Marta Abelha

Evaluating an Online E-Module for Portuguese Primary Teachers: Trainees' Perceptions.

The work reported in this article is part of a wider project that aims to develop and implement a web-based, pan-European, in-service professional development platform for teachers to enhance their role in promoting education through science. This article aims to evaluate the implementation of the e-module on Assessment of Children’s Learning in Primary Science, which was created at Bradford College (UK) and was adapted to be trialled by Portuguese science teachers. The article (i) evaluates the e-module in order to find facilities and constraints with a view to improving it in future versions; (ii) analyses participants’ opinions concerning strategies explored, resources and their reflections on their learning; and (iii) discusses the impact of the training on teachers’ professional development. Data was collected through three different online questionnaires: (i) at the start; (ii) at the end of the e-module; and (iii) one year after implementation of the e-module. The results indicate that the majority of the teachers recognised that the module promoted the development of new skills during the course, such as ICT skills, which have an impact on classroom practice and enhance their professional development both in the personal domain and in the domain of practice. It was also recognised by both trainees and tutors that the main advantage of using an e-learning platform was that it enabled an adjustment to individual needs taking into account different learning styles and rhythms. They also recognised the importance of international dimensions of education; flexibility of timetables; and collaborative work between peers.

Escala de Satisfação com a Dinâmica de Trabalho Docente: Desenvolvimento e Validação

Este artigo explica os procedimentos de estudo de validade e de confiabilidade da Escala de Satisfacao com a Dinâmica de Trabalho Docente (ESDTD). A ESDTD avalia a representacao conceptual dos professores em relacao as suas concepcoes de curriculo, ao desenvolvimento curricular, a gestao curricular, ao projeto e ao trabalho colaborativo; a satisfacao dos professores em relacao ao trabalho realizado pela direcao, pelos sub-departamentos, pela coordenacao direta, pelos conselhos de turma e pelos responsaveis de unidades educacionais. Nos itens finais da ESDTD, sao avaliadas as percepcoes dos professores sobre a cultura de agrupamento, sinalizando os aspectos considerados positivos e considerados problematicos. Foi testada a possibilidade de realizar uma analise fatorial e posteriormente avaliar os dados psicometricos e a confiabilidade de cada dimensao, para testar a validade interna da escala. Ha evidencias da adequacao da analise fatorial, mais especificamente da pertinencia da prova de Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin e do teste de esfericidade de Bartlett. Foi avaliada a variância explicada pela analise de componentes principais, definindo previamente a analise em seis fatores, com valores proprios superiores a 1. Ao definir seis componentes principais, as dimensoes explicaram mais de 55% da variabilidade total. A analise da confiabilidade do tamanho e a avaliacao da homogeneidade dos itens permitem obter valores de consistencia interna muito elevados para todos os itens e para todas as dimensoes. Os valores encontrados foram adequados para manter a estrutura e a distribuicao dos itens iniciais. A escala mostra bons niveis de validade e de confiabilidade. Antecipa-se a utilidade de outros estudos serem desenvolvidos, complementando a sua analise psicometrica.

Leadership by the curricular department coordinator: Teachers’ perceptions

The advent of affordable 3D printing has provided the possibility for its use in educational settings. Previous studies have demonstrated the benefits and possibilities of these technologies in education [1] [2] [3], and to understand which factors that affect the use of 3D printers in education, an exploratory pilot study was performed, and followed up with a more confirmatory field study. 3D printers were introduced in four different schools in Denmark, and the opportunities and barriers related to the technology were investigated in the pilot study. The participating teachers had responsibility for integrating the technology into their classrooms, and could use them as they found best. Data from the pilot study was gathered from three sources: Semi structured interviews with the participating teachers; open ended questionnaires collected from 67 participating pupils; and field observations of the participating classes. All sources of data were analysed using Robert Yins fivefold method [4]. Although the teachers did have successful instances of teaching with the 3D printers, the researchers found that improvements could be made. Some practical issues were found, such as little printing capacity which resulted in decreased motivation, due to the long waiting time between finishing a design and printing it out. The teachers struggled to plan learning activities that could provide rich and challenging design processes. To better structure a learning activity, a new approach was introduced and tested in the field study, where the printing capacity was also increased. This approach included having the pupils design objects that could be assessed quantitively on two parameters, either by calculations or experimentation, and afterwards plotting the results on a coordinate system. By testing this approach in an authentic teaching situation indications were found that this approach would support the desired rich and challenging design process, but that it could also support learning of many 21 century skills among other learning opportunities.In old industrialised nations such as Sweden, Canada, Australia, Finland, the policy and academic discourse has in recent years centred on the presence of high-tech companies that have academic kno ...