Classroom Contexts (classroom + context)

Distribution by Scientific Domains


Selected Abstracts


Enhancing Knowledge Transfer in Classroom Versus Online Settings: The Interplay Among Instructor, Student, Content, and Context

DECISION SCIENCES JOURNAL OF INNOVATIVE EDUCATION, Issue 1 2009
Louise Nemanich
ABSTRACT This article integrates management education and organizational learning theories to identify the factors that drive the differences in student outcomes between the online and classroom settings. We draw upon theory on knowledge transfer barriers in organizations to understand the interlinking relationships among presage conditions, deep learning process, and product in the 3P model of student learning. We test our model in the context of undergraduate education and find that confidence in the instructor's expertise, perceived content relevance, and the social richness of the classroom learning environment enhance student enjoyment of the course. Confidence in instructor's expertise and perceived content relevance also contribute to greater understanding of causal relationships among course concepts. Enjoyment is positively associated with learning performance in the classroom, but not online, and student ability is positively associated with learning performance in the online context, but not in the classroom. Our results have implications for course designs in the traditional classroom context and the more innovative online environment. [source]


Substantive-level theory of highly regarded secondary biology teachers' science teaching orientations

JOURNAL OF RESEARCH IN SCIENCE TEACHING, Issue 2 2005
Patricia Meis Friedrichsen
Science teaching orientations, defined as teachers' knowledge and beliefs about the purposes and goals for teaching science, have been identified as a critical component within the proposed pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) model for science teaching. Because of the scarcity of empirical studies in this area, this case study examined the nature and sources of science teaching orientations held by four highly regarded secondary biology teachers. Data sources consisted of transcripts from four interviews, a card-sorting task, and classroom observations. Using a grounded theory framework, inductive data analysis led to the construction of a substantive-level theory for this group of participants. In regard to the nature of science teaching orientations, the use of central and peripheral goals, as well as the means of achieving these goals, was used to represent the complex nature of participants' science teaching orientations. The participants' science teaching orientations included goals related to general schooling, the affective domain, and subject matter, although the latter was not always a central component. In regard to the sources of teaching orientations, participants were strongly influenced by the classroom context and their beliefs about learners and learning; additional influences included prior work experiences, professional development, and time constraints. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 42: 218,244, 2005 [source]


Young children learning about living things: A case study of conceptual change from ontological and social perspectives

JOURNAL OF RESEARCH IN SCIENCE TEACHING, Issue 5 2004
Grady VenvilleArticle first published online: 16 APR 200
Although research from a developmental/psychological perspective indicates that many children do not have a scientific understanding of living things, even by the age of 10 years, little research has been conducted about how students learn this science topic in the classroom. This exploratory research used a case-study design and qualitative data-collection methods to investigate the process of conceptual change from ontological and social perspectives when Year 1 (5- and 6-year-old) students were learning about living things. Most students were found to think about living things with either stable, nonscientific or stable, scientific framework theories. Transitional phases of understanding also were identified. Patterns of conceptual change observed over the 5-week period of instruction included theory change and belief revision as well as reversals in beliefs. The predominant pattern of learning, however, was the assimilation of facts and information into the students' preferred framework theory. The social milieu of the classroom context exposed students' scientific and nonscientific beliefs that influenced other individuals in a piecemeal fashion. Children with nonscientific theories of living things were identified as being least able to benefit from socially constructed, scientific knowledge; hence, recommendations are made for teaching that focuses on conceptual change strategies rather than knowledge enrichment. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 41: 449,480, 2004 [source]


From bar diagrams to letter-symbolic algebra: a technology-enabled bridging

JOURNAL OF COMPUTER ASSISTED LEARNING, Issue 4 2009
C.-K. Looi
Abstract In the Singapore primary school Mathematics curriculum, students are taught the model method that uses bar diagrams to visualize the problem structure in a given word problem. When these students progress to secondary school, they learn the algebraic way of solving word problems. Studies (e.g. Ng et al.) have shown that poor bridging of students from the use of bar diagrams to the use of letter-symbolic algebraic methods can hinder their learning of algebra. We design a software tool ,AlgeBAR' to scaffold the learning of the algebraic process, especially the formulation of equations to support a pedagogy that seeks to help students transit from bar diagrams to algebraic methods. In this paper, we report a cycle of evaluation of the intervention pedagogy by examining a class that uses the software tool as part of a holistic intervention package. This evaluation is in the context of an overall design research approach that sought to address complex problems in real classroom contexts in collaboration with practitioners and to integrate design principles with technological affordances to render plausible solutions. Our findings show that the software tool can be an important enabler of the bridging process. [source]


Longitudinal Studies of Anger and Attention Span: Context and Informant Effects

JOURNAL OF PERSONALITY, Issue 2 2010
Jungmeen Kim
ABSTRACT This study examined stabilities of informant and context (home vs. classroom) latent factors regarding anger and attention. Participants included children from the National Institute of Child Health and Development Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development who were measured at 54 months, first grade, and third grade. Latent factors of anger and attention span were structured using different indicators based on mothers', fathers', caregivers', teachers', and observers' reports. We used structural equation modeling to examine the autoregressive effects within a context (stability), the concurrent associations between home and classroom contexts, and informant effects. The results indicated that for both anger and attention (1) there were significant informant effects that influenced stability in a context, (2) there was higher stability in home context than nonhome context, and (3) stability within a context increased over time. The findings suggested that anger was more prone to context effects and informant effects than attention. [source]


Using Media to Teach About Language

LINGUISTICS & LANGUAGE COMPASS (ELECTRONIC), Issue 9 2010
Jeffrey Reaser
The number of documentaries being made about language has recently increased. Many of these have tremendous value in informal educational settings, but using them in classroom contexts in the United States often proves somewhat tricky. There are concerns about curricular fit, educational goals, potentially incendiary portrayals of topics, etc. High-stakes testing further reduces the likelihood that language-related documentaries will be used in schools, especially among populations who may benefit most from exposure to sociolinguistic perspectives. This article offers an evaluation of the usefulness of recent and older media in teaching about language in formal educational contexts. From this review emerges an incipient roadmap for adapting media so that it will be attractive to teachers and improve the likelihood that teachers will be successful incorporating said media in their classrooms. [source]


Civic Knowledge of High School Students in Israel: Personal and Contextual Determinants

POLITICAL PSYCHOLOGY, Issue 4 2007
Professor Orit Ichilov
Past research on civic education suggests that students' performance is largely influenced by individual socioeconomic background and motivational factors. There has been little attention to the effects of school and classroom ideological and social attributes, such as the socioeconomic make-up of the school or classroom, or how interested in politics are a student's classmates. The results of the present study support the contention that contextual effects play a vital role in determining students' civic knowledge scores. Analysis of Israeli 11th graders' performance on the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA) civic knowledge test shows that while individual backgrounds and motivations play a significant role, school and classroom contexts greatly contribute to civic knowledge acquisition. [source]