Using effective student-centred activities to meet current challenges at Austrian schools

One way of facing the manifold current challenges in the Austrian school system lies in employing project- oriented ways of teaching and learning. One the one hand, these have to be understood as being very complex; on the other hand, the use of the term ‘project’ can be regarded as overused, i.e., inflationary: Many methods are inadequately referred to as projects, thus names are played with. The following paper systematically shows up the opportunities this teaching and learning method boasts, it outlines how the enhancement of competences and learning processes can be initiated, and also discusses the problems and limitations that may arise.Una forma de hacer frente a los cambios del sistema escolar austriaco consiste en emplear actividades de proyectos en la enseñanza y el aprendizaje. Por una parte tiene que ser visto como algo muy complejo y, por otra, la utilización del término projecto puede ser considerada como excesiva y abusivamente usada: muchos metodos se denominan inadecuadamente como proyectos y simplemente untilizan el nombre. El artículo muestra de manera sistemática las oportunidades de este método de enseñanza y aprendizaje, destaca como puede hincarse el potenciamento de las competencias y procesos de aprendizaje, y analiza los problemas y limitaciones que pueden aparecer

"The Return of Big Government--Policy Advice for President Obama"

In the current global financial crisis, economists and policymakers have reembraced Big Government as a means of preventing the reoccurrence of a debt-deflation depression. The danger, however, is that policy may not downsize finance and replace money manager capitalism. According to Senior Scholar L. Randall Wray, we need a permanently larger fiscal presence, with more public services. His advice to President Obama is to discard all of former Treasury Secretary Paulson's actions. Wray believes that we can afford any necessary spending and bailouts, and that these actions will not burden our grandchildren.

Facilitating Collaborative Group Work among Middle School Students through Digital Game-based Learning: An Action Research Study to Improve Classroom Instruction

This qualitative action research dissertation was an endeavor to strengthen the practitioner-researcher’s ability to foster collaboration skills among eighth grade students in his elective science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) class. The research question that anchored this study was: To what extent can I foster effective collaboration among my middle school students through the use of an instructional planning framework for collaboration and the strategies associated with digital game-based learning The practitioner-researcher implemented an intervention that utilized a collaborative learning framework while student groups worked together during a digital game-based learning opportunity. The synthesis of a collaboration framework, the elements of effective collaboration (Lai, DiCerbo, & Foltz, 2017), and digital game-based learning (Prensky, 2001), informed the intervention for this study. The intervention of collaborative digital game-based learning was applied in the study context, yielding key findings to inform the practitioner-researcher’s practice. The study found that in the researcher’s context, informal coaching was a valuable part of the collaborative intervention, and that process benchmarking with intermediate projects deadlines could help to alleviate the build

Language use in Physics inquiry-based learning activities: A case study of learning Physics in a bilingual classroom in Malta

Students’ performance in science subjects has often been associated with lack of conceptual understanding (Matriculation and Secondary Education Certificate Examination Board, 2018). Research shows that in countries where the language of instruction is different from the students’ home language, this has an impact on their conceptual understanding as well as on their performance in formal assessments (Charamba, 2021; Charamba, 2020a). This study was carried out in a secondary state school in Malta, where both English and Maltese are official first languages, but Physics is taught and assessed in English. It involved action research where, as a Physics teacher, I implemented a number of inquiry-based activities with one group of my students at the secondary state school where I taught. The group was composed of five students: a foreign student who understood Maltese but spoke solely in English, two first language Maltese speakers proficient in both Maltese and English and considered parallel monolinguals, and two first language Maltese speakers with low proficiency in English and hesitant when expressing themselves in English. When inquiry-based learning activities were implemented in the first cycle with strict use of the English language, I observed that the students struggled to express themselves. In the second cycle I still used inquiry-based learning activities but encouraged the students to express themselves in their preferred language (English, Maltese or code-switching). From my analysis I could conclude that when the students were allowed to speak in their preferred language, they often resorted to Maltese and code-switching. Their contributions towards the discussions increased in frequency as well as in the quality of their insights when attempting to provide sophisticated explanations. This study has shown that adopting inquiry-based learning approaches where my students spoke in their preferred language helped them to express deeper meanings. This study concludes that in a bilingual context like Malta, learning science in one’s second language was a hurdle for my students. However, they also became more aware that they need to learn how to express themselves well in English when talking physics. These results highlight how language impacted my students’ learning, and that as their teacher I had the responsibility to teach the language of science together with conceptual understanding

The Trail, 1919-02-04

https://soundideas.pugetsound.edu/thetrail_all/1141/thumbnail.jp

Youth Development Guide 2.0: Engaging young people in after-school programming

This Guide is designed to offer an introduction to youth development principles and practices to the diverse group of people involved in creating and implementing afterschool programs -- program directors, school administrators, teachers, staff, volunteers, community partners, and others. We believe that adopting a youth development approach when designing and implementing afterschool programs can help ensure that young people get the most out of these programs

Language and the opportunity to learn science in bilingual classrooms in the Eastern Cape, South Africa

