Leadership and Pedagogical Interaction as Predictors of Learning Outcomes in Physical Education

Problem Statement: This research aims to understand the relative contribution of leadership styles and teacher-student and student-student pedagogical interaction concerning the learning performance and academic achievement in physical education. Research Questions: Are the teacher leadership style and the teacher-student and student-student pedagogical interaction related to the learning performance and academic achievement in physical education in basic schooling? Purpose of Study: There are several factors that contribute for the explanation of learning outcomes, namely teacher leadership styles in the classroom, as well as teacher-student and student-student pedagogical interactions. These factors are considered to be essential in the teaching-learning process and in the subsequent improvement of educational outcomes. Research Methods: A quantitative methodology was implemented, comprising a sample of 447 students attending a School Grouping located in the Central Region of Portugal. In order to verify the nature, the strength and the direction of the relations among the variables, correlation and multiple regression analyses were used. For this, scales already validated and used in other researches were applied. Findings: The results show that the learning performance and the academic achievement are significantly associated with teacher leadership styles and teacher-student and student-student pedagogical interaction. A stronger association was obtained with leadership styles, especially the democratic one. It should be mentioned that these factors provide a higher relative contribution to the learning performance than to the academic achievement. Conclusions: This study sought to deepen the understanding of the explanatory factors of academic success concerning the teaching-learning process in physical education. The analysis conducted highlights the importance of the democratic teacher leadership style and of the pedagogical interaction established within the classroom towards the improvement of students' ability to understand the gains and the effort made in learning.

The interactive dynamics in the university context: the classroom environment

Interpersonal relationships in human communities gained a great value since the begging of mankind, these relationships are constructed on interaction and socialization. The educational context is not exempt of these interactive and communicative processes, and it is specifically in the classroom where they can be found. The classroom can be identified as a physical and a humane space, in which dynamics are developed from the interactions between teachers and students, learning content, learning strategies and the class environment. All of these aspects are presented in the classroom as part of the teaching and learning processes. It is interesting to analyze the classroom environment and the interactive dynamics that are developed in it, regardless of the student’s age, wether in the case of infants, adolescents or adults. In this particular case, we analyze the classroom environment at the university level. Understanding the interactive dynamics that are being developed in the classroom, determine whether or not an environment is appropriate for the teaching and learning processes, which must be considered, if someone chooses an integral and quality of education.

THE ASSUMPTION IN STATEMENTS QUESTIONING SPEECH OF CLASSROOM

This study aims to make a linguistic analysis, in a semantic-discursive perspective, of the assumptions that are encoded in the question-answer pair (P-R) in the classroom discourse in terms of Ducrot (1987), Levinson (1983), Moura (2006). For this, we made an analysis and a description of the interrogative utterrances, qualitatively, using data which are part of the corpus The Study of Discourse Interaction in classes of elementary school (Cf. Santos, 2002), consist of ten classes recorded, to identify the interrogative contexts in which the assumptions are encoded; and the relationship that these establish with the activities developed in the classroom. The results show that the assumptions encoded in the questions are related to the structuring of the discourse, with regard to return information given, to project  the topic that will be developed and establish contact with students through interactivity.

Online discussion forums: a tool to stimulate language teachers’ interaction and reflection

The decisions and approaches taken by the teachers in the classroom are guided by their beliefs of what it means to teach and learn which are built along their history as a student and teacher. However, only the experiences lived by the teachers do not guarantee their professional development (CELCE-MURCIA, 2001). The teacher’s engagement in a process of reflection on their beliefs and pedagogical practices, which leads to the construction and reconstruction of meaning about their actions and the classroom is essential to their development, in order to become an agent of reflection. Considering the importance of reflection in teacher education, in this article, we emphasize the potential of virtual discussion forums to foster the sharing and the reflection of beliefs and practices of postgraduate students (language teachers) about the language teaching and learning process through interactive situations. By means of guidance and online and offline reflection, the students were able to share experiences on teaching and learning, as well as discuss their beliefs and the beliefs of their colleagues. The results of this study point out that understanding and interpreting the teachers’ beliefs can be a path to the transformation of their teaching practice through reflective practice. They also emphasize that the use of virtual discussion forums as a pedagogical tool can contribute in this direction.

Task profiling : A task-Based approach to measuring the integration of ICT in the classroom

The measurement of ICT (information and communication technology) integration is emerging as an area of research interest with such systems as Education Queensland including it in their recently released list of research priorities. Studies to trial differing integration measurement instruments have taken place within Australia in the last few years, particularly Western Australia (Trinidad, Clarkson, & Newhouse, 2004; Trinidad, Newhouse & Clarkson, 2005), Tasmania (Fitzallen 2005) and Queensland (Finger, Proctor, & Watson, 2005). This paper will add to these investigations by describing an alternate and original methodological approach which was trialled in a small-scale pilot study conducted jointly by Queensland Catholic Education Commission (QCEC) and the Centre of Learning Innovation, Queensland University of Technology (QUT) in late 2005. The methodology described is based on tasks which, through a process of profiling, can be seen to be artefacts which embody the internal and external factors enabling and constraining ICT integration.