Social Science Curriculum Project
This project consists of two opera- teaching units for secondary schools. of this kind. Other topics within the tions. The first concerns the dis- The underlying theme for these units general theme of social change are semination of news and ideas about is that of social and cultural change. being considered.
the teaching of the social sciences Currently two main topics of study In addition to written materials, in Australia and overseas. The sec- are being developed. In each case both units will employ a wide range and involves the development and the, data and concepts have been of audio-visual methods of presenta- evaluation of new learning materials drawn from a wide range of the sac- tion. Sound tapes, slides and films, for use in Australian secondary ial sciences and relevant humanities. and transparencies and possibly schools. One of the main topics of study is videotapes are to be assembled in Through the National Information the recent establishment of copper kit form on an experimental basis.
Centre for Social Science Education mining in Bougainville, and its im- The plan is to conduct displays of all (NICSSE), every secondary school pact on the native culture. The main the materials developed on a limited throughout the Commonwealth re- aim is to explore these social con- local scale prior to making them ceives a copy of each issue of the flicts resulting from the entry of available as a pilot research study NICSSE Bulletin. Copies are also modern technology into a preindus- at the national level.
sent to other interested institutions trial society. To help students under- The research components of the and individuals such as educa- stand these· problems, the unit pilot study will, among other things, tion departments, universities, and includes statements of opposing seek to take account of and assess teachers colleges. The Bulletin also viewpoint from interested parties in any changes that occur in students' serves as a valuable link with over- the dispute together with narra- attitudes towards minority cultures.
seas bodies. Through the agency of tive and descriptive accounts of the To develop skills in making judg- the New Zealand Council for Educa- island and its inhabitants. ments after examining the available
tional Research, many secondary evidence is another aim. Teachers'
schools in that country receive a SECOND UNIT guides will accompany the units and copy. The second unit involves a study explain both the methodology and Another function of NICSSE is to of children growing up within four the objectives involved. The current interpret and evaluate major trends different types of aboriginal groups series of articles presented in the and developments in the· social in Australia. The main objective is NICSSE Bulletin is designed to pro- sciences both here and abroad. To to create an awareness of the· social vide an introduction to the cultural date NICSSE staff have prepared changes which result from increas- framework to the units.
twenty special reports and papers on ing contact with modern urban liv- a wide range of subjects of interest ing. The unit will include extracts to Australian educators. The centre from the literature written by dif- regularly answers special requests ferent people such as anthropolo- from teachers for advice and assis- gists, social welfare and government
tance. officers, poets (both white and abo-
A closely related activity within riginal), native bodies, and early the Social Sciences Curriculum Pro- colonists. The topic by its breadth ject is the production of special lends itself to a number of studies
The ACER Newsletter is pub- 1 ished quarterly by the, Austra- lian Council for Educational Research, Frederick Street, Hawthorn, Victoria 3122. Com- munications should be ad- dressed to the Editors, ACER Newsletter, at this address.
QUANTITY CONCEPTS
Piaget's studies on the conceptual development of the child have had a profound influence on education today. His work has demonstrated the' importance of the basic concepts which underlie children's mathe- matical and logical thinking, and his studies have played a major role in directing attention to the importance of the early years in cognitive de- velopment. His influence is apparent in many of the new primary school mathematics programs and teaching materials, as well as in the cogni- tively oriented kindergarten and pre- school programs at present being developed in the United States.
One of the most important as- pects of his work is his finding that intellectual development proceeds through a series of clearly defined stages. These stages determine the child's level of intellectual function- ing and the way in which he is able to dea I with new concepts and problems.
It is this finding that has led a number of people to suggest that Piaget's work could provide a basis for the· development of a natural ordinal scale of development. Such a scale would indicate the precise level of development of a child and would obviously be of great value in education and research.
