Engaging Students in Traditional and Digital Storytelling to Make Connections Between Pedagogy and Children’s Experiences

Traditional and digital storytelling is a powerful literacy tool which engage students in making connections between pedagogy and academic content. Definitions of traditional and digital storytelling, pedagogical methods aligned with curriculum standards, and examples of literacy centers associated with storytelling in early childhood classrooms are shared. The theoretical framework, Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK), is included to illustrate how pedagogy, storytelling, and technology interact to teach content knowledge and 21st-century skills. The five literary elements and additional elements of stories identified from research which enhance students’ engagement in stories are provided. A checklist for selecting stories, book lists and storytelling websites offer resources that will support teachers in using both digital and traditional storytelling with their students.     

Effects of Different Durations of Physical Training on Cardiorespiratory Function,Body Composition,and Serum Lipids

Abstract

The purpose of the study was to determine the effects of 15, 30, and 45 min of conditioning on maximum performance and cardiorespiratory fitness variables, body composition, pulmonary function, and serum lipids. Subjects, ages 20 to 35, were 59 inmates at a California state prison. The conditioning included running and walking and was performed three days/week at approximately 85 to 90% max HR for 20 weeks. The distance covered per exercise session was approximately 1.75, 3.25, and 5.1 miles for the 15-, 30-, and 45-min groups, respectively.

Improvements in treadmill performance time. [Vdot]O₂ max, max O₂ pulse, diastolic blood pressure, and total skinfold fat were proportional to duration of the training session; i.e., the subjects training in the longer duration sessions showed the greater improvements. The control group showed no significant change during the same period. Compared to the control group, the 15-min group made significant reductions in resting HR, total skinfold fat, percent fat, and waist girth and increases in [Vdot]O₂ max, max O₂ pulse,[Vdot]_E max, and treadmill performance time. Vital capacity, FEV_1.0, and % FEV_1.0 remained relatively unchanged in all four groups, as did serum cholesterol and triglycerides. The 45-min group improved significantly more than the 15-min group in treadmill time, [Vdot]O₂ max, max O₂ pulse, resting systolic and diastolic blood pressures, and percent fat. In general, comparisons between the 15- and 30-min groups and between the 30- and 45-min groups failed to yield statistically significant differences.     

Toddlers' Acquisition of Self/Other Knowledge: Ecological and Interpersonal Aspects of Self and Other

The complexity of toddlers' self-development was examined in the context of knowing others. Two studies were designed to test whether toddlers' self-knowledge was different from their knowledge of others (e.g., mother and inanimate object) or whether toddlers' knowledge of persons (e.g., self and mother) was different from their knowledge of objects. Knowledge of self, mother, and inanimate object was observed in developmentally sequenced tasks assessing agency and featural knowledge. When the inanimate object was perceptually different from humans, 12-month-old toddlers responded differently to all 3 versions. When the inanimate object was perceptually similar to humans, 24-month-olds, distinguished self from other and did not distinguish between the 2 versions of "other:" mother and inanimate object. We concluded that 12-month-old infants were more sensitive to perceptual features of objects than were older toddlers. Data were interpreted according to Neisser's distinction between the ecological self and the interpersonal self.     

College students' perceptions of notetaking and their relationship to selected learner characteristics and course achievement

Notetaking is a universal activity in college lecture courses, but little research has been done to examine students' perceptions of this study strategy as it relates to their overall study routine. In the current study, students in a large lecture course in introductory macroeconomics were asked to complete the Notetaking Perceptions Survey (NPS), an instrument that assesses students' perceptions of the worth or value of notetaking, their perceived level of notetaking activity, and their degree of confidence about their own notetaking skill. Additionally, students' learning style, as assessed by the Learning Style Inventory (Smith and Kolb, 1986), gender, high school rank, and year of high school graduation were included as predictor variables within a multiple regression analysis to predict scores on the there notetaking perception factors. Notetaking perceptions were predicted by one of the learning style dimensions and by gender. The relationships of final course grades with the three notetaking factors from the NPS and the other learner characteristics were also determined. Grades were predicted by one of the notetaking perception factors and by high school rank.     

