Making Sense of “Outsiderness”: How Life History Informs the College Experiences of “Nontraditional” Students

2018 ◽  
Vol 25 (5) ◽  
pp. 500-512 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Lanford
Keyword(s):  
Nontraditional Students ◽  
Life Histories ◽  
Formal Education ◽  
College Experiences ◽  
First Year ◽  
College Level ◽  
Nontraditional College Students ◽  
Educational Trajectories ◽  
Making Sense ◽  
Return To College

This article presents the life histories of two “nontraditional” college students—Demetrius and Christine—as a means to explore the concept of “outsiderness” and its impact on undergraduate student success. Through multiple interviews and observations conducted over the course of a full year, the article first outlines the life circumstances that compelled both students to leave formal education during adolescence. Then, the article details how Demetrius and Christine managed to return to college despite formidable personal and financial challenges. Although both students demonstrate tremendous promise in their college-level coursework, they are wary of their own college readiness, primarily due to their “nontraditional” educational trajectories and a lack of clarity about instructors’ expectations. Hence, the article concludes by considering the forms of support that might help similar nontraditional students succeed in first-year coursework, and eventually graduate from college.

scholarly journals Formatively assessing prospective teachers’ skills in leading mathematics discussions

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Meghan Shaughnessy ◽  
Nicole M. Garcia ◽  
Michaela Krug O’Neill ◽  
Sarah Kate Selling ◽  
Amber T. Willis ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Elementary Teachers ◽  
Formative Assessment ◽  
Conceptual Understanding ◽  
Prospective Teachers ◽  
First Year ◽  
Teacher Education Programs ◽  
First Year Teachers ◽  
Education Programs ◽  
Prospective Elementary Teachers ◽  
Making Sense

AbstractMathematics discussions are important for helping students to develop conceptual understanding and to learn disciplinary norms and practices. In recent years, there has been increased attention to teaching prospective teachers to lead discussions with students. This paper examines the possibilities of designing a formative assessment that gathers information about prospective elementary teachers’ skills with leading problem-based mathematics discussions and makes sense of such information. A decomposition of the practice of leading discussions was developed and used to design the assessment. Nine first-year teachers who graduated from a range of different teacher education programs participated in the study. The findings reveal that our formative assessment works to gather information about teachers’ capabilities with leading discussions and that the associated tools support making sense of the information gathered. This suggests that such tools could be useful to support the formative assessment of the developing capabilities of prospective teachers.

scholarly journals A Case for the Introduction of Designers' Safety Education (DSE) for Architects and Civil Engineers

2013 ◽  
Vol 10 ◽  
pp. 160-164 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wan Faida Wan Azmi ◽  
Mohd Saidin Misnan
Keyword(s):  
Formal Education ◽  
Indirect Costs ◽  
Initial Step ◽  
Construction Safety ◽  
Design Decision ◽  
College Level ◽  
Safety Education ◽  
Safety Measures ◽  
Huge Impact ◽  
Design For Construction Safety

The construction industry has been known as the most fatal industries worldwide. Accident affects varies parties involving direct and indirect costs to the contractor and clients as well. The construction safety measures in the current practice often begin during the construction phase rather than at the earliest stages possible. Design for Construction Safety (DfCS) is a process to reduce the hazards and risks during construction by focussing on design decision at the design phase. This concept implementation is new and has yet to be adapted worldwide. With every new culture comes with a set of list to overcome. The top barriers stated by past researchers are lack of knowledge and education followed by increased of liability and the nature of the industry. The initial step to be taken is to adapt this concept in the universities and college level during the designers’ formal education. By mastering this subject, the designers will become more confidence with new found skills while their attitudes towards safety will have a huge impact on workforce safety by eliminating hazards on site.

scholarly journals A study on the improvement of basic general mathematics according to changes in the basic mathematical ability of first-year college students in the fields of science and engineering

2021 ◽  
Vol 15 (5) ◽  
pp. 85-95
Author(s):  
Hye Yoon Choi ◽  
Sang Kil Shim
Keyword(s):  
Mathematics Education ◽  
Mathematics Curriculum ◽  
National Level ◽  
Academic Ability ◽  
Mathematical Ability ◽  
Policy Support ◽  
First Year ◽  
College Level ◽  
Science And Engineering ◽  
Ability Test

The objective of this study is to examine changes in the Mathematics Curriculum and the College Scholastic Ability Test that affect the changes in the Basic Mathematical Ability of students enrolled in Science and Engineering departments and to compare and analyze the educational contents of basic general mathematics completed by first-year students in science and engineering fields in order to provide improvement plans for basic general mathematics. In Korea, whenever the mathematics curriculum is revised, the content covered in the previous curriculum is deleted or weakened in order to optimize the educational content, and ‘Calculus’ and ‘Geometry’ are required for science and engineering students to choose in the college scholastic ability test. Thus, the basic academic ability of mathematics is lowered, and it is difficult to complete the basic general mathematics taught in the first year of university. In order to solve this problem, it is necessary to analyze the mathematics and curriculum to include deleted or weakened contents in the university's basic general mathematics, to understand the students' basic academic ability in mathematics, and to operate basic general mathematics by level or operate basic mathematics courses. In addition, when revising the mathematics both in curriculum and the university scholastic ability test, the opinions of professors in charge of basic general mathematics education at universities should be sufficiently reflected to minimize changes in key factors for students to complete basic general mathematics, and it is necessary to provide policy support at the national level for the development and operation of the curriculum for general mathematics education at a college level.