The problem that prompted this research was the general poor performance of South African learners in national and international science assessments, and in particular, the poor achievement levels of Grade 8 learners in successive TIMSS (Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study) science assessments. It was suggested in the TIMSS South Africa reports that the language of the tests, when different to learners' home language, contributed to their poor performance in the assessments. However the reports also noted that language factors were intertwined with other factors such as low socio-economic status. Large-scale quantitative studies such as TIMSS can tell us the 'what' in an education system; however such studies are not able to tell us much about 'why': for example why South African learners have continued to perform so poorly in assessments such as TIMSS. The notion of 'opportunity to learn' proposes that learners cannot be held accountable for their performance in such assessments if they have not been provided with the opportunity to learn the content assessed. This small-scale qualitative research study therefore set out to drill down from the TIMSS studies to investigate the opportunity to learn science in classrooms in the Eastern Cape where the home language of learners and teachers (isiXhosa) was different to the language of assessment (English). Opportunity to learn science was conceptualized in terms of the science content of lesson and the language used to construct that science knowledge. Classroom language was further disaggregated into the classroom discourse interaction patterns; and the bilingual languaging practices of teachers and learners. The research thus drew on literature and research from the fields of science teaching, classroom discourse, and bilingual education - fields not usually combined - to develop a complex picture of classroom practices. A multiple case study was undertaken in eight township and rural schools in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa, one of the most under-developed and poorest of the nine provinces. Data was collected from five consecutive Grade 8 science lessons that were observed and videotaped for each of eight classes; the teachers were interviewed about their personal histories, attitudes towards teaching and learning science in the context where learners were learning through an additional language; and their classroom practices. In addition, detailed fieldnotes were kept. Transcripts were made of the lessons and interviews; and the isiXhosa in the lessons was translated where it occurred. The lesson transcripts were analysed using socio-cultural discourse analysis and this included coding and content analysis to arrive at patterns in the data, which were exemplified by extracts from the data; some of these were of necessity fairly long, so as to take account of both the content and language of the lessons and to trace how ideas were developed over time, within and across lessons, though language. The teacher interviews provided the contextual detail; and teachers' practices were probed using simulated recall based on video clips from their lessons. The fine-grained analysis of the science content of lessons allowed for the elaboration of a hierarchy of necessary conditions that needed to be in place for the opportunity to learn science to be actualized; and a key condition was that the science content should be conceptually coherent, with facts linked to generalized principles and conceptual frameworks and that the generalized principles were supported by factual detail. It appeared that the classroom discourse was important for engaging learners in this process of moving from description of observations, to explanation, to generalizing and concept building. In addition a skilled teacher was able to effect a bridging discourse that supported learners in moving from everyday language and understandings to scientific language and understandings; from practical to theoretical knowledge; and from oral to written modes. These are necessary conditions for all learners to be afforded the opportunity to learn science. A further condition in the bilingual contexts that these classrooms typified, was the need for the teacher to support learners in developing conceptual understanding in their home language and then teaching for transfer of that understanding into the language of assessment, English. The analysis was able to demonstrate how the nuanced interplay of content and language in the practice of one teacher appeared to successfully construct the opportunity to learn science; and how in the practices of the other teachers, the opportunity to learn science broke down at different points. This indicated the points of leverage in the enacted curriculum that could be addressed in teacher education to break the logjam of factors contributing to underperformance in science achievement

Re-reading, Re-writing, and Re-imagining Texts: Critical Literacy in a Kindergarten Classroom

This qualitative action research study focuses on the integration of critical literacy practices in a kindergarten classroom. Critical literacy recognizes that no texts are neutral, and that authors position their readers in particular ways. Thus critical literacy practices are those concerned with positioning readers to inquire into issues of language and power, and to disrupt, critique, and challenge texts. In this study, critical literacy was brought to life through a curriculum of rereading and revisiting texts over time. The study took place in the researcher’s kindergarten classroom, and follows students’ discussion, written responses, and dramatizations around texts read aloud in the classroom focusing on themes of power, justice, and equity. Data was collected across the school year, including fifty lessons. Data analysis such as coding, discourse analysis, and multimodal analysis was conducted during the year and informed instructional decisions. Data analysis also occurred after the year had ended and focused on identifying the different ways that students engaged in critical inquiry into the texts through rereading, rewriting, and reimagining scenes in the texts, as well as how the teacher was able to support students with engaging in critical literacy in the read-aloud setting. In particular, analysis of the read-aloud lessons documented ways that students were able to disrupt stereotypes, consider multiple perspectives, engage with sociopolitical issues, and take social action. Critical literacy is shown as a tool for accelerating young students’ literacy development, and students’ reading and writing skills are documented as they develop through rereading and responding to texts across the study. This study not only offers a sustained look at how young students can be scaffolded over time to engage in critical literacy practices, but also expands the notion of what types of literacy practices young students are capable of engaging in. Using the tools of process drama as a way to revisit and rethink read-alouds provides early childhood teachers a way to simultaneously engage their young students in rigorous critical thinking around texts that is also active, social, playful, and imaginative