PIAGETIAN TASKS
The Piagetian tasks are claimed to follow a certain order of develop- 'ment. In particular, the tests of con- s.ervation of· quantity, weight, and volume have been found to follow an invariant order, quantity being conserved at about 7 years, weight at about 8 or 9 years, and volume at about 12 years. lnhelder, one of Pia- get's colleagues, has applied these three tests to retarded subjects, and has found not only that the invariant order holds for these subjects, but that performance on these tests also indicates the degree of retardation.
·The Piagetian tasks have been replicated in a number of studies.
While· these studies have generally confirmed Piaget's theories and the
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orders of development postulated, a number of inconsistencies have been reported. These, inconsisten- cies appear to be due mainly to dif- ferences in methods of presenting the tasks and differences in scoring.
If the Piagetian tasks are to be used to assess level of conceptual development, it is necessary to be sure that they are reliable and con- sistent.
ACER STUDIES
ACER has been carrying out a series of studies with the Piagetian tasks to assess their reliability and suitability as a means of assessing level of conceptual development.
These studies have been concerned mainly with the investigation of fac- tors affecting children's performance on these tasks.
In a study of the effects of experi- ence and materials on a series of Piaget conservation tasks (reported .in the ACER Bulletin for Psycholo-
gists, no. 7, August 1967, and no.
8, February 1968), a much higher proportion of 6-year-old children were found to conserve weight and volume than would be expected on the basis of Piaget's results. It was .thought that these results could be .due to the particular form of ques-
tioning used in this study, and to the children's experience on the pre- vious tests.
A study was therefore under- taken of the effects of different types of questioning (reported in ACER Progress Report 1, 1970). Two forms of questioning were used.
First, the standard form of question- ing used in most Piagetian tasks:
this form of questioning was neut- ral, suggesting neither a conserva- tion nor a non-conservation answer.
.Second, .a negative suggestive form .of questioning, suggesting a non-
conservation answer.
As predicted, more conservation .responses were found on the neutral form of questioning than on the .negative form of questioning. These differences were most marked in the youngest age groups, but tended to disappear in older children. These
results were interpreted as indica- ting different levels of understand- ing, or different levels in the stability of the concept of conservation.
A second study investigated the effect of order of presentation for the tests of quantity, weight, and volume. The results of this study in- dicated that some of the• tests were subject to order effects, while others were not. There were no apparent differences in performance on the test of quantity when this test was presented first, second, or last in the series. However, an order effect was found for the test of volume, perfor- mance on this test improving from first to second, and from second to third presentation. The test on weight, on the other hand, showed a sequential order effect, performance on this test improving when it was presented after the• test on quantity, but not when it was presented after the test on volume.
The aim of these studies is to investigate the methodological prob- lems in the administration of these tests as a preliminary to developing a battery of Piagetian tests assessing the level of conceptual development for use in applied research. A trial form of such a battery using the tests of quantity, weight, and volume will shortly be applied in a study of educational achievement. This study will provide information on the per- formance of a random sample· of children on these tests, and in addi- tion will enable a study of the rela- tionship between performance on these tests and performance on other measures of non-verbal and language ability and school achieve- ment.
Dr Mary Nixon, senior lecturer in psychology in the education faculty at Monash University, has completed a study which she began when at ACER. It looks at the ways in which children between the ages of 5 and 10 carry out five different classifica- tion tasks.
Her book, Children's Classification Skills, describes the method and re- sults of the study, and explores the implications of its findings for fur- ther research into intellectual de- velopment. ACER will publish the book in August at $3.20.
ACER Newsletter No 9: June 1971
WA Reading Development Scheme
For the latest printing of the West- ern Australian Reading Development Scheme, we altered the format of the kit construction to make it more durable for· classroom use (and sturdy enough to survive the rigours of transport around Australia).
In this revised form, we recently entered WARDS in the Australian National Packaging Awards compe- tition for 1971. One of the awards was _promoted by the Australian Design Council. It was in this sec- tion that WARDS received a special commendation by the judges-both for its design and for the quality of its production.
