Developing science process skills in special schools in South Africa     

Sally Johnson  Melanie Sadeck  Merle Hodges 《Journal of Research in Special Educational Needs》2002,2(1)

This paper describes research conducted alongside the implementation of 'Translation Activities' to teach science process skills in three Schools for Children with Special Educational Needs (known as special schools) in the Western Cape, South Africa. Teachers were interviewed about the differences of teaching science to their learners in the context of the new Outcomes Based Education Curriculum. They were then trained in the strategy and observed while they started to implement it in their classrooms. Further interviews were conducted over the period of a year to discover how this particular teaching innovation fitted with the special conditions. The case studies explain how pupils were able to spend a greater proportion of time working in groups, learning from the activities, and attempt to throw light on how access to science might be facilitated in a future system characterised by inclusion.  相似文献   

Anonymous versus public student feedback systems: metacognition and achievement with graduate learners     

Brady  Melanie  Rosenthal  Jane L.  Forest  Christopher P.  Hocevar  Dennis 《Educational technology research and development : ETR & D》2020,68(6):2853-2872

Educational technology research and development - The aim of this repeated measures study was to examine an anonymous student feedback system (delivered using clickers) versus a public student...  相似文献   

Aspirations and equality in higher education: gender in a South African university     

Melanie Walker 《Cambridge Journal of Education》2018,48(1):123-139

This paper considers ways to theorise aspirations in terms of capabilities and agency to function as human beings, as well as our resources to act and participate in this world using a South African case of women students’ aspirations. In this analysis higher education should foster women’s freedom as critical agents to make genuine choices about their lives and futures, including being able to engage critically with gender norms. The paper thus explores critical agency, together with aspirations – the goals one wants to reach in the future – that indicate which capabilities are valued and which could unlock critical agency. However, the paper also considers the ambiguities generated by the persistence of gender norms and the way these may work in higher education cultures to constrain what women have reason to value and hence their capabilities and achievements.  相似文献   

Japanese and American children's evaluations of peer exclusion,tolerance of differences,and prescriptions for conformity     

Killen M  Crystal DS  Watanabe H 《Child development》2002,73(6):1788-1802

Children and adolescents (N = 1,057), divided by gender, at fourth, seventh, and tenth grades, from two mid-sized cities in the United States and in Japan, were surveyed regarding their evaluations of peer group exclusion of atypical peers. Six reasons for atypicality were being aggressive, having an unconventional appearance, acting like a clown, demonstrating cross-gender behavior, being a slow runner, and having a sad personality. Analyses revealed significant effects for age, gender, country membership, and the context of exclusion. With age, children demonstrated context sensitivity, and believed that the excluded child should not change him- or herself to be accepted by the group. Across contexts, girls were less willing to exclude than were boys, and were more tolerant of differences. The context of exclusion had an effect on all forms of judgments about exclusion, and there were very few overall effects for culture. Most children disagreed with the decision to exclude, believed that they were different from the atypical child, and believed that the excluded child should change him- or herself to be accepted by the group. The results support a theory of developmental social cognition in which multiple sources of influence have a significant effect on social decision making involving the exclusion of others.  相似文献   

External accountability of collaborative arrangements; a case study of a Multi Academy Trust in England     

Melanie C. M. Ehren  David Godfrey 《Educational Assessment, Evaluation and Accountability》2017,29(4):339-362

This paper explores the impact of external accountability on four mechanisms of network-internal quality control and the properties of (mandated) inter-organizational networks. An explorative case study approach examines the external accountability of a newly established educational network (MAT) and how schools and the Trust are held accountable by the English Inspectorate of Education, Ofsted and the Department for Education (DfE), through Regional Schools Commissioners (RSCs). Analysis of documents and interviews were used to reconstruct a sequence of events over a period of five and a half years. Our findings indicate that the combination of accountability activities led to more centralized control over, and monitoring of curriculum, assessment and school improvement. This was accompanied by a pause in the growth of the Trust and the establishment of a regional structure of school collaboration. As accountability is particularly organized around individual school performance (through Ofsted inspections), this limited development of internal mechanisms of quality control around network-level outcomes. A short-term focus dominated the allocation of resources to schools in special measures or with an upcoming inspection visit. In the discussion, an alternative model is presented for network-level accountability and a set of indicators for effective accountability of collaborative arrangements.  相似文献   

Teaching Research Methods in the Social Sciences: Expert Perspectives on Pedagogy and Practice     

Sarah Lewthwaite  Melanie Nind 《British Journal of Educational Studies》2016,64(4):413-430

Capacity building in social science research methods is positioned by research councils as crucial to global competitiveness. The pedagogies involved, however, remain under-researched and the pedagogical culture under-developed. This paper builds upon recent thematic reviews of the literature to report new research that shifts the focus from individual experiences of research methods teaching to empirical evidence from a study crossing research methods, disciplines and nations. A dialogic, expert panel method was used, engaging international experts to examine teaching and learning practices in advanced social research methods. Experts, perspectives demonstrated strong thematic commonalities across quantitative, qualitative and mixed methods domains in terms of pedagogy, by connecting learners to research, giving direct and immersive experiences of research practice and promoting reflexivity. This paper argues that through analysis of expert responses to the distinct pedagogic challenges of the methods classroom, the principles and illustrative examples generated can form the knowledge and understanding required to enhance pedagogic culture and practice.  相似文献   

