The development of left-right decentration in four- to seven-year old children

The study tries to disentangle the processes of left-right discrimination on self and on other refrents. Ninety-six 4- to 7- year old children were individually given several situations requiring left-right discrimination on self and decentration. Three related tasks were also presented: a lateralization task, an orientation task and a projection task. A semi-structured interview was finally conducted in which children explained their comprehension of left-right discrimination. Body rotations were recorded in the various tasks and during the interview. Correct deictic gestures and a measure of the children’s reasoning in the interview were also obtained. With respect to left-right discrimination on self, it was hypothesized that this kind of knowledge is anchored in the body and related to the lateralization measure. With respect to decentration, a task analysis was conducted. It was predicted that orientation and projection tasks are simple tasks mastered before left-right decentration, a complex task into which the simple tasks have to be integrated. Decentration requiring the coordination of an invariant component and of the variant component of orientation was expected to be positively correlated with body rotations. Different methodological improvements referring to reliability and validity were also introduced into the different assessment procedures. Results are confronted with the Piagetian hypothesis of interiorization of overt action into representation. An alternative hypothesis is proposed: it ties together the constellation of results obtained in the present study, and in recent studies referring to children’s cognitive development and adult’s nonverbal behavior.     

Brief Research Report: The Message Behind Teacher Emotions

Abstract

We hypothesized that students use the message behind teacher emotions to interpret the cause of their failure and to form competence beliefs; hence, in failure situations teacher anger could be beneficial. In Experiment 1, participants made judgments about another student’s failure in the face of teacher pity versus anger. Lack of ability attributions were made and low competence was perceived, when pity was interpreted as the teacher attributed the failure to lack of ability. Lack of effort attributions were made when anger was interpreted as the teacher attributed the failure to lack of effort. Experiment 2 replicated and extended these findings by examining students responses to their own failure. Findings imply that expressing anger is less detrimental than many teachers suppose.     

Supporting the Narrative Development of Young Children

This article presents the developmental continuum of children’s storytelling skills and provides examples at each of five levels: labeling, listing, connecting, sequencing and narrating. The authors connect these developing narrative skills to communication, literacy and cognition. Strategies to facilitate development from one level to another are described.     

Issues of Power and Representation: Adapting Positionality and Reflexivity in Community‐Based Design

Increasingly designers from an array of different disciplinary backgrounds work in international and community development, yet design education rarely prepares them for the challenges and roles in this context. The article reflects on issues of power and representation during design research in The Gambia by adapting reflexivity and positionality which are key concepts established in development studies. Reflections are based on research carried out in The Gambia since 2010 which is comprised of phases of immersion, mapping and co‐design. They provide in‐depth insights currently lacking in design literature that demonstrate the value of reflexivity and positionality to iterate roles and methods in community‐based design. Whilst not suggesting particular teaching methods, the article proposes the integration of these concepts into existing structures to better prepare students for increasingly common futures in the workplace. Broader themes that emerge and can be adapted to different design contexts include building trust, entanglement in power dynamics between different actors, personal vulnerability, as well as the need to challenge problems as starting points for design interventions.     

Stackable credentials and career/college pathways in culinary arts at Kingsborough Community College,CUNY

Discussions of workforce development emphasize stackable training, and assume linear advancement and alignment, through college and career paths. Stackable credentials have become a best practice for community colleges across the United States as they struggle to advance the college completion agenda and ensure that students graduate with the skills needed to find gainful employment. This study examined the concept of stackability in culinary arts at Kingsborough Community College in Brooklyn, New York. It compared employment and education opportunities for students enrolled in short-term training to those of students enrolled in an associate degree program. Its goal was to explore gaps between employer demand for trained workers and long-term investments in education. The study also aimed to suggest ways in which we can meaningfully support students in their pursuit of degrees, even as they seek employment in a high-growth sector for which education, experience, and job titles are often an imprecise match.     

How New is New Labour? The Quasi-market and English Schools 1997 to 2001

This paper focuses on the reforms made to the quasi-market in school-based education in England that occurred between May 1997 and May 2001. It discusses the changes that have taken place in relation to parental choice, admissions to schools, school diversity, fund-ing and examination 'league tables'. The Labour Government can be seen as having embraced the quasi-market with a similar enthusiasm to that of its Conservative predecessors although it has tended to emphasise social inclusion as opposed to competition. While it has attempted to soften the edges of the quasi-market it has not tackled some of its major deficiencies such as the power that schools that are their own admission authorities have to distort the admissions process.     

Exploring indicators of engagement in online learning as applied to adolescent health prevention: a pilot study of REAL media

Educational technology research and development - Engagement is central to the effectiveness of online health messages and the related educational programs that aim to deliver these messages to the...     

Collaborative action research on the learning and teaching of algebra: a story of one mathematics teacher's development

This paper presents the story of a mathematics teacher's transformation that resulted from her engagement in collaborative action research. The collaborative research, conducted by a university mathematics educator and an eighth-grade mathematics teacher (Marylin), centered on investigating the outcomes of implementing a Hands-On Equations approach to teaching algebra. This algebraic study, which is briefly reported herein, serves as a vehicle for examining the questions, reflections, and changes brought forth by Marylin throughout the collaborative process. Thus, the project of investigating the teaching and learning of algebra can be viewed as the sub-study within the broader study of the effects of collaborative action research on the mathematics teacher involved in the investigation. Within this paper, issues related to the broader study of collaborative action research in the mathematics classroom, that are connected to Marylin's transformation, are discussed. These issues include the characterization of and goals for collaborative action research as well as the challenges for collaborative action research in mathematics classrooms.This revised version was published online in September 2005 with corrections to the Cover Date.