Sharing personalised stories on iPads: a close look at one parent–child interaction

Little is known about how specific iPad applications affect parent–child story‐sharing interactions. This study utilises a case‐study approach to provide an insight into the patterns of interaction, which emerge when a mother and her 33‐month‐old daughter share a self‐created, audio‐visual ‘iPad story’. Multimodal analysis allowed us to gain insights into the complex interaction patterns orchestrated in this new, personalised story‐sharing medium. We found that the app‐mediated story‐sharing context produced a harmonious and smooth interaction, achieving a coherence that is typical of ‘happy’ oral stories. We suggest that the observed interaction resembles that of experiencing a piece of art, and we highlight the need for a holistic approach to understanding the implications for research and practice of children's interactions during multimedia story sharing.     

Conversation and Object Manipulation Influence Children's Learning in a Museum

The effects of parent–child conversation and object manipulation on children's learning, transfer of knowledge, and memory were examined in two museum exhibits and conversations recorded at home. Seventy‐eight children (M_age = 4.9) and their parents were randomly assigned to receive conversation cards featuring elaborative questions about exhibit objects, the physical objects themselves, both, or neither, before their exhibit visits. Dyads who received the cards engaged in more elaborative talk and joint nonverbal activities with objects in the first exhibit than those who did not. Dyads who received objects engaged in the most parent–child joint talk. Results also illustrate transfer of information across exhibits and from museum to home. Implications for understanding mechanisms of informal learning and transfer are discussed.     

Professional development for iPad integration in general education: Staying ahead of the curve

This faculty development case study focuses on a team of 16 General Education faculty at an urban women’s college during the initial 6 months of the college’s comprehensive implementation of an iPad teaching and learning environment. This article traces the effectiveness of an iPad professional development program through analyses of critical feedback, and makes recommendations for learner-centered faculty development for iPads in Higher Education. We present our conceptual framework, guiding principles and iPad professional development program. The effects of the program were measured using thematic and content analysis of post-session interviews, participant observation, one-to-one interviews and an online discussion forum. The predominant themes were anxiety, having individual needs considered, time considerations, and fundamental questions about expectations in the mobile learning environment. The key recommendation are to attend to collaborative planning, intervention, facilitating authentic professional learning communities and timing of faculty development that is intended to result in integration of new learning tools and environments.     

The Teaching/Learning Relationship in the First Years of School: Some Revolutionary Implications of Vygotskya's Theory

During the last twenty years, Vygotsky's theory has increasingly been cited when considering aspects of early education. Most commonly, however, a single concept (the zone of proximal development) has been used to represent the theory, and treated as synonymous with the view that a teacher's job is to scaffold the children's learning. By contrast, in this paper we stress the fact that Vygotsky's theory is one that requires attending to what individuals bring to interactions, what goes on during those interactions, and the cultural contexts (as they have developed over historical time) of the individuals involved. Equally important, we stress that Vygotsky's view of interactions between teachers and children involves the concept of obuchenie, a Russian term meaning both teaching and learning, rather than scaffolded instruction. To take this position seriously involves making dramatic changes in the process of education as typically practiced. For this reason Vygotsky's theory has revolutionary implications, examples of which we discuss in the final section.     

Teaching and Learning in a University Classroom: A Norwegian Case Study on Students' Perspectives

This article focuses on student activity and how students experience learning. A teaching programme was both led and researched by the one teacher. The article describes a master's level teaching programme and presents the data collection strategies used by the teacher‐researcher and presents learning viewed from the students' perspective. The teaching and researching processes are carried out in the framework of socio‐cultural theory. In Vygotsky's and Bakhtin's theories, as part of the socio‐cultural tradition, language and dialogue are viewed as decisive factors in learning and understanding, and hence in the researched teaching programme.     

Inviting conversation: meaningful talk about texts for English language learners

In Canada, as in other anglophone countries, classrooms are becoming more diverse as the number of English language learners (ELLs) increases. More and more teachers are faced with the task of meeting the needs of culturally and linguistically diverse students. In this article, I share excerpts of dialogue between ELL students, native English‐speaking children and their teacher during guided reading events. Excerpts will illustrate how conversations around texts during reading activities can shape and extend the construction of meaning for the benefit of all, but especially for ELL students. Based on Vygotsky's (1986) proposition that learning is socially situated, I suggest four ways for teachers to structure meaningful conversations: through questioning, teaching vocabulary, engaging in collaborative talk and recognising that the culture and identity of the child are important to literacy learning.     

DEVELOPING PEDAGOGICAL KNOWLEDGE THROUGH TEACHER‐WRITTEN CASE STORIES

Abstract

With more children spending the greater part of their waking hours in preschool settings today than they did years ago, teachers play an even more critical role in providing daily literacy experiences that many children of earlier generations received at home. The article focuses on the critical role that preschool teachers play in supporting children's early literacy development and presents an instructional framework to help guide early literacy teaching. The framework is based on Vygotsky's learning theory, which emphasizes the nature and importance of social interactions in instruction, particularly between adult and child. We present activity‐embedded assessments that preschool teachers can use to observe and document children's emerging literacy concepts and skills, and describe key teaching actions that scaffold learning of new concepts. In closing, we offer five principles to guide preschool teachers in planning and implementing appropriate activities to promote young children's literacy development. Sample documentation forms are included in the appendices.     

