Expectations and challenges : the implementation of mobile devices in a Scottish primary school

Acknowledgements Sincere thanks are due to all who have contributed to this study, which was funded in part by the Local Authority. The Head Teacher and Local Authority Officer have been instrumental in encouraging and supporting the research and the teachers and pupils at the school, along with several local authority support staff, have contributed directly. Colleagues from the University of Aberdeen, including Prof Do Coyle, Dr Yvonne Bain, and Phil Marston, helped to guide the project and provided useful feedback.

Expectations and challenges : the implementation of mobile devices in a Scottish primary school

Acknowledgements Sincere thanks are due to all who have contributed to this study, which was funded in part by the Local Authority. The Head Teacher and Local Authority Officer have been instrumental in encouraging and supporting the research and the teachers and pupils at the school, along with several local authority support staff, have contributed directly. Colleagues from the University of Aberdeen, including Prof Do Coyle, Dr Yvonne Bain, and Phil Marston, helped to guide the project and provided useful feedback.

The Relation Between Civic Education and Political Attitudes and Behavior

It is generally assumed that civic education efforts will have a positive effect on the political attitudes and behaviors of adolescents and young adults. There is less agreement, however, on the most effective forms of civic education. In the present study, we distinguish between formal civic education, an open classroom climate and active learning strategies, and we explore their effect on political interest, efficacy, trust and participation. To analyze these effects, we rely on the results of a two-year panel study among late adolescents in Belgium. The results indicate that formal civic education (classroom instruction) and active learning strategies (school council membership and, to a lesser extent, group projects) are effective in shaping political attitudes and behavior. An open classroom climate, on the other hand, has an effect on political trust. We conclude that there is no reason to privilege specific forms of civic education, as each form contributes to different relevant political attitudes and behaviors.

A look into diversity in the radio and music industry in Spain

UNESCO’s approval of the Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions (UNESCO, 2005) has been an important element in catalyzing any attempt to measure the diversity of cultural industries (UIS, 2011). Within this framework, this article analyzes the relations between the music and radio industries in Spain from a critical perspective through the analysis of available data on recorded music offer and consumption (sales lists, radio-formula lists, the characteristics of the phonographic and radio markets) in different key moments due to the emergence of new formats and devices (CDS, Mp3, Internet).The main goal of this work is to study the evolution of the Spanish record market in terms of diversity from the end of the 1970s to the present, through the study of radio music hits lists and, the business structure of the phonographic and radio sectors, and phonograms top sales

Seeing How it Sounds: Observation, Imitation and Improved Learning in Piano Playing

Research in various fields has shown that students benefit from teacher action demonstrations during instruction, establishing the need to better understand the effectiveness of different demonstration types across student proficiency levels. This study centres upon a piano learning and teaching environment in which beginners and intermediate piano students (N=48) learning to perform a specific type of staccato were submitted to three different (group exclusive) teaching conditions: audio-only demonstration of the musical task; observation of the teacher's action demonstration followed by student imitation (blockedobservation); and observation of the teacher's action demonstration whilst alternating imitation of the task with the teacher's performance (interleaved-observation). Learning was measured in relation to students' range of wrist amplitude (RWA) and ratio of sound and inter-sound duration (SIDR) before, during and after training. Observation and imitation of the teacher’s action demonstrations had a beneficial effect on students' staccato knowledge retention at different times after training: students submitted to interleaved-observation presented significantly shorter note duration and larger wrist rotation, and as such, were more proficient at the learned technique in each of the lesson and retention tests than students in the other learning conditions. There were no significant differences in performance or retention for students of different proficiency levels. These findings have relevant implications for instrumental music pedagogy and other contexts where embodied action is an essential aspect of the learning process.

