Steeds meer docenten plaatsen educatieve instructiefilmpjes op YouTube als voorbereiding op toets... more Steeds meer docenten plaatsen educatieve instructiefilmpjes op YouTube als voorbereiding op toetsen. Maar zorgt het ook daadwerkelijk voor betere resultaten?
In het hedendaagse onderwijs wordt steeds meer van leerlingen verwacht dat ze uit informatie die ... more In het hedendaagse onderwijs wordt steeds meer van leerlingen verwacht dat ze uit informatie die ze op internet vinden zelfstandig kennis construeren. Uit onderzoek blijkt dat er drie instructieprincipes zijn die leerlingen helpen dit proces – van informatie naar kennis – aan te leren.
Scientific reasoning refers to the thinking skills involved in conceiving and conducting an inves... more Scientific reasoning refers to the thinking skills involved in conceiving and conducting an investigation. This study examined how proficiency in performing these skills develops during the upper-elementary school years. A sample of 157 children (age 7-10) took a performancebased scientific reasoning test in three consecutive years. Four distinct developmental patterns emerged from their annual test scores, which were independent of prior domain knowledge and sociodemographic characteristics except gender. Developmental patterns in scientific reasoning and reading comprehension, but not math, were related such that many children with a high entry level or accelerated growth in scientific reasoning also performed better and progressed more in reading comprehension. These results indicate that scientific reasoning develops differently in same-age children, largely independent of personal characteristics but generally comparable with reading comprehension.
This article reports on a three-year longitudinal study that portrayed the development of childre... more This article reports on a three-year longitudinal study that portrayed the development of children's digital literacy skills. A sample of 151 fifthand sixth-graders was tested three times at yearly intervals to monitor how their skills to collect, create, transform, and safely use digital information progressed. Results at the group level showed a steady linear increase in all four skills, but individual children tended to alternate substantial growth in one year with minimal progress during the next or vice versa. Children made most progress in their ability to collect information whereas their ability to create information improved the least. Development of most skills was moderately related and independent of gender, grade level, migration background, and improvements in reading comprehension and math. Children's socioeconomic status was weakly associated with the ability to collect and safely use information, but not with the other two digital literacy skills.
This article presents the findings from a teacher intervention in Dutch kindergartens aimed at im... more This article presents the findings from a teacher intervention in Dutch kindergartens aimed at improving teachers' differentiation practices (DP) to better anticipate student differences. The intervention was designed to improve the match between student levels and curricular activities, in particular for high-ability students and consists of three components. A pretest-posttest cluster randomised design was used with three conditions: control (n = 34), pilot intervention (n = 32) and improved intervention (n = 34). Quantitative results demonstrate that the intervention fidelity was relatively high in the improved intervention. Correlations confirmed that teacher-reported DP were higher in schools where the intervention was more completely implemented. DP were enhanced in both intervention conditions, but showed greater improvement in the improved intervention. Qualitative data revealed process characteristics that reflect problems schools encounter with this intervention. Teachers can be supported in improving DP, but this requires school-wide intensive and long support.
Het gebruik van mobiele technologie in het onderwijs dient zich aan in het breder kader van de sn... more Het gebruik van mobiele technologie in het onderwijs dient zich aan in het breder kader van de snelle technologische ontwikkelingen in onze maatschappij. Tablet-pc’s zijn daar een mooi voorbeeld van. Dit stelt ook het onderwijs voor nieuwe uitdagingen. Ondanks de talloze bijdragen in de actualiteit is vanuit onderzoek nog maar weinig empirische evidentie geleverd over de meerwaarde van tablet pc’s in het onderwijs om te komen tot specifieke didactische adviezen. Dit symposium bundelt vier studies die elk vanuit een ander perspectief dit vraagstuk bestuderen.
