Education & Pedagogy

This booklet provides a snapshot of Latinos in the U.S. education system from early childhood through graduate education. Latino students comprise about 15 percent of the K-12 population today and are expected to reach about 25 percent by 2025. California, Texas, and Florida serve the highest concentrations of Hispanic students. Latino educational attainment lags behind that of the rest of the nation. Differences in achievement between Hispanics and non-Hispanics begin as early as kindergarten and continue through high school. Latinos in higher education tend to be concentrated in a relatively small number of institutions in five states. A section on Latinos in early childhood education covers the under-5 population, enrollments of Latino children aged 3-5 compared to other ethnic groups, urban-suburban comparisons, influence of parental education and income, and school readiness. A section on Latinos in elementary education (K-8) discusses population, enrollment, urbanicity and poverty, academic achievement, limited English proficiency, computer usage, and Hispanic teachers. A section on Latinos in secondary education (9-12) reviews population, enrollment, academic achievement, dropout rates, course selection, high school completion rates, and college preparation. A section on Latinos in higher education covers population, enrollment rates, type of institution, concentration in a few institutions and states, part-time students, student financial aid, college completion, and degrees awarded. A section on Latinos in graduate education discusses enrollment, gender differences, financial aid, degrees awarded, and Latino faculty. (SV)

Aim: To investigate to what extent the stakeholders believe in females having attributes of transformational leadership to rise at higher positions in institutions of higher education in India while implementing New Education Policy in India. To know where we are right now and where we need to go in terms of promoting female leaders in Indian higher education. Methods: Both qualitative and quantitative methods are used. Qualitative responses from 10 Indian women leaders are collected from those 03 qualitative responses are quoted in the paper and considered in the analysis. MLQ* tool (Multifactor leadership Questionnaire) used to collect responses of 51 different stakeholders of higher education. Findings: The study shows that female leadership can be trailblazing in organizational management in institutions of Higher Education in India while implementing the New Education Policy. The results anticipate providing insights to initiate Indian policymakers and recruiting bodies to motivate women to take up leadership positions. Originality and Cognitive Value: The area of the prospects of transformational female leadership in Indian higher education in the context of implementation of New Education Policy in India is a novel exploration as education policy is implemented recently in 2020 and gender equity is a major aspect of concern in achieving Sustainable development Goals. [For the full proceedings, see ED654100.]

"The Big Lie About Race in America's Schools" delivers a collective response to the challenge of racially charged misinformation, disinformation, and censorship that increasingly permeates and weakens not only US education but also our democracy. In this thought-provoking volume, Royel Johnson and Shaun Harper bring together leading education scholars and educators to confront the weaponized distortions that are currently undermining both public education and racial justice. The experts gathered in this work offer strategies to counter these dangerous trends and uphold truth in education. In focused, practical chapters, the contributors examine efforts both broad and specific, from restrictive education legislation, to book bans, to twisting terminology like Critical Race Theory (CRT) and diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), that are obscuring truth in public education. They demonstrate how this narrowing of allowable ideas does a disservice to all students and especially to those who are underrepresented in curricula, including students of color and LGBTQ+ students. Ultimately, the book offers clear, actionable insights for educators, policymakers, and advocates who seek solutions that will counter recent trends and transform educational contexts within both K-12 and higher education. Among other actions, this volume advocates strengthening educational alliances through shared leadership, organized collaboration, and parental involvement. It also presents innovative countermeasures to help defend public education.

