Temperament and Teacher–Child Conflict in Preschool: The Moderating Roles of Classroom Instructional and Emotional Support

Research Findings: This study is an examination of (a) links between preschool children’s temperament (effortful control, shyness, and anger) and teacher–child conflict and (b) classroom instructional and emotional support as moderators of associations between temperament and teacher–child conflict. Children (N = 104) were enrolled in 23 classrooms in 9 preschools in a midwestern city. Teachers provided ratings of children’s temperament and parents reported demographic information in the fall of the school year, classrooms were observed in the winter to assess instructional and emotional support, and teachers rated conflict with children in the spring. Multilevel models were estimated, and 3 main findings emerged. First, children’s effortful control was negatively associated with their level of conflict with teachers. Second, children’s effortful control was negatively related to teacher–child conflict in classrooms with low emotional support but unrelated to conflict in classrooms with high emotional support. Third, children’s effortful control was negatively related to conflict in classrooms with high instructional support but unrelated to conflict in classrooms with low instructional support. Practice or Policy: Findings highlight the importance of considering the interplay of children’s effortful control and preschool classroom instructional and emotional support in the development of early teacher–child conflict.     

Effects of Diverse STEM Role Model Videos in Promoting Adolescents’ Identification

International Journal of Science and Mathematics Education - Role models are critical for broadening participation in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM); however, little is...     

The Effects of Teachers’ Training on Pupils’ Achievement: The Case of Elementary Schools in France

This investigation examines the effects of teachers’ training on pupils’ achievement in French and mathematics. The aim of the research is to compare the effectiveness of three samples of elementary school teachers with different levels of experience and training. Using a multilevel model, the results demonstrate that training enhances the effectiveness of novice teachers. In addition, experience was also found to have a positive effect. Neither training nor experience have a significant effect on equity, defined as the capacity of reducing the initial gap between high and low achieving pupils.     

Mexican American Mothers’ Conceptualization of Autonomy Support and Psychological Control in the Context of Cultural Values

This qualitative study explored the intertwining relationships among the concepts of parental autonomy support, parental control, and cultural values for Mexican American families. The study was guided by the following questions: (1) What elements of parental autonomy support are identified in Mexican American parents’ involvement in their children’s academic performance? (2) How do Mexican American parents conceptualize “autonomy support” and “parental control”? Sixteen Mexican American mothers expressed their own goals and strategies for home-based parental involvement to support their adolescents’ academic performance, and responded to the prototypes of autonomy support parenting and use of psychological control. Four themes emerged from the data to explain the participants’ practice: (1) Explain the expectations for behavioral and academic pursuit through persistent “telling” and “reminding”; (2) Respond to children’s feelings from parents’ perspectives; (3) Encourage with provisions, praises, and criticisms; and (4) Allow choices upon trust in child’s sense of responsibility. Discussion is focused on how Mexican-American mothers’ conceptualization of “autonomy support” and “parental control” is influenced by the cultural values of educación and respeto. Culturally appropriate autonomy support training is suggested for effective intervention programs for Mexican-American parents.     

The Role of Parents in Adolescents’ Reading Motivation and Activity

Parent support for reading is one of the many elements that may play a role in the development and sustainment of children’s reading motivation; to date, however, research has focused much more on the role that parents play in their preschool and primary-grade children’s reading than in their older children’s reading. Thus, this paper examines the findings and methodology of empirical studies concerning the ways and extent to which parent support for reading relates to the reading motivations and habits of students in the fourth through 12th grades. The review includes discussion of extant quantitative, qualitative, and mixed-method studies, theoretical models from the reading domain applicable to the socialization of reading practices, and extensive recommendations for future research. The dual purpose of this review is to present a sketch of the role of parents’ in adolescents’ reading motivation based on extant work and to encourage research that will help develop this sketch into a fuller portrait.     

