How well do you know about your hands?

想想看,好像我们做每件事情都少不了手,那么,你对自己的手了解多少呢?一只手有五个手指,每个手指都有自己的名字!你都知道这些名字吗?快快抢答啰!如果你不知道,也没关系,让我来给你讲一讲吧!我们的大拇指就叫thum b,竖大拇指就是thum bsup,表示“好,赞成”的意思。注意是thum bs,可不要把s丢了!我们食指叫做forefinger,还有个别名是index finger。中指叫做m iddle finger,顾名思义,中指就是居中的嘛!无名指的英文名字是ring finger。戴戒指的手指?没错,结婚戒指就是戴在左手的无名指上的,所以它才会被叫做ring finger。大家可以去看看爸爸妈…     

How well prepared are pre-service teachers to teach early reading? A systematic review of the literature

Abstract

This review examined studies that had addressed opinions of pre-service teachers (PSTs) concerning their preparedness for teaching early reading skills to all students, the extent of their content knowledge, and their attitudes towards code-based and/or meaning-based approaches to early reading. From the limited amount of research available, it would appear that although most PSTs were confident in their ability to teach early reading skills, they had reservations regarding their ability to teach children who struggle to learn to read. In addition, even though the majority of primary and early childhood PSTs favoured a code-based approach to teaching early reading, many lack both the necessary knowledge, and the confidence, to implement such an approach. A more comprehensive investigation across teacher training institutions is needed to confirm these findings.     

Multigenerational and virtual: How do we build a mentoring program for today's workforce?

This article looks at virtual mentoring programs through a lens of generational differences, technological preferences, and communication styles. Best practices are framed to address the need to prepare the incoming millennials to lead the workforce as baby boomers exit. After a review of the literature, ideas are culled to apply the theory to a virtual mentoring program. Special attention is paid the concept of virtual mentoring based on lack of collocation of modern teams.     

How do parents learn about adolescents' experiences? Implications for parental knowledge and adolescent risky behavior

Cluster analysis was used to identify groups defined by the patterning of fathers' and mothers' sources of knowledge about adolescents' experiences in a sample of 179 families with adolescents (M = 16.5 years). Three clusters emerged for fathers (relational, relies on spouse, relies on others) and mothers (relational, questioners, relies on others). Cluster membership was associated with socioeconomic status, work hours, personal characteristics, and parent-child relationship quality. Longitudinal path analyses revealed that knowledge sources predicted levels of knowledge, which in turn predicted risky behavior 1 year later, indirect paths that were more consistent for fathers than for mothers. Although direct associations between sources of knowledge and subsequent risky behavior were scant, when fathers relied on spouses, youth engaged in less risky behavior.     

How well do parents know their adolescent children? Parent inferences of student self-concepts reflect dimensional comparison processes

The internal/external frame of reference (I/E) model posits paradoxical relations between achievement and self-concept in mathematics and verbal domains. There is strong support for the I/E model based on student self-ratings, however, reviews of self-concept research claim that the I/E model does not apply to ratings by parents and significant others. We aimed to test these claims using parent inferred self-concepts. In contrast to widely cited claims, we found support for I/E model for both students (N = 486; aged 11–17; 57.2% female) and their parents (80.5% female). Math and verbal achievement had positive effects on self-concepts in the matching domain (e.g., math achievement predicting math self-concept) but negative effects for self-concepts in the non-matching domain (e.g., math achievement predicting verbal self-concept). Integrating conflicting claims, we found support for dimensional comparison processes for inferred self-concept ratings by parents, but not for parent perceptions of student abilities similar to the measures used that were the basis of previous claims.     

How do parents acquire information to support their child with a disability and navigate individualised funding schemes?

With the international trend towards individualised funding packages that allocate funds to individuals to spend on disability support needs, the challenge of ensuring parents can readily access useful information to make decisions becomes paramount. The present research used a two stage, mixed method sequential approach (with 291 parents surveyed and 56 parents participating in focus groups) to determine how parents acquire information to enhance their understanding of their child's disability and determine how to use an individualised funding scheme to benefit their child and family. Parents attested to the importance of person‐to‐person communication and valued information that originated from other parents of a child with a disability, and from professionals who knew their child. Parents also spoke about the limitations of the internet, noting that reliance on the internet could cause confusion as the validity of information could not be assured. Early childhood intervention services emerged as a key instrument in developing the capacity of families to make informed choices. Understanding families'’ perspectives on the utility of information sources is critical and timely as policy‐makers and service providers within the disability sector shift practice to meet the rise of individualised funding internationally.     

