Understanding formative assessment in extended classroom curricular interaction

Access to the full-text thesis is no longer available at the author's request, due to 3rd party copyright restrictions. Access removed on 29.11.2016 by CS (TIS).Metadata merged with duplicate record (http://hdl.handle.net/10026.1/802) on 20.12.2016 by CS (TIS).Merged with duplicate record 10026.1/1794 on 14.02.2017 by CS (TIS)This is a digitised version of a thesis that was deposited in the University Library. If you are the author please contact PEARL Admin ([email protected]) to discuss options.This thesis relates to the debates about assessment in education that marked the final years of the 20th century. It attends to the assertion, widely made in policy pronouncements within and beyond the UK, at every level of the education system, that assessment is an integral part of teaching, pronouncements seen by some writers as rhetoric-driven and atheoretical. It focuses in particular on formative assessment, with its underlying assumption that, to be effective, teaching must match the cognitive requirements of learners. The study examines the psychological and epistemological foundations of this assertion, contends that both are problematic, and confirms that advances in theoretical understanding are required. It argues that, to secure these advances, laboratory-based investigations of tutoring must be complemented by studies of what proficient teachers do in complex classroom settings. At the centre of this work is one such investigation, a case study of one teacher's practice in relation to the humanities curriculum within an English primary school. The enquiry is in the interpretive tradition, in that the understandings developed are founded on the perceptions of the teacher involved. With regard to this teacher, the principal findings are four. Matching involves the continuous calibration of teaching action to perceptions of learners' needs within extended interaction, not discrete assessment encounters. His evaluative concerns involve fine discriminations of both thinking and feeling. What is involved is ultimately understandable in terms of his broad educational philosophy. In this sense, his formative assessment practice is integral to his teaching. In this light, it is suggested that efforts to shape an adequate theory of formative assessment that is relevant to classroom settings within a social constructivist framework may require to embrace extended teacher-pupil interaction as well as discrete assessment encounters. This points to a need for a reconceptualisation of formative assessment, placing teacher consciousness at its centre

Carbon isotopic characterisation of dissolved organic mater during water treatment

Water treatment is a series of physio-chemical processes to aid organic matter (OM) removal, which helps to minimise the formation of potentially carcinogenic disinfection by-products and microbial regrowth. Changes in OM character through the treatment processes can provide insight into the treatment efficiency, but radiogenic isotopic characterisation techniques have yet to be applied. Here, we show for the first time that analysis of 13C and 14C of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) effectively characterises dissolved OM through a water treatment works. At the sites investigated: post-clarification, DOC becomes isotopically lighter, due to an increased proportion of relatively hydrophilic DOC. Filtration adds ‘old’ 14C-DOC from abrasion of the filter media, whilst the use of activated carbon adds ‘young’ 14C-DOC, most likely from the presence of biofilms. Overall, carbon isotopes provide clear evidence for the first time that new sources of organic carbon are added within the treatment processes, and that treated water is isotopically lighter and typically younger in 14C-DOC age than untreated water. We anticipate our findings will precipitate real-time monitoring of treatment performance using stable carbon isotopes, with associated improvements in energy and carbon footprint (e.g. isotopic analysis used as triggers for filter washing and activated carbon regeneration) and public health benefits resulting from improved carbon removal

A Tribute to Professor Fred Zacharias

Personal dedication to Prof. Fred Zacharias

Iron-Enhanced Swale Ditch Checks for Phosphorus Retention

Minnesota Department of Transportatio

Assessment of Internal Phosphorus Loading in Swimming Pool Pond and Point of France Pond, City of Edina

City of Edin

Survey of Stormwater BMP Maintenance Practices

Many stormwater management manuals and guidance documents have stated the importance and estimated frequency of maintenance for stormwater best management practices (BMPs), but few have documented the actual frequency and intensity of maintenance required to maintain a desired level of performance and efficiency. Increased attention to mass balance, numerical goals, total maximum daily loads (TMDLs), and non-degradation requirements has created the need for more emphasis on BMP maintenance in order to meet permitting and reporting requirements. The purpose of this paper is to advance short and long-term maintenance considerations so as to develop more realistic maintenance plans. To do so, we conducted a national literature search for maintenance costs and developed, distributed, analyzed the results of a detailed municipal public works survey. The specific goals of the survey were to identify and inventory stormwater BMP O&M efforts and costs. Survey questionnaires were sent to 106 cities with 28 responses received. The survey related to the following topics: number of BMPs in the city, frequency of BMP inspections, average staff-hours spent per routine inspection/maintenance, complexity of BMP maintenance, most frequent causes of performance deterioration within BMPs, and cost of non-routine maintenance activities. The results of the survey revealed that most (89%) cities perform routine maintenance once per year or less. Staff-hours per year ranged from one to four hours for most stormwater BMPs and but were significantly more for rain gardens (one to sixteen hours per year) and wetlands (one to nine hours per year). The most common causes of performance deterioration were sediment buildup and litter/debris for most stormwater BMPs. Respondents indicated that the removal of accumulated sediment incurred the largest cost of all BMP maintenance activities

Use of Compost to Biodegrade Sediments Contaminated with Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons

Minnesota Pollution Control Agenc