Chinese children’s perceptions of aggression among peers at school

Recent research suggests that children may encounter aggressive behaviour during the transition from preschool to school. Yet, relatively few longitudinal studies have been conducted on children’s perceptions of aggressive behaviour in the transition from preschool to school. This study aims to fill a major gap in the literature by exploring Chinese children’s perceptions and experiences of aggressive behaviour, and their ways of coping with aggression, at three points in time: during the last month at preschool (Time 1), the first three months of Year 1 at school (Time 2) and the last month of Year 1 (Time 3). The present study also examines the role gender plays in 79 Chinese children’s perceptions of aggressive behaviour, as depicted in their drawings and accompanying narratives. The children mainly reported physical and verbal aggression rather than relational aggression. The findings provide robust data for understanding how children cope with aggression at school.     

Restructuring of schools as a consequence of computer use?

The central question discussed is whether the use of computers leads to the restructuring of schools or classrooms. Several authors argue that intensive use of computers must lead to new classroom patterns or new forms of schooling. Data from the international comparative study of computers in education, conducted by the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA), reveal that in almost all schools in industrialized countries activities with computers are taking place. However, a relatively small number of teachers are involved, and these activities are not indicating real changes in the structure of schools and classrooms.     

Why did you do that? Teachers explain the use of legal aggression in the classroom

Teachers (n = 233) who employ aggressive classroom management strategies were asked to theorise about their use. Levels of support for three theoretical explanations for aggressive behaviour were assessed via a 26 item scale. The items loaded to three factors: Attribution Theory; Efficacy Theory and Attachment Theory. Results indicated most teachers, 42%, supported Attribution, 34% supported Efficacy, and 33% supported Attachment as an explanation for aggressive behaviour. Moreover, 14% of teachers support all theories simultaneously, whilst 27% of teachers rejected all theories. The implications of these findings are that many teachers may be theoretically blind when it comes to classroom management: hence re- rather than pro-active. The importance of this finding for professional development providers and future qualitative research design is discussed.     

Parental entrepreneurship in public education: a social force or a policy problem?

Parental involvement in public education is an expression of joint responsibility between parents and the state in which parents are expected to comply with current educational policy. Moreover, parents are often perceived as reactive, whereas the educational administration is seen as proactive, mainly by reducing barriers and establishing mechanisms for parental involvement. Referring to proactive involvement in which parents practice noncompliance while fighting the system, this study conceptualizes ‘parental entrepreneurship.’ The practical aspects of parental entrepreneurship are analyzed based on three well-known manifestations: homeschooling, the integration of children with special needs, and parental cooperatives within early childhood education and care. Parental entrepreneurship further exemplifies the blurry boundaries between parents and administration as regards children’s education and demonstrates that the entrepreneurial role parents may play in reforming formal public education. Parental entrepreneurship also illuminates the ongoing renegotiation of the foundations of the social contract between parents and the government, primarily in relation to professionalism, legitimacy, and authority.     

Concordance of visual and manipulative responsiveness to novel and familiar stimuli: a function of test procedures or of prior experience?

Concordance of differential visual and manipulative responsiveness to novel stimuli at 6 months of age was found when differential attractiveness and familiarity of the stimuli were controlled. This finding corroborates the findings of an earlier study in which the same object was used as the familiarization object for all subjects. The data indicate that concordance at 6 months of age is not an artifact of the test procedure. A hypothesis suggested by the comparison of these findings with others in the literature is that the opportunity to manipulate a wide variety of objects in the natural environment may contribute to the concordance of visual and manipulative responsiveness to novel stimuli at this age.     

Tackling bullying: Victimized by peers as a pupil,an effective intervener as a teacher?

The present study focuses on student teachers as a prospective special resource in the prevention of school bullying in the course of their future professional careers. Special attention is paid to the influence the respondents' own childhood experiences of bullying may have in this regard. To investigate this question, we assessed the respondents' estimations of the level of empathy they felt towards the victims of bullying, the degree of effort they made to prevent bullying, and their ability to identify it. Further, an attempt to assess the long-term consequences of bullying was made, using two different communicative indices: the willingness to communicate and self-perceived communication competence. It is suggested that teachers' own experiences of victimization may enhance their ability to communicate effectively when fighting against bullying at school.     