This document contains 43 papers from a conference on researching inclusion. The following are among the papers included: "Include Me Out: Critique and Contradiction in Thinking about Social Exclusion and Lifelong Learning" (Paul Armstrong); "The Linking of Work and Education To Enable Social Inclusion" (Dave Beck); "Including Citizenship in the Adult Curriculum" (Roseanne Benn); "Researching 'Inclusion': Reality and Rhetoric; It's All in the Curriculum Approach" (Darol Cavanagh); "Flexibility and Inclusion in Lifelong Learning: Working the Discourses in Further Education" (Julia Clarke, Richard Edwards); "Researching Inclusion: The Development of Adult Education for Women" (Janet Coles); "Peripheral Vision: Staff Development and Part-Time Tutors in Adult Education" (Derek Cox);"Valuing Exclusive Educational Provision for Disabled Adults" (Mark Dale); "Without and Within: Inclusion, Identity and Continuing Education in a New Wales" (Ian Davidson, Brec'hed Piette); "Adding Life to Your Years: Transformative Learning for Older People at the Irish Museum of Modern Art" (Ted Fleming); "The Network Society and Lifelong Learning--The Work of Manuel Castells and Theories of Adult Education" (Nick Frost); "An Inclusive MBA? Researching Curriculum Design and Delivery" (Roger Hall, Caroline Rowland); "Including the Excluding Image: Researching and Teaching Cultural Images of Adult Educators" (Ann Harris, Christine Jarvis); "Re-Visioning the Boundaries of Learning Theory in the Assessment of Prior Experiential Learning (APEL)" (Judy Harris); "Reducing Exclusion--Introducing Choice: The Introduction of Distance Learning into Taught Courses" (Christine Hibbert); "Accountability, Audit and Exclusion in Further and Higher Education" (Phil Hodkinson, Martin Bloomer); "Voices from the Community: The Challenge of Creating a Culturally Relevant Curriculum and Inclusive Learning Environment" (Ann-Marie Houghton, Helen Ali); "Opening Pathways to Inclusion: The Importance of Non-Accredited Learning in the Lives of Students in the Local Authority Sector" (Ann Jackson, Belinda Whitwell); "Education in a Uniting Society?" (Nick Small); "'We're Not the Only Ones Learning Here'--An Investigation of Co-Tutoring and the Dynamics of Power within a Class of Adult Dyslexics" (Barbara Taylor); and "Including Mezirow's Concept of Perspective Transformation in the Study of Adult Education" (Miho Tokiwa-Fuse). Many papers contain substantial bibliographies. (MN)

The Higher Education Act of 1965 gives special recognition to some postsecondary schools--called Minority Serving Institutions--that serve a high percentage of minority students. These and other schools face stiff challenges in keeping pace with technology. One rapidly growing area, distance education, has commanded particular attention and an estimated 1.5 million students have enrolled in at least one distance education course. In light of this, GAO was asked to provide information on: (1) the use of distance education by Minority Serving Institutions; (2) the challenges Minority Serving Institutions face in obtaining and using technology; (3) GAO's preliminary finding on the role that accrediting agencies play in ensuring the quality of distance education; and (4) GAO's preliminary findings on whether statutory requirements limit federal aid to students involved in distance education. GAO is currently finalizing the results of its work on (1) the role of accrediting agencies in reviewing distance education programs; and (2) federal student financial aid issues related to distance education.There are some variations in the use of distance education at Minority Serving Institutions when compared to other schools. While it is difficult to generalize, Minority Serving Institutions offered at least one distance education course at the same rate as other schools. When Minority Serving Institutions offered distance education, they did so to improve access for students who live away from campus and provide convenience to older, working, or married students. Some Minority Serving Institutions do not offer distance education because classroom education best meets the needs of their students. Additionally, schools view the overall use of technology as a critical tool in educating their students and they generally indicated that offering more distance education was a lower priority than using technology to educate their classroom students. The two primary challenges in meeting technology goals cited by these institutions were limitations in funding and inadequate staffing to maintain and operate information technology. Accrediting agencies have taken steps to ensure the quality of distance education programs, such as developing supplemental guidelines for reviewing these programs. However, GAO found: (1) no agreed upon set of standards for holding institutions accountable for student outcomes; and (2) differences in how agencies review distance education programs. Finally, several statutory rules limit the amount of federal aid for distance education students. GAO estimates that at least 14 schools are not eligible or could lose their eligibility for federal student financial aid if their distance education programs continue to expand. While the number of schools potentially affected is relatively small in comparison to the more than 6,000 postsecondary institutions in the country, this is an important issue for the nearly 210,000 students who attend these schools. Several factors must be considered before deciding whether to eliminate or modify these rules. They include the cost of implementation, the extent to which the changes improve access, and the impact that changes would have on Education's ability to prevent schools from fraudulent or abusive practices. (Author)

