Classroom Learning Environment of City and Kibbutz Biology Classrooms in Israel

Summaries

English

The Learning Environment Inventory (LEI), adapted to conditions in Israeli schools and factor analysed on an Israeli sample, was administered to 572 students in 10th‐grade biology classes. Fourteen classes were in urban schools, six in Kibbutz district schools. All classes used the same BSCS (yellow version) curriculum. Seven out of the nine scales of the LEI Israeli version yielded significantly different scores for urban and Kibbutz samples indicating a more positive social learning climate in the Kibbutz than in the city. Differences were most marked on scales assessing cohesiveness, favouritism and cliquishness. Results were interpreted to indicate that social climate in classrooms is influenced by school‐wide policies regarding relationships in school, and not only by within‐class factors such as curriculum and teaching method.     

Jewish Identity,Jewish Education and Experience of the Kibbutz in Israel

Abstract

In this paper we examine the role of the Israeli kibbutz experience as an agent of informal education in cross‐cultural settings, acting as a transformative agent of ethnic identity. The study presents, through comparative longitudinal analysis, the changes in Jewish identity and values of young North American Jews between their arrival in Israel and the conclusion of the kibbutz programme, as well as after they have returned to their home country. The analysis utilises data gathered from 238 Oren Kibbutz Institute alumni who participated in the programme between 1990‐94 in six kibbutzim. The transformative role of the Israeli kibbutz experience contributes independently and cumulatively to the formative role of home background, Jewish schooling and previous visits to Israel.     

Cooperative activities in young children and chimpanzees

Human children 18-24 months of age and 3 young chimpanzees interacted in 4 cooperative activities with a human adult partner. The human children successfully participated in cooperative problem-solving activities and social games, whereas the chimpanzees were uninterested in the social games. As an experimental manipulation, in each task the adult partner stopped participating at a specific point during the activity. All children produced at least one communicative attempt to reengage him, perhaps suggesting that they were trying to reinstate a shared goal. No chimpanzee ever made any communicative attempt to reengage the partner. These results are interpreted as evidence for a uniquely human form of cooperative activity involving shared intentionality that emerges in the second year of life.     

The influence of group size on children's competitive behavior

The present research was designed to test the hypothesis that children would compete more in tetrads than in dyads. Twenty-two pairs of male and 14 pairs of female target children (N = 72) played a competitive game in both tetrads and dyads. Consistent with the hypothesis, male target children competed more in tetrads than in dyads. This hypothesis was not supported for females, however. Analyses of the dynamics of tetrads and dyads further demonstrated that based on a global measure of smiling, the emotional atmosphere was less positive in tetrads than in dyads. The causes and consequences of interaction in different sized social groups are discussed.     

Choice and goal-directed behavior in preschool children

Preschool children (3–4 years old) were trained to perform two actions to gain different outcomes, in the form of video clips from different cartoons, before one of these outcomes was devalued by noncontingent exposure. The effect of outcome devaluation was subsequently assessed in an extinction test by giving children the opportunity to perform both actions in the absence of any outcomes. When the two actions were trained concurrently, performance during the test was modulated by outcome value and children showed a preference for the action trained with the currently valued outcome. By contrast, when each action was trained separately on different trials, test performance was insensitive to outcome devaluation. These effects of the training schedules are interpreted in terms of dual-process theories of action control.     

Plasticity of altruistic behavior in children

The present study investigates the plasticity of altruistic behavior in children, analyzing the effect of a short intervention on 6- to 7-year-olds. After a 10-session intervention performed in a school context, altruism significantly increased. The intervention, which included relaxation practices, cooperative activities and emotional security priming, positively modulated altruistic behavior in children, beyond reciprocation and reputation. The experiences of collaborating, feeling emotional security and attaining moments of relaxation increased participants’ awareness of themselves and of others, favoring the emergence of intrinsic altruism. These results are in line with our hypothesis that altruism is an embodied human resource, highly susceptible to experience within social contexts.     

"3+5"城市群城市竞争力研究

从经济竞争力、基础设施竞争力、科技文化竞争力、对外开放竞争力、环境竞争力5个方面,选取了31项指标构建了城市竞争力的评价体系。运用主成分分析方法,对“3＋5”城市群的城市竞争力进行了评价,并对加快城市群发展提出了建议意见。     

Values as protective factors against violent behavior in Jewish and Arab high schools in Israel

This study tested the hypothesis that values, abstract goals serving as guiding life principles, become relatively important predictors of adolescents' self-reported violent behavior in school environments in which violence is relatively common. The study employed a students-nested-in-schools design. Arab and Jewish adolescents ( N = 907, M age = 16.8), attending 33 Israeli schools, reported their values and their own violent behavior. Power values correlated positively, and universalism and conformity correlated negatively with self-reported violent behavior, accounting for 12% of the variance in violent behavior, whereas school membership accounted for 6% of the variance. In schools in which violence was more common, power values' relationship with adolescents' self-reported violence was especially positive, and the relationship of universalism with self-reported violence was especially negative.     

Self-esteem and classroom behavior in elementary school children

While many investigators have examined the relationship between self-esteem and academic achievement, and between behavior and achievement, there has been little research examining the relationship between self-esteem and classroom behavior. The present study investigated the relationship between self-esteem, using the Coopersmith Self-Esteem Inventory, and classroom behavior, using the Classroom Behavior Rating Scale, with a sample of 54 elementary school children. Results indicate that a significant relationship exists between self-esteem and classroom behavior. The implications of this with regard to teachers' modification of student behaviors are discussed.     

流动儿童城市适应状况及过程:一项质性研究的结果

This article employs qualitative research methods to explore the urban adaptation and adaptation processes of Chinese migrant children. Through twenty-one in-depth interviews with migrant children, the researchers discovered: The participant migrant children showed a fairly high level of adaptation to the city; their process of urban adaptation emerged as three categories: the U-Type, the J-type, and the “flat line” type. Also explored were long-term acquisition of explicit behaviors, implicit notions, adaptation to the socio-cultural environment, and success in education as difficult aspects of adaptation. After comparing these three processes, the research team developed a theory of migrant children urban adaptation. It hypothesizes that during the urban adaptation process, migrant children will encounter four stages of development: excitement and curiosity, shock and resistance, exploration and adaptation, and finally integration and assimilation. __________ Translated by Amanda Weiss from Beijing Shifan Daxue Xuebao (Shehui Kexue Ban) 北京师范大学学报 (社会科学版) (Journal of Beijing Normal University (Social Sciences)), 2008, (3): 9–20, revised by Deane Neubauer, Emeritus Professor, University of Hawaii     

Modification of attending behavior in hyperactive children

This study investigated the efficacy of using a behavioral feedback procedure as a means of reducing the nonattending behavior in children with attentional deficits and/or motoric restlessness. It was hypothesized that children with an attentional deficit would be able to learn to attend to classroom work when provided information about their behavior. Subjects consisted of 4 children with attentional deficits and motoric restlessness, 4 with motoric restlessness alone, and 8 without attentional deficits or motoric restlessness. A modified operant design was used to demonstrate the effectiveness of the feedback procedure. Significant changes were evidenced by all groups of subjects. Initial results and follow-up observations indicated that the attending behavior of the experimental subjects increased, and was manitained, without the use of tangible reinforcers.