Teaching Nature of Scientific Inquiry in Chemistry: How do German chemistry teachers use labwork to teach NOSI?

Learning about scientific inquiry (SI) is an important aspect of scientific literacy and there is a solid international consensus of what should be learned about it. Learning about SI comprises both the doing of science (process) and knowledge about the nature of scientific inquiry (NOSI). German reform documents promote inquiry generally but do not equally address these two sides of inquiry. This study explores how teachers incorporate learning about SI into laboratory work in the Chemistry classroom. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 14 secondary school Chemistry teachers (8 of them holding a Ph.D. in Chemistry) from Germany. The results indicate that teaching NOSI is not a primary goal for teachers. Still, some aspects of NOSI seem to be more easily incorporated in the Chemistry classroom, for example, critical testing and hypothesis and prediction. Teachers state 2 main criteria to identify suitable chemical laboratory work for teaching NOSI: adaptable parameters and low level of required content knowledge. Surprisingly, differences can be found between Ph.D. and non-Ph.D. teachers’ views on teaching inquiry. The findings of this study can be used to (a) select opportunities for targeted research on teaching NOSI in the Chemistry classroom, (b) inform curriculum material development and (c) give impetus to science teacher education and professional development.     

How do teachers make judgments about ethical and unethical behaviors? Toward the development of a code of conduct for teachers

The authors examined the dimensions that underlie teachers' judgments about ethical versus unethical behaviors. 593 educators and teachers in training were administered a 41 item survey. For each item, respondents rated the extent to which they believed the behavior (a) occurred frequently and (b) represented a serious violation of professional standards. Four factors were identified: Personal Harm, Grade Inflation, Carelessness and Public/Private boundary violation. Personal Harm violations were rated as most serious and Carelessness violations most frequent. Professional educators viewed Carelessness violations as less serious than did teachers in training. Implications for a code of ethics for teachers were addressed.     

I think I made a mistake: How do prospective teachers elicit the thinking of a student who has made a mistake?

Journal of Mathematics Teacher Education - Interactions around unexpected, incorrect, or dis-preferred responses can be powerful sites of learning for both teachers and students. The information...     

“How do you feel about math?”: relationships between competence and value appraisals,achievement emotions and academic achievement

This study analyzes the relationships between cognitive appraisals, classroom and test emotions, and math achievement in a sample of 1219 Portuguese students from the 6th and 8th grades. Participants completed measures of perceived value, perceived competence, and seven math achievement emotions (boredom, hopelessness, anger, anxiety, enjoyment, pride, and relief) experienced in two different settings: classroom and tests. Math achievement was obtained from school records. Results showed significant associations between student competence and value appraisals, their emotional experiences in test and classroom situations, and their math achievement. However, when emotions were considered simultaneously in structural equation modeling, only anger in test situations and hopelessness were significant negative predictors of students’ math achievement. Hopelessness appears to play a particular role in the interplay between cognitive appraisals, emotions, and academic achievement as it is the only emotion that relates to math achievement both in test and classroom situations. Furthermore, findings also support the existence of differences in the relationships between cognitive appraisals and the achievement emotions students experience in these two settings.     

