Why do children not play in nearby nature? Results from a Norwegian survey

Based on a nationwide Norwegian survey among 3160 parents of children aged 6–12 years, this article identifies and discusses barriers for children’s engagement with nearby nature. A set of social factors related to time pressure are evaluated as more significant barriers than environmental factors such as accessibility, safety and landscape quality. Children’s free play in nearby nature does not seem to be an alternative to a target-orientated and time-scheduled everyday life. Instead, parents give themselves, other adults and public institutions more responsibility to stimulate increased nature contact. Despite strong traditions in outdoor life and good accessibility to nearby nature, social and cultural trends seem to influence children’s engagement with nature in the same way in ‘Green Norway’ as it does in many other European countries. Implications of the findings are discussed in terms of policy and promotion according to nature management and adults’ roles.     

Why do good performing students highly rate their instructors? Evidence from a natural experiment

This article analyzes the behavior of students in a college classroom with regard to their evaluation of teacher performance. As some students are randomly able to see their grades prior to the evaluation, the “natural” experiment provides a unique opportunity for testing the hypothesis as to whether there exists a possibility of a hedonic (implicit) exchange between the students’ grades and teaching evaluations. Students with good grades tend to highly rate the teaching quality of their instructors, in comparison with those who receive relatively poor grades. This study finds that students with better grades than their expected grades provide a psychological “gift” to their teachers by giving a higher teacher evaluation, whereas it is the opposite with those students receiving lower grades than their expectation. These empirical results demonstrate that a previous interpretation on the effect of student grades in an incumbent course with regard to the teaching quality may have to be somewhat discounted.     

Why do so few low- and middle-income children attend a grammar school? New evidence from the Millennium Cohort Study

Proponents argue that grammar schools enhance social mobility by allowing high-attaining pupils to attend elite schools, no matter what their social background. However, disadvantaged pupils cannot benefit from grammar schools unless they gain access to them. In this article, we use rich cohort data to investigate the strength of, and reasons for, the socio-economic gradient in grammar school entrance rates. Presenting new evidence for England and Northern Ireland, we find stark differences in grammar school attendance by family income. Although differences in prior academic attainment can partly explain these gaps, parental school preferences and private tuition also play an important role. Entrance to grammar school therefore depends on birth and wealth, as well as academic attainment.     

Why is a live chicken banned from the kindergarten? Two lessons learned from teaching posthuman pedagogy to university students

The hierarchical human-centric paradigm has been criticized by various movements of posthuman philosophy because this paradigm forgets and dismisses nonhuman beings and entities: animals, nature, objects, and technology. When I developed a course called ‘Education and Adaptations of Animal Studies’ for university students in 2015, I learned two lessons in practice. First, many humans, pedagogues, and academics want to hold on to their anthropocentric worldview that separates them from other species. Second, in pedagogical practices humans prefer to avoid confronting the violence they do toward animals. In this article, I reflect on these two lessons learned and consider what they tell us about the dichotomies, anthropocentrism, and speciesism visible in pedagogical practices. I also discuss how posthuman pedagogy and posthuman ethics can help us ask uneasy questions that fracture the uncertain conception of human superiority.     

How do the spellings of children with dyslexia compare with those of nondyslexic children?

Children with dyslexia are believed to have very poor phonological skills for which they compensate, to some extent, through relatively well-developed knowledge of letter patterns. We tested this view in Study 1 by comparing 25 dyslexic children and 25 younger normal children, chosen so that both groups performed, on average, at a second-grade spelling level. Phonological skill was assessed using phoneme counting and nonword spelling tasks. Knowledge of legal and illegal letter patterns was tested using a spelling choice task. The dyslexic children and the younger nondyslexic children performed similarly on all the tasks, and they had difficulty, for the most part, with the same linguistic structures. Supporting the idea that older dyslexics spellings are quite similar to those of typical beginners, we found in Study 2 that experienced teachers could not differentiate between the two groups based on their spellings.     

Is Criminology Moving Toward a Paradigm Shift? Evidence from a Survey of the American Society of Criminology

Ideology impacts a number of values, beliefs, and norms across an array of domains. Relatively little research has been done in criminology exploring the relationship between ideology and theoretical orientation. This study represents not only a follow‐up of previous research exploring this relationship, but also introduces new variables exploring the extent to which biological correlates of crime are becoming more accepted in the academy. Results are gleaned from a survey given to members of the American Society of Criminology as of December 2007.     

