Mexican parents’ and teachers’ literacy perspectives and practices: construction of cultural capital

This article examines the relationships among the literacy practices engaged in by first-grade children and parents at home and the ways in which these practices are communicated, shaped, and fostered by teachers and administrators in two different sociocultural environments in urban Mexico. The differences observed between the home literacy experiences of children in a working-class and a middle-class community included transgenerational communication of assumptions regarding literacy and schooling, as well as attitudes associated with the parents’ own school experiences. Class-based expectations on the part of teachers not only shaped interactions with parents, but were also reflected in the way the national curriculum was delivered, with a greater emphasis on rote skills and traditional reading instruction in the working-class community. The authors argue that the school plays a role in the co-production of cultural capital in the home through its shaping of some of the literacy practices that children and families undertake.     

Visual representations of the internet in greek school textbooks and students’ experiences

Our research is concerned with the visual representations found in textbooks used for the teaching of the Internet in Greek secondary schools. Visualization, as both the product and the process of creation, interpretation and reflection upon pictures and images, is considered here to be very important, as it is the only way students gain insight into the nature and function of the Internet, its size, complexity and invisibility. Initially, we attempted to analyze and reflect upon school textbooks’ visual interpretations of the Internet. A scheme of categories of visual representations has been identified and reveals the characteristics of the textbooks’ representations as well as their limitations. Sketch-comics and computer snap-shots are the more popular types of Vrep, although a considerable number of them cannot be characterized as accurate and few of them have an explanatory or complementary function in terms of the content presented in the text. We have also explored the impact on students’ readings of two visual representations in one of the textbooks, used without any caption or textual information. The phenomenological aspects of the VRep seem to attract students’ attention and create obstacles in conceptualizing the main idea conveyed in both representations, but when the field of ICT is implied and not clearly portrayed in the VRep, students face serious problems in recognizing the phenomenon. It seems that it is difficult for an image on its own to paint a thousand words.     

A cultural study of Chinese American women’s self-identification and education

Frontiers of Education in China - This qualitative research aims to investigate the process of how Chinese American women develop their identities while growing up in the United States as daughters...     

Opportunities to learn: Mathematics textbooks and students’ achievements

This study explores how textbooks function in education. It asked whether opportunities provided in math textbooks to engage in tasks demanding different levels of understanding correlate with students’ achievements on tasks demanding equivalent levels of understanding on a standardized exam. The textbooks evaluated were two 8^th grade mathematics textbooks used by students in the Arab community in Israel, showing that Textbook A makes more cognitive demands than Textbook B. The study correlated textbooks’ cognitive demand with the scores of all 8^th grade students in the Arab community who completed the national math test in 2015 and studied in schools using either Textbook A or B (N = 4040), while attending to mediating variables. The findings show that if a textbook provides the opportunity to engage in tasks demanding higher levels of understanding, students using this book will have higher scores. The study shows that gender and SES play an important role in how opportunities provided in textbooks interact with students’ scores. Many factors influence variations in mathematics achievements within and between nations. The findings illuminate textbooks’ ability to provide opportunities to learn mathematics. As a result, they raise new questions about how teachers use textbooks and about the role of textbooks in promoting access and equity in mathematics education. Although the work explored specific textbooks, its findings shed light on how learning opportunities relate to achievements more generally.     

Critical analysis of textbooks: knowledge-generating logics and the emerging image of ‘global economic contexts’

This paper presents an approach to the critical analysis of textbook knowledge, which, working from a discourse theory perspective (based on the work of Foucault), refers to the performative nature of language. The critical potential of the approach derives from an analysis of knowledge-generating logics, which produce particular images of reality in the textual material. This kind of criticism creates space for didactic reflection in which something ‘other’ can be systematically highlighted. The approach is described by means of an example, an analysis of Austrian textbooks on business administration, looking specifically at the knowledge they contain about global economic contexts.     