This paper reports on the findings in the first phase of a design-based research project as part ... more This paper reports on the findings in the first phase of a design-based research project as part of a large-scale intervention study in Dutch kindergartens. The project aims at enhancing differentiated instruction and evaluating its effects on children's development, in particular high-ability children. This study investigates relevant intervention fidelity factors based on [Fullan, M. (2007). The New Meaning of Educational Change. New York: Teachers College Press]. A one-year intervention in 18 K-6 schools was conducted to implement the screening of children's entry characteristics, differentiation of (preparatory) mathematics and language curricula, and a policy for the differentiation and teaching high-ability children. The intervention fidelity and implementation process were scored for each school using data from observations, field notes and log books. Self-report questionnaires measured participants' perceptions of the intervention (n = 35 teachers, 18 principals). Quantitative results showed that intervention fidelity differed between schools. Qualitative analyses of perceptions and cross-case analyses of three kindergartens showed that a strong need, pressure from parents, an involved principal, and teacher time and motivation contributed to successful implementation. Implementation barriers were the innovation's complexity, teacher beliefs, an absent principal and low teacher motivation (which was partly due to communication problems). Implications for interventions in general and differentiated instruction for high-ability children in particular are discussed.
Learning to use scholarly information; Information literacy in Dutch higher education. In this ar... more Learning to use scholarly information; Information literacy in Dutch higher education. In this article, the importance of information literacy instruction in higher education is discussed. Although most university libraries offer this kind of instruction, is it not a guarantee that students are actually educated to be information literate. Beginning students – though brought up as digital natives – clearly lack basic skills in searching for and managing information. In Dutch universities some training is provided in information literature, but there is most certainly room for improvement and extension. Recommendations for educational management to bring these about are given in this article.
Het onderwijs gaat vaak uit van de gemiddelde leerling. Dat doet kinderen die daar net onder of b... more Het onderwijs gaat vaak uit van de gemiddelde leerling. Dat doet kinderen die daar net onder of boven zitten tekort. Een programma ontwikkeld door onderzoekers van de Radboud Universiteit en de Open Universiteit Nederland gaat uit van de capaciteiten van de individuele leerling zelf. Zo krijgen ook kinderen met een ontwikkelingsvoorsprong al vanaf begin groep 1 het onderwijs dat ze verdienen.
In docentontwerpteams (DOTs) werken docenten– vaak met onderzoekers en inhoudsexperts– aan het (h... more In docentontwerpteams (DOTs) werken docenten– vaak met onderzoekers en inhoudsexperts– aan het (her)ontwerpen van onderwijs. De verwachting is dat dit bijdraagt aan professionalisering van de docenten en de implementatie van curriculummaterialen. Zo zouden DOTs bij kunnen dragen aan de kruisbestuiving tussen onderzoek en praktijk. Onderzoeksliteratuur naar DOTs is beperkt en kan deze aannames maar deels bevestigen. Aanvullend is meer inzicht gewenst in perspectieven van docenten op DOTs. Hiertoe werd een vakbladscan uitgevoerd gericht op het verzamelen van anekdotisch bewijs: niet systematisch onderzochte ervaringen van docenten die waardevol zijn voor collega’s. De inhoudsopgaven van vijfentwintig vakbladen zijn doorzocht. Met een leeswijzer gebaseerd op van de onderzoeksvragen afgeleide criteria werden twaalf vakbladartikelen beschreven en vergeleken. De vakbladscan laat DOTs zien die door docenten zijn geinitieerd vanuit een concrete probleem- en doelarticulatie. Docenten richten zich primair op het verbeteren van leerresultaten en motivatie. De DOTs leiden volgens docenten tot relevante, bruikbare ontwerpen en succesvolle implementatie in termen van betere leerresultaten, en meer samenhang en samenwerking in de school. Ondanks de beperkingen levert een vakbladscan interessante aandachtspunten op die nader onderzocht kunnen worden.
The Interconnected Model of Professional Growth (Clarke & Hollingsworth, 2002) was used to identi... more The Interconnected Model of Professional Growth (Clarke & Hollingsworth, 2002) was used to identify processes of teacher learning during the collaborative design of curriculum materials in the context of curriculum innovation. Nine published studies from six different countries about teachers' collaborative curriculum design were analyzed to identify the learning processes that collaborative curriculum design fosters. It was concluded that the Interconnected Model of Professional Growth, although initially developed to recognize learning processes in individual teachers, can also be used to identify learning processes that are fostered by collaborative curriculum design in teams of teachers.
