Aboriginal Students’ Achievement in Science Education: The Effect of Teaching Methods

Some authors assume that the academic difficulties encountered by Aboriginal students can be partly explained by the discrepancy between teaching methods and Aboriginal learning styles. However, this hypothesis lacks empirical foundations. Using pan-Canadian data, we tried to identify the most efficient teaching methods for Aboriginal students and assessed whether these methods were associated with performance differences between Aboriginals and non-Aboriginals in science education. Results revealed that judicious dosage and a proper balance among teaching methods seem to be required for students’ optimal achievement. In addition, only marginal differences were observed between Aboriginals and non-Aboriginals. However, standard assessment methods might partly explain these unexpected results

L’interprétation des tests d’hypothèses : p, la taille de l’effet et la puissance

Cet article vise à expliciter la logique des tests d’hypothèses en recherche. Plusieurs études ont démontré une confusion quant à la signification des résultats de tests d’hypothèses. Cette confusion proviendrait en partie des points divergents entre les approches de Fisher, de Neyman et Pearson ainsi que de Bayes. L’article précise l’information fournie par le coefficient de signification, la taille de l’effet et la puissance et propose différents logiciels permettant l’analyse de la puissance et de la taille de l’effet.This paper aims to explain the rationale of hypothesis testing in research. Many studies have shown some confusion as to the significance of hypothesis testing results. This confusion could partially come from discrepancies between the approaches of Fisher, Neyman and Pearson as well as Bayes. The article clarifies the information provided by the significance coefficient, effect size and power, and proposes various software to perform power and effect size analysis.Este artículo tiene por objetivo explicitar la lógica de las pruebas de hipótesis en investigación. Varios estudios han demostrado una confusión en cuanto al significado de los resultados de las pruebas de hipótesis. Esta confusión tendría en parte por origen los puntos divergentes entre los enfoques de Fisher, de Neyman et Pearson así como de Bayes. El artículo precisa la información proporcionada por el coeficiente de significado, el tamaño del efecto y la potencia y propone distintos programas que permiten el análisis de la potencia y del tamaño del efecto

Évaluation de l’utilisation et de la présentation des résultats d’analyses factorielles et d’analyses en composantes principales en éducation

Nous évaluons l’utilisation et la présentation des résultats d’analyses factorielles et d’analyses en composantes principales dans six périodiques canadiens en éducation publiés entre 1995 et 2005. À partir de 1089 articles, nous avons relevé 61 utilisations de ces analyses. En ayant recours à une grille de lecture, nous avons recueilli des informations sur le but de l’utilisation de l’analyse, la taille de l’échantillon, les variables, la méthode d’extraction, le critère de dimensionnalité, la méthode de rotation des axes et les résultats présentés. Nous avons identifié des lacunes, tant au niveau des pratiques que de la présentation des résultats. Enfin, nous formulons quelques recommandations quant à l’utilisation rigoureuse de ces types d’analyses.This paper presents an evaluation of the use and presentation of results of factor analysis and principal component analysis as published between 1995 and 2005 in six Canadian educational periodicals. From a corpus of 1089 articles, the authors noted 61 uses of these analyses. Using a reading grid, they noted information on the objective of the analysis, the sample size, the variables, the extraction method, the dimensionality criteria, the method for axes rotation, and the results presented. They identified deficiencies both at the level of practices and in the result presentation. Finally, the authors formulate several recommendations regarding a more rigorous use of these types of analyses.Evaluamos la utilización y la presentación de los resultados de análisis factoriales y de análisis en componentes principales dentro de seis publicaciones periódicas canadienses en educación publicadas entre 1995 et 2005. En 1089 artículos, notamos 61 utilizaciones de estos análisis. Mediante una matriz de lectura, recolectamos informaciones en cuanto al objetivo de la utilización de análisis, el tamaño de la muestra, las variables, el método de extracción, el criterio de dimensionalidad, el método de rotación de los ejes y los resultados presentados. Identificamos unas lagunas, tanto a nivel de las prácticas como de la presentación de los resultados. Por terminar, formulamos algunas recomendaciones en cuanto a la utilización rigorosa de estos tipos de análisis

