The young child's gender schema: environmental input, internal organization

The relation among children's ability to apply gender labels, their tendency to emit sex-typed behavior, and their parents' attitudes and reactions toward sex-typed behaviors was studied. The children were observed at home with their parents when the children were 18 months old, before any of them had passed the gender-labeling task, and at 27 months, when half had passed (early labelers) and half had not (late labelers). At 18 months, there were no differences in the children's sex-typed behavior, but parents of future early labelers gave more positive and negative responses to sex-typed toy play. By 27 months, early labelers showed more traditional sex-typed behavior than late labelers; parents of early and late labelers no longer differed in their responses. At age 4, when given an inventory of sex stereotyping, early labelers scored higher on Sex Role Discrimination; there were no differeces on Sex Role Preference scores.     

Prospective teacher learning: recognizing evidence of conceptual understanding

This study examined prospective teachers’ (PSTs) ability to recognize evidence of children’s conceptual understanding of mathematics in three content areas before and after an instructional intervention designed to support this ability. It also investigates the role PSTs’ content knowledge plays in their ability to recognize children’s mathematical understanding. Results of content knowledge assessments administered at the beginning of the study revealed that content knowledge did seem to support PSTs’ analyses of children’s understanding when the child’s response demonstrated understanding or demonstrated a misconception. Content knowledge did not seem to support PSTs’ analyses of children’s procedural responses, as many PSTs with good content knowledge initially characterized procedural solutions as evidence of conceptual understanding. Similarly, content knowledge did not seem to support PSTs’ analyses of children’s responses with features commonly associated with understanding but not evidence of understanding. After the instructional intervention consisting of three multifaceted lessons in which PSTs examined many examples of student thinking, they showed improved ability to analyze responses with conceptual features and no evidence of conceptual understanding and responses demonstrating procedural knowledge. Results suggest that content knowledge is not sufficient for supporting PSTs’ analysis of children’s thinking, and that building activities such as the intervention into content courses may help develop this ability. Implications for teacher education programs and future research are considered.     

What factors does friction depend on? A socio‐cognitive teaching intervention with young children

The objective of this study was to investigate the effect of a socio‐cognitive teaching strategy on young children. It tests their understanding of the factors that friction depends on when an object is projected across a horizontal surface. The study was conducted in three phases: pre‐test, teaching intervention, and post‐test. The sample consisted of 68 preschool children who were assigned to two groups according to age and cognitive ability, based on their responses to a pre‐test. The children in the experimental group participated in activities that were approached from a socio‐cognitive perspective while the children in the control group participated in the same activities but from a Piagetian perspective. A statistically significant difference was found (Mann–Whitney U‐test), between the pre‐test and the post‐test, providing evidence for the effect of the socio‐cognitive strategy on children's understanding of a ‘precursor model’ for the concept of friction.     

Community College Students' Conceptual Understanding of Statistical Measures of Spread

This study investigated the conceptual understanding of measures of spread among community college students in an introductory statistics course. The course is centered around deemphasizing computational skills and focused, rather, on development of conceptual understanding. Open-ended questions were developed to explore and assess students' conceptual understanding of measures of spread. A detailed analysis of the students' responses is presented to reveal the range of students' conceptions of the measures of spread. The analysis of a wide variety of responses provides evidence of the students' ability to organize concepts of spread in a way that is meaningful to them individually. Some common student misconceptions revealed by this study should be examined closely and taken into consideration to promote students' development of understanding of spread.     

A comparison of year 1 and year 6 students' conceptions of evaporation and condensation: dimensions of conceptual progression

A range of challenging activities centred on evaporation and condensation were explored with year 1 and year 6 children. Their explanations in group discussion, written responses and interview were analysed, using NUD*IST qualitative analysis software, to explore the nature and coherence of their conceptions. The data was used to critically evaluate previous claims in the literature concerning the characteristics of progression in understanding of evaporation, and to identify the main dimensions that characterize the differences in children's explanations. The older children displayed a surer sense of ontological categories, greater epistemological sophistication including their ability to link explanations and evidence, greater precision in the use of conceptual language, and a greater range of associations they could make.     

