Inescapable Bodies, Disquieting Perception: Why Adults Seek to Tame and Harness Swift's Excremental Satire in Gulliver's Travels

Jonathan Swift's Gulliver's Travelsis a complex, uninhibited, savage satire that concludes with the narrator's descent into madness—hardly a likely candidate for children's reading. In the nearly three hundred years since it was first published, however,Gulliver's Travelshas become associated with children's literature, though it is usually abridged, bowdlerized, and/or totally transformed. This essay examines changes commonly made to the text and concludes that these changes reveal how adults wield the tools of revision and abridgement in order to maintain an adult–child dichotomy characterized by power differentials.     

The Enactment and Perception of Mathematics Pedagogical Values in an Elementary Classroom: Buddhism,Confucianism, and Curriculum Reform

The purpose of this case study was to investigate the values demonstrated by an elementary school teacher in her mathematics teaching and what values her students perceived. This research adopted the valuing theory (Raths, Harmin & Simon, 1987) and used classroom observations and interviews to document the teacher’s mathematics pedagogical values and a questionnaire, interviews, and instructional artifacts to document the students’ perceptions of these values. The results of this research identified two educational values and three mathematics pedagogical values that were influenced by the teacher’s personal beliefs about Buddhism, Confucianism, and curriculum. Her goals for education were to reinstate the students’ original enlightenment and the students’ respect for ethics and experts when dealing with people and life; and her values about mathematics learning were that it depends on individual efforts and personal understanding, her central purposes for teaching were to make students understand the mathematics content and to cultivate their problem-solving methods, and her purposes for evaluation were to understand students’ learning and to encourage students to correct their errors. The students’ awareness of these goals and values did not parallel the teacher’s personal priorities. The implications of teachers’ pedagogical values on teacher professional development and curriculum reform are discussed.     

Teaching primary science: emotions, identity and the use of practical activities

This paper uses cultural historical activity theory to examine the interactions between the choices primary teachers make in the use of practical activities in their teaching of science and the purposes they attribute to these; their emotions, background and beliefs; and the construction of their identities as teachers of science. It draws on four case studies of science lessons taught over a term by four exemplary teachers of primary science. The data collected includes video recordings of science lessons, interviews with each teacher and some of their students, student work, teachers?? planning documents and observation notes. In this paper, we examine the reflexive relationship between emotion and identity, and the teachers?? objectives for their students?? learning; the purposes (scientific and social) the teachers attributed to practical activities; and the ways in which the teachers incorporated practical activities into their lessons. The findings suggest that it is not enough to address content knowledge, pedagogy and pedagogical content knowledge in teacher education, but that efforts also need to be made to influence prospective primary teachers?? identities as scientific thinkers and their emotional commitment to their students?? learning of science.     

A pilot study of factors affecting the process of integration in Greek nursery schools

In the past ten years, the issue of inclusion has proved one of the biggest challenges facing special needs education planners and policy‐makers in developed countries. Greek educational policy has given emphasis on two points: (a) the development of new organizational structures (i.e. resource rooms, support teachers), and (b) the implementation of administrative regulations that enable mainstreaming special and ordinary education into a unified educational system (inclusion). In doing so, the content of the curriculum and the pedagogical characteristics of the educational environment were ignored. This paper reports the results of a pilot study that aimed to explore the pedagogical aspects of inclusion and integration as implemented in Greek nursery schools. More specifically, the study investigated the way special needs children participate in the learning process and their relationship with the other members of the classroom. The following hypothesis guided the study: the process of school integration of a special needs child is regulated by (a) the degree and the quality of his/her participation in the learning process, and (b) the pupil’s ability to comply with the main rules of the classroom. Data were gathered from two special needs children, their teachers and their parents through observations and interviews. Research findings seemed to reinforce the two criteria of the research hypothesis. As observation revealed, children’s actions diverged from the desired joint activity. According to research in social groups, this diversion influences the meaning classroom members attribute to ‘differences’ and causes a negative effect on children’s membership of the group. At the same time, the study points out crucial dimensions of the above criteria, particularly as regards the attitude of nursery teachers and of the other pupils towards children with special needs, an issue that needs to be further explored.     

