Biology Diagnostic Tests
In previous years we have prepared batteries of Physics and Chemistry Diagnostic Tests which were origin- ally designed for use with the courses in Victorian secondary schools. The Victorian Education Department gave grants to ACER for the development of these tests.
Later, they were adapted for other states-physics for Queensland, chemistry for South Australia.
In 1968 the Victorian Education Department gave us another test de- velopment grant, this time for a series of Biology Diagnostic Tests on similar lines to the physics and chemistry tests.
BIOLOGY COURSES The biology course used in Vic- toria is Biological Science: The Web of Life, covering the last two years of secondary school. This course was adapted for use in Australian schools from the American Biological Sciences Curriculum Study ( BSCS) courses.
The adaptation was undertaken by the Australian Academy of Science with the co-operation of the Vic- torian and South Australian Educa- tion Departments. The project was given approval by the BSCS. Five editors were appointed, and they produced materials which included a textbook for two years of the course, two laboratory manuals, and a teachers' guide.
The Web of Life course has an un- usual position in Australia. Usually, curricula vary widely from state to state. But not so with biology. The Web of Life course is used in Vic- toria, South Australia, Tasmania, Queensland, and Western Australia.
In Queensland and Western Austra- lia there are also alternative biology courses, but The Web of Life seems to be growing in popularity.
TEST BATTERY
' When we examined ways of pro- ducing our new Biology Diagnostic Tests, we felt that the model devised for the successful physics and chem-
istry test batteries was still the right one·: Namely, a series of diagnostic tests accompanied by matching an- swer sheets and score keys, and follow-up diagnostic aids. As in physics, the tests would be at two levels, L and M, covering the last two years of secondary schooling.
Diagnostic tests. Each diagnostic test in the battery is multiple-choice in form and contains about twenty questions. Each test is based on a particular segment of the course, roughly three chapters of the text- book; it requires an understanding of concepts and single propositions.
Single propositions indicate the de- sired outcomes of certain activities.
The diagnostic tests are not meant to be used as measures of achieve- ment. They are designed to help the
student discover difficulties and mis- understandings in the work he has recently studied, so that his de- ficiencies can be remedied at an early stage.
Answer sheets, and score keys.
Each test has its corresponding answer sheet and score key. The student records his answers and at the end of the test notes the· correct answers alongside. He may com- plete a test in school or at home.
Diagnostic aids. For each test question, the· aid gives a reference to The Web of Life textbook, and goes on to provide a discussion of the, correct answer and of the inade- quacies of the wrong' alternatives.
From his answer sheet the student can readily locate in the aid the dis- cussions he needs to concentrate on, though he may also want to examine the· comments on those questions he got right.
Achievement tests. To meet the needs of teachers who want to assess their students' work for the year, we have prepared two compre- hensive achievement tests, one at each of the L and M levels. These tests will provide teachers with some notion of their students' accomplish- ments and their preparedness for end-of-the-year examinations.
Experienced biology teachers in four states helped write items for the tests and made critical comments on the work of others. One test was
written in Tasmania, one in Queens- land, three in South Australia, and the remainder in Victoria. Panel meetings were held under ACER direction in these states. Two equivalent trial forms of each test were then constructed at ACER.
Trial testing took place in all states where, The Web of Life course is used, and we invited comments
PRE-SCHOOLS
For many years nobody questioned the values or the goals of pre-school education. Pre-schools existed only through the joint efforts of parents and pre-school associations, and catered for only a small proportion of pre-school children.
It was largely the professional and middle classes who saw the value of pre-schooling for their children, and who had the initiative and resources to establish pre-school centres.
The aims and methods and goals of the pre-schools therefore de- veloped apart from the school sys- tem and they became, in a sense, a closed group.
POPULAR INTEREST
But in the past five years or so pre-school education has become a matter for popular concern. Aca- demics, psychologists, sociologists, welfare workers, and the community at large have suddenly become in- terested in pre-schooling. These out- siders do not have the same basic assumptions as the pre-school edu- cators. Their concerns, often de- veloped as a result of special com- pensatory pre-school programes for socially disadvantaged children, are quite different. And this has pro- duced a clash of ideas that has shocked the pre-school movement.
