Understanding prior intentions enables two-year-olds to imitatively learn a complex task

This study investigated children's understanding of others' intentions in a social learning context. Specifically, it investigated whether knowing an adult's prior intention before the adult gives a demonstration influences what children learn from the demonstration. In the five main experimental conditions, ninety-six 2-year-old children watched as an experimenter (E) pulled out a pin and opened the door of a box. Children in two No Prior Intention conditions saw this demonstration alone or paired with an irrelevant action. Children in three Prior Intention conditions knew what E was trying to do before the demonstration: they first saw E either attempt unsuccessfully to open the door, or visit and open several other containers, or they first saw that the door opened. Children opened the box themselves more often in each of these three conditions than in the two No Prior Intention conditions, even though children in all five conditions saw the exact same demonstration of how to open the box.     

Voices and choices: how education influences the career choices of young disabled people

The changing British society with new commitments to educational inclusion for disabled people should mean increased individual freedom of choice and greater chance of participation. However, juggling this with the continuing emphasis on education for the economy brings the danger of new forms of social exclusion of those who do have different needs and require additional support to take advantage of opportunities and make informed decisions about their professional futures. This contradiction encourages the deteriorating academic and career-oriented foresight of special schools and the inclusion of all disabled students in mainstream education, without providing enough support to cater for the diversity and differentiation it generates. This paper adds to this debate by reporting on the work in progress of a project funded by the European Social Fund, concerning the educational experiences of a group of young disabled people still in full-time mainstream or special education. It presents some personal accounts of the young people's perceptions of how their educational environment influences their personal aspirations for future careers and post-school choices. This research strives to give a voice to young disabled people, informing policy concerned with young people, education and transitions to work.     

Predicting the outcomes of physical events: two-year-olds fail to reveal knowledge of solidity and support

Two-year-olds' (N = 153) knowledge of solidity was tested in four search tasks adapted from infant looking-time experiments. In Experiment 1, 2-year-olds failed to search in the correct location for a falling ball after a hidden shelf that blocked its trajectory had been inserted in the apparatus. Experiment 2 extended this finding by showing that 2-year-olds failed to take into account the effects of either removing or inserting a shelf in their search for a toy dropped behind a screen. Experiment 3 examined sensitivity to the constraint provided by a solid barrier on horizontal motion. In all three experiments, 2-year-old children searched initially at the location where they saw the object during familiarization. Experiment 4, using multiple test trials but no familiarization to a pretest location, also showed that 2-year-olds failed to take the presence or absence of a barrier into account when planning where to search for a toy they had seen dropped behind a screen. In all of these studies, 2-year-olds showed no evidence of representing solidity and support constraints on the trajectories of falling objects. Experiments 1 and 3 also included 2 1/2-year-olds (N = 31), who succeeded on these search tasks. The implications of the poor performance of 2-year-olds, in the face of success by very young infants on looking-time measures of sensitivity to similar constraints on object motion, are discussed.     

Men and women academics: An Anglo-American comparison of subject choices and research activity

In both the U.S. and the U.K. women academics are concentrated in certain subject fields. There is considerable similarity between the two countries in this respect: women are found in relatively large numbers in the humanities and are virtually absent from the applied sciences, but in both countries they are a small minority in all five major subject areas. In the U.S.A. the degree of polarisation between the men and women is greater than in the U.K. This is also true with respect to the teaching and research activities of men and women: in both countries women tend to publish fewer articles than men, but in the U.S. the difference is greater. The degree to which this is true varies according to subject fields; it is most marked in the humanities and least marked in the social sciences and applied sciences. There is one unexpected difference between the two countries: whereas in America women teach more than men, in Britain they teach less except in the social sciences. The causes of the different behaviour and interests of men and women academics are likely to be a function both of cultural definitions of male and female roles in the wider society, and institutional factors associated with educational systems both prior to the university stage and at that stage.

     

Becoming a social partner with peers: cooperation and social understanding in one- and two-year-olds

One- and two-year-old peer dyads were presented with a simple cooperative task. Age differences were found in amount of coordinated activity, monitoring the peer's activity and location in relation to the goal, and attempting to achieve the goal when the peer was (or was not) available as a partner. One-year-olds' coordinated actions appeared more coincidental than cooperative whereas older children appeared to be more actively cooperating toward a shared goal. Differences in coordinated activity with peers were associated with differences in attention sharing with an adult and with language about self and other. The ability to cooperate with peers, becoming a true social partner, develops over the 2nd and 3rd years of life in concert with growing social understanding.     

Supporting the Ordinary School

In the wake of the Education Act 1981, the Department of Education and Science commissioned three major research studies. These were concerned respectively with: in-service training (Manchester University and Huddersfield Polytechnic); the implementation of the Act (London University Institute of Education); and support for the ordinary school (National Foundation for Educational Research). All the studies were completed by 1986, and numerous publications have resulted from them. Dr Seamus Hegarty, deputy director at the Foundation, summarises findings from the NFER study.     

