Action cycles: rhythmic actions for engagement with children and young adults with profound mental handicap

ABSTRACT

Rhythmic groups of cyclical movements—action cycles—were identified during interactions between adults and children and young adults with profound mental handicap. The cycles were allocated to five categories according to rate, each action cycle clearly having its own communicative purpose. There was a striking regularity of rate within each performed set of action cycles, this being observed in the people with profound mental handicap as well as the adults, with the regularity more marked in the faster cycles. The people with profound mental handicap performed similar actions for apparently similar reasons at similar rates to their caregivers, giving strong indication of a biologically robust system of basic emotional communication which can quite literally be tapped into by caregivers. Comparisons of video records of interactions between mothers and their non‐handicapped babies (4‐8 weeks old) in Scotland and Nigeria yielding similar action cycles and rates to those seen in the interactions with people with profound mental handicap support this hypothesis.     

Teacher education students' reflections on how problem‐based learning has changed their mental models about teaching and learning

Abstract

Students develop robust mental models of teaching and learning during their school years, and as such, often teach as they were taught—possibly perpetuating practices that limit intellectual inquiry in classrooms. This paper reports on an analysis, using a conceptual framework and NUD?1ST software, of a cohort of 3rd‐year teacher education students' reflections on changes in their mental models following their experiences in a problem‐based learning (PBL) topic. Results provide evidence that students do report changing mental models in areas such as (a) the value of case studies for engaging with subject content, motivating learning, and connecting theory with practice; (b) self‐reflection and peer collaboration for cognitive and professional growth; and (c) processes of inquiry for developing self‐regulated learning practices.     

Class‐size and Learning: the Tennessee experiment — what follows?

Abstract

The exceptionally large ‘Tennessee experiment’ — involving 7000 pupils — to elucidate the effects of class‐size on primary school pupils’ rate of learning has been widely interpreted as showing convincingly that classes of 15 pupils learn more rapidly, in an important sense, than classes of 24 pupils. The present re‐analysis in terms of value‐added in learning — the annual increase in SAT scores (rather than the absolute levels of those scores) — indicates that the benefits to average children resulting simply from a lowering of class‐size, while positive, are negligible in magnitude and not justifiable in relation to the additional economic resources required. The paper suggests that benefits are more likely to result from targeting additional resources to improved teaching styles, improved teaching materials and providing small classes for pupils with recognised learning difficulties; further research on class‐size needs to concentrate on the correct proportion of low‐attaining pupils that would benefit from attending small classes, the optimal size of such classes, and the fractions of the day which pupils with varying difficulties should attend small and normal‐sized classes.     

Case‐Based Teaching: Four Experiences in Educational Software Design

Abstract

Good teaching is good story telling. Case‐based teaching exploits the basic capacity for students to learn from stories and the basic desire of teachers to tell stories that are indicative of their experiences. The premise of software that used case‐based teaching would be to place a student in a situation that the student found interesting and where the telling of a story would be appreciated. First, case‐based teachers teach the student what he or she needs to know at precisely the point of becoming interested in knowing the information. This information should be presented in the form of stories. Law schools and business schools have been teaching this way for years. They teach cases rather than rules because, by and large, they don't have rules to teach. The second critical part of learning in a case‐based environment is teaching a student to abstract from what the student has been told, and adapting it to situations for which the student was not specifically trained.

At the Institute, we have, to date, built four examples of case‐based teaching software. The programs are:

VICTOR — a voice and image courtesy tutor — built for Ameritech

DUSTIN — a language experience — built for Andersen Consulting

CREANIMATE — a biology experience‐built for schools and supported by IBM

TAXOPS — a tax opportunity advisor and cross seller — built for the Tax division of Arthur Andersen     

Using Digital Technologies to Automate Instructional Design

Abstract

Recent advances in computer‐based interactive digital technologies have presented a broad range of possibilities to create powerful presentations and instructional messages. However, incorporating these new technologies effectively is not a simple task because the design of effective computer‐based instructional material is a complex process. Successful design involves interactions between individual learner characteristics, instructional delivery media, the type of specific knowledge and skills being taught, and the strategies and methods used to teach the material.

This paper discusses:

• — The need for an Automated Instructional Design

• — The integration of learning theory, instructional design and technology

• — Some approaches for automating instructional design

• — An exploration of ID Expert, ? an intelligent computer‐based multimedia instructional development system (beta version 1.0).