A program for teaching 9th graders course content (history) and how they should evaluate informat... more A program for teaching 9th graders course content (history) and how they should evaluate information found on the WWW was designed and tested. Goal of the program was to teach content, evaluations skills, and to achieve transfer of these skills to a different domain. In the design of the program the principles of two transfer theories were combined using a design-based research approach. Results revealed that the program improved students' evaluation behaviour. Compared to the students of the control condition, the evaluation skills of students in the experimental condition improved to a higher level, but did not lead to transfer. Students in the experimental classes scored higher on the final content exam than students in the control class.
Searching and processing information is a complex cognitive process that requires students to ide... more Searching and processing information is a complex cognitive process that requires students to identify information needs, locate corresponding information sources, extract and organize relevant information from each source, and synthesize information from a variety of sources. This process is called information-problem solving (IPS). IPS can be characterized as a complex cognitive skill, which may need direct instruction to reach high levels of performance. However, IPS has been given little attention in schools, and instruction in this skill is rarely embedded in curricula. And yet, by giving students assignments in which students have to solve an information-based problem, teachers assume that their pupils have developed this skill naturally. A literature study was done to determine what kinds of problems students experience when solving information problems using the WWW for searching information, and what kind of instructional support can help to solve these problems. Results show that children, teenagers and adults have trouble with specifying search terms, judging search results and judging source and information. Regulating the search process is also problematic. Instruction designed specifically for IPS using the WWW for searching information is rare but indeed addresses the problematic skills. However, there are differences between various methods and it is unclear which method is most effective for specific age groups.
The World Wide Web (WWW) has become the biggest information source for students while solving inf... more The World Wide Web (WWW) has become the biggest information source for students while solving information problems for school projects. Since anyone can post anything on the WWW, information is often unreliable or incomplete, and it is important to evaluate sources and information before using them. Earlier research has shown that students have difficulties with evaluating sources and information. This study investigates the criteria secondary educational students use while searching the Web for information. 23 students solved two information problems while thinking aloud. After completing the tasks they were interviewed in groups on their use of criteria. Results show that students do not evaluate results, source and information very often. The criteria students mention when asked which criteria are important for evaluating information are not always the same criteria they mention while solving the information problems. They mentioned more criteria but also admitted not always using these criteria while searching the Web.
Steeds meer docenten plaatsen educatieve instructiefilmpjes op YouTube als voorbereiding op toets... more Steeds meer docenten plaatsen educatieve instructiefilmpjes op YouTube als voorbereiding op toetsen. Maar zorgt het ook daadwerkelijk voor betere resultaten?
In het hedendaagse onderwijs wordt steeds meer van leerlingen verwacht dat ze uit informatie die ... more In het hedendaagse onderwijs wordt steeds meer van leerlingen verwacht dat ze uit informatie die ze op internet vinden zelfstandig kennis construeren. Uit onderzoek blijkt dat er drie instructieprincipes zijn die leerlingen helpen dit proces – van informatie naar kennis – aan te leren.
Scientific reasoning refers to the thinking skills involved in conceiving and conducting an inves... more Scientific reasoning refers to the thinking skills involved in conceiving and conducting an investigation. This study examined how proficiency in performing these skills develops during the upper-elementary school years. A sample of 157 children (age 7-10) took a performancebased scientific reasoning test in three consecutive years. Four distinct developmental patterns emerged from their annual test scores, which were independent of prior domain knowledge and sociodemographic characteristics except gender. Developmental patterns in scientific reasoning and reading comprehension, but not math, were related such that many children with a high entry level or accelerated growth in scientific reasoning also performed better and progressed more in reading comprehension. These results indicate that scientific reasoning develops differently in same-age children, largely independent of personal characteristics but generally comparable with reading comprehension.
This article reports on a three-year longitudinal study that portrayed the development of childre... more This article reports on a three-year longitudinal study that portrayed the development of children's digital literacy skills. A sample of 151 fifthand sixth-graders was tested three times at yearly intervals to monitor how their skills to collect, create, transform, and safely use digital information progressed. Results at the group level showed a steady linear increase in all four skills, but individual children tended to alternate substantial growth in one year with minimal progress during the next or vice versa. Children made most progress in their ability to collect information whereas their ability to create information improved the least. Development of most skills was moderately related and independent of gender, grade level, migration background, and improvements in reading comprehension and math. Children's socioeconomic status was weakly associated with the ability to collect and safely use information, but not with the other two digital literacy skills.