What does the teacher do?: Constructivist pedagogies and prospective teachers’ beliefs about the role of a teacher

The constructivist pedagogies that are increasingly part of teacher education course work and expectations emerge from an intellectual world where knowledge is seen as created rather than received, mediated by discourse rather than transferred by teacher talk, explored and transformed rather than remembered as a uniform set of positivistic ideas. Increasingly, teacher educators ask new teachers to learn how to elicit and then use students’ existing ideas as a basis for helping them construct new, more reasoned, more accurate or more disciplined understandings. While the role a teacher plays in developing or shaping students’ thinking via constructivist pedagogies is obvious to teacher educators who advocate such strategies, the case of Taylor, a prospective English teacher, suggests that the role a teacher plays when using these strategies may not be at all clear to prospective teachers. Rather than understanding constructivist pedagogies as techniques for thinking with learners, for teaching them, Tayor saw these strategies as ends in themselves. Faced with models of constructivist pedagogies, Taylor concluded that the teacher's role ends when she has activated learners, invited them to talk, successfully engaged their participation. This article describes how she reached this conclusion and explores the ways in which constructivist pedagogies can lead prospective teachers to project a thin vision of their role as a teacher.     

Barriers to environmental education: How do teachers’ perceptions in rural Ecuador fit into a global analysis?

Abstract

We identified 48 barriers to teaching environmental education reported by teachers in global literature and compared frequency to empirical data we collected from rural Ecuador, part of an understudied region and continent. We utilized Q methodology and interviews with 25 (78%) teachers at 6 schools to identify and categorize barriers. Perceptions of barriers ranked by Ecuadorian teachers were statistically classified into three factors: logistical (associated with fieldtrips, time, and money); training and lack of government support; and attitudinal (associated with student disinterest). In contrast, barriers related to student testing and controversial topics were only reported in more developed countries. Results enable region-specific recommendations.     

How do parents guide children towards ‘playing to learn’? Reflections on four studies in a special issue on self- and co-regulation in early childhood

Metacognition and Learning - This special issue on early self- and co-regulation addresses a topic that is founded on a rich mix of theoretical perspectives, including self-determination theory,...     

Conversations of family and primary school groups at robotic dinosaur exhibits in a museum: what do they talk about?

The story which a natural history museum wishes to tell to its self-guided visitors is presented through a number of different components, such as type of exhibit. However, this story from the museum may not be 'read' by visitors, who come with their own knowledge and understanding and read a different story in the animals. Increasingly robotic models are being used in natural history museums, science centres and zoos to attract visitors and tell some kind of story. To what extent are they successful in this and does the quality and context of the animatronics matter? What do the visitors actually talk about when looking at such robotic animals? This article focuses on primary school groups and families. Do they talk about similar things at the same exhibits even though the schools visit for educational purposes and the families visit of their own free choice in their leisure time. Furthermore, within school groups do different sub groups respond in a different way, gauged by the content of their conversations, to similar robotics? This article is a study of the responses of the conversational content of primary school and family groups to two different robotics dinosaur exhibits in the Natural History Museum, London. These verbal responses were analysed through using a systemic network. Results indicate that the animatronics have a simple, well thought out, story line which is 'read' by both the family and school visitors and hence increases their understanding of the topic of the exhibit.     

Are parents at a higher risk for secondary traumatic stress?: How interviewing child victims impacts relationships with forensic interviewer’s friends and family

BackgroundForensic interviewers are at a heightened risk for secondary traumatic stress (STS) due to their frequent interactions with victims of child maltreatment (Bonach & Heckert, 2012). To date, however, few studies have examined the negative effects of this work on interviewers’ social and emotional well-being.ObjectiveThe present study seeks to explore the effect of STS on the relationships of forensic interviewers, including those with friends, family, and their respective children.Participants and settingData are derived from a sample of 367 forensic interviewers (FIs) recruited from across the United States.MethodsThe current study used a cross-sectional research design to obtain qualitative and quantitative data from an online survey of certified forensic interviewers.ResultsPersonal-level predictors of STS included interviewers’ sex (β = 0.11, p = 0.02), trauma history (β = 0.13, p = 0.004), and frequency of socializing with family members outside of work (β = -0.12, p = 0.01). Work-related predictors included the frequency of direct (β = 0.10, p = 0.04) and indirect exposures to graphic details of child maltreatment (β = 0.09, p = 0.05), burnout (β = 0.58, p = 0.000), and years of experience investigating crimes against children (β = 0.10, p = 0.03). Factors such as parental status and external social support were not significantly associated with STS in the qualitative analysis.ConclusionsForensic interviewers experience both positive and negative effects of exposure to crimes against children, with work-related factors being particularly impactful on the potential for STS.