A qualitative case study of teacher perceptions and concerns during the implementation of literacy folders in a select elementary school in Broward County, Florida

Classroom teachers are often required to implement new procedures or practices in response to local or federal education mandates. Attempts to implement innovations, often do not take into account the personal side of change; the perceptions, concerns and needs of those required to implement the innovation. One innovation that was required by the School Board of Broward County, Florida for all elementary classroom teachers was the implementation of Literacy Folders. ^ This study attempted to address the personal side of change by identifying teacher concerns during the implementation of Literacy Folders in a select elementary school in Broward County Florida. The Concerns Based Adoption model (CBAM) for change was used as the conceptual framework for this qualitative case study. ^ Sources of data for this study included participant interviews, observations and analysis of documents. Informal conversations with the participants and unscheduled classroom visits were also sources of data. Seven classroom teachers were interviewed using a predesigned interview guide developed based on the CBAM of change, specifically the Stages of Concern Dimension. Participant responses were coded into two categories, (a) recollections of past perceptions, and (b) present perceptions regarding the innovation. ^ Data analysis resulted in the emergence of one major theme and two subordinate themes. The themes were related to time and purpose of the innovation. The researcher also discovered that the participants exhibited responses typically representative of the CBAM for individuals who are in the process of adjusting to a new innovation. ^ Recommendations based on participant concerns are made for improving the implementation of the innovation. Recommendations for alternatives to the innovation and suggestions regarding areas for further research in the field of educational change are also made. ^

An in-depth study of a teacher engaged in an innovative primary science trial professional development project

The implementation of effective science programmes in primary schools is of continuing interest and concern for professional developers. As part of the Australian Academy of Science's approach to creating an awareness of Primary Investigations, a project team trialled a series of satellite television broadcasts of lessons related to two units of the curriculum for Year 3 and 4 children in 48 participating schools. The professional development project entitled Simply Science, included a focused component for the respective classroom teachers, which was also conducted by satellite. This paper reports the involvement of a Year 4 teacher in the project and describes her professional growth. Already an experienced and confident teacher, no quantitative changes in science teaching self efficacy were detected. However, her pedagogical content knowledge and confidence to teach science in the concept areas of matter and energy were enhanced. Changes in the teacher's views about the co-operative learning strategies espoused by Primary Investigations were also evident. Implications for the design of professional development programmes for primary science teachers are discussed.

El desarrollo de la Reforma LOGSE en la enseñanza de las ciencias : estudio de la Educación Secundaria Obligatoria en la Región de Murcia.

Analizar las programaciones didácticas de los departamentos de los institutos de secundaria para indagar cómo se había traducido la LOGSE en los diferentes centros educativos de la región en lo referido a la selección, secuenciación y organización de los contenidos y criterios de evaluación, así como las concepciones generales sobre la ciencia y su enseñanza, es decir, las bases teóricas que manejaron e interpretaron. . Programaciones didácticas del curso 2001/02 de los departamentos que imparten el Área de Ciencias de la Naturaleza de ESO (física, química y ciencias naturales) correspondientes a veinte institutos de la Región de Murcia. Cinco libros de texto de diversas editoriales (ECIR, McGraw Hill, Editex, Bruño y SM) y 20 profesores de los institutos seleccionados. Plantea cuatro problemas relacionados con el desarrollo de la Reforma LOGSE en lo referido a la enseñanza de las ciencias en la etapa de Secundaria Obligatoria y a su puesta en práctica docente a través de la planificación de la enseñanza, los libros de texto seleccionados y la práctica que declaran. En un primer momento se ha analizado las aportaciones a este ámbito de investigación centradas en tres aspectos: el proceso reformador, el marco innovador de la enseñanza y la investigación sobre la puesta en marcha de las propuestas curriculares. Se ha utilizado un protocolo de análisis para cada uno de los problemas planteados en la investigación. Para el primero de ellos se ha adaptado los elementos constitutivos del Concerns Based Adoption Model (CBAM: modelo de adopción basado en las preocupaciones del profesorado de Bolívar y Fernández, 1994). Para el segundo se han utilizado las programaciones analizando los contenidos por bloques. Para el tercero se ha seleccionado una unidad didáctica: sistemas materiales - constitución de la materia, en los cinco libros de texto seleccionados y para el último se ha confeccionado un cuestionario para la entrevista. Investigación descriptiva - interpretativa. Seguimiento de los planteamientos teóricos en programaciones y secuencias formativas, materiales didácticos y declaraciones de intenciones docentes. Entre los resultados: 1. Los aspectos innovadores de la Reforma son: la concepción constructivista y procesal de la ciencia de la que se deriva las concepciones de la enseñanza y las representaciones de los alumnos para promover el cambio, un currículum abierto y flexible, objetivos planteados en términos de capacidades, diversificación de contenidos, papel activo y participativo del alumno, evaluación orientativa y formativa. Con respecto al problema principal planteado en esta investigación ( hasta donde se había o no implantado la propuesta innovadora de la Reforma) la respuesta es que la distancia entre el diseño y la puesta en práctica es muy grande..

