Practice Materials Part 1

A1 – Developing Critical Approaches

You have to write an essay entitled: ‘There are many practical benefits to separating girls and boys for secondary education – Discuss’.

◊ In preparation you read the following two texts, which have opposing viewpoints. How reliable do you find the texts? Complete the following box with extracts from the texts and your critical comments.

Text	Extracts from text	Comments
1	Example: A co-educational school is also very successful at challenging sexist attitudes.	Example: Unsupported claim
2

1. The benefits of co-education

For both girls and boys co-education provides a more realistic way of training young people to take their places naturally in the wider community of men and women. It helps to break down the misconceptions of each sex about the other and provides an excellent foundation for the development of realistic, meaningful and lasting relationships in later life.

A co-educational school is also very successful in challenging sexist attitudes. Many subjects in secondary school allow for considerable classroom discussion and debate. In a co-educational school both the female and male perspectives will be explored in such discussions and this is a very important learning experience for all. In so doing they learn that ‘equality’ does not mean ‘sameness’ – that men and women often have different perspectives on the same issues and that each approach has a great deal to offer the other.

Advocates of single-sex schooling sometimes make exaggerated claims about the academic advantages of such schools, pointing to statistically significant disparities in examination results. In truth such differences may be due more to the socio-economic background of the pupils at the school or the selectivity of the intake.

Co-educational schools better reflect the diversity of our society; they better prepare students to succeed in post-secondary education and to eventually enter the workforce. Students in co-educational schools are also more likely to feel safe in their school environment. Research shows students in co-educational schools grow to be confident about expressing their views in the presence of members of the opposite sex, while collaboration between the sexes in the classroom helps develop confidence in students, who excel at university and beyond as leaders.

Teachers in co-educational schools recognise that some gender differences in learning do exist and are skilled in catering for diverse learning needs in the classroom. Furthermore, in a co-educational learning environment, students are exposed to both male and female role models in staff and senior students.

According to Professor Alan Smithers, director of education and employment research at the University of Buckingham: ‘There are no overriding advantages for single-sex schools on educational grounds. Studies all over the world have failed to detect any major differences’.

It has been proved that the students who have got their education under the co-education system are more confident compared to the students who have been learning in a single-sex school system throughout their educational career. Such students hesitate to interact with the opposite gender in their later lives; on the other hand a student who has learned under the co-education system freely interacts with the opposite sex and does not hesitate or feel uncomfortable in their presence. In a mixed schooling system both sexes can learn from each other and they can also share their ideas on different topics. Girls and boys have different points of view, so the mixed schooling system enables them to share their ideas and also creates a team spirit among them.

2. The advantages of single-sex schools

The age-old debate around single-sex schools versus mixed schools is back on the educational agenda once more, with experts from across the education sector still divided on the subject. The number of single-sex private schools may have halved in the last 20 years, but the advantages of single-sex schools have resurfaced yet again. This is partly due to recent news that girls in single-sex state schools get better GCSE results than those in mixed schools, including those from poorer backgrounds. The SchoolDash research found that 75% of pupils at single-sex schools achieved five good GCSEs compared to just 55% in mixed schools.

Why are single-sex schools good for education? Many educational experts believe that girls and boys have different learning needs and that in single-sex schools teachers can use particular techniques designed specifically to suit the gender of their students. Girls, for example, prefer collaborative and discussion-based learning, while boys can dominate discussions and group-based teamwork. By using gender-specific teaching techniques, staff at single-sex schools can get the most out of lesson time and enhance the learning experience for their students.

Some research into gender differences in learning even looks at how girls and boys respond differently to changes in temperature, suggesting that girls prefer warmer rooms while boys prefer to learn in cooler conditions. Single-sex schools make it possible to adapt the learning environment to suit the differing needs of boys or girls.

