Search Results for
"Teaching"

The establishment of the European Higher Education Area has involved specifying lists of professional competencies that programs are expected to develop, and with this the need for procedures to measure how every course within a higher education program is aligned with the program's competencies. We propose an instrument for characterizing this alignment, a process that we call assessing the relevance of a course. Using information from the course syllabus (objectives, contents and assessment scheme), our instrument produces indicators for characterizing the syllabus in terms of a competence list and for assessing its coherence. Because assessment involves quality, the results obtained can also be used to revise and improve the course syllabus. We illustrate this process with an example of a methods course from a mathematics teacher education program at a Spanish university. © 2007.

One of the aims of Educational Guidance is social development and learning in Sec-ondary Education students who are in multicultural contexts. An increase in socioemotional competencies is promoted through Guidance program interventions. The Guidance Program for Socioemotional Competencies (in Spanish, POCOSE) not only improves students' learn-ing process and academic performance, it also favors their integration socially and at school, thus exercising a preventive function against future school failure and other risk factors, such as absenteeism, school dropout, or violence (bullying). The broad cultural diversity which characterizes our Educational System requires identification of socioemotional competencies that are positively related to optimal learning and better socio-educational adjustment of secondary students who are in multicultural con-texts, as well as identifying existing cultural differences in the process of teaching and learning these competencies. There is also a need for scientifically-validated programs for guidance and training in socio-emotional competencies, since these are an appropriate way to improve learning and socio-educational adjustment of Secondary Education students. © 2007 Universidad de Almeria.

The present study focuses on Greek teachers' understanding about the cross-curricular and the project method teaching approaches applied in primary schools. During 2001 the new 'Cross-Curricular Integrated Frame of Programmes of Study' (CCIFPS) for all compulsory education was legalised, however, teachers did not receive any extended training, except an introductory session, and application was left to what they understood. Therefore, it seems to be of significance to find out what actually teachers know about cross-curricular teaching, how this is clarified in their minds and what do they know about the application of cross-curricular topics and the project method. Do they confuse these two teaching approaches and do they apply either or both in their teaching in order to meet the expectations of the new frame of Programmes of Study? To answer those questions we carried out this study and constructed a questionnaire which was given out to primary school teachers from different regions of the country. We decided to focus on teachers who teach in primary schools (year 1 to year 6), because cross-curricular and integrated teaching can be applied to this stage of education by the class teacher himself/herself, compared to the lower secondary school in which different speciality teachers need to co-operate before applying cross-curricular teaching. © Common Ground, Stavroula Kaldi, All Rights Reserved.

teaching anatomy is becoming increasingly challenging due to the progressive evolution of university teaching missions, student populations, medical and undergraduate curricula, coupled with a paucity of empirically tested evidence-based instructional practices in the anatomical and medical education literature. As a mechanism to confront these pedagogical challenges, recent advances in educational psychology are analyzed for developing a framework to guide educational reform efforts. Extensive research in educational psychology over the last 100 years has resulted in four major theories on human learning that have facilitated a paradigm shift from teacher-centered to learner-centered classrooms and are described here in temporal order of development: behavioral theory, information processing theory, metacognitive theory, and social constructivist theory. Each theory is analyzed in detail and is used to construct instructional design principles for enhancing anatomical education research and practice. An example of a cognitively based learning environment for an undergraduate anatomy course is presented. Preliminary results suggest that intentionally drawing on different theories of learning when making instructional decisions gave students the learning support they needed to be successful and nearly doubled the course's student retention rate over a 3-year period. © 2006 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

Interest is a powerful motivator; nonetheless, science educators often lack the necessary information to make use of the power of student-specific interests in the reform process of science curricula. This study suggests a novel methodology, which might be helpful in identifying such interests - using children's self-generated questions as an indication of their scientific interests. In this research, children's interests were measured by analyzing 1555 science-related questions submitted to an international Ask-A-Scientist Internet site. The analysis indicated that the popularity of certain topics varies with age and gender. Significant differences were found between children's spontaneous (intrinsically motivated) and school-related (extrinsically motivated) interests. Surprisingly, girls contributed most of the questions to the sample; however, the number of American girls dropped upon entering senior high school. We also found significant differences between girls' and boys' interests, with girls generally preferring biological topics. The two genders kept to their Stereotypic fields of interest, in both their school-related and spontaneous questions. Children's science interests, as inferred from questions to Web sites, could ultimately inform classroom science teaching. This methodology extends the context in which children's interests can be investigated. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