When are poor reading skills a threat to educational achievement?

The cut-off levels of insufficient literacyskills used in national and internationalliteracy studies have not been validated. Thus,it remains uncertain whether adult poor readersare handicapped by insufficient reading skillsin everyday life, i.e. in job-related oreducational activities. The primary purpose ofthe study was to identify a minimum level belowwhich insufficient reading skills proved ahandicap to adults in their educational efforts. One hundred and eighty-nine adults in formal adult education participated in the study. The adults' reading comprehension, decoding skills, primarylanguage, level of exam, student and teacherratings of the adults' reading skills, and theadults' exam grades for courses in formal adulteducation were obtained. Exam grades below themean were taken as documentation of educationalfailure. Adults in the lowest 10thpercentile in reading skills only managed toobtain exam grades below the mean in coursesplacing heavy demands on their reading skills,indicating that poor reading skills were infact a threat to the adults' educationalachievements. Possible causes of insufficientreading skills were further examined. Adults inthe lowest 10th percentile suffered fromvery poor decoding skills. Even though a largervariation was seen in the exam grades foradults in the 10–25th percentile, theytoo, were handicapped by poor readingcomprehension. The decoding skills andsocio-economic data of these adults indicatedthat improved reading skills might increasetheir chances of getting an education.     

Continuity in early childhood education: transition from pre-school to school

Entrance to Primary School seems to be one of the most difficult and important changes in early childhood education. In this study it is examined the extent to which the differences between home or nursery school and primary school may cause difficulties to children in their psychological adjustment to the first grade of schooling. It is also investigated to see if some pedagogical strategies can make smoother the child's transition to school. The research was conducted in Greece during the period 1992–1993. Subjects were 75 nursery teachers, 566 first grade primary school teachers and 566 parents with first grade children. All subjects completed a questionnaire in which they evaluated the differences between home and primary school and between nursery school and primary school, as well as some pedagogical strategies. The results are presented in the tables I-IV. It seems that the differences between the environment in which the child lives before school and the primary school environment are so different that entrance to school is problematic for the child's adjustment. Some pedagogical strategies, however, may make smoother the children's passing from pre-school to school.     

The intertextuality of children's explanations in a technology-enriched early years science classroom

This study examines the sociocultural trajectories of children's conceptual thinking in a technology-enriched early years science classroom (N=22). Of specific analytic interest is the intertextuality of children's science-related explanations constructed during adult–child dialogic interviews and peer-centred inquiry around a multimedia science-learning tool, PICCO. Following the sociocultural and discursive approach to conceptual thinking and learning, the study conceptualizes explanations as interactional achievements shaped by the sociocultural context of activity. Qualitative, micro-level analysis of video-taped and transcribed data covering a 5-month period shows that inquiry-based science learning activities, based on child-initiation and the application of technological tools, created a fruitful setting for the children's explanation construction around scientific phenomena. The children's explanations were found to draw on textual and material links, hands-on explorations, i.e. activity links, as well as on recounting events. These intertextual linkages functioned as tools for the children (a) to share and validate previous experiences as sources of knowledge, (b) to establish reciprocity with each other in meaning-making, (c) to define themselves as learners of science and as individuals with specific experiences and background, and (d) to construct, maintain and contest the cultural practices of what it means to do and learn science in the classroom. In all, the study illuminates the potential of intertextual analysis to reveal contextual insights into children's conceptual thinking mediated by the sociocultural context.     

Beliefs, practices, and interactions of teachers in a Japanese high school English department

This study reveals the school culture and the teachers’ professional development activities in a Japanese high school learning environment. Furthermore, it documents the relationships among the context, teachers’ beliefs, practices, and interactions. Using multiple data sources including interviews, observations, and documents of teachers from an English department, this yearlong study revealed these English as a Foreign Language teachers lacked many teacher learning opportunities in their context. The study revealed that teacher collaboration only reinforced existing practices, eroding teachers’ motivation to learn to teach in this specific context. The study provides evidence to teacher educators about inservice teachers and their learning environment and the significance of the relationships between the two entities.     

