Stretching the blanket: Legal reforms affecting child witnesses

The author presents an overview of the changes in the rules of evidence that now govern criminal prosecutions of child sexual abuse and civil proceedings. The United States Supreme Court has issued six decisions that profoundly affect the receipt of children's testimony and expert testimony assaying the reliability of children's reported experiences. These cases as well as the Michaels prosecution in New Jersey have been catalysts for reform, exposing the pretrial investigative processes as the critical determinant of the reliability of trial evidence from children. She concludes that the next frontier is the application of social science research to the shaping of legislative standards and administrative guidelines aimed at minimizing the contamination of children's testimony during the pretrial staging of litigation.     

Carnivals, the Carnivalesque, The Magic Puddin', and David Almond's Wild Girl, Wild Boy: Toward a Theorizing of Children's Plays

This article seeks to extend current children's literature criticism into children's plays and children's theatre. The article uses Norman Lindsay's The Magic Pudding as a prose introduction to an idea of a theatrical carnivalesque. Building on the practical experience of being involved in a large program of original drama for children, written and produced within the university context, it develops a theory of plays-as-the-performance-of-texts, relating this to the current debate on performance and performativity. It adopts the idea of performativity as performative belonging and identifies some distinguishing characteristics of children's plays. Applying some of these ideas to David Almond's Wild Girl, Wild Boy, it notes the idea of moral psychic reorganisation as part of the essence of carnival.     

Literary Relations: Anne Shirley and Her American Cousins

This article examines the similarities between L. M. Montgomery's Anne of Green Gables and Kate Douglas Wiggin's Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm. It raises a number of questions about the Canadianness of Montgomery's best loved novel and considers the author's literary indebtedness to Wiggin and other American authors including Gene Stratton-Porter and Sarah Orne Jewett. It concludes with the argument that even though statements regarding Anne's originality and distinctive Canadianness are problematic, as a literary work, Anne has real strengths that make it more than a simple formula story. Anne of Green Gables is the work of a consummate storyteller.     

The Great Tunes of the Hough: Music and Song in Alan Garner's The Stone Book Quartet

Although song and music are often elements in children's books, little critical attention has gone into examining their literary uses. Alan Garner's The Stone Book Quartetis an example of four texts for children in which music plays a vital role. The several snatches of traditional songs found throughout the quartet bring to life the culture of the characters but also are tied to the conflicts that occur within the stories. An exploration of Garner's use of song uncovers the underlying theme of the book—the necessity of balance in our lives.     

Toward a further understanding of teachers’ reports of early teacher–child relationships: Examining the roles of behavior appraisals and attributions

This study examined teachers’ reports of early teacher–child relationships by focusing on their assessments of the severity and the causes of children's social behaviors. Eighty-one kindergarten teachers filled out questionnaires about socially inhibited, hyperactive, and average children (n = 237) selected from their own classes. Multilevel analyses indicated that teachers reported less close and more dependent relationships for the inhibited and hyperactive versus the average children, and more conflictual relationships for the hyperactive versus the average children. These differences were largely mediated by teachers’ perceptions of children's personal behavior problems. In addition, we found that the teachers’ control attributions for children's social behaviors increased the link between children's perceived (personal and social) problems and relationship closeness. Results further support the idea that teachers’ relationship reports are personal, evaluative accounts rather than objective measures of teacher–child interactions.     

