How different are ICT-supported pedagogical practices from extensive and non-extensive ICT-using science teachers?

This paper aims to understand the differences between characteristics of ICT-supported pedagogical practices of grade 8 science teachers of extensive and non-extensive ICT-using science teachers. The differences of the pedagogical practices are described in terms of innovative and traditionally important practice orientations. The innovative practice orientation reflects a demand for education in an information society (e.g. communication skills; ability to learn at own pace), while the traditionally important practice orientation (e.g. subject-matter knowledge) reflects teaching and learning in an industrial society. The purpose of this study was to explore differences between the ICT-supported pedagogical practices of extensive and non-extensive ICT-using science teachers. As part of the SITES 2006 study extensive ICT-using science teachers nominated their most satisfying pedagogical practice. Perceived student outcomes and teaching practices have been analyzed using the SITES 2006 database. In addition, the regular pedagogical practices of these science teachers were, using the SITES 2006 database, compared with the regular pedagogical practices of non-extensive ICT-using science teachers. The results show that although traditionally important practices within the context of ICT are still dominant in science education, changes in the equilibrium between traditionally important and innovative practice orientations are taking place across educational systems

Science Teacher Learning of MBL-Supported Student-Centered Science Education in the Context of Secondary Education in Tanzania

Science teachers from secondary schools in Tanzania were offered an in-service arrangement to prepare them for the integration of technology in a student-centered approach to science teaching. The in-service arrangement consisted of workshops in which educative curriculum materials were used to prepare teachers for student-centered education and for the use and application of Microcomputer Based Laboratories (MBL)—a specific technology application for facilitating experiments in science education. Quantitative and qualitative data were collected to study whether the in-service arrangement impacted teacher learning. Teacher learning was determined by three indicators: (1) the ability to conduct MBL-supported student centered science lessons, (2) teachers’ reflection on those lessons and (3) students’ perceptions of the classroom environment. The results of the research indicate that the teachers’ were able to integrate MBL in their science lessons at an acceptable level and that they were able to create a classroom environment which was appreciated by their students as more investigative and open-ended

MAKING RELIGION ACCEPTABLE IN COMMUNIST ROMANIA AND THE SOVIET UNION, 1943-1989

This dissertation focuses on religious gatherings in communist Romania and the Soviet Union, 1943-1989. Church was one of the few opportunities for voluntary associational life and is invaluable for the study of power, ideology, and belonging in an everyday social setting. This project is based on archival documents and memoirs, uncovering how state officials and religious representatives struggled to establish religious practice that would be acceptable to all. Although ideologically atheist, state officials regarded some religious gatherings as acceptable and others unacceptable, but not due to utterances of beliefs or performance of traditional sacraments, but because of social aspects: how people related to one another, what kinds of people came, the settings of the gatherings, and affective characteristics like enthusiasm, engagement, and authenticity. Even though believers participated in religious gatherings for their own reasons, state officials policed them as contests for mobilization. This project compares the cases of the Romanian Orthodox Church and Reformed Church of the Transylvanian region of Romania and the Russian Orthodox Church and the Baptist Church in the Moscow region of the Soviet Union. Based on comparisons, the role of a Church\u27s culture in shaping church-state relations becomes clear. Officials largely considered traditional Orthodox hierarchy and rituals as religiously unproblematic, but they underestimated the power of such features of Orthodoxy to endure and mobilize successive generations. The hierarchical nature of the Orthodox Churches did not preclude spirited negotiations over acceptable Orthodox religiosity, but non-conforming or innovating priests were marginalized relatively easily. Protestant Churches have had a more entrenched custom of decentralization in governance and Scriptural interpretation, factors which presented officials with difficulty in centralizing the management of such churches and which at times led to protracted interpersonal battles and inner-church divisions. One such case sparked the Romanian Revolution in 1989. Officials in Romania and the Soviet Union handled the problem of religion very similarly in defining the acceptable limits of religious activity in practice, but virulent attacks on religion in the Soviet Union prior to WWII made for a stronger lingering religious antagonism there after the War than in Romania, where Orthodoxy was at times incorporated into the state’s nationalist discourse

Teaching and Learning with Technology During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Highlighting the Need for Micro-Meso-Macro Alignments

All over the world teaching and learning transitioned to forms of online education due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In this contribution, we recognize challenges that this disruptive change brought about for teachers and learners. We reflect on these challenges, based on discussions at EDUsummIT2019 in Quebec about the theme “Learners and learning contexts: New alignments for the digital age”. Informed by theoretical conceptualization and empirical evidence we identify micro-meso-macro alignments that need to be in place to move education into the digital age: alignments for quality learning contexts, alignments in support for teachers, and alignments through partnerships