Chris Comber

The effects of age, gender and computer experience upon computer attitudes

Summary The effects of age, gender and prior computing experience upon attitudes towards computers were investigated in 278 secondary school pupils drawn from the 11‐12 and 15‐16 years age‐groups. Males from both age‐groups reported greater experience with and more positive attitudes towards computers than females. Younger pupils, both male and female, were found to have greater experience with and more positive attitudes towards computers than older pupils. After controlling for ownership and use of a home computer by means of analyses of covariance, female and male pupils reported similar levels of enjoyment of computers, but age differences in enjoyment and gender and age differences in confidence with computers remained significant. Similar analyses using length of experience as a covariate did not significantly affect gender or age differences. The need to investigate and address the level of confidence of female pupils is briefly discussed.

Changes in Patterns of Teacher Interaction in Primary Classrooms: 1976‐96

For the past two decades there has been persistent controversy regarding the effectiveness of the different teaching methods used in the English primary classroom. One of the earliest studies of the primary classroom, the ORACLE study, described the typical behaviours of teachers and pupils. Since that time there have been various interventions designed ‘to change the way that primary teachers teach’. The research reported here evaluates the success of these interventions by replicating the work of 20 years ago by using the same observation methods in some of the same schools.

Gender Effects in School Subject Preferences: a research note

Summary Rankings of liking for nine curriculum subjects were obtained from 93 middle school pupils aged 11‐13 years, who also completed the Childrens Sex Role Inventory. Statistically significant gender differences in the rankings of English and humanities were found, which were both preferred by girls, and for physical education (PE) and science, which were preferred by boys. Some statistically significant associations between subject rankings and sex typing measures also emerged. Higher rankings of music and humanities were associated with higher Femininity scores, while higher rankings for PE were associated with lower Femininity scores. The only significant association with Masculinity was for English, where higher rankings were associated with lower Masculinity. No significant associations with Masculinity or Femininity were found for science, a traditionally male‐stereotyped curriculum area. Associations found between the rankings of the different subjects indicated a tendency for pupils to prefer ...

Images of the Future for Education? Videoconferencing: A Literature Review

In the past two decades, as new capabilities for video communication have emerged, their use in educational contexts has steadily increased. Initially located in higher education, the use of videoconferencing for a broad range of learning purposes is now established in many schools. Although a considerable body of literature exists that describes the experience of videoconferencing using traditional pedagogies, much less has been published on the contextual factors that lead to effective learning outcomes and innovative uses of videoconferencing. The purpose of this review is to establish a baseline for researchers interested in the area. In focusing on educational uses in both higher education and mainstream schooling, the review examines the affordances and barriers to effective teaching and learning, with what are increasingly robust and easy‐to‐use technologies. The paper concludes with a call for further research into the more innovative possibilities of videoconferencing.

School Subject Preferences of Pupils in Single Sex and Co‐educational Secondary Schools

Summary Rankings of school subject preferences were obtained from 321 male and 327 female pupils aged 11‐12 years, and 245 male and 240 female pupils aged 15‐16 years, from both single sex and co‐educational secondary schools. Overall rank orders showed an effect of school type for younger pupils only, in which evidence for less gender stereotyping of school subjects in single sex schools was found. The rankings of the older pupils, while not affected by school type, did show a clear effect of gender, with higher rankings being given to mathematics, science and physical education by boys and to art by girls.

School Subject Preferences: Age and gender differences revisited

As a follow-up to data collected in the early 1990s, rankings of school subject preferences were obtained from 144 girls and 218 boys aged 11-12 years, and 269 girls and 300 boys aged 15-16 years. The overall rankings showed evidence of the persistence of gender differences in preferences for a number of curricular areas. However, changes were also apparent. Practical subjects appeared further up the rankings than previously, particularly for the younger students. This finding may reflect a change in the status of such subjects relative to the more academic subjects. More inter-school variability between the subject preference orders was evident among the older than the younger students, suggesting a greater sensitivity to school-related factors among this age group.

The National Curriculum: can small schools deliver? Confidence and competence levels of teachers in small rural primary schools

Abstract Recent calls for primary schools to provide specialist expertise across the curriculum have presented a particular challenge to small schools (roll < 100) whilst other survey evidence has shown low levels of confidence amongst primary teachers in several curriculum areas. One strategy adopted by small schools to increase access to such expertise has been the formation of clusters. This paper, based on data from two rounds of questionnaires to headteachers and teachers, relates small schools’ teachers’ confidence and competence self‐ratings, and choices of curriculum support strategies to four levels of cluster commitment. Confidence and competence ratings were generally high but the expected positive relationships between self‐ratings and cluster levels were only partially supported by the data. Explanations based on the process of cluster development are offered.

Girls, Boys and Technology in Music Education

Information technology is having a profound impact upon the music curriculum, and there is general agreement that boys and girls should have equal opportunities to benefit from it. Although music has traditionally been a subject in which girls predominate, technology is clearly stereotyped as a male preserve. The present paper reports some findings from the Leverhulme Trust-funded ‘Gender and educational computing in the humanities’ project at the University of Leicester, which is using survey and interview techniques with a large sample of pupils and teachers in the Midlands to investigate these questions. The preliminary results suggest that boys are more confident in their use of music technology; that they are showing an increasing interest in music as a result of it; and that teachers have a crucial role to play in ensuring that girls are not disadvantaged in the use of music technology.

Classroom Practice and the National Curriculum in Small Rural Primary Schools

Abstract With the introduction of the National Curriculum primary teachers have come under increasing pressure from the Office for Standards in Education and other government agencies to change the ways they teach. However, the research evidence is equivocal as to the changes which have taken place at Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2 over the last 5 years. This article argues that part of the problem stems from the way that characteristics of classroom organisation, such as whole‐class teaching, have been defined in various studies. From case studies of nine rural schools in which systematic observation and pupils’ diary records were collected, an attempt is made to chart the changes in classroom practice over a decade and to compare these findings with other recent studies.

Videoconferencing in English schools: one technology, many pedagogies?

This paper explores the use of videoconferencing as used in English schools, drawing on data collected over seven years from a number of funded and unfunded projects. A common theme emerging from across these investigations is that the educational use of videoconferencing technology in schools is not a unitary phenomenon. Rather, different assumptions about learning, and the employment of different pedagogical skills facilitate varying patterns of usage and levels of educational effectiveness. Following initial experimentation with videoconferencing (which we characterise as the familiarisation phase) preliminary classroom usage was typically ‘bolted‐on’ to existing practice. Growing confidence in the technology was associated with a wider range of pedagogical techniques whereby videoconferencing contributed to curriculum enhancement. The most advanced usage involved the adaptation of the technology for more innovative approaches in which videoconferencing enabled learner–learner interaction, without the mediation of the teacher. In the paper, the advantages and disadvantages of these varying modes of use are explored. We conclude that innovative deployment of videoconferencing pedagogy is in its infancy in English schools, but that teachers exposed to its potential quickly find new ways of exploiting the pedagogical possibilities offered by the technology.