Artful Dodgers: an arts education research project in early education settings

Artful Dodgers is an arts education project developed by two artists and delivered in two early years settings located in two areas of urban disadvantage. It is a music and visual arts programme designed and implemented with early years teachers of children aged 3–5 years. It explored whether the provision of high-quality arts experiences could enhance children’s emerging literacy and numeracy. A novel ‘artist in(formed) residency’ model was developed within a unique arts education research design. Piloting a tripartite relationship between researchers, artists and early years teachers, this study was situated within a qualitative action research paradigm, with both artists located in both services weekly over a 12-week period. The evaluation of the programme indicates changes in pedagogical planning and style in the early years teachers over the period of the artists’ residency. Their language became more reflective and their practice incorporated a wider and richer range of materials; there was greater evidence of more child-led activities and unstructured play opportunities over the duration of the study. The data suggest that children’s social, cooperative and communication skills were enhanced. Recommendations have implications for the professional development of artists and teachers working in early years settings.     

Comparative analysis of academic grades in compulsory secondary education in Spain using statistical techniques

The present study, based on the construct comparability approach, performs a comparative analysis of general points average for seven courses, using exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and the Partial Credit model (PCM) with a sample of 1398 student subjects (M = 12.5, SD = 0.67) from 8 schools in the province of Alicante (Spain). EFA confirmed a one-factor model which explains 74.44% of the variance. Cronbach’s alpha value for this factor was .94. The PCM supported the one-factor model, and an optimal fit was achieved in all of the courses. The analysis of differential item functioning showed no significant differences in any course. Equitable distribution was observed in the evolution of the difficulty indices along the measurement scale for each course. This type of analysis confirms the measurement of a single latent construct in the different topics analysed, despite addressing various theoretical and procedural contents.     

The Progression of Prospective Primary Teachers’ Conceptions of the Methodology of Teaching

This article describes the evolution of prospective primary teachers’ conceptions of the methodology of teaching. Three categories were analyzed: the concept of activity, the organization of activities, and the concept of teaching resources. The study was conducted with five teams of prospective teachers, who were participating in teacher education courses of a constructivist orientation. The results showed very different itineraries in the processes of change, and the presence of two major obstacles—the belief that teaching is the direct cause of learning, and epistemological absolutism. The study allows us to deduce some implications for initial teacher education.     

The origin of counting: A study of the early meaning of ‘one’, ‘two’ and ‘three’ among Basque- and Spanish-speaking children

This study examines the beginning of the conceptual understanding of the first number-words and what role language can play in developing the notion of numbers. To that end, 2?- and 3?-year-old Basque and Spanish monolingual children's (N = 131) basic numeracy skills are analysed by means of two different experimental procedures: Give-N (in which children are requested to gather sets of objects) and How-Many (based on the ability to count collections). The paper accounts for differences as regards the performance in the Give-N procedure between children with different linguistic backgrounds. In accordance with previous research, this finding can be related to the dissimilar ways by which languages (Basque and Spanish, in this case) express grammatical number, supporting the idea that language plays a definite role in the emergence of the earliest set-size meanings of ‘one,’ ‘two,’ and ‘three’ number-words. Eventually, the work attempts to contribute to the growing body of evidence that shows that the meaning of the count-list appears from mapping numerals onto numerical cognitive representations produced by early core systems of numbers.     

一种新的EBPSK通信系统检测器

为了提高扩展的二元相移键控(EBPSK)接收机的检测精度,设计了一种基于改进粒子群算法(IMPSO)和BP神经网络的EBPSK检测器.首先,阐述了EBPSK调制特征及冲击滤波器的特殊滤波机理.然后,提出了基于logistic混沌扰动和Cauchy变异的改进粒子群算法,并利用IMPSO-BP神经网络设计了EBPSK检测器...     

Student teachers' perception of their role and responsibilities as Catholic educators

This article is concerned with 26 primary and secondary student teachers' early perception of themselves as Catholic educators in Scotland. It analyses their perspectives on what it means to be a Catholic teacher, what is expected of them by the Church and what motivated them to choose this particular career path. Discussion of these issues reveals an astute awareness of their role in the Catholic sector but a deep apprehension about their ability to succeed in fulfilling this. Their religious biographies and identities highlight much about the Scottish context of which they are a part, yet their responses to faith indicate differing levels of confidence in teaching, particularly with regard to the content of the Religious Education curriculum which they are expected to implement. The challenge these students present to the major stakeholders in Scottish education is to provide them with adequate support in developing their own faith—and knowledge and understanding of it—in order to enable them to carry out their role as Catholic teachers effectively within the state‐funded system.