The Humanities in the Era of Cooperation: Beyond C. P. Snow's “Two Cultures”

During the forty years since C. P. Snow decried the existence of two cultures and castigated literary intellectuals for their lack of concern for humanity as a whole, an intellectual revolution in the humanities, driven in part by the intellectual obliteration of boundaries between disciplines and in part by globalization, has reoriented scholars toward engagement in the world and communication with scientists. A recognition that interdependence makes cooperation essential, whether among scholars or among nations, is bringing about an era of cooperation among disciplines and between academic and non-academic institutions.     

The Importance of Understanding Different Cultures——Cultures in International Marketing

With the development and transportation and telecommunication,the world becomes smaller and smaller,but there still exist culture differences in the world.Different cultural backgrounds lead to distinct needs and wants(what people buy,when they buy,why they buy and how many they buy,etc).Meanwhile,cultures have great influence on business activities.International marketing,a typical business activity,is not only concerned about economy,but also related to cultures.Therefore,if a market-oriented company wants to meet the needs of foreign customers and survive the fierce competition in international market,it is wise for their stuff to understand different cultures.This is the key for any company to make successful strategies in the light of real cultural situation.That is to say,culture is one of the most important factors in international marketing,unaware of which,corporate may loss out.In my thesis,I'll probe into the importance of understanding different cultures.     

How to Support Toddlers’ Autonomy: Socialization Practices Reported by Parents

Autonomy-supportive parenting is found to foster children’s adjustment but relatively few studies have been conducted with toddlers. In the present exploratory study, parents (N = 182) reported what practices they use when asking their toddlers (M age = 26.9 months) to engage in important yet uninteresting activities. Parents rated twenty-six potentially autonomy-supportive practices, along with a well-known scale measuring the extent to which they have a positive attitude towards autonomy support. Research Findings: Using correlational and factorial analyses, eight practices were identified: various ways to communicate empathy, providing developmentally appropriate rationales, describing the problem in an informational and neutral way, and modeling the requested behavior. This subset of autonomy-supportive practices for toddlers was positively related with toddlers’ rule internalization, providing them with further validity. Practice or Policy: These preliminary findings may be useful in guiding future conceptual, empirical, and applied work on the support of toddlers’ autonomy and its assessment in an emotionally-charged and challenging context.     

Liberalism,Parental Rights,Pupils’ Autonomy and Education

Liberals, from Mill to Rawls see personal autonomy as paramount in civil society. They see human dignity to consist essentially in personal autonomy, that is, ‘in the ability of each person to determine for himself or herself a view of the good life’ (Taylor, C. (1992) p. 27). Multiculturalism and “The Politics of Recognition” p. 57 (Princeton, Princeton University Press). This emphasis on personal autonomy underlies much of liberal emphasis on freedom of conscience, justice, rights and fairness. Its core thesis is that a just society seeks not to promote any particular view of the good life, but enables its citizens to pursue their own ends consistent with a similar liberty for all others. Yet, when some citizens in America attempted to pursue their own view of the good life, they came up against head‐on conflict with the liberal state. These groups saw civic education with its emphasis on individual choice, on reflecting and weighing of alternative viewpoints and on personal autonomy, as threatening to their way of life and to their fundamental religious beliefs, and consequently they challenged the state in the courts. What ensued raised profound educational problems for educating children, parental rights, and the right of the State in a liberal democratic society, which are discussed in this paper.     

Cross-Informant Evaluations of Preschoolers’ Adjustment in Different Cultures

An accurate and agreed upon evaluation of preschoolers' behavior is crucial for young children's positive development. This study explores possible cultural differences in cross-informants’ evaluations. The premise is that informants who are from different cultures tend to give different evaluations of preschoolers’ adjustment and/or that the disparity size between informants differs across different cultures. Data on children’s kindergarten adjustment, early development and current behavior at home were collected among 135 Arab and Jewish Israeli preschoolers, as evaluated by their kindergarten teachers, parents, and independent observers who conducted home visits. The study findings indicate that, generally speaking, Arab children received more positive evaluations than Jewish children, with no significant gender or interaction effect. Nevertheless, that culture effect was non-significant when the teachers evaluated the children’s problem behavior. Thus, the current study results support the notion that profound bias may exist in adults’ evaluations of preschoolers.     

