LOGO: more than a decade later

More than a decade has elapsed since Papert and his MIT colleagues combined cybernetic and Piagetian concepts into a user-friendly computer program called LOGO; and five years have elapsed since Papert, in his book Mindstorms , extolled the virtues of LOGO, arguing that children who experienced LOGO learned much more than a computer language—they learned powerful ideas, skills, and heuristics as well. This paper examines the current state of LOGO and LOGO research and attempts to come to some conclusions about the efficacy of LOGO as a research and teaching tool.     

Trends of educational technology research: more than a decade of international research in six SSCI-indexed refereed journals

This study applied text mining methods to examine the abstracts of 2,997 international research articles published between 2000 and 2010 by six journals included in the Social Science Citation Index in the field of Educational Technology (EDTECH). A total of 19 clusters of research areas were identified, and these clusters were further analyzed in terms of productivity by country and by journal. The analysis revealed research areas with rising trends, stable status, and low attention. This study also identified areas of research emphasis by journal and research strength by country. A discussion of results through the lens of Critical Theory of Technology is also included. The authors hope to inform the EDTECH community about the trends of EDTECH research on topics and regions of research contributions. The authors also believe that such examination of trends can help facilitate fruitful discussions of directions for future research, and possible international collaboration across various geographical regions.     

Some cultural and economic factors leading to neglect, abuse and violence in respect of children within the family in Sri Lanka

The paper provides an overview of the present position. It attempts to identify the causational factors in situations of child neglect, abuse and violence and to pinpoint areas where there is a lacuna in information and knowledge. The study takes prevalence of abandoned children, failure to meet a child's basic needs and underutilization of services provided free by the state as indices of neglect. Measured in these terms it seems that though in Sri Lanka children are considered a blessing, yet they are also subject to neglect though this is not deliberate on the part of parents but arising from numerous factors, mainly poverty and ignorance. Other influences also operate such as cultural values and weaknesses in the delivery systems. Today females of all socioeconomic levels seek employment, both locally and abroad. This can lead to child neglect since community services for child care are inadequate and traditional help is dwindling. The negative impact on children of certain aspects of modernization is also considered. Abuse of children manifests itself mainly in child domestic labour and the exploitation, particularly of malformed and diseased children, in the trade of begging. Violence as judged by reported cases is minimal. But considering social attitudes regarding physical punishment, its prevalence may be wider than generally believed. The need for statistics and studies on all aspects of child care and child behaviour have come out in the study.     

Exposure to domestic violence as abuse and neglect: Constructions of child maltreatment in daily practice

Research finds that exposure to domestic violence can adversely affect the emotional, behavioral, and physical health of children. These effects have led some child advocates and policymakers in the United States to conclude that child exposure to domestic violence (CEDV) is a type of child maltreatment warranting state intervention. However, few states have defined CEDV as a type of maltreatment in statute and little is known about how child welfare agencies respond to allegations of CEDV in the absence of other safety threats. This study considers that CEDV itself might prompt an initial child welfare referral and may be construed by workers as a type of statutory maltreatment. Using a random sample (n = 295) of case records, this study analyzed one large child welfare agency’s response to referrals alleging CEDV between 2011 and 2012. Findings indicate that CEDV itself did trigger investigation. At time of referral, workers used statutory maltreatment typologies to construe alleged CEDV as a type of maltreatment; however, CEDV was not consistently construed as a safety threat and few allegations were substantiated. Instead most families were referred to community-based domestic violence services. Findings indicate that CEDV was not consistently construed as a type of statutory maltreatment and infrequently resulted in ongoing child welfare services. Findings suggest that training is needed to help workers better assess CEDV-related safety threats. Findings also raise questions about what types of interventions are needed to protect children from domestic violence and which types of agencies are best positioned to deliver those interventions.     

Reforming higher education systems: Some lessons to guide policy implementation

Although higher education systems are in a constant state of change, they are difficult for governments to reform. This paper analyzes a wide variety of country experiences in establishing mechanisms to co-ordinate the development of higher education systems, diversifying institutional financing and increasing the efficiency of public investments. Attention is drawn to the need for effective policy structures to manage higher education, to link costs of reforms to benefits such as increased opportunity, to take account of the institutional constraints to change as well as to carefully articulate educational reforms with other public policies that influence the performance of the higher education systems.     