Pre-service teachers’ cultural and teaching experiences abroad

This study investigates Turkish pre-service teachers’ experiences related to a two-month international teaching and cultural experience in the United States of America. In total, 289 graduate students from Turkey participated in a collaborative project from 2001 to 2010. The experience included an orientation week, six weeks of student teaching in a high school, seminars and projects at Iowa State University and cultural visits. The data were collected through a pre-service teacher questionnaire and their reflective journals. The results showed that pre-service teachers perceived the international teaching experience helped them develop professionally and personally. Through cross-cultural exchanges with their mentors along with other students and their community, the pre-service teachers expanded their knowledge of a new culture and adapted to a new working environment.     

Development of children’s moral evaluations of modesty and self-promotion in diverse cultural settings

This cross-cultural study of the moral judgements of Mainland Han-Chinese, Chinese-Canadian, and Euro-Canadian children aged seven to 11 examined the evaluations of narrative protagonists’ modest lies and self-promoting truthful statements in situations where they had done a good deed. The story characters had thus either lied or told the truth about a prosocial act that they had committed. Chinese children judged modest lies more positively and boastful truths less positively than Euro-Canadian children. Chinese and Chinese-Canadian children rated immodest statements more negatively than did Euro-Canadian children. The cultural differences were greatest with the oldest children. Chinese children rated modest lies significantly more positively than either Canadian group who did not differ from each other but an interaction between age and culture revealed the three groups to be significantly different at age 11 with Chinese children most positive, followed by Chinese-Canadian children, and with Euro-Canadian children evaluating modest lies least positively. Cultural strictures and acculturation factors respecting modesty and self-enhancement are reflected in these differences.     

Being ‘religious and cultural rebels’ or being ‘cultural hybrids’? The role of identity capital in Muslim female university students’ self-construction

ABSTRACT

Research on university-educated Muslim women in different cultural contexts has displayed an intricate and paradoxical connection between experiences of higher education and identity mediation. A traditional model conceptualizes Muslim female university students as ‘rebels’ against their heritage religion and culture. Recent developments in the context of poststructural feminism highlight the configuration of a hybrid self-image embracing the target and heritage cultures in an additive and empowering manner. To enhance our understanding of the potential impact of higher education on identity negotiation, this study employs the notion of identity capital in an analysis of two South Asian Muslim female university students in Hong Kong over a two-year period. Participants’ life histories reveal that personal capacity to invest in identity capital (a contextually-dependent hybrid self) relies on an individual’s unique possession of various forms of capital. This study thus cautions against generalizations about Muslim women’s university experiences, and suggests that Muslim minorities as multicultural students and that their multilingual/multicultural skills, as forms of ‘intercultural capital,’ should be valued by all societal institutions.     

The (be)comings and goings of ‘developmental disabilities’: the cultural politics of ‘impairment’

Disability should be a concern for those interested in analysing and subverting the cultural politics of education. In this paper we address this concern through connecting critical analyses of ‘developmental disabilities’ (formerly ‘mental retardation’), disability studies and poststructuralism. We target normative constructions of ‘developmental disabilities’ – and we propose alternative dynamic possibilities – through reference to narratives from our political and personal work with people with the label of ‘developmental disabilities’. Our aim is to unveil the ways in which we might understand the cultural formations of ‘impairment’ – as they relate to ‘developmental disabilities’ – in order to propel scholars, activists and practitioners towards a cultural politics of inclusion. First, we summarise some key debates from disability studies that have engaged with ‘impairment’: social model, relational and psychosocial models. We suggest that these debates benefit from a more grounded engagement with poststructuralist ideas. Second, we bring in the work of the poststructuralist thinkers Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari and the poststructuralist feminist Rosi Braidotti to tackle the social, historical, cultural and political conditions of ‘developmental disabilities’ through experimentation with rhizomes and nomads. In conclusion, we appeal for the development of a cultural politics of ‘impairment’ and ‘developmental disabilities’ that draws upon a vocabulary applicable to the post-modern subject of the contemporary world: as uncertain, productive and moveable.     

