What do they do?

Four friends live in a small town. Their names are:Cook, Miller, Smith and Garter.They have different jobs. One is a policeman; one is a worker;one is a farmer; one is a doctor.One day Cook's son breaks(摔断) his leg, and Cook takes him to the doctor. The doctor's sister is Smith's wife. The farmer isn't married (结婚). He has a lot of chicks. Miller often buys eggs from Garter. The policeman's house is near Smith's, so he sees Smith every day.     

“What do you do in child care?” children’s perceptions of high and low quality classrooms

Children’s perceptions of their child care experiences in classrooms that varied in quality were explored in this study. One hundred twenty-two children were observed and interviewed about their likes and dislikes in 4 high and 4 low quality classrooms. Children verbalized an accurate understanding of procedures, events, and activities, but their responses differed by classroom quality. Children in low quality centers listed activities as rigidly sequenced events, whereas children in high quality centers highlighted notable events and numerous choices. Play was the favorite activity of all children in all classrooms. Mean behaviors, circle time, and nap time were primary dislikes that did not vary with classroom quality. Children in both types of environments offered many more positive than negative perspectives, revealing an optimistic outlook that transcended the quality of the setting. Results are discussed with regard to the contributions of children’s understandings to the complex issues of child care quality.     

What is “appropriate practice” at home and in child care?: Low-income mothers' views on preparing their children for school

In this qualitative, longitudinal study, multiple interviews were conducted over 3 years with 14 low-income single mothers (4 White, 6 Black, and 4 Latino). The women talked about socialization goals for their preschoolaged children as well as their views concerning the role of mother and the role of child care providers in attaining those goals. A central objective for all mothers was preparing their children to succeed in school. Most of the women expected their child's provider to engage in didactic lessons aimed at teaching basic literacy and numeracy skills. However, they all viewed other teacher-structured activities as important (e.g., art, music, cooking, field trips, and book reading). Most did not see play as being related to learning, although they acknowledged the emotional and physical benefits of play. These women's views of learning were not entirely congruent with the constructivist position of many early childhood educators, nor were they narrowly defined solely in terms of academic skills. They were receptive to information from child care professionals and other “experts” when these perspectives furthered their own goals for their children. Their views about preschool learning were linked to other cultural models of childrearing including respecting authority, contributing to one's family or community, and differentially allocating responsibility for teaching to parents or to teachers.     

What difference do role models make? Investigating outcomes at a residential environmental education center

Role models may be essential in helping students develop environmental literacy and characteristics associated with positive youth development (PYD). We examine the identities of middle school students’ self-reported role models before, immediately after, and three months following an immersive 5-day residential environmental education (EE) experience that targets environmental responsibility, character development and leadership, and attitudes toward school as programmatic outcomes. We explore whether students who identified different types of role models score differently on these factors. Students who identified parents, teachers, and pastors as role models scored higher on each of these outcomes. Moreover, who students identified as role models changed significantly after the EE program. We discuss the potential influence of the program on role model development and implications for EE and PYD programs.     

Does learning begin at home? The use of ‘home international’ comparisons in UK policy making

Overseas comparisons have been increasingly influential in UK policy making for education and training, but they have limitations as a source of policy lessons. ‘Home international’ comparisons of the four home countries of the UK have been advocated as a more fruitful source of practical policy lessons. This paper examines the extent to which policy‐making processes in the four UK territories facilitate policy learning from such comparisons, drawing on interviews with senior policy makers. The policy makers agreed that home international comparisons were potentially valuable, but their actual use in policy making was occasional and unsystematic. The paper discusses the features of the policy‐making process which account for this conclusion.     

What do they like? Communication preferences and patterns of older adults in the United States: The role of technology

ABSTRACT

With the development of information and communication technologies (ICTs), there are increasingly more Internet-based communication methods available for older adults besides traditional methods (e.g., in-person or landline phone). However, older adults’ preferred communication methods remain under-investigated. The purpose of this study is to explore the communication preferences and patterns of older adults in the United States, with emphasis on technologically-mediated environments. In this study, 17 semistructured interviews were conducted with participants from a midwestern state in the United States. The goal was to examine older adults’ communication patterns and preferences with family members and friends, as well as their views about the impacts of modern technology on communication. Three themes (communication preferences and reasons, communication barriers, and the impacts of technology) were generated from the interviews. The findings showed that although face-to-face communication is the most preferred method, telephone communication is the most commonly adopted method. Interviewees also shared different opinions regarding Internet-based communication. The current study illustrated the importance of understanding the preferences and patterns of older adults’ communication needs and desires.     

Understanding Students' Experiments—What kind of support do they need in inquiry tasks?