An Analysis of an Interactive Videodisc System for Teaching Language Skills to Deaf Students

An interactive videodisc system designed to teach language concepts to deaf students was evaluated in a classroom trial. An experimental group of 18 students spent 60 twenty‐minute sessions over a five‐month period learning language concepts by interacting with the system while a control group of 16 students learned the same concepts in their regular classroom setting. Both groups made significant progress from pre‐ to post‐test on two criterion‐referenced testsdeveloped by project staff. Experimental students were enthusiastic about the videodisc, felt that their language skills had improved, and were anxious to continue working with the system.     

Rhyme generation in deaf students: the effect of exposure to cued speech

This study compares the rhyme-generation ability of deaf participants with severe to profound hearing losses from cued speech (CS) and non-cued speech (NCS) backgrounds with a hearing comparison group for consistent orthography-to-phonology (O-P) rhyming elements, or rimes (e.g., -ail in sail is always pronounced the same), and inconsistent orthography-to-phonology (I-O-P) rhyming elements where the orthographic rime (e.g., -ear) has different pronunciations in words such as bear, and rear. Rhyming accuracy was better for O-P target words than for I-O-P target words. The performance of the deaf participants from CS backgrounds, although falling between that of the hearing and the NCS groups, did not differ significantly from that of the hearing group. By contrast, the performance of the NCS group was lower than that of the hearing group. Hearing and CS participants produced more orthographically different responses (e.g., blue-few), whereas participants from the NCS group produced more responses that are orthographically similar (e.g., blue-true), indicating that the hearing and CS groups rely more on phonology and the NCS group more on spelling to generate rhymes. The results support the use of cued speech for developing phonological abilities of deaf students to promote their reading abilities.     

Community and Collectivism: the role of parents’ organisations in the education system

This paper outlines the theoretical and empirical starting‐points for a research project addressing the role of parents’ organisations in the education system. It argues that a study of relationships conducted between homes, schools and parents’ groups and organisations has the potential to illuminate key concepts in education, considering as examples ‘citizenship’ and ‘community’. The paper is divided into three main sections. The first briefly describes the study's background, its scope and methodology. The second section considers the use of some of Antonio Gramsci's work in providing a theoretical starting‐point with which to explore the construction and maintenance of hegemonic discourses surrounding parenting. The concluding section of the paper widens the discussion to consider two key concepts, community and citizenship. It is argued that the discursive positioning of these concepts, in other words, how they are understood and defined, influences the ways in which relationships between parents and the education system are perceived and construed. This is illustrated with reference to readings of'citizenship’ and ‘community’ which emphasise, not consensus and homogeneity as in traditional definitions, but conflict, difference and multiplicity. The paper concludes that there is a continued need for empirical data focusing on everyday citizen and citizen‐state interactions which reveal how individuals live within, and understand and experience these relationships.     

Young Children''s Vulnerability to Self-Blame and Helplessness: Relationship to Beliefs about Goodness

Motivational helplessness, linked to conceptions of intelligence, has been well documented in older children. While some researchers have reported that children just starting school are motivationally invulnerable, others have found evidence of helplessness when these children encounter failure. The present study seeks to determine whether the reactions associated with helplessness can be identified in a new context, that of criticism, and whether any such responses are related to the child's conceptions of goodness. Subjects were 107 5- and 6-year-old children who enacted achievement situations in which teacher criticism was presented. The 39% of children whose own assessments were undermined by criticism exhibited the affect, task choices, and nonconstructive problem-solving strategies characteristic of helplessness. They were also more likely to make global negative self-judgments following criticism, including negative judgments of their goodness. Finally, these children were more likely to endorse stable and global beliefs about goodness.     