Impact of a discrete First Peoples health course on students’ experience and development of cultural capabilities

ABSTRACT

As Australian universities move towards the mandatory inclusion of First Peoples content into undergraduate health professional programs, it is imperative to evaluate course impact and quality of teaching. A discrete First Peoples Health course underpinned by The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Curriculum Framework was evaluated using the Cultural Capability Measurement Tool (CCMT). Tool items reflect the five core cultural capabilities outlined in The Framework (Respect, Communication, Safety and Quality, Reflection, and Advocacy). All enrolled students (n?=?297) were invited to complete an online survey before and after the course. Students’ experience of course quality was assessed using a university-generated online survey. Completed surveys could be matched for 87 students (29.3% response rate). Mean increase in CCMT scores from baseline to post-course was 10.85 (95% CI 8.84, 12.86). The eta squared statistic (η^2?=?0.57) indicated a large effect. Students’ satisfaction with course quality was high (M?=?4.1 SD?=?0.96). Free text comments indicated that students valued small group teaching and reflective processes. Improved CCMT scores suggest development in students’ cultural capability. Further research needs to examine the extent to which students can sustain development of their cultural capabilities in practice.     

Between ‘enrichment’ and ‘endangerment’: ‘cultural diversity’ and the politics of belonging in the Berlin school choice discourse

Even though choice is not officially a feature in the German primary school system, some parents intervene in determining which school their child attends. Especially in urban contexts, the informal school market is growing. This demand is based on promises with respect to a certain quality of education as well as on issues that prevail in certain inner city schools. In looking at Berlin, as a global city, this article shows how contrary school choice practices gain traction in the face of ‘cultural differences’ that those practices produce discursively. Cultural semantics are activated with regard to the composition of the student body, when parents chose schools with a bilingual profile, but also when parents engage in the practice of ‘group enrolment’ into schools in inner city hotspots perceived as problematic. Our research shows how school choice practices may become acceptable despite being a public taboo, if parents argue by appeal to ‘cultural differences’.     

The influence of textbooks on teachers’ knowledge of chemical bonding representations relative to students’ difficulties understanding

Background: Textbooks are integral tools for teachers’ lessons. Several researchers observed that school teachers rely heavily on textbooks as informational sources when planning lessons. Moreover, textbooks are an important resource for developing students’ knowledge as they contain various representations that influence students’ learning. However, several studies report that students have difficulties understanding models in general, and chemical bonding models in particular, and that students’ difficulties understanding chemical bonding are partly due to the way it is taught by teachers and presented in textbooks.

Purpose: This article aims to delineate the influence of textbooks on teachers’ selection and use of representations when teaching chemical bonding models and to show how this might cause students’ difficulties understanding.

Sample: Ten chemistry teachers from seven upper secondary schools located in Central Sweden volunteered to participate in this study.

Design and methods: Data from multiple sources were collected and analysed, including interviews with the 10 upper secondary school teachers, the teachers’ lesson plans, and the contents of the textbooks used by the teachers.

Results: The results revealed strong coherence between how chemical bonding models are presented in textbooks and by teachers, and thus depict that textbooks influence teachers’ selection and use of representations for their lessons. As discussed in the literature review, several of the selected representations were associated with alternative conceptions of, and difficulties understanding, chemical bonding among students.

Conclusions: The study highlights the need for filling the gap between research and teaching practices, focusing particularly on how representations of chemical bonding can lead to students’ difficulties understanding. The gap may be filled by developing teachers’ pedagogical content knowledge regarding chemical bonding and scientific models in general.     

Teachers’ cultural autobiography as means of civic professional engagement

Abstract

This article will present my autobiographical journey: from communism to capitalism, from the banking system and the pedagogy of the oppressed to problem-posing education. My personal experiences are seen as a way of emigrating internally and as part of the struggle through the process of self-actualisation and self-understanding. In effect, the practice of intellectual freedom shifts from a personal to a civic perspective. My wish for social justice, especially for children from diverse cultural and ethnic backgrounds living in a global society, will be considered, with reference to the voluntary work in the Romanian community. Thus, from a postmodern perspective, the autobiographical process is not just about self, but also about the Other.     