The Art of the Impossible? A Case Study and Reflections on the Experience of Art in a Rural Kenyan Primary School

The arguments for, and justification of, the value of teaching art in school have been made previously, but contextually these are often situated in Western affluence. This article explores the issues with a strikingly contrasted setting. The rural school in the study is approximately 30 minutes' drive from the nearest town, and the pupils are drawn from the surrounding rural bush area which is itself developmentally and materially poor in comparison to the UK. In school, the poverty seemed initially to relate to a lack of educational resources, but the reality experienced in the classroom may have also been linked to other issues. These included the desperate preoccupation with survival in difficult climatic conditions, a postcolonial legacy and the delicate balance of utilising resources without waste. What conclusions might then be drawn about the teaching of art? Utilising the work of others who have considered the issues in Kenya, this small‐scale ethnographic case study is presented with personal reflection and observations. The author would be pleased to hear from others with similar experiences or who have recognised additional issues in seemingly challenging circumstances.     

Why do East Asian children perform so well in PISA? An investigation of Western-born children of East Asian descent

A small group of high-performing East Asian economies dominate the top of the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) rankings. This has caught the attention of Western policymakers, who want to know why East Asian children obtain such high PISA scores, and what can be done to replicate their success. In this paper I investigate whether children of East Asian descent, who were born and raised in a Western country (Australia), also score highly on the PISA test. I then explore whether their superior performance (relative to children of Australian heritage) can be explained by reasons often given for East Asian students’ extraordinary educational achievements. My results suggest that second-generation East Asian immigrants outperform their native Australian peers by approximately 100 test points. Moreover, the magnitude of this achievement gap has increased substantially over the last ten years. Yet there is no ‘silver bullet’ that can explain why East Asian children obtain such high levels of academic achievement. Rather a combination of factors, each making their own independent contribution, seem to be at play. Consequently, I warn Western policymakers that it may only be possible to catch the leading East Asian economies in the PISA rankings with widespread cultural change.     

Do tuition fees affect the mobility of university applicants? Evidence from a natural experiment

Several German states recently introduced tuition fees for university education. We investigate whether these tuition fees influence the mobility of university applicants. Based on administrative data of applicants for medical schools in Germany, we estimate the effect of tuition fees on the probability of applying for a university in the home state. We find a small but significant reaction: The probability of applying for a university in the home state falls by 2 percentage points (baseline: 69%) for high-school graduates who come from a state with tuition fees. Moreover, we find that students with better high-school grades react more strongly to tuition fees. This might have important effects on the composition of students across states.     

What is not working in working memory of children with literacy disorders? Evidence from a three-year-longitudinal study

The goals of this study were to explore the deficits in working memory associated with literacy disorders (i.e. developmental disorders of reading and/or spelling) and the developmental trajectories of these working memory deficits. The performance of 28 children with literacy disorders was compared to a non-disabled control group with the same group size at five bi-annual times of measurement in a three-year-longitudinal study beginning at the end of primary school (9.5 years of age). Storage capacity and central-executive working memory were assessed in phonological and visual-spatial modalities, the latter under static and dynamic conditions. Overall, children with literacy disorders were outperformed by their typical developing peers in all phonological and in dynamic visual-spatial storage and central-executive tasks except for the static visual-spatial storage task. Results at single times of measurement revealed that the most consistent deficit was found in the storage capacity of the phonological loop. An additional central-executive impairment is supported by low backward spans. The causes for output deficits in dynamic visual-spatial tasks and good performance under static visual-spatial condition are discussed.     

Do certain groups of children profit from a grade retention?

As more children are being held back a grade as a result of tougher academic standards, the practice of retention and its effects was studied in two Utah school districts. Retention was not found to benefit the children academically or in personal or social adjustment. The purpose of this article is to further analyze the data in order to study retention effects for subgroups of children commonly believed to profit from being retained. In this reanalysis, three independent variables were added in order to address the following questions: (a) Is retention beneficial for children if supplementary academic instruction is provided? (b) Is retention beneficial if the children are average or above in intelligence? (c) Also, is retention beneficial if it occurs in kindergarten or 1st grade? Retention was not found to benefit these subgroups of children.     

Until when does the effect of age on academic achievement persist? Evidence from Korean data

According to an analysis of Korean student panel survey data, monthly differences in age had a significant influence on academic achievement until middle school (lower secondary education). However, this age effect did not persist when students graduated from high school (upper secondary education). Furthermore, some evidence is found that younger students, upon entering high school, were more likely to concentrate on academic studies, and less likely to experience minor distractions, thereby compensating for their poor academic achievement in middle school.     

On finding the shortest distance of a point from a line: Which method do you prefer?

