Reading,phonological skills and short-term memory: interactive tributaries of development

Short-term memory, phonological processing and reading are associated abilities, but the causal relationships between them are yet to be determined. A longitudinal study of 40 children as they develop from 5 to 7 years old is analysed to investigate the interactive development of these skills. In children who have not yet begun to read it appears that phonological skills promote the acquisition of letter knowledge and that these two abilities, together with visual STM, lead the development of reading. The pattern changes once reading acquisition begins. LISREL analyses demonstrate that reading now promotes further growth of phonological skills and auditory STM, and these phonological skills in turn lead to the development of visual STM. The acquisition of reading makes relevant active phonological processing in short-term memory and thus stimulates the development of these skills.     

Criminal Parental Responsibility: Blaming parents on the basis of their duty to control versus their duty to morally educate their children

Several states in the United States of America and countries in Europe punish parents when their minor child commits a crime. When parents are being punished for the crimes committed by their children, it should be presumed that parents might be held responsible for the deeds of their children. This article addresses the question whether or not this presumption can be sustained. We argue that parents can be blamed for the crimes of their children, not because they have the duty to control their children as is often maintained, but because they have the duty to assist their child to develop in such a way that s/he becomes a morally competent agent.     

Phonological sensitivity and reading: evidence from precocious readers

This paper reports the results from a study investigating the level of phonological sensitivity, letter knowledge and reading ability of two groups of children between the ages of 5 and 7 years. One group of children were identified as being fluent readers at the age of 5 years, before they had begun school. These children were paired with a group of children of the same age and vocabulary development but who were not yet reading. The performance of the two groups of children on the tasks measuring phonological sensitivity confirmed the view of Stanovich (1986, 1992) that phonological sensitivity lies on a continuum from shallow to deep. Shallow levels of phonological sensitivity, tapped by rhyming tasks, seem to be necessary for reading to progress whereas deeper levels of sensitivity develop later and have a more reciprocal relationship to reading progress.     

早期阅读材料的选择

早期阅读材料分为成人引导性阅读材料与儿童生成性阅读材料两类。根据儿童的年龄特点和阅读兴趣,教育者应为儿童提供支持性阅读材料,同时积极引导儿童阅读创意阅读材料,如大图书、样板书、图夹文书籍等,让儿童在自己喜欢的、适合自己需要的阅读材料中学习阅读,以促进儿童阅读能力的发展。     

幼儿错误的教育价值

在日常教学过程中，幼儿难免会犯各种各样的错误。幼儿出现的错误具有重要的教育价值。教师应解放思想，充分利用幼儿错误带来的教育机会，在帮助幼儿纠正错误的过程中实现幼儿的发展。     

Mother-Child Relationships as Sources of Support or Stress: A Comparison of Competent, Average, Aggressive, and Anxious Dyads

We tested the proposition that mother-child relationships can be sources of support or stress, by comparing patterns of mother-child interactions in a problem-solving task that children completed with their own and with an unfamiliar mother. 4 groups of preschoolers (n = 30 in each group)—identified on the basis of teacher ratings as socially competent, average, aggressive, or anxious—participated. Mothers of competent and average children were highly positive and reciprocal toward their own and unfamiliar children. Mothers of aggressive and anxious children were only positive and reciprocal toward unfamiliar children but generally indiscriminate (aggressive group) or aversive and negatively reciprocal (anxious group) toward their own. Children in all 4 groups tended to be reciprocal toward their own mothers, but only competent and average children were reciprocal toward unfamiliar mothers also. Aggressive and anxious children generally responded to unfamiliar mothers by ignoring or actively rejecting their overtures. Results (1) indicate that the relationship with the primary caregiver may serve as a major source of support or stress in the preschool years; (2) focus attention on the dynamic organization of interactions rather than on the presence or frequency of particular behaviors, indicating that a dynamic of reciprocity enables children and mothers to adapt positively to the ever changing demands of new social situations; (3) point to the need to develop new means of assessing relationships to better understand how they influence development; and (4) highlight the importance of incorporating transactional models in the diagnosis and treatment of childhood dysfunctions rather than accounting for them solely in terms of limited skills in parents or children.     