Music Learning Networks: Supporting the Music Learning of Adolescents

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Washington, 2016-08

Music teacher biography and its impact on teaching practice

This paper describes research carried out as part of a wider doctoral study on ‘the biography of music teachers, their understanding of musicality and the implications for secondary music education’. Music teachers will come from a range of diverse backgrounds, though research data would suggest that most seem to have been educated as ‘classical’ music performers which will have an affect on what they perceive to be central competencies in the development of young musicians. In turn, this will determine, to some extent, what is taught and learned in the secondary music classroom. This study explores the impact of the biography of secondary music teachers as they seek to develop the musicianship of their pupils and present the activities in which the young people will be expected to participate. A mixed methods approach has been taken, including surveys, observation and interviews. Surveys amongst a sample of experienced and trainee teachers have produced a range of quantitative data on respondents’ experience of and values related to music education; whilst qualitative data in the form of lesson observation notes and transcription of semi-structured interviews have been the result of working with a small sub-set of participants. The outcomes of study have suggested a clear link between biography and classroom practice but that there are also other potential tensions which arise, such as in the subject knowledge development of practitioners as they move from musician to teacher. Implications for a variety of stakeholders in secondary music education include a consideration of the development of subject knowledge together with potential review of national and local education policy, the nature of undergraduate music study and the ‘shape’ of initial teacher training in England.

Moving together – conditions for intercultural development at a highly diverse Swedish school

This thesis is a case study of a primary school in a highly diverse urban neighbourhood in Sweden. Basic pre-conditions for intercultural school development are studied by examining the overall organisation of teaching, learning and opportunities for collaboration in the investigated case. The study focuses on the targeted support measures to enhance learning for students with an immigrant background: Mother tongue instruction, Swedish as a Second Language, and tutoring in the mother tongue, as well as looking at pedagogical support provided by the school library. The latter has a mission to promote learning and inclusion, where non-native speakers of Swedish are a prioritised group. Communities of practice linked to the work organisation at a meso-level are investigated, and the collaborative relationships between professional groups at the school involved in the various support measures. Teacher relationships and categorisations implied by support measures impact the learning spaces that are shaped for students and the teaching spaces within which teachers work. Collaborative opportunities and convergence of concerns in the teaching spaces combine to shape the overall space for intercultural development. The raw data for the case study consists of interviews, national policy documents and additional information on local work organisation gained through documents and observations. Four articles resulted from the case study, each focusing a specific support measure. An overarching analysis is then made of findings from these articles and the other dimensions of the investigation. The analysis describes the organisation in terms of monocultural or intercultural school cultures, pointing to significant characteristics of the landscapes of practice, with respect to their overall implications for the spaces of school development. In the discussion, findings are considered in relation to research on professional development in education, collaboration, democracy and inclusive schooling. The relative positioning of languages and cultures is given particular attention, to ascertain if the school culture is monocultural or intercultural in the sense given by Lahdenperä (2008), and to what extent it could enable intercultural development. Such positioning plays a role interms of affordances for identity, participation and engagement discussed by Wenger (1998). This case study should be understood against the wider background of recent social developments in Europe linked to globalisation and technological changes. It is argued that looking at the concrete specifics which facilitate or obstruct school development, and simultaneously reflecting on how the different forms of teaching interrelate in the overall organisation and in policy may provide a useful vantage point from which structural changes can be contemplated.The discussion underlines the importance of the physical localisation of activities, continuity in personal contacts and time available for joint pedagogical reflection, as basic conditions for effective intercultural dialogue in the organisation. Finally, the impact of policy is considered, looking at connections between levels of policy, expressed in official steering documents, and conditions for teaching and learning at the level of an individual school.

Aspects of migration, size structure and mortality of juvenile Nile perch in the Mwanza Gulf of Lake Victoria

A detailed study of the early life of fishes forms one of the very important aspects with respect to recruitment mechanism and proper uneterstanding of the dynamics leading to sustainance of fish populations. It should be the central theme of the fisheries biologist and managers to extract the bilogical information relevant to the proper understanding of this part of the population. A number of studies in the Mwanza gulf and Lake Victoria have emphasized the need to monitor the fishery by conducting observations of stock size, migration, catch effort data and growth of big specimen (Acere 1981, Goudsward et al 1984, Asila. Ogari 1988 and Okemwa 1984). The present paper discusses the preliminary information on the size structure, mortality and migration of juvenile Nile perch. The long term objectives of the programme is aimed at describing the size structure, growth, mortality, recruitment pattern and population dynamics of the Nile perch up to 30 cm total length in the, Mwanza Gulf.