The goal of this volume of "Research in Science Education" is to examine the relationship between science education policy and practice and the special role that science education researchers play in influencing policy. It has been suggested that the science education research community is isolated from the political process, pays little attention to policy matters, and has little influence on policy. But to influence policy, it is important to understand how policy is made and how it is implemented. This volume sheds light on the intersection between policy and practice through both theoretical discussions and practical examples. This book was written primarily about science education policy development in the context of the highly decentralized educational system of the United States. But, because policy development is fundamentally a social activity involving knowledge, values, and personal and community interests, there are similarities in how education policy gets enacted and implemented around the world. This volume is meant to be useful to science education researchers and to practitioners such as teachers and administrators because it provides information about which aspects of the science education enterprise are affected by state, local, and national policies. It also provides helpful information for researchers and practitioners who wonder how they might influence policy. In particular, it points out how the values of people who are affected by policy initiatives are critical to the implementation of those policies. "Introduction to the Policy Terrain in Science Education" by George E. DeBoer is included. Part I, "Multiple Influences on Policy Development and Enactment," contains: (1) Science Education Policy and its Relationship with Research and Practice: Lessons from Europe and the United Kingdom (Jonathan Osborne); (2) Science Teacher Education Research and Policy: Are They Connected? (Jane Butler Kahle and Sarah Beth Woodruff); (3) How do Foundations Influence Science Education Policy? (Dennis W. Cheek and Margo Quiriconi); (4) How do Funding Agencies at the Federal Level Inform the Science Education Policy Agenda? The Case of the National Science Foundation (Janice Earle); (5) La main a la pate: Implementing a Plan for Science education reform in France (Jean-Pierre Sarmant, Edith Saltiel, and Pierre Lena); (6) The Role of State Education Departments in Science Education Policy Development (Dennis W. Cheek and Margo Quiriconi); (7) Science Education Policy and Student Assessment (Rodger W. Bybee); and (8) How can Science Educators Influence Legislation at the State and Federal Levels? The Case of the National Science Teachers Association (Jodi Peterson). Part II, "Impact of Policy on Curriculum, Instruction, and the Equitable Treatment of All Students," contains: (9) How State and Federal Policy Affects What is Taught in Science Classes (George E. DeBoer); (10) Equity and U.S. Science Education Policy from the GI Bill to NCLB: From Opportunity Denied to Mandated Outcomes (Sharon J. Lynch); and (11) The Effect of Educational Policy on Curriculum Development: A Perspective from the Lawrence Hall of Science (Linda De Lucchi and Larry Malone). Part III, "Policy Implementation," contains: (12) School Leadership for Science Education (Richard Halverson, Noah R. Feinstein, and David Meshoulam).