Cet article se base sur 26 instituteurs et professeurs en formation et leur auto‐perception comme formateurs catholiques en Ecosse. L'article analyse leur compréhension de ce que veut dire être professeur catholique et de ce que l'Eglise attend d'eux ainsi que les raisons de leur choix particulier de cette profession. La discussion qui s'ensuit révèle une comréhension pointue de leur rôle dans l'éducation catholique ainsi qu'une inquiétude marquée de ne pas être à la hauteur de cette tâche. Leurs biographie et identité religieuses révèlent clairement le contexte écossais dont ils font partie, quoique leurs différentes réponses devant la foi ne manifestent pas le même niveau de confiance en tant que professeur surtout à l'égard du curriculum de l'enseignement religieux qu'ils sont censés maîtriser. Le défi, présenté par ces étudiants aux intéressés de l'éducation écossaise, est de leur apporter le soutien nécessaire au développement de leur foi, à sa connaissance et à sa compréhension afin qu'ils puissent bien remplir leur vocation d'enseignants catholiques dans l'enseignement public.

Dieser Artikel handelt um die anfaengliche Einschaetzung von 26 Referendaren der Grund‐ und Hoeherenschulen ueber sich selbst als katholische Paedagogen in Schottland. Er analysiert ihre Perspektiven darueber, was es fuer sie heisst ein katholischer Lehrer zu sein, was die Kirche von ihnen erwartet und was sie motiviert hat diesen beruflichen Werdegang auszuwaehlen. Diskussionen ueber diesen Themen zeigen eine aufschlussreiche Bewusstheit ihrer Rolle im katholischen Bereich, aber geleichzeitig verbunden mit einer tiefen Besorgnis dies selbst erfolgreich erfuellen zu koennen. Ihre religoese Biografien und Identitaeten sagen viel aus ueber die schottischen Umstaende dem sie angehoeren. Dabei zeigen die Schwankungen in ihren Antworten, in Punkto Glauben, unterschiedlichen Grad an Vertrauensniveau zur Lehrtaetigkeit, besonders in Bezug auf den Inhalt des Lehrplans aus dem Religionsunterrichts, den man von ihnen zu leisten erwartet. Die Herausforderung, die diese Studenten den Haupt‐Interessensvertreteren der schottischen Bildung darlegen, ist ihnen die entsprechende Unterstutzung zu bieten, ihren eigenen Glauben zu entwickeln—und das Wissen und das Verstehen darueber—um ihnen zu ermoeglichen, ihre Rolle als katholische Lehrer innerhalb des staats finanziertem Bildungssystem effektiv durchzufuehren.

El artículo constituye un estudio de veinte‐seis individuos que quieren ser profesor(a) o maestro(a) y sus percepciones instintivas de ellos mismos como formadores Católicos en Escocia. Esta es el análisis de sus perspectivas sobre la significación de ser un profesor Católico, las expectaciones de la Iglesia Católica, y las razones por qué están inspirado por esta carrera específica. Una discusion de esos asuntos no solo revela un conocimiento astuto de sus papeles en el sector Católico pero tambien una aprensión muy profunda de su capacidad tener éxito y realizar sus papeles y tareas. Sus identidades y biografías religiosas subrayan mucho el contexto escocés en que ellos participan, sino la variedad de sus respuestas a la fe ilustra distintas calidades de confianza para enseñar, especialmente con respecto a lo que está incluido en la curricula de la educación religiosa que tienen que enseñar. El desafío que esos estudiantes presentan a los que estan encargado de la educación Escocésa es proveerles—a los estudiantes—de apoyo suficiente para desarrollar sus propias fes—y conocimiento y entendimiento de ella—para permitirles cumplir eficazmente sus papeles como profesores(as)/maestros(as), especialmente dentro de un sistema que depende de fondos del Estado Civil.     

Approximating Whiteness: Race,Class, and Empire in the Making of Modern Elite/White Subjects

This essay takes up the messy relationship between whiteness and eliteness at the site of elite schools under conditions of global racial capitalism and empire. Rubén Gaztambide‐Fernández and Leila Angod theorize this relationship by describing the slippery ways in which whiteness and eliteness co‐constitute each other and by tracing how the relationship between eliteness and whiteness is both historical and spatial. They argue that, in the twenty‐first century, the entanglement between eliteness and whiteness produces a particular affective configuration and that elite schooling has become the key mechanism for producing what they call the elite/white subject. Gaztambide‐Fernández and Angod trace the making of the elite/white subject through three processes: the unhinging from time/history; the unhinging from space/land; and the obfuscation of whiteness/eliteness through the production of a particular cosmopolitan affect. They do this by looking specifically at how non‐White subjects are invited into eliteness, always in a paradoxically precarious approximation in which whiteness, and therefore eliteness, can always be revoked. The ongoing collusion between the particular spatial and historical dimensions of the production of eliteness obfuscates the ways in which becoming elite always requires an approximation to whiteness and how both whiteness and eliteness must be constantly produced and secured.     

Constructing Explanations in Science: Informal Formative Assessment Practices Among Science Teachers of English Learners

Research in Science Education - Informal formative assessments (IFAs) are classroom interactions teachers use to gather information about their students’ learning, interpret it, and act on...