Complex Societies, Common Schools and Curriculum: Separate is not Equal

This paper focuses on the issue of separate schooling. Diverse societies use schools to develop shared value systems, strengthen democratic engagements and provide better educational outcomes. However, in Europe, the United States, Australia and elsewhere groups of parents and communities have been invoking human rights claims to challenge the state, often successfully, to demand separate schools for their children or the right to send their children to a school of their choosing, irrespective of the consequences for society at large. Yet do such separate schools reflect an increased respect for the rights of minorities and a commitment to help them reach their full potential? Do they help remove marginalization and can they ever lead to the establishment of stable and peaceable communities? Or do they undermine societal commitments to intergroup harmony and perpetuate stereotypes, racism and ethnocentric thinking? Do they keep existing inequalities in place and deny young people the opportunities they need to become full-fledged members of society? It is argued here that regardless of location, separate schools are part of the problem, not the solution.     

Extending the testimony problem: evaluating the truth, scope, and source of cultural information

Children's learning--in the domains of science and religion specifically, but in many other cultural domains as well--relies extensively on testimony and other forms of culturally transmitted information. The cognitive processes that enable such learning must also administrate the evaluation, qualification, and storage of that information, while guarding against the dangers of false or misleading input. Currently, the development of these appraisal processes is not clearly understood. Recent work, reviewed here, has begun to address three important dimensions of the problem: how children and adults evaluate truth in communication, how they gauge the inferential potential of information, and how they encode and evaluate its source.     

“Yes And”: The Uses of Improvisation for Early Childhood Professional Development

In their teacher preparation and professional development training, early childhood teachers learn about the importance of play for children’s development; yet they are rarely taught how to play with children. Once in the classroom, many teachers do not interact responsively to children’s play; instead they ignore, interpret, or dominate the activity. Building on the theory that play is a collective activity similar in form to improvised performances, and that teachers can develop their ability to play collectively, this article presents findings from a pilot project that explored the use of improvisational (“improv”) theatre workshops as a professional development tool for preparing teachers to be better players. The analysis of the data suggests that the skills associated with responsive teaching can be taught through participation in improv workshops and that learning to improvise can give teachers new ways to understand their role in the classroom.     

Men who become Primary School Teachers: an early portrait

This paper reports the findings of a study which sought to provide improved understanding of what motivates young men to choose primary teaching as a career and their experiences of their university course. It is hoped that the understanding so derived can be used to encourage males to enter the teaching profession at primary level. Sixteen new male graduates were interviewed, just over half had begun the education degree immediately after leaving high school. Working with children was a positive motivation, but teaching was also seen as a desirable career with good working conditions. Parents, both mothers and fathers, were supportive of teaching as a career for their sons. The university course became more interesting for these male students once they were involved directly in schools. They described themselves as less conscientious than female students, but as having interests other than study which gave them an edge in the classroom.     

Do levels of pre-school alphabetic tuition affect the development of phonological awareness and early literacy?

It has been suggested that children need exposure to alphabetic tuition before they can develop phonological awareness, especially phonemic awareness. This paper re-examines an existing data set to see whether two groups of pre-school, pre-literate children who differ in their knowledge of letter names (used here as a measure of alphabetic tuition) will also differ in their levels of phonological awareness. Their later performance on measures of school age reading and spelling attainment is also compared. The results show that the two groups of children did not differ significantly in either their phonological awareness or their literacy attainment.     

Mathematical Modeling in the Primary School: Children's Construction of a Consumer Guide

This paper examines 6th grade children's local conceptual development and mathematization processes as they worked a comprehensive mathematical modeling problem (creating a consumer guide for deciding the best snack chip) over several class periods. The children and their teachers were participating in a 3-year longitudinal teaching experiment in which sequences of mathematical modeling problems were implemented from the 5th grade (10 years of age) though to the 7th grade. In contrast to traditional problem solving, mathematical modeling requires children to generate and develop their own mathematical ideas and processes, and to form systems of relationships that are generalizable and reusable. Reported here is a detailed analysis of the iterative cycles of development of one group of children as they worked the problem, followed by a summary of the mathematization processes displayed by all groups. Children's critical reflections on their models are also reported. The results show how children can independently develop constructs and processes through meaningful problem solving. Children's development included creating systems for operationally defining constructs; selecting, categorizing, and ranking factors; quantifying quantitative and qualitative data; and transforming quantities.     

