The Role of Manipulatives in the Eighth Grade Mathematics Classroom

In this action research study of my classroom of eighth grade mathematics, I investigated the use of manipulatives and its impact on student attitude and understanding. I discovered that overall, students enjoy using manipulatives, not necessarily for the benefit of learning, but because it actively engages them in each lesson. I also found that students did perform better on exams when students were asked to solve problems using manipulatives in place of formal written representations of situations. In the course of this investigation, I also uncovered that student attitude toward mathematics improved when greater manipulative use was infused into the lessons. Students felt more confident that they understood the material, which translated into a better attitude regarding math class. As a result of this research, I plan to find ways to implement manipulatives in my teaching on a more regular basis. I intend to create lessons with manipulatives that will engage both hands and minds for the learners.

Showing that Early Childhood Education Works: Lessons from Italy, China, and the USA

Lessons from around the world; What does it matter about early childhood education? Why the controversy about public support for early childhood education? What process or system should be used to determine what works in early education? Can the same process be used to improve services? What is the role of government? Alternatives: 1. Consumers should determine… (What happens when private choices drive the market for early childhood services?) Observed quality of care in four Midwestern states; Parent data: “All things considered, how would you grade the quality of the care your child is receiving from his/her current caregiver?” Role of government What is a Quality Rating System? Ten states have implemented statewide systems (e.g. Colorado, Kentucky, Oklahoma, North Carolina) Findings 2. Objective science should determine… Firm findings from empirical research 3. Something else is needed: Some differences between Italian and American models. Teacher action research (and documentation) from a Reggio-inspired preschool in South Korea by Misuk Kim. Teacher Action Research at the Ruth Staples CDL. Can we now answer our opening questions? What process or system should be used to determine what is best for young children? Can the same process be used to improve the quality of services? Conclusions: The free market does not work well to determine quality in early education and care; Licensing, accreditation, and quality rating systems can help improve the market; Empirical research is useful for measuring what works; Teacher action research (reflective practice) is necessary for fostering continuous quality improvement. The tower of quality.

The impact of the Bolsa Escola/Familia conditional cash transfer program on enrollment, dropout rates and grade promotion in Brazil

We examine the impact of Brazil's Bolsa Escola/Familia program on Brazilian children's education outcomes. Bolsa provides cash payments to poor households if their children (ages 6 to 15) are enrolled in school. Using school census data to compare changes in enrollment, dropping out and grade promotion across schools that adopted Bolsa at different times, we estimate that the program has: increased enrollment by about 5.5% (6.5%) in grades 1-4 (grades 5-8); lowered dropout rates by 0.5 (0.4) percentage points in grades 1-4 (grades 5-8); and raised grade promotion rates by 0.9 (0.3) percentage points in grades 1-4 (grades 5-8). About one third of Brazil's children participate in Bolsa, so assuming no spillover effects onto non-participants implies that Bolsa's impacts are three times higher than these estimates. However, simple calculations using enrollment impacts suggest that Bolsa's benefits in terms of increased wages may not exceed its costs. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

The impact of structured teaching methods on the quality of education in Brazil

This paper estimates the impact of the use of structured methods on the quality of education for students in primary public school in Brazil. Structured methods encompass a range of pedagogical and managerial instruments applied in the educational system. In recent years, several municipalities in the state of Sao Paulo have contracted out private educational providers to implement these structured methods in their schooling systems. Their pedagogical proposal involves structuring of curriculum content, development of teacher and student textbooks, and the training and supervision of teachers anti instructors. Using a difference-in-differences estimation strategy, we find that the 4th- and 8th-grade students in the municipalities with structured methods performed better in Portuguese and mathematics than did students in municipalities not exposed to these methods. We find no differences in passing rates. A robustness test supports the assumption that there is no unobserved municipal characteristics associated with proficiency changes over time that may affect the results. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Teacher Self-efficacy and Accommodating for Students with Disabilities in the Regular Education Classroom

The purpose of the present study is to investigate how teachers feel about their abilities to educate students with special needs, how their degree of teacher self-efficacy compares to intended courses of action, if teachers develop learned helplessness over time, if there is a relationship between low teacher efficacy and high learned helplessness, and if teacher self-efficacy and learned helplessness differ by gender, educational level, years of teaching experiences, and grade level taught.