Jisc CAN case study: Student Digital Ambassadors for Digital Literacy at London School of Economics

Student Digital Ambassadors for Digital Literacy at London School of Economics case study. Student Ambassadors for Digital Literacy (SADL) is a programme coordinated by Learning Technology and Innovation and LSE Library and open to LSE undergraduate students. It has been running since 2013, when it started as a pilot in two academic departments. LSE is a specialist social science institution, research led with a relatively small undergraduate population (approximately 4500 students). Students study across the social sciences in quantitative subjects such as economics, maths and statistics, and qualitative subjects such as social policy, international history and anthropology. The student population is highly international and LSE has an excellent rating for graduate employment. LSE Students Union offer support and promote SADL which aims to develop students digital literacies, but provides an opportunity to understand more about what their needs might be.

A Figured Worlds Perspective on Middle School Learners' Climate Literacy Development

The purpose of this study was to investigate the nature of the relationship between middle school science learners’ conditions and their developing understandings of climate change. I applied the anthropological theoretical perspective of figured worlds (Holland, Lachicotte, Skinner, & Cain, 1998) to examine learners’ views of themselves and their capacities to act in relation to climate change. My overarching research question was: How are middle school science learners’ figured worlds of climate change related to the conditions in which they are embedded? I used a descriptive single-case study design to examine the climate change ideas of eight purposefully selected 6th grade science learners. Data sources included: classroom observations, curriculum documents, interviews, focus groups, and written assessments and artifacts, including learners’ self- generated drawings. I identified six analytic lenses with which to explore the data. Insights from the application of these analytic lenses provided information about the elements of participants’ climate change stories, which I reported through the use of a storytelling heuristic. I then synthesized elements of participants’ collective climate change story, which provided an “entrance” (Kitchell, Hannan, & Kempton, 2000, p. 96) into their figured world of climate change. Aspects of learners’ conditions—such as their worlds of school, technology and media use, and family—appeared to shape their figured world of climate change. Within their figured world of climate change, learners saw themselves—individually and as members of groups—as inhabiting a variety of climate change identities, some of which were in conflict with each other. I posited that learners’ enactment of these identities – or the ways in which they expressed their climate change agency – had the potential to reshape or reinforce their conditions. Thus, learners’ figured worlds of climate change might be considered “spaces of authoring” (Holland et al., 1998, p. 45) with potential for inciting social and environmental change. The nature of such change would hinge on the extent to which these nascent climate change identities become salient for these early adolescent learners through their continued climate change learning experiences. Implications for policy, curriculum and instruction, and science education research related to climate change education are presented.

Preliminary assessment of the numerical competencies of children from a public preschool and kindergarten in Cuenca

Existe abundante evidencia de que los niños pequeños son capaces de desarrollar un conocimiento matemático y que las destrezas aritméticas de estos niños son predictores de su desempeño académico futuro. También existe un acuerdo común de que la calidad de la educación matemática inicial tiene una importante influencia en el aprendizaje posterior de los niños. En Ecuador hay escasos estudios sobre las competencias matemáticas tempranas de los niños y sobre su enseñanza. Por ello, se inició un estudio para (1) evaluar las competencias numéricas de los niños de pre-escolar y kindergarten (primero de básica) que asisten a una escuela pública de Cuenca, con el objetivo de analizar críticamente su pensamiento y razonamiento numérico; y (2) examinar las prácticas y creencias de los profesores con relación a la enseñanza de la matemática y a las competencias matemáticas de los niños. La aplicación del Test de Conocimiento Numérico (Griffin, 2005) demostró que la mayoría de los niños participantes no habían desarrollado habilidades numéricas básicas. Adicionalmente, los profesores expresaron una fuerte creencia de que los niños pequeños no son capaces de tener un pensamiento matemático. Como consecuencia, las actividades matemáticas que realizan los niños y profesores son desarrolladas de manera insuficiente. Las implicaciones científicas y prácticas de estos resultados son discutidas.