A Study of the Effects of a LSC Project on Scientists’ Teaching Practices and Beliefs

The purpose of this study was to examine the influence of a local systemic change (LSC) project on scientists’ practices and beliefs about teaching and learning. A mixed-method design was implemented that consisted of a series of interviews and the administration of the Classroom Learning Environment Survey (paper presented at the annual meeting of the National Association for Research in Science Teaching, Anaheim, CA, 1994). Results from this study suggest that collaborative opportunities afforded by this model program have positively influenced scientists’ beliefs about teaching elementary science and may be impacting some of the scientists’ pedagogical and curricular practices in their general education courses. Many scientists have developed new collaborative projects, all intended to improve science education at the graduate and undergraduate level, and are beginning to understand the complexity of science education reform.     

The Monets,Van Goghs,and Renoirs of Science Education: Writing Impressionist Tales as a Strategy for Facilitating Prospective Teachers’ Reflections on Science Experiences

A particularly useful pedagogical strategy for beginning a dialogue with prospective teachers about the ways in which their experiences and beliefs shape their development of professional knowledge is writing impressionist tales. Impressionist tales are a form of autobiography that portrays one highly personal perspective on a significant moment in time. In this pedagogical practice article, we describe our use of impressionist tales, summarize the assumptions underpinning our use of impressionist tales in science methods courses, provide several examples of our students’ tales, and discuss the pedagogical advantages and the teacher educator’s role in using impressionist tales to promote reflective thinking among prospective elementary science teachers.     

‘Risky fun’ or ‘Authentic science’? How teachers’ beliefs influence their practice during a professional development programme on outdoor learning

Teaching outdoors has been established as an important pedagogical strategy; however, science classes rarely take place outside. Previous research has identified characteristics of teachers who have integrated out-of-classroom opportunities into their teaching repertoire; yet little is understood as to why teachers make these different pedagogical decisions. This paper explores the relationship between secondary science teachers’ beliefs and their pedagogical practice during a two-year professional development programme associated with the ‘Thinking Beyond the Classroom’ project. Using data from lesson observations, interviews, session questionnaires and field notes, six teacher case studies were developed from participants completing the programme. Data analysis reveals that teachers who successfully taught outside generally held social constructivist beliefs about learning and valued ‘authentic’ science opportunities. Conversely, teachers who were less successful in teaching outside generally held traditional learning beliefs and simply valued the outdoors for the novelty and potential for fun. All the case study teachers were concerned about managing student learning outside, and for the majority, their concerns influenced their subsequent pedagogical practice. The findings are discussed in detail, as are the implications for pre-service and in-service professional development programmes related to outdoor science learning.     

Cultural diversity in center-based childcare: Childrearing beliefs of professional caregivers from different cultural communities in the Netherlands

The present study investigated the cultural childrearing beliefs of 116 caregivers from different cultural communities in the Netherlands (Dutch, Caribbean-Dutch, and Mediterranean-Dutch), working with 2–4-year-olds in daycare centers. Cultural childrearing beliefs were assessed with standard questionnaires, focusing on general and daycare-specific individualistic and collectivistic childrearing beliefs. Cultural differences were evident regarding general individualistic and collectivistic beliefs. Both immigrant groups agreed more with collectivistic ideas and less with individualistic ideas than Dutch caregivers. Regarding caregivers’ daycare-specific beliefs, much smaller cultural differences were found. This indicates consensus among caregivers from different ethnic/cultural backgrounds on core issues of childrearing in daycare settings. Results further showed that caregivers’ individualistic ideas were best predicted by their cultural community, whereas collectivistic ideas were also predicted by the diversity of caregivers’ close colleagues and their years of experience. These findings demonstrate that caregivers’ childrearing belief systems are in part determined through a prolonged socialization process by the belief systems of their cultural and religious communities, and in part by their professional experience and their colleagues. Discussing childrearing beliefs should therefore become customary both in daycare centers as in caregivers’ professional preparation, to make caregivers more aware of their own and their colleagues’ cultural beliefs. Once aware of their childrearing beliefs, caregivers can make a start in actively discussing pedagogical guidelines, in order to reach a shared approach to childrearing.     