There is a widespread belief that single-sex schools help to challenge gender stereotypes and broaden the educational aspirations of both girls and boys. Single-sex schools enable girls and boys to feel free to learn and discover any subject, with girls able to pursue interest in male-dominated subjects such as maths and science and boys able to explore music and the arts. Indeed, at the 26 Girls’ Day School Trust schools and academies, girls are more than twice as likely to opt for science or engineering degrees at university level as girls nationally. According to multiple long-term studies of children from around the world, students achieve more and learn better in single-sex schools. An Australian study of 270,000 students found that both boys and girls performed significantly higher on standardised tests when they attended gender-specific schools. During an experiment in Virginia in 1995, 100 eighth graders were separated just for maths and science courses. Almost immediately, the girls began to achieve more, became more confident and participated more often in class. In 2001, a British study concluded that every girl, regardless of her ability or socio-economic status, performed better in single-sex classrooms than co-edones. The study of 9,954 high schools and 979 primary schools showed that while boys at the lowest end academically improved the most in single-sex schools, single-sex education was particularly beneficial to girls. Every one of the top 50 elementary schools in Britain are single-sex schools. At all-girls schools, teachers use the latest techniques in keeping with the female learning style. The textbooks and other materials do not have a male bias. Girls are more able to participate in class discussions since there are no boys around to dominate as in co-educational schools. Girls become more confident in themselves as students and earn higher scores in their examinations.

Answers

(Model answer – others possible)

Text	Extracts from text	Comments
1	A co-educational school is also very successful in challenging sexist attitudes. Advocates of single-sex schooling sometimes make exaggerated claims about the academic advantages of such schools … It has been proved that the students who have got their education under co-education system are more confident …	Unsupported claim   No source given for these claims   No source given for these claims
2	Some research into gender differences in learning even looks at how girls and boys respond differently to changes in temperature. A British study concluded that every girl, regardless of her ability or socio-economic status, performed better in single-sex classrooms … Every one of the top 50 elementary schools in Britain are single-sex schools. At all-girls schools, teachers use the latest techniques in keeping with the female learning style. The textbooks and other materials do not have a male bias.	Is this relevant?   Hard to believe     How are these 50 measured?   What is a ‘female learning style’? Are there really two types of textbooks?

---

A2 – A Critical Approach to Finding Sources

Since there are thousands of pieces of information about almost every topic, it is important to be able to find the right type of information quickly. A search engine is an effective way to do this, and Google Scholar is the most-used starting point. There are others – JSTOR, CORE and Semantic Scholar, for instance – but here is an example of a search using Google Scholar.

A student is writing a paper titled ‘Compare and contrast the outcomes of single-sex versus co-educational schooling’. Look at this screenshot from Google Scholar and answer the questions that follow:

What search term has the researcher used and could this be changed?
How many results has the engine found and how could this be changed?
Look at ‘Any time’ on the left-hand side. Why might you want to change the dates?
Which of the three results shown is NOT directly relevant to the essay title?
Of the three results shown, which is the most recent and why is that important?
Of the three results shown, which is the most ‘cited’, i.e. used by other researchers in their papers and why is that important?
Out of the three results shown, which one is best?

Answers

What search term has the researcher used and could this be changed?	‘Single sex education pros and cons’. Yes, it could easily be changed to, for example, ‘co-education pros and cons’, ‘co-education vs single-sex education’ or ‘advantages and disadvantages of single-sex education’. All variations are likely to bring different results.
How many results has the engine found and how could this be changed?	18,900 Yes, by changing the search terms and making them more specific. For example, ‘advantages for secondary-age girls in single-sex schools’.
Look at ‘Any Time’ on the left-hand side. Why might you want to change the dates?	To choose the most recent, up-to-date research in this area.
Which of the three results shown is NOT directly relevant to the essay title?	The third one – Kaushik et al. This paper focuses on choice not on outcome.
Of the three results shown, which is the most recent and why is that important?	The first one – Stanberry. Some areas of study require different levels of recency. For example, educational ideas change more slowly than technological ones.
Of the three results shown, which is the most ‘cited’, i.e. used by other researchers in their papers and why is that important?	The second one – Hughes (cited by 105 others, compared to 16 for Stanberry and 6 for Kaushik et al). In general, the more ‘cited’ a paper/book is, the more it has already been valued by the wider academic community and so the more confidence you can have in it. However, there will always be a relationship between how old a source is and how often it has been cited.
Out of the three results shown, which one is best?	Hard to say. Stanberry scores higher on recency, whereas Hughes scores higher on citations. It’s probably best to look at both.

