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Full-Text Articles in Education

Scaling Up “Evidence-Based” Practices For Teachers Is A Profitable But Discredited Paradigm, Gary L. Anderson, Kathryn Herr Aug 2011

Scaling Up “Evidence-Based” Practices For Teachers Is A Profitable But Discredited Paradigm, Gary L. Anderson, Kathryn Herr

Department of Educational Foundations Scholarship and Creative Works

This article takes issue with the notion that professional learning communities need to be more focused on teacher expertise through the use of online videos of lessons taught by expert teachers that are aligned with the Common Core State Standards. The authors argue that the use of externally developed, research-based, and standards-aligned videos violates the principles of authentic inquiry that underlie professional learning communities. They also caution that a profit-seeking education industry is increasingly behind the promotion of evidence-based products.


Arguing Towards Truth: The Case Of The Periodic Table, Mark Weinstein May 2011

Arguing Towards Truth: The Case Of The Periodic Table, Mark Weinstein

Department of Educational Foundations Scholarship and Creative Works

Recently Erik Scerri has published an influential philosophical history of the development of the Periodic Table. Following Scerri's account, I will explore the main thread of the arguments responsible for the remarkable advancement of scientific understanding that the Periodic Table represents. I will argue that the history of disputation at crucial junctures in the debate shows sensitivity to the aspects of truth that are captured by my model of truth in inquiry. The availability of a clear and explicit model of truth in inquiry is of crucial importance as a response to post-modernist and other relativistic accounts of inquiry. It …


Community Of Philosophical Inquiry As A Discursive Structure, And Its Role In School Curriculum Design, Nadia S. Kennedy, David Kennedy May 2011

Community Of Philosophical Inquiry As A Discursive Structure, And Its Role In School Curriculum Design, Nadia S. Kennedy, David Kennedy

Department of Educational Foundations Scholarship and Creative Works

This article traces the development of the theory and practice of what is known as 'community of inquiry' as an ideal of classroom praxis. The concept has ancient and uncertain origins, but was seized upon as a form of pedagogy by the originators of the Philosophy for Children program in the 1970s. Its location at the intersection of the discourses of argumentation theory, communications theory, semiotics, systems theory, dialogue theory, learning theory and group psychodynamics makes of it a rich site for the dialogue between theory and practice in education. This article is an exploration of those intersections, and a …


Image Quality And The Aesthetic Judgment Of Photographs: Contrast, Sharpness, And Grain Teased Apart And Put Together, Pablo Tinio, Helmut Leder, Marlies Strasser May 2011

Image Quality And The Aesthetic Judgment Of Photographs: Contrast, Sharpness, And Grain Teased Apart And Put Together, Pablo Tinio, Helmut Leder, Marlies Strasser

Department of Educational Foundations Scholarship and Creative Works

We examined the individual and combined effects of contrast, sharpness, and grain degradations on the aesthetic judgments of photographs depicting natural and human-made scenes. Our systematic approach demonstrated that certain degradations, and their combinations, had more impact on aesthetic judgments than others, and that the effects varied depending on the type of scene. We also showed that the degradations were additive in that the more degradations to which an image was subjected, the less it was liked. Finally, we found evidence for a contrast effect in which the aesthetic judgments of high-quality images were more positive as the images they …


Philosophy For Children And Its Critics: A Mendham Dialogue, Maughn Gregory May 2011

Philosophy For Children And Its Critics: A Mendham Dialogue, Maughn Gregory

Department of Educational Foundations Scholarship and Creative Works

As conceived by founders Matthew Lipman and Ann Margaret Sharp, Philosophy for Children is a humanistic practice with roots in the Hellenistic tradition of philosophy as a way of life given to the search for meaning, in American pragmatism with its emphasis on qualitative experience, collaborative inquiry and democratic society, and in American and Soviet social learning theory. The programme has attracted overlapping and conflicting criticism from religious and social conservatives who don't want children to question traditional values, from educational psychologists who believe certain kinds of thinking are beyond children of certain ages, from philosophers who define their discipline …


What Is Philosophy For Children, What Is Philosophy With Children-After Matthew Lipman?, Nancy Vansieleghem, David Kennedy May 2011

What Is Philosophy For Children, What Is Philosophy With Children-After Matthew Lipman?, Nancy Vansieleghem, David Kennedy

Department of Educational Foundations Scholarship and Creative Works

Philosophy for Children arose in the 1970s in the US as an educational programme. This programme, initiated by Matthew Lipman, was devoted to exploring the relationship between the notions 'philosophy' and 'childhood', with the implicit practical goal of establishing philosophy as a full-fledged 'content area' in public schools. Over 40 years, the programme has spread worldwide, and the theory and practice of doing philosophy for or with children and young people appears to be of growing interest in the field of education and, by implication, in society as a whole. This article focuses on this growing interest by offering a …


