Teaching Is a Natural Cognitive Ability for Humans

We suggest that a multidisciplinary approach to teaching has potential to widen its scope. In that vein, we revisit our original claim that teaching is a natural cognitive ability among humans. We elaborate on three requirements for such an ability and report that, first, teaching strategies may be developmentally reliable. Findings indicate a possible normative developmental trajectory from age one year through adulthood. Second, teaching seems to be species‐typical, that is, it is a universal human achievement. Third, human teaching with a theory of mind (ToM) is species‐unique. Nonhuman animals may teach without a ToM.     

Christianity and its legacy in education

Much of the discussion regarding religion and schooling in the US has been limited to ideological clashes surrounding the role of the courts and, ostensibly, the much litigated issue of prayer in schools. This comes at the expense of an examination of deeper curricular issues rooted in language and school mechanisms borne of historical consequences. The authors seek to reframe the discussion of religion and schooling, arguing that to suggest that the removal of explicit prayerfulness equates to the cleansing of US public education of its religious character is facile and ahistorical. They suggest, instead, that religion remains in the language, practices, and routines of schooling but also in conceptions of the “’child” ‘ and assumptions about the role of schools emanating from such conceptions. Evoking the notion of pentimento, the piece seeks to elucidate the Judeo-Christian character of schooling in the US as a way of re-imagining discussions regarding the relationship between religion and/as curriculum. The piece concludes with a discussion of the implications of such an examination for curriculum studies and teacher education.     

Viewing comprehension: Students’ learning preferences and strategies when studying from video

This research examined how students at the Open University of Israel studied from video recordings of lectures. At the semesters end, seven history students were interviewed in order to trace their experiences, learning strategies and preferences. It was found that (1) reading comprehension strategies are inappropriate for viewing comprehension, (2) presumed theoretical advantages associated with instructional video may in fact be disadvantages, (3) the medium does indeed influence the message, (4) mismatching medium and message may have deleterious results on students cognitive and affective outcomes and (5) surface-level orientations to study may be hindered by video.     

Adolescents’ Evaluation of Teachers Using Disparaging Humour

Abstract High school students viewed a video‐taped lecture of a professional actor playing the role of a teacher. Four films were presented, one of which was a control film in which no humour was used. The other three films contained (a) self‐disparaging humour (directed toward the teacher), (b) other‐disparaging humour (directed toward the students, and (c) mixed humour (a combination of a and b). All 186 10th graders from four classrooms participating in the experiment were given sociometry of humour tests. Results showed that the teacher using mixed humour received the highest evaluations on ‘appeal’ and ‘originality’ factors; the other‐disparaging teacher was perceived as most powerful, while the teacher not using humour at all was perceived as the most systematic in his teaching method. The sociometry of humour test revealed that students with a sense of humour are more appreciative of a teacher using humour, than are students who do not possess this attribute.     

Feedback seeking in children and adolescents: associations with self-perceptions,attachment representations,and depression

Because the feedback children and adolescents receive is important to their development, 2 experimental studies were designed to examine children's (M = 12 years) and adolescents' (M = 17 years) active selection of the quality of feedback they wish to receive. In both studies evidence emerged that participants' self-perceptions influence their feedback seeking. Participants with positive self-perceptions sought more positive feedback than participants with negative self-perceptions and sought more positive feedback than expected by chance. Participants with negative self-perceptions lacked this tendency to seek positive feedback and sometimes sought less positive feedback than expected by chance. As expected, depression and attachment-related measures were also associated with participants' feedback seeking. Contributions of feedback-seeking patterns to stability and change in children's and adolescents' development are discussed.     

Helping students with LD to succeed: the role of teachers’ hope,sense of coherence and specific self-efficacy

Teachers play a critical role in facilitating the academic achievements of students with learning disabilities (LD). The personal resources of teachers, such as sense of coherence (SOC) and hopeful thinking, may predict self-perception of the competency and efficacy they possess to help students with LD acquire needed learning skills. Several studies have shown the importance of SOC and hope to the success of students with LD, but research has not focused on how the hope of their teachers may help these students succeed in inclusive classrooms. The goal of the current study was to identify profiles of teachers, based on their personal resources of SOC and hope, and to examine their self-efficacy (SE) in helping students with LD acquire learning skills. The sample consisted of 624 teachers (567 females and 57 males) from inclusive classes; 143 teachers in this sample had special education training. Using cluster analysis four distinct clusters were identified suggesting that both SOC, as a global personality measure, and hope, as a measure of future expectations, contributed to the SE of teachers: their belief in their ability to help the students with LD acquire learning skills. In each cluster, teachers with special education training had higher levels of hope and SE. The results highlight the important role of teachers’ personal resources in predicting their belief in their professional ability to help students with LD.     

Telling data: From "A Tale of Inclusion"

This paper examines how ethnographers weave/separate "academic" voices from those of their participants in the field. Engaging some of the critical understandings in qualitative research regarding issues of representation and legitimization, authorship and authority, this paper questions where and with which of our ethnographic participants those understandings tend to be em/de/ployed, where and with whom are they still currently absent as ethnographers read and write their world. Exploring the problematics in, and the implications of, differently treating- invoking and textualizing- voices ethnographers conjure while in the field (There) and those they assemble from the academy (Here), this paper examines how a two-tiered system is created whereby the former are problematized, the latter are not. In spite of the poststructural, postcolonial understandings guiding much of the critical work in ethnography, such a twotiered system, this paper argues, induces Othering as well as creates a "There" which subsequently becomes epistemologically and ontologically detached from the "Here" of academe. Very much embedded in the practices it questions and critiques, this paper is not intended to provide solutions for practice but, rather, to broaden the conversation about practice. As such, it strives to promote ways of thinking critically about what critical ethnographers currently do and do not do rather than to further paralyze their inclination or ability to do.     

Comparisons of Self‐Efficacy,Mood, Effort,and Hope Between Students with Learning Disabilities and Their Non‐LD‐Matched Peers

The goals of this study were to compare self‐perceptions of self‐efficacy, mood, effort, and hope between 123 adolescents with learning disabilities (LD) and a group of 123 Non‐LD peers, who were matched for their level of academic performance and gender, and to explore the relations between measures of self‐perception and achievement. The results showed that students with LD reported lower academic self‐efficacy and lower social self‐efficacy. They also rated their mood as more negative and reported lower levels of hope and less investment of effort in their academic work. At the same time, no significant differences were found for emotional self‐efficacy in comparison to the Non‐LD peer group. In addition, among students with LD who were successful in their studies, a subgroup continued to report low levels of hope. The results demonstrated that even when the academic performance of students with LD is similar to their Non‐LD peers, their specific and global self‐perceptions continue to reflect their distress. It is not clear if these results represent past difficulties, day‐to‐day struggles, and/or future worries. Resilience models are proposed and research limitations are specified.