Continuing education module-lamaze parents magazine: more than a giveaway

The Lamaze Parents magazine is an annual publication produced by Lamaze International to inform parents and childbirth educators on issues related to healthy birth preparation, normal birth, and parenting. The author of this column introduces teaching strategies for childbirth educators and doulas to use in tandem with the magazine's content in order to enhance their efforts in sharing current, evidence-based information with expectant parents.     

Consequences of parental burnout: Its specific effect on child neglect and violence

Parental burnout is a specific syndrome resulting from enduring exposure to chronic parenting stress. It encompasses three dimensions: an overwhelming exhaustion related to one’s parental role, an emotional distancing from one’s children and a sense of ineffectiveness in one’s parental role. This study aims to facilitate further identification of the consequences of parental burnout for the parents themselves, their spouses and their child(ren). In a sample of 1551 parents, we examined the relationship between parental burnout and seven possible consequences: escapism and suicidal thoughts, addictions, sleep disorders, marital conflicts, a partner estrangement mindset, and neglect and violence towards one’s child(ren). We examined (1) to what extent parental and job burnout related to each of these possible consequences and (2) whether parental burnout is specifically related to neglectful and violent behaviour towards one’s child(ren). The results suggest that parental burnout has a statistically similar effect to job burnout on addictions and sleep problems, a stronger effect on couples’ conflicts and partner estrangement mindset and a specific effect on child-related outcomes (neglect and violence) and escape and suicidal ideation. These results emphasize the importance of accurately diagnosing this syndrome.     

Language development: It’s much more than a kit

Conclusion Planning for the optimal language development of the children in an early-childhood setting requires interaction withpeople: children must be comfortable in communicating with adults and their peers. If the long-range objective is to raise children who can function in a democracy and communicate their ideas, then attention to the characteristics of developing language is important. Children must have many opportunities to use language and to have interesting experiences so that they reallydo have something to talk about. Teachers and other caregivers can provide conditions conducive to optimal language development.     

History of abuse and neglect in patients with schizophrenia who have a history of violence

Objective

To determine the prevalence of five forms of abuse/neglect during childhood and adolescence in a group of schizophrenic patients with a history of violence.

Methods

Twenty-eight patients hospitalized in a highly secured psychiatric unit were included. Abuse and neglect during patients’ growth were evaluated with the childhood trauma questionnaire (CTQ). History of substance abuse (consumption of cannabis, and/or alcohol, and/or heroin, and/or cocaine during the year that preceded the hospitalization), incarceration, and death of a close parent were also collected.

Results

We found that 46.4% of patients experienced at least 1 form of abuse and/or neglect during childhood and 21.4% of them had experienced more than 2 forms of abuse and/or neglect. The 2 most frequent forms of neglect and abuse were physical abuse (39.3%) and emotional neglect (17.9%). History of substance abuse was found for cannabis (57.1%), alcohol (57.1%), and cocaine and/or heroin (35.7%). We found that 42.8% of patients had 1 close relative who had died during their growth and that 41.6% of these deaths were violent.

Conclusion

It appears important to systematically search for and assess a history of abuse and neglect during growth in schizophrenic patients with a history of violence, in order to offer specific treatments for this group of patients.     

Discussing terrorism: a pupil-inspired guide to UK counter-terrorism policy implementation in religious education classrooms in England

My research into pupils’ perceptions of terrorism and current UK counter-terrorism policy highlights the need for more detailed and accurate discussions about the implementation of the educational aims, in particular those laid out by the Prevent Strategy. Religious education (RE) in England is affected by these aims, specifically the challenging of terrorist ideologies and improving community cohesion, but many RE teachers feel ill-equipped in dealing with the issues that might arise from terrorism discussions. Therefore, I suggest that clarification could help alleviate some of the teacher’s concerns and help provide routes by which critical RE teaching and learning can take place.     

