When ‘literacy is a bennie’: researching contested literacies in bilingual youth radio

This paper presents findings from an innovative school-based youth radio project for Mexican immigrant students. We draw on ethnographic and discourse data collected over an academic year, including multiple data representations from video and audio recordings, radio production artefacts, interviews, and still images. We begin our discussion with a close analysis of a rich moment in the project brought-on by the collision of divergent and contested models of literacy. We then follow the thematic development of literacy across chains of events and contexts to understand how literacy was constructed and enacted in relation to language, identity, empowerment and voice. The findings suggest that although school–community linked collaborations can give rise to contradictions and disturbance, such collaborations have the potential to become productive learning contexts for disaffected and underachieving students and their teachers.     

Environmental literacy of pre‐service teachers in Israel: a comparison between students at the onset and end of their studies

The adequate preparation of teacher education students in environmental education is a prerequisite for their future ability to design and implement effective environmental education. This longitudinal study compared the environmental literacy of 214 students at the onset and towards the end of their studies, in three academic colleges of education in Israel. A questionnaire and a paired pre‐test–post‐test design were used to explore environmental literacy variables and their perceptions regarding the contribution of their college studies to their environmental literacy and worldviews. Students towards the end of their studies reported increased involvement in most of the study’s environmental behaviour categories as compared to the beginning. Despite this, the pattern characterizing their environmental behaviour did not change: a negative relationship was found between the frequency at which they engaged in different behaviour categories and the environmental‐commitment‐level of the corresponding category. Overall, while their environmental attitudes were positive, both as beginning and advanced students, their level of environmental knowledge remained low. Advanced students noted the limited contribution of their studies to the development of their environmental literacy and worldviews. In spite of the improvement in students’ environmental literacy over the course of their studies, the levels of their environmental literacy towards the end of studies are still inadequate for educators. The findings from this study are of relevance to decision makers bringing environmental education into the policy of teacher education institutions, and for program developers, on effective directions for integrating environmental education given the structures and frameworks of current programs.     

Yaffa: a school of their choice?

This article is a product of in‐depth research in Yaffa, The Arab Democratic School that was carried out in 2004/05, as part of a study on alternative Arab education in Israel. Its aim, beyond telling the story of Yaffa, is to explicate the motivations that underlay this initiative, and to examine parental choice amongst the disadvantaged. We ask how the Arabs’ parental choice is affected by their (marginalised) social location, by how far they are from the dominant culture, and by their (in)capacity to make a difference. Apparently, to make a choice is a multidimensional act, reflecting the Palestinian citizens’ resistance to their marginalisation and unwillingness to be subjugated through non‐democratic educational perceptions. Their positionality resonates in Yaffa, as an act of intervention, and their search for an alternative reality where democratic education is not and cannot be separated from the Palestinian citizens’ need to imagine themselves as Arabs.     

Ethnography of a sustainable agriculture program: a case study of a social movement’s inception and growth on a university campus

This ethnography documents how the message of sustainability was interpreted and communicated through a sustainable agricultural (SAG) program at an American higher education institution. The ethnography documents the evolution of the program as the program tackled obstacles and accomplished its goals during the initial phases of the program’s development. A cultural communication framework is established in order to analyze the agitative, oppositional, intracommunal, and ritual communication utilized by the program’s members. The ethnography argues that the strategies and tactics employed by the SAG program alongside its curriculum and instruction are similar to the choices made by oppositional social movements. Findings reveal that when chosen and implemented intelligently, these strategies are as useful for a social movement within established academic institutions as they are for groups outside of them. The ethnography also highlights the importance of ritual communication as part of both education and social movement interactions.     

Environmental education technologies in a social void: the case of ‘Greendrive’

This article is based on a case study that follows the trajectory of a technological device aimed at environmental education from the engineering laboratory in which it was designed into the contexts in which it is used. ‘Greendrive’ is a driving simulator that accurately reproduces the performance of a vehicle in terms of fuel consumption and greenhouse gases emissions, in order to instill the principles of safe and environmentally friendly driving. The text is divided into three parts. The first part introduces the issue of transport behavior as one of the causes of climate change and the role of eco-driving in reducing emissions. The second part describes how a team of Portuguese engineering researchers developed the driving simulator and how a local authority and a consulting and training company are using it. Finally, the discussion part aims to show that despite the intentions of its creators and their clients, the driving simulator is unlikely, by itself, to generate changes in behavior. An information-deficit approach to environmental education that fails to consider the social embeddedness of human action and disregards the engagement of citizens has a very limited chance of success.     

What are their thoughts about inclusion? Beliefs of faculty members about inclusive education

Higher Education - Higher education institutions are required to promote inclusion. In this context, faculty members play an important role, which can be limited by their beliefs and prejudices....     

What is not working in working memory of children with literacy disorders? Evidence from a three-year-longitudinal study

The goals of this study were to explore the deficits in working memory associated with literacy disorders (i.e. developmental disorders of reading and/or spelling) and the developmental trajectories of these working memory deficits. The performance of 28 children with literacy disorders was compared to a non-disabled control group with the same group size at five bi-annual times of measurement in a three-year-longitudinal study beginning at the end of primary school (9.5 years of age). Storage capacity and central-executive working memory were assessed in phonological and visual-spatial modalities, the latter under static and dynamic conditions. Overall, children with literacy disorders were outperformed by their typical developing peers in all phonological and in dynamic visual-spatial storage and central-executive tasks except for the static visual-spatial storage task. Results at single times of measurement revealed that the most consistent deficit was found in the storage capacity of the phonological loop. An additional central-executive impairment is supported by low backward spans. The causes for output deficits in dynamic visual-spatial tasks and good performance under static visual-spatial condition are discussed.     

