Prekindergarten Interactive Book Reading Quality and Children’s Language and Literacy Development: Classroom Organization as a Moderator

Research Findings: This study examined the association between interactive book reading quality and prekindergarten children’s gains in language and literacy skills over the course of an academic year for 96 teachers and 417 children across multiple locations in the United States. Two moderators were examined, namely, children’s initial skill level and teachers’ classroom organization during an interactive read-aloud session. In keeping with prior research, interactive book reading quality, measured by examination of teachers’ extratextual talk, was positively and significantly related to children’s development of both language and literacy skills. Interactive book reading quality was not significantly moderated by children’s initial skills, with the exception that interactive book reading quality appeared most beneficial to children’s print knowledge for children entering prekindergarten with relatively low skill. The unique contribution of this study is that the association between interactive book reading quality and children’s expressive vocabulary was dependent on an organized classroom during the book reading session. Practice or Policy: The quality of teachers’ talk during interactive book reading may matter for children’s vocabulary development only when reading sessions are characterized by relatively high classroom organization. Classroom organization should be an important consideration while planning for interactive book reading sessions.     

Concept-Mapping as a Research Tool: A Study of Primary Children's Representations of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT)

This paper presents an approach to concept-mapping that was used in an EU-funded project to study ten year old pupils' representations of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT). The research task – to draw a concept map of computers in today's world – was administered to children in six EU countries twice. In England this took place immediately before and after the introduction of networked PCs in their schools. They were asked to use their maps to communicate their ideas through drawing to the researchers and other children who did not all speak the same language as them. The maps were analysed both quantitatively and qualitatively, using phenomenographic methods combined with semiotic interpretation. The maps showed that the children had well-developed mental representations (secondary artifacts) of the role of ICT in today's world, even when they had little or no practical experience of using the Internet. Psychological theories suggest that learning depends to a considerable extent on the development of secondary artifacts of this kind. The extent and variety of knowledge about computers demonstrated by all children in the cohort came as a surprise and suggested that they would be very well prepared to develop sophisticated ICT skills once they had good access to ICT tools. Current approaches to ICT use in primary schools, involving explicit, systematic teaching of ICT skills, may therefore not be making the most cost-effective use of scarce resources. Exploratory use of ICT within open-ended project work, reflecting the kind of use that computer-literate adults make of ICT, might be more likely to provide the context for children's rapid development of a complex range of ICT skills.     

Using Graph Talks to Engage Undergraduates in Conversations Around Social Justice

Abstract

We present a mathematical activity called graph talks as a new pedagogical routine to intertwine social justice issues and mathematics. Adapted from number talks, graph talks involve students analyzing, interpreting, and discussing real-life data represented in graphs. Graphs may be strategically selected to both highlight a relevant social justice issue while also reinforcing the mathematics content of the course. We report on experiences using graph talks in undergraduate mathematics content courses for future teachers in the USA, and provide examples of the undergraduates doing mathematics while analyzing the social justice context of the graphs.     

Make or break: the role and support needs of academic advisors in work-integrated learning courses

ABSTRACT

The role of academic advisors in work-integrated learning courses is crucial to student success, yet poorly understood. This research aimed to understand the role and support needs of academic advisors by conducting interviews, a survey, and a focus group within a service learning program in Queensland, Australia. Participants identified rewards in observing student transformation and supporting students to contribute to social justice causes. However, the role had high demands in terms of pastoral support. Although academic advisors reported strong support mechanisms, they identified gaps in supporting them to meet the needs of international students and students with mental health issues. Academic advisors need strong mentoring or supervisory support to deal with diverse student issues, clear processes for tracking and managing students, training and resources to deal with special needs students, and opportunities for team building and bonding. Supporting academic advisors could help to better support students to successfully complete internships.     

Framing secondary teachers’ perspectives on the inclusion of students with autism spectrum disorder using critical discourse analysis

Research on the role of teachers in supporting students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in schools in the Republic of Ireland has largely focused on primary and special schools rather than secondary school settings. This study examined the theoretical and practical knowledge base of Irish secondary teachers regarding the inclusion of learners with ASD using an ecological critical discursive perspective. Findings revealed teachers’ strong desires to include students with ASD in their classrooms. Teachers’ discourses exposed their sense of low self-efficacy in relation to pedagogical skills required to meet the needs of learners with ASD. At a school level, teachers positioned themselves outside the dominant school discourse on special education needs. Using critical discourse analysis (CDA), teachers’ narratives re-focus the spotlight on issues such as ineffective legislation and inadequate policies at national level, and identified the impact that these have at a micro-analytical level on teachers’ practices in relation to inclusion.     