From Forced Tolerance To Forced Busing: Wartime Intercultural Education And The Rise Of Black Educational Activism In Boston, Zoe Burkholder Sep 2010

From Forced Tolerance To Forced Busing: Wartime Intercultural Education And The Rise Of Black Educational Activism In Boston, Zoe Burkholder

Department of Educational Foundations Scholarship and Creative Works

In this article, Zoë Burkholder explores the historical interplay of the emergence of tolerance education in the United States and the rise of black educational activism in Boston. By uncovering a pointed lack of tolerance education in Boston and a widespread promotion of tolerance education in other cities in the early half of the twentieth century, the author reveals how racial, historical, and political factors complicated tolerance education's local implementation in Boston. Informed by local racialized politics in the 1940s, the predominantly Irish Catholic teaching force in Boston declined to teach lessons on racial tolerance that were popular nationwide during …


African Americans And Boys: Understanding The Literacy Gap, Tracing Academic Trajectories, And Evaluating The Role Of Learning-Related Skills, Jamaal Matthews, Karmen T. Kizzie, Stephanie J. Rowley, Kai Cortina Aug 2010

African Americans And Boys: Understanding The Literacy Gap, Tracing Academic Trajectories, And Evaluating The Role Of Learning-Related Skills, Jamaal Matthews, Karmen T. Kizzie, Stephanie J. Rowley, Kai Cortina

Department of Educational Foundations Scholarship and Creative Works

In this study, the authors examined the racial and gender gap in the academic development of African American and White children from kindergarten to 5th grade. Their main goal was to determine the extent to which social and behavioral factors, including learning-related skills, problem behaviors, and interpersonal skills, explain these gaps and shed light on the academic difficulties specifically experienced by African American boys. The authors utilized the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Kindergarten Cohort (ECLS-K) sample and applied growth curve modeling. Learning-related skills explained the literacy development of African American boys over and above the effects of problem behaviors, socioeconomic status, …


Examining The Factor Structure Of The Teachers' Sense Of Efficacy Scale, Helenrose Fives, Michelle M. Buehl Sep 2009

Examining The Factor Structure Of The Teachers' Sense Of Efficacy Scale, Helenrose Fives, Michelle M. Buehl

Department of Educational Foundations Scholarship and Creative Works

The authors examined the factor structure of the long and short forms of the Teachers' Sense of Efficacy Scale (TSES; M. Tschannen-Moran & A. Woolfolk-Hoy, 2001) for practicing (n = 102) and preservice teachers (n = 270), comparing the responses to both forms of the TSES, and looked for differences in teachers' efficacy with respect to experience and grade level taught. They found the 3-factor structure - efficacy for classroom management, instructional practices, and student engagement - to be appropriate for practicing teachers, but they found a single efficacy factor to be appropriate for preservice teachers. The long and short …


Early Gender Differences In Self-Regulation And Academic Achievement, Jamaal Matthews, Claire Cameron Ponitz, Frederick J. Morrison Aug 2009

Early Gender Differences In Self-Regulation And Academic Achievement, Jamaal Matthews, Claire Cameron Ponitz, Frederick J. Morrison

Department of Educational Foundations Scholarship and Creative Works

This study examined gender differences in self-regulation in the fall and spring of kindergarten and their connection to gender differences in 5 areas of early achievement: applied problems (math), general knowledge, letter-word identification, expressive vocabulary, and sound awareness. Behavioral self-regulation was measured using both an objective direct measure (N = 268; Head-Toes-Knees-Shoulders task) and, for a subsample of children, a teacher report of classroom self-regulatory behavior (n = 156; Child Behavior Rating Scale). Results showed that girls outperformed boys in both assessments. Although gender differences in self-regulation were clear, no significant gender differences were found on the 5 academic achievement …


Exploring Teachers' Beliefs About Teaching Knowledge: Where Does It Come From? Does It Change?, Michelle M. Buehl, Helenrose Fives Jul 2009

Exploring Teachers' Beliefs About Teaching Knowledge: Where Does It Come From? Does It Change?, Michelle M. Buehl, Helenrose Fives

