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A Beginner\u27s Guide to Applied Educational Research using Thematic Analysis
Interest in applied educational research methodology is growing as educators and researchers strive to seek empirical evidence about what is effective teaching within distinctive contexts. However, for beginner researchers who are interested in conducting case studies within educational settings and are looking for an appropriate starting point, there is limited literature that shapes comprehensively the theory and application of a rigorous research design. This article outlines the theoretical foundation, philosophical assumptions and application of a research design suitable for implementation in educational settings. For researchers and educators pursuing a case study approach within a specific context, an inquiry framework provides the roadmap to navigate the journey. The main components of this systematic inquiry framework include the interconnected practices for: identifying the issue; collecting the data; preparing and engaging with the data; analysing thematically the data; interpreting the data analysis; and composing the research findings and generalisations. Throughout the discussion, examples are drawn from a case study to illustrate how the innovative design and the sixstage qualitative data collection and thematic analysis were implemented to investigate the prevalent roles that teachers play in generating environments for self-regulated learning. Finally, research design considerations are discussed to reflect high standards of ethical practice for reporting research findings and interpretations that can be trusted and contribute practically, theoretically and methodologically to educational research
Everyday classroom teaching practices for self-regulated learning
This study investigated everyday classroom teaching that provides opportunities for young adolescent students to self-regulate their learning. Evidence drawn from literature in the field of self-regulated learning (SRL) underpins this investigation that was focused on the transition years from primary school to secondary school. Research was conducted in Australia as dual case studies, with data collected through semi-structured interviews and classroom observations from eight teacher participants. The data were analysed through the lens of a conceptual framework that aligns the findings with the fundamentals for SRL. The four themes generated are best understood as teaching approaches that describe how teachers within social learning environments connect the goal orientated learning with purposeful engagement, facilitate the activation of thinking strategies through instructional support, and diversify learning opportunities that enable an expectation of success. The findings are illustrated by classroom examples of the core practices that influence students' self-regulatory capacity. An outcome of this research is the SRL model that offers a vision for pedagogy to support teacher professional dialogue and learning, and a practical decision-making tool intended to guide teachers to reflect, analyse and tailor practices for their everyday classroom teaching. The paper concludes with some suggestions that provide scope for future research
Mapping Mass in the Local Universe
We only see a small fraction of the matter in the universe, but the rest
gives itself away by the impact of its gravity. Peculiar velocities have the
potential to be a powerful tool to trace this matter however previous peculiar
velocity surveys have struggled to meet their potential because of the large
errors on individual measurements, poor statistics and uneven sky coverage. The
2MASS Tully-Fisher (2MTF) survey will make use of existing high quality
rotations widths, new HI widths and 2MASS (2 Micron All-Sky Survey) photometry
to measure Tully-Fisher distances/peculiar velocities for all bright inclined
spirals in the 2MASS redshift survey (2MRS). This survey based on the 2MASS
galaxy catalog will provide a qualitatively better sample. It will provide
significant improvements in sky coverage especially near the plane of our
Galaxy which crosses the poorly understood "great attractor" region. I will
give a progress report on the 2MTF survey including a look at over 300 hours of
HI observations from the Green Bank Telescope (GBT) and a report on ongoing
southern hemisphere observations with the Parke s Radio Telescope. The new
spiral I-band field (SFI++) sample is currently the best available peculiar
velocity survey for use in the local universe. I will also report on some
preliminary results from this sample.Comment: To appear in ASP Conference Series as proceedings of NRAO 50th
Anniversary Symposium, "Frontiers of Astrophysics", June 18-21, 2007, A.
Bridle, J. Condon and G. Hunt eds. 10 pages including 4 figure
A Zoo of Galaxies
We live in a universe filled with galaxies with an amazing variety of sizes
and shapes. One of the biggest challenges for astronomers working in this field
is to understand how all these types relate to each other in the background of
an expanding universe. Modern astronomical surveys (like the Sloan Digital Sky
Survey) have revolutionised this field of astronomy, by providing vast numbers
of galaxies to study. The sheer size of the these databases made traditional
visual classification of the types galaxies impossible and in 2007 inspired the
Galaxy Zoo project (www.galaxyzoo.org); starting the largest ever scientific
collaboration by asking members of the public to help classify galaxies by type
and shape. Galaxy Zoo has since shown itself, in a series of now more than 30
scientific papers, to be a fantastic database for the study of galaxy
evolution. In this Invited Discourse I spoke a little about the historical
background of our understanding of what galaxies are, of galaxy classification,
about our modern view of galaxies in the era of large surveys. I finish with
showcasing some of the contributions galaxy classifications from the Galaxy Zoo
project are making to our understanding of galaxy evolution.
This publication has been made possible by the participation of more than
200,000 volunteers in the Galaxy Zoo project. Their contributions are
individually acknowledged at http://www.galaxyzoo.org/volunteers. KLM
acknowledges funding from the Peter and Patricia Gruber Foundation as the 2008
Peter and Patricia Gruber Foundation IAU Fellow, and from a 2010 Leverhulme
Trust Early Career Fellowship, as well as support from the Royal Astronomical
Society to attend the 28th GA of the IAU.Comment: 15 pages, 8 figures. Proceedings of Invited Discourse at the 27th IAU
General Assembly, in Beijing, China, August 2012. To appear in Highlights of
Astronomy, Volume 1
Childhood anxiety: how schools identify, assess, provide resources to and refer students with anxiety
Includes bibliographical references
Variation in Epidermal Morphology in Human Skin at Different Body Sites as Measured by Reflectance Confocal Microscopy
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