Situating the ‘beyond’: adventure-learning and Indigenous cultural competence

In 2010, an Indigenous Elder from the Wiradjuri nation and a group of academics from Charles Sturt University travelled to Menindee, a small locality on the edge of the Australian outback. They were embarked upon an ‘adventure-learning’ research journey to study ways of learning by creating a community of practice with an Elder from the Ngyampa/Barkandji nation. This article first explores the implications of this innovative approach to transformative learning for professional development and for teaching and learning practice. It then reflects on the significance of location for pedagogic approaches aimed at closing the education gap between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal Australians in universities.     

‘I’d like to know why’: cultural capital and MA in education students’ interpretation of feedback commentaries

This article discusses the results of an investigation into selected MA in Education students’ interpretation of feedback to their written assignments in a teaching and learning institution in the UK, using the framework of cultural capital and acculturation. A case study method was adopted to investigate four participants’ thoughts and experiences with feedback over a period of two semesters. Participants were asked to go through a think-aloud process while responding to feedback from tutors to their assignments. Results of the think-aloud were used as springboard for interviews conducted with students. The article argues that students’ diverse and variable interpretations of tutor feedback can be explained by Bourdieu’s notion of ‘connaissance’ or knowledge as cultural capital. Additionally, students were found to have subscribed to the ‘acculturation’ process modelled by tutors in feedback provision.     

Understanding the influence of two mathematics textbooks on prospective secondary teachers’ knowledge

This study examines the influence of reading and planning from two differently organized mathematics textbooks on prospective high school mathematics teachers’ pedagogical content knowledge and content knowledge of exponential functions. The teachers completed a pretest and two posttests. On the pretest, the teachers possessed an incomplete understanding of content and pedagogical content knowledge related to exponential functions. The teachers’ understanding of how to translate from table to closed-form and recursive equations grew as a result of their use of the Mathematics: Modeling Our World textbook, while the Discovering Algebra textbook appeared to be more beneficial in terms of pedagogical content knowledge. Teachers read from the student lessons in both textbooks, but read differently from the sections of both textbooks intended for the teacher. They focused more on the purpose of the Mathematics: Modeling Our World lesson and more on the places where students might experience difficulties in the margins of the Discovering Algebra lesson. The teachers’ learning was influenced by their own personal characteristics (e.g., previous textbook experiences) as well as textbook qualities (e.g., organization).     

The cultural differences and translation of the phrases between Chinese and English

Translating methods are undoubtedly the core problems we are confronted with in translation. Because of the difference of geography, history, religious belief, life custom, the phrase of English and Chinese have different national cultural characteristics and the cultural information, they are connected with the cultural tradition closely ,and inalienable. Therefore, in the phrase translation, the translator must understand culture manifests of the different national society in the language, correctly understand the cultural semantics in the phrase, use the suitable translation method. If the original translation language element is consistent with the culture in the translation, we may use the coordinated literal translation, an image usage, similar method and so on.     

The meaning of play: A cross‐cultural study of American and Japanese teachers’ perspectives on play

Abstract

Early childhood teachers’ understandings of play were examined in a qualitative comparative study of 41 Japanese and 41 American participants. Qualitative analysis of the data yielded five themes: the power of living, the opportunity to learn and to develop, fun activities, child's work, and the opportunity to explore nature. Two themes emerged in regard to the meaning of play for adults: enjoyable and voluntary activities and child's play. Finally, we identified two themes regarding playfulness: state of heart and fun feelings. Teachers in both nations used rhetoric that is congruent with the current Zeitgeist of developmentally appropriate early education. One theme that differentiated the groups was the notion that play is children's work. While several Americans mentioned this slogan, this was not the case for the Japanese participants. In contrast, the theme of play as the power of living was more representative of Japanese teachers’ understandings of play, and this reflects the philosophy set forth by the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology.