Field

This article describes and evaluates ‘Field’, a Citizenship project researching the theme of Community, run with Year 2 B.A. Primary Education students at the School of Lifelong Learning and Education, Middlesex University. It outlines the intentions behind the course and gives examples of activities undertaken and presentations made by the students. It reflects on the contribution made to an understanding and delivery of Citizenship and the impact of the course on trainees and tutors

Engaging Phronesis: religious education with primary initial teacher education students

This thesis considers the initial teacher education of non-specialist primary undergraduate student teachers in teaching Religious Education. The focus of the research is a short module taught in the second year of the students’ degree course, which prepares students to teach in predominantly multicultural classrooms in London. The module adopts an Interpretive Approach to Religious Education, which contributes to a realignment of the students’ conceptualisation of knowledge through examination of the concepts of episteme and phronesis. Findings show that overt acknowledgement of the student teachers’ developing professional understandings, situated in decisions which reference values as well as subject knowledge, can alter their understanding and confidence about teaching Religious Education and indicates wider benefit in their appreciation of their developing teacher personae. The Structure of the Research Chapter 1 is a contextual introduction which presents a series of lenses through which to view the Religious Education module. Chapter 2 is an exploration of three main ideas which influenced the research: the Interpretive Approach to RE, the concept of phronesis, and the benefits to understanding pedagogy through self-study in teacher education. Chapter 3 explains the methodological thinking behind the research, ethical considerations and the methods employed. These include practitioner research, use of ethnographic and reflexive lenses and analysis of data from both students and personal reflection through self-study. Chapter 4 reports the findings from the research carried out with students, exploring the ideas which emerge from their responses to the module and my observations and interviews which illuminate ideas which emerge from the analysis. Chapter 5 is a discussion of the content and development of the module itself, exploring the impact and development of activities which influence the students’ understanding of RE. Chapter 6 draws together the threads of the research to explore the vision of a transformative ITE RE module, which recognises the value of acknowledging and developing phronesis in primary non-specialist student teacher education and concludes with recommendations to improve the current situation in RE in primary ITE

Are we using the most appropriate methodologies to assess the sensitivity of rainforest biodiversity to habitat disturbance?

Accurately assessing how biodiversity responds in the Anthropocene is vital. To do so, a number of indicator taxa are commonly used to monitor human-impacted forests and the subsequent recovery of their biodiversity. This makes monitoring more economically feasible, yet only valuable if the responses observed truly reflect the status of biodiversity. Many challenges exist for getting this monitoring right, including choosing the most effective indicators and ultimately choosing the most appropriate methods to capture trends. We have reason to believe that the methods currently used to assess humanimpacted tropical forest might be misrepresenting trends related to the degree of impact of disturbance to biodiversity and to the value of secondary forests for biodiversity conservation. Using recent case studies that assessed butterflies, we challenge the paradigm that fruit-baited butterfly traps are the best method for assessing human-impacted tropical forests, and that their use solely along the forest floor is underestimating the impacts to biodiversity in tropical forests. We suggest that alternative or additional methods could provide a more representative picture of the overall butterfly biodiversity responses to human-impacted tropical forests and that similar assessments of other groups and methods should be carried out

Sensitivity analysis for large-scale problems

The development of efficient techniques for calculating sensitivity derivatives is studied. The objective is to present a computational procedure for calculating sensitivity derivatives as part of performing structural reanalysis for large-scale problems. The scope is limited to framed type structures. Both linear static analysis and free-vibration eigenvalue problems are considered

A Study of the Biology of the Species of Protocalliphora in the Northern Wasatch Range

A total of 733 bird nests, representing 55 species from 23 habitats, was examined. Forty-nine percent of the nests of 39 bird species were infested with 16 species of Protocalliphora. Infestation of bird nests by Protocalliphora is believed to be related to a number of factors, which are discussed. Loosely constructed nests, nests heavily saturated with feces, and nests occupied early in the season had low rates of infestation. Nests of colonial birds were more frequently infested than those of solitary birds. Nests of some birds were rarely or never infested. Sixteen species of Protocalliphora are differentiated and their host and habitat preferences discussed. Some species appeared to be either host or habitat specific, but infestation by many species appeared to be controlled by a combination of host and habitat specificity. Aspects of the life history of the species of Protocalliphora are discussed. An aggregation of adult Protocalliphora at a Bank Swallow colony was noted. Mortality in nestling birds from the feeding of Protocalliphora was rarely observed, except in nests of Yellow-headed Blackbirds and Cliff Swallows, where other factors may have contributed to high mortality