Addressing the divergence between health science students’ learning preferences and the way their teachers teach

The Advisor ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 41 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Una L. DeChellis
Keyword(s):  
Learning Preferences ◽  
Health Science ◽  
First Year ◽  
College Level ◽  
Science Students ◽  
Teaching Approaches ◽  
Science Courses ◽  
Anatomy And Physiology ◽  
Quantitative And Qualitative Research ◽  
The Relationship

Abstract Both the literature and personal experience show that attrition from prerequisite science courses for the health professions is significant. To examine one possible reason for that attrition, a study was designed to examine the relationship between the teaching approaches employed by college-level anatomy and physiology (A&P) instructors and the learning preferences of first-year health science (FYHS) students. Students and instructors of a first-year Anatomy and Physiology course at a small, private four year college in the Northeast participated in a combined quantitative and qualitative research protocol. Results showed that instructors’ teaching approaches met the participating FYHS students’ learning preferences in some areas but not all. The findings suggest that addressing the gap between FYHS students’ learning preferences and the teaching approaches of A&P instructors could lead to more successful academic outcomes.

Reengaging Texts, French, and Cultural Narratives

2016 ◽  
pp. 313-336
Author(s):  
Dane Stalcup
Keyword(s):  
College Students ◽  
Experiential Learning ◽  
Reflective Writing ◽  
First Year ◽  
College Level ◽  
Cultural Narratives ◽  
First Year College ◽  
First Year College Students ◽  
High Level ◽  
Global Travel

This chapter examines a course model through which first-year college students engage in advanced reflective communication (i.e. discussion, writing, field trip investigations) in order to embrace diverse voices, perspectives, and populations. To determine how freshmen can achieve a high level of multiculturalism and insightful expression at the same time, the author investigates the effectiveness of his freshman-only Reflective Tutorial, “Global Travel through Cultural Studies.” Drawing jointly from the Humanities and experiential learning, this course invites students to embrace conversations and research on global cultural narratives and to interact with spaces outside of the college classroom that both demonstrate and question these narratives. And by synthesizing reflective writing with experiential observation and analysis, the proposed course model promotes effective communication and awareness of diversity that will prepare students for the kind of crosscultural critical thinking that future experiences at the college level, but also the future itself will require.

How Prior Learning Assessment Fits Into Today's Education Landscape

2018 ◽  
pp. 54-65
Author(s):  
Susan Huggins
Keyword(s):  
Formal Education ◽  
Military Training ◽  
Independent Study ◽  
Assessment Process ◽  
Learning Assessment ◽  
Digital Learning ◽  
College Level ◽  
Prior Learning ◽  
Prior Learning Assessment ◽  
American Council On Education

As defined by the American Council on Education (ACE), prior learning is learning gained outside the college classroom in a variety of settings and through formal and non-formal means, including workplace training, military training and service, independent study, professional certifications, civic activities, or volunteer service. These learning experiences may be equivalent to college-level skills and knowledge and warrant academic credit. Although this definition was coined many years ago, the definition and purpose of prior learning assessment are more pertinent given the changing educational landscape. Today, the proliferation of online and digital learning has opened endless opportunities for learners. With a few clicks on any device, learners can find an immediate solution to their knowledge gap. This increased learning that is occurring outside the walls of formal education increases the need on the assessment process; hence, the growing emphasis on prior learning assessment.

Making Sense of Learning

2015 ◽  
Vol 29 (6) ◽  
pp. 445-457 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tony Blackwood ◽  
Anna Round ◽  
Lee Pugalis ◽  
Lucy Hatt
Keyword(s):  
Early Stage ◽  
Entrepreneurship Education ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
Educational Institutions ◽  
Sense Making ◽  
First Year ◽  
Formal Learning ◽  
Nascent Entrepreneurs ◽  
Learning And Development ◽  
Making Sense

Entrepreneurial learning is complex, reflecting the distinctive dispositions of entrepreneurs (including nascent entrepreneurs at an early stage in their entrepreneurial life course). The surge in entrepreneurship education programmes over recent decades and the attendant increase in scholarship have often contributed to this convoluted field. Consequently, universally applicable articulations of entrepreneurship education can be problematic, especially demarcating between more formal and less formal learning experiences that are not necessarily confined to traditional educational institutions. The authors explore the ways in which nascent entrepreneurs experience and articulate their own ‘learning’ and development during the first year of a specific three-year experientially-based programme. Drawing attention to their deployment of sense-making narratives, the paper presents key findings that have implications for theory and practice.