Teacher use of the interactive whiteboards in Flemish secondary education—mapping against a transition framework

Interactive Whiteboards (IWBs) are a relatively new, but increasingly more common, tool in the classrooms of Flemish Secondary schools. This paper reports on research which attempted to map not only the amount of IWB use in Flemish secondary schools but, perhaps more importantly, to assess how they are used and the progress of teachers in developing their IWB skills in the classroom. An online quantitative survey was conducted, based on a detailed IWB transition framework. The survey (n?=?433) identified the distribution and usage levels of the IWB by teachers in Flemish Secondary Education. The results show that the distribution of IWBs is affected by the educational network to which a teacher belongs. In terms of the level of IWB use, teachers classified themselves predominantly in the first two stages of the transition framework (Black/Whiteboard Substitute and Apprentice use). This would suggest that teachers in Flemish Secondary Education have been initiated (in a technological sense) in using the IWB and are beginning to initiate (in a pedagogic sense) wider usage, including incorporating pupil use of the IWB. In this process, however, teachers appeared to be more confident in technical use of the ICT skills, but less confident in developing new pedagogic approaches which may exploit the full potential of the IWB.     

Are serious video games something more than a game? A review on the effectiveness of serious games to facilitate intergenerational learning

Aging diversity in organizations creates potential challenges, particularly for knowledge management, skills update and skills obsolescence. Intergenerational learning (IGL) involves knowledge building, innovation and knowledge transfer between generations within an organization (Ropes 2011). Serious games refer to the use of computer games in raising awareness about educational topics, acquiring new knowledge and skills by enabling learners to engage and participate in situations that would otherwise be impossible to experience (Corti 2006). Although learning with the use of serious games is similar to traditional learning in several cognitive respects, there are noted differences in the learning style and structure of learning using serious games. The success of learning using serious games lies in the actual involvement of a participant playing the game, which in turn, creates increased cognitive links with real-life situations allowing the individual to make relevant associations, to use mnemonic strategies with the facilitation of multi-dimensional educational aids (e.g., visual, auditory). Some of the beneficial aspects of learning with the use of serious games include the elevation of several cognitive skills, which are directly or indirectly implicated in the learning process. Among them are attention and visuo-spatial abilities, memory and motor skills. However, several barriers have been noted that fall into two general categories: a) health issues (e.g., cognitive strain, headaches) and b) psychological issues (e.g., social isolation, emotional disturbances). Since the training conditions are learner-centered and highly determined by the individual, there is increased need for evaluating the learning outcomes using specific success indicators. Examples of games that are designed to facilitate IGL are scarce, while there are no examples of IGL games in most EU countries. The purpose of this paper is to critically evaluate the current literature of theories on learning through serious games in adults and the elderly with reference to the cognitive mechanisms implicated, benefits and barriers in learning using new technologies in different generations. Secondly, this paper reviews the existence of serious games designed to facilitate IGL in Europe, as well as the characteristics of serious games in raising awareness that could be used to facilitate IGL. In doing so, specific focus is placed on the development of success indicators that determine the effectiveness of serious games on raising awareness on IGL.     

Good peers or good teachers? Evidence from a French University

Using a quasi-random allocation of students to classes in a French university, we are able to estimate peer effects and teacher effects, with a specific attention to non-linear peer effects. We find that teacher effects are strong, as found at other levels of the education system, but that peer effects have very limited impact. This implies that restricting student access to some universities is of no benefit to remaining students in terms of academic performance. In contrast, attention to teacher performance should be strong at the higher education level.     

Giving feedback on peers’ concept maps as a learning experience: does quality of reviewed concept maps matter?

Learning Environments Research - Giving feedback to peers can be a powerful learning tool because of the feedback provider’s active cognitive involvement with the products to be reviewed. The...     

Exploring a World of Number: a case study of the use of CD‐ROM in schools

ABSTRACT

This paper contains a case study of the use of a CD‐ROM in a Sheffield secondary school. Nine groups of students tackled a mathematical investigation presented through a video clip on the CD‐ROM The World of Number. The paper outlines three stages within the process of mathematical investigation and discusses the contribution of the CD‐ROM material to each stage of the students’ thinking. It concludes that the CD‐ROM successfully oriented students by engaging their attention and by illustrating the object of the investigation. The paper argues that The World of Number materials are most likely to be used in a self access setting even if this was not the specific intention of the designers. It discusses ways in which the materials could be made more suitable for self access work and argues that the role of the teacher is critical within self access learning. Finally, it is suggested that future CD‐ROM materials might contain a mix of expository material, games and additional resources such as text and statistical data.     

Self‐concepts of students with learning disabilities and their normally achieving peers: a review

In an attempt to test the assumption that children with learning disabilities (LD) have deficient self‐concepts, a number of studies have compared the self‐concepts of students with learning disabilities and their normally achieving (NA) peers. The purpose of this paper is to review recent studies that investigated the academic, social and general self‐concepts of students with LD and their NA peers and compare the results with those of a previous meta‐analysis of relatively older studies, by ­Chapman. Consistent with earlier findings, results of the present review indicated that the academic self‐concept of LD students is more negative than that of their NA peers. Unlike Chapman’s conclusion, however, the evidence is less clear for general self‐concept. This is also true for social self‐concept. Because the evidence that shows no group differences outweighs that indicating better ­social and general self‐concept scores for NA children, the conclusion that children with LD hold more negative social and general self‐concepts than do NA children is not warranted.     