Vygotsky's zone of proximal development: Rethinking its instructional implications

Abstract

This paper proposes an alternate model of Vygotsky's zone of proximal development. It is argued that conceptions of the «zone» emphasizing the transfer of skills from adult to child are too narrow, theoretically misleading, and of limited instructional utility. The concept is then examined in relation to Vygotsky's broader theoretical and practical concerns. Examples taken from a recent classroom observational study are provided to illustrate how the concept of the zone can facilitate a critical assessment of children and of the social system created for the children to learn. The focus is on the appropriation and mastery of mediational means, such as writing, assessed not only or necessarily through independent performance after guided practice, but by the ability of children to participate in qualitatively new collaborative activities. The role of the adult isn't to provide structured cues to facilitate performance, but through exploratory talk and other social mediations assist children in taking control of their own learning. The concern is not only with creating individual zones of proximal development, but collective, interrelated zones as part of a teaching system.     

Vygotsky as Precursor to Metacognitive Theory: II. Vygotsky as Metacognitivist

In this article it is demonstrated that topics discussed in contemporary metacognitive research are integral parts of Vygotsky's (1978, 1986) theory of cognitive development. This conclusion is reached through a discussion of Vygotsky's views of self‐regulation, the relationship between self‐awareness and self‐regulation, and the relationship between awareness/regulation on the one hand and cognitive process on the other. The uniqueness of a Vygotskian approach to metacognition is also specified. This uniqueness resides in Vygotsky's focus on the sign system of human language, on the linguistic tools of thought and the central role they play in mediating cognitive performance.     

The effects of children's communicative status and task on parents' teaching strategies

The two goals of the study were to examine factors affecting parents' teaching strategies with their children and to identify the effectiveness of different teaching strategies for engaging children in tasks. It was hypothesized that teaching strategies would vary as a function of parent status (mother/father), children's communicative status (nonhandicapped-NCH/handicapped-CH) and different tasks (origami/book reading). Each of the 120 families included a target child (M = 4.5 years old), a mother, and a father; 60 families had a CH child and 60 matched families had an NCH child. Each parent engaged in book-reading and origami tasks with their target child. Parents' teaching strategies were recorded and categorized according to levels of cognitive demand. In addition, children's level of task engagement was rated. Results indicated that parents varied their teaching strategies according to both task and children's communicative status. Generally, they were more demanding and less directive of the more competent, NCH, children than of the CH children. Further, parents used different strategies with their NCH and CH children in both tasks to keep them engaged. Results are discussed in terms of Vygotsky's theory of the zone of proximal development.     

The influence of children's gender and age on children's use of digital media at home

This study is the first to systematically investigate the influence of child gender and age, on parents’ perceptions of UK children's digital media use at home. It provides an in‐depth exploration of how children's age and gender influence the balance between children's use of digital and non‐digital media at home. The data draw on 709 parents’ responses to an open‐ended question asked in the context of a national survey investigating the digital reading habits of children, conducted in 2015. Parents’ responses were analysed using content and thematic analysis, which yielded eight main categories, collapsed into three major themes: control, child's healthy development and diversity of experiences. Quantitative analyses evidenced that more parents of boys were concerned about the health implications of their children's digital media use and this was a concern especially for parents of the youngest (0–2‐year‐old) children. More parents of 6–8‐year olds cited the appeal of technology as the main reason for the perceived imbalance in their children's engagement with digital media. The study provides a more secure understanding of the factors that influence parental perceptions of their children's digital media use at home, which has implications for policy‐makers, digital designers and early years professionals.     

Supermarket Speak: Increasing Talk Among Low‐Socioeconomic Status Families

Children from low‐socioeconomic status (SES) families often fall behind their middle‐class peers in early language development. But interventions designed to support their language skills are often costly and labor‐intensive. This study implements an inexpensive and subtle language intervention aimed at sparking parent–child interaction in a place that families naturally visit: the supermarket. We placed signs encouraging adult–child dialogue in supermarkets serving low‐ and mid‐SES neighborhoods. Using an unobtrusive observational methodology, we tested how these signs affected adult–child interactions. When signs were present in supermarkets serving low‐SES neighborhoods, both the amount and the quality of talk between adults and children increased significantly, compared to when the signs were not present; signs had little effect in middle‐SES supermarkets. This study demonstrates that implementing simple, cost‐effective interventions in everyday environments may bolster children's language development and school readiness skills.     

