ABSTRACTEffect size is the basis of much evidence-based education policymaking. In particular, it is assumed to measure the educational effectiveness of interventions. Policy is being driven by the influential work of John Hattie, the Education Endowment Foundation, and others, which is grounded in this assumption. This article demonstrates the assumption is false and notes that, when criticized, proponents either attempt to inoculate themselves by listing (without checking) assumptions or use the specious reasoning that, however flawed their argument, no-one has disproved their conclusions. 相似文献
This article investigates the extent to which there exist differences in standards for awarding first degrees with distinction amongst universities in Israel (as measured by the percentage of total graduates each year that receive a distinction). Based upon an analysis of annual data for the period 1979–1983, considerable diversity was found in the tendency to award first degrees with distinction between and within universities and faculties, and between the major subject department of the social science faculty, selected for more detailed analysis.This heterogeneity parallels that reported in Nevin's work relating to the situation current at universities in the United Kingdom nearly two decades ago. 相似文献
One influential explanation of the development of verbal short-term memory in children argues that short-term memory capacity is a direct function of speech rate. This theory predicts that children with pathologically slow speech will show reduced verbal short-term memory capacity and will show less evidence of speech-base coding on verbal memory tasks. To test this prediction, verbal short-term memory span was assessed using a task that did not require a verbal response in 37 speech-disordered children and 37 age- and sex-matched controls (age range 4-15 years). The speech-disordered group had a significantly lower short-term memory capacity, a smaller word length effect, and reduced speech-motor activity during rehearsal periods. Covariance analyses revealed that these differences were not a function of general intellectual or motor speed differences between the groups, and that speech rate as a covariate abolished group differences in short-term memory. These results suggest that speech rate may be a causal determinant of verbal short-term memory capacity. 相似文献
Expanding the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australian (hereafter respectfully Indigenous) talent pool to undertake valuable roles in business, health, education, academia, government, policy development and community development is critical for addressing current disparities between Indigenous and other Australians. Parity of access and engagement with education plays a key role in facilitating participation in these roles but has not yet been attained. This article provides an initial systematic review of literature on the state of the evidence regarding access/attraction, retention and completions for Indigenous Higher Degree Research (HDR) students. This article identifies the quantity (number examined), nature (e.g. focus of study), quality (peer reviewed and evidence of methodological rigour) and characteristics (e.g. publication type, authorship) of the limited publications. Using specific search strings (words or phrases of relevance to the topic), a systematic review methodology was employed to search nine databases and grey (non-peer reviewed) literature from 1995 to 2015. The resultant 12 publications were mined with quality assessed and a predetermined framework used to extract and synthesise the characteristics from individual publications. This research contributes to existing literature about Indigenous Peoples in HDR programs internationally in identifying significant cultural and institutional barriers and highlighting institutional enablers which can contribute to attraction, retention and completion. Building on the prior limited research reported in the review, the article highlights the need for further research and provides an initial agenda of directions for universities and government to redress the disparity in entry and completion of Indigenous Peoples in HDR programs.
Abstract algebra courses tend to take one of two pedagogical routes: from examples of mathematics structures through definitions
to general theorems, or directly from definitions to general theorems. The former route seems to be based on the implicit
pedagogical intention that students will use their understanding of particular examples of an algebraic structure to get a
sense of those properties which form the basis of the fundamental definitions. We will explain the transition from examples
to abstract algebra as a series of shifts of attention and in this paper we will use a case study to examine the initial shift,
which we will call apprehending a structure, and examine how one student came to apprehend the structure of the commutative ring Z99. 相似文献
Many mathematicians and curriculum bodies have argued in favour of the theory of formal discipline: that studying advanced
mathematics develops one’s ability to reason logically. In this paper we explore this view by directly comparing the inferences
drawn from abstract conditional statements by advanced mathematics students and well-educated arts students. The mathematics
students in the study were found to endorse fewer invalid conditional inferences than the arts students, but they did not
endorse significantly more valid inferences. We establish that both groups tended to endorse more inferences which led to
negated conclusions than inferences which led to affirmative conclusions (a phenomenon known as the negative conclusion effect).
In contrast, however, we demonstrate that, unlike the arts students, the mathematics students did not exhibit the affirmative
premise effect: the tendency to endorse more inferences with affirmative premises than with negated premises. We speculate
that this latter result may be due to an increased ability for successful mathematics students to be able to ‘see through’
opaque representations. Overall, our data are consistent with a version of the formal discipline view. However, there are
important caveats; in particular, we demonstrate that there is no simplistic relationship between the study of advanced mathematics
and conditional inference behaviour.
This article considers the relationship between differential homework task difficulty, student engagement and performance across four Irish post-primary school sites. A total of 236 participants completed all elements of this study. All participants were junior cycle students, aged between 12 and 16 years. The study employed a standardised test–retest approach, with a one week interval between tests. Between testing, participants were randomly subdivided into three cohorts. Each cohort received homework questions of different difficulty levels to complete for one week. The results of this study found that Cohort A, who received the least difficult homework tasks, completed the most non-compulsory questions. Although Cohort A demonstrated higher levels of engagement, no statistically significant difference was found in the change in performance scores of the three cohorts. The results highlight the negative impact of increased task difficulty on student engagement with independent homework tasks. The findings suggest that in order to support student engagement it is important that teachers afford ample opportunity for student success when designing self-directed tasks such as homework. 相似文献
The tendency to generalize from specific experiences leading to new, more abstract concepts is a natural aspect of human thought.
Generalizations are the end result of an inductive process that begins with the identification of similarities in seemingly
disparate situations. It is the existence of such generalizations that makes it possible for us to understand each other and
the world around us. It is pedagogically weak to present generalizations to students and expect them to know how and when
to apply them. On the other hand if students experience the inductive process in classrooms and discover generalizations,
they are likely to remember and use this process when tackling other problems. The authors illustrate the pedagogical value
of such an approach and the interdisciplinary nature of the inductive process by reflecting on teaching practices in English
literature and mathematics in a high school classroom. In particular the authors reflect on how the inductive process was
applied to four short stories and four problem-solving situations, which resulted in high school students arriving at generalizations
that characterized the stories and the problems. A conceptual model that illustrates how inductive processes facilitate generalizations
in the classroom is presented. 相似文献