Department of Educational Foundations Scholarship and Creative Works

The authors analyzed the open-ended responses of preservice (n = 53) and practicing (n = 57) teachers in terms of themes related to beliefs regarding the source and stability of teaching knowledge. Findings indicate that participants hold a range of beliefs regarding these constructs. Six themes related to the source of teaching knowledge emerged: formal education, formalized bodies of knowledge, observational learning, collaboration with others, enactive experiences, and self-reflection. For beliefs about the stability of teaching knowledge, individuals expressed beliefs about the amount, direction, and quality of knowledge change with regard to various aspects of knowledge (e.g., content knowledge, use …


Measuring Argumentative Reasoning: What's Behind The Numbers?, Alina Reznitskaya, Li Jen Kuo, Monica Glina, Richard C. Anderson Jun 2009

Measuring Argumentative Reasoning: What's Behind The Numbers?, Alina Reznitskaya, Li Jen Kuo, Monica Glina, Richard C. Anderson

Department of Educational Foundations Scholarship and Creative Works

The aim of this paper is to develop a more thorough, empirically-based understanding of the differences in measurement of written argumentation when alternative scoring frameworks are employed. Reflective compositions of 127 elementary school children were analyzed using analytic and holistic scales. The scales were derived from Argument Schema Theory, an explicit model of argumentation development. We investigated the relationships among the different scales, as well as their relative reliability and efficiency. The scores derived using analytic and holistic methods have adequate reliability. Although less efficient, analytic scoring allows for gathering more sensitive and detailed information about the differences in student …


A Structured Observation Of Behavioral Self-Regulation And Its Contribution To Kindergarten Outcomes, Claire Cameron Ponitz, Megan M. Mcclelland, Jamaal Matthews, Frederick J. Morrison May 2009

A Structured Observation Of Behavioral Self-Regulation And Its Contribution To Kindergarten Outcomes, Claire Cameron Ponitz, Megan M. Mcclelland, Jamaal Matthews, Frederick J. Morrison

Department of Educational Foundations Scholarship and Creative Works

The authors examined a new assessment of behavioral regulation and contributions to achievement and teacher-rated classroom functioning in a sample (N = 343) of kindergarteners from 2 geographical sites in the United States. Behavioral regulation was measured with the Head-Toes-Knees-Shoulders (HTKS) task, a structured observation requiring children to perform the opposite of a dominant response to 4 different oral commands. Results revealed considerable variability in HTKS scores. Evidence for construct validity was found in positive correlations with parent ratings of attentional focusing and inhibitory control and teacher ratings of classroom behavioral regulation. Hierarchical linear modeling indicated that higher levels of …


Del Margen Al Centro: Comentarios Sobre Precedentes Históricos En Relación Al Acceso E Inclusión En Las Escuelas Públicas De Los Estados Unidos, Jaime Grinberg Apr 2009

Del Margen Al Centro: Comentarios Sobre Precedentes Históricos En Relación Al Acceso E Inclusión En Las Escuelas Públicas De Los Estados Unidos, Jaime Grinberg

Department of Educational Foundations Scholarship and Creative Works

Public schools evolved in the USA during the XIX century under the premise of providing equal opportunity in education to all, regardless of family background, social class, or economic resources. Merit, success and achievement would depend on the individual student and will not depend on any other variables except the pupil’s dedication, hard work, intelligence, and ability to perform. If according to the expectations, the system would fail to provide equal opportunity, resources, and equity in programs, resources, curricula and pedagogy, then the system would be failing the premises and expectations of its creation as well as the ideological signifier …


Collaborative Reasoning: A Dialogic Approach To Group Discussions, Alina Reznitskaya, Li Jen Kuo, Ann Marie Clark, Brian Miller, May Jadallah, Richard C. Anderson, Kim Nguyen-Jahiel Mar 2009

Collaborative Reasoning: A Dialogic Approach To Group Discussions, Alina Reznitskaya, Li Jen Kuo, Ann Marie Clark, Brian Miller, May Jadallah, Richard C. Anderson, Kim Nguyen-Jahiel

Department of Educational Foundations Scholarship and Creative Works

In this paper, we address the need to develop an empirically-based understanding of the use of dialogue in teaching by discussing theory and research related to a pedagogical approach called collaborative reasoning (CR). CR is an instructional method designed to engage elementary school children in group discussions about controversial issues raised in their readings. CR is grounded in social learning and schema-theoretic views of cognition, which are integrated to form a new model, called argument schema theory (AST). According to AST, students acquire generalizable knowledge of argumentation, or an argument schema, through participating in dialogic discussions with their peers. The …


Just How Stable Are Stable Aesthetic Features? Symmetry, Complexity, And The Jaws Of Massive Familiarization, Pablo Tinio, Helmut Leder Mar 2009