The development of children's understanding of cyclic aspects of time

Developmental psychological approaches to the study of time have fallen into 3 categories: studies of time perception; studies of logical, reconstructive abilities; and studies of the understanding of conventional time systems. The present work examines problems spanning the latter 2 categories--the development of children's understanding of temporal cycles and the relationship between cyclic concepts and cognitive development. 62 children, ranging in age from 4 to 10 years, were administered Piagetian tests of classification and seriation and a variety of specially designed cyclic tasks. Results show major progress in the representation of cyclic order and recurrence during the age period examined. For a variety of particular cycles, order responses were shown before continuity responses. The ability to produce a correct order is related to seriation performance but not classification performance when the variance attributable to age is partialed out. Continuity responses appear to be unrelated to performance on either of the Piagetian tasks tested when age is controlled.     

Relationship of a Group Counseling Course,Hours in Counselor Education,and Sex to Empathic Understanding of Counselor Trainees

This study investigated the relationship of a graduate course in group counseling, the number of hours completed in counselor education, and sex to the empathic understanding of trainees in a counselor education program. The trainees were taped in similar counseling sessions, and their responses were rated independently by three counselor educators, who used Carkhuff's empathic understanding scale. A three-way analysis of variance determined only one significant difference. The trainees who had completed a course in group counseling were significantly higher (p <.05) than those who had not. The level of empathic understanding of the higher group, however, was less than the level considered to be the minimum for effective counseling.     

Students' Reports of Their Cognitive Processes and Level of Understanding During Regular Classroom Instruction

The study was designed in an attempt to gain greater understanding of the kinds of learning processes engaged in by students during regular classroom instruction, and at investigating the students' level of understanding and problems in understanding parts or all of the lessons. Six school levels of male and female students from 44 secondary and pre-university classes (N=2719) were the subjects of this study. During the lessons, students and teachers were observed and video-taped. Following the lessons, students' reports of their learning processes were obtained using a questionnaire. The questionnaire also served as the basis for a follow-up interview of four randomly selected students from each of the sampled classes. The whole procedure was repeated for each class within a one-month period and for a different curricular area.

Analyses of student responses showed that more of the average ability students as compared to the high or low ability students reported understanding all of the lessons. However, the higher ability students were more likely to report using specific cognitive strategies to monitor their understanding of the lessons and in processing intellectual tasks and lesson content. They were able to provide more elaborate and more specific reasons for not understanding parts of the lessons. The results were interpreted in terms of physical and organizational characteristics of educational classrooms in Singapore. Instructional implications are discussed in relationship to both the findings and previous literature.     

Third graders respond to literature for and about Afro-Americans

Although scholars have written about the intentions and evaluated the quality of some of the most notable culturally conscious literature written primarily for and about Afro-American children, few researchers have analyzed youngsters' responses to these books. We conducted an interview-based study with a class of 13 black and white (Anglo) third graders to determine their ability to comprehend, find realistic, identify with, and generally enjoy 24 largely culturally conscious works. With slight variations regarding race and gender, developmental age and prior experiences provided the context for heir appreciation of the materials. With the teacher's assistance in a group discussion the participants overcame some of their earlier problems with stories, but the paucity of their knowledge and understanding of African and Afro-American studies robbed them of the ability to embrace certain books. We concluded that the childrens' school policy makers must take steps to overcome this major shortooming.     

Dramatic Interpretations: Performative Responses of Young Children to Picturebook Read-Alouds

In this qualitative study, the author explores how young readers build literary understanding through performative responses in picturebook read-alouds. Performative responses allow children to create and express meaning in ways that go beyond talk and that engage their creativity and imagination. They include a variety of modalities, such as gesture, mime, vocal intonation, characterization, and dramatization. Certain children show a propensity for responding in individual or characteristic ways. By focusing on the performative responses of one second-grade reader, the author defines the characteristics of performative responses and how children build literary understanding through them. Performative responses helped this young, struggling reader to immerse herself in the story world, create the mood of the story, show an understanding of the unfolding narrative, deepen her understanding of characters, and involve her classmates in a rich, and sometimes raucous, exploration of stories through spontaneous dramatizations. The author argues that performative responses open up an imaginative world to children, allow children to contribute actively to the construction of meaning, give children agency in creating their own curriculum, and allow for a collaborative environment that builds on the strengths of the students in the group.     