Change agency as a way of promoting pedagogical development in academic communities: a longitudinal study

ABSTRACT

In the face of organizational transformations, academics are given a role as informal ‘change agents’ in their discipline-specific communities of practice (DCoP). Simultaneous participation in pedagogically oriented communities of practice (PCoP) enables them to promote pedagogical development through brokering at community interfaces. This empirical study explores academics’ experiences of acting as informal change agents at the interfaces of DCoP and PCoP during an organizational transition phase of three years. The longitudinal data were collected with interviews of 13 academics from the fields of science and technology. The findings reveal a variety of pedagogical development activities related to shared meanings, practices, identities, and ways of belonging. The activities are aligned with the organizational transition process and enabled by collegial support. The findings indicate that lack of supportive formal leadership may terminate the informal development activities. The resulting model of change agency provides a novel approach to pedagogical development in higher education.     

Documenting Science Teachers' Pedagogical Content Knowledge Through PaP-eRs

This paper examines science teachers' pedagogical content knowledge and ways in which that knowledge might be captured, articulated and portrayed to others. The research from which this paper is drawn has involved interviews with experienced science teachers in an attempt to make the tacit nature of their practice explicit. Initially, case methodology was envisaged as being a way of documenting these teachers' pedagogical content knowledge. However, over time, the form of knowledge and information that we were gathering and attempting to portray extended beyond that which could reasonably be described as being case-based. Hence we have developed an approach to articulation and portrayal based on what we call the CoRe (Content Representation) – which represents the particular content/topic of the science teaching – and PaP-eRs (Pedagogical and Professional experience Repertoire) – which help to illuminate specific aspects of the CoRe and therefore offer insights into pedagogical content knowledge itself. The results of this study offer new ways of conceptualising what pedagogical content knowledge is and how it might be captured, documented and disseminated.     

Pedagogical transitions among science teachers: how does context intersect with teacher beliefs?

This paper examines attitudes to pedagogical change, among teachers within a second level science department in Ireland. It explores the beliefs and contextual constraints that mediate diversification from a primarily didactic pedagogical approach towards more student-led pedagogies. Using a multi-method approach incorporating observations of teaching, focus group interviews, one to one interviews and open-ended questionnaires, findings were analysed inductively to generate a number of themes. The findings suggest that a teacher’s sense of identity and beliefs are significant influences on their predisposition towards pedagogical change. Interestingly, the middle class, academic context of the school and the terminal Leaving Certificate state examination, were both identified as latent contextual barriers to pedagogical change. The implementation of curricular reform at Junior Cycle level in Ireland is ongoing, with a new science specification in place since September 2016. This specification has a significant student-led and skill-based emphasis and varied pedagogical approaches are necessary to effectively deliver this new curriculum. Professional development is available to assist teachers with the curricular reform. However, findings in this paper suggest that intrinsic beliefs and contextual constraints may limit access to, or meaningful engagement with such training, negating pedagogical change for some teachers and their students.     

Working towards inclusion: Reflections from the classroom

This article explores developments towards inclusive education being undertaken in some schools in India. Drawing on data collected through interviews with key professionals working in schools and classroom observations, the study focused on the practices and experiences of professionals involved in these efforts. Findings suggest that these schools had provided access to children who would otherwise have been denied admission to the mainstream due to their disabilities. However, these children remained the ‘included’ children and did not necessarily become a part of the classroom. Thus, evident in these schools were a range of exclusionary practices that continued to exist alongside efforts towards inclusion. I therefore argue that there is not only a need to provide stakeholders with the knowledge and skills for developing inclusive teaching practices, but also a need to challenge existing values, beliefs and attitudes to ensure the full participation of all children in the curriculum and culture of their school setting.     