Essays in applied economics

This dissertation examines several themes in applied economics. Specifically, Essay 1 examines the dynamics in an overlapping generations model with three-period lived agents, fiat money, and credit, Essay 2 reviews literature on value-added modeling and discusses a paper previously published, Essay 3 concludes by examining efficiency in the US bond market. While Essay 1 examines dynamics and 2 reviews tools used in estimating panel data, Essay 3 combines elements of both-empirically evaluating the efficiency of the bond market by looking at the movement of prices through time. That is, deriving the integral over t of the bond spread. While opportunities for more work exists, this paper suggests that the US Bond Market (the market for corporate debt) is informationally efficient, though it takes longer to converge than previously reported in the literature.Includes bibliographical reference

Physics Portfolios: A picture of student understanding

Traditionally, teachers assess students\u27 physics understanding through lab activities, responses to open-ended word problems, and tests. But there\u27s another way to measure student understanding, one in which students apply their learning to the world around them. This article shows how to implement student portfolios, which allow students to set goals they can monitor throughout the year and actively participate in assessment. When students build portfolios, they can evaluate and reflect on their own work, promoting engagement with the course and content (Danielson and Abrutyn 1997), and teachers can better assess students\u27 goal movement and see growth in students\u27 conceptual understanding. Portfolio assessment is a powerful motivator because students get to make choices (Tomlinson 1999), personalize learning goals, choose the assignments they want to include, and focus on areas of interest. Portfolios provide insight into students as individuals, revealing alternative conceptions and incomplete understandings (Danielson and Abrutyn 1997). Teachers can differentiate how students convey understanding based on readiness, interest, or learning profiles (Tomlinson 1999) and have opportunities to communicate with parents about student work (Nickleson 2004). The first author has implemented a physics portfolio project in two different general-level high school physics courses over the past six years. Students provide pictures of their understanding and make real-world connections as they learn, addressing the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) (Achieve Inc. 2013) and Common Core State Standards (CCSS) (NGAC and CCSSO 2010). Students reflect on their studies and goals for the course and provide evidence of their learning throughout the year, allowing the teacher to formatively assess both student progress and the course itself

Pre-Service Teachers’ Use of Visualizations in the Science Classroom: A Case Study

Scientific visualizations of phenomena can enhance the way learners understand scientific concepts (Honey & Hilton, 2011). Scientific concepts can be abstract and difficult for students to understand and visualizations can help make these abstract concepts more concrete for students. For example, chemistry students often struggle with understanding how atoms bond since they cannot directly see atoms. Using a visualization to show students how the electrons are shared or transferred can help students understand these abstract concepts. In addition, many visualizations are freely available online and can be a key element to maintain quality science instruction with limited resources

Professional Development and Teacher Change: The Missing Leadership Link

Professional development in science education aims to support teacher learning with the ultimate goal of improving student achievement. A multitude of factors influence teacher change and the effectiveness of professional development. This review of the literature explores these factors and identifies school and district science leaders as a critical factor missing from current professional development models. School and district leaders play a significant role in the planning and implementation of professional development, as well as providing ongoing leadership to support teacher change. Considering this role, school district leaders are not just a contextual factor, but rather an integral part of the process and should be integrated into and considered part of any professional development model in science education

Kinesthetic investigations in the physics classroom

Creating investigations that allow students to see physics in their everyday world and to be kinesthetically active outside of the traditional physics classroom can be incredibly engaging and effective. The investigations we developed were inquiry investigations in which students engaged in concrete experiences before we discussed the ab- stract concepts and derived the mathematical relationships. In this article, we describe the approach to inquiry used and an explanation of kinesthetic investigations in general. We then provide a description of several of the investigations and some examples of how students responded to them