     

GIRLFRIEND THEOLOGY: GOD‐TALK ACROSS RELIGIOUS BORDERS

Abstract

Girlfriend Theology is a method of religious education by which women who have found power, voice, and authority might nurture resilience in adolescent girls within faith communities. This essay relates one portion of a larger project involving ethnographic research with fifteen females. These females gathered in small groups and followed a four‐part method that began with one person telling a story from her life. This paper shares one of these ninety‐minute story sessions in which a religiously diverse group engages in God‐talk. From four such Girlfriend Theology sessions arose seven theological assertions—statements about God, humanity, and communities of faith—that sometimes affirmed and sometimes challenged traditional interpretations. These assertions reflect emancipatory theological motifs when analyzed through the lens of womanist, mujerista, and Asian‐feminist theology. This essay draws connections between the story session reported and two of the seven theological assertions of Girlfriend Theology.

What would it mean for a girl—against the stories read, chanted, or murmured to her—to choose to tell the truth of her life aloud to another person at the very point at when she is invited into the larger cultural story of womanhood—that is, at . . . adolescence?

—Lyn Mikel Brown, Telling a Girl's Life     

A preliminary survey of the modern Italian theater

The purpose of this paper was to record observations of the Italian theater in 1969, including such aspects as its organization, popularity, plays, directors, actors, and acting. There are also necessarily brief observations about L'Accademia dell’ Arte Drammatica, the state supported dramatic school in Rome.

Noteworthy is the fact that the Italian government subsidizes permanent companies in principal cities. In addition there are other relatively permanent companies organized by one or more actors who may also write and direct.

Perhaps the most striking phenomenon observed was the Italian predilection for foreign playwrights and dead Italian authors, whose works make up a large percentage of the theatrical bill‐of‐fare. Among living playwrights, the names of Diego Fabbri and Eduardo di Filippo are most often mentioned by those Italians questioned.

Italian acting is broad, beautiful, and—above all—effective.     

EEG Aspects of Musical Thinking: listening,imagining and composing

The main aim of this contribution was to demonstrate a way of objectifying various aspects of musical thinking by analysing the continuously running EEG. In this respect, the determination of coherence between the brain‐electric activities at all possible recording sites (i.e., 171, for the 19 electrodes we use), together with power at these sites proved to be a useful method. For data reduction, only statistically significant differences between resting periods (usually 1 min) and periods of musical thinking were considered. This procedure was performed for each of six frequency bands between 1 and 31.5 Hz. The results of both group and individual experiments are reported.

In group studies, listening to music involved mainly the temporal regions of both hemispheres, yet in different frequency ranges. The results proved to be specific and clearly differed from those obtained during tasks involving mental arithmetic, silent reading, listening to text and others. Moreover, musically trained subjects produced more increases of coherence than the untrained.

While imagining music, usually more coherence increases (i.e., higher cortico‐cortical co‐operation) were found. The same is true of composing, which was found to be different from both previously mentioned manners of musical thinking and in which usually the highest degrees of cortico‐cortical co‐operation within and between the hemispheres were found. While composing, the uppermost beta band was the most involved. One sample illustrates the manner of representing the results.

It is hypothesized that coherence reflects—to some extent—’differential attention’, aconditio sine qua non for conscious experience.     

FROM CONFUCIAN MASTER TEACHER TO FREIRIAN MUTUAL LEARNER: CHALLENGES IN PEDAGOGICAL PRACTICE AND RELIGIOUS EDUCATION

Abstract

This article addresses the dilemma faced by religious and theological educators committed to a feminist, liberative pedagogy when teaching learners in the church whose Confucian upbringing has socialized them into different means of instruction. After a brief sketch of the Confucian ethos that permeates the life of such persons and communities in present‐day North America, the article examines the pedagogical practices of Confucius/Kongzi, traces the historical development of Confucianism, and suggests how we might live and teach in the tension of what appears to be two extremes of pedagogical practice.

At fifteen 1 set my heart on learning; at thirty I firmly took my stand; ... At seventy 1 followed my heart's desire without overstepping the boundaries of right.

—Analects 2:4

Learning something and practicing it often—is this not a delight?

—Analects 1:1

Whenever three persons walk together, there is sure to be a teacher for me.

—Analects 7:22

I learn without flagging and teach without growing weary.

—Analects 7:34     

Conocimiento,Colectividad y Curación: Understanding and Addressing Latinx Youth Mental Health and Wellness Through PAR Entremundos