Just How Stable Are Stable Aesthetic Features? Symmetry, Complexity, And The Jaws Of Massive Familiarization, Pablo Tinio, Helmut Leder

Department of Educational Foundations Scholarship and Creative Works

Using both group- and individual-level analyses, we explored the complex and dynamic effects of basic visual features on aesthetic judgment. Specifically, the mediating influence of familiarization on the combined effects of complexity and symmetry on aesthetic judgment was examined. Experiment 1 showed that symmetry and complexity are indeed powerful determinants of aesthetic judgment. Experiment 2 demonstrated that massive familiarization generated contrast effects for complexity: participants familiarized to simple stimuli subsequently judged complex stimuli more beautiful and participants familiarized to complex stimuli subsequently judged simple stimuli more beautiful. In contrast, moderate familiarization in Experiment 3 did not elicit the above effects. …


Natural Scenes Are Indeed Preferred, But Image Quality Might Have The Last Word, Pablo Tinio, Helmut Leder Feb 2009

Natural Scenes Are Indeed Preferred, But Image Quality Might Have The Last Word, Pablo Tinio, Helmut Leder

Department of Educational Foundations Scholarship and Creative Works

Numerous studies have shown that people prefer natural scenes over human-made scenes. Evolutionarily and neurologically based explanations for this preference have been proposed. This study examined the impact that image quality has on the preference for natural scenes. The authors also explored the influence of image quality on familiarity ratings and on how scenes are classified in a rapid, two-alternative, forced-choice task. Finally, the authors propose a framework for conceptualizing the nature of different image manipulation procedures, and how they influence aesthetic experiences.


Teaching And Learning Argumentation, Alina Reznitskaya, Richard C. Anderson, Li Jen Kuo May 2007

Teaching And Learning Argumentation, Alina Reznitskaya, Richard C. Anderson, Li Jen Kuo

Department of Educational Foundations Scholarship and Creative Works

This study systematically analyzed social and cognitive processes that underlie the development of argumentative knowledge. Group discussions of controversial issues and explicit instruction in argumentation were expected to help students acquire a sense of the overall structure of an argument, or an argument schema. In a quasi-experiment, 128 fourth- and fifth-grade students from 2 schools completed the same argument-related tasks, after receiving different instructional treatments. In the first treatment condition, students engaged in group discussions of moral and social issues raised in their readings. In the second treatment condition, we supported group discussions with explicit instruction in abstract principles of …


Pigs And Packers, A. Calabrese Barton, Jaime Grinberg, K. Richardson Bruna Jan 2007

Pigs And Packers, A. Calabrese Barton, Jaime Grinberg, K. Richardson Bruna

Department of Educational Foundations Scholarship and Creative Works

This study presents us with a number of issues that add complexity to the taken-for-granted practices of teaching immigrant children in the US. Furthermore, by contextualizing the events and dialogs within the larger contexts and contradictory discourses of the purposes of schooling vis-à-vis the globalizing dimension of ethnoscapes, the debate forces us to engage in theorizing within the discourses of correspondence (reproduction), resistance, agency, and hope. In what follows we engage in conversation where we each take turns interrogating, problematizing, and playing the role of the provocateur in order to elicit dialog among us and to advance the tremendous ideas …


Evaluating Classroom Dialogue Reconciling Internal And External Accountability, Megan Laverty, Maughn Gregory Jan 2007

Evaluating Classroom Dialogue Reconciling Internal And External Accountability, Megan Laverty, Maughn Gregory

Department of Educational Foundations Scholarship and Creative Works

In this article we present an instrument to be used by students and professors to evaluate classroom dialogue. We begin with an explanation of the classroom community of inquiry and why we value it as a pedagogical approach. We then describe our different reasons for evaluating classroom dialogue — including institutional, professional and pedagogical accountability — and describe the inherent conflicts among these reasons. We explain how our evaluation instrument was designed to ameliorate these conflicts. We recount a number of theoretical and practical problems we encountered in designing and implementing the instrument and explain how we attempted to overcome …


Being Out, Speaking Out: Vulnerability And Classroom Inquiry, Maughn Gregory Nov 2004

Being Out, Speaking Out: Vulnerability And Classroom Inquiry, Maughn Gregory

Department of Educational Foundations Scholarship and Creative Works

Through examining four episodes from his teaching, the author reflects on the importance of being out in the classroom, not only about his sexuality, but also about his intellectual, moral, and political commitments and uncertainties. While cautioning that being out in these ways can, in certain circumstances, stifle student voices and preempt open student inquiry, the author concludes that being out is a necessary element of a pedagogy that helps students go through the painful process of self-corrective ethical inquiry. Four scholars respond to the author's essay, which is followed by a final commentary by the author.


