Exploring the Field: Empowering voice and identity

This article reports on the findings of a research project (Exploring the Field) carried out with two Year 6 classes during the period of the FIFA World Cup in 2006. Drawing on Elaine Millard’s concept of ‘fusion literacy’ the pupils’ contributions to individual journals and a class blog are analysed. Key findings relate to ways in which the content of the project, which accorded with many of the pupils’ interests, combined powerfully with the communicative channels offered by the journals and blog. This combination gave some pupils new opportunities to find a writing voice and, given the global status of the tournament, raised particular issues about identity.     

Returning to the mirror: reflections on promoting constructivism in three educational contexts

Since the early 1980s educators have argued that reflection is an essential dimension of good pedagogical practice. This discussion of my attempt to support a constructivist approach to learning for three different groups of learners illustrates one effort to engage in such reflection. I analyze several assignments I have designed for differently positioned learners, all within the context of a liberal arts college in northeastern USA. Referring to the assignments I have developed in each context, I analyze the particular kinds of structures, challenges and supports I try to provide to learners, with the goal of surfacing the convictions I hold about learners' identities and capabilities. My intention is to identify underlying pedagogical principles that inform my practice across contexts, not only to make it clearer for myself and others what guides that practice but also, in an effort to acknowledge the evolving and interdependent nature of this work, to articulate the new challenges this analysis poses for me.     

Young Children's Understanding of Changes in Their Mental States

3-year-old children have difficulty reporting their past false beliefs. We investigated their ability to remember and report other types of past mental state, in particular, pretenses, images, perceptions, desires, and intentions. In a series of tasks, children were placed in one mental state, that state was changed, and they were asked to report the initial state. 4-year-olds were generally able to report all their past mental states, including beliefs. 3-year-olds were able to report past pretenses, images, and perceptions extremely well. They had great difficulty reporting past beliefs. Reporting past desires and intentions was more difficult than reporting pretenses, images, and perceptions, but slightly less difficult than reporting beliefs. The evidence suggests that 3-year-olds have difficulty understanding the nature of representation.     

Positively Different: Art and Design in Special Education

This article explores issues of ‘difference’ in terms of identity for disabled pupils, including those with special educational needs in the context of art and design education. By focusing on body image and fashion, positive and negative views of those with a different identity, in relation to inclusion and visibility, in society and formal schooling are addressed. Inclusive values for those in a special school are identified and promoted with reference to a particular project in art and design.     

'I Would Have Worried About Her Being A Nuisance': Workshops for children under three and their parents at Tate Britain

This article reports on a series of eight workshops for children under three and their parents. The workshops took place at Tate Britain, London, and they were collectively known as 'Big and small; short and tall'. The article outlines the approach used to evaluate the workshops, particularly the way in which parents' experiences, and their views on children's experiences, were given prominence. Despite the potential difficulties of taking very young children into an art gallery, most parents said they were pleased with their children's engagement. Parent feedback suggests that the structure and content of the workshops did much to enable them and their children to learn about art and artists together. Moreover, some confirmed that their joint involvement had stimulated further learning at home and life-wide learning more generally.     

What verbal protocols reveal about the reading strategies of deaf students: a replication study

Deaf students' reading strategies were identified by investigating these students' self-reported thinking during reading. In an earlier study (Schirmer, 2003), 10 elementary-level students attending a state school for the deaf had constructed meaning, monitored comprehension and activated strategies to improve comprehension, and evaluated comprehension, but had not demonstrated each of the reading strategies within these three overarching activities, all observed in previous studies of hearing skilled readers. Also, the students used a considerably greater variety of reading strategies for constructing meaning than for the other two activities. The replication study used the same procedure. Six elementary-level students attending a site-based public school classroom for deaf students thought aloud after reading each page of a short story. Analysis of these verbal reports indicated the participants performed similarly to those in the first study, thus supporting the reliability of results regarding reading strategies of readers who are deaf.     

"It just goes against the grain." Public understandings of genetically modified (GM) food in the UK

This paper reports on one aspect of qualitative research on public understandings of food risks, focusing on lay understandings of genetically modified (GM) food in the UK context. A range of theoretical, conceptual, and empirical literature on food, risk, and the public understanding of science are reviewed. The fieldwork methods are outlined and empirical data from a range of lay groups are presented. Major themes include: varying "technical" knowledge of science, the relationship between knowledge and acceptance of genetic modification, the uncertainty of scientific knowledge, genetic modification as inappropriate scientific intervention in "nature", the acceptability of animal and human applications of genetic modification, the appropriate boundaries of scientific innovation, the necessity for GM foods, the uncertainty of risks in GM food, fatalism about avoiding risks, and trust in "experts" to manage potential risks in GM food. Key discussion points relating to a sociological understanding of public attitudes to GM food are raised and some policy implications are highlighted.