Inquiry learning is a widely recognized method for fostering inquiry competence in science education. Nevertheless, there is discussion about how to best support students while working on inquiry tasks (in this case: experiments on causal relationships). To identify the kind of support students need in order to design experiments in upper grades, an empirical study consisting of two parts was conducted. The first part, a quantitative test (N?=?96), tested students' competences in designing an experiment. It was found that students need scaffolding in basic aspects of designing (like dependent and independent variables), to reach higher levels, since only about thirty percent reach levels II or III out of three levels. On more reflective aspects (like confounding variables, test times and repetitions), only a maximum of twenty-five percent reached level I or higher; therefore, even more support is needed on these aspects. The second part of the study was a qualitative video-analysis of students' discussions, designs and implementations of an experiment. It was found that support is needed on procedural knowledge and understanding. Possible implications for inquiry support are discussed.     

Children’s participation and agency in Italian residential care for children: Adult-child interactions at dinnertime

This paper analyzes the impact of adults’ interactive moves and strategies on children’s participation and agency at dinnertime in two Italian residential care facilities, one of the most widely used alternative care life-context for children and youth coming from vulnerable families. Participants are 14 children and 11 educators living in two residential care facilities in Rome (Italy). Adopting an interactional and multimodal analytic approach, this paper focuses on two dinnertime activities: the routine activity of praying before eating and the very frequent one of talking about rules and transgressions. The comparative analysis of the two facilities shows how, in stable patterns of adult-child interactions recurring across different activities in the same facility, adults’ strategies and interactive maneuvers differently impact on children’s participation and agency and consequent socialization practices. In the conclusion, we emphasize the relevance and implications of this study for either research in educational sciences and for professionals operating in alternative care and related fields.

     

Core or periphery? The positioning of language and literacies in enabling programs in Australia

Enabling education has a respected and established place in Australian higher education as an alternative pathway into university study. While the value of enabling education in providing access to higher education is undeniable, its provision across Australia is necessarily diverse, as individual programs respond to the needs of their local communities. This resulting diversity makes it difficult to gain insight into the field of enabling education. Given the purpose of enabling education is to prepare students for tertiary study, the role of academic literacies and language (ALL) is central for both Native English Speaker and Language Background Other Than English students, and it is to this focus that this paper attends. To shed light on the field, this paper presents the findings from a national audit of enabling education, providing a much-needed overview of the enabling programs offered across Australia, focusing on the ways that language and literacies are taught, positioned and, in some cases, disconnected from practice. Drawing on this analysis, we discuss how language and literacies are positioned as either central or periphery to the core work of enabling programs and begin a discussion which seeks to place ALL at the centre of enabling education.     

The Faces and Facets of English in Malaysia

引言: 一个语言多元化的国家——马来西亚,其使用的英语也有当地的特色,有一定的社会性。并且,与标准英语相互并存,各有其存在于当地的原因。     

Language problems in children with learning disabilities: do they interfere with maternal communication?

In this study, parent-child interaction in two carefully matched subgroups-school-age boys with learning disabilities (LD) who showed a discrepancy between their verbal IQ and performance IQ and had more extensive difficulties in higher-level language abilities (VIQ < PIQ, n = 8) and boys with LD who did not manifest a discrepancy between verbal IQ and performance IQ (VIQ = PIQ, n = 8), were investigated. The effects of the child's language problems on child task performance and on the quality of maternal communication were analyzed in a mother-child problem solving task. Children in the VIQ < PIQ group were found to be less successful on the task than children in the VIQ = PIQ group, and their mothers exhibited lower communication clarity in their instructions than the mothers of the children in the VIQ = PIQ group. An interesting interaction effect was found for communication deviances. For mothers in the VIQ < PIQ group the extent of deficient communication increased from the monologue to the dialogue situation, whereas communication deviances decreased for mothers in the VIQ = PIQ group. Three possible models are discussed in light of the differences between the subgroups.     

Just picking it up? Young children learning with technology at home

We describe a two year empirical investigation of three‐ and four‐year‐old children's uses of technology at home, based on a survey of 346 families and 24 case studies. Using a socio‐cultural approach, we discuss the range of technologies children encounter in the home, the different forms their learning takes, the roles of adults and other children and how family practices support this learning. Many parents believed that they did not teach children how to use technology. We discuss parents' beliefs that their children ‘pick up’ their competencies with technology and identify trial and error, copying and demonstration as typical modes of learning. Parents tend to consider that their children are mainly self‐taught and underestimate their own role in supporting learning and the extent to which learning with technology is culturally transmitted within the family.     

How do Finnish children express care and justice in comic strips and written narratives?

This case study explored how children’s moral expressions like love and violence differ according to the mode of narrative, comic strips or written narratives. Sixteen third-grade children from a primary school in Finland took part in the study. Children’s moral expressions were divided into justice and care. Reading frequency of fairy tales and linguistic and artistic abilities were also assessed in order to make a more in-depth interpretation of elements that underlie these different moral voices. The data for four of the children are presented in detail as the basis for the discussion. Children expressed their morality more strongly in comic strips—potentially offering a more sophisticated method for examining how children express their morality.     