The Effectiveness of Integrated Training Programme (ITP) in Decreasing Female Students’ Test Anxiety: Moderating Effect of Mothers’ Perfectionism

This study examined the effectiveness of an integrated training programme (ITP) in reducing female students’ test anxiety with a view to the mothers’ perfectionism as a moderating factor. A total of 60 primary school students (30 mothers with perfectionism trait and 30 mothers without perfectionism) were randomly selected using multi-stage cluster sampling and screening methods. Spielberger’s Test Anxiety Scale and Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale (MPS) were administered to the students and mothers, respectively. The participants were placed into four groups (two experimental and two control groups). The experimental groups received intervention in 14 sessions. The results suggested significant differences between experimental and control groups, but there was no significant difference between the two experimental groups (group 1: students with test anxiety and perfectionist mothers and group 2: students with test anxiety and non-perfectionist mothers). The moderating effect of mothers’ perfectionism was not statistically confirmed. Implications of the study are discussed.     

Interrupting the Pathway From Discrimination to Black Adolescents’ Psychosocial Outcomes: The Contribution of Parental Racial Worries and Racial Socialization Competency

Racial discrimination can lead to psychosocial problems for Black adolescents, including internalization (e.g., depression) and externalization (e.g., conduct problems). Black parents (N = 186; M_age = 42.9) of adolescents (ages 10–18) were assessed to investigate how parental worries and racial socialization competency (i.e., confidence, skills, and stress) contribute to the association between parental discrimination experiences and their adolescents’ psychosocial problems. Mediation analyses indicated that the total direct models with discrimination, worries, and problems had good fit, and that the addition of worry mediated the discrimination-problems association. Furthermore, racial socialization competency moderated the association between worry and problems, wherein greater competency was associated with less impact of worry on problems. Findings illuminate potential intervention targets for buffering discrimination’s influence on adolescents’ psychosocial functioning.     

Parental migration and children’s academic engagement: The case of China

In the context of China’s increasing rural-urban migration, few studies have investigated how parental migration affects children’s experience in school. The high cost of schooling, taken together with the institutional barriers in destination cities, have compelled many rural parents in China to migrate without their children, leaving them in the care of their spouses, grandparents, relatives or other caregivers. Still other parents migrate with their children, many of whom then attend urban migrant schools in their destination city. Understanding the academic engagement of children of migrant workers is particularly salient because the poor qualities of migrant schools, a lack of parental support, and exposure to competing alternatives to schooling may render both migrant children in the cities and left-behind children in the rural villages vulnerable to disengagement, and ultimately school dropout. Using data collected in 2008 in the urban Haidian and Changping districts of Beijing and rural Henan and Shaanxi provinces, the authors of this paper investigate the association between parental migration status and two measures of academic engagement, academic aspirations and the odds of liking school, by comparing migrant children attending migrant schools and left-behind children with their rural counterparts who do not have migrant parents. The authors’ findings show that migrant children attending migrant schools have lower academic engagement compared to rural children of non-migrant parents. The correlation between academic engagement and parental migration status can be accounted for in part by the support children receive from family and teachers. The association between certain measures of family and school support and academic engagement also varies by parental migration status: for example, high teacher turnover rates significantly reduce migrant children’s odds of liking schools, but do not affect children of non-migrant parents.     

How to Support Toddlers’ Autonomy: A Qualitative Study With Child Care Educators

Research Findings: The present study explored the concrete manifestations of autonomy support (AS) toward toddlers. Eight child care educators were interviewed. Based on our assessment, these educators all valued AS. A qualitative content analysis revealed 18 practices that this group of child care educators considered supportive of toddlers’ autonomy. The present findings are in line with the traditional conceptualization of AS, namely, offering choices and encouraging initiatives, acknowledging the child’s feelings and perspective, and providing rationales and explanations for requests (Deci, Eghrari, Patrick, & Leone, 1994; Koestner, Ryan, Bernieri, & Holt, 1984), suggesting that these practices are developmentally appropriate for toddlers. Yet, they also widen the scope of AS, highlighting additional caregiving practices that may support the autonomy of toddlers. Practice or Policy: The results are discussed in light of child care educators’ professional training context and the relationship between AS and structure. The practices found in this study offer many means of actualizing AS with toddlers on a daily basis.     

Fostering Learner Autonomy by Developing Learners’Strategies in The Classroom

This paper intends to discuss how to develop the learners’autonomous English learning abilities through strategy teaching.The problems of learning strategies were analyzed.Developing learners’strategies through classroom teaching is an efficient way to foster learner autonomy.The results prove that using the content of regular classroom teaching,which is a meaning ful context for the development of responsibility,can not only enhance the learning effect,but also save time for strategy training.The teacher’s guiding role in autonomous learning should never be ignored.Developing autonomous English learning in voca tional colleges in China is a long-term pedagogical goal.     

Positive Peer Support or Negative Peer Influence? The Role of Peers Among Adolescents in Recovery High Schools

Evidence from previous research suggests that peers at times exert negative influence and at other times exert positive influence on drug and alcohol use among adolescents in recovery. This study explores recovery high school staff members’ perceptions of peer support among students in recovery high schools using qualitative interview data. Themes of peer support are discussed in terms of positive peer support, negative peer influence, peer relationships, and sense of community. In general, recovery school staff members discuss peers in the school as sources of positive support and peers outside the schools as sources of risky influence. Themes and quotes are presented to highlight the diverse ways that staff members discussed peer influence. Limitations of this study and suggestions for future research are discussed.     

The social construction of a Teacher Support Team: an experience of university lecturers’ professional development in STEM

Abstract

This paper focuses on understanding and exploring how a group of university engineering and science tutor educators learn and assimilate new conceptions about their role in the face of the forces of globalisation that are transforming the system of higher education. This research paper adopts the notion of the Teacher Support Team (TST) as developed by Daniels and grounded in Vygotsky’s sociocultural account of the social formation of mind. These structures of meaning provide insight into the role played by the context, the interactions, the needs and the demands of actual activities, agreements and learning processes that this group of STEM lecturers undertook as they sought to transform their usual teaching methods that were focused on individual and isolated work in order to create more innovative practices and impact on their students’ performance. The analysis of this experience, which was based on the epistemological principles of the sociocultural approach, focused on the educational model that emerges from needs that are perceived and shared through the group’s interactions, as well as the transitions that such a team undergoes in its actions and decisions.     

Developing Preschoolers’ Social Skills: The Effectiveness of Two Educational Methods

This study tested whether and how methods called ‘Play Time/Social Time’ and ‘I Can Problem Solve’ contribute to the improvement of social skills and the development of theory of mind (ToM) in children. The participants in the experiment were nearly 200 (N = 196) preschool children with low social functioning, with and without disabilities. The study showed that social skills and the level of ToM in children attending the lessons improved more than those of children from the control group. Both methods turned out to be effective in the case of social skills and ToM development among children with and without disabilities. It is worthwhile to popularise these methods among preschool teachers.     

The Effects of World War Ⅱ:Analysis of Kensuke’s Kingdom

Kensuke’s Kingdom is a highly readable British survival novel written by Michael Morourgo. It is not only a survival novel, but also a realistic novel for the children. By the two disparate characters, the writer wants to discuss the effects of the war, which is the deeper meaning of this novel. Writing war and the effects of the war is a heavy but necessary topic for children’s literature. Books like Kensuke’s Kingdom can be woven into young readers’ developing senses of themselves, extending their imaginations and helping them to understand the world from unaccustomed points of view.