Using CAI to teach chemistry in secondary schools in Thailand

Participatory action research is used by six Thai chemistry teachers being supported to become more 'computer literate' and to develop understandings about the effectiveness of ways of using a chemistry CAI package to support student learning. The study demonstrates a gradual change in their ideas and attitudes to the use of computers in teaching.

Computers for secondary mathematics: who uses them and how?

In the first stage of a three year ARC-funded study in which the effects of using computers for the teaching and learning of mathematics are being explored, a questionnaire has been developed and is being administered to a large number of students in grades 7-10 in a representative sample of co-educational post-primary schools in Victoria. Using open and closed response formats, the information sought includes: background and biographical details; data on computer ownership and use =96 frequency and mode/s =96 for mathematics learning at home and in mathematics classes; and beliefs about mathematics and the use of computers for learning mathematics. In this paper, the focus will be on some of the preliminary findings related to ownership and use of computers for learning mathematics at home and at school. In previous research, factors such as gender, socio-economic background, and ethnicity have been identified as contributors to inequitable mathematics learning outcomes. The questionnaire data will be analysed to examine if these and other factors are related to any inequities identified in student's access to computers and in how they use computers in their learning of mathematics. The results will be presented and pertinent implications discussed.

The impact of school tobacco policies on student smoking in Washington State, United States and Victoria, Australia

This paper measures tobacco polices in statewide representative samples of secondary and mixed schools in Victoria, Australia and Washington, US (N = 3,466 students from 285 schools) and tests their association with student smoking. Results from confounder-adjusted random effects (multi-level) regression models revealed that the odds of student perception of peer smoking on school grounds are decreased in schools that have strict enforcement of policy (odds ratio (OR) = 0.45; 95% CI: 0.25 to 0.82; p = 0.009). There was no clear evidence in this study that a comprehensive smoking ban, harsh penalties, remedial penalties, harm minimization policy or abstinence policy impact on any of the smoking outcomes.

Multiliteracies : resources for meaning-making in the secondary english classroom

This chapter draws on practitioner research with classes in a surburban secondary college in Melbourne, Australia to examine some of the complex interactions between school literacy practices and the literacy practices students engage in within school and outside of school. In particular, it focuses on student texts as instances of successful experiences of using multiliteracies for reading, writing and speaking in English classrooms.

Student attitudes toward professional practices in science

There has been anecdotal evidence that students from various cultures have different perspectives toward professional practices, including (1) how to use quotations, (2) occupational health and safety and (3) recording data, but there has been a lack of hard evidence to either confirm or contradict this belief. This paper presents a snapshot of student attitudes toward professional practices in Australia. The survey group consisted of students enrolled in an undergraduate 1st year, 2nd semester, chemistry subject. Students generally agreed that they should paraphrase and should cite sources of information. However, there was confusion about the use of extensive quotations and occupational health and safety. There was no significant difference in the responses by the country of secondary schooling or family background, but were some significant differences by the respondents’ age, number of years in university and by the discipline area of study.

Re-asserting the place of context in explaining student (under-)achievement

One popular view of student achievement is that the quality of teaching students receive plays an important part in whether or not they do well at school. In this article we draw attention to ‘context’ as a complementary explanation, particularly regarding achievement differences between students from different socio-economic backgrounds. In making these observations, we utilise data from one Australian secondary school located in an economically depressed rural community. Drawing on the insights of Bourdieu, our focus is on the broader social and economic influences that can adversely position students and schools, as well as work to inform the institutional stance that schools take in relation to their students.

Student success and failure : as a matter of fact or just how they are portrayed?

This paper introduces and analyses three broad discourses of academic achievement and failure, specifically those that speak of students' deficits, disadvantages and differences. It draws on interview data collected from teachers working in Australian primary (elementary) and secondary (high) schools and on academic literature that speaks to the field. The paper argues that 'deficit', 'disadvantage' and 'difference' represent discourses of considerable influence in determining how teachers, students and parents define what constitutes success or failure in schools, which respective approaches educators employ, and the beliefs we hold about students who fail and those who succeed. In this respect, the paper is concerned with matters of inclusion and exclusion in schooling. In particular, we seek to tease out the stories that these discourses tell about student diversity, as a way of unmasking how students are differently represented and how these representations serve to include some and exclude others from the benefits of schooling and society more broadly.

Conceptualising and measuring student engagement through the Australasian Survey of Student Engagement (AUSSE) : a critique

Student engagement has rapidly developed a central place in the quality agenda of Australian universities since the introduction of the Australasian Survey of Student Engagement (AUSSE). The AUSSE is based on one developed in the USA. The main arguments given for adopting this survey in Australia are that it provides a valid instrument for measuring engagement and that it enables international comparisons. However, the survey instrument and scales have been adopted with little scrutiny of these arguments. This paper examines these arguments by considering different perspectives of engagement, examining the importance of contextual differences and evaluating the AUSSE engagement scales in the light of both. The paper concludes that the AUSSE results should be used by universities and policy-makers with caution.

Student views of computer based-mathematics in the middle years : does gender make a difference?

How the use of computers in mathematics classrooms was viewed by students in two middle years mathematics classrooms was the focus of the research described in this paper. The primary data sources consisted of questionnaires, classroom observations supported by videotaping of mathematics lessons, and interviews with two girls and two boys from each class. Thus both qualitative and quantitative methods were used. Girls viewed the computer-based lessons less favourably than did boys. In general, the boys were likely to believe that computers contributed to their experiencing pleasure in these lessons, and to making mathematics more relevant to them. Girls were typically more concerned about whether computers facilitated learning and enabled success in mathematics. The attitudes of students to computer-based mathematics were related to their views of computers.

Evaluation of delivery of the switched on secondary science professional learning (SOSSPL) program

The Switched On Secondary Science Professional Learning (SOSSPL) program consisted of three days professional learning. Days 1 and 2 were undertaken consecutively, with Day 3 following a break of several weeks. The break allowed sufficient time for teachers to undertake a small classroom-based project within one of the topics teachers will be teaching at the time. The program was designed to build teacher capacity to improve learning outcomes in secondary science.

Evaluation of delivery of the switched on secondary science professional learning (SOSSPL) program (2011-12)

The Switched On Secondary Science Professional Learning (SOSSPL) program consisted of three days professional learning for Victorian DEECD secondary science teachers. Days 1 and 2 were undertaken consecutively, with Day 3 following a break of several weeks. The break allowed sufficient time for teachers to undertake a small classroom-based project within one of the topics they were teaching at the time. The program was designed to build teacher capacity to improve student learning outcomes in secondary science.

The program supported teachers to plan and implement classroom sequences that focused on student construction and interpretation of different representations of the science concepts and processes that are described by the Victorian Essential Learning Standards (VELS): Science and the Science Continuum P-10. The Deakin University team in collaboration with the Department of Education and Early Childhood Development (DEECD) produced curriculum resources for the program that encapsulated a representational focus to the teaching and learning of science. The program explored and linked to core DEECD resources such as the e5 Instructional Model and the Science Continuum P-10.
The SOSSPL program was delivered in all Victorian DEECD regions in 2010-11 and was evaluated (Hubber et al, 2011). The program was delivered again in all Victorian DEECD regions in 2011-12. The evaluation of the 2011-12 program is reported here with some comparisons made to the findings from the previously delivered program.
This evaluation of the SOSSPL program involved an online survey, daily workshop evaluations, focus group and presentations data of the participating teachers’ classroom-based projects. The aim of the evaluation was to make a judgement about the effectiveness of the SOSSPL program in terms of building teacher capacity to improve student learning outcomes in secondary science.