207 research outputs found
âFitting into the Teaching Professionâ: Supervising Teachersâ Judgements During the Practicum
This study explores supervising teachersâ judgements about pre-service teachers during a practicum experience. Making judgements is a complex, subjective process with judgements being conscious and intuitive, influenced by individual beliefs, contextual expectations and personal learning biographies. This research draws on Social Judgement Theory to guide the analysis of data collected from interviews with experienced supervising teachers. Analysis indicated that the supervisors placed most emphasis on âpersonal qualitiesâ of pre-service teachers. This has implications for the selection of candidates for teaching, the importance of non-academic capabilities in teaching and the development of pre-service teachersâ personal qualities within initial teacher education programs
Middle leading in Australian schools: professional standards, positions, and professional development
In Australia, there is a national education agenda for school improvement with an increasing focus on how school leaders can fulfil this agenda. As school principals are arguably faced with increasing demands, the importance of school middle leaders is increasing. This article presents the initial findings from a larger project on middle leadership in Australian schools, the first phase of which is a documentary analysis of significant texts including policy documents, websites and reports. The purpose of the document analysis was to examine expectations placed on, and support provided for, school middle leaders in Australian schools to make explicit the potential implications for policymakers, leaders and researchers investigating this field. We argue there is a lack of clarity about the role of middle leadership across Australia, with unclear policies, and variations in expectations, titles and levels of support. What is evident is that middle leaders play a pivotal role as they lead teaching, learning, and pastoral care. They carry out these roles in subject areas, key stages and classrooms, and among teachers. While there are a range of professional development provisions for middle leaders across different states, middle leadership needs to be an area of increased focus across Australia
Overview of mathematical approaches used to model bacterial chemotaxis II: bacterial populations
We review the application of mathematical modeling to understanding the behavior of populations of chemotactic bacteria. The application of continuum mathematical models, in particular generalized KellerâSegel models, is discussed along with attempts to incorporate the microscale (individual) behavior on the macroscale, modeling the interaction between different species of bacteria, the interaction of bacteria with their environment, and methods used to obtain experimentally verified parameter values. We allude briefly to the role of modeling pattern formation in understanding collective behavior within bacterial populations. Various aspects of each model are discussed and areas for possible future research are postulated
Migration of chemotactic bacteria in soft agar: role of gel concentration
We study the migration of chemotactic wild-type Escherichia coli populations
in semisolid (soft) agar in the concentration range C = 0.15-0.5% (w/v). For C
< 0.35%, expanding bacterial colonies display characteristic chemotactic rings.
At C = 0.35%, however, bacteria migrate as broad circular bands rather than
sharp rings. These are growth/diffusion waves arising because of suppression of
chemotaxis by the agar and have not been previously reported experimentally to
our knowledge. For C = 0.4-0.5%, expanding colonies do not span the depth of
the agar and develop pronounced front instabilities. The migration front speed
is weakly dependent on agar concentration at C < 0.25%, but decreases sharply
above this value. We discuss these observations in terms of an extended
Keller-Segel model for which we derived novel transport parameter expressions
accounting for perturbations of the chemotactic response by collisions with the
agar. The model makes it possible to fit the observed front speed decay in the
range C = 0.15-0.35%, and its solutions qualitatively reproduce the observed
transition from chemotactic to growth/diffusion bands. We discuss the
implications of our results for the study of bacteria in porous media and for
the design of improved bacteriological chemotaxis assays.Comment: 28 pages, 5 figures. Published online at
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S000634951100721
An Evolutionary Upgrade of Cognitive Load Theory: Using the Human Motor System and Collaboration to Support the Learning of Complex Cognitive Tasks
Cognitive load theory is intended to provide instructional strategies derived from experimental, cognitive load effects. Each effect is based on our knowledge of human cognitive architecture, primarily the limited capacity and duration of a human working memory. These limitations are ameliorated by changes in long-term memory associated with learning. Initially, cognitive load theory's view of human cognitive architecture was assumed to apply to all categories of information. Based on Geary's (Educational Psychologist 43, 179-195 2008; 2011) evolutionary account of educational psychology, this interpretation of human cognitive architecture requires amendment. Working memory limitations may be critical only when acquiring novel information based on culturally important knowledge that we have not specifically evolved to acquire. Cultural knowledge is known as biologically secondary information. Working memory limitations may have reduced significance when acquiring novel
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