The formula for the shortest distance of a point from a line can be derived in several different ways. Some typical methods are taught at the elementary (i.e., high-school and junior college) level. However, solving such ‘school-book’ problems using advanced mathematical methods is often overlooked and neglected. This article illustrates how this formula can be derived in various ways. Such a comparison will not only encourage the reader to explore and understand how and why mathematical techniques work, but it will also help understand the common thread between different branches of mathematics. This exercise also shows that ‘the best way’ to solve a mathematical problem is a misnomer.     

Why do Chinese students cheat? Initial findings based on the self-reports of high school students in China

Academic dishonesty is recognised as a serious problem in Australia, and educators have been searching for ways to prevent its escalation. It is important to understand what factors influence cheating. This study used a sample of 446 grade 7 to 9 students, 160 from Macao and 286 from Zhuhai in China, to examine the personal and contextual aspects of academic dishonesty. The findings suggest that involvement and task orientation in the classroom environment (contextual aspects) and intrinsic value and utility value (personal aspects) are associated with students’ attitudes toward the acceptability of cheating and cheating behaviour in mathematics. Some suggestions for reducing academic dishonesty are included in the paper.     

Why do gestures matter? Sensuous cognition and the palpability of mathematical meanings

The goal of this article is to present a sketch of what, following the German social theorist Arnold Gehlen, may be termed “sensuous cognition.” The starting point of this alternative approach to classical mental-oriented views of cognition is a multimodal “material” conception of thinking. The very texture of thinking, it is suggested, cannot be reduced to that of impalpable ideas; it is instead made up of speech, gestures, and our actual actions with cultural artifacts (signs, objects, etc.). As illustrated through an example from a Grade 10 mathematics lesson, thinking does not occur solely in the head but also in and through a sophisticated semiotic coordination of speech, body, gestures, symbols and tools.

Does sign language provide deaf children with an abstraction advantage? Evidence from a categorization task

The effects of sign language use on cognitive processes of second-generation deaf children were investigated through an intensional categorization task. A forced-choice paradigm was used to examine children's selections of schematic and categorical alternatives as associations to targets that differed in their related sign language characteristics. The results obtained from 48 deaf and hearing 6-year-olds suggest some differences in the categorization abilities and cognitive flexibility between the two groups of children. These differences appear to be explainable in terms of linguistic variables underlying French Sign Language.     

The negative impact of violence on children’s education and well-being: Evidence from Northern Nigeria

This study provides comprehensive evidence on the negative effects of physical, sexual, and emotional violence on children’s well-being and educational outcomes in Northern Nigeria. In this paper, we analyzed household survey data, conducted surveys with a representative sample of pupils, and carried out interviews and focus groups with stakeholders. We provide some evidence that exposure to physical or emotional violence is negatively associated with social-emotional skills and self-efficacy. Subsequently, we find that children who experience any kind of violence are more likely to be out of school, have reduced learning, and are less likely to feel safe traveling to and from school. Exposure to sexual violence has a pronounced negative relationship with children’s mental health, an increased the likelihood of early marriage, and a lower likelihood of attending school.     

Effects of parental health shocks on children’s schooling: Evidence from Andhra Pradesh,India

This study explores the inter-generational effects of health shocks using longitudinal data of Young Lives project conducted in the southern state of India, Andhra Pradesh for two cohorts of children (younger and older). It is found that health shocks to poorer parents reduce investments in human capital of children thereby reducing their future earnings, and perpetuating poverty and inequality. There is a temporary delay in primary school enrollment in the case of younger cohort, while schooling attainment is reduced by 0.26 years for older children. This paper further contributes to the literature on important dimensions like role of timing of the shocks and the pathways through which they affect human capital investment, differential effects of paternal and maternal shocks on different cohort groups, ability of the children and quality of schooling in schooling attainment.     

Why did you do that? Teachers explain the use of legal aggression in the classroom

Teachers (n = 233) who employ aggressive classroom management strategies were asked to theorise about their use. Levels of support for three theoretical explanations for aggressive behaviour were assessed via a 26 item scale. The items loaded to three factors: Attribution Theory; Efficacy Theory and Attachment Theory. Results indicated most teachers, 42%, supported Attribution, 34% supported Efficacy, and 33% supported Attachment as an explanation for aggressive behaviour. Moreover, 14% of teachers support all theories simultaneously, whilst 27% of teachers rejected all theories. The implications of these findings are that many teachers may be theoretically blind when it comes to classroom management: hence re- rather than pro-active. The importance of this finding for professional development providers and future qualitative research design is discussed.