Do teacher stereotypes about school tracks function as expectations at the collective level and do they relate to the perception of obstacles in the classroom and to teachers’ self-efficacy beliefs?

The effects of individual teacher expectations have been the subject of intensive research. Results indicate that teachers use their expectations to adapt their interactions with their students to some degree (as summarized in a review by Jussim & Harber, 2005). This can in turn lead to expectancy-confirming student developments. While there are studies on the Pygmalion effect on individual students, there is only little research on teacher judgements of whole classes and schools. Our study aims to extend the perspective of teacher judgements at the collective level to stereotypes within the context of school tracking. The content and structure of teachers’ school track stereotypes are investigated as well as the question of whether these stereotypical judgements are related to teachers’ perception of obstacles to their teaching and their teaching self-efficacy beliefs. Cross-sectional data on 341 teachers at two different school types from the Panel Study at the Research School „Education and Capabilities“ in North Rhine-Westphalia (PARS) (see Bos et al., 2016) were used for two purposes: First, the structure of teachers’ stereotypes was identified via an exploratory factor analysis. Second, in follow-up regression analyses, the stereotype dimensions extracted were used to predict teachers’ perceptions of obstacles to their classroom work and their individual and collective teacher self-efficacy beliefs. Results showed that – after controlling for the average cognitive abilities and the average cultural capital of the students – teacher stereotypes were indeed related to perceived obstacles concerning their classroom work and their self-efficacy beliefs. After a discussion of the strengths and limitations of the present research, the article closes with a short proposal of a future research framework for collective Pygmalion effects. (DIPF/Orig.)

Knowing What to Do: School Focus, Teacher Morale, and Teacher Turnover

This study explored how schools’ focus – the collective perception among teachers of clarity and consistency regarding school goals, expectations, and priorities – related to schoolwide morale and school turnover rates. I examined the hypothesis that focus attenuates the deleterious effects of student misconduct on teacher morale and the contributory role of student misconduct leading to teacher turnover. In addition, I examined climate strength regarding perceptions school focus as an indicator of focus itself, as well a potential moderating effect of climate strength on the magnitude of school focus-school morale and school focus-turnover relationships. Data from a national sample of middle and high schools (N schools = 348, N teachers = 11,376) were analyzed using school-level multiple regression models. Schools with higher focus had significantly higher morale, independent of related perceptions of administrative leadership. No significant relationship was found between school focus and school turnover rates. The hypothesized moderating effect of focus on student misconduct and morale was not supported, though there was a significant indication that focus attenuated the positive relationship between student misconduct and turnover. Climate strength of school focus ratings significantly correlated with focus scores, but did not moderate relationships between focus and predicted outcomes. Findings suggest that school-level focus does represent a characteristic of schools that has a meaningful positive relationship with teacher morale but do not necessarily clarify how that relationship manifests in schools or if that relationship presents an avenue for intervention.

Boardroom to classroom: the role of the corporate and philanthropic sectors in school education

This report delivers the findings of a research project carried out from 2008 to 2009 to explore the trends in corporate and philanthropic involvement in school education in Victoria, Australia and internationally that are supporting improved outcomes for students.

This included a search of the local and international literature and the collection of qualitative data through forums with the corporate and philanthropic sectors, school leaders, policy-makers and leading agencies as well as interviews with representatives of leading corporate and philanthropic sector organisations.

The research was guided by questions including:

1. What are the trends in corporate and philanthropic involvement in government school education, in Victoria, Australia and internationally, that support improved outcomes for students, including those students who are underperforming in literacy and numeracy, at risk of leaving school early, or who are less likely to enter university or to succeed in further or vocational education?

2. What is the scope of existing practice in Victoria?

3. What are some good examples of next practice at the system, regional and school level in Victoria, Australia and internationally?