The Effect of Grade Point Average on Undergraduates' Understanding of Heat Transfer

Engineering students continue to develop and show misconceptions due to prior knowledge and experiences (Miller, Streveler, Olds, Chi, Nelson, & Geist, 2007). Misconceptions have been documented in students’ understanding of heat transfer(Krause, Decker, Niska, Alford, & Griffin, 2003) by concept inventories (e.g., Jacobi,Martin, Mitchell, & Newell, 2003; Nottis, Prince, Vigeant, Nelson, & Hartsock, 2009). Students’ conceptual understanding has also been shown to vary by grade point average (Nottis et al., 2009). Inquiry-based activities (Nottis, Prince, & Vigeant, 2010) haveshown some success over traditional instructional methods (Tasoglu & Bakac, 2010) in altering misconceptions. The purpose of the current study was to determine whether undergraduate engineering students’ understanding of heat transfer concepts significantly changed after instruction with eight inquiry-based activities (Prince & Felder, 2007) supplementing instruction and whether students’ self reported GPA and prior knowledge, as measured by completion of specific engineering courses, affected these changes. The Heat and Energy Concept Inventory (Prince, Vigeant, & Nottis, 2010) was used to assess conceptual understanding. It was found that conceptual understanding significantly increased from pre- to post-test. It was also found that GPA had an effect on conceptual understanding of heat transfer; significant differences were found in post-test scores onthe concept inventory between GPA groups. However, there were mixed results when courses previously taken were analyzed. Future research should strive to analyze how prior knowledge effects conceptual understanding and aim to reduce the limitations of the current study such as, sampling method and methods of measuring GPA and priorknowledge.

Improving sixth grade student knowledge of ecology using fish rearing and release as a real-world context

This research project measured the effects of real-world content in a science classroom by determining change (deep knowledge of life science content, including ecosystems from MDE – Grade Level Content Expectations) in a subset of students (6th Grade Science) that may result from the addition of curriculum (real-world content of rearing trout in the classroom). Data showed large gains from the pre-test to post-test in students from both the experimental and control groups. The ecology unit with the implementation of real-world content [trout] was even more successful, and improved students’ deep knowledge of ecosystem content from Michigan’s Department of Education Grade Level Content Expectations. The gains by the experimental group on the constructed response section of the test, which included higher cognitive level items, were significant. Clinical interviews after the post-test confirmed increases in deep knowledge of ecosystem concepts in the experimental group, by revealing that a sample of experimental group students had a better grasp of important ecology concepts as compared to a sample of control group students.

Comparison of the effects of inquiry-based cooperative learning and demonstrations in science education

The reported research project involved studying how teaching science using demonstrations, inquiry-based cooperative learning groups, or a combination of the two methods affected sixth grade students’ understanding of air pressure and density. Three different groups of students were each taught the two units using different teaching methods. Group one learned about the topics through both demonstrations and inquirybased cooperative learning, whereas group two only viewed demonstrations, and group three only participated in inquiry-based learning in cooperative learning groups. The study was designed to answer the following two questions: 1. Which teaching strategy works best for supporting student understanding of air pressure and density: demonstrations, inquirybased labs in cooperative learning groups, or a combination of the two? 2. And what effect does the time spent engaging in a particular learning experience (demonstrations or labs) have on student learning? Overall, the data did not provide sufficient evidence that one method of learning was more effective than the others. The results also suggested that spending more time on a unit does not necessarily equate to a better understanding of the concepts by the students. Implications for science instruction are discussed.

Teachers' Acculturation Attitudes and their Classroom Management: an empirical study among fifth-grade primary school teachers in Switzerland

This article investigates the influence of attitudes towards acculturation of 180 primary school teachers on their classroom management. The results indicate that teachers with integrative attitudes towards immigrant students' acculturation have a high propensity to punish students for disruptive behaviour, but they also demonstrate high levels of diagnostic expertise in social areas. Teachers with assimilative attitudes are also likely to punish students for misbehaviour, but tend to have a deficiency in the ability to diagnose social tensions among students. Teachers with assimilative attitudes who report high levels of disruptive behaviour in their classroom have the strongest tendency to punish and the lowest level of diagnostic expertise in social areas.

