Education Commons^™

Fostering Creativity: Ontario Teachers’ Perceptions, Strategies, And Experiences, Catharine M. Dishke Hondzel

Catharine Dishke Hondzel

This study provides a broad overview of perceptions elementary school teachers hold regarding creativity, the strategies those teachers use to foster creative thinking and behaviour in their students, and the environmental challenges and opportunities they navigate when striving to develop 21st century skills in students. Earlier research examining teachers’ perceptions and creativity-fostering behaviours have typically asked teachers to describe their classroom practices, or self-report their perceptions regarding creative children or children’s creative actions. Using a mixed-methods approach, in this study 22 Grade 5-7 teachers working in Ontario completed an online questionnaire which measured their creativity-fostering behaviours. Following the survey, 12 …

Living Among Guatemalan Mayans Is Fascinating Experience, Irene Scharf

Irene Scharf

I have just lived a dream. Five years ago I learned of a school where students of all ages could study Spanish intensively while living among the Guatemalan Mayans. Peace Accords had been signed in 1996, the government was encouraging tourism, and it was, finally, safe to visit.

Why a dream? Because, 25 years ago, when I traveled through Central and South America, I promised my family I would avoid Guatemala because of the perceived was dangers. During that trip, as I met my Europeans and other who had visited, remained safe, and found it a fascinating country, I vowed …

Storylines About Rural Teachers In The United States: A Narrative Analysis Of The Literature, Kara Brown

Kara D. Brown

No abstract provided.

A Teacher's Guide To Pisa Mathematical Literacy, Sue Thomson, Kylie Hillman, Lisa De Bortoli

Kylie Hillman

This report focuses on mathematical literacy and is one of a series of three reports on Australian students' performance in PISA. The report provides an overview of the PISA mathematics framework and Australia's results in the PISA 2003 international assessment. Also included are mathematics items released for public viewing after the PISA 2003 assessment and examples of responses, marking guides and comparisons of results with other countries. The context behind achievement, e.g. attitudes, engagement and learning strategies, is also presented.

Educating Teachers For The Knowledge Economy, Tony Fetherston

Tony Fetherston

Driven by common international trends and the acceptance of such constructs as the knowledge economy, p re service teacher education institutions are forced to conceptualise how to integrate ICT into their curriculum. In this paper the author proposes that Habermas’s three domains of human interest are an excellent beginning in organizing the curriculum to include ICT. Using these domains he proposes possible curriculum content under headings of What should they be able to do, What should they actually do (in the classroom) and What knowledge empowers them.

Quality Of Implementation Of A School Mental Health Initiative And Changes Over Time In Students' Social And Emotional Competencies, Helen Askell-Williams, Katherine Dix, Michael Lawson, Phillip Slee

Dr Katherine Dix

Marriage Vows And Economic Discrimination: The Married Teacher Problem, Sabrina Thomas

Sabrina Thomas

This study analyzes the rapid increase of economic discrimination against married women teachers in the early twentieth century, particularly during the Depression. It challenges the notion that economic discrimination against married women teachers was simple, easy, and largely was unchallenged. I argue that the creation and proliferation of marriage bars in the early twentieth century involved a compounded and multifaceted set of economic and social concerns. Support for this argument is accomplished by examination of the national debate on marriage bars as well as careful investigation of the local debate illustrated in Huntington, West Virginia.

Supporting University Teachers Create Pedagogically Sound Learning Environments Using Learning Designs And Learning Objects, Susan Bennett, Shirley Agostinho, Lori Lockyer, Barry Harper, Jason Lukasiak

Professor Lori Lockyer

With Information and Communication Technology (ICT) becoming mainstream in the higher education sector, university teachers are faced with the ongoing challenge of incorporating Internet technologies into their teaching practices. At the same time there is significant pressure to raise the quality of university teaching to make it more student-centred and more flexible. This climate requires that university teachers examine their instructional strategies to offer high quality learning opportunities. Reuse, through the sharing of digital learning resources and through the adaptation of learning designs that model expert practice, offer strategies to support university teachers in this change process. Whilst online repositories …

Investigating University Teachers' Design Practices, Sue Bennett, Shirley Agostinho, Lori Lockyer, Lisa Kosta, Jennifer Jones, Barry Harper

Professor Lori Lockyer

No abstract provided.

