Do young children think of television images as pictures or real objects?

Three studies investigated whether 3‐ and 4‐year‐olds interpret television images as mere pictorial representations of objects or as real, physically‐present objects. Four‐year‐olds gave clear evidence of making the former interpretation whereas 3‐year‐olds seemed to make the latter one. However, the data suggest that the younger children's errors reflect a failure to differentiate conceptually between television images and their referent objects rather than a conviction that real objects populate television sets.     

Effect of the Learning Consortium: One District's Journey

The Learning Consortium has provided the conditions for Consortium partners to construct a more meaningful approach to instructional change. Those conditions focus on four opportunities: (1) to build on individual accomplishments; (2) to create a broader view of the educational picture; (3) to share and interact with wider audiences; and (4) to re‐focus on the future. This article applies those conditions to illustrate the Durham Board of Education's efforts to extend the instructional practices of their teachers. The major message is that extending the instructional practices of teachers requires an intensive effort over time.     

Effects of an art-based environmental education camp program on the environmental attitudes and awareness of diverse youth

ABSTRACT

This study used a combination of surveys and drawing-based metrics to evaluate whether integration of art-based activities into EE camp programing could enhance environmental orientations of diverse youth ages 6–12 (n?=?285) in Athens, GA, USA. Compared to a control group, art-based EE had a positive effect on children’s eco-awareness and environmental knowledge. However, effects of the art-based EE were comparable to those observed for a conventional EE summer camp. Interactions between the treatment and demographic variables (e.g., gender, age, race/ethnicity) were minimal, suggesting that both types of EE programing worked well for different groups of youth. Results highlight the potential value of art in EE research and practice.     

Policy enactments in the UK secondary school: examining policy,practice and school positioning

This paper presents a first attempt in an ongoing research study of the policy environments in four UK secondary schools to examine policy enactment, where ‘enactment’ refers to an understanding that policies are interpreted and ‘translated’ by diverse policy actors in the school environment, rather than simply implemented. The paper is divided into two parts. The first part presents an audit of the policies encountered in four case study schools in the south‐east of England. The second part looks at one current English government policy, namely personal learning and thinking skills, and how this is taken up in two of the case study schools. In this way, the paper not just explores why a policy is adopted but also illustrates the capacity for school‐based policy elaboration, where schools produce their own ‘take’ on policy, drawing on aspects of their culture or ethos, as well as on the situated necessities.     

Children put the national tests to the test

Much is known about what teachers, parents and educationalists think about the National Tests. But what do the children think? This article describes part of a research project, ‘Children's Perceptions of the National Tests’ (partially supported by the QCA), in which a team of researchers from the University of Cambridge Local Examinations Syndicate explored the user-friendliness of the national assessment materials. The article focuses on the KS2 Reading Comprehension tests and discusses salient features, identified by the children, of the stimuli and answer booklets.     

Look closer: the alertness of people with profound intellectual and multiple disabilities during multi-sensory storytelling,a time sequential analysis

Introduction: Multi-sensory storytelling (MSST) is a storytelling method designed for individuals with profound intellectual and multiple disabilities (PIMD). It is essential that listeners be alert during MSST, so that they become familiar with their personalised stories. Repetition and the presentation of stimuli are likely to affect the alertness of listeners during MSST. Previous studies have only examined the overall level of alertness during MSST. This study focuses on changes in alertness over time during storytelling. Method: In this study, 27 direct support people read an MSST book 20 times with a person with PIMD. The 1st, 5th, 10th and 20th storytelling sessions were recorded. The relation between alertness and the active presentation of stimuli is analyzed using a time-window sequential analysis. We examined changes in alertness levels by comparing the four different storytelling sessions. Results: Higher levels of active alertness were observed when stimuli were actively presented. Alertness was not constant within storytelling sessions, and was related to the presentation of stimuli. Actively presented stimuli were associated with larger fluctuations in alertness. Discussion: Storytellers should present stimuli actively and for longer periods, in order to increase the alertness of listeners during storytelling.