Using Structured Classroom Vignettes to Measure Instructional Practices in Mathematics

2006 ◽  
Vol 28 (2) ◽  
pp. 101-130 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brian Stecher ◽  
Vi-Nhuan Le ◽  
Laura Hamilton ◽  
Gery Ryan ◽  
Abby Robyn ◽  
...  

Large-scale educational studies frequently require accurate descriptions of classroom practices to judge implementation and impact. However, it can be difficult to obtain these descriptions in a timely, efficient manner. To address this problem, the authors developed a vignette-based measure of one aspect of mathematics instructional practice, reform-oriented instruction. Teachers read contextualized descriptions of teaching practices that varied in terms of reform-oriented instruction, and rated the degree to which the options corresponded to their own likely behaviors. Responses from 80 fourth-grade teachers yielded fairly consistent responses across two parallel vignettes and moderate correlations with other scales of reform-oriented instruction derived from classroom observations, surveys, and logs. The results suggested that the vignettes measure important aspects of reform-oriented instruction that are not captured by other measurement methods. Based on this work, it appears that vignettes can be a useful tool for research on instructional practice, but cognitive interviews with participating teachers provided insight into possible improvements to the items.

2016 ◽  
Vol 39 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Wang Chaochang

AbstractCurrent SLA theories have delivered important language-learning notions. This paper will report the results of a study into 64 high school English teachers’ beliefs about language learning and their instructional practices, with a focus on two of them. A questionnaire was developed on the basis of major tenets of second language learning and administered to the 64 participants. In addition, classroom observations and interviews were employed to explore the two focal teachers’ beliefs and their actual classroom instruction practices. Results show both consistencies and inconsistencies between the participants’ beliefs and major SLA notions and between the two focal participants’ beliefs and their classroom practices.


2018 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Shobana Jeyasingam ◽  
Zairus Norsiah Azahar

Teacher talk is a tricky business which often invites more negative remarks rather than positive ones. The issue of ‘too much’ talk or ‘too little’ talk is one such debate that often arises. Then, there is the infamous ‘quality’ versus ‘quantity’ dispute. These issues generally arise when what constitutes good teacher talk should be characterized by who the learners are and in what context does learning occur. This article seeks to discuss characteristics of teacher talk in two rural young learner Malaysian ESL classrooms and also provide an insight into why teacher talk is a major constituent in these classrooms. Two teachers with two different classrooms participated in the study where interviews with the teachers were carried out. Classroom observations were also carried out which were later transcribed to glean most of the data on teacher talk. Stimulated recall interviews were then carried out with the teachers to gain more insight into their classroom practices. This article seeks to proffer a look into what constitutes good teacher talk in a rural young learner L2 classroom taking into account who the learners are and the context of L2 learning present in these classrooms.


2018 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 67-76
Author(s):  
Disyacitta Neolia Firdana ◽  
Trimurtini Trimurtini

This research aimed to determine the properness and effectiveness of the big book media on learning equivalent fractions of fourth grade students. The method of research is Research and Development  (R&D). This study was conducted in fourth grade of SDN Karanganyar 02 Kota Semarang. Data sources from media validation, material validation, learning outcomes, and teacher and students responses on developed media. Pre-experimental research design with one group pretest-posttest design. Big book developed consist of equivalent fractions material, students learning activities sheets with rectangle and circle shape pictures, and questions about equivalent fractions. Big book was developed based on students and teacher needs. This big book fulfill the media validity of 3,75 with very good criteria and scored 3 by material experts with good criteria. In large-scale trial, the result of students posttest have learning outcomes completness 82,14%. The result of N-gain calculation with result 0,55 indicates the criterion “medium”. The t-test result 9,6320 > 2,0484 which means the average of posttest outcomes is better than the average of pretest outcomes. Based on that data, this study has produced big book media which proper and effective as a media of learning equivalent fractions of fourth grade elementary school.


2021 ◽  
Vol 102 (8) ◽  
pp. 8-13
Author(s):  
Thomas Hatch

Taking advantage of the possibilities for learning outside of school requires us to build on what we know about why it is so hard to sustain and scale up unconventional educational experiences within conventional schools. To illustrate the opportunities and challenges, Thomas Hatch describes a large-scale approach to project-based learning developed in a camp in New Hampshire and incorporated in a Brooklyn school, a trip-based program in Detroit, and Singapore’s systemic embrace of learning outside school. By understanding the conditions that can sustain alternative instructional practices, educators can find places to challenge the boundaries of schooling and create visions of the possible that exceed current constraints.