---

B1 – Note-making and Summarising

1. Note-making: Finding key points

You have been told to write an essay on the title: ‘Can money buy happiness?’

You have found the following text which seems relevant to this topic. It is part of an article by A. Penec in a journal called Applied Econometrics (volume 44, pages 18–27) published in 2013.

◊ Read it and underline the key points.

The measurement of happiness

Economists have recently begun to pay more attention to studying happiness, instead of just using the more traditional GDP per person. They have found that in the last fifty years there has been no apparent increase in personal happiness in Western nations, despite steadily growing economic wealth. In both Europe and the USA surveys have found no rise in the level of happiness since the 1950s, which seems surprising given that wealthier people generally claim to be happier than poorer people. In America, for example, more than a third of the richest group said they were ‘very happy’, while only one sixth of the poorest made the same claim. Although it would be logical to expect that rising national wealth would lead to greater general happiness, this has not happened. Individually, more money does seem to increase happiness, but when the whole society becomes richer, individuals do not appear to feel better off.

One possible explanation has been that people rapidly get used to improvements, and therefore devalue them because they are taken for granted. Central heating is a good example: whereas 50 years ago it was a luxury item, today it is standard in nearly every home. Another theory is that the figures for GDP per person, used to assess national wealth, do not take into account quality of life factors such as environmental damage or levels of stress, which must affect people’s feelings of happiness. The report of a commission set up by the French president recently claimed that the French were comparatively better off than had been previously thought, due to their generous holidays and effective health care system, factors which basic GDP figures had ignored.

The text contains five key points:

1. Economists have recently begun to pay more attention to studying happiness, instead of just using the more traditional GDP per person.
2. In the last fifty years there has been no apparent increase in personal happiness in Western nations, despite steadily growing economic wealth.
3. … which seems surprising given that wealthier people generally claim to be happier than poorer people.
4. One possible explanation has been that people rapidly get used to improvements, and therefore devalue them because they are taken for granted.
5. Another theory is that the figures for GDP per person, used to assess national wealth, do not take into account quality of life factors such as environmental damage or levels of stress.

2. Note-making

The next step is to make notes of these points, using paraphrase:

1. Economists have begun to research happiness, rather than rely on GDP.
2. Although W. economies have grown since 1950s, no parallel growth in happiness.
3. But more rich people say they are happy than poor.
4. Seems that people soon get accustomed to gains, so don’t appreciate them.
5. GDP does not measure environmental or social factors that affect individuals.

3. Writing a paragraph from notes

These points can now be combined into one paragraph of your essay, using conjunctions where necessary and including a reference to your source:

A recent development in economics is the study of personal happiness. Penec (2003) argues that although Western economies have expanded since the 1950s, there has been no parallel growth in happiness. Surveys indicate that rich people generally say they are happier than poor people, but this does not apply to the whole society. One explanation is that people soon become accustomed to gains and so do not appreciate them. It also seems likely that GDP measurement ignores significant social and environmental factors which affect personal well-being.

4. Practice A

◊ Continue the same process with the next section of the text by underlining the key points.

A further explanation for the failure of wealth to increase happiness is the tendency for people to compare their own position to that of their neighbours. Studies show that people would prefer to have a lower income, if their colleagues got less, rather than a higher income while colleagues got more. In other words, happiness seems to depend on feeling better off than other people, rather than on any absolute measure of wealth. Further research suggests that having free time is also closely linked to happiness, so that the pattern of working harder in order to buy more goods is unlikely to increase well-being. Yet Western societies generally encourage employees to spend as much time at work as possible.

5. Practice B

◊ Make notes on the key points.

a)

b)

6. Practice C

◊ Link the notes together to conclude this section of your essay.

7. Practice D

◊ Write a full reference for the source as it would appear in the list of references.

Answers

(Model answers)

5. Practice B

1. Happiness often depends on feeling wealthier than others.
2. People believe that leisure = happiness, so working longer to get extra goods won’t lead to happiness.