Background: The Society for Health and Physical Educators (SHAPE) America has guided physical education curriculum, instruction, and assessment in the United States (US) for well over 100 years. We contend that in the US context for physical education, the "National Standards and Grade-Level Outcomes for K-12 Physical Education" (Society of Health and Physical Educators America. 2014. "National Standards and Grade-level Outcomes for K-12 Physical Education." Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics) and the "Initial Physical Education Teacher Education Standards" (Society of Health and Physical Educators America. 2017. "2017 National Standards for Initial Physical Education Teacher Education." Reston, VA: Author) are policy documents that strongly influence curriculum in physical education. While there has been forward movement in identifying and addressing diverse learning needs across these standards, we argue that a more explicit and overt focus on social justice education (SJE) is needed. Specifically, the SHAPE America standards need to be challenged and revised to become more equitable and socially just to meet the needs of all of our students, both at the higher education and K-12 levels.Purpose: We explore each standard and grade-level outcome in the standards to identify how social justice is currently being considered and expose the paucity of explicit and intentional focus on SJE. In this study, we draw on policy reform and network theory (Penney, D. 2016. "Policy and Possibilities." In "Routledge Handbook of Physical Education Pedagogies," edited by C. Ennis, 131-142. New York: Routledge; Ball, S. J. 2007. "Education Plc." "Understanding Private Sector Participation in Public Sector Education." Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge; 2015. "What is Policy? 21 Years Later: Reflections on the Possibilities of Policy Research." "Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education" 36 (2): 306--313) as frameworks for theorizing the data. Data collection and analysis: We utilized a document analysis qualitative research method to examine and evaluate how SJE is represented in the standards. The intent of document analysis is to examine and interpret data in order to elicit meaning, gain understanding, and develop empirical knowledge. Our process involved a 3-stage process, which included a superficial examination (skimming), thorough examination (reading), and concluded with an interpretation of our analysis. We utilized this process for the current and previous editions of the K-12 and PETE standards. Findings: Across the "Initial PETE Standards" (Society of Health and Physical Educators America. 2017. "2017 National Standards for Initial Physical Education Teacher Education." Reston, VA: Author) and the "National Standards and Grade-Level Outcomes for K-12 Physical Education" (Society of Health and Physical Educators America. 2014. "National Standards and Grade-level Outcomes for K-12 Physical Education." Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics.) there was limited intentional and explicit emphasis on social justice, diversity, equity and inclusion in the current editions. This was consistent across previous editions in both sets of standards; however, there was more of an overt and intentional focus on SJE in the initial standards developed in 1995. 25 years ago, the K-12 national standards and student expectations had greater emphasis on SJE than we do today.

This first of four volumes on the history of compulsory education among the nations of Europe and the Western hemisphere deals with historical antecedents and early development. Of the 29 total articles, 18 are in English and 2 have English summaries. Many selections include bibliographies. Titles and authors are as follows: "The Political Institutionalization of Compulsory Education" (Francisco O. Ramirez and John Boli); "L'Obbligo Scolastico e la Scuola di Base Nello Scritto d'un Pedagogista Cileno" (Alessandro Leonarduzzi); "Beginnings of Compulsory Education in the Republic of Columbia" (O. Negrin Fajardo and D. Soto Arango); "L'Obligation Educative en France des Origines a Nos Jours" (Paul Gerbod); "L'Introduction de l'Obligation Scolaire dans l'Allemagne Protestante du XVIe au XVIIIe Siecle" (Jean-Luc Le Cam); "Karl August Zeller (1774-1846). Aide-Camps pour la Prusse, Pays en Voie de Developpement en Matiere d'Education Nationale, dans le Contexte du Decalage Sud-Nord des Pays Germanophones" (Rudolf Koschnitzke); "The Historical Development of Compulsory Schooling in Germany" (Gabriele Weigand); "The History of Compulsory Education in Germany" (Karl-Heinz Guenther and Gert Geissler); "The Advent of Universal Compulsory Elementary Education in England and Wales" (D. K. Jones); "Gradual Regulation of Schooling Age and School Attendance in Hungary since 1777 up to Now" (Otto Vag); "The Debate about the Introduction of Compulsory Elementary Education of 1848 in Hungary" (Sandor Komlosi); "Compulsory Education in the Twenty Years after Italian Unification (1860-1880)" (Enzo Catarsi); "Chiesa e Obbligo Scolastico Nell'Italia Post-Unitaria (1860-1900)" (Carmela Covato); "Compulsory Education in The Netherlands" (J. F. A. Braster and N. L. Dodde); "School and Literacy. Introduction of the Elementary School in Norway in the 1730's and 1740's" (Knut Tveit); "The Idea of Unbroken Primary School in Norway" (Knut Jordheim); "L'Introduction de l'Obligation Scolaire dans la Pologne, la Prusse et l'Autriche" (Marianna Krupa); "Legal Foundation and Accomplishment of Compulsory Education in Poland in 1918-1939" (Jozef Zerko and Romuald Grzybowski); "L'Introduction et la Prolongation de la Scolarite Obligatoire au Portugal" (Joaquim Ferreira Gomes); "L'Enseignement Obligatoire dans les Constitutions Espagnoles due XIXe Siecle" (Federico Gomez Rodriguez de Castro); "Le Chemin Vers l'Enseignement Obligatoire en Espagne Avant 1857" (Anastasio Martinez Navarro); "Apport des Municipalites Constitutionnelles a l'Introduction de l'Enseignement Obligatoire en Espagne" (Julio Ruiz Berrio); "Compulsory Education in the Swiss Canton of Zurich from 1798 to 1859" (Fritz-Peter Hager); "La Reproclamation de l'Instruction Obligatoire, a Geneve, au XIXe Siecle: Du Refus de 1842 a l'Acceptation de 1872" (Charles Magnin); "Towards Compulsory Education: The School Revival Movement in the United States" (Jurgen Herbst); "The Roots of Compulsory Education in America" (L. Glenn Smith); "Compulsory Education in Utopia: Owen and Neef" (Dieter Jedan); "Compulsory Education in the Waldorf Schools in America" (Joseph A. Baust); and "Compulsory Education in Chicago" (Joan K. Smith). (CJH)

