimal potential. Their overarching perspective is that consensus, collaboration, and no-fault philosophies promote healthy learning environments for students, which in turn lead to success in the academic, psychological, social, ethical, and physical realms. Toward these goals, Rallying the Whole Village delineates how educators can optimize minority student outcomes. As such, its contributors note generally that educators must attend to the following: (a) provide integrated services; (b) teach children to respect themselves and others; (c) recognize the centrality of the family in children's development and self-definition; (d) develop curricula and pedagogical approaches that are sensitive and responsive to the diverse needs of children from different cultural and racial groups as well as those with special cognitive, psychological, and physical needs; and (e) prepare school staff more substantively in child development and in recognizing individual differences. Various aspects of the Comer Process are discussed in the seven chapters of this book. The majority of chapter one describes the diagnostic and prescriptive approaches adopted by Comer and colleagues to address the poor education and negative educational outcomes of students. In it, the authors lay the historical foundation for the Comer Process's School Development Program (SDP), which focuses on the overall well-being of children in the context of the home, school, society, and social networks. Also stressed is the influence of these contexts on the social, cognitive, psychological, language, and ethical development of students. The interconnectedness and balance of these developmental pathways are discussed relative to designing appropriate prevention and intervention strategies and programs for individual students. This chapter also reminds readers that children fail to thrive in schools for many complex reasons, the majority of which can be overcome in a healthy school climate. Also noted are the shortcomings of the fragmentary approaches often adopted by schools to address school problems and the inadequate training provided school staff on helping children from a developmental perspective. Chapter two presents an overview of the theoretical models underlying Comer's philosophy of school reform. Key theories discussed include field theory, human ecology, social action, and population adjustment. Most importantly, the contributors to this chapter effectively bridge theory and practice by stressing the holistic perspective needed to reform schools for minority student achievement and empowerment. Chapter three goes a step further by urging educators to move away from a mechanistic educational philosophy and toward student-centered education. Also discussed are family involvement and the benefits school members (families, children, teachers) receive when family involvement is substantive, meaningful, and relevant. …