Still one of the fasting growing minoritized groups in the U.S., Latinxs [we are using the term Latinx rather than Latino/a or Hispanic, unless a term is used by cited resources. See Scharrón-de Río and Aja (The case For “Latinx”—And why this term matters for intersectionality—everyday feminism [magazine], 2016)], historically, have endured major socio-economic and educational crises that have produced challenges to mental health and wellness. Unfortunately, the challenges many Latinxs face are often overlooked, misunderstood and underserved. This paper is a study of high school youth who were part of the Education in our Barrios Project, #BarrioEdProject, a Philadelphia-based participatory action research (PAR) collaborative, where high school-aged and undergraduate youth work together to conduct research on issues that affect their local communities and schools. Using an ecological-feminist-Latinx framework (Heiman and Artiga in Beyond health care: the role of social determinants in promoting health and health equity, 2015; Nelson and Prilleltensky in Pursuit of Liberation and Well-being, 2nd ed. Palgrave, New York, 2010; Smith and Romero in AJOP Am J Orthopsychiatr 80(1):12–25, 2010) the authors consider how #BarrioEdProject, as a form of PAR Entremundos, function as a space to support youth mental health and address oppressive social determinants of mental health. Drawing on observations, interviews, and written responses from participants, the authors assert that #BarrioEdProject and its curriculum of conocimiento can help participants identify the kinds of trauma that young people face, and create an experience where participants are humanized, share power and develop the skills to take social action.

     

Christian Education AS A THEOLOGICAL DISCIPLINE AND METHOD1

These seven articles, which are on the same theme as the forthcoming National Convention, are presented here to provide background “thinking of the Convention.”

We are indebted to the authors for their informative and helpful statements.

The papers and seminar reports of the National Convention will be published in the March‐April 1958 issue of RELIGIOUS EDUCATION.

—The Editorial Committee     

Cognitive Motor Coordination Training Improves Mental Rotation Performance in Primary School‐Aged Children

The long‐term physical activity in specific sport activities can change the quality of mental rotation performance. This study investigates the influence of Life Kinetik—a motion program with tasks of cognition and motor coordination—on mental rotation performance of 44 primary school–aged children. While the experimental group received Life Kinetik lessons twice a week for 5 weeks, the control group took part in regular physical education classes for the same period of time. Both groups performed a mental rotation task before and after the intervention. The experimental group showed a significant increase in mental rotation ability than the control group.     

Characterisation of Cognitive Difficulty Level of Test Items

Abstract

The study of subjects in science and technology involves high level thinking. Student‐material match at the design stage of a curriculum refers, in most cases, to the general criteria of thinking and learning theories, such as the ability to carry out ‘formal operations’ according to Piaget. The question of relevance may arise when dealing with a specific subject matter, in this context. Checking the student‐material match through an achievement post test enables us to refer to the relevant contents.

A method is proposed to characterise a test item through a content ingredient (Number of Schemes NS required for solution) and the required learner's resources (represented by the Problem Solving Taxonomy PST level). The Cognitive Difficulty Level CDL is then defined as: CDL=NS ? CDL.

The validity of CDL as a difficulty index of a test item, has been verified in the case of teaching basic electronics at the high‐school level (tenth and eleventh grades): a decrease has been obtained in students' achievement scores with an increase in the CDL value. Two types of student populations have been involved in the study: high and low achievers. The findings indicate that at the initial stage of learning a new subject, mainly the content factor (NS) affects the difficulty level of a mental task. After the ‘transient time’ has elapsed, both factors, NS and PST (i.e. CDL) affect the cognitive difficulty level. In the later stages, when the complexity of the material increases, the effect of PST becomes most dominant.     

Working Memory,Mental Capacity and Science Education: towards an understanding of the ‘working memory overload hypothesis’

Abstract

Researchers in science education recognise the importance of information processing capacity as a constraint on the abilities and achievements of science students. This constraint has been referred to as ‘mental capacity’ or ‘working memory capacity’, with the latter leading to the so‐called ‘working memory overload hypothesis’. However, rarely have researchers in this area been explicit as to the nature or theory of the mental capacity or the working memory system to which these terms refer.

In this paper we outline two possible models which have proved useful in studies of information processing in other domains. The first model (of mental capacity) developed by Pascual‐Leone and his colleagues has been applied in science education with varying degrees of success. The second model (of working memory) developed by Baddeley and his colleagues has been very successful in accounting for a wide range of cognitive activity, although it has not been applied to science education hitherto. We conclude that consideration of elements of the working memory framework may well prove fruitful in science education.     

The Use of Visual Media in Renaissance Cosmography: the Cosmography of Peter Apian and Gemma Frisius

Peter Apian's Cosmography (1524) first reached a large audience through the re‐editions of the Leuven mathematician Gemma Frisius. The book seems to have been intended as a didactic tool for use in a largely auto‐didactic and non‐institutionalised context. This disciplinary situation entailed the necessity of legitimation, which was partially attained by visual reference to instruments, available from the cosmographer‐instrumentmaker. Realistic depiction as well as explicit references to linear perspective painting were important means of reinforcing the rhetorical strength of these references. A second consequence of cosmography's educational context was the necessity of efficient didacticism. Because most of the (astronomical) subject‐matter of the Cosmography draws on visual thinking, powerful visual information was equally essential from this perspective. This was implemented in paper derivatives of common astronomical instruments included in the book itself. These at once enabled readers to train themselves in the use of various instruments and—because of the visualizing nature of these instruments as such—to become acquainted with specific aspects of astronomical visual thinking.