Some Questions (and a Few Answers) About Y&ooline;dai Mnemonics: A Reply to Kilpatrick,Pressley and Levin

Lev Vygotsky's contribution to defectology became a significant part of his overall theoretical legacy. Within his general theory of child development, he created a comprehensive and practically oriented paradigm of educating children with special needs. This article discusses the following topics' relevance to contemporary special education and school/educational psychology: Vygotsky's views on the nature of handicapping conditions in children, the principles of psychoeducational evaluation of the disabled, and the issue of the compensation and education of children with sensory and cognitive impairments.     

Prisoners of The Method breaking open the child‐centred pedagogy in day care centres

The twentieth century has known many splendid examples of professional care and education for young children. But in spite of that, research shows that the practice often does not coincide with our ideals. In this paper basic concepts and their historical roots, that form the foundations of professional care and education of young children are analysed: could these concepts possibly impede contact between teachers/caregivers and children? The concepts of ‘natural development’, ‘develop‐mentally appropriate curriculum’ and ‘child centredness’ are criticised. The drawbacks of a separate children's world (child care centres) are explored. Based on Vygotsky's sociocultural approach the author pleads for scaffolding by giving learning through social looking and participation in adult‐activities a place in child care centres. Besides that, teachers have to value peer‐relationships and to acknowledge that young children do not only play but also want to work and learn together.     

Case studies of teachers' understandings of the pedagogy of classroom talk: some critical moments explored

This case study research is informed by Vygotsky's view that talk is essential to organise our thoughts and extend our thinking and that, as Barnes suggested, the teacher needs to use the social situation effectively in the classroom to promote talk for learning. This article focuses on pedagogy and teachers' understandings of how talk works in the classroom, as I sought to illuminate teachers' intuitions and insights and their views of what they find challenging in organising classroom talk. Three case studies of ‘critical moments’ in a lesson suggest that teacher knowledge about talk is located in concrete practices. The three teachers viewed a recorded lesson and chose a moment they defined as ‘critical’ because the moment helped them to learn something about the way they use talk in the classroom. They then discussed this moment with me. These collaborative but critically evaluative processes are particularly useful for exploring and probing teachers' knowledge about talk for learning, an area of pedagogy that has proved so resistant to change over quite a long period. These three teachers suggest that such talk is becoming more marginal under the impact of performativity and the new cultural restorationist English curriculum.     

Drawing with Children: An Experiment in Assisted Creativity

This report outlines the cognitive accomplishments of young children involved in graphic dialogue with adults. A token of collaborative drawing is examined exhibiting the degree to which adult informed tutoring enabled children in their drawing development, enhanced their motivation and ability in narration and resulted in drawings meaningful to them. The case studies examined are the result of a three‐year research project conducted by undergraduate students of Athens University Department of Early Childhood Education under the supervision of the author of this article. This game‐like pedagogical strategy is inspired by L. Vygotsky's educational philosophy and based on B. & M. Wilson's model of adult–child graphic dialogue. It is understood as a method of instructing drawing enabling children to pass from that which they can achieve alone to that which they can accomplish with adult assistance. This educational approach answers to a call for a more socially accountable art education addressing the child's need to deal with issues he encounters in his everyday life and as such is open to adult and cultural interference. A similar educational approach intends to challenge the long‐standing, non‐interventionist art educational theory also known as ‘child art’ and its contention that a prerequisite for a creative individual is expression free from social and adult influence.     

A peer-assisted teaching scheme to improve units with critically low student satisfaction: opportunities and challenges

This paper outlines a peer-assisted teaching scheme (PATS) which was piloted in the Faculty of Information Technology at Monash University, Australia to address the low student satisfaction with the quality of information and communication technology units. Positive results from the pilot scheme led to a trial of the scheme in other disciplines. The trial was supported by an Australian Learning and Teaching Council Teaching Fellowship grant. Specifically, this fellowship was designed to (a) improve the quality of student satisfaction within identified units and (b) build leadership capacity using currently recognised outstanding teachers. PATS builds on the current research that highlights the benefits of peer-assisted learning programmes and draws on Vygotsky's sociocultural theory and Lave's situated learning literature but applies it to academic teaching staff. Data are collected via unit evaluation instruments and focus group sessions. The effectiveness of the scheme is measured via changes in unit evaluation ratings and a thematic analysis of the focus group data. Results show an overall improvement in student satisfaction of the quality of units and highlight both the opportunities and challenges PATS provides academics for teaching improvement.     

Les capacités humaines sont des constructions sociales. Essai sur la théorie de Vygotsky

In Vygotsky's theory, the differentiation between genetic psychology and psychology of education has no sense. This thesis is proven by the exposition of some basic psychological principles governing Vygotsky's approach to psychology. Mediation of the psychological processes is the central fact of Vygotsky's conception; socially elaborated systems of signs are the means of mediation; these allow a control of the processes of behavior. Internalization and sociogenesis, which derive directly from this conception, are two inseparable aspects of the same process of construction of the different psychological capacities; on a certain level of development, they lead to a quasi-social behavior of the subjet towards himself. The differenciation of functions is the main form of construction of new capacities: the analyses of the development of language is a good illustration of this principle. Through the analysis of Vygotsky's theory one can discover some important guide lines for research in psychology.