Conflicting views on methods of training, IQ development, very early intervention, acceleration of learn- ing, separation from the mother, and the preservation of cultural values are described by Dr Marion de Lemos in a balanced way in her new book Controversy in Pre-school Edu- c.ation, published as an Occasional Paper by ACER at $1.20.
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from the classroom teachers who gave the tests. Their ideas and the item analysis which occurred at ACER after the trials led to the selection of only the best questions for the final forms of the tests.
Now, the tests are becoming available to schools. The first sec- tion of the student sets at both levels was mailed to schools in March, and
Literature
During the past few years, teachers have found the LRA Literature Samplers of value in stimulating their pupils' interest in books. The Samplers are an individualized read- ing programme which is intended to provide, satisfying reading experi- ences to encourage formation of the reading habit and to broaden the student's acquaintance with, and understanding of, literature by samp-
ling a wide range of books.
The three main components of the scheme! are. Book Previews, Reading Aids, and Discussion Briefs.
The Book Previews are excerpts from a wide variety of books. Each Preview is a short interesting selec- tion which is intended to give the student a 'taste' of the complete book and thus excite him to read it all. The books previewed cover a wide range of topics including Mys- tery, People, Science Fiction, and Humour. Within each topic the Pre- views are graded in difficulty. How- ever, there is no set programme for a student to follow: he can progress through easy to more· difficult within the same interest area or read at the same difficulty level in other interest areas.
Each Book Preview has an accom- panying Reading Aid which poses questions to stimulate pupils to think more deeply about what they have read. Often the questions appear de- ceptively simple, but the answers are not necessarily simple to find.
For example, in one story about two country children, the pupil is asked to indicate in what way the two children are alike. At no stage in the story is a statement made regarding this likeness, but we get indications
the remainder will go out in mid- year.
There are five diagnostic tests at L level ( Part 1 of The Web of Life course) and eight tests at M level ( Part 2 of the course). From our experience with the trial tests we feel sure that teachers and students in all states will find them a useful adjunct to their year's work.
Samplers
that the two children are lonely and this is the answer expected.
The answers to the questions are given in the form of Discussion Briefs. On these cards, the question asked and the alternative answers are discussed and the student is led to see why one answer is better than the other three alternatives. These Discussion Briefs are meant to help the student develop more advanced reading skills-such as the ability to draw and prove inferences, and to interpret the author's meaning.
There are two editions of the Literature Samplers: Junior Edition suitable for Grades 5, 6 and 7 and above-average Grade 4; Secondary Edition for Grades 7, 8 and 9.
Teachers have found that the Lit- erature Samplers work and work well: they do encourage students to seek out the complete books to read.
But it has not always been possible for teachers to obtain a complete set of the books previewed.
Now, companion sets of material, the Sampler Libraries, are available.
These are collections of some of the more popular titles contained in the Literature Samplers. There are forty- three titles in the Junior Edition and fifty-one titles in the Secondary Edi- tion, and although this is only a portion of all the books previewed in each Literature Sampler, it does make the task of obtaining the books for pupils somewhat easier.
Both the Literature Samplers and the Sampler Libraries are published by Learning Research Associates, USA, and are distributed in Australia by ACER. Those who wish further in- formation on these materials should write to Advisory Services, ACER.
ACER Newsletter No 8: March 1971
Telecommunications for Education
Currently one of the most rapidly developing areas of technological advance is telecommunications. Al- ready in Australia there has been extensive provision of subscriber trunk-dialling facilities, telex and data-transmission facilities, and fac- simile transmission. Additional ser- vices-e.g., TV telephone and touch-tone dialling-are being in- vestigated or planned. For the quin- quennium 1970-5 the Australian Post Office expects to spend some
$2,822,000,000 on capital equip- ment alone.
