Intergenerational activities

Early Childhood Education Journal - How can we prepare the young children of today for the future, when 20 percent of all Americans will be old? Education about the process of human aging can help...     

The Phoenix Rising: Emergent models of instructional design

The blurring of distinctions between online and distance education in many parts of the developed world has led to reflections on the strategies and processes by which we create effective online learning environments for the distance education learner. In this article we argue that the foundational models of instructional design that typically inform the design, development, and delivery of online environments do not always support the epistemology and pedagogy that embodies the online environment. Through an analysis of current approaches to instructional design we present a case for adopting principles of emergence theory as a means to best harness the power and potential of design and development for online distance education. Using a prototype three‐phase design model that embodies emergent principles we advocate that to achieve the full potential of interaction and community networks through online communications requires a repositioning of roles and processes associated with “instructional design.”     

Zum Verlauf des Zweitspracherwerbs im Migrationskontext

Zusammenfassung Die Entwicklung der mündlichen und schriftlichen Kenntnisse in Deutsch und der Sprache des Herkunftslandes bei Angeh?rigen der ersten und zweiten Einwanderergeneration aus den Gastarbeiter-Anwerbel?ndern, bei Aussiedlern und neuen Zuwanderergruppen wird beschrieben und Erkl?rungsfaktoren für Unterschiede werden mit Hilfe bivariater und multivariater Verfahren untersucht. Die Deutschkenntnisse der ersten Generation steigen zwischen 1984 und 2001 kaum an, wohingegen Aussiedler und Zuwanderer in kurzer Zeit relativ gute Fortschritte aufweisen. Die meisten Befragten sind bilingual. Defizite bei Deutschkenntnissen variieren nach Herkunftsland. Der Zweitspracherwerb erfolgt im Generationenverlauf, d.h. in Deutschland geborene Personen mit Migrationshintergrund haben in der Regel bessere Deutschkenntnisse als die erste Generation. Die Aufenthaltsdauer hat per se keinen Einfluss auf den Spracherwerb, ebenso wie das Geschlecht, w?hrend das Einwanderungsalter und die Schulbildung entscheidende Faktoren sind. Personen mit niedrigem Einwanderungsalter, Personen, die eine weiterführende Schule im Herkunftsland oder eine h?here Schule in Deutschland abgeschlossen haben, haben eine h?here relative Chance, gute mündliche und schriftliche Deutschkenntnisse zu erwerben.      

Dissecting the social body: social inequality through AIDS counter-narratives

HIV/AIDS conspiracy theories constitute a loosely grouped set of meanings that share the notion of secret collusion among allied parties. This paper traces one woman's etiological narrative of HIV/AIDS. Such embodied experience and cultural understanding when placed against the backdrop of current thinking on the topic in the United States builds a new framework for understanding the emergence and circulation of HIV/AIDS conspiracy theories as "counter-narratives" employed by individuals and publics in the face of the AIDS pandemic. Such counter-narrative creates a rhetorical space for challenges to power through the articulation of oppositional ideas about dominant scientific knowledge. Without a critical exploration of HIV/AIDS conspiracy theories that examines their emergence and effects as a form of discourse circulating in the public domain, public health advocates will not be able to trace and respond to these narratives' impact on HIV prevention efforts or consider their relevance for other emerging infectious diseases.     

Sozialer Status und Spendenverhalten Ehrenamtlicher in Sportvereinen

While much research has been done to analyze whether socioeconomic status influences prosocial behavior in the form of donations, no consensus has yet emerged in the relevant literature. We contribute to this research by studying, based on a dataset from a questionnaire of volunteers of sports clubs in Palatinate (part of Rhineland–Palatinate, Germany) whether social status affects donations. We measured social status of volunteers of sports clubs along the dimensions income, vocation, education and we considered status crystallization. Results showed that social status has a positive effect on the likelihood of donations. We report similarities and differences across different categories of donations (donations to one’s own sports club, to other clubs, to aid projects, and political parties).     

Group size and organisational conditions for children’s learning in preschool: a teacher perspective

Background:?There is a limited amount of research about group size in preschool, and how it impacts on teachers’ working conditions and their ability to support children’s learning and knowledge development in line with curriculum intentions.

Purpose:?From a perspective on quality, this article examines the organisational conditions for children’s learning in preschool in relation to group size. The questions at issue are: how do teachers explain how they organise the child group and the learning environment in preschool, and why?

Sample:?The sample consists of 12 preschools from different parts of Sweden. The preschools selected for the study are stratified in order to represent small and large group sizes in Swedish preschools as defined by the Swedish National Agency for Education. The sample contains both urban and rural regions and represents districts that differ geographically, demographically, ethnically, and which include varied socioeconomic structures. The 12 preschools had children in three age groupings: 1–3, 3–5 or 1–5. The number of children in the participating preschools ranged from 12 children to 45 children, with seven of the preschools having more than 30 children in their groups.

Design and method:?The article is based on interactionist perspectives, Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems theory, a critical ecology of the early childhood profession, theories of children’s learning, and four dimensions of pedagogical quality. Together, these theoretical perspectives contribute to an understanding of the relationships between policy issues, educational goals, group size and teachers’ competence in organising and creating conditions for children’s learning. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with two teachers from each of the 12 preschools. The interviews lasted between 40–60 minutes and were recorded and transcribed verbatim. The analytical process was conducted in three steps and can be described as an analytical process of abduction. The four dimensions of pedagogical quality were used as analytical lenses to discern and understand critical aspects related to the teachers’ understanding of group size.

Result: Irrespective of group size, most of the children participate in different group constellations throughout the day, some organised by the teachers and some by the children themselves. Teachers’ competence to organise the children in such ways that good conditions for learning were created, differed between preschools, and depended on the teachers’ approach, which can be described as either intentional or unintentional learning.

Conclusion: Teachers’ organisational approaches influence the quality of the preschool and conditions for children’s learning in distinct ways.     

The Development of Consciousness Through the Supervision Process

The process of supervision can be regarded as an integrative process that enables the development of consciousness, since it helps counselors become aware of problems and search for ways of solving them. In this article the processes of supervision that lead towards growth and development of the professional and personal selves of an individual are examined. The process of supervision is related to several theoretical concepts that explain development in adulthood. Special emphasis is given to wisdom as a potential, natural stage of adult development, to the systemic or ‘construct aware’ stage of reasoning and to an attitude of self-questioning.