Developing prospective elementary teachers’ abilities to identify evidence of student mathematical achievement

This study investigated the effects of a classroom intervention on prospective elementary teachers’ ability to evaluate evidence of student achievement of mathematical learning goals. The intervention was informed by a framework for teacher education which aims to provide prospective teachers (PTs) with the skills needed to systematically learn from their own teaching practice. Prospective teachers (N = 160) participated in an intervention aimed at addressing their misconceptions about evidence of student learning. Results revealed that after the intervention, PTs were less likely to consider teacher behaviors to be evidence of student learning and more likely to discount student responses that were irrelevant to a specified learning goal. However, PTs were still likely to take procedural fluency as evidence of conceptual understanding and may have become overly skeptical of student understanding. Implications of the study suggest new ways of developing prospective teachers’ ability to systematically study and improve their teaching.     

What do Underprepared Students Learn about Measurement from Introductory Laboratory Work?

This study investigates changes in students' understanding of various aspects of measurement before and after participating in two different introductory laboratory courses at two universities in South Africa. Students' ideas were sought using a probe into their understanding of data collection, data processing and data comparison. The responses were analysed using a model which identified subjects as adhering to either a point or set paradigm. Considerable gains were made during instruction with both groups, though some important differences were identified between them. Neither group could be identified after instruction as full adherents to the set paradigm which was a goal of the instruction. Rather, the majority were found to use ad hoc or rote set action, while using point reasoning.     

On explaining curriculum change: H. B. Beal,organizational categories and the rhetoric of justification

ABSTRACT

In response to a perceived reluctance to engage with poetry on the part of teachers and trainee teachers, a questionnaire was administered to a group of 48 trainees in their second year of training, before they undertook the part of their course dealing with the teaching of poetry. Their responses indicated that they had had a positive experience of poetry during their own primary education but had ceased to enjoy or understand poetry at secondary level. In discussing the responses, attention is drawn to the importance of understanding the difference between poetry as a specialist subject and as a vehicle for teaching other things. The difference between ‘enjoyment’ and ‘appreciation’, as outlined by Wittgenstein, is defined and applied to the study of poetry. Ways of extending trainees’ understanding and ability to teach poetry are explored. It is concluded that in order to get ‘on the inside of the subject they should (a) be allowed to respond freely to poetry at their own level and (b) be initiated into the kind of skills and knowledge which will enable them to identify the progressive features of poetry itself as well as the instrumental aspects of poetry teaching in the primary school.     

Estimating Average Domain Scores

A simulation study was performed to determine whether a group's average percent correct in a content domain could be accurately estimated for groups taking a single test form and not the entire domain of items. Six Item Response Theory based domain score estimation methods were evaluated, under conditions of few items per content area perform taken, small domains, and small group sizes. The methods used item responses to a single form taken to estimate examinee or group ability; domain scores were then computed using the ability estimates and domain item characteristics. The IRT-based domain score estimates typically showed greater accuracy and greater consistency across forms taken than observed performance on the form taken. For the smallest group size and least number of items taken, the accuracy of most IRT-based estimates was questionable; however, a procedure that operates on an estimated distribution of group ability showed promise under most conditions.     

6- and 8-year-olds’ performance evaluations: Do they differ between self and unknown others?

