Encouraging a Culture of Research in Practicing Teachers in Singapore

Upgrading the status of early childhood teaching and improving job satisfaction are areas of concern to practitioners, policy makers and other stakeholders in the early childhood field. Ways to upgrade practicing teachers, including their involvement in research, is an on-going challenge. This paper reports on a research in Singapore where a sample of practicing teachers was asked about their views on practitioner research. The interviews focused on the possible challenges faced by practitioners in implementing practitioner inquiry research. In addition, the participants discussed changes that can be made to support practitioner inquiry research in early childhood settings in Singapore.     

Academic Expectations of Australian Students from Aboriginal,Asian and Anglo Backgrounds: Perspectives of Teachers,Trainee-teachers and Students

There are ethnic group differences in academic achievement among Australian students, with Aboriginal students performing substantially below and Asian students above their peers. One factor that may contribute to these effects is societal stereotypes of Australian Asian and Aboriginal students, which may bias teachers’ evaluations and influence student outcomes. A questionnaire assessing academic expectancies for hypothetical students from different ethnic groups was administered to 55 experienced teachers and 144 training teachers. A measure of self-expectancies and group expectancies was administered to 516 school students. The findings revealed that Asian students were expected to perform better in mathematics and expend greater effort than Aboriginal and Anglo-Australian students. In turn, there were higher expectancies for mathematics performance for Anglo-Australian students compared with Aboriginal students. We discuss the potential implications of these stereotypes for students’ school achievement, particularly the risk that negative implicit stereotypes might result in these students being directed to special education.     

Promoting Psychological Well-Being in an Urban School Using the Participatory Culture-Specific Intervention Model

School psychology has recently reconceptualized its service provision model to include multitiered systems of academic and psychosocial promotion, prevention, and intervention. The availability of evidence-based programs and advances in school consultation theory accompany the paradigm shift of the field. Despite these advances, implementing multitiered systems of support into school settings is teeming with challenges and often results in program abandonment. One often cited reason for such failures is the inattention to local priorities and culture. This article discusses the use of the participatory culture-specific intervention model (Nastasi, Moore, & Varjas, 2004 Nastasi, B. K., Moore, R. B., & Varjas, K. M. (2004). School-based mental health services: Creating comprehensive and culturally specific programs. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.[Crossref] , [Google Scholar]) to build comprehensive systems of support in an elementary school in New Orleans. Co-authored by both researcher-consultants and school administrators, the article highlights the research, consultation, intervention, and collaborative decision-making activities over a 4-year period in a continuing university–school partnership. The discussion focuses on the process, challenges, and successes in consulting to build multitiered systems of support.     

Glycosylated haemoglobin-a diagnostic tool in pregnant diabetics

Blood samples of 40 pregnant women were analysed for glycosylated haemoglobin (HbA1c) and blood sugar. The patients were followed up till delivery and their obstetric outcome was analysed in conjunction with the glycaemic profile and the level of glycosylated haemoglobin. Group I comprising the normal pregnant women showed a mean HbA1c of 6.23% at 20–40 weeks of gestation. In contrast the diabetic pregnant women (group II) at the same gestation demonstrated an HbA1c of 9.4%. Further group IIA of gestational diabetic women showed an HbA1c of 8.97% and group IIB comprising the overt diabetics had HbA1c of 9.86%. The mother who delivered a congenitally malformed child had an elevated HbA1c of 10.4% during pregnancy. Seven cases of macrosomia were reported and the mean HbA1c of their mothers at 20–40 weeks of gestation was found to be 9.91%. Six mothers delivered infants who developed respiratory distress syndrome (RDS) soon after birth and all these six had elevated HbA1c with a mean of 8.9%. Abortions were also associated with elevated HbA1c of 10.3% antenatally. One case of still birth was reported and the mother demonstrated an elevated glycosylated haemoglobin during pregnancy. An HbA1c of 10% or more was associated with abortion, still-birth, or congenitally malformed babies.     

Exercise makes you feel good, but does feeling good make you exercise?: an examination of obese dieters

Whereas exercise-induced mood enhancement has been well documented, the relationship between mood and exercise participation is less well understood. Mood states influence evaluative judgments that could plausibly influence a decision to exercise. Further, most exercise-mood research is limited to normal weight adults in response to a single exercise session. The current investigation examines the influence of (a) morning mood on exercise, (b) exercise intensity/duration on mood enhancement, and (c) daily change in mood on exercise days compared with nonexercise days in obese behavioral weight loss program (BWLP) participants. Participants (N = 36) recorded morning, evening, and pre-and postexercise mood, as well as the type, duration, and intensity of exercise. Within-person analyses indicated that (a) morning mood was associated with an increased likelihood of exercising, (b) mood ratings were higher following exercise of greater intensity and duration, and (c) daily mood enhancement was associated with greater exercise initiation and greater exercise intensity. Measuring mood before and after exercise may yield important clinical information that can be used to promote physical activity in obese adults.     

Celebrate Birth!—Amazing Grace: Remembering Pregnancy and Birth

Our daughter and son were born at the Maternity Center in NYC in 1986 and 1989, respectively. I am grateful to the exceptional care and freedom the nurse midwives were able to provide to our family. What follows is the expression of that deeply personal and profound experience, which will hopefully remind and inspire women of the truly individual and extraordinary gift of birth.     

Educational narrative inquiry through design-based research: designing digital storytelling to make alternative knowledge visible and actionable

This paper describes the conceptualisation and appropriation of narrative in the design of digital storytelling technology (DST), to augment reflective practice among Irish pre-service teachers. Reflective practice remains a predominant professional formation component of programmes of teacher education. In this key developmental activity, teacher education traditionally privileges written reflections, e.g. pro forma post-lesson evaluations and essays. Our aim in this research was to supplement, not supplant, these important written reflective modalities, and by doing so, open up a wider set of possibilities for using narrative and technology to support creative, potentially transformative reflection on practice. We have been inspired significantly in this DST work by Bruner’s ([2002]. Making Stories: Law, Literature, Life. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press) functional view of narrative inquiry – that storytelling serves as the principal, foundational means by which we form our identities, relate to others and make sense of our place in the world. We thus sought to explore how innovative storytelling designs, combined with, and augmented by digital technology, might afford new narrative inquiry possibilities for pre-service students to conceptualise, create and collaborate in their early-career, reflective practices. This paper presents R-NEST, the educational design we developed in a principled and participatory fashion over 3 years, collaboratively with 323 student teachers. We trace the narrative of the development and refinement of the bespoke R-NEST design, illustrated with analysis of an exemplar, student-designed digital story. The paper concludes with insights regarding the creative, reflective use of DST, suggesting potentially wide scope for this mode of narrative technology in education.     

Culture,motivation, and reading achievement: High school students in 41 countries

This study examined how cultural values and family cultural capital were linked to adolescents' motivation and reading achievement using multilevel analyses on reading tests and questionnaire responses of 193,841 fifteen-year-olds in 41 countries. In countries that valued more rigid gender roles, girls had lower reading achievement than girls in other countries. Also, the link between extrinsic motivation and achievement was weaker for both boys and girls in more masculine countries than those in other countries, supporting the view that discouraging students from their preferred non-traditional career tracks reduces competition for the remaining students. This reduces the impact of extrinsic motivation on reading achievement for both types of students. Students with more family cultural capital (cultural possessions and cultural communication) had higher interest in reading, extrinsic motivation, effort and perseverance, and higher reading achievement than other students. These findings can inform education policy to improve students' reading achievement.