154 research outputs found
Podcast #13 Mini lecture with Prof. Effie Maclellan
No full textHere, Emerita Professor Effie Maclellan presents her work on shifts in understanding the nature of teaching in the last fifty years
Number sense : the underpinning understanding for early quantitative literacy
No full textThe fundamental meaning of Quantitative Literacy (QL) as the application of quantitative knowledge or reasoning in new/unfamiliar contexts is problematic because how we acquire knowledge, and transfer it to new situations, is not straightforward. This article argues that in the early development of QL, there is a specific corpus of numerical knowledge which learners need to integrate into their thinking, and to which teachers should attend. The paper is a rebuttal to historically prevalent (and simplistic) views that the terrain of early numerical understanding is little more than simple counting devoid of cognitive complexity. Rather, the knowledge upon which early QL develops comprises interdependent dimensions: Number Knowledge, Counting Skills and Principles, Nonverbal Calculation, Number Combinations and Story Problems - summarised as Number Sense. In order to derive the findings for this manuscript, a realist synthesis of recent Education and Psychology literature was conducted. The findings are of use not only when teaching very young children, but also when teaching learners who are experiencing learning difficulties through the absence of prerequisite numerical knowledge. As well distilling fundamental quantitative knowledge for teachers to integrate into practice, the review emphasises that improved pedagogy is less a function of literal applications of reported interventions, on the grounds of perceived efficacy elsewhere, but based in refinements of teachers' understandings. Because teachers need to adapt instructional sequences to the actual thinking and learning of learners in their charge, they need knowledge that allows them to develop their own theoretical understanding rather than didactic exhortations
Academic achievement : the role of praise in motivating students
No full textThe motivation of students is an important issue in higher education, particularly in the context of the increasing diversity of student populations. A social-cognitive perspective assumes motivation to be dynamic, context-sensitive and changeable, thereby rendering it to be a much more differentiated construct than previously understood. This complexity may be perplexing to tutors who are keen to develop applications to improve academic achievement. One application that is within the control of the tutor, at least to some extent, is the use of praise. Using psychological literature the article argues that in motivating students, the tutor is not well served by relying on simplistic and common sense understandings of the construct of praise and that effective applications of praise are mediated by students' goal orientations, which of themselves may be either additive or interactive composites of different objectives and different contexts
Authenticity in assessment tasks: a heuristic exploration of academics' perceptions
No full textThis study was an exploration of the extent to which higher education tutors' perceptions of assessment were consistent with the construct of authenticity. Depth interviews with twelve academics sought views on what might constitute desirable assessment tasks and scoring methods to use with students. Summaries of transcribed interviews suggested that assessment should focus on real world problems and have some meaning to a real world audience. However, analysis of the interviews using Newmann's (1997) criteria for authentic assessment showed that, collectively, interviewees' conceptualisation of authenticity was incomplete. The results are discussed in terms of constructivist perspectives on learnin
How reflective is the academic essay?
No full textThe purpose of this study was to examine the extent of reflection in academic essays. Forty essays, all previously deemed to be of merit quality, were analysed in terms of three elements of reflection - how the educational issue is conceptualized; what the issue means for practice; how practice might be changed to resolve the problematic. Each element was then assigned one of four levels of reflection - technical, descriptive, dialogical and critical. The main finding was that most of the elements were either at a descriptive level of reflection (which the literature argues is not difficult to achieve) or at a dialogical level (which recognizes that knowledge is not certain but does not tease out the relative merits of differing views). These different levels of reflection are seen as adevelopmental stages (from naïve to sophisticated) in gaining control over the process of co-ordinating extant understanding and new evidenc
Conceptual learning : the priority for higher education
No full textThe common sense notion of learning as the all-pervasive acquisition of new behaviour and knowledge, made vivid by experience, is an incomplete characterisation, because it assumes that the learning of behaviour and the learning of knowledge are indistinguishable, and that acquisition constitutes learning without reference to transfer. A psychological level of analysis is used to argue that conceptual learning should have priority in higher education
Mathematics
No full textThis chapter discusses mathematics. It is part of a collection which examines educational practice and professional thinking from pre-school and primary, through secondary, further and higher education; and locates Scottish education within its social, cultural and political context
Theory of learning or theory of education? a response to Smith
No full textThe explicit aim of our article was to depict teachers' knowledge of such accounts. Because of the very circumscribed aim, we were not, as Smith states in his abstract, considering "applications of learning theory to teaching". While, of course, it is useful to the reader if an article stimulates a range of further ideas and/or helps the reader to make new conceptual connections, the ideas stimulated in the reader are not necessarily accidental omissions by the author(s). We deliberately chose to exclude the literature on the 'complex' relationships between theory and practice since Thomas (1997), Rowlands (1999), and Loughran (2002) are but a few who have rigorously examined that issue. Similarly we would not deny (Maclellan & Soden, 2004, Soden, 2003) that analysing issues involves the variety of interpretative considerations that Smith raises. However, in order to make a contribution to the body of literature, it is necessary both to focus tightly on the issue of concern and to develop that issue within a coherent explanatory framework: ours happened to be a psychological one although others working within different perspectives (such as philosophical, sociological or historical) would doubtless draw on different bodies of literature
The significance of motivation in student-centred learning : a reflective case study
No full textThe theoretical underpinnings of student-centred learning suggest motivation to be an integral component. However, lack of clarification of what is involved in motivation in education often results in unchallenged assumptions that fail to recognise that what motivates some students may alienate others. This case study, using socio-cognitive motivational theory to analyse previously collected data, derives three fuzzy propositions which, collectively, suggest that motivation interacts with the whole cycle of episodes in the teachinglearning process. It argues that the development of the higherlevel cognitive competencies that are implied by the term, student-centred learning, must integrate motivational constructs such as goal orientation, volition, interest and attributions into pedagogical practices
Measured weights in PEI adults reveal higher than expected obesity rates
No full textMacLellan et al seek to summarize the findings of the Prince Edward Island (PEI) Nutrition Survey. A random sample of 1,995 adults aged 18-74 were interviewed in their homes and weights, heights, and waist circumference measurements were obtained. Results show that almost one third of PEI adults are obese. More women were classified as being severely obese than men, but for both men and women there appears to be a trend of increased mild obesity with age.Source type: Electronic(1)http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?did=650078451&Fmt=7&clientId=65345&RQT=309&VName=PQ
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