Letter name knowledge and the ability to learn to read by processing letter–phoneme relations in words: Evidence from Brazilian Portuguese-speaking children

Previous studies [Scott & Ehri (1990) Journal of Reading Behavior22: 149–166; de Abreu & Cardoso-Martins (1998) Reading and Writing:An Interdisciplinary Journal 10: 85–104] have shown thatprereaders who know the names of the lettersuse a visual–phonological strategy to learn toread words in which the names of one or moreletters can be clearly detected in thepronunciation of the words. The present resultsextend these findings by showing that BrazilianPortuguese-speaking prereaders who know thenames of the letters can process letter–soundrelations to learn to read spellings in whichthe letters correspond to phonemes, not toletter names. Following Ehri & Wilce'sprocedure [(1985) Reading Research Quarterly 20:163–179], Brazilian preschool childrenlearned to read two types of simplifiedspellings: phonetic spellings, that is,spellings in which the letters corresponded tophonemes in the pronunciation of the words(e.g., SPT for sapato), and visualspellings, that is, spellings in which theletters did not correspond to sounds in thepronunciation of the words, but which werevisually more salient (e.g., VST for pijama). The children learned to read thephonetic spellings more easily than the visualspellings, suggesting that they recognized theletter–phoneme relations in learning to readthe phonetic spellings. This interpretation isbolstered by the results of correlationalanalyses between knowledge of letter sounds andperformance on the two word-learning tasks.While knowledge of letter–phonemecorrespondences did not correlate withperformance on the word-learning task with thevisual spellings, it correlated significantlyand positively with the children's ability tolearn to read the phonetic spellings.     

Rediscovering the ninja turtles' namesakes

We are not ninja turtles! If the dead could talk this would be the cry of the Italian Renaissance Masters—Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Raphael and Donatello—to young children currently clamoring for a bunch of TV turtle characters who live in a sewer, fight bad guys with swords and order out for pizza.Joyce Mesrobian is an Early Education Consultant and a reviewer of children's books. © Joyce Mesrobian, August 1990.     

Parenting behaviors and preschool children's social and emotional skills: A question of the consequential validity of traditional parenting constructs for low-income African Americans

Few researchers have questioned the validity of traditional parenting dimensions (based largely on Baumrind's [Baumrind, D. (1967). Child care practices anteceding three patterns of preschool behavior. Genetic Psychology Monographs, 75, 43–88; Baumrind, D. (1971). Current patterns of parental authority. Developmental Psychology, 4, 1–103] work) with economically and ethnically diverse groups, despite the fact that evidence for the utility of these dimensions for predicting child and youth outcomes is equivocal. In this paper, we report on the findings from two independent studies by which we examined the relationship of traditional parenting constructs to children's social–emotional competencies among low-income, urban-residing African American preschool families with measures validated specifically for use with this population. In Study 1, 184 children and their families participated, whereas 210 children and their families participated in Study 2. Contrary to our hypotheses, across these two studies, findings failed to indicate significant relationships between constructs of parenting and children's social and emotional skills. Findings call into question the consequential validity of these constructs for this group and highlight inconsistencies among the larger body of parenting work. Implications for future theory-building and parenting research are discussed.     

“Ahoy Me Hearties!” Captain Pugwash, Bits of Movable Paper, and the Bible: A Tribute to John Ryan

A short celebratory article about the life and career of the English children's book author/illustrator, John Ryan, most famous for creating the eponymous pirate Captain Pugwash. This article documents Ryan's early career at school and in the army, and his rise as a freelance cartoonist, working first for Eagle and Girl comics (and in the process creating Captain Pugwash, Harris Tweed, Sir Boldasbrass, and Lettice Leefe) and then developing his characters for books and television. There is also a brief discussion of Ryan's biblical retellings for children and the recent controversy surrounding the names of Pugwash's crew.     

儿童玩具的互动性设计探索

从儿童玩具的互动性入手,给出互动玩具的一般定义,得出对儿童玩具设计有重要意义的启示,就是从对"互动"的充分认识中了解现代儿童玩具的设计.儿童玩具的设计需符合互动、安全、技术、审美这四个要素,只有这样,才能设计出真正有价值的儿童互动玩具.     