L’insertion professionnelle des enseignants :: recension d'écrits

Cette recension de la documentation scientifique porte sur trois aspects du processus d’insertion professionnelle des enseignants novices : les conditions d’exercice, les stratégies d’insertion ainsi que la formation et le développement professionnel. Il ressort que les conditions d’exercice sont généralement difficiles et marquées par la précarité. Comme l’accent est mis sur les programmes d’induction, les stratégies d’insertion des enseignants demeurent peu explorées. La formation initiale est unanimement critiquée et le développement professionnel s’opérerait entre collègues, à l’intérieur des murs de l’école. Des conséquences pour la recherche suisse sur l’insertion professionnelle sont identifiées

L’insertion professionnelle en enseignement: validation d’un modèle inspiré de Bronfenbrenner

En éducation, la transition de la formation à la pratique professionnelle demeure un phénomène complexe. Nous avons donc entrepris de tester un modèle de l’insertion professionnelle en enseignement inspiré de celui de Bronfenbrenner. Ce modèle situe le novice au centre de systèmes concentriques et a inspiré six hypothèses que nous avons testées. Trois institutions ont pris part à ce projet, soit les HEP BEJUNE, de Fribourg et du Valais. Un échantillon de 186 novices a répondu à un questionnaire au printemps 2006. La modélisation d’équations structurelles a permis de tester les relations entre des variables touchant à la perception de compétence, aux conditions de travail, à la formation initiale et au succès perçu de l’insertion. Nos résultats soulignent l’importance des conditions à l’embauche et de la satisfaction au travail sur la perception du succès de l’insertion et l’engagement à l’école

Análisis de la práctica docente y construcción de un referente de competencias profesionales

Hoy en día, el análisis de la práctica docente bascula entre el estudio de la práctica efectiva y el estudio del discurso sobre dicha práctica. En esta línea de acción, en el campo de las ciencias de la educación parece difícil abandonar el terreno de los estudios exploratorios, a menudo llevados a cabo de manera poco estructurada sobre un número restringido de sujetos, impidiendo así cualquier esfuerzo de generalización. En este artículo se presenta un proceso científico de modelización de invariantes a la base de la práctica. Este proceso comprende dos tiempos: 1) el estudio de las representaciones de la práctica formuladas por un número suficiente de docentes y extraídas al hilo de análisis lexicométricos, y 2) el estudio de prácticas efectivas, grabadas en vídeo y ligadas entre sí con la ayuda de análisis factoriales. Se presentan, a la vez, ilustraciones del proceso

Odds of Anxiety and Depression Symptoms in School-Aged Children From Official Language Minority Communities

Objectives: The aim of this paper is to assess the odds of suffering from anxiety or depression symptoms based on the presence of certain determinants of health for youth living in the province of New Brunswick, Canada, and in two linguistically different Official Language Minority Communities (OLMCs) in the same province.Methods: With a sample of 22,329 students from grades 7 to 12 in the province of New Brunswick, Canada, logistic regressions were performed to assess each determinant of health's effect on symptoms of anxiety and depression.Results: Some social determinants, like family support, social support and food insecurity, were identified as important determinants of mental health status regardless of linguistic group membership or community membership, while other determinants, such as alcohol use, cannabis use and natural environment, were more prominent in one OLMC than the other.Discussion: Social psychology and public health theories are used in an attempt to explain the results. Limitations and recommendations are also brought forward

Performance of the Ebel standard-setting method for the spring 2019 Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada internal medicine certification examination consisting of multiple-choice questions

