Trainee teachers' use of blogs as private reflections for professional development

A collaborative research project between Sheffield Hallam University and Nottingham Trent University in the UK investigated the use of blogs with trainee teachers as an alternative to reflective paper-based diaries. An action research case study, involving focus groups of post-graduate (secondary) trainee teachers (one group from each University) was undertaken to determine attitudes and perceptions of blogging as an appropriate tool to support reflective professional development. The findings indicate that the use of blogs by the trainee teachers had a positive impact overall, and provide concrete evidence of their development as emerging professional teachers. Unlike traditional paper-based systems, blogs provided ongoing opportunities for the tutor to assist the trainees in their development as reflective practitioners. This paper seeks to share the findings of this research which the authors believe could be applicable to other areas of Higher Education.</p

What young people report about the personal characteristics needed for social science research after carrying out their own investigations in an after-school club

Several arguments have been put forward about the benefits of young people carrying out their own social science research in terms of empowering their voices and their participation. Much less attention has been paid to investigating the understandings young people develop about the research process itself. Seven twelve-year-olds carried out self-directed social science research into a topic of their choice. Towards the end of their six months experience we used a questionnaire and follow-up semi-structured interviews to investigate, from a socio-cultural perspective, what the young people thought about being a researcher. Thematic analysis of the interviews identified three themes and eight subthemes suggesting that they were aware of: the need to demonstrate researcher/research integrity (be thorough, truthful, orderly, and have a good understanding of research process); the need for good interpersonal skills and standards; and good self-management skills (be resilient, agentic, committed, and good at time management). We discuss how first-hand social science research experience might: be relevant to several areas of schooling; give young people experience of the personal characteristics important for success; help young people to realise that they can be social science researchers, and offer advanced and novel learning experiences outside the constraints of the school curriculum

Using technology to teach flexibility through peer discussion

The present chapter focuses on how cognitive flexibility, in a broad sense, might inform our understanding of the development of comprehension skills, and how it could contribute to methods of improving children’s reading comprehension, drawing on the benefits of new developments in computer-supported collaborative learning. In particular, we focus on encouraging children to talk about language, consistent with the idea that children with poor comprehension often have relatively low levels of metalinguistic awareness, and that raising this awareness seems to be a useful and highly motivating way to foster better reading comprehension. One of these training methods involves discussing jokes, and the quote above shows clearly how some children, who are just learning to understand the relation of text and meaning, just don’t get it. Understanding what cognitive developmental changes might underlie comprehension difficulties should lead the way to new remedial approaches, and new technology can provide us with additional support to help children coordinate form and meaning in learning to read

Talk Factory: supporting 'exploratory talk' around an interactive whiteboard in primary school science plenaries

Previous research into enhancing children’s educational dialogues during group work has recognised the role of teachers in modelling dialogue and guiding their students’ engagement in reasoning. Whole-class plenaries also offer teachers such opportunities but the technological support of dialogue in plenaries remains relatively unexplored. Our comparative study evaluated teachers’ use of Talk Factory – innovative software designed to model and represent students’ engagement with the ground rules of exploratory talk in science plenaries. Our qualitative analysis compares the dialogue during lessons taught by two teachers where Talk Factory was used, with previous lessons by the same teachers where it was not used. We found that the nature of the dialogue in the intervention classes changed considerably: instead of plenaries characterised by unsubstantiated responses from students, the teachers used TF to mediate their students’ exploration, and challenge, of each others’ ideas. We explore the significance of these findings in respect of practice-based implications and future research

“I’m keeping those there, are you?” The role of a new user interface paradigm – Separate Control of Shared Space (SCOSS) – in the collaborative decision-making process

We take a socio-cultural approach to comparing how dual control of a new user interface paradigm Separate Control of Shared Space (SCOSS) and dual control of a single user interface can work to mediate the collaborative decision-making process between pairs of children carrying out a multiple categorisation word task on a shared computer. Qualitative analysis focuses on how the interface properties of SCOSS can encourage each child to participate in the task and to represent their own opinions as part of the process of reaching final joint agreement. We conclude by suggesting additional features to improve the content of collaborative conversations and by proposing other contexts that may benefit from this interface