Accountability And Single-Sex Schooling: A Collision Of Reform Agendas, Kathryn Herr, Emily Arms Jan 2004

Accountability And Single-Sex Schooling: A Collision Of Reform Agendas, Kathryn Herr, Emily Arms

Department of Educational Foundations Scholarship and Creative Works

This ethnographic study documents how accountability measures skewed the implementation of gender equity reform at one California public middle school serving low-income students of color. In creating single-sex classes throughout the school, the Single Sex Academy (SSA) became the largest public experiment with single-sex schooling in the country, but pressure to raise its standardized test scores diverted the school away from the exploration and implementation of the gender reform. The chronicle of SSA is particularly relevant in light of (a) a recent call to relax Title IX standards and increase the numbers of public single-sex classes and schools, and (b) …


Violent Youth Or Violent Schools? A Critical Incident Analysis Of Symbolic Violence, Kathryn Herr, Gary L. Anderson Dec 2003

Violent Youth Or Violent Schools? A Critical Incident Analysis Of Symbolic Violence, Kathryn Herr, Gary L. Anderson

Department of Educational Foundations Scholarship and Creative Works

Utilizing critical incidents primarily from a year-long ethnographic study of a single gender middle school, the authors attempt to capture the mechanisms of symbolic violence as described by Bourdieu and Passeron in Reproduction in Education, Society and Culture and by Bourdieu in latter publications. Our analysis suggests that problems of persistent social inequality, crime, and incarceration are linked to symbolic forms of violence that occur in schools and that current policies attempting to address these issues are flawed, based on a limited theorization of violence.


Philosophy For Children And The Reconstruction Of Philosophy, David Kennedy Jan 1999

Philosophy For Children And The Reconstruction Of Philosophy, David Kennedy

Department of Educational Foundations Scholarship and Creative Works

In this paper I trace the dialogical and narrative dimensions of the philosophical tradition and explore how they are reconfigured in the notion of community of philosophical inquiry (CPI), the mainstay of the collection of novels and discussion plans known as Philosophy for Children. After considering the ontology and epistemology of dialogue, I argue that narrative has replaced exposition in our understanding of philosophical discourse and that CPI represents a narrative context in which truth comes to represent the best story, in a discursive location in which there are always multiple stories. Finally, I raise the issue of children's philosophical …


The Cultural Politics Of Identity: Student Narratives From Two Mexican Secondary Schools, Kathryn Herr, Gary L. Anderson Jan 1997

The Cultural Politics Of Identity: Student Narratives From Two Mexican Secondary Schools, Kathryn Herr, Gary L. Anderson

Department of Educational Foundations Scholarship and Creative Works

This narrative study provides an analysis of the identity construction of students in two Mexicansecondary schools within the structural, cultural, and informational resources that schools asinstitutions provide. A within-case analysis of the narratives of two students is explored in depth, emphasizing, in one case, issues of social class and, in the other, issues of gender. The analysisexplores the lack of congruence between the resources educational institutions provide studentsand their daily struggles to construct personal and occupational identities.Characteristics specific to the Mexican context are provided, and the ways that Mexican students’ dilemmas are at once different from and similar to the …


Action Research As Empowering Practice, Kathryn Herr Dec 1995

Action Research As Empowering Practice, Kathryn Herr

Department of Educational Foundations Scholarship and Creative Works

There is a large debate in the social work literature regarding the gap between research and practice, with current research methodologies critiqued as potentially “blaming the victim” or decontextualizing the practice situation. This paper presents an alternative approach, utilizing action research to inform practice. Originally conceived of as a qualitative interview study, the manuscript traces the evolution of the worker, a teacher and high school students. The research itself addresses the issue of “What is it like to be a student of color here?” in a predominately white school environment. Students and adults conceptualize ways to work together for change …


Towards An Account Of Argumentation In Science, Mark Weinstein Aug 1990

Towards An Account Of Argumentation In Science, Mark Weinstein

Department of Educational Foundations Scholarship and Creative Works

In this article it is argued that a complex model that includes Toulmin's functional account of argument, the pragma-dialectical stage analysis of argumentation offered by the Amsterdam School, and criteria developed in critical thinking theory, can be used to account for the normativity and field-dependence of argumentation in science. A pragma-dialectical interpretation of the four main elements of Toulmin's model, and a revised account of the double role of warrants, illuminates the domain specificity of scientific argumentation and the restrictions to which the confrontation and opening stages of scientific critical discussions are subjected. In regard to the argumentation stage, examples …