Predicting family communication choices

The selection of a mode of communication by members of a family with a deaf child is a critical decision in the life of that family since it will condition how the family will be able to function in the future. However, while some writers have considered the outcomes of this decision, there is little information on factors that influence the decision. The purpose of this study was to examine why families developed one pattern of communication rather than another. The data came from the parents of 192 deaf adolescents who responded to a nationally distributed questionnaire. Results suggest that the mother takes the lead in determining the family's choice of a mode of communication. The single largest influence on the mother's mode of communication was the child's degree of hearing loss, followed by the child's mode of preschool education and the mother's level of education. The implications of this study for those who wish to promote the use of manual communication in families with a deaf child is to target mothers, particularly those who are less well educated, for intervention and training programs.     

Supporting the Mainstream Teacher

What support is most helpful for those who teach pupils with special needs in ordinary schools? Louise Clunies-Ross, deputy education officer, RNIB, describes a recent study undertaken with former colleagues at the NFER     

生物学选择题的讲评方法

教师在评讲考试后选择题时,除了抛出正确答案,让学生订正答案、对学生出错较多的题目一一加以解释外,还需要对所考查的知识点做归纳总结,以及必要的拓展,达到辨析所学的概念及巩固所学的原理,使学生下次少犯重复性错误。笔者本着学生自主学习的新课程理念,做了一些尝试,介绍如下：     

Supporting the development of shy children

Shyness is a fairly common emotion among children and adults and continues to receive considerable attention from teachers, parents, and researchers. A self-study of 5,000 people indicated that 80% reported being shy at some point in their life (Zimbardo, 1977). More recent research (Kagan, 1989) suggests that approximately 15% of all children are born with a predisposition to be shy.Janis Bullock is Assistant Professor of Early Childhood Education in the Department of Health and Human Development, Montana State University, Bozeman, MT.     

为转基因食品正"名"

一些商家利用公众对转基因食品的怀疑,误导消费者——转基因成分有害健康。本文科学分析了转基因食品的安全隐患和质疑,介绍了我国转基因食品的审批和安全管理,呼吁消费者要科学对待转基因食品。     

个人选择与制度变迁

个人需要制度,也在不断地选择制度。制度选择包括不同制度之间的选择和既定制度下个人行为方式的选择,其结果将引致制度的变迁。     

life is all about choices

迈克尔是那种你真想恨一恨的家伙,他总是乐呵呵的,总是说些积极上进的话。每当有人问他近况如何,他总是这样回答:“如果我还能再好,我就成双胞胎了!“他生来就会让人积极进取。如果哪位雇员有天过得很糟糕,迈克尔就会告诉他如何看待问题的积极一面。看到这一点着实让我好奇,所以有一天我找到迈克尔问:“我真弄不明白。你不可能时时万事如意。可你怎么这么乐观?“迈克尔回答说,“每天早晨醒来时我心理想,‘迈克,今天你有两种选择。你可以选择心情愉快,你也可以选择心情恶劣。’     

Effects of epistemological sensitization on source choices

The uneven distribution of knowledge within modern societies requires a reliance on sources (e.g., reference books, teachers, the Internet) in addition to own experience. Most scientific issues are far too complex to be understood in any depth by laypersons. Successful knowledge acquisition comprises the ability to vary the amount of sources used and to appreciate different sources in different contexts. Epistemological beliefs (i.e., learners’ beliefs on the nature of knowledge and knowing) might affect this task. We report research on secondary school students’ decisions about the amount of sources they would use and their source appreciation (the perceived usefulness of several sources), the impact of epistemological beliefs on such decisions, and their adaptivity to the contextual circumstances of the information search. After exposure to an experimentally induced epistemological sensitization, the students provided information on how they would proceed to confirm given knowledge. Study 1 explored the amount of sources (source quantity and access approaches). Study 2 investigated the perceived usefulness of several sources (source appreciation). Results showed an increase in the amount and appreciation of sources in a high-involving context and after sophisticated sensitization. More sophisticated beliefs led to a larger increase in the amount of sources in a high-involving context. Furthermore, epistemological beliefs predicted the difference in source appreciation between contexts. Conclusions are drawn for the use of sensitization and the teaching of digital literacy in schools.     

Supporting the Narrative Development of Young Children

This article presents the developmental continuum of children’s storytelling skills and provides examples at each of five levels: labeling, listing, connecting, sequencing and narrating. The authors connect these developing narrative skills to communication, literacy and cognition. Strategies to facilitate development from one level to another are described.     

为转基因食品正“名”

一些商家利用公众对转基因食品的怀疑,误导消费者——转基因成分有害健康。本文科学分析了转基因食品的安全隐患和质疑,介绍了我国转基因食品的审批和安全管理,呼吁消费者要科学对待转基因食品。     

复杂性视域中的教育选择

教育是一种复杂性社会实践活动,教育的未来发展存在多种可能性,这种发展的多可能性便构成教育可选择的客观前提。然而,机械决定论统摄下的教育完全成为一种可操作的技术性行为,即教育目的事先被预设,教育过程中多种可能性为一种可严格预期的运作模式所替代,教育行为被严格控制,教育结果相应地成为教育计划的附属品,主体的能动性与选择权被无情扼杀。因此,必须走出简单教育的樊篱,树立复杂性教育思维,归还教育主体以选择权,步入本真意义的教育殿堂。