Professional Pathways: a case for measurements in more than one dimension

Recent developments in UK professional education are leading to competence-based National Vocational Qualifications (NVQs) being offered alongside academic awards made within the Credit Accumulation and Transfer (CAT) system. Although dual accreditation of this type may be a welcome development, the NVQ and CAT systems have different philosophies and cannot easily be linked in structural relationships. The context-specific notion of competence represented by NVQs is only one dimension of effective professional practice, as in order to operate intelligently in many of the situations with which they are faced, practitioners increasingly need transcendant abilities of reflection, enquiry and creative synthesis. A solution lies in a coherent approach to professional development and accreditation which is based in a constructivist epistemology and allows these overarching abilities to be recognised through the CAT system independently of NVQ requirements, while enabling students to work towards awards through both systems simultaneously without duplication of effort     

Theory of mind and self-control: more than a common problem of inhibition

This study tested the theory that advances on theory-of-mind tasks and on executive function tasks show a strong correlation because the typically used theory-of-mind tasks pose the same executive demands. In Experiment 1 with fifty-six 3- to 6-year-old children, performance on the dimensional change card-sorting task as an executive function task was correlated with performance on the usual false-belief prediction task, r = .65, and the false-belief explanation task, r = .65, as measures of theory-of-mind development. Because the explanation version of the false-belief test is supposed to be free of the alleged executive demands inherent in the prediction version, the equally strong correlation with the executive function task suggests that this correlation cannot be due to common executive demands. In Experiment 2, the basic finding of Experiment 1 was replicated on another sample of 73 children, ages 3 to 5.5 years. The need for new theories to explain the developmental link between theory of mind and executive function development is discussed, and some existing candidates are evaluated.     

More than science: family learning in a Mexican science museum

Latin American audiences living in their countries of origin are poorly understood as museum learners due to the scarcity of research in this field. Through a case study approach, I investigate and report on the ways of learning of 20 Mexican family groups. In particular, I examine the influence of the Mexican sociocultural context on the participant family members’ learning outcomes from a Mexican science museum. Conducted in Universum Museo de las Ciencias, a science museum located in Mexico City, this research study is based on the premise that understanding the role of the sociocultural elements of learning is essential to understanding the nature of learning in museums. The cognitive and social outcomes of the participants are discussed in the light of the sociocultural elements that define Mexicans as museum learners.     

Parent-teacher conference communication: a guide to integrating family engagement through simulated conversations about student academic progress

Abstract

Teachers regularly communicate with families, yet few candidates are well-prepared for this professional activity. This gap can hinder family–school partnership and pupils’ success. Given that candidates’ opportunities to learn about family engagement (FE) depends on the decisions and values of individual teacher educators, we illustrate how FE can be integrated into an existing educator preparation programme. Specifically, we describe how to design and use simulated parent–teacher conferences (PTCs) to: foster candidates’ conference communication skills; assess their understanding of content knowledge and their ability to plan instruction. Specifically, we designed two simulation tasks that required candidates’ to analyse and respond to a given student assessment profile and then share their interpretation of the information in ways that developed parent–teacher partnership. Modelled after simulation-based medical education, we describe three steps teacher educators can take to integrate simulated PTCs into their existing curriculum. To illustrate how and why simulations impact professional readiness, we also describe the advantages, sequence and psychological processes of simulation training. A sample of candidate profiles across the two tasks are shared to illustrate what candidates take away from their experiences and the kinds of findings faculty may encounter when integrating simulation pedagogy.     

There is more to discourse than meets the ears: Looking at thinking as communicating to learn more about mathematical learning

Traditional approaches to research into mathematical thinking, such as the study of misconceptions and tacit models, have brought significant insight into the teaching and learning of mathematics, but have also left many important problems unresolved. In this paper, after taking a close look at two episodes that give rise to a number of difficult questions, I propose to base research on a metaphor of thinking-as-communicating.This conceptualization entails viewing learning mathematics as an initiation to a certain well defined discourse. Mathematical discourse is made special by two main factors: first, by its exceptional reliance on symbolic artifacts as its communication-mediating tools, and second, by the particular meta-rules that regulate this type of communication. The meta-rules are the observer’s construct and they usually remain tacit for the participants of the discourse. In this paper I argue that by eliciting these special elements of mathematical communication, one has a better chance of accounting for at least some of the still puzzling phenomena. To show how it works, I revisit the episodes presented at the beginning of the paper, reformulate the ensuing questions in the language of thinking-as-communication, and re-address the old quandaries with the help of special analytic tools that help in combining analysis of mathematical content of classroom interaction with attention to meta-level concerns of the participants.