Implications for Adoption and Implementation of Effective Sexual Health Education Programs

Research on school-based sexual health education programs is at a critical juncture. With the growing number of evidenced-based programs, more focus is needed on how to help schools adopt and implement these programs. The article in this issue titled “Sexual Health Education from the Perspectives of School Staff: Implications for Adoption and Implementation of Effective Programs in Middle School” provides data on individual cognitive factors that may influence adoption and implementation. This commentary explores another framework, Concerns Based Adoption Model, as a tool for examining and supporting change associated with adoption and implementation of sexual health education programs.

Niveles de desarrollo y uso de una innovación por parte de los profesores : el programa de integración.

Conocer el desarrollo del Programa de Integración de Alumnos con Necesidades Educativas Especiales en Murcia y en el ciclo inicial de la EGB, partiendo y utilizando las perspectivas de los profesores como eje de análisis. Se utiliza un modelo que goza de suficiente reconocimiento, respaldo teórico y desarrollo práctico, el Concerns Based Aproach Model (CBAM) de Hall, Walace y Dosset(1973). El modelo, globalmente considerado, permite analizar los diferentes aspectos de los procesos de innovación y del cambio educativo como un proceso en el que los docentes, y su particular implicación en el proceso, tienen un papel esencial. Hipótesis general: dado un perfil de cambio determinado ¿cuál es el grado de desarrollo del programa de integración entre los profesores que están llevándolo a cabo en el ciclo inicial de la EGB en los centros educativos de la Región de Murcia?. El objetivo es verificar y comprobar en qué medida ese perfil está suficientemente asumido, claro y desarrollado por los profesores. Población 245 profesores en contacto con los alumnos del Programa de Integración, de ellos, 125 trabajan en el ciclo inicial y 84 cumplimentaron el cuestionario y formaron parte de la muestra (71, 19 del total). Elaboración del marco teórico: el cambio educativo, el modelo CBAM utilizado, el Plan de Integración del MEC, el Programa de Integración en la Región de Murcia. Estado de la Cuestión. Elaboración y validación de instrumentos de recogida de información (cuestionarios de trabajo y entrevistas). Tipo de muestreo y de tratamiento de la información (análisis factorial, cluster). Análisis cualitativo de los datos. Análisis y comentario a las entrevistas. Conclusiones. 1. Con respecto a las perspectivas de los profesores existe un acuerdo notable en la adecuación de las intenciones que guían el Programa, aunque se juzgue menos favorablemente la realización y la práctica de las mismas; 2. Escasa definición de los elementos característicos del perfil de innovación del programa; 3. Importante implicación personal por parte de los profesores. El trabajo ofrece evidencias y contribuye a clarificar, desde la utilización de un modelo de análisis determinado (CBAM), cómo se está desarrollando un programa de innovación eucativa y cuáles son algunas de las circunstancias y aspectos que se ponen más de relieve en estos procesos.

Explaining International new venture internationalisation: an innovation adoption model

The increasing prevalence of International New Ventures (INVs) during the past twenty years has been highlighted by numerous studies (Knight and Cavusgil, 1996, Moen, 2002). International New Ventures are firms, typically small to medium enterprises, that internationalise within six years of inception (Oviatt and McDougall, 1997). To date there has been no general consensus within the literature on a theoretical framework of internationalisation to explain the internationalisation process of INVs (Madsen and Servais, 1997). However, some researchers have suggested that the innovation diffusion model may provide a suitable theoretical framework (Chetty & Hamilton, 1996, Fan & Phan, 2007).The proposed model was based on the existing and well-established innovation diffusion theories drawn from consumer behaviour and internationalisation literature to explain the internationalisation process of INVs (Lim, Sharkey, and Kim, 1991, Reid, 1981, Robertson, 1971, Rogers, 1962, Wickramasekera and Oczkowski, 2006). The results of this analysis indicated that the synthesied model of export adoption was effective in explaining the internationalisation process of INVs within the Queensland Food and Beverage Industry. Significantly the results of the analysis also indicated that features of the original I-models developed in the consumer behaviour literature, that had limited examination within the internationalisation literature were confirmed. This includes the ability of firms, or specifically decision-makers, to skip stages based om previous experience.

The impact of mobile phone distraction on the braking behaviour of young drivers : a hazard-based duration model

Braking is a crucial driving task with a direct relationship with crash risk, as both excess and inadequate braking can lead to collisions. The objective of this study was to compare the braking profile of young drivers distracted by mobile phone conversations to non-distracted braking. In particular, the braking behaviour of drivers in response to a pedestrian entering a zebra crossing was examined using the CARRS-Q Advanced Driving Simulator. Thirty-two licensed drivers drove the simulator in three phone conditions: baseline (no phone conversation), hands-free, and handheld. In addition to driving the simulator, each participant completed questionnaires related to driver demographics, driving history, usage of mobile phones while driving, and general mobile phone usage history. The drivers were 18–26 years old and split evenly by gender. A linear mixed model analysis of braking profiles along the roadway before the pedestrian crossing revealed comparatively increased decelerations among distracted drivers, particularly during the initial 20 kph of deceleration. Drivers’ initial 20 kph deceleration time was modelled using a parametric accelerated failure time (AFT) hazard-based duration model with a Weibull distribution with clustered heterogeneity to account for the repeated measures experiment design. Factors found to significantly influence the braking task included vehicle dynamics variables like initial speed and maximum deceleration, phone condition, and driver-specific variables such as licence type, crash involvement history, and self-reported experience of using a mobile phone whilst driving. Distracted drivers on average appear to reduce the speed of their vehicle faster and more abruptly than non-distracted drivers, exhibiting excess braking comparatively and revealing perhaps risk compensation. The braking appears to be more aggressive for distracted drivers with provisional licenses compared to drivers with open licenses. Abrupt or excessive braking by distracted drivers might pose significant safety concerns to following vehicles in a traffic stream.

