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This study investigated the following question: To what extent and in what ways might using video help interns reflect on their discussion-based teaching in a more complex manner than when they use memory-based written reflection? Three elementary interns participated in the study. Findings suggest that video-supported reflection enabled interns to write more specific (vs. general) comments about their teaching than writing from memory, shift the content of the reflections from a focus on classroom management in memory-based reflections to a focus on instruction when video was available, and focus less on themselves and more on children when they reflected on video clips of their teaching. The power of video-based reflection to help interns revisit, notice, and investigate how they facilitate classroom discussions is considered. Keywords: preservice teacher education; video; reflective practice; classroom discussion, 'All we ever do is reflect!' is a typical refrain heard by those of us who teach interns and student teachers to write about their teaching. Indeed, 'reflection' is such [...]

The objective of the present investigation was to extend research on metamemory and confidence calibration and discrimination to other countries using items from actual course examinations. The authors investigated gender differences in confidence judgments of 551 postsecondary students from 25 university courses in 5 countries: Israel, the Netherlands, Palestine, Taiwan, and the United States. Because important distinctions between men and women and among various countries might be hidden by examining only overall confidence, the authors analyzed students' confidence both when they were correct on each exam item and when they were incorrect. Large and significant differences were found in overall confidence, confidence when correct, and confidence when wrong, associated primarily with country and culture. In contrast, gender differences tended to be surprisingly small when viewed within countries.

This investigation of domain-specific professional reading clarifies the way 12 teachers who are professionally active select and read the journals and research articles in their fields. Using verbal protocol analysis and interviews, the authors identified and classified reading think-aloud reports into 5 categories: using strategies, connecting to practice, monitoring, questioning, and evaluating. The teachers in this study created meaning in complex and personal ways as they read.

Teachers and preservice teachers are often unaware of the subtle gender bias that often occurs in the classrooms. Several observational studies indicate male students tend to dominate classroom interaction, and to receive more attention, feedback or praises from teachers. The gender bias in the classroom was examined. The study compared the preservice teachers' perceptions of gender interaction and actual data, examined their awareness of their own limitations in detecting inequities in classroom interactions, and their proposals for ensuring equity. Results are discussed., It's hard to change something you don't know is there.... It's like CO, a silent killer. (Preservice teacher's reflection on subtle gender bias) Subtle gender bias is often present in [...]

That many women avoid science is clear. Less clear, however, are explanations for this phenomenon. In the past decade, researchers have looked for causes first by grappling with the question: [...]

Although gender differences are fairly consistent when people report their general confidence, much less is known about such differences when individuals assess the degree of confidence they have in their ability to answer any particular test question. The objective of this research was to investigate gender differences in item-specific confidence judgments. Data were collected from three psychology courses containing 70 men and 181 women. After answering each item on course exams, students indicated their confidence that their answer to that item was correct. Results showed that gender differences in confidence are dependent on the context (whether items were correct or wrong) and on the domain being tested. Moreover, although both men and women were overconfident, undergraduate men were especially overconfident when incorrect.

Open classroom meetings encourage children to solve problems of name-calling, teasing, and other conflicts that arise in everyday life. Alex was an overweight 4th grade boy who was frequently teased [...]

This study investigated gender differences in science learning between two pedagogical approaches: traditional lecture and narrative case studies using personal response systems (‘clickers’). Thirteen instructors of introductory biology classes at 12 different institutions across the USA and Canada used two types of pedagogy (Clicker Cases and traditional lecture) to teach eight topic areas. Three different sets of multiple regression analysis were conducted for three separate dependent variables: posttest score, change in score from posttest to final, and transfer score. Interactions between gender and pedagogical approach were found across the three analyses. Women either performed better with Clicker Cases, or about the same with either instructional method, but men performed markedly better with lectures in most topic areas. Our results suggest that men and women experience two pedagogical approaches—Clicker Cases and lectures—differently, and that Clicker Cases are more favorable for women than for men. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Engaging teachers in discussing and analyzing problems of practice has great potential for teacher professional development, yet little is known about how to facilitate such discussion. This study examined the strategies that experienced facilitators used to promote productive discussion among science teachers. Participants were 6 facilitators and 35 in-service teachers who participated in a professional development program that adopted a problem-based learning approach for teacher learning. Data analysis showed that experienced facilitators used a variety of strategies in their facilitation, including questioning, revoicing, making connections, clarifying, reframing, summarizing, role playing, meta-talk, and modeling. In particular, questioning and revoicing were the most important strategies in all sessions studied, accounting for about half of the facilitators' talk. Analysis further revealed both productive and disruptive characteristics of questioning and revoicing. In addition, analysis found that teachers were able to make progress in participating in the problem-based learning discourse in different ways. This study has implications for research on teacher professional development, problem-based learning, and learner-centered instruction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores case-based science teaching. Sometimes this type of research is being done to convince colleagues that case-based science teaching is equally effective if not better than traditional teaching. Such research has also been reactive, where proponents of case-based instruction gather evidence to support their position and counter criticism from opponents, rather than attempting to understand the dynamics and processes of case-based teaching. It is natural for faculty to select paradigms with which they have familiarity, and in the sciences, measurement is a careful, precise aspect of the research method. However, measurement is not as precise in educational research as in the sciences, and a strict focus on quantitative measurement may limit methodology as well as research questions.

The article discusses the effects of supplemental instruction (SI) in chemistry. Problems arising in the student learning of science include the teaching of problem-solving strategies, the misconceptions by students on scientific events and the provision of a study environment conductive to critical thinking. SI is a cooperative learning program encouraging students to develop conceptual understanding by articulating both understandings and misconceptions. A study on 108 students, who were subjected to a two-year chemistry course, proved that supplemental instruction is effective in increasing students' achievement in chemistry as attested by their final grades in chemistry and their questionnaire responses.

An essay is presented on the Case It! software program that allows for computer simulation of procedures including Southern, Western, and dot blotting, simple and multiplex polymerase chain reaction (PCR), and single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP). It offers an explanation of the program's ability to allow students to input DNA or protein sequences to use in the procedures, and highlights the software's usefulness in inquiry-based instruction. Several example cases are also described.