No abstract

The null hypotheses tested were (1) that the efficacy of computer‐mediated delivery of courseware was not significantly different from that of traditional university delivery methods, and (2) that the efficacy of learning in partnership with schools was not significantly different from university‐based learning. Forty three student teachers of science were assigned to four treatment groups, in a true experimental research design. The same courseware, designed to develop lesson planning skills, was delivered to the four groups. The first group (n = 11) were taught at university, receiving a traditional lecture, supplemented with a seminar. The second group (n = 12) were taught in a partnership context, receiving the traditional lecture at university, supplemented with a courseware package completed with the student's supervising teacher in school. For groups three (n = 10) and four (n = 10), the contexts were the same as for groups one and two respectively, but courseware delivery was via the Internet with e‐mail tutorial support provided by the university lecturer. Students' achievement was pre‐tested and post‐tested. Post‐test scores were subjected to a two‐way analysis of co‐variance, with the delivery strategy (traditional or computer‐mediated) and the context (university‐based or partnership) as factors and the pre‐test scores as co‐variate. Achievement gains were 12% higher when student teachers worked in a partnership context rather than entirely at university. Achievement gains were 15% higher for computer‐mediated delivery when compared with traditional delivery methods. When these two factors were combined achievement gains were 36% higher.

An exploratory study of teaching styles in 40 social studies classrooms was described. Observational data were cluster‐analysed and three teaching styles were described. It was found that inexperienced teachers favoured an informational teaching style. The implications of the study for the possible empirical testing of prescriptive, instructional theories were discussed, and it was suggested that sufficient variance of teaching style could be found in natural, intact classrooms to justify optimism about the feasibility of using these classrooms in such empirical tests.

A study of science classroom behaviours reported by Eggleston et al. (1976) was replicated in 60 secondary school classrooms where the National Curriculum was being followed. Key teacher and pupil characteristics were matched across the two samples, and it was suggested that curriculum change was the most likely factor influencing changes in the teaching and learning processes which were observed. It was found that there was more emphasis upon lower-order intellectual skills in classrooms where the National Curriculum was being studied. There were also fewer speculative behaviours and fewer behaviours concerned with experimentation. It was shown that a less effective informational instructional strategy was more popular with teachers implementing the National Curriculum, and that instructional strategies which involved practical work were less frequently employed. Participating teachers were asked to give possible reasons for these changes, and it was suggested by many of them that an overburdened curriculum may be a significant factor influencing their choice of teaching and learning strategies. It was suggested that this problem would only be resolved if the informational content of the National Curriculum was reduced, perhaps by focusing upon those key concepts which Bruner (1961) has described as constituting the structureof the discipline.

Summary. A British observational study of science classroom interactions was replicated in Atlantic Canada with 33 teacher‐class units. Observational data from the Canadian classrooms were cluster‐analysed and two preferred teaching styles emerged from this analysis. It was concluded that patterns of teaching in the Canadian classrooms studied differed substantially from those patterns observed in classrooms in the United Kingdom. An overall comparison of the results of the two studies revealed a less practical approach to science teaching in the Canadian classrooms observed, with greater emphasis on the informational aspects of science and convergent, problem‐solving activities.