The judges commented on 'the well-conceived, simple graphics and the colour-coding carried through the card system of this kit of educa- tiona I materia I'.
CLASSROOM IMPACT WARDS has made a considerable impact on the Australian classroom since it was first produced by the WA Education Department in 1964.
ACER republished WARDS in 1967.
We re-edited and redesigned the material to our own requirements, mindful of the successful concept devised by the Research and Cur- riculum Branch in WA. Since 1967, some six thousand sets have been distributed to schools the length and breadth of the country-a reflection on its general usefulness to the pri- mary teacher.
Suitable for use in the middle and upper primary grades, WARDS was designed to provide graded multi- level reading material of high interest value and physical appeal. It is not meant to be a complete reading course in itself, but rather to be inte- grated into the year's work in read- ing. Its role is to help the teacher develop each child's reading skills of comprehension, vocabulary, and speed of reading.
WARDS has been conceived as a multi-level approach to reading.
That is, it presents a large enough range of reading matter to enable
'ACER Ne'Ws/etter'No 9;' June 1971
each child to find his own level, and to proceed at his own pace-thereby fostering his powers of self-apprai- sal, and his sense of independence.
ABILITY RANGE
The range of reading ability re- quired to cope with this reading scheme is from the equivalent of the second school year to the eleventh.
But the subject-interest levels of the stories are focused on the 9- to 12- year-olds. So WARDS is not appro- priate to the Grade 2 or 3 child, even though the vocabulary of the lower levels may be within his experience.
There are ten colour-levels in the scheme-each one approximating a school year in difficulty. The level at which a reader starts depends on his score on the Starting Colour Guide, completed by him to discover his
100 Pace Promoters
aimed to improve comprehension and vocabulary skills, WARDS con- tains one hundred Pace· Promoter cards. Here, too, there are ten selec- tions at ten colour levels. Each card consists of a short prose· passage followed by a set of questions, to be read and answered at speed.
Fast, accurate reading with com- prehension is a necessary element in an overall reading ability-in fact, a crucial skill at a time when we are faced with a barrage of printed mat- ter and so little time to take it in.
One of the key features of WARDS is its ability to reinforce learning promptly. The child marks his own work as soon as he com- pletes a reading card. He sees im- mediately what he has got right and what he has got wrong; he is encour-
100 Power Promoters 1 Teacher's Handbook
The WARDS kit shown contains enough material for a class of 30. For a larger class, the teacher is advised to use the 50-card supplement, which is also available.
reading competence and to intro- duce him to the kit.
Once the teacher finds the child's .starting level, the child makes his way through WARDS at his own rate, only moving to a higher level when he has proved himself at the level at which he has been working.
There are ten cards at each colour level, each of comparable difficulty, each with its own story to rouse the child's interest, each with its own questions and extension work in, e.g., antonyms, homonyms, root words, syllabication, prefixes.
Besides the one hundred cards
aged by his successes; he benefits from his errors; he moves on to the next card with some sense of ac- complishment. And through the child's regular recording and chart- ing of his work, the teacher is able to keep in contact with his progress and give specific help where· needed.
This approach eliminates much of the frustration which has so often bedevilled the reading period, when the whole class is swept forward at a pace to suit the average pupil and the needs of the better and less able children are neglected in favour of the middle approach.
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Test Norming Program
In November 1970 and in April/May 1971, nation-wide testing programs have been conducted as part of an ACER test norming program. The purpose of the program is to estab- 1 ish age and grade norms for a num- ber of new tests, and in some cases to update or extend the norms for existing tests.
The November 1970 stage of the program involved the preparation of separate norms for each state and the ACT. Approximately 440 pri- mary schools and 100 secondary
The UK edition of Books for the Retarded Reader, by J. A. Hart and J. A. Richardson, was published by Ernest Benn Limited of London on 19 May. The ready availability in the UK of this most useful book for teachers and parents is certain to lead to its wider use there, and the edition has the advantage of being prepared specially for UK conditions.