6. Practice C

Another explanation Penec presents is that happiness is often dependent on a comparison with others, so that if neighbours are also getting richer there is no apparent improvement. A further factor relates to leisure, which is widely equated with happiness. Consequently, the idea of increasing workload to be able to purchase more goods or services is not going to result in greater happiness.

7. Practice D

Penec, A. (2008) ‘The measurement of happiness’. Applied Econometrics 44, 18–27.

---

C1 – Contrasting Sources 1

You are writing an essay on government intervention in family matters with the title: ‘Is there a role for the state to influence family size?’

◊ You have found two possible sources. Read the extracts and then complete the paragraph from the introduction to the essay using both sources.

1. The demographic revolution

Fifty years ago, overpopulation was seen as a major threat to human survival. But since then attitudes to family size have shifted significantly, so that many countries now have a fertility rate below the replacement rate of 2.1 children per woman. A recent poll asked people in 19 countries about their ideal family size, and also whether or not they would achieve their ideal, and why. In less than half the countries surveyed people actually have more children than the ideal; notably Nigeria, where the ideal is 5.4 children but in fact they have 7.7. But the majority of countries display the opposite: people have fewer children than the ideal. Greeks, for example, would like 2.6 children in their families, but are likely to only have 1.7.

One reason often given for limiting family size is financial, especially in countries which have been most affected by economic difficulties post-2009. The cost of education, especially private education, is a concern for many parents, as is the price of housing. In Spain, for instance, the average man cannot afford to set up his own household until the age of 30. But even in more dynamic economies such as China the fertility rate has fallen to 1.6, well below the replacement level. Urbanisation is an undoubted factor in discouraging large families, which are less of an asset when rural life is left behind.

Because couples are postponing getting married and starting a family for economic and social reasons, a new difficulty for older would-be mothers is actually getting pregnant. Many women in their 30s experience some problems, with an increasing number having to use IVF treatment. In addition to the suffering experienced by these families, many governments are increasingly concerned by the shortage of young working people to support the growing number of older citizens and their pensions.

(Deliban, K. Oxford Review,September 2016, pp. 45–6)

2. Childlessness

In many European countries it is becoming common for women not to have children. 22 per cent of German women in their early 40s, for example, are childless, and the figure is higher in cities, while the birth rate is only 1.5. In England childlessness is also common, at 17 per cent, although the birth rate is higher. But demographers argue that this is not a new situation, pointing out that in the nineteenth century and earlier many women delayed marriage for financial reasons or never married at all.

Social attitudes to childlessness are also changing, since it is decreasingly seen as something shameful. This may be due to the increasing economic necessity for both parents to work, especially in countries such as Japan where there is little provision for working mothers. Many well-educated women may simply prefer to follow their career path rather than raise children. Other reasons for childlessness include not finding a suitable partner or medical difficulties, especially among women whose postpone starting a family until they are over 30.

Although results vary from place to place, many studies have found that childless couples may often be happier than those with children, especially young children. Such people make significant contributions to society, being especially prominent (according to a German study) in setting up and running charities. They are also far more likely than couples with children to leave money in their wills to charity.

(Scarrow, W. and Langbein, R. The New Europeans,2014)

Complete the following introductory paragraph to your essay, ‘Is there a role for the state to influence family size?’ In the past governments have sometimes attempted to encourage or discourage their citizens from having children, for instance offering financial incentives for having extra children. Today there is evidence of a worldwide trend to reducing family size …

Answers

(Model answer)

‘Is there a role for the state to influence family size?’ In the past governments have sometimes attempted to encourage or discourage their citizens from having children, for instance offering financial incentives for having extra children. Today there is evidence of a worldwide trend to reducing family size, due to the pressures of urbanisation and other economic factors. Deliban (2016) states that this tendency is a concern for governments facing a future lack of the young workers needed to provide tax income. However, Scarrow and Langbein (2014) point out that in both Europe and Japan women are increasingly likely to be childless. Again, they see this partly as a response to the economic climate, but also due to the difficulty of combining motherhood and a career.

---

C2 – Contrasting Sources 2

You are investigating risk-taking among adolescents and, in particular, whether anything can be done to mediate this. You have found two texts and below are excerpts from the abstracts of those texts.

♢ Read each text and make brief notes on what the author(s) say(s).