Young children’s photographs of measurement in the home

This article explores the use of children’s photography as a method for conducting mathematics education research with young children. Collected as part of a study focusing on the experiences with measurement children have at the start of schooling, the photographs presented here were taken by children aged five and six years, from two Australian primary schools. The children took a digital camera home and were asked to photograph things that they considered to be related to measurement. While the intended use of the photographs was to provide insight into the types of experiences children have with measurement in the home context, an additional outcome to emerge from the research was a deeper understanding relating to the strengths and weaknesses of using children’s photography and photo elicitation as a research method with young children. This article presents some of the insights gleaned from this mathematics education research, and examines the use of children’s photography and photo elicitation as a research strategy for working in early years research contexts.     

The situated aspect of creativity in communicative events: How do children design web pages together?

This paper looks at the collaborative construction of web pages in History by a Year-4 group of children in a primary school in the UK. The aim of this paper is to find out:

(a)

How did children interpret their involvement in this literacy practice?

(b)

How the construction of web pages was interactionally accomplished? and

(c)

How can creativity be identified in interaction?

Using an ethnographic approach to the study of communication, it is argued that the collective and creative construction of meaning can be understood in terms of relationships amongst components of communicative acts. The analysis of these components reveals how participants shape their utterances as they are engaged in the pursuit of shared goals in a situated activity system. It is argued that participants strive to become members of a community of practice designing web pages. Members of this community showed their understanding in relation to the way they interpreted the design rules for a multimodal text, the means for working together in collaboration and distributing roles, as well as their interpretation of what counts as historical knowledge. Also, in terms of creativity, participants managed to communicate and negotiate their intentions by using several figures of speech and language games, as well as contextually framing their positions as participants in a dialogue. That is, children and teacher demonstrated their creative abilities in a textual, contextual and critical level. It is concluded that creativity is not a gifted capacity; it is an everyday act which is interactionally accomplished in the context of social participation as members of a community. Members creatively display their intentions and negotiate new alternatives for the interpretation of actions in situated activity systems.     

Using avatars and virtual environments in learning: What do they have to offer?

This paper explores and discusses arguments for the use of virtual environments and interactive avatars in supporting the achievement of student learning goals within conventional educational contexts. It describes and evaluates arguments promoted by some authors (eg, van den Brekel, 2007 ; Deuchar & Nodder, 2003 ; Dickey, 2003 ; Facer, 2004 ; de Freitas, 2006 ; de Freitas & Oliver, 2006 ; Garris, Ahlers & Driskell, 2002 ; JISC, 2007 ; Martino, 2007 ; Prensky, 2004 ; Prensky, 2007 ) relating to advantages from gaming and avatar use, ranging from enhanced engagement in learning activities, through to more purposeful and focussed communication, and, when used in group situations, better cooperation and collaboration between students. It explores the potential of avatar environments to act as powerful communication mediums for students to display knowledge and understanding, and engage in the development of 'higher order thinking skills, such as interpreting, analysing, evaluating, synthesising and solving complex problems'.
It also introduces and discusses the avatar-based authoring program MARVIN, and identifies potential for its use as a digital storytelling tool to assist students in communicating outcomes from units of learning, and in supporting the development of a range of key learning competencies identified in the New Zealand Curriculum Framework ( Ministry of Education, 2007 ). It profiles a successful example of the classroom-based use of MARVIN within a community project undertaken by groups of year 7 and 8 students at two Hamilton intermediate schools, and identifies how the program supported student thinking and relating to others key competencies ( Ministry of Education, 2007 ).     

Accounting for the increase of children in care in western Australia: What can a client information system tell us?

This paper analyses a fourteen-year period of Western Australian data from the client information system of the Department for Child Protection and Family Support. Western Australia saw a large increase in the number of children in state care similar to trends across Australia as a whole. The study shows the following trends: changes in response to ‘referrals' with particular increases in the number of findings of neglect and increasing proportions of these followed swiftly by entry to care; changes in patterns of entry to care with more children under one-year-old entering; increased length of stay of children in care; and, the high incidence of Aboriginal children entering and remaining in care. The data demonstrate unequivocally that increased ‘referrals’ are not associated with increased substantiations of harm or ‘acts of commission with dangerous intent’, but that neglect assessed early in the lives of children was the major precipitant for entry to care and particularly so for Aboriginal infants.     

What are the characteristics of nature preschools in Norway,and how do they organize their daily activities?

This study provides basic information about how Norwegian nature preschools differ from other Norwegian preschools and how they organize their daily activities. Fifty-six nature preschools and 52 other preschools were included in the study. A total of 106 headmasters and 98 pedagogical leaders filled out questionnaires about the characteristics of their preschool and the characteristics of their preschool’s outdoor activities. Two women and four men from nature preschools were interviewed about organizing a nature preschool. Most nature preschools are private and have less children and staff than other preschools. Nature preschools have more reference areas in nature and visit these areas more frequently than other preschools. Nature preschools spend a large amount of time in nature and have routines and rules that allow the children a significant amount of trust.