A study of the impact of cigarette advertising on adolescent susceptibility to smoking among 5th-, 8th-, and 12th-grade students in Hempstead and Hitchcock Independent School Districts

This study assessed the impact of cigarette advertising on adolescent susceptibility to smoking in the Hempstead and Hitchcock Independent School Districts. A convenience sample of 217 youths, 10-19 years of age was recruited in the study. Students completed both a paper-and-pencil and a computer-aided questionnaire in April 1996. Adolescents were defined as susceptible to smoking if they could not definitely rule out the possibility of future smoking. For the analysis, an index was devised: a 5-point index of an individual's receptivity to cigarette advertising. The index is determined by the number of positive responses to five survey items (recognizing cigarette brand logos, recognizing cigarette advertisement's pictures, recognizing cigarette brand slogans, evaluating adolescent attitudes toward cigarette advertising, and the degree to which adolescents were exposed to cigarette advertisements). Using logistic regression, we assessed the independent importance of the index in predicting susceptibility to smoking and ever smoking after adjusting for sociodemographic variables, perceived school performance and family composition. Of students surveyed, 54.4% of students appeared to have started the smoking uptake process as measured by susceptibility to smoking. Camel was recognized by the majority of students (88%), followed by Marlboro (41.5%) and Newport (40.1%). The pattern for recognition of the cigarette advertisements was the same as the pattern of market for cigarette. Advertisement featuring the cartoon character Joe Camel was significantly more appealing to adolescents than were advertisements with human models, with animal models, and with text only (p $<$ 0.001). Text only advertisement was significantly less appealing than other types of advertisements. The cigarette advertisement with White models (Marlboro) had significantly higher appeal to White students than to African-American students (p $<$ 0.001). The cigarette advertisement featuring African-American models (Virginia Slims) was significantly more appealing to African-American students than other ethnic groups (p $<$ 0.001). Receptivity to cigarette advertising was to be an important concurrent predictor of past smoking experience and intention to smoke in the future. Adolescents who scored in the fourth quartile of the Index of Receptivity to Cigarette Advertising were 7.54 (95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.92-29.56) times as likely to be susceptible to smoking, and were 4.56 (95% CI = 1.55-13.38) times as likely to have tried smoking, as those who scored in the first quartile of the Index. The findings confirmed the hypothesis that cigarette advertising may be a strong current influence in encouraging adolescents to initiate the smoking uptake process than sociodemographic variables, perceived school performance and family composition. ^

How minimal grade goals and self-control capacity interact in predicting test grades

The present research examined the prediction of school students' grades in an upcoming math test via their minimal grade goals (i.e., the minimum grade in an upcoming test one would be satisfied with). Due to its significance for initiating and maintaining goal-directed behavior, self-control capacity was expected to moderate the relation between students' minimal grade goals and their actual grades. Self-control capacity was defined as the dispositional capacity to override or alter one's dominant response tendencies. Prior to a scheduled math test, 172 vocational track students indicated their minimal grade goal for the test and completed a measure of self-control capacity. The test grade was assessed at a second time of measurement. As expected, minimal grade goals more strongly predicted the actual test grades the higher the students' self-control capacity. Implications can be seen in terms of optimizing the prediction and advancement of academic performance.

Multi-grade teaching practices in Austrian and Finnish primary schools

This article describes the teaching strategies used in multi-grade classes in five small rural primary schools in Austria and Finland on the basis of the content analysis of transcribed teacher interviews. Two main types of strategies were identified: practices that (1) aim to reduce or (2) capitalize on students’ heterogeneity. The results illustrate how differently multi-grade teaching can be realized and how it can effectively support individual student learning. The findings are discussed with regard to teacher education with the intention of increasing the awareness of the professional skills required in high-quality teaching practices in multi-grade teaching.

Multigrade teaching in primary education as a promising pedagogy for teacher education in Austria and Finland

This chapter focuses on teaching practices used in multigrade classes and the importance of them being incorporated in teacher education as promising pedagogies for future use. Multigrade classes - defined as classes in which two or more grades are taught together - are common worldwide. Hence, there is a need for teacher candidates to become familiar with how to teach in split grade classrooms. However, research on multigrade teaching as well as its development in teacher education studies has been neglected, even though multigrade teachers need special skills to organize instruction in their heterogeneous classrooms. We argue that in successful multigrade teaching practices, the heterogeneity of students is taken into account and cultivated. Based on content analysis of teacher interviews conducted in Austrian and Finnish primary schools, we recommend teaching practices such as spiral curricula, working plans, and peer learning as promising teacher education pedagogies for future multigrade class teaching. We also suggest that the professional skills required in high-quality teaching practices in multigrade teaching should be further studied by researchers and educators.

The Effect of Direct Instruction versus Discovery Learning on the Understanding of Science Lessons by Second Grade Students

This study examined the effectiveness of discovery learning and direct instruction in a diverse second grade classroom. An assessment test and transfer task were given to students to examine which method of instruction enabled the students to grasp the content of a science lesson to a greater extent. Results demonstrated that students in the direct instruction group scored higher on the assessment test and completed the transfer task at a faster pace; however, this was not statistically significant. Results also suggest that a mixture of instructional styles would serve to effectively disseminate information, as well as motivate students to learn.