It is argued that adolescence is a period of heightened vulnerability to risk taking because of a disjunction between novelty and sensation seeking (both of which increase dramatically at puberty) and the development of self-regulatory competence (which does not fully mature until early adulthood). This disjunction is biologically driven, normative, and unlikely to be remedied through educational interventions designed to change adolescents’ perception, appraisal, or understanding of risk. Interventions should begin from the premise that adolescents are inherently more likely than adults to take risks, and should focus on reducing the harm associated with risk-taking behavior.   [from: Steinberg, L. (2006) Risk-taking in Adolescence: What Changes and Why?]

Notes   1.     2.     3.

We first measured fluid intelligence* and probabilistic reasoning ability**. Then, to measure decision-making under explicit conditions of risk, participants performed the Game of Dice Task, in which they have to decide among different alternatives that are explicitly linked to a specific amount of gain or loss and have obvious winning probabilities that are stable over time. Results: Analyses showed a significant positive indirect effect of fluid intelligence on advantageous decision-making through probabilistic reasoning ability that acted as a mediator. Specifically, fluid intelligence may enhance ability to reason in probabilistic terms, which in turn increases the likelihood of advantageous choices when adolescents are confronted with an explicit decisional context.   *the ability to solve novel reasoning problems **an ability to operate comfortably with complex, real-world situations   [from: Donati, M. A., Panno, A., Chiesi, F. and Primi, C. (2013) ‘A mediation model to explain decision-making under conditions of risk among adolescents: The role of fluid intelligence and probabilistic reasoning’. www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13803395.2014.918091]

Notes   1.     2.

♢ Using your notes, decide whether the two sources are:

1. saying the same thing
2. saying different things
3. saying contradictory things

♢ Now write a two-sentence summary of both sources.

Answers

It is argued that adolescence is a period of heightened vulnerability to risk taking because of a disjunction between novelty and sensation seeking (both of which increase dramatically at puberty) and the development of self-regulatory competence (which does not fully mature until early adulthood). This disjunction is biologically driven, normative, and unlikely to be remedied through educational interventions designed to change adolescents’ perception, appraisal, or understanding of risk. Interventions should begin from the premise that adolescents are inherently more likely than adults to take risks, and should focus on reducing the harm associated with risk-taking behavior.   [from: Steinberg, L. (2006) Risk-taking in Adolescence: What Changes and Why? Laurence]

Notes   1. Adolescents more likely to be risk-takers due to age, i.e. lack of maturity.   2. Therefore education to improve their awareness and calculation of risk not going to be effective.   3. Education about risk should concentrate on reducing harm.

We first measured fluid intelligence* and probabilistic reasoning ability**. Then, to measure decision making under explicit conditions of risk, participants performed the Game of Dice Task, in which they have to decide among different alternatives that are explicitly linked to a specific amount of gain or loss and have obvious winning probabilities that are stable over time. Results: Analyses showed a significant positive indirect effect of fluid intelligence on advantageous decision making through probabilistic reasoning ability that acted as a mediator. Specifically, fluid intelligence may enhance ability to reason in probabilistic terms, which in turn increases the likelihood of advantageous choices when adolescents are confronted with an explicit decisional context.   *the ability to solve novel reasoning problems **an ability to operate comfortably with complex, real-world situations   [from: Donati, M. A., Panno, A., Chiesi, F. and Primi, C. (2013) ‘A mediation model to explain decision-making under conditions of risk among adolescents: The role of fluid intelligence and probabilistic reasoning’. www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13803395.2014.918091]

Notes   1. Applied (‘fluid’) intelligence, via reasoning about probabilities, led to good decision-making.   2. Fluid intelligence may actually improve adolescents’ capacity to reason, leading to better choices.

♢ Using your notes, decide whether the two sources are:

1. saying the same thing ✖
2. saying different things ✔
3. saying contradictory things ❓

♢ Now write a two-sentence summary of both sources

Whilst Steinberg (2006) believes that risk-taking is inherent in adolescents and that the best form of education is to focus on harm limitation, Donati et al. (2013) see the potential in developing adolescents’ ‘fluid’ intelligence. Dealing with new situations may enhance their ability to make better choices.