2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (7) ◽  
pp. 432
Author(s):  
Nicolai Moos ◽  
Carsten Juergens ◽  
Andreas P. Redecker

This paper describes a methodological approach that is able to analyse socio-demographic and -economic data in large-scale spatial detail. Based on the two variables, population density and annual income, one investigates the spatial relationship of these variables to identify locations of imbalance or disparities assisted by bivariate choropleth maps. The aim is to gain a deeper insight into spatial components of socioeconomic nexuses, such as the relationships between the two variables, especially for high-resolution spatial units. The used methodology is able to assist political decision-making, target group advertising in the field of geo-marketing and for the site searches of new shop locations, as well as further socioeconomic research and urban planning. The developed methodology was tested in a national case study in Germany and is easily transferrable to other countries with comparable datasets. The analysis was carried out utilising data about population density and average annual income linked to spatially referenced polygons of postal codes. These were disaggregated initially via a readapted three-class dasymetric mapping approach and allocated to large-scale city block polygons. Univariate and bivariate choropleth maps generated from the resulting datasets were then used to identify and compare spatial economic disparities for a study area in North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW), Germany. Subsequently, based on these variables, a multivariate clustering approach was conducted for a demonstration area in Dortmund. In the result, it was obvious that the spatially disaggregated data allow more detailed insight into spatial patterns of socioeconomic attributes than the coarser data related to postal code polygons.


Diversity ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (7) ◽  
pp. 109 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rebecca T. Kimball ◽  
Carl H. Oliveros ◽  
Ning Wang ◽  
Noor D. White ◽  
F. Keith Barker ◽  
...  

It has long been appreciated that analyses of genomic data (e.g., whole genome sequencing or sequence capture) have the potential to reveal the tree of life, but it remains challenging to move from sequence data to a clear understanding of evolutionary history, in part due to the computational challenges of phylogenetic estimation using genome-scale data. Supertree methods solve that challenge because they facilitate a divide-and-conquer approach for large-scale phylogeny inference by integrating smaller subtrees in a computationally efficient manner. Here, we combined information from sequence capture and whole-genome phylogenies using supertree methods. However, the available phylogenomic trees had limited overlap so we used taxon-rich (but not phylogenomic) megaphylogenies to weave them together. This allowed us to construct a phylogenomic supertree, with support values, that included 707 bird species (~7% of avian species diversity). We estimated branch lengths using mitochondrial sequence data and we used these branch lengths to estimate divergence times. Our time-calibrated supertree supports radiation of all three major avian clades (Palaeognathae, Galloanseres, and Neoaves) near the Cretaceous-Paleogene (K-Pg) boundary. The approach we used will permit the continued addition of taxa to this supertree as new phylogenomic data are published, and it could be applied to other taxa as well.


2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew T. Bryan ◽  
Elizabeth L. Martin ◽  
Aleksandra Pac ◽  
Andrew D. Gilbert ◽  
Feodor Y. Ogrin

AbstractBiological cilia generate fluid movement within viscosity-dominated environments using beating motions that break time-reversal symmetry. This creates a metachronal wave, which enhances flow efficiency. Artificially mimicking this behaviour could improve microfluidic point-of-care devices, since viscosity-dominated fluid dynamics impede fluid flow and mixing of reagents, limiting potential for multiplexing diagnostic tests. However, current biomimicry schemes require either variation in the hydrodynamic response across a cilia array or a complex magnetic anisotropy configuration to synchronise the actuation sequence with the driving field. Here, we show that simple modifications to the structural design introduce phase differences between individual actuators, leading to the spontaneous formation of metachronal waves. This generates flow speeds of up to 16 μm/s as far as 675 μm above the actuator plane. By introducing metachronal waves through lithographic structuring, large scale manufacture becomes feasible. Additionally, by demonstrating that metachronal waves emerge from non-uniformity in internal structural mechanics, we offer fresh insight into the mechanics of cilia coordination.


This is the first occasion on which I have had the great honour of addressing the Royal Society on this anniversary of its foundation. According to custom, I begin with brief mention of those whom death has taken from our Fellowship during the past year, and whose memories we honour. Alfred Young (1873-1940), distinguished for his contributions to pure mathematics, was half brother to another of our Fellows, Sydney Young, a chemist of eminence. Alfred Young had an insight into the symbolic structure and manipulation of algebra, which gave him a special place among his mathematical contemporaries. After a successful career at Cambridge he entered the Church, and passed his later years in the country rectory of Birdbrook, Essex. His devotion to mathematics continued, however, throughout his life, and he published a steady stream of work in the branch of algebra which he had invented, and named ‘quantitative substitutional analysis’. He lived to see his methods adopted by Weyl in his quantum mechanics and spectroscopy. He was elected to our Fellowship in 1934. With the death of Miles Walker (1868-1941) the Society loses a pioneer in large-scale electrical engineering. Walker was a man of wide interests. He was trained first for the law, and even followed its practice for a period. Later he studied electrical engineering under Sylvanus Thompson at the Finsbury Technical College and became his assistant for several years. Thereafter, encouraged by Thompson, he entered St John’s College, Cambridge, with a scholarship, and graduated with 1st Class Honours in both the Natural Sciences and the Engineering Tripos. Having entered the service of the British Westinghouse Company, he was sent by them to the United States of America to study electrical engineering with the parent company in Pittsburgh. On his return to England he became their leading designer of high-speed electrical generators


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