Technology Use, Technology Views: Anticipating Professional Use Of Ict For Beginning Physical And Health Education Teachers, Lori Lockyer, John W. Patterson

Professor Lori Lockyer

In Australia, the national initiative known as Learning in an Online World, focuses school jurisdictions across the country meet the challenge of achieving the national vision of all schools “…confidently using ICT in their everyday practices to improve learning, teaching and administration” (MCEETYA, 2005, p. 3). One strategy in reaching this goal is the effective preparation of pre-service teachers to use and integrate technology in their teaching and learning practices. This article reports on a research study that aimed to explore the issue preparation for use of technology in teaching by understanding the current and anticipated technology usage for Australian …

The Potential Of Perspectivism For Science Education, Jacob Pearce

Dr Jacob Pearce

Many science teachers are presented with the challenge of characterising science as a dynamic, human endeavour. Perspectivism, as a hermeneutic philosophy of science, has the potential to be a learning tool for teachers as they elucidate the complex nature of science. Developed earlier by Nietzsche and others, perspectivism has recently re-emerged in the context of the philosophy of science in the work of Ronald Giere. Giere presents a compelling case that scientific theories and scientific observation are perspectival by using science itself. There are many tangible examples already present in science textbooks which, when approached in a certain way, offer …

The Influence Of Collective Bargaining On Teachers’ Salaries In New York State, David B. Lipsky, John E. Drotning

David B Lipsky

This study tests a model of teacher salary determination with data describing several aspects of all school districts in New York state, outside of New York City. The authors find that collective bargaining is not significant in explaining variations in 1968 teacher salaries among all school districts, but bargaining did have a significant effect among small districts and on the rate of salary change from 1967 to 1968. On the whole, however, the authors conclude that the results of this and other studies show that bargaining has had a surprisingly minor effect on teacher salaries.

The Politics Of The Education Reform Movement: Some Implications For The Future Of Teacher Bargaining, David B. Lipsky

David B Lipsky

[Excerpt] In summary, the ongoing battle over education reform and emerging demographic trends do not bode well for the success of reform efforts in this country and probably mean tougher, if nonetheless more interesting, days at the bargaining table. In recent years taxpayers have been willing to support increased expenditures for public education. But sooner or later taxpayers will want to see results. Both liberal and conservative politicians have been staunch supporters of the school reform movement, but politicians are a notoriously fickle group. To improve the quality of education, we need a sustained effort over an indefinite period of …

The Education Reform Movement And The Realities Of Collective Bargaining, Robert E. Doherty, David B. Lipsky

David B Lipsky

[Excerpt] The response to what many believe to be a serious decline in educational achievement and standards has been, so far, a spate of studies, commissions, and reports, all aiming toward reform of the education system. Most of the recommendations that have been implemented to date have come about through state-level legislation and mandates (Darling-Hammond and Berry, 1988). Education reformers disagree on the role of teacher bargaining in achieving their objectives. One wing of the reform movement believes collective bargaining is an obstacle to change and maintains collective bargaining is one reason the schools are in bad shape. But another …

Breaking The Log-Jam: Teaching The Teachers About Technology, Shelley Kinash, Ron Kordyban

Ron Kordyban

Extract:Like logs in a metaphoric lumber mill, educational technologies are streaming in faster than they can be gathered and processed. There are wikis, blogs, podcasts, social networks and a host of applications to complement the already robust world of mobile learning. Where things tend to get jammed-up is at the point of training. Someone needs to show teachers how and when to use these new e-learning tools. More and more schools and universities are hiring dedicated educators to provide professional development in the pedagogical use of educational technologies.

Tracing Discourses Of Health And The Body: Exploring Pre-Service Primary Teachers' Constructions Of `Healthy' Bodies, Jan Wright, Rosemary K. Welch

Rosie Welch

Contemporary notions of childhood overweight and obesity have become increasingly influential in curriculum and pedagogy in school-based Health and Physical Education (HPE). Teachers' delivery of HPE subject matter and related school practices are likely to have a considerable impact on the attitudes and beliefs of the children they teach, particularly in the primary school. It thus becomes important to consider the ways of thinking about and doing health (discourse positions on health) that teachers bring to their teaching of HPE. This paper examines pre-service teachers' positions in relation to the health discourses to better understand what teachers, in this case …

A Brimming Cup: The Life Of Kathleen Fitzpatrick, Elizabeth Kleinhenz

Dr Elizabeth Kleinhenz

Kathleen Fitzpatrick, born in 1905, was the grand - daughter of Melbourne real estate agent JR Buxton, whose investments in land and housing brought him wealth and significantly influenced much of his city's early development. In her memoir, Solid Bluestone Foundations, described by her great friend Manning Clark as 'a magnificent book of memories', Kathleen painted an evocative picture of family life at her grandparents' mansion Hughenden in Middle Park, and of middle - class living in early twentieth - century Melbourne. In adulthood she went on to become a brilliant academic and teacher whose former pupils became some of …