USE OF FACILITIES
Up to the present, relatively little use has been made of telecommuni- cations faci I ities by Austra I ian edu- cators. The Post Office felt that the- first step was to make them aware of the facilities available, so they held a telecommunications seminar in Melbourne on 9 June 1969. It was attended by educators from a num- ber of states. Post Office speakers outlined the types of equipment available and planned for use in Aus- tralia, while educators spoke about the use already being made of tele- communications equipment in Aus- tralia and overseas. The· conference resolved that a study should be made 'to examine the needs for educa- tional communications, to define the type of communications, the volume and the centres concerned'.
The, Post-Master General's De- partment invited ACER to carry out a study of the needs of education for telecommunications facilities over the next two decades. Work started on 7 April 1970.
Since then, we· have had discus- sions with education departments and a number of tertiary institu- tions, and information has been gathered from Australian and over- seas sources. The Australian Post Office has supplied information freely, and has held seminars on telecommunications in education in Sydney, Brisbane, Adelaide, and Hobart.
We are now making arrangements
ACER Newsletter No 8: March 1971
for final visits to all states to obtain the latest information for a report which is expected to be compiled within the next three- months.
It would be premature to try to anticipate the contents of the report, but let's consider some of the pos- sibilities for education. Of these, the most popular may well turn out to be the telelecture. At each of any num- ber of centres, a microphone and loudspeaker or public address sys- tem are connected to the switched telephone network of the Australian Post Office. Speakers in each centre are thus able to hear and communi- cate with speakers in all other centres which are connected.
The telelecture may also incorpo- rate a visual element. Drawings, photographs, slides or film can be sent in advance to each centre, or in the event of a continuing course, pages of a textbook containing illus- trations may be referred to. Prepared notes may be sent or prescribed reading set in advance of a telelec- ture. During the telelecture, im- mediate, visual communication is possible using an electrowriter, an electronic 'pen' over an ordinary live telephone.
OTHER DEVELOPMENTS In this short article, it is not pos- sible to do much more than indicate some of the other areas being ex- plored. Some of these are: slow-scan TV, moving-picture; TV over tele- phone lines, co-axial cable networks for TV, and satellite TV, as well as the alternative of microwave systems similar to the ITFS systems in the USA. In determining the system which will be the most efficient in the long run, an estimate of future de- mand-of whether multi-channel capacity will ultimately be desirable -may be essential for sound plan- ning.
Another major area under investi- gation is data transmission. As well as telex, communications between, to and from computers are involved.
Possible uses of terminals include
computer-assisted instruction, teach- ing of computer science, time-shar- ing by educational institutions, and a multiplicity of administrative uses.
Finally, in looking at more so- phisticated developments, we should not overlook existing faci I ities. An example would be the extension of school-to-home teaching facilities by telephone. Among possibilities here is enabling the handicapped or bed- ridden child to participate in class- room activities by telephone (where appropriate, such children could be provided with loud-speaking tele- phones to avoid the necessity of manual control). Or whole classes could be built up to 'attend school' by1 telephone in their own homes- perhaps for bedridden pupils, gifted children, or adults for whom as- sembly at a particular location is difficult. The teacher could com- municate at will with the full group or selected individuals and similarly could allow a pupil to be heard by the whole class or by himself alone.
Individualization of study-the as- signment of independent work for parts of the day-could well be easier than in a normal classroom situation. Telephone teaching should be considered wherever barriers ex- clude children or adults from the world of learning.
On 11 March Dr Radford celebrated twenty-five years with ACER, sixteen of these as Director. To mark the occasion, the present staff, former staff members and members of the ACER Council held a function for Dr Radford at University House, Mel- bourne University. Special guests included Mrs Radford, former ACER Director Dr K. Cunningham, Mrs Cunningham, and Dr D. A. Walker.
Dr Walker was until his recent retire- ment Director of the Scottish Council for Research in Education.
In May, George Gosling, a Senior Research Officer in General Research, will join the staff of the South Aust- ralian Institute of Technology. There, he will head Education Services, and be responsible for three main activities-educational research, lec- turer training and guidance, and teaching aids and television.