The Home Literacy Environment and Preschool Children's Reading Skills and Interest

Research Findings: This study explored the association between the home literacy environment (HLE), conceptualized as comprising parents’ reading beliefs and home literacy practices, and preschoolers’ reading skills and reading interest. It also identified factors in the HLE that predict emerging reading competence and motivation to read. A total of 193 children age 6 years from 14 preschools across Singapore and their parents participated in the study. The parents completed a reading belief inventory, a family literacy activity inventory, and a demographic questionnaire that surveyed the child's reading interest. The children were administered a battery of standardized literacy tests. The study found a moderate relationship between the HLE and children's reading competencies and a strong relationship between the HLE and children's reading interest. When parents’ education level and children's age were controlled, hierarchical multiple regression analyses found that family literacy activities contributed more unique variance to children's reading outcomes and reading interest than did parents’ reading beliefs. Active parental involvement was the strongest component of the HLE, with parent–child engagement in reading and writing emerging as the best predictor of both the child's emerging reading skills and reading interest. With respect to reading beliefs, parents’ efficacy in supporting literacy development before their child attended school positively predicted reading competence, as did parents’ affect and verbal participation in fostering reading interest. However, verbal participation negatively predicted Singapore children's reading competence. Practice or Policy: The implications of the results were discussed.     

‘This is the beginning of my life educationally’: older (50+ years) working class adults’ participation in higher education in Scotland,through the lens of critical educational gerontology

This paper reports on original research where the primary objective was to critically explore the learning experiences of older (50+ years) working class adults in the context of a new university. Semi‐structured interviews with 10 older learners engaged in a range of study in a new university in the west of Scotland were utilised. This methodology was adopted to bring their voices to the fore, in recognition that these have been under‐represented in educational research to date. A main outcome of the study was that theorising of widening participation practice and pedagogy as it relates to older learners may be significantly developed from insights afforded by critical educational gerontology (CEG) (older adult education) and its central concern with empowerment of marginalised older adults. It is concluded that CEG’s theoretical perspectives and pedagogic practices—critical gerogogy—may inform and shape more responsive widening participation practices that aim to support under‐represented groups. This is particularly evident for older working class students whose formative educational experiences were predominantly characterised by severely limited choice and opportunity. CEG has significant implications for widening participation practice in offering a distinctive, holistic educational philosophy and creative pedagogical approach.     

Profiling teachers' continuing professional development and the relation with their beliefs about learning and teaching

This exploratory study investigates the relationship between teachers' continuing professional development (CPD) and their beliefs about learning and teaching, in a Dutch secondary education context. Two hundred sixty teachers participated in a survey focused on teachers' updating, reflective, and collaborative activities, as well as their student- and subject matter-oriented beliefs. A cluster analysis produced three distinctive CPD profiles, reflecting relatively low, medium, and high participation in the three CPD activities. The greater teachers' participation in CPD, the more student oriented those teachers are. These findings have strong implications for fostering teachers' participation in CPD and encouraging their student orientation.     

Student teachers’ beliefs about learning and teaching and their participation in career-long learning activities

Career-long teacher learning is essential to the teaching profession because it is strongly connected with teacher quality and practices. Student teachers in the first stage of their career-long learning continuum, however, vary in the extent to which they participate in learning activities. This study explores the relationship between beliefs about learning and teaching and participation in learning activities among student teachers, in a school-based teacher education setting for secondary education in the Netherlands. The results indicate that student teachers vary in their beliefs. Structural equation modelling analysis shows that pupil-oriented beliefs are positively related to self-reported participation in learning activities; no relationship emerges between subject matter-oriented beliefs and learning. A cluster analysis reveals two distinct belief profiles, and the findings confirm the relationship to participation in learning activities. Implications for teacher education programmes intended to enhance the chances that their student teachers will become pupil-oriented, career-long learning professionals are discussed.