Rethinking Educational Reforms Through a Complex Dynamical Systems Approach: Preliminary Report from an Empirical Research

Literature on educational reforms is rich of cases where changes have been attempted, without however to attain success. Likewise the Greek education system had experienced a lot of reforms, most of which have failed to make the intended changes and they attenuated shortly after their implementation or they ceased at the stage of legislative planning. On the other hand, the traditional research have failed to develop a coherent theoretical perspective and provide satisfactory interpretations of the perpetually unsuccessful reforms. This paper is part of wider project which attempts to address the above issue following the Complex Dynamical Systems (CDS) perspective, that is, by fostering the CDS epistemological assumptions and applying nonlinear methodological approaches. This endeavor focuses on teachers\u27 readiness for change and explores the dimensions of the resistance to change related to the values, attitudes, dysfunction beliefs and planed behaviors of teachers. Given that the project is still ongoing, here, only the outline of the research design and the strategy followed are discussed along with some preliminary findings. At a first stage, the investigation implemented focus-group settings to reveal clues of those dimensions. The recorded data were analyzed via orbital decomposition analysis (ODA), a method designed for categorical time series and discourse analysis. Some of the crucial dimensions of resistance-to-change were subsequently measured via a survey instrument and were used to predict teachers’ position with linear and nonlinear models. Statistical analysis showed that the cusp catastrophe model was superior to the linear alternatives and revealed discontinuities in teachers’ positions, while certain variables proved to be bifurcation factors. The implications of these findings are discussed, while methodological aspects of ODA and catastrophe theory modeling are briefly presented. The present work sets a framework for the application of complexity theory and nonlinear dynamics in organizational theory of educational change

Mental representations of 12 year-old children about boiling and evaporation: A probabilistic association with convergent and divergent thinking

Students’ understanding of physical phenomena is determined by their relevant representations, which are very crucial for science education. Since these representations are often incompatible with the scientific view, their functional role in the learning processes has been the main interest of a plethora of research work over the last decades. In the present research students’ representations for boiling and evaporation are investigated and an attempt is made to correlate them with two cognitive variables, which have been shown to be involved in mental processes of learning science, namely convergent and divergent thinking. The study took place with the participation of 375 sixth-grade elementary school pupils (aged 11-12). Methodologically the ordinal logistic regression was implemented to correlate the categorical-type dependent variable with scale-type independent predictors. The results show that both convergent and divergent thinking are significantly associated with pupils' sufficient responses. Interpretation of the results and implications for science education are discussed

CAREER DECISION DIFFICULTIES AND DECISION STATUSES AMONG GREEK STUDENT TEACHERS

This study examined the perceived career decision-making difficulties among Greek student teachers via the Career Decision-Making Difficulties Questionnaire (CDDQ). The Greek version of CDDQ was firstly analyzed with exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis. In a sample of student teachers majoring in humanities and social sciences (N = 780), the initially proposed structure of CDDQ was partially confirmed with seven of the ten anticipated factors present. These factors were used as independent variables in multivariate models predicting participants' overall difficulty during the career decision-making process, the degree of certainty for their choices, and their decision status. Discussion of the findings is provided

The effect of three cognitive variables on students' understanding of the particulate nature of matter and its changes of state

In this study, students' understanding of the structure of matter and its changes of state, such as, melting, evaporation, boiling and condensation was investigated in relation to three cognitive variables: logical thinking, field-dependence/ field-independence and convergence/ divergence dimension. The study took place in Greece with the participation of 329 ninth-grade junior high school pupils (age 14-15). A stepwise multiple regression analysis revealed that all of the above mentioned cognitive variables were statistically significant predictors of the students' achievement. Among the three predictors, logical thinking was found to be the most dominant one. In addition, students’ understanding of the structure of matter, along with the cognitive variables, were shown to have an effect on their understanding the changes of states and on their competence to interpret these physical changes. Path analyses were implemented to depict these effects. Moreover, a theoretical analysis is provided that associates logical thinking and cognitive styles with the nature of mental tasks involved when learning the material concerning the particulate nature of matter and its changes of state. Implications for science education are also discussed

Primary teachers' particle ideas and explanations of physical phenomena: the effect of an in-service training course

This paper presents a study concerning Greek primary school teachers' (n=162) ideas about the particulate nature of matter and their explanations of physical phenomena. The study took place during an in-service training course where the effectiveness of a specially designed intervention was tested. A key feature was an approach based on the concept of a substance and its states rather than 'solids, liquids and gases'. Pre-intervention, the teachers held misconceptions similar to those of pupils. Also, there seemed to be some relationship between the teachers' particle model ideas and their explanations of phenomena. Post-intervention, the teachers' descriptions and explanations were found to be significantly improved, with almost zero correlation between pre and post intervention scores. Implications for science education are discussed

Attitudes towards STEM education: nonlinear effects of teachers’ readiness and the crucial role of affective conditions

IntroductionTeacher attitudes (Att) toward STEM—Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics—education is decisive for its successful integration into contemporary curricula. On the other hand, teachers’ readiness for STEM influences their attitudes and controls their behavior in everyday practice.MethodsIn this study, the four dimensions of readiness for STEM, i.e., affective conditions (Affe), cognitive preparedness (Cogn), self-efficacy (SEff), and STEM commitment (Com), measured via the TRi-STEM scale, were tested as predictors of attitudes using non-linear models. Data were taken from teachers (N = 494) who completed the TRi-STEM questionnaire and the attitudes towards STEM scale for measuring attitudes. Catastrophe theory was applied, and three cusp models, superior to the linear and logistic counterparts, were proposed predicting attitudes (Att) as a function of combinations of Cogn, SEff, Com, and Affe.ResultsThe three models are as follows: Cusp 1 with (Cogn – Affe) as asymmetry and (Cogn + Affe) as bifurcation factors; Cusp 2 with (Com – Affe) as asymmetry and (Com + Affe) as bifurcation factors, and Cusp 3 with (SEff – Affe) as asymmetry and (SEff + Affe) as bifurcation factors. The findings showed that affective conditions involved in a dynamic interplay with other independent variables could lead to sudden and abrupt changes in Att.DiscussionThe empirical evidence for non-linear effects in teacher attitudes (Att) toward STEM informs theory development and practice by supporting the complexity and dynamical system framework as a more realistic premise to describe and interpret potentially occurring phenomena of teachers’ behavior in the context of STEM education

University students' experiences of sexual harassment: the role of gender and psychological resilience

This study aimed to investigate university students' experiences of different types of sexually harassing behaviors, within academia, as well as the role of gender and psychological resilience regarding their victimization and its consequences. Overall, 2,134 students (70.5% women), both undergraduates (81%) and postgraduates (19%), completed a self-reported online questionnaire regarding the variables involved (sexual harassment, consequences, and resilience). According to the results, the most prevailing types of sexually harassing behaviors, which were experienced mainly by women students, included offensive sexual comments/jokes/stories, inappropriate comments about one's body/appearance/sex life, as well as obscene ways of staring, obscene gestures, and/or exposure of body parts causing embarrassment. Accordingly, the perceived psycho-emotional and academic consequences of sexual harassment were more pronounced in the case of women. Furthermore, psychological resilience was negatively associated with gender, making women with low resilience more vulnerable to experiences of sexual harassment and more affected by its consequences. This study highlights important aspects of this gender-based aggressive behavior in academia and emphasizes the necessity for the implementation of appropriate policies and interventions in higher education institutions against sexual harassment