Using a Standardized Task to Assess the Quality of Teacher–Child Dyadic Interactions in Preschool

Research Findings: This study explored the quality of teacher-child interactions within the context of a newly developed standardized task, Teacher-Child Structured Play Task (TC-SPT). A sample of 146 teachers and 345 children participated. Children who displayed the highest disruptive behaviors within each classroom were selected to participate. Teacher-child dyads (n=345) participated in a play session that included free play and clean-up tasks. We adapted two coding schemes to assess the quality of both teachers’ and children’s interactive behaviors during these two tasks. The coding schemes exhibited internal and inter-rater reliability. Significant associations with classroom-level teacher-child interactions and children’s observed classroom engagement provide support for the measure’s validity. Differences in teacher and child-interactive behaviors across the two tasks (free play versus clean-up) suggest that task features may affect the quality of teacher-child interactive behaviors. Practice and Policy: Examining the interactions of different teacher-child dyads within the same standardized context will allow researchers to better understand the child and teacher factors that contribute to the quality of those interactions. Thus, use of this task in future field-based research may help to assess the impact of early interventions and professional development efforts that target improvement in the quality of teacher-child interactions.     

Relations of Early Childhood Education Teachers’ Depressive Symptoms,Job-Related Stress,and Professional Motivation to Beliefs About Children and Teaching Practices

Research Findings: This study used teacher questionnaires to investigate the relationships of early childhood education teachers’ depressive symptoms, professional motivation, and job-related stress to their beliefs about children and teaching practices. Teachers (N = 207) were recruited from early childhood education programs in the southern United States. Path analyses showed that teachers who exhibited fewer depressive symptoms were more likely to have a career orientation to their jobs and indicated feeling less job-related stress. Teachers with a career orientation to their jobs were also more likely to have child-centered beliefs and endorse developmentally appropriate teaching practices. Teachers’ job-related stress, however, was not related to beliefs about children or teaching practices. Practice or Policy: These results suggest that teachers’ psychological and job-related well-being are linked to their beliefs about children and teaching practice in early childhood education. It is therefore important to provide support systems and preventive programs for teachers to enhance their well-being.     

Promoting Conceptual Change for Complex Systems Understanding: Outcomes of an Agent-Based Participatory Simulation

Components of complex systems apply across multiple subject areas, and teaching these components may help students build unifying conceptual links. Students, however, often have difficulty learning these components, and limited research exists to understand what types of interventions may best help improve understanding. We investigated 32 high school students’ understandings of complex systems components and whether an agent-based simulation could improve their understandings. Pretest and posttest essays were coded for changes in six components to determine whether students showed more expert thinking about the complex system of the Chesapeake Bay watershed. Results showed significant improvement for the components Emergence (r = .26, p = .03), Order (r = .37, p = .002), and Tradeoffs (r = .44, p = .001). Implications include that the experiential nature of the simulation has the potential to support conceptual change for some complex systems components, presenting a promising option for complex systems instruction.     

Retaining Each Other: Narratives of Two African American Women in the Academy

This article explores how two African American professors both “outsiders” to the inner workings of the academy created a support system, which began nearly 10 years ago as a part of their formal advisee/advisor relationship. When they began their relationship one was a junior African-American female faculty member (promoted to associate professor in 2004) and one was an African-American female doctoral student (currently a tenure track professor). Utilizing elements of scholarly personal narrative and case study methods they reveal the process they engaged in over a nine-year period, which resulted in their retention and success in the academy. Sharon Fries-Britt and Bridget Turner Kelly received their Ph.D.’s from The University of Maryland. Dr. Kelly is an Assistant Professor of Education, Integrated Professional Studies, The University of Vermont, Burlington, VT, USA. Her research centers on marginalized students and faculty in higher education, namely women and people of color. Dr. Fries-Britt is an Associate Professor at the University of Maryland. Her work focuses on the experiences of high achieving Black collegians and their success and retention in higher education. She is also interested in patterns of success for Black faculty and administrators in higher education.