Promising effects of an intervention: Young children’s literacy gains and changes in their home literacy activities from a bilingual family literacy program in Canada

The goal of this paper was to examine promising effects of a bilingual family literacy program: to track the changes of families’ literacy activities through a bilingual family literacy intervention, and to examine the children literacy gains in both Chinese and English across socioeconomic sub-groups. The intervention was an eight-week, two hours per week, literacy program in three Chinese communities in Toronto. Parents, with their children, participated in the program. The extremely high attendance rate provided evidence that families enjoyed the family literacy intervention and felt that the sessions were worthwhile. For their families’ literacy activities, the three sites followed the same trend: reaching the peak of activity at week four, slightly dropping down at weeks five and six, and then increasing to a second peak at week seven or week eight. Results also showed that across the three groups, children of mothers with lower education levels made fewer gains in their English expressive vocabularies and their Chinese expressive vocabularies, than children whose mothers had a higher level of education.     

Responsive Classroom?: a critique of a social emotional learning program

This paper looks critically at the Responsive Classroom (RC) program, a social/emotional learning program used ubiquitously in elementary schools for teacher and student training, in the US as well as in Australia, the UK, and other parts of Western Europe. The paper examines empirical studies on RC’s efficacy and outcomes, many of which were conducted under the aegis of a single developmental psychology lab and in US schools. The paper critiques the faulty and potentially dangerous assumptions behind these studies, many of which adhere to obsolete ideals about developmentalism and perpetuate a harmful hegemonic positivity. The paper then examines the language and materials published by RC on its Web site, with an eye toward understanding precisely what the curriculum of RC is and what are its potential shortfalls for students and teachers. Finally, the author argues for an incorporation of theory from psychoanalysis and curriculum theory, as well as philosophical critiques of neoliberalism, for evolving a more nuanced view of difficult and emotional behaviors in the classroom. Literary theory is evoked in order to argue for the complexity of human emotion and the danger inherent in glossing over difficult experience. The paper closes with implications for further research into RC and other similar programs.     

What is protest? Feminism,psychoanalysis and methods of social change

ABSTRACT

Despite the fact that feminism has recognised psychoanalysis to be a theory with direct application to the understanding of sexism for over 50 years, the application of psychoanalytic thinking to feminist activism has yet to be significantly realised. Using the work of Julia Kristeva, sexism is described as a symptom of an intolerable situation and overt forms of activism, such as street protest, that are critiqued as making demands on their subject. The third-wave tendency for deconstruction is examined as having direct implications to a concept of psychoanalytically informed activism.     

Is students’ energy literacy related to their university’s position in a sustainability ranking?

Abstract

University rankings are increasingly important internationally, and in the UK include a sustainability ‘Green League’. However, there is little evidence about experiences of studying in ‘sustainable universities’. We report an empirical study at five universities in varied positions in the Green League, exploring students’ energy literacy, environmental attitudes and perceptions of their institution’s energy-saving efforts. Although the link to energy literacy is not clear, findings suggest that there are significant differences between students’ environmental attitudes at universities placed at different points in the league. In addition, students at higher ranked universities are more positive about their university’s energy-saving efforts, suggesting that these institutions may exhibit more overt manifestations of sustainability. This is important since students report being more likely to choose energy-conservation behaviours if there is visible representation of energy use. The study is the first to attempt a comparison between universities at different positions in a sustainability ranking.     

Can a social networking site support afterschool group learning of Mandarin?

Schools are often encouraged to facilitate extra-curricular learning within their own premises. This study addresses the potential of social networking sites (SNS) for supporting such out-of-class study. Given concerns that learning on these sites may happen at a surface level, we adopted self-determination theory for designing a social networking experience that aspired to offer a ‘community of inquiry’. A case study of a Mandarin class is reported, in which seven children voluntarily attended afterschool lessons and used a SNS for 12 weeks. Pedagogical strategies to create a sense of relatedness and competence and to offer autonomy support were used in order to steer their informal communication and exploration towards deep and meaningful learning. Our findings show that the online social networking activities are not used simply to extend formal lessons to informal online environment, instead they open up opportunities for students to benefit from informal exploration and thus enrich their experience of learning about the subject.     

Do teachers’ educational philosophies affect their digital literacy? The mediating effect of resistance to change

Education and Information Technologies - This study aims to reveal the direct and indirect effects of primary school teachers' educational philosophies on their digital literacy through...     

Do they really need to raise their hands? Challenging a traditional social norm in a second grade mathematics classroom

In an attempt to examine dialogue within a second grade classroom, students were encouraged to participate in whole-class mathematics discussions without raising their hands before speaking. Beneficial social and sociomathematical norms developed in place of this traditional social norm. Effects of this change on the dialogue and written mathematical explanations of a class of second grade students are described. Focus was placed on student participation in whole-class discussions. The study helped to determine the effects of student-centered dialogue on students' mathematical explanations and justifications as demonstrated in the students' discussions, participation, and written expression related to their mathematics learning.     

Linkages between children's and their friends' social and physical aggression: evidence for a gene-environment interaction?

Based on a sample of 406 seven-year-old twins, this study examined whether exposure to friends' social or physical aggression, respectively, moderates the effect of heritability on children's own social and physical aggression. Univariate analyses showed that children's own social and physical aggression were significantly explained by genetic factors, whereas friends' social and physical aggression represented "true" environmental factors that were unrelated to children's genetic dispositions. Multivariate analyses further suggested a possible gene-environment interaction in the link between friends' and children's physical aggression but not in the link between friends' and children's social aggression. Instead, friends' social aggression was directly related to children's social aggression, in addition to genetic effects on this behavior. Theoretical and practical implications of these results are discussed.