This article presents the findings from a teacher intervention in Dutch kindergartens aimed at im... more This article presents the findings from a teacher intervention in Dutch kindergartens aimed at improving teachers' differentiation practices (DP) to better anticipate student differences. The intervention was designed to improve the match between student levels and curricular activities, in particular for high-ability students and consists of three components. A pretest-posttest cluster randomised design was used with three conditions: control (n = 34), pilot intervention (n = 32) and improved intervention (n = 34). Quantitative results demonstrate that the intervention fidelity was relatively high in the improved intervention. Correlations confirmed that teacher-reported DP were higher in schools where the intervention was more completely implemented. DP were enhanced in both intervention conditions, but showed greater improvement in the improved intervention. Qualitative data revealed process characteristics that reflect problems schools encounter with this intervention. Teachers can be supported in improving DP, but this requires school-wide intensive and long support.
Het gebruik van mobiele technologie in het onderwijs dient zich aan in het breder kader van de sn... more Het gebruik van mobiele technologie in het onderwijs dient zich aan in het breder kader van de snelle technologische ontwikkelingen in onze maatschappij. Tablet-pc’s zijn daar een mooi voorbeeld van. Dit stelt ook het onderwijs voor nieuwe uitdagingen. Ondanks de talloze bijdragen in de actualiteit is vanuit onderzoek nog maar weinig empirische evidentie geleverd over de meerwaarde van tablet pc’s in het onderwijs om te komen tot specifieke didactische adviezen. Dit symposium bundelt vier studies die elk vanuit een ander perspectief dit vraagstuk bestuderen.
This paper reports on the findings in the first phase of a design-based research project as part ... more This paper reports on the findings in the first phase of a design-based research project as part of a large-scale intervention study in Dutch kindergartens. The project aims at enhancing differentiated instruction and evaluating its effects on children's development, in particular high-ability children. This study investigates relevant intervention fidelity factors based on [Fullan, M. (2007). The New Meaning of Educational Change. New York: Teachers College Press]. A one-year intervention in 18 K-6 schools was conducted to implement the screening of children's entry characteristics, differentiation of (preparatory) mathematics and language curricula, and a policy for the differentiation and teaching high-ability children. The intervention fidelity and implementation process were scored for each school using data from observations, field notes and log books. Self-report questionnaires measured participants' perceptions of the intervention (n = 35 teachers, 18 principals). Quantitative results showed that intervention fidelity differed between schools. Qualitative analyses of perceptions and cross-case analyses of three kindergartens showed that a strong need, pressure from parents, an involved principal, and teacher time and motivation contributed to successful implementation. Implementation barriers were the innovation's complexity, teacher beliefs, an absent principal and low teacher motivation (which was partly due to communication problems). Implications for interventions in general and differentiated instruction for high-ability children in particular are discussed.
Learning to use scholarly information; Information literacy in Dutch higher education. In this ar... more Learning to use scholarly information; Information literacy in Dutch higher education. In this article, the importance of information literacy instruction in higher education is discussed. Although most university libraries offer this kind of instruction, is it not a guarantee that students are actually educated to be information literate. Beginning students – though brought up as digital natives – clearly lack basic skills in searching for and managing information. In Dutch universities some training is provided in information literature, but there is most certainly room for improvement and extension. Recommendations for educational management to bring these about are given in this article.
Het onderwijs gaat vaak uit van de gemiddelde leerling. Dat doet kinderen die daar net onder of b... more Het onderwijs gaat vaak uit van de gemiddelde leerling. Dat doet kinderen die daar net onder of boven zitten tekort. Een programma ontwikkeld door onderzoekers van de Radboud Universiteit en de Open Universiteit Nederland gaat uit van de capaciteiten van de individuele leerling zelf. Zo krijgen ook kinderen met een ontwikkelingsvoorsprong al vanaf begin groep 1 het onderwijs dat ze verdienen.