This document contains the proceedings from the London conference on geography and environmental education sponsored by the International Geographical Union (IGU) Commission on Geographical Education. Papers include: (1) "The Ecocitizen: A Challenge to Environmental and Geographical Education" (Haubrich, Hartwig); (2) "Learning To Teach about Environmental Issues in Geography" (Corney, Graham); (3) "Through Whose Eyes? Confronting the Environmental Dilemma in Geographical Education" (Van-Harmelen, Ursula); (4) "How Does the Geography Teacher Contribute to Pupils' Environmental Education?" (Reid, Alan); (5) "Fieldwork and the Development of Thinking Skills in Geography and Environmental Education" (Foskett, Nick); (6) "Interdisciplinary Urban River Studies: The Chicago River" (Giles, John H.; Parson, Chris); (7) "The Local Landscape and Fieldworks in Teaching Geography in Finnish Schools" (Lahti, Leena); (8) "'Caves and Waves'--What Do Adventurous Experiences During Field Trips Mean to Pupils?" (Lai, Kwok Chan); (9) "It Is the Question: To Do Good Research and To Do Research Well" (Van der Schee, Joop); (10) "Finnish-NW Russian Environmental Education in St. Petersburg: The Starting Phase of an Action Research Project" (Lappalainen, Annikki; Godenhjelm, Mette; Houtsonen, Lea; Malmberg, Heli; Smirnova, Lioudmila); (11) "Adapting the Geographic and Environmental Education Model to Engineering and Technical Education" (Sacks, Arthur B.; Amery, Hussein A.); (12) "Geography's Current and Future Role in Environmental Education: A New Zealand Perspective" (Logie, June); (13) "Environmental Education--Perspectives from Colombia" (Aristizabal, Ana Maria Duque); (14) "Expo '98 Influence on Environmental Education in Portuguese Schools" (Ferreira, Manuela; Miranda, Branca); (15) "Social Justice and Environmental Concerns: The Case of South Africa" (Ramutsindela, Maano); (16) "Fitting Environmental Education (EE) into the Greek Educational System: The Organisation and Development of an In-Service Training Programme for Secondary Teachers" (Panagiotou, Apostolis); (17) "Making Issues-Based Enquiry a Reality in South African Secondary School Geography through Cooperative Fieldwork" (Wilmot, Di); (18) "Student Environmental Activism in the Contexts of Age and Gender" (Isaac, M.; Williams, Michael); (19) "Museum Evaluation and the 'Ecolia' Project" (Iguchi, Jack); (20) "Environmental Literacy and Decision Making: A Challenge for Low Illiterate Societies?" (Daudi, Sabiha); (21) "The Role of Women's Social Representations in an Urban Environmental Education Programme in Manaus, Amazonas, Brazil" (Storey, Christine); (22) "The Making of a Multimedia Resource" (Waumsley, Lorraine); (23) "Attitudes of Portuguese Secondary School Pupils in Relation to Hazardous Waste Disposal and Treatment" (Alexandre, Fernando; Ferreira, Manuela); (24) "Public Understanding of Air Quality Information in Thailand" (Dillon, Justin; Watson, Rod; Suwannotachote, Rapeepun); (25) "The Case for Values Awareness in Environmental Higher Education" (Merritt, J. Quentin; Jones, Peter C.; Palmer, Clare); (26) "Environmental Education in Russian Universities" (Romanova, Emma; Kasimov, N.S.); (27) "Common Themes across a Varied Geography: A First Look at Theory and Practices of Biodiversity Education in Canada" (Kelsey, Elin); (28) "Ecological Education in Russia as a Geographical Problem" (Lyubarsky, Alexander); and (29) "A Rising Tide: Promoting Care and Understanding of Our Oceans through Geographical Science, Research and Environmental Education" (Heeps, Carolyn). (CCM)

