Evaluating teachers’ professional development initiatives : towards an extended evaluative framework

Evaluating teachers’ professional development initiatives (PDI) is one of the main challenges for the teacher professionalisation eld. Although di erent studies have focused on the e ectiveness of PDI, the obtained e ects and evaluative methods have been found to be widely divergent. By means of a narrative review, this study provides an extended framework to guide the evaluation of (the e ectiveness of ) PDI. Furthermore, and in accordance with this framework, an overview of measurement instruments that are currently in use is provided. The study concludes with implications for educational research and developers of PDI

The preparation and specific gravity of pure formic acid and its aqueous solutions

Formic acid, the lowest member of the fatty acid series, was obtained as early as the seventeenth century by distilling ants with water. Other methods were later found after the correct constitution of the acid became known. This acid is not difficult to prepare in a water solution, but it is difficult to obtain in the anhydrous state...The purpose of this work is to study the various methods of preparing anhydrous formic acid, to improve a method for preparing the anhydrous acid, and to correct specific gravity tables for aqueous solutions of formic acid --Introduction, page 1-2

Tracing spontaneous spatial text-learning strategies in late elementary education : comparing trace data, digital writing pen data and eye tracking data.

C

The challenge of promoting self-regulated learning among primary school children with a low socio-economic and immigrant background

This study explores the effects of student tutoring as an approach to provide support on self-regulated learning (SRL) to fifth and sixth graders with a low socio-economic and/or immigrant background. In total, 401 Flemish (Belgium) students participated. A quasi-experimental study with pre-test, post-test, and retention test control group design was used, combining teacher ratings, self-report questionnaires, and think-aloud protocols. The teacher rating results show a significantly positive effect from pre-test to post-test for the experimental condition, but this was not maintained at the retention test. The questionnaire and think-aloud results reveal no significant effects on students’ SRL. However, differential effects depending on students’ motivational profile were found. This study illustrates the complexity of promoting SRL among primary school children with a low socio-economic and/or immigrant background, recommending further research into conditions and factors influencing the effectiveness of student tutoring programmes promoting SRL

Opening the black box of students’ text-learning processes: A process mining perspective

The current study uncovers secondary school students’ actual use of text-learning strategies during an individual learning task by means of a concurrent self-reported thinking aloud procedure. Think-aloud data of 51 participants with different learner profiles, distinguished based on a retrospective self-report questionnaire (i.e., 15 integrated strategy users, 15 information organizers, 10 mental learners, and 11 limited strategy users), were analysed by means of educational process mining. Both the frequency of students’ strategy use, as well as the temporal patterns between these strategies were studied. The process mining results clearly demonstrated differences between students with different learner profiles with respect to the frequency of their applied strategies, as well as concerning the sequences wherein strategies were applied throughout the course of students’ text-learning process. The added value of combining both retrospective and concurrent self-report measures of students’ strategies as well as conducting process mining analysis is discussed