In docentontwerpteams (DOTs) werken docenten– vaak met onderzoekers en inhoudsexperts– aan het (h... more In docentontwerpteams (DOTs) werken docenten– vaak met onderzoekers en inhoudsexperts– aan het (her)ontwerpen van onderwijs. De verwachting is dat dit bijdraagt aan professionalisering van de docenten en de implementatie van curriculummaterialen. Zo zouden DOTs bij kunnen dragen aan de kruisbestuiving tussen onderzoek en praktijk. Onderzoeksliteratuur naar DOTs is beperkt en kan deze aannames maar deels bevestigen. Aanvullend is meer inzicht gewenst in perspectieven van docenten op DOTs. Hiertoe werd een vakbladscan uitgevoerd gericht op het verzamelen van anekdotisch bewijs: niet systematisch onderzochte ervaringen van docenten die waardevol zijn voor collega’s. De inhoudsopgaven van vijfentwintig vakbladen zijn doorzocht. Met een leeswijzer gebaseerd op van de onderzoeksvragen afgeleide criteria werden twaalf vakbladartikelen beschreven en vergeleken. De vakbladscan laat DOTs zien die door docenten zijn geinitieerd vanuit een concrete probleem- en doelarticulatie. Docenten richten zich primair op het verbeteren van leerresultaten en motivatie. De DOTs leiden volgens docenten tot relevante, bruikbare ontwerpen en succesvolle implementatie in termen van betere leerresultaten, en meer samenhang en samenwerking in de school. Ondanks de beperkingen levert een vakbladscan interessante aandachtspunten op die nader onderzocht kunnen worden.
The Interconnected Model of Professional Growth (Clarke & Hollingsworth, 2002) was used to identi... more The Interconnected Model of Professional Growth (Clarke & Hollingsworth, 2002) was used to identify processes of teacher learning during the collaborative design of curriculum materials in the context of curriculum innovation. Nine published studies from six different countries about teachers' collaborative curriculum design were analyzed to identify the learning processes that collaborative curriculum design fosters. It was concluded that the Interconnected Model of Professional Growth, although initially developed to recognize learning processes in individual teachers, can also be used to identify learning processes that are fostered by collaborative curriculum design in teams of teachers.
A program for teaching 9th graders course content (history) and how they should evaluate informat... more A program for teaching 9th graders course content (history) and how they should evaluate information found on the WWW was designed and tested. Goal of the program was to teach content, evaluations skills, and to achieve transfer of these skills to a different domain. In the design of the program the principles of two transfer theories were combined using a design-based research approach. Results revealed that the program improved students' evaluation behaviour. Compared to the students of the control condition, the evaluation skills of students in the experimental condition improved to a higher level, but did not lead to transfer. Students in the experimental classes scored higher on the final content exam than students in the control class.
Searching and processing information is a complex cognitive process that requires students to ide... more Searching and processing information is a complex cognitive process that requires students to identify information needs, locate corresponding information sources, extract and organize relevant information from each source, and synthesize information from a variety of sources. This process is called information-problem solving (IPS). IPS can be characterized as a complex cognitive skill, which may need direct instruction to reach high levels of performance. However, IPS has been given little attention in schools, and instruction in this skill is rarely embedded in curricula. And yet, by giving students assignments in which students have to solve an information-based problem, teachers assume that their pupils have developed this skill naturally. A literature study was done to determine what kinds of problems students experience when solving information problems using the WWW for searching information, and what kind of instructional support can help to solve these problems. Results show that children, teenagers and adults have trouble with specifying search terms, judging search results and judging source and information. Regulating the search process is also problematic. Instruction designed specifically for IPS using the WWW for searching information is rare but indeed addresses the problematic skills. However, there are differences between various methods and it is unclear which method is most effective for specific age groups.
The World Wide Web (WWW) has become the biggest information source for students while solving inf... more The World Wide Web (WWW) has become the biggest information source for students while solving information problems for school projects. Since anyone can post anything on the WWW, information is often unreliable or incomplete, and it is important to evaluate sources and information before using them. Earlier research has shown that students have difficulties with evaluating sources and information. This study investigates the criteria secondary educational students use while searching the Web for information. 23 students solved two information problems while thinking aloud. After completing the tasks they were interviewed in groups on their use of criteria. Results show that students do not evaluate results, source and information very often. The criteria students mention when asked which criteria are important for evaluating information are not always the same criteria they mention while solving the information problems. They mentioned more criteria but also admitted not always using these criteria while searching the Web.
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