The current study investigated kindergarteners and second graders’ ability to monitor and evaluate their own and a virtual peer’s performance in a paired-associate learning task. Participants provided confidence judgments (CJs) for their own responses and performance-based judgments (judgments provided after receiving feedback on their performance) for both their own and a virtual peer’s responses. For the performance-based judgments, children were confronted with their own or the peer’s answer as well as the correct answer. Additionally, participants were asked to credit their own and the peer’s correct and incorrect answers while facing feedback. Results indicate an age-related progression in metacognitive monitoring skills, with second graders differentiating more strongly in their confidence judgments between correct and incorrect responses compared to kindergarteners. Regarding performance-based judgments, children of both age groups provided higher judgments for correctly compared to incorrectly recognized items as well as for their own responses in comparison to the responses of the unknown child. Similarly, when crediting, participants of both age groups gave more credits for correct recognition than for incorrect recognition and for their own responses than for the peer’s responses. The significant interaction between age group and recognition accuracy for the crediting shows that second graders gave more credits for correctly recognized items while kindergarteners gave more credits for incorrect answers than the older children – primarily for their own incorrect answers. In conclusion, the study provides new insights into 6- and 8-year-olds’ evaluations of their own and an unknown child’s performance in a paired-associate learning task by showing that children of both age groups generally judged and credited responses in their own favor. These results add to our understanding of biases in children’s performance evaluations, including metacognitive judgments and judgments provided after receiving feedback.     

Exploring prospective teachers’ noticing of students' understanding through micro-case videos

This paper explores the nature of prospective teachers’ noticing of students’ understanding as they analyze and discuss middle school students’ understandings of trapezoids in micro-case videos in the context of geometry. In this exploratory study, the data were obtained from eight prospective middle school mathematics teachers through individual video analysis, reflection papers, and group discussions. The results indicated that the use of purposeful micro-case video designs based on prospective teachers’ background knowledge of quadrilaterals allowed them to be productive in video analyses and discussions. In individual video analyses, prospective teachers attended to various mathematical elements to identify students’ responses but did not always use them to make interpretations of each student’s understanding of trapezoid. In the group discussions of the micro-case videos, in contrast, prospective teachers could provide alternative interpretations of students’ understanding by identifying links between the mathematical elements in students’ responses and the characteristics of students’ understandings. In the group discussions, they provided more detailed and specific instructional actions to support each student’s understanding of trapezoid than their individual video analyses. This study suggests practical implications for teacher education programs on how to use video cases (e.g., firstly, working individually and then having group discussions about the videos) to explore prospective teachers’ professional noticing skills. Considering prospective teachers’ background knowledge of related mathematical contents, this study can also inspire future studies on how to design effective videos about students’ mathematical understanding.

     

Empathy and Cognition in High-Functioning Children with Autism

This study compares the ability of nonretarded autistic children (9-16 years of age) with the ability of normally developing children (9-14 years of age) to discriminate between various emotional states, to take the perspective of another regarding emotional states, and to respond affectively. The children's understanding of conservation was also assessed. While the children with autism did surprisingly well on the empathy-related measures, they performed less well than the normal children on these measures and on conservation. There was a closer association between cognitive abilities and affective understanding in the group of autistic children than in the control group.     

Young Children's Projective Abilities: what can a monster see?

Abstract A series of four tasks was presented to 3‐7 year‐old children in order to investigate their understanding of the way in which an obstruction restricts a person's view of an array. The results indicated that children's ability to predict another person's line of sight and field of view develops significantly during this period. The responses of most 4‐7 year‐olds in a nonverbal hiding game were consistent with their verbal judgments about what another person could see, but 3‐year‐olds’ responses in the hiding game were much more sophisticated than could be expected from their performance on the verbal tasks. The possibility is raised that satisfactory performance in hiding games may not always depend on a child's first working out what a seeker can see.     

The Relation of Gender Understanding to Children''s Sex-typed Preferences and Gender Stereotypes

Our goal was to explore how children's understanding of gender as a social category relates to their acquisition of sex-typed knowledge and preferences. Children's gender concepts, sex-typed preferences, and stereotyped knowledge were measured in 61 boys and girls (3-5 years). Gender concept measures included ability to identify and to discriminate the sexes, understanding gender group membership, temporal stability of gender, and gender consistency over situational changes. Children improved with age on most of the measures except gender consistency. With the exception of consistency, measures of gender concept understanding were found to be related to children's stereotyped toy and clothing knowledge and/or to their sex-typed toy preferences (with age controlled). It was shown that only rudimentary gender understanding is needed prior to children learning about sex stereotypes and prior to showing strong sex-typed preferences for peers or toys. The roles of gender identity, stability, consistency, and group membership in the sex-typing process are discussed.