Teachers’ science camp experiences in southern Chile: Strengthening teacher identity and continuing education

Science camps for teachers have been held in Chile for several years and are recognized as important opportunities for continuing education, but they have been largely ignored as instances for impactful reflection on teacher self-assessment and identity. This article presents the analysis of teacher experiences at a science camp held in southern Chile called “Explora Va!”, which was designed not just as an instance for continuing education for teachers in scientific contents but also for individual and collaborative reflection aimed at strengthening educators’ skills as agents of change in their institutions. The question of this study was: how do the participants represent their teacher identities based on their experiences at the “Explora Va!” Camp? Using a qualitative approach, the results of the analysis of narratives from teachers’ camp journals are reported here. The narratives from these journals provide an account of two dimensions, personal and contextual, where the importance of the teaching profession and science teaching were explored beyond conventional disciplinary limits. Collaboration, innovation, and personal and professional growth at the camp served to signify and resignify professional identities based on common elements but attending to the particular circumstances and unique backgrounds of each teacher.

The Challenge of Rich Vocabulary Instruction for Children With Developmental Language Disorder

Purpose The aims of the study were to explore responses of children with developmental language disorder (DLD) to rich vocabulary instruction and to identify potential factors that contribute to outcomes. Method Children with DLD participated in a language intervention embedded within a science camp. Using parent and clinician reports, standardized tests, probes, notes, and video, we derived descriptions of seven of the campers who received a vocabulary intervention that incorporated principles of rich instruction. We present them here as a case series. Results Five cases responded to the intervention with modest gains in Tier 2 science vocabulary and science knowledge. One case demonstrated no response, and another was unable to complete the intervention. The latter two cases presented with triple risks: DLD, executive function deficits, and stressors associated with poverty. In comparison, the best responder also lived in poverty and had DLD, but he had intact executive function, strengths in extant vocabulary, stronger knowledge of science, better engagement in the science and language intervention activities, and was older. Other factors that seemed to contribute to outcomes included the complexity of the word forms and dosage. Conclusions Translating research on rich instruction to clinical practice is challenging. This case series motivated hypotheses about the nature of the challenge and what to do about it, the primary one being that the modest success of rich vocabulary instruction for children with DLD is not a limitation of the approach itself but rather a reflection of the difficulty of delivering the intervention while tailoring the targets, approach, and dosage to the needs of individual children with DLD. Supplemental Material https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.13667699

The Challenge of Rich Vocabulary Instruction for Children with Developmental Language Disorder

Purpose: To explore responses of children with developmental language disorders (DLD) to rich vocabulary instruction and to identify potential factors that contribute to outcomes.Method: Children with DLD participated in a language intervention embedded within a science camp. Using parent and clinician reports, standardized tests, probes, notes, and video, we derived descriptions of seven of the campers who received a vocabulary intervention that incorporated principles of rich instruction. We present them here as a case series.Results: Five cases responded to the intervention with modest gains in Tier 2 science vocabulary and science knowledge. One case demonstrated no response and another was unable to complete the intervention. The latter two cases presented with triple risks: DLD, executive function deficits, and stressors associated with poverty. In comparison, the best responder also lived in poverty and had DLD but he had intact executive function, strengths in extant vocabulary, stronger knowledge of science, better engagement in the science and language intervention activities, and he was older. Other factors that seemed to contribute to outcomes included the complexity of the word forms and dosage.Conclusions: Translating research on rich instruction to clinical practice is challenging. This case series motivated hypotheses about the nature of the challenge and what to do about it, the primary one being that the modest success of rich vocabulary instruction for children with DLD is not a limitation of the approach itself but, rather a reflection of the difficulty of delivering the intervention while tailoring the targets, approach, and dosage to the needs of individual children with DLD.

EXPLORING PERFORMANCE MEASUREMENT SYSTEM FOR LECTURER (PMSL): COMPARISON AMONG THREE MODELS IN INDONESIA, SINGAPORE AND TURKEY

This study aims at exploring the Performance Measurement System for Lecturer (PMSL) through a comparison study in three countries, namely Indonesia (MY), Singapore (IT), and Turkey (IMU). We uses multiple case study approach by conducting a comparative study. The data are obtained mainly using interview. Those lecturers assuming some offices and play some roles in formulating the lecturer performance policy are chosen to be this study’s informants, they are: Management and Organization Chair, Chairman of the university senate, Vice Rector for Academic Affair, and Member of Information Systems Audit Control. The results reveal that there are different PMSL patterns from the three research objects, i.e. MY (Indonesia), IT (Singapore) and IMU (Turkey). MY have fairly aggressive PMSL policy as compared to the other two campuses since they have to work harder to improve the performance of their lecturers who in this case have relatively lesser academic experiences at international level. MY reward special incentives for certain performance target and hold a science camp mentoring to improve their lecturers’ capabilities. Meanwhile, IT perform PMSL by classifying lecturer’s performance measurement into two tracks, namely teaching and research tracks. This makes lecturers more focused on and satisfied with their job, and eventually leads to an optimal performance level. Additionally, at IMU Turkey, to achieve lecturer optimal performance, the university prepares a policy related to three aspects: pedagogic (mentoring), knowledge management, and administration easiness. This research result is expected to give real contribution to the refinement of PMSL policy model at universities in Indonesia to allow it to trigger globally-competitive lecturer performance improvement (Global Achievement). This study explains how PMSL as a derivative of goal setting theory is effectively successfully implemented at a University in three different countries which in this case have different organizational cultures.

Changes in Connotative Perception of Notions from the Area of Science Education at a Science Camp

The main reason of children’s low interest in the study of natural science subjects is the inability to link the knowledge acquired at school to subjects such as chemistry or physics with real life outside the classroom. Their ideas about the scientists are often mistaken and glamorized. With the effort of the Vebor camp, these ideas are corrected and shifted towards reality. The research was focused on the perception of children of selected concepts before and after the camp. There are many researches fields dealing with science camps or teaching outside of school. Our research has used the semantic differential method, which we have seen only sporadically in research on this subject. The results of the research are mostly positive and show that the scientific camp has a positive impact on the understanding and perception of children of selected aids from the area of science and education. Very interesting are the results, for example, when the term of “teacher”, where the connotative perception of the term has changed from very negative to highly positive with statistical significance of 99 %. Many of the more interesting results are presented in the article.