Virtual education is moving into that intersection where rising popularity meets calls for greater accountability. How the virtual education movement responds to those calls will have a significant impact on how it evolves in K-12 over the next five to 10 years. This report tackles this shift in the virtual education landscape. It examines the growth of district-based programs designed with more local control in mind, and it tracks state legislative efforts to expand online education while also evaluating its effectiveness. It also covers the critical accountability questions facing virtual education providers, particularly for-profit companies, and issues related to the financial sustainability of state-sponsored e-schools. To get a better handle on the perspectives of district administrators on virtual education, "Education Week" conducted an online poll of such administrators who are Education Week readers. Although not a scientific sampling of district opinion, the poll offers some findings worth thinking about. Of the 367 respondents, 93 percent said they think virtual education providers need to integrate more accountability measures into their programs to make sure they are working effectively. That nearly unanimous call for greater accountability dovetails with a key recommendation in the 2011 edition of "Keeping Pace With K-12 Online Learning," an annual review of policy and practice conducted by the Evergreen Education Group. The report says that "it is critical that states create the systems by which online and blended learning providers can demonstrate results and be held accountable." Many of the district-level administrators who responded to the survey of Education Week readers agreed. There is likely a gap, however, between the accountability measures schools would like to see happening and what is actually happening.

Distance education has emerged out of social compulsion, the dynamics of change and new cultures. It was the failure of traditional systems to be able to meet the demand in countries, where the resources available for tertiary education are limited, which basically gave birth to the new trend of education known as open and distance education. This new and innovative system of education has received a high level of acceptance in different countries as it offers flexible educational opportunities for continuing education to a large segment of their population. The increasing number of older adult learners with varying lifestyles in the population, increasing competitiveness of getting places in tertiary institutions, higher cost of education and a shortage of teachers are the main factors for increasing the popularity of distance education (Duncan, "et al.," 2003). Bangladesh has also taken the opportunity to provide a uniform and mass oriented universal system of education through open and distance education establishing Bangladesh Open University (BOU) in 1992. Objectives of the Study: The main objectives of this study are: (1) to assess the overall status of BOU in comparison with the open universities of two neighboring South Asian countries considering the following aspects: (a) Administrative structural functions; (b) Courses and instructional strategies; (c) Learning opportunities, and (d) Library, laboratory and counselling facilities; (2) to explore the potential of improvement for BOU to enable it to meet the challenges of the country's educational needs in the next millennium. (Contains 1 figure and 8 tables.)

Aim: The purpose of this study was to explore the factors that facilitate and barriers towards the implementation of health education programmes in primary education schools of the prefecture of Achaia, Greece. Methods: The sample of the study included 141 educators from a total population of 218 educators who dealt with the implementation of health education programmes in Achaia prefecture during the school period of 2009-2010. The survey method was used to collect data by means of an anonymous questionnaire. Furthermore, at the beginning of the research process a semi-structured interview was carried out with four teachers to help in the development of the questionnaire items. Two factor analyses were conducted: one for the factors that facilitate and one for the barriers towards the implementation of health education programmes. Results: Findings indicated that the most significant factor that facilitates the implementation of innovative health education programmes is "Knowledge and skills of the Health Education Officer and the teachers", which refers to the scientific knowledge, organizational skills, initiatives and the communicative skills of the Health Education Officer as well as to the teachers' autonomy to select appropriate teaching methods and educational materials. On the other hand, the most important barrier in implementing health education programmes is "Limited experience and attitudes of teachers", which refers to limited teaching experience in health education issues, as well as to professional burnout and the negative attitudes towards these innovative programmes. Conclusions: The Health Education Officer plays an important role in programme coordination by supporting, counselling, giving feedback and providing training/educational materials to teachers. (Contains 3 tables.)