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Behaviour Study Technique
The Behaviour Study Technique (BST), published by ACER in 1968, is proving a useful means of assist- ing pre-school teachers make mean- ingful observations. and descriptions of children's behaviour.
The BST was constructed by Dr Isla Stamp, formerly psychologist to the Maternal and Child Welfare Branch of the Victorian Health De- partment. The author's work took her into many pre-school centres and in- to discussion with many teachers.
In fact the BST began with teachers, teachers who sought Dr Stamp's assistance in describing children and in following up their observations with help for those who needed it.
PURPOSES
In the teachers' guide for the BST questionnaire·, Dr Stamp made a neat summary of her two main purposes in developing the Behaviour Study Technique. She said:
'The purpose ... was that of help- ing teachers of young children to understand better the personality development of all the• children in their groups or classes, through ob- serving their behaviour and record- ing it in a simplified and time-saving system. The information organized in this way was to be· informative for other professional workers with whom the teacher might-discuss the needs of children.
'The second purpose was to make use of the teachers' skills in a special way in the promotion of men- tal health. More specifically, this was to organize the teachers' knowledge of children so that those in special need could be discovered at an early stage and referred.'
THE QUESTIONNAIRE The questionnaire poses twenty- one questions, each having five statements, e.g.
'He makes demands on children- (1) enough to stand up for himself,
usually gets. what he wants.
(2) never, is solitary.
( 3) to a reasonable extent and in an acceptable way.
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(4) very much, dominates others.
(5) seldom, is active and busy, in- dependent.'
The teacher chooses the state- ment which most appropriately de- scribes the child. The record is solely of observed behaviour. The teacher is not asked to know or ob- tain information about the child's home or family.
The record is concerned with the ways in which each child behaves as he meets the variety of situations and influences in his life. It has been created to help the teacher under- stand the child and understand what he needs from his teacher.
The items in the questionnaire were drawn from a description of behaviours which may be expected to occur in children aged 3-5 years attending a pre-school centre. The description concerned the following items.
People. The normal child is able to get along happily with others. The young child enjoys contact with adults, and by the time he is in the pre-school centre he, is able to play near others and gradually becomes able to join in activities with at least one other child.
Se/fhood. The normal child feels like a 'real person'. This may be shown in the response to questions about himself, in the defence of his own possessions and, as his abilities develop, in his reactions to his suc- cesses, failures, and to new ex- periences.
Demands of others. The normal child is able to adapt himself to the demands of others without giving up his own satisfaction in results.
Expression of demands on others.
The normal child is able to express his demands on others. He needs adult help in developing socially- acceptable techniques for expressing his demands with increasing ability to postpone gratification of these de- mands, given a reasonable explana- tion.
Coping with frustration. The nor- ma I child is able to cope with frus- tration in integrative, ways by seek-
ing appropriate help for the solution to problems.
Coping with stress. The normal child is able to cope with stress in integrative ways, giving expression to the distress he· feels and accept- ing help.
Coping with realistic fears. The normal child is able to express his realistic fears and is free from inde- finable fears and anxieties. Regres- sion in behaviour due to realistic and acknowledged fears is tempo- rary.
Need for approval. The normal child wants to be approved and usually behaves in an approved man- ner but will risk disapproval when self-defence is important or other needs are stronger than the need for approval.
Communication. The normal child is able to communicate freely with others, not only by means of speech.
Physical health. The normal child eats and sleeps well. His excretory functions are efficient. He is usually free from minor physical complaints.
Use of powers. The performance of a normal child is closely related to his ability. He shows ability to learn new skills, to remember events, to use, common objects appro- priately. He concentrates on an activity of sufficient challenge and interest until he completes it at a level appropriate to his ability.
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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.
General behaviour. The normal child's behaviour is predictable and appropriate to reasonable adult ex- pectations of children his age. Re- ports of his behaviour are consistent with what is known of him at the pre-school centre. He is not moody.
Review sets of the Behaviour Study Technique questionnaire and teachers' guide are available on re- quest from ACER Advisory Services.
ACER Newsletter No 8: March 1971