     

Tackling multimodal news: Some implications of critical analytical research on the ‘children overboard’ affair

Abstract

Accounting for front‐page news puts pressure on analytical resources, especially when news‐making is characterised by features such as overt political intervention in visual (photographic) and verbal (attribution) news data; explicit references to and investment in visual news to support political claims about news‐makers; and significant changes over time to a story, moving it from public scandal, through media disclosure to political defence. This article offers an account of how I tackled these analytical challenges in my research into the ‘children overboard’ affair in Australian newspapers.

The affair was generated from a false claim by Liberal Party ministers that asylum seekers threw their children overboard to coerce the Australian Navy into rescuing them. The story became front‐page news in October, 2001, helped to provide the Coalition with another term in office and greatly influenced public discourse about refugees and border protection. The article shows how I analysed semiotic resources such as voicing (in verbal news) and framing (in visual news) to track changes in this affair. It argues that political interventions in these semiotic resources (what I call ‘first‐order discourse') were pivotal in the management of news about asylum seekers. The article concludes by highlighting some implications of the methodology for critical analysis of multimodal news discourse.     

Form IV Cambridge School Certificate,Pupils' Aspirations in Zimbabwe

This article is based on two major studies. One study was carried out in 1985 and the other in 1987. The discussion examines Form IV Cambridge School Certificate pupils' aspirations in Zimbabwe with special reference to the post‐independence period. Among the main factors said to determine pupils' aspirations, highlighted in the study include: the class structures of scoiety, parents' occupations, gender, the urban‐rural dichotomy and the type of schools attended.

Pupils' aspirations for a developing country such as Zimbabwe have implications for the country's education policies. These implications are in areas such as the expansion of educational provisions, universal primary education, material provision, educational costs, manpower supply and demand and entry into the University.

As far as cost implications are concerned, there is debate in Zimbabwe as to whether the country can afford free and compulsory primary education given limited resources. At the same time limited resources have affected the quality of education. This article attempts to give suggestions as to what education policy makers could do to improve upon the situation.     

Literature for Swedish Lutherans in Colonial America, 1696–1730

In bis dissertation on the Augustana Synod and its significance for the construction of nineteenth‐century Swedish—American identity, DagBlanck examined the literature issued by the Augustana Book Concern. ^{1 1} Dag Blanck, Becoming Swedish‐American. The Construction of an Ethnic Identity in the Augustana Synod, 1860‐1917(Uppsala, 1997). One of the most important types of literature was the textbooks, intended for use in the Swedish—American schools. Blanck's analysis of their contents provides evidence that these textbooks served the purpose of constructing and implanting a certain Swedish—American identity by providing space not only for the Swedish cultural heritage, but also the American immigrant experience. Applying a similar perspective, this article discusses the significance of Swedish literature to the descendants of the New Sweden colonists at the turn of the seventeenth century. From the early 1690s and through the 1720s, the book supply comprised a major line of communication between Sweden and America. While previous research has emphasized the religious point of view and the missionary efforts conducted by Swedish authorities, the article analyses the book supply from the perspective of Swedish—American ethnic formation. Defending their rights to religious freedom and land possession, the old settlers mobilized along ethnic lines. In order to discuss what purpose this literature might have served in promoting Swedishness, the article presents an assessment of the extent and composition of the five major book deliveries to America prior to 1720. Particular attention will be paid to the construction of a special Swedish‐American literature.

     

Educating for Commitment: Insights from Postmodernity

Abstract

Secular pluralism in contemporary culture and current theological divisions within churches have important implications for Christian education. This paper addresses the question of how religious commitments can be made and convictions held outside of polarizing and exclusionary understandings of truth, and without the presence of uncontested doctrines. What habits, practices and dispositions should Christians cultivate in this context? It brings resources from postmodern theology and philosophy into conversation with the Anglican tradition, in order to propose ways that Christian education can foster faith commitment in the midst of pluralism and disagreement.

The best lack all conviction, while the worst Are full of passionate intensity.—W. B. Yeats, The Second Coming

Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing, there is a field. I'll meet you there.—Rumi     

Growing a caring community of life‐long readers

Abstract

This article highlights ways to generate the habit of life‐long reading. It describes exploration and discovery, satisfaction, and a caring community—with an emphasis on a caring community—as essential ingredients for cultivating life‐long reading in the early years. The narrative explains how selected strategies can be used in teacher education to show that the reading process is much more than phonetic decoding. At its best, reading is falling in love with print in the context of a caring, active, reflective community that uses words to make a difference in the real world.