Beyond Awareness: Black Studies for Consciousness and Praxis in Teacher Education     

Melanie M. Acosta  Charisse Hudson-Vassel  Bridgette Johnson  Gernissia Cherfrere  Michelle G. Harris  Jana Wallace 《Equity & Excellence in Education》2017,50(2):241-253

Critical Studyin' is a Black Studies-inspired, morally engaged pedagogy. With roots in anti-racist teaching, it is focused on race, ideology, and education. This study explores the learning experiences and outcomes of seven, preservice educators after taking a course that was based on Critical Studyin' and offered in a College of Education at one university in the Southeastern region of the United States. Researchers employed constructivist grounded theory techniques to the analysis of semi-structured interviews and course documents. Findings highlight the development of students' critical consciousness and agency as they engaged in critical interrogation of the complex relationships among race, culture, and classroom teaching. This study highlights the potential of Black Studies as a pedagogy teacher educators can enact to orchestrate disruptive learning experiences and environments necessary for anti-racist teaching. It adds further support for culture-centered approaches in educator preparation that scaffolds preservice educators in their development of justice-oriented perspectives and practices in education.  相似文献   

Knowledge,Narrative and National Reconciliation: Storied reflections on the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission     

Melanie Walker  Elaine Unterhalter 《Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education》2004,25(2):279-297

This paper considers the educational work that narrative does. Against the context of the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission that examined the crimes of apartheid, it discusses the narrative implications of South African poet Antjie Krog's multi-layered text of Truth Commission testimony, and autobiographical and philosophical musings. The paper argues that narrative points to education in four ways. The first involves research practices in which subjectivity and experience are acknowledged, celebrated and recognized to be powerful and compelling, allowing us to learn moral truths. Secondly, narrative can be utilised as part of a pedagogy of care, compassion and concern in which we ask questions regarding what it means to be taught by the lives of others, and how stories that are not our own speak to those we already have, enabling us to learn how to act morally through others' experiences. The third aspect of narrative is then the identity work it enables, offering the possibility for the reconstruction of the learning “I”, inflecting away from past perspectives to new ways of seeing. Through listening to others we might produce more accountable and more responsible knowledge. Fourthly, we explore how narratives might produce trustworthy accounts in which evidence is not endlessly plastic, but where the narrative form enlarges the scope for understanding. Throughout we show that individual and collective narratives are played out on a structural field, embedded in the political, social and historical conditions of a racial and gendered power, with real material effects.  相似文献   

Transition planning and the needs of young people and their carers: the alumni project   总被引：1，自引：0，他引：1  

Melanie Smart 《British Journal of Special Education》2004,31(3):128-137

Melanie Smart is a research associate at Sunfield School, Worcestershire, and a trainee clinical psychologist. In this article, she reports the results of a small-scale survey which looked at the views of 17 parents whose children with severe and/or complex learning difficulties had made the transition from a residential special school to an adult placement. Pa rents were asked their retrospective views on the transition planning process; their own involvement; and how the adult placement met the needs of their children.
Melanie Smart's findings indicate that the majority of parents were very much involved in the planning process, although they reported struggling to get consistency of approach and basic information. The young people themselves were found to be marginalised in the planning process, with very few being involved in any decision making. Most parents were happy with the eventual placement, but those who had concerns were still pushing for basic services and care. Of those who had suffered placement breakdowns, the major factor was lack of consistency of approach and failure to use prior information about the child.
This survey shows that parents and their learning disabled children experience difficulties in the transition process. There seems to be a distinct lack of person-centred planning, particularly with this user group, by both child and adult services. Parents are vital to this type of planning approach, particularly when the young people themselves cannot voice their needs or advocate their own rights to quality service provision. Melanie Smart argues that parents need access to better quality information and reassurance that their children will receive the services they deserve as young adults. The various agencies, she asserts, need to work together to ensure that the transition process is effective.  相似文献   

A novel approach to standardizing landing and balancing tasks in netball using single-leg horizontal jumps     

Brendan Humphries  Robert Stanton  Melanie Hayman  Hanna Borgelt  Aaron Scanlan 《Measurement in physical education and exercise science》2018,22(4):294-302

This study aimed to establish the reliability of a novel netball task using a single-leg horizontal jump (SLHJ). Twenty-five females 18–39 years performed SLHJs for maximal displacement and ground-reaction forces. Participants completed two trials for each leg on two occasions separated by 6 weeks of pre-season netball training. Paired sample t tests highlighted no significant differences within trials for either limb. Significant (p ≤ .05) changes are reported for displacement, and dominant and nondominant X and Y forces, after 6-week netball training. SLHJ displacement showed excellent within-session reliability at baseline for dominant (intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC(2,1)) = 0.922, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.826–0.966) and nondominant (ICC(2,1) = 0.925; 95% CI 0.832–0.967) landings. At 6 weeks, within-session reliability remained excellent for dominant (ICC(2,1) = 0.967, 95% CI 0.926–0.985) and nondominant ICC 0.968 (95% CI 0.929–0.986) landings. The reliability of the single-leg horizontal jump task for netball remained strong after 6 weeks of netball training.  相似文献