Editor's Note, November 2008
Elizabeth Haller
PhD Candidate and Instructor, Kent State University
E-mail: editoraee@hotmail.com
We invite your continued perusal and encourage you to submit articles, poetry, and fiction for consideration in future issues of AEE. Please review our Call for Papers on this site for more details on submission requirements. If you are unsure whether your contribution would be suitable under the terms of our Call for Papers, please send along an inquiry, and I will be happy to respond forthwith. As always, do not forget to check out Grist for the Mill for possible submission ideas.
The first feature of this issue, “Strengthening Intermediate-Level Mathematics Teaching Using Manipulatives: A Theory-Backed Discourse” comes to us from Jennifer Lira and Anthony Ezeife. According to the authors:
Closely examining the key role mathematics plays in contemporary society, and the need for focus-shifting action in math teaching practices at the secondary school level, this article draws attention to relevant theory and research-based evidence to support its call for the consistent use of manipulatives in math teaching, especially for intermediate students grappling with age-related learning issues in their adolescent years. It also addresses the needs of the math teacher by providing a rich repertoire of concrete resources targeted at middle-level classes. Actual classroom evidence of the use of manipulatives, and the beneficial results accruing from the use, are also highlighted.
Authors Clara Lee Brown and Trena Paulus bring us the second feature of this issue titled, “Pre-service ESL Teachers’ Constructed Knowledge about Using Content-Based ESL Instruction and Curriculum”. Brown and Paulus state:
Pedagogical knowledge construction has been identified as one of the most important goals of pre-service teacher education, and MATESOL programs are no exception. Based on the heightened awareness of English language learner needs for developing academic language proficiency, many MATESOL programs now offer content-based ESL methods courses. In a focus group study conducted over two semesters, pre-service ESL teachers who took a content-based ESL method course articulated their internalized pedagogical knowledge about content-based teaching. Six themes related to participant beliefs about content-based teaching emerged from the analysis: 1) increased motivation; 2) increased support for learning in mainstream classes; 3) increased effectiveness of grammar learning; 4) difficulties of implementing content-based teaching in the classroom; 5) limitations of content-based teaching, and 6) change in perception.
The final feature of this issue is titled “Evaluating Research Methods: Assumptions, Strengths, and Weaknesses of Three Educational Research Paradigms.” Author Angela Velez states:
This article explores three main research methodologies—quantitative, qualitative and mixed methods—in terms of their assumptions, strengths and weaknesses. Its purpose is to inform doctoral students who might be new to educational research and who seek a paper that clearly explains the negative and positive aspects of each paradigm and under what conditions each method might be appropriate in terms of design. It concludes with the belief that while each paradigm is significantly different in terms of design and process, there are a great deal of similarities that deserve consideration and analysis.
This month’s Poet’s Corner contribution “Teach Them . . . Phenomenologically” comes to us from Vicky Gilpin, who states:
My dissertation was a phenomenological heuristic study about the perspectives of supplementary school educators within very small Jewish congregations. The final step in heuristic presentation and handling of data was the development of a creative synthesis of the experience, representing the essence of the experience and taking the form of an image, poem, personal narrative or other depiction. For my study, the creative synthesis took the form of a poem and represented the essence of the experience of the exploration of perspectives of supplementary educators within very small congregations as well as the process of the research collection and analysis.
READ, ENJOY, AND CONTRIBUTE!
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Send your ideas and/or writing sample
to the Editor-in-chief:
Elizabeth Haller
Kent State University (e-mail: editoraee@hotmail.com)
Academic Exchange Extra invites reader response to any writings in this issue--especially articles advancing the scholarly debate of issues raised.
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