The intertextuality of children's explanations in a technology-enriched early years science classroom

This study examines the sociocultural trajectories of children's conceptual thinking in a technology-enriched early years science classroom (N=22). Of specific analytic interest is the intertextuality of children's science-related explanations constructed during adult–child dialogic interviews and peer-centred inquiry around a multimedia science-learning tool, PICCO. Following the sociocultural and discursive approach to conceptual thinking and learning, the study conceptualizes explanations as interactional achievements shaped by the sociocultural context of activity. Qualitative, micro-level analysis of video-taped and transcribed data covering a 5-month period shows that inquiry-based science learning activities, based on child-initiation and the application of technological tools, created a fruitful setting for the children's explanation construction around scientific phenomena. The children's explanations were found to draw on textual and material links, hands-on explorations, i.e. activity links, as well as on recounting events. These intertextual linkages functioned as tools for the children (a) to share and validate previous experiences as sources of knowledge, (b) to establish reciprocity with each other in meaning-making, (c) to define themselves as learners of science and as individuals with specific experiences and background, and (d) to construct, maintain and contest the cultural practices of what it means to do and learn science in the classroom. In all, the study illuminates the potential of intertextual analysis to reveal contextual insights into children's conceptual thinking mediated by the sociocultural context.     

The future direction of schooling

This chapter provides a cross-societal discussion of the findings of the Schooling for the future study, the case studies. It examines why senior educators and policy leaders in each of the six case study societies believe that bureaucratic school systems are the most likely scenario for future even though these are not the most desired. It examines some of the key factors that account for senior educators and policy leaders’ views, and the changes they argue are needed to achieve the desired scenario for the future. The chapter concludes with a discussion of the contribution and the implications of the study for the usefulness of the OECD scenarios as policy tools.     

Launching Dunno

This article, written in response to an invitation from CLE, describes the origins and controversial content of dunno, a first novel, self-published by Peter Inson, a former teacher and headmaster. Inson considers influences upon his writing, the thinking which led him towards self-publication and the process of personally launching and marketing his novel. The article concludes with an account of Insons visits to schools and the subsequent reaction of both adolescent and adult readers.     

Higher education in China

This paper discusses the system of higher education in China today. Eight years after the beginning of the upheaval known as the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, educational principles and practice are still considered experimental. New types of schools have been established, and old ones have been reoriented to conform to recent ideological imperatives. The administrative system has gone through a number of changes and is not yet standardized; innovative enrollment procedures, strongly influenced by social class considerations, are changing the complexion of the student body; teaching methods and curriculum combine teaching, productive labor and scientific research in an effort to relate higher education more closely to the economic and social needs envisioned by the Maoist leadership.The paper concludes that it is too early to make definitive judgments about the viability of the system, regardless of the criteria used, but suggests that assessments of the quality of higher education in China must start from a recognition of the fact that it is an integral part of the total effort to revolutionize society. CR China Reconstructs - JMJP Jen-min jih-pao (People's Daily) - KMJP Kuang-ming jih-pao (Kuang-ming Daily) - NCNA New China News Agency - PR Peking Review     

Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry: A Culturally Specific, Subversive Concept of Child Agency

This article is a critique of Mildred D. Taylor's Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry with regard to its positioning of the child subject. I propose that the novel contrasts classic works of children's fiction by following a trajectory of child agency, which is enabled through the novel's racial specificity. The adults in the novel teach the children, but they do so in a way that encourages autonomous action. Subversive child agency is enabled in the novel through the demystification of history and the unveiling of power structures. In the process, the child characters become agents of resistance.     

A Remote Sensing Class Exercise to Study the Effects of El Niño in South America

Satellite remote sensing techniques can be used for conducting environmental change detection studies following a natural disaster. Modern computer technology and free access to global satellite imagery allows educators to introduce undergraduate students to the fields of remote sensing and encourage their scientific participation through a research assignment that also serves as an educational exercise. The undergraduate physical science laboratory manuals used in higher education that contain printed remote sensing material often fail to effectively achieve these goals. This class exercise utilizes digital satellite imagery for studying the floods that resulted in the Paraná River region in South America during El Niño 1997–98. In addition, it examines vegetation cover and spectral profiles from the study area in order to further understand and assess the changes that were caused by this recurrent climatic anomaly.     