Effects of a data use intervention on educators’ use of knowledge and skills

Data use is increasingly considered to be important for school improvement. One promising strategy for implementing data use in schools is the data team intervention. Data teams consist of teachers and members of the school leadership team, who collaboratively analyze and use data to solve an education-related problem at the school. This mixed-methods study aims at measuring the effects of working in a data team on the application of data use in ten secondary schools by using questionnaires and case study interviews. The results show that at the end of the intervention period, educators on the data teams did not apply data use more often for accountability actions, but seemed to be more aware of data use for school development and instruction. Furthermore, it seemed that the teachers made a start at applying data use for instructional actions.     

Fostering oral presentation performance: does the quality of feedback differ when provided by the teacher,peers or peers guided by tutor?

Previous research revealed significant differences in the effectiveness of various feedback sources for encouraging students’ oral presentation performance. While former studies emphasised the superiority of teacher feedback, it remains unclear whether the quality of feedback actually differs between commonly used sources in higher education. Therefore, this study examines feedback processes conducted directly after 95 undergraduate students’ presentations in the following conditions: teacher feedback, peer feedback and peer feedback guided by tutor. All processes were videotaped and analysed using a coding scheme that included seven feedback quality criteria deduced from the literature. Results demonstrate that teacher feedback corresponds to the highest extent with the majority of the seven identified feedback quality criteria. For four criteria, peer feedback guided by tutor scores higher than peer feedback. Skills courses should incorporate strategies focused on discussing perceptions of feedback and practising providing feedback to increase the effectiveness of peer feedback.     

A longitudinal confirmatory factor analysis of indirect and physical aggression: evidence of two factors over time?

The purpose of the present study was to examine whether indirect aggression was distinct from physical aggression across developmental periods. Participants were 3,089 Canadian children aged 4 to 7 years (Time 1), 6 to 9 years (Time 2), and 8 to 11 years (Time 3). Confirmatory factor analysis using an accelerated longitudinal design confirmed a 2-factor model that was stable across cohorts, time, and sex. The longitudinal predictive links between indirect and physical aggression were also examined in a path analysis. Findings did not support the notion that maturation is associated with changes in the ways children aggress but rather suggest that children are consistent in the type of aggression they use over time, whether it be indirect or physical.     

Does defending victimized peers put youth at risk of being victimized?

Defending peers who have been bullied is often thought to put defenders at risk of becoming victimized themselves. The study investigated the concurrent and prospective associations between defending and (peer- and self-reported) victimization, and examined popularity and classroom norms as potential moderators. Participants included 4085 Finnish youth (43.9% boys; M_age = 14.56, SD = .75; 97% born in Finland). Concurrently, defending was positively associated with self-reported victimization in classrooms with high bullying-popularity norms (b = .28, SE = .16). Defending was negatively associated with peer-reported victimization in classrooms with high defending-popularity norms (b = −.07, SE = .03). Defending was not significantly associated with future victimization, suggesting that it is generally not a risk factor for victimization.     

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.     

Microteaching: end of a research era?

This chapter provides a brief review of the development and use of microteaching. Research on modelling, practice, and feedback is reviewed and studies of the overall outcomes of microteaching are set against a discussion of conceptual models underlying microteaching. It is argued that despite the many published investigations of microteaching, few definite conclusions can be drawn about its effectiveness. This is attributed to lack of theory-guided investigations, and it is suggested that a synthesis of cognitive models for microteaching with recent work on teachers' thought processes might provide a profitable approach to future work.     

Educational technology: a presupposition of equality?

The work of philosopher Jacques Rancière is used conceptually and methodologically to frame an exploration of the driving interests in educational technology policy and the sanctioning of particular discursive constructions of pedagogy that result. In line with Rancière’s thinking, the starting point for this analysis is that of equality – that people are legally, morally, intellectually, and in their everyday practices discursively equal. The use of Rancière’s concepts, demos, police, and politics, to analyse three educational technology policies internationally shows that teachers are positioned within these policies as discursively unequal, and as intellectually inferior, not only in terms of technology expertise, but crucially as pedagogues. This positioning has important implications for teachers and teacher education. Teachers are capable of recognising and critiquing inequality, and this article makes a case for an act of politics that aims to reconfigure allocated identities and power imbalances in the educational technology order.