To achieve this, certain book series were removed-books virtually un- available in the UK-and others were reviewed and included by Joan Hart following correspondence with Dr Elizabeth Goodacre, well known UK child psychiatrist with an interest in the teaching of children retarded in their reading.
schools took part. In general, these schools tested all of the children in one selected class at each of 3 or 4 grade, levels. Over 50,000 children were involved in the program, most of them being given 3 separate tests.
SECOND ST AGE
In the April/May 1971 stage of the program, about 470 primary schools tested a cluster of children drawn from one grade level or from adjacent grades. At the same time some 140 secondary schools tested clusters of 5 to 8 children from each year level up to Grade 10. The use of cluster sampling, with clusters selected on the basis of birthdates, has made it possible to norm a test on a smaller number of children than is possible when whole classes are tested.
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The mathematics tests in the April/May program are being normed on a state basis and the pri- mary reading survey tests on a national basis.
Information regarding the items in the tests and levels of perfor- mance in the various grades will be incorporated in new or revised manuals for the tests. It is expected that these manuals will be available
late in 1971, or in early 1972.
CO-OPERATIVE EFFORT We are grateful to state depart- ments of education, school princi- pals, and teachers for their co-opera- tion in the program. Over 90 per cent of the schools invited to take part agreed to do so.
SCHOOL RESULTS
In an attempt to compensate for any disruption in the, programs of participating schools, we have sup- plied computer-produced lists of in- dividual results and have donated all of the reusable test booklets to the schools concerned. When the norm- ative and item data are available, the schools will be furnished with copies. Many of the schools have reported that they have been happy to be involved in the program.
TESTS INVOLVED
The following tests have been in- cluded in the program:
November 1970:
Progressive Achievement Tests*, Grades 3-9:
Reading Comprehension, Forms A and B;
Reading Vocabulary, Forms A and B.
NSW Basic Skills Tests, Grades 3-6:
Spelling, Forms X and Y;
Study Skills-Map Reading, Forms X and Y;
Study Skills-Reference Ma- terials, Forms X and Y;
Listening, Form X.
Co-operative Reading Test, Forms L and M, Grades 8 and 9.
Otis Intermediate Test, Grades 4-7.
April/May 1971:
Primary Mathematics Topic Tests, Grades 4-6:
Numeration, Counting, and Num- ber Patterns;
Place Value;
Whole Numbers-Mathematical Ideas;
Whole Numbers-Mathematical Terms;
Whole Numbers-Applications;
Whole Numbers-Computation;
Money;
Capacity and Volume;
Time.
Primary Reading Survey Tests, Grades 3-6:
Word Knowledge, Form R;
Comprehension, Forms R and S.
Tests of Reasoning in Mathematics, Grades 7-10.
Test of Learning Ability, Grades 3-5.
We will inform test users, through the medium of this Newsletter and by other contacts, of the availability of the new test series when their manuals are ready for release. For the established tests, like the Otis, we will do likewise when the revised manuals are in print.
* First published by the New Zealand Coun- cil for Educational Research.
Mrs Jillian Keepes (formerly Jillian Maling), Senior Research Officer in Test Development, left in June for the USA, where she hopes to com- plete her doctorate at Stanford Uni- versity. She is going to the USA with her husband, Dr Bruce Keepes, who has just completed his sabbatical leave working jointly with ACER and Monash University. He is director of research for the Palo Alto school system in California.
While with ACER, Jillian Keepes has been involved in a variety of test development and research pro- jects, including overall responsibility for the Humanities and Written Ex- pression papers for the Common- wealth Secondary Scholarships Ex- amination.
We hope to publish, during 1972, reports by Mrs Keepes on several of the research studies on which she has been working while at ACER.
ACER Newsletter No 9: June 1971
