Curriculum development for quantitative skills in degree programs: a cross-institutional study situated in the life sciences     

Kelly E. Matthews  Shaun Belward  Carmel Coady  Leanne Rylands  Vilma Simbag 《高等教育研究与发展》2016,35(3):545-559

Higher education policies are increasingly focused on graduate learning outcomes, which infer an emphasis on, and deep understanding of, curriculum development across degree programs. As disciplinary influences are known to shape teaching and learning activities, research situated in disciplinary contexts is useful to further an understanding of curriculum development. In the life sciences, several graduate learning outcomes are underpinned by quantitative skills or an ability to apply mathematical and statistical thinking and reasoning. Drawing on data from a national teaching project in Australia that explored quantitative skills in the implemented curricula of 13 life sciences degree programs, this article presents four program-level curricular models that emerged from the analysis. The findings are interpreted through the lens of discipline-specific research and general curriculum design theories to further our understanding of curriculum development for graduate learning outcomes. Implications for future research and to guide curriculum development practices in higher education are discussed.  相似文献   

Teacher Accountability: An Experimental Field Study     

Zehava Rosenblatt  Ofer Shimoni 《Journal of Personnel Evaluation in Education》2001,15(4):309-328

An experimental field study was conducted to examine the impact of accountability on effectiveness in the teaching of physical education. Accountability was constructed through the introduction of a system of reporting and feedback between the teachers and the professional supervisor on two levels of intensity, high and low. Findings show that the institution of the accountability system improved the participant teachers' effectiveness as compared with control group teachers. Improvement in students' achievements was more evident in girls than in boys. The accountability system constructed for this study may be applied not only in physical education but in other educational areas as well.  相似文献   

My school in the hills     

Carmel Leon Jett 《Peabody Journal of Education》2013,88(6):383-386

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Literacies in the humanities: the student voice     

Carmel McNaught  Sarah S.W. Ng  Helen Chow 《高等教育研究与发展》2012,31(2):139-154

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School effects and subject choice: The uptake of scientific subjects in Ireland     

Emer Smyth  Carmel Hannan 《School Effectiveness & School Improvement》2013,24(3):303-327

Studies of subject take-up within secondary education have tended to focus on student characteristics and have rarely attempted to take account of the broad variety of ways, formal and informal, in which schools can constrain or facilitate particular subject choices. In contrast, this article explores both the school and student factors shaping the take-up of Biology, Physics, and Chemistry at upper secondary level. The analyses draw on detailed information on almost 4,000 students in 100 secondary schools in the Republic of Ireland. Schools are found to differ in the proportion of students taking science subjects, even controlling for the profile of students. School structures at both lower and upper secondary levels are found to play a role in shaping the choices made by students regarding science.  相似文献   

Social difference,cultural arbitrary and identity: An analysis of a new national curriculum document in a non-secular environment     

Carmel Borg  Peter Mayo 《International Studies in Sociology of Education》2013,23(1):63-86

This article focuses on the idea of the Curriculum as a 'selection from the cultures of society' and as a site of contestation for legitimacy and identity affirmation. The purpose is to shed some light on the nature of curricular reform being advocated in a specific context - Malta. Throughout the past four years, there has been a revamping of the National Minimum Curriculum (NMC) document in Malta, established in 1988. The 'old' National Minimum Curriculum was subject to criticism focusing on a variety of issues (echoing criticisms levelled at similar National Curricula elsewhere), including issues concerning difference and identity. The first part of the article deals briefly with the issues concerning difference raised in this criticism, focusing on the issues of class, race/ethnicity, gender and disability. The second part focuses on the long and gradual build up towards the development of the new National Curriculum document. The process centres around two documents, the preliminary Tomorrow's Schoolsdocument and the draft NMC document. The issues of equity and the affirmation of social difference, as well as the move towards de-streaming, are discussed. It is argued that this process of reform benefited from the criticism of the earlier NMC document. The process of reform involved an attempt at widespread participation by various stakeholders - parents, teachers, students, unions, women's organisations, disabled person's organisations etc. The final section focuses on the final new NMC document. In this section, the authors explore the compromises, which have been made in reaction to the draft document, indicating the interests at play. Whose cultural arbitrary is reflected in the final document? The article concludes with a discussion centring around lessons to be drawn from a process of curricular reform, involving issues related to identity and difference, carried out in a country characterised by a non-secular environment.  相似文献   

Detecting bias in selection for higher education: three different methods     

Tamar Kennet-Cohen  Elliot Turvall  Carmel Oren 《Assessment in Education: Principles, Policy & Practice》2014,21(2):193-204

This study examined selection bias in Israeli university admissions with respect to test language and gender, using three approaches for the detection of such bias: Cleary’s model of differential prediction, boundary conditions for differential prediction and difference between d’s (the Constant Ratio Model). The university admissions process in Israel, like those in many countries, is based on a combination of school-related achievement and a general scholastic aptitude test. The selection process was found to be biased in favour of Arabic speakers and not biased with respect to gender. The three approaches for detecting selection bias were similar in the pattern of the results they produced, but differed, as expected, in the magnitude of the bias they detected. The discussion focuses on the results both with respect to the specific groups studied (first research question) and with respect to the three approaches for detecting selection bias (second research question).  相似文献   

Developing young children's multidigit number sense     

Carmel M. Diezmann  Lyn D. English 《Roeper Review》2013,35(1):11-13

Enrichment for mathematically gifted students in the elementary school needs to extend beyond puzzles or busywork and support the development of mathematical power through a differentiated curriculum. This article describes a series of enrichment experiences that were designed to develop young gifted children's understanding of large numbers, which was central to their investigation of space travel. Although large numbers are not traditionally included in the mathematics curriculum for young children, the children in this group responded enthusiastically to the enrichment experiences. These experiences provided the children with an opportunity to understand the large numbers they encountered in science resource material and to develop their mathematical power.  相似文献   

BOOK REVIEW     

Carmel Hinchion  Kari Smith 《Teachers and Teaching》2013,19(6):637-643

The orientation of vocational education towards competence-based education has led to fundamental changes in the work of vocational education teachers. This article pictures teaching in innovative, competence-based vocational education in the Netherlands. In a multiple case study, the teaching practices of 10 teachers from five vocational schools were thoroughly studied. By examining not only the actual behaviour of teachers but also their related personal ideas and professional attitudes, we learn about the ways teachers implement new educational concepts and their experienced uncertainties, dilemmas and practical tensions. These insights lead to a better understanding and specification of the concept of competence-based vocational education at the micro level of educational processes, that is, the interaction between teachers and students. Implications are described in terms of new repertoires of teaching behaviour and teaching methods – all in the context of vocational education.  相似文献   

A whole-school approach to positive behaviour in a girls' secondary school     

Carmel Cefai  Paul Cooper  Ray Vella 《International Journal of Inclusive Education》2013,17(7):700-713

This article discusses the first cycle of a whole-school behaviour initiative at a girls' secondary school in Malta. The aim of the project was to develop, implement and evaluate a whole-school plan of action which promoted good behaviour and effectively responded to challenging behaviour. A three-day in-service programme at the school led to the development of a plan reached by consensus amongst the whole staff. Once it was negotiated with the students, it was put into practice, with regular and continuous monitoring by the staff and students. An evaluation half-way through the scholastic year, showed a decline in the number of exclusions from school and an overall improvement in students' behaviour. Feedback from staff, senior management and students suggested that there was more positive behaviour at the school following the introduction of the behaviour project. The article examines both the process and the outcome of the first phase of the project and concludes with at attempt to delineate the key processes which made this initiative work.  相似文献