Utilizing Nonfiction Texts to Enhance Reading Comprehension and Vocabulary in Primary Grades

Many primary grade students are not afforded nonfiction-rich opportunities, with fiction comprising the majority of books read aloud in classrooms. With the Common Core Standards recommending that half of the texts made available to students be nonfiction, educators are increasing their use of informational text. The present study explored the impact of explicitly teaching reading comprehension and vocabulary strategies with nonfiction text compared to fiction text in primary-grade classrooms. Two first-grade (n = 39; 25 male, 14 female) and one second-grade class (n = 20; 13 male, 7 female) participated in the quantitative study that followed a repeated measures design in which the students alternated every 2 weeks between fiction-based instruction and nonfiction-based instruction for a total of 8 weeks. Vocabulary and use of comprehension strategies were assessed at the end of each 2-week period. Overall findings indicated that students were better able to apply the comprehension strategies and define vocabulary following nonfiction-based instruction; they also were more motivated to read informational text. The authors recommend that teachers use more nonfiction texts in the primary grades to support students’ reading comprehension and vocabulary development.     

Student perceptions and mobile technology adoption: implications for lower-income students shifting to digital

Educational technology research and development - This paper responds to Joo et al. (Educational Technology Research and Development 64:611-630, 2016) study of the factors predicting South Korean...     

Mystery Boxes: Helping Children Improve their Reasoning

   This guest editorial describes ways teachers can use guessing games about an unknown item in a “mystery box” to help children improve their abilities to listen to others, recall information, ask purposeful questions, classify items by class, make inferences, synthesize information, and draw conclusions. The author presents information from a qualitative analysis of 90 preservice teachers’ reflections on using mystery boxes with preschool through elementary students in urban public school settings in central New York State. Children were enthusiastic about the game, used a variety of strategies to generate questions, experienced difficulties in paying attention, remembering and synthesizing information, and had difficulty focusing on more than one characteristic at a time. Errors included repetition of questions and class inclusion/exclusion errors. Modeling, thinking out loud, and giving hints helped children become successful. Creating one’s own mystery box, exercises in identifying attributes and classifying items, and practice in questioning techniques are among suggested follow-on activities.     

Trans-Singapore: some notes towards queer Asia as method

From the transsexual sex workers of Bugis Street to the self-fashioning butches of the current creative economy, trans-visibility has always been an iconic feature of Singapore’s public culture. Using three case studies that examine colonial transsexual subculture, postcolonial transgender biomedical modernity and the contemporary inter-Asian performances of tomboy boybands, this paper examines these practices of trans-embodiment to reveal their centrality to Singapore’s modernity. While the recent transgender turn in the West has resulted in trans-visibility and acceptance, this paper will critically show how the experience of trans-visibility in Singapore provides a different model to consider the narrative of progressive modernity. It concludes by gesturing to this new model – one that does not replicate Eurocentric ontology – through further demonstrating these practices as strategies for the critical paradigm of “queer Asia as method.”     

Understanding engineering educators’ pedagogical transformations through the Hero’s Journey

ABSTRACT

Many engineering education research faculty have put much effort into providing empirical evidence demonstrating the success of student-centred teaching strategies in the hopes that this evidence will result in widespread changes of engineering teaching practices. Unfortunately, these student-centred strategies have not been widely adopted as many engineering faculty still rely heavily on traditional lectures. In this study, we investigate three engineering faculty who have successfully made the transition to student-centred teaching strategies to uncover the complexities and nuances through their stories. This study uses Dewey’s Theory of Experience as a theoretical framework and Joseph Campbell’s Hero’s Journey as a structural way to construct and analyse narratives of participant’s journeys. These engineering faculty narratives shed light on the stages involved in the process of changing teaching practices and how individuals interact with the environment to evolve over time.     

Using test scores to evaluate and hold school teachers accountable in New Mexico

Educational Assessment, Evaluation and Accountability - For this study, researchers critically reviewed documents pertaining to the highest profile of the 15 teacher evaluation lawsuits that...     

A meta-look at meta-studies of the effectiveness of development assistance to education

What insights and generalisations can be drawn from looking across the work of multiple governmental and non-governmental organisations aimed at supporting basic education in low and medium income countries? To address this question, this study analysed findings of nine evaluation meta-studies completed by international assistance organisations, each of which was examining the effectiveness of their work in basic education over a multi-year period. The value of the underlying project activities reviewed in these evaluations represents $6–$6–8 billion. Studies analysed with respect to (a) the criteria each used to judge success of their underlying projects, (b) the extent to which these studies focused on outcomes and impacts, (c) the extent to which projects were judged sustainable, (d) the adequacy of the project-level evaluations being reviewed, (e) what the underlying projects accomplished, (f) weaknesses identified in underlying project designs and (g) cost. A major weakness identified in almost all of the meta-studies reviewed was the paucity of evidence regarding the impact of the project activities in promoting student learning outcomes.