SteelConverter and Caltech VirtualShaker: Rapid Nonlinear Cloud-Based Structural Model Conversion and Analysis

STEEL, the Caltech created nonlinear large displacement analysis software, is currently used by a large number of researchers at Caltech. However, due to its complexity, lack of visualization tools (such as pre- and post-processing capabilities) rapid creation and analysis of models using this software was difficult. SteelConverter was created as a means to facilitate model creation through the use of the industry standard finite element solver ETABS. This software allows users to create models in ETABS and intelligently convert model information such as geometry, loading, releases, fixity, etc., into a format that STEEL understands. Models that would take several days to create and verify now take several hours or less. The productivity of the researcher as well as the level of confidence in the model being analyzed is greatly increased.

It has always been a major goal of Caltech to spread the knowledge created here to other universities. However, due to the complexity of STEEL it was difficult for researchers or engineers from other universities to conduct analyses. While SteelConverter did help researchers at Caltech improve their research, sending SteelConverter and its documentation to other universities was less than ideal. Issues of version control, individual computer requirements, and the difficulty of releasing updates made a more centralized solution preferred. This is where the idea for Caltech VirtualShaker was born. Through the creation of a centralized website where users could log in, submit, analyze, and process models in the cloud, all of the major concerns associated with the utilization of SteelConverter were eliminated. Caltech VirtualShaker allows users to create profiles where defaults associated with their most commonly run models are saved, and allows them to submit multiple jobs to an online virtual server to be analyzed and post-processed. The creation of this website not only allowed for more rapid distribution of this tool, but also created a means for engineers and researchers with no access to powerful computer clusters to run computationally intensive analyses without the excessive cost of building and maintaining a computer cluster.

In order to increase confidence in the use of STEEL as an analysis system, as well as verify the conversion tools, a series of comparisons were done between STEEL and ETABS. Six models of increasing complexity, ranging from a cantilever column to a twenty-story moment frame, were analyzed to determine the ability of STEEL to accurately calculate basic model properties such as elastic stiffness and damping through a free vibration analysis as well as more complex structural properties such as overall structural capacity through a pushover analysis. These analyses showed a very strong agreement between the two softwares on every aspect of each analysis. However, these analyses also showed the ability of the STEEL analysis algorithm to converge at significantly larger drifts than ETABS when using the more computationally expensive and structurally realistic fiber hinges. Following the ETABS analysis, it was decided to repeat the comparisons in a software more capable of conducting highly nonlinear analysis, called Perform. These analyses again showed a very strong agreement between the two softwares in every aspect of each analysis through instability. However, due to some limitations in Perform, free vibration analyses for the three story one bay chevron brace frame, two bay chevron brace frame, and twenty story moment frame could not be conducted. With the current trend towards ultimate capacity analysis, the ability to use fiber based models allows engineers to gain a better understanding of a building’s behavior under these extreme load scenarios.

Following this, a final study was done on Hall’s U20 structure [1] where the structure was analyzed in all three softwares and their results compared. The pushover curves from each software were compared and the differences caused by variations in software implementation explained. From this, conclusions can be drawn on the effectiveness of each analysis tool when attempting to analyze structures through the point of geometric instability. The analyses show that while ETABS was capable of accurately determining the elastic stiffness of the model, following the onset of inelastic behavior the analysis tool failed to converge. However, for the small number of time steps the ETABS analysis was converging, its results exactly matched those of STEEL, leading to the conclusion that ETABS is not an appropriate analysis package for analyzing a structure through the point of collapse when using fiber elements throughout the model. The analyses also showed that while Perform was capable of calculating the response of the structure accurately, restrictions in the material model resulted in a pushover curve that did not match that of STEEL exactly, particularly post collapse. However, such problems could be alleviated by choosing a more simplistic material model.

Cluster-based network model for time-course gene expression data

We propose a model-based approach to unify clustering and network modeling using time-course gene expression data. Specifically, our approach uses a mixture model to cluster genes. Genes within the same cluster share a similar expression profile. The network is built over cluster-specific expression profiles using state-space models. We discuss the application of our model to simulated data as well as to time-course gene expression data arising from animal models on prostate cancer progression. The latter application shows that with a combined statistical/bioinformatics analyses, we are able to extract gene-to-gene relationships supported by the literature as well as new plausible relationships.