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Eric.ed.gov – Should Business Reform Public Education? A “Rainy Night” for Georgia Teachers and Implications for Science Education.

eric.ed.gov har udgivet: Into the “quality of public schools” issue step politicians with quick fixes–“proven” business practices variously rejected by experts Peter Drucker (Management by Objectives) and W. E. Deming (Quality Management). These include the following. Determine product quality by inspection–hence, compare school quality by testing teachers and students. Deming opposed maintaining quality by inspection, instead focusing on design Assume that the quality by product is not due to defective design, but due to incompetent personnel. Deming rejected making personnel the focus of problem solving. Make or perpetuate schools as authority oriented systems in which, paraphrasing Drucker (via Marc Tucker), teachers are treated as unskilled production line workers with little autonomy or pay. Apply a narrow focus on goals. In this case, they are economic. Public education has the long… Continue Reading

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Eric.ed.gov – Preservice Teachers’ Observations of Children’s Learning during Family Math Night

eric.ed.gov har udgivet: Family math night can easily be implemented into mathematics methodology courses providing an opportunity for field-based learning. Preservice teachers were asked to develop and implement an inquiry-based activity at a family math night event held at a local school with personnel, elementary children and their parents in attendance. This action research examines what preservice teachers discovered about how children learn mathematics during their interactions with parents and children. Preservice teachers’ individual reflections focusing on children’s learning were qualitatively analyzed and clustered. In addition, data from teacher educator’s observation notes was used to triangulate findings. Four themes were identified in relation to children’s needs for promoting learning in mathematics: (1) activity adjustment (2) engagement through guiding and questioning (3) motivational issues and (4) the use of manipulatives and… Continue Reading

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Eric.ed.gov – Promoting Numeracy through a Family Math Night

eric.ed.gov har udgivet: Over the past decade, the international (PISA) and national (CMEC Pan-Canadian Assessment), standardized testing results have shown that students in Manitoba have relatively low results in the area of mathematics when compared to the rest of Canada. This article discusses a project that was devised as a means of reaching out to a school community in order to support numeracy development. The local Family Math Night (FMN) hosted as part of this research project fostered positive relationships between school, university, and community; engaged parents and students in curriculum-based mathematics activities in a supportive, non-threatening, and fun atmosphere; and potentially had a positive effect on teacher perceptions of parental involvement and school-parent partnerships. The emergent school-wide follow-up event provided teacher candidates with opportunities to plan for and engage… Continue Reading