This multinational research study was carried out between 2004 and 2006 in four teacher education institutions in Cyprus, England, Switzerland, and Germany. With the help of a written questionnaire, the confidence and perceived competence of preservice primary teachers (N = 690) to deliver biodiversity education in school were investigated. Data were triangulated with findings from a previous stage of the overall research project. Study participants' confidence to carry out certain outdoor activities in school increased with the number of similar experiences they had during their own secondary school education, and the more personal classroom experiences they had during their teacher education. A sound knowledge of local wild organisms strongly added to their confidence. However, preservice teachers' perceived competence, and thus motivation to implement biodiversity education later on in school, was related even more strongly to the extent of preparation they had received during their teacher education. The results indicate that teacher education programmes that focus exclusively on filling (biodiversity) knowledge gaps might fail to raise confidence and competence in their students to carry out biodiversity education in school. Programmes that have a higher possibility of attaining effectiveness in biodiversity education seek to strike a balance between background knowledge development, pedagogical content knowledge, and opportunities during teaching practice that leads to experiential gains in enacting meaningful activity sequences and engaging students in holistic educational innovations. Within such programmes, it would be fruitful to further explore the relationship between confidence, perceived competence, and actual teaching performance. (Contains 3 tables and 5 figures.)

Technology integration is an approach which has been stressed in higher education in the USA for several decades. Many colleges and universities now offer online courses and encourage faculty to incorporate technology into courses. Technology integration in teacher education courses is particularly important. In general, pre-service teachers are not very anxious about technology (Lambert and Gong 2010). If the faculty demonstrates how technology can be used in a classroom students are more likely to incorporate technology in their future classrooms (Brush, Glazewski, and Hew 2008). In the present study, 38 pre-service teachers taking a multicultural education course were asked to create a digital story for their final projects. It was expected that the project would give student teachers an opportunity to learn not only the technology but also how to incorporate digital storytelling into the curriculum. The study was conducted in spring 2011 on a course required for all elementary education majors. The digital story project was one of the major assignments in a multicultural education class for pre-service teachers. Overall, the project was successful and most students had a positive feeling about digital storytelling and expressed their intention to use it with their own pupils. Because students were allowed to use any software to create movies, their frustration about using technology was minimised. However, the survey results indicated that some students had a significant misconception about digital storytelling. They thought that teachers always create digital stories, and they simply show them to the children to teach class materials. (Contains 2 figures.)

Historically, science was introduced into the school curriculum to enable students, who were entering university to study science related subjects, to gain some background knowledge before beginning studies at the university level (Fensham, 2008, p 14). Unfortunately this view is still very prevalent among policy-makers and teachers today. And this is so, even though science subjects have become part of "education for all" and, in most systems, science have become compulsory for primary school students. This paper considers the roles of science education as expressed in curriculum education documents and in educational standards. It notes the often expressed target of science education as enhancing scientific literacy and puts forwards views on what is meant by this expression. Also noted is the comment in the the comment in the UNESCO booklet on the "Eleven Emerging Issues in Science Education" (Fensham, 2008, p.8 and 27) that the term "scientific literacy" should no longer be used. The paper argues that policy-makers and teachers should rethink their vision of science in the school curriculum and accept the view that the teaching of science subjects is part of the overall educational provision and must not be viewed in a different philosophical light from other subjects. If education is the target, then the philosophy for the teaching of science subjects must be, it is argued, "education through science". This view represents a paradigm shift in the purpose of school science education from the historical view. The new vision is put forward as is put forward as an essential step if school science education is to play a meaningful role for the majority of students, especially girls, in 21st century education.