Reproduction Revisited: Comprehending Complex Educational Trajectories

2012 ◽  
Vol 60 (4) ◽  
pp. 735-753 ◽  
Author(s):  
Will Atkinson
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Capital ◽  
Social Mobility ◽  
Life Histories ◽  
School Success ◽  
Social Space ◽  
Vocational Interests ◽  
The Other ◽  
Space Travel ◽  
Educational Trajectories ◽  
The Uk

Pierre Bourdieu's famous theory of educational reproduction is often depicted by critics in simplistic terms: individuals either have plenty of cultural capital, and thus symbolic mastery and school success, or they do not and develop practical mastery and vocational interests instead. Social mobility, deviant trajectories and resistance, on the other hand, are seemingly impossible. The nature of Bourdieu's writing fuelled this perception, but implicit in his early work, and elaborated in his later writings, is the idea that class and capital possession are fully relational, gradational and refracted by family dynamics, thereby suggesting the existence of all manner of possible shades of difference between the two poles of reproduction. This paper, whilst acknowledging that reproduction is still the major feature of the education system in the UK, thus revisits Bourdieu's thesis and sketches some of the manifestations of this intermediate zone of educational performance, namely social space travel, the Icarus effect, recovered trajectories and pathways born of dispersed family fields. In so doing it draws on a qualitative research project examining the life histories of adults from a variety of class positions in Bristol.

Is Entrepreneurial Education at South African Universities Successful?

2007 ◽  
Vol 21 (3) ◽  
pp. 221-232 ◽  
Author(s):  
E.R. Mentoor ◽  
C. Friedrich
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
Entrepreneurial Orientation ◽  
Formal Education ◽  
Control Group ◽  
First Year ◽  
South Africans ◽  
Entrepreneurial Attitude ◽  
Post Test ◽  
First Year University

After more than ten years of democracy in South Africa, many of the previously disadvantaged segments of the community, especially Blacks, would have hoped that a new economic order would have been created. Instead, South Africa still has very high unemployment and even young Black South Africans with a degree are not guaranteed a job. The purpose of this research was to ascertain whether a traditional first-year university business management course with an entrepreneurial component can contribute to the entrepreneurial orientation of students. The major features of entrepreneurs and innovators are knowledge, skills and attitudes. While the imparting of knowledge and the development of skills development receive, respectively, thorough and sketchy attention in formal education, attitude is hardly addressed. The need for achievement, innovation, locus of control and self-esteem are the variables of attitude that have been most commonly used in research on business motivation and the entrepreneur. To determine the success of an enterprise education course, therefore, the change in attitude of the students can be used as a measure. The instrument that was used to gauge the entrepreneurial attitude orientation of the students was an adaptation of an Entrepreneurial Attitude Orientation (EAO) scale. The authors tested 463 students using a pre-test and post-test approach, incorporating an experimental group and a control group. The results of this study do not augur well for the improvement of the entrepreneurial orientation of students.

Developing Covariational Reasoning Among Students Using Contexts of Formulas

2020 ◽  
Vol 02 (04) ◽  
pp. 2050016
Author(s):  
Andrzej Sokolowski
Keyword(s):  
Mathematical Knowledge ◽  
First Year ◽  
Mathematical Notation ◽  
College Level ◽  
Physics Students ◽  
First Year College ◽  
Covariational Reasoning ◽  
Standard Formula ◽  
Physically Identical

Multiple studies have been conducted to assess students’ ability to apply covariational reasoning to sketching graphs in physics. This study is supported by research on developing students’ skills in sketching functions in mathematics. It attempts to evaluate physics students’ ability to apply these skills to identify critical algebraic attributes of physics formulas for their potential to be sketched. Rather than seeking formulas’ physical interpretation, this study is posited to challenge students’ skills to merge their mathematical knowledge within physics structures. A group of thirty ([Formula: see text]) first-year college-level physics students were provided with two physically identical equations that described the object’s position. However, one equation was expressed in functional mathematical notation, whereas the other in a standard formula notation. The students were asked to classify the symbols in each formula as variables or parameters and determine these formulas’ potential to be graphed in respective coordinates. The analysis revealed that 93% of these students considered function notation as possessing sketchable potential against 13% who envisioned such potential in the standard formula notation. Further investigations demystified students’ confusion about the classification of the symbols used in the formula notation. These results opened up a gate for discussing the effects of algebraic notations in physics on activating students’ covariational skills gained in mathematics courses. Suggestions for improving physics instructions stemming from this study are discussed.

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