A high level of personal capacity, the relevant professional competence and technical skills are essential for a graduate's successful transition to the workplace. The purpose of this survey was to identify the main competencies that higher agricultural education graduates should possess, based on the perceptions of potential agricultural employers. The population of this study comprised public, private, and cooperative managers and employers in the agricultural sector in the provinces of Mazandaran, Khuzestan, Kermanshah and Hamedan (N=485). A sample of 212 employers was selected using a stratified random sampling method. A four-part instrument in the form of a questionnaire was developed by the researchers to gather the required data. Factor analysis was used to elicit the preferences of employers for key competencies. The results show that employers value generic competencies relatively higher than field-specific competencies for agricultural graduates entering the agricultural field. The generic competencies identified include communication skills, problem-solving ability, agricultural ethics, business and computer skills, and general administrative skills and abilities, such as leadership and team-work. Technical skills and agricultural professionalism were identified as field-specific competencies. To develop these competencies, a new didactical arrangement, including supervised agricultural experience programmes, experiential learning, and fundamental changes in the teaching and learning process are proposed.

This article considers the prevalence of what have been termed 'training discourses' as dominant practices within a particular University of Technology, and discusses the implications of such discourses for teaching and learning. The rapid emergence of this training or skills discourse in Universities of Technology in South Africa, in preference to discourses that emphasise praxis (a combination of theory and practice) and, by implication, of social redress and transformation, is interrogated within the framework of the current emphasis on training for economic growth. While in some instances the training discourses could be considered empowering for students because of the inclusion of authentic, workplace practices, these discourses could also be considered constraining if they limit students ' ability to solve problems critically and creatively. The ability to adapt to new and changing workplace environments, this article will argue, could be better developed by a more developmental discourse of 'critiquing', 'knowing' and 'doing', rather than just 'doing'.

In this paper I begin by outlining the key characteristics of a view of learning that has been preeminent in the past 30 years in the United Kingdom. The focus of this discourse has been less upon understanding the processes and practices of learning as a complex process and more upon improving the efficiency and effectiveness of the curriculum and of teaching to meet takenforgranted needs. Making use of two case studies, I exemplify a connective approach, as a transaction with the environment, which acknowledges both the contextual and incremental character of knowledgemaking, and the interplay between different cultural factors and influences, including discourse and identity, that playupon learning. This recognises the importance of all the different learning opportunities available to young people while lending support to claims for approaches to both the design of the curriculum and teaching that allow young people to learn in formal and informal contexts.

teaching athletes to improve their performance is the essence of sports coaching. In response to new government-led initiatives to invest in and develop coaching, this book is the first introduction to pedagogical theory for coaching. Bringing helpful insights from educational theory to bear on coaching practice, The Sports Coach as Educator expands and enriches the role of the coach and allows professionals to approach their work in new and inventive ways. Exploring the nature of coaching, this text covers: educational concepts in coaching, coaching, teaching and leadership, athletes' learning, coaching communities and the social process, reflective practice mentoring, developing expert coaches. © 2006 Robyn L. Jones for editorial matter and selection; individual chapters, the contributors. All rights reserved.

In recent years, increasing emphasis has come to be placed, both by researchers and by policy-makers, on the adequacy of primary teachers' subject knowledge of science. Within research, this emphasis has been linked to the rise of constructivist ideas about the significance of establishing children's prior conceptions of scientific concepts for effective teaching. In this article I examine two constructivist approaches to teachers' adequacy of subject knowledge within UK research on primary science education. In each case I provide a critique of the assumptions they make about the nature of knowledge and how it develops. I do this from a sociocultural perspective, which views knowledge and learning as necessarily situated within communities of practice. My aim is to assess the implications of this perspective for understanding teachers' adequacy of subject knowledge. © 2006 Taylor & Francis.