论儿童在音乐活动中的审美经验培养

小学阶段是儿童学习音乐的初级阶段,根据他们的年龄和心理特征．教学应尽量结合音乐实践活动和音乐欣赏进行,让孩子们在快乐的活动中体验,培养他们的音乐兴趣。使其发自内心地随着音乐律动、舒展、想象,用心灵感受音乐,以此鼓励儿童大胆表达自己的审美经验。最终达到音乐的审美教育功能。     

在倾听中反思

教师认真倾听儿童,便于理解儿童,明确儿童的需要。要想真正理解儿童,除了要倾听儿童外,教师还要将倾听与反思相结合,在倾听中不断反思,以改进倾听方式,更全面深入地理解儿童,给予儿童适当的支持,促进儿童发展,同时也促进自身的专业成长。     

Ageism: A prejudice touching both young and old

Summary Prejudice and discrimination can be both subtle and blatant. It offends and affects both young and old. If our goal as teacher or caregiver is to guide children to grow up in a world that celebrates diversity and strives to reduce and eventually eliminate destructive forces such as racism and sexism, then we must analyze our homes and clssrooms through a wide-angled lens that allows us to see the presence of ageism and its manifestations. In a society that seems to be increasingly segregated by age, we have a tremendous responsibility to examine ways in which we endorse and teach values regarding the worth and dignity of each human being. We must begin to direct the experiences children have toward the development of positive attitudes toward all people including the elderly. When young children digest behaviors, images, and perceptions, they will begin to form attitudes that have a powerful influence on their present and future behavior. It is only as young and old alike are able to understand and develop healthy attitudes toward their own aging process and cultivate the positive attitudes that allow them to develop intergenerational relationships that they will be able to realize their own full potential.     

浅析幼儿的情绪发展及其社会化

幼儿的情绪对其心理活动起着重要的作用,是影响个体全面发展的重要因素。同时个体自其出生以来就开始了社会化的进程,无论是幼儿的情绪还是社会化发展,都表现出了鲜明的年龄特点。通过培养幼儿健康的情绪,可以促进幼儿的社会化及心理健康的发展。     

Filial Daughter, Woman Warrior, or Identity-Seeking Fairytale Princess: Fostering Critical Awareness Through Mulan

New immigrants and their children need to develop the ability to reconcile perceived dissonances between the worldviews of their parents and grandparents and those of their peers. This pursuit is made more difficult when they find that their newly adopted homeland misrepresents their cultural heritage. This article examines the historical evolution of the Mulan ballad along with issues of cultural authenticity in folktales. The analysis of three English adaptations of the ballad demonstrates clear contrasts that either support or complicate identity formation. We suggest that this text set could be used to inform critical classroom discussions regarding the plurality and fluidity of culture as well as those pertaining to Chinese heritage and cultural authenticity.     

Weaving curriculum webs: Planning,guiding, and recording curriculum activities in the day care classroom

One Monday morning, Sandra walked into her day care classroom with a heavy box filled with rocks. She announced with pleasure to her four- and five-year-old classmates that she had begun a rock collection. Other children quickly came over and began making comments about the colors and sizes of the rocks and about rocks they had found themselves.Diane E. Levin is Associate Professor of Education at Wheelock College in Boston, MA.     

河北省中小企业品牌创建过程中融资问题研究

河北省中小企业发展已经初具规模,在我省经济中的作用越发的重要。但是,中小企业要想进一步发展,就必须创建自主品牌,在这一过程中就要解决中小企业融资问题。本文就此问题展开讨论,给出了相应的解决方式。