潜文本解读《格列佛游记》

《格列佛游记》这部作品,塑造了一个18世纪的航海家,留恋出海,饱经历险;一个真理的求索者,舍生忘死,追求极至;一个人性方舟的守望者。通过潜文本研究,以反传统的批评手法再现格列佛的世界观嬗变过程,对于重新解读《格列佛游记》的主题意义和文学形象,具有重要的文学批评功能。     

“Thank Goodness the Goose Is Here”: Creativity and Women's Writing in Eudora Welty's The Shoe Bird

Thank Goodness the Goose is Here examines Eudora Welty's only children's book, The Shoe Bird, and suggests that this text uses animal characters to explore women's authorship. Gloria the goose, whose character has been seen as stereotyped and silly, represents, in my reading, the inventive and courageous aspects of women's authorship, while Arturo, the methodical and precise parrot demonstrates that writing as a woman calls for the ability to use language in new ways even if this means ignoring established rules of language use. Drawing on Hélène Cixous's work with the l'écriture féminine, this article locates in Gloria evidence of the creativity and fortitude required to write as a woman in cultures where written language has conventionally been seen as the domain of men. This article examines how The Shoe Bird plays with common Welty themes of memory, extinction, and entrapment to emphasize Gloria's inventive use of language to redefine the space of the shoe store and the subjectivities of the birds. Connections are also drawn between Gloria the goose and creative women who emerge in some of Welty's texts for adults. Although reviewers and critics have not extensively examined The Shoe Bird, this text provides rich commentary about how women can use language to change their worlds.     

Multi-point e-conferencing with initial teacher training students in England: Pitfalls and potential

This article reports on attempts to initiate multi-point e-conferencing between English teacher education students on school placements, their host teachers and their university tutors. A sociocultural perspective is adopted in analysing the project, using the metaphor of a ‘professional knowledge landscape’ [Clandinin, D. J., & Connelly, F. M. (1995). Teachers’ professional knowledge landscapes. New York: Teachers College Press] to make sense of participants’ experiences. Findings suggest that considerable difficulties exist not just in terms of technical challenges, but also in terms of ethics, values, complexity and communications in schools. A similar project undertaken in Singapore [Sharpe, L., Hu, C., Crawford, L., Gopinathan, S., Khine, M. S., Moo, S. N., et al. (2003). Enhancing multi-point desktop video conferencing (MDVC) with lesson video clips: Recent developments in pre-service teaching practice in Singapore. Teaching and Teacher Education, 19(5), 529–541] is used to highlight the contextual nature of these challenges. The paper concludes that the promotion of new technologies as a key part of current education planning in the UK is questionable with insufficient attention being given to the sociocultural implications of such change. Implications are drawn for universities, schools and for future policy development.     

Bilingual education in Ontario: Issues and directions

Conclusions The impact of the immersion phenomenon in Ontario has been striking and complex. This brief review of research on bilingual education and its relationship to a variety of language teaching settings has shown that the immersion experiment has produced several constructive side effects. First, it has caused the re-examination of first language teaching in regular English classrooms and it is now sparking a move toward increased contact between educators of French as a first language and French as a second language. Second, it has heightened parental interest and led to the increased involvement of parents in their children's education. Canadian Parents for French, a national association formed in 1977, grew directly out of the excitement and interest created by bilingual education programs in Canada. Along with increased parental involvement has come the realization that the school — whether it is francophone or anglophone — cannot be expected to go it alone, that support for French must be generated in the media and in the community.Two recent conferences have resulted in part from this realization:Apprenons en français/Learning in French held at Glendon College in June, 1978, and the OISE Conference on French Language Instruction, the proceedings of which make up this issue ofInterchange. These were landmark events, since never before in Ontario had educators and parents involved in French as a first language and French as a second language come together to share their problems, ideas and hopes. Such meetings could and should represent the beginning of a continuing dialogue.