Purpose This study aimed to assess the performance of the Ebel standard-setting method for the spring 2019 Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada internal medicine certification examination consisting of multiple-choice questions. Specifically, the following parameters were evaluated: inter-rater agreement, the correlations between Ebel scores and item facility indices, the impact of raters’ knowledge of correct answers on the Ebel score, and the effects of raters’ specialty on inter-rater agreement and Ebel scores. Methods Data were drawn from a Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada certification exam. The Ebel method was applied to 203 multiple-choice questions by 49 raters. Facility indices came from 194 candidates. We computed the Fleiss kappa and the Pearson correlations between Ebel scores and item facility indices. We investigated differences in the Ebel score according to whether correct answers were provided or not and differences between internists and other specialists using the t-test. Results The Fleiss kappa was below 0.15 for both facility and relevance. The correlation between Ebel scores and facility indices was low when correct answers were provided and negligible when they were not. The Ebel score was the same whether the correct answers were provided or not. Inter-rater agreement and Ebel scores were not significantly different between internists and other specialists. Conclusion Inter-rater agreement and correlations between item Ebel scores and facility indices were consistently low; furthermore, raters’ knowledge of the correct answers and raters’ specialty had no effect on Ebel scores in the present setting

Adding 6 months of androgen deprivation therapy to postoperative radiotherapy for prostate cancer: a comparison of short-course versus no androgen deprivation therapy in the RADICALS-HD randomised controlled trial

Background Previous evidence indicates that adjuvant, short-course androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) improves metastasis-free survival when given with primary radiotherapy for intermediate-risk and high-risk localised prostate cancer. However, the value of ADT with postoperative radiotherapy after radical prostatectomy is unclear. Methods RADICALS-HD was an international randomised controlled trial to test the efficacy of ADT used in combination with postoperative radiotherapy for prostate cancer. Key eligibility criteria were indication for radiotherapy after radical prostatectomy for prostate cancer, prostate-specific antigen less than 5 ng/mL, absence of metastatic disease, and written consent. Participants were randomly assigned (1:1) to radiotherapy alone (no ADT) or radiotherapy with 6 months of ADT (short-course ADT), using monthly subcutaneous gonadotropin-releasing hormone analogue injections, daily oral bicalutamide monotherapy 150 mg, or monthly subcutaneous degarelix. Randomisation was done centrally through minimisation with a random element, stratified by Gleason score, positive margins, radiotherapy timing, planned radiotherapy schedule, and planned type of ADT, in a computerised system. The allocated treatment was not masked. The primary outcome measure was metastasis-free survival, defined as distant metastasis arising from prostate cancer or death from any cause. Standard survival analysis methods were used, accounting for randomisation stratification factors. The trial had 80% power with two-sided α of 5% to detect an absolute increase in 10-year metastasis-free survival from 80% to 86% (hazard ratio [HR] 0·67). Analyses followed the intention-to-treat principle. The trial is registered with the ISRCTN registry, ISRCTN40814031, and ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT00541047. Findings Between Nov 22, 2007, and June 29, 2015, 1480 patients (median age 66 years [IQR 61–69]) were randomly assigned to receive no ADT (n=737) or short-course ADT (n=743) in addition to postoperative radiotherapy at 121 centres in Canada, Denmark, Ireland, and the UK. With a median follow-up of 9·0 years (IQR 7·1–10·1), metastasis-free survival events were reported for 268 participants (142 in the no ADT group and 126 in the short-course ADT group; HR 0·886 [95% CI 0·688–1·140], p=0·35). 10-year metastasis-free survival was 79·2% (95% CI 75·4–82·5) in the no ADT group and 80·4% (76·6–83·6) in the short-course ADT group. Toxicity of grade 3 or higher was reported for 121 (17%) of 737 participants in the no ADT group and 100 (14%) of 743 in the short-course ADT group (p=0·15), with no treatment-related deaths. Interpretation Metastatic disease is uncommon following postoperative bed radiotherapy after radical prostatectomy. Adding 6 months of ADT to this radiotherapy did not improve metastasis-free survival compared with no ADT. These findings do not support the use of short-course ADT with postoperative radiotherapy in this patient population