Concerns of teachers about technology integration in the USA

This study was designed to examine the current trend and pattern of teachers' concerns about technology integration. Eighty‐six in‐service teachers in a graduate course participated in the study at a midwestern state university during the summer semester of 2002. The Stages of Concerns (SoC) Questionnaire was used to assess teachers' seven stages of concern: awareness, informational, personal, management, consequence, collaboration and refocusing. This study found that: (1) teachers' concerns as a whole were very intense in these stages informational, personal and refocusing; (2) there were significant statistical differences in teachers' concerns in most stages of concern among teachers with three levels of perception of their implementation status; (3) the concern profile for each of the three subgroups supported the hypothesis of Hall, George & Rutherford (1977) regarding the development of stages of concern for the three different user groups: inexperienced, experienced and renewing. International implications for teacher technology integration are proposed.

Cette étude a été conçue pour examiner la tendance courante et le modèle suivi par les professeurs qui s'intéressent à l'intégration de la technologie. Quatre‐vingt‐cinq professeurs d'un cours universitaire ont participé à cette étude provenant d'une université d'un état du midwest pendant le semestre d'été de 2002. Les Étapes du Questionnaire des Préoccupations (Hall, George, & Rutherford, 1977) ont été utilisées pour évaluer les 7 étapes: prise de conscience, informelle, personnelle, gestion, conséquence, collaboration et concentration. Cette étude a conclut que: (1) l'intérêt des professeurs dans son ensemble était très intense pendant les étapes suivantes, information, personnelle et concentration; (2) il existe des différences statistiques considérables dans la plupart des étapes parmi les professeurs des trois niveaux de perception de leur situation; et (3) le profil de préoccupation pour chacun des trois sous‐groupes supporte l'hypothèse d'Hall concernant le développement d'étapes de préoccupation pour les trois utilisateurs des différents groupes–inexpérimenté, expérimenté et en renouvellement. Des implications internationales pour les professeurs qui s'occupent de l'intégration de la technologie sont proposées.

Diese Studie wurde entworfen, um die gegenwärtigen Trends und das Profil der Lehrermeinungen zu Technologieintegration zu untersuchen. Im Sommer Semester 2004 nahmen fünfundachtzig Lehrer an einer Studie in einem fortgeschrittenen Kurs an einer staatlichen Universität im Mittelwesten der USA teil. Die Stufen des Besorgtheitsfragebogen (Stages of Concern Questionnaire (SoC)) wurde verwendet, um die 7 Stufen der Lehrerbedenken festzustellen: Bewusstheit, informatorisch, persönlich, Management, Konsquenz, Zusammenarabeit. und Wiederfokusieren. Die Ergebnisse waren: (1) In den Stufen informatorisch, persönlich, und Widerfokusieren, waren die Lehrerbedenken sehr intensiv; (2) Unter Lehrern mit drei Stufen der Perzeption ihrer Implementationsstatus gab es significkante statistische Unterschiede in fast allen Stufen der Besorgtheit der Lehrer in fast allen Stufen der Besorgtheit; und (3) Die Besorgtheitsprofil für jede der drei Untergruppen unterstützte Hall et al's Hypothese hinsichtlich der Entwicklung der Besorgtheitsstufen für die drei verschiedenen Verbrauchergruppen--unerfahren, erfahren, und immer Erneuernde. Internationale Implikationen für die Integration der Lehrer bezogenen Technologie werden angeboten.

Este estudio fue diseñado para examinar la tendencia actual y el modelo de los maestros involucrados en la integración de la tecnología. Ochenta y cinco maestros de un curso graduado participaron en este estudio en una universidad de un estado del midwest durante el semestre del verano de 2002. Las Fases de la Encuesta de Preocupaciones (Hall, George, & Rutherford, 1977 Hall GE George AA Rutherford WL 1977 Measuring stages of concern about the innovation: a manual for use of the SoC questionnaire Austin TX Southwest Educational Development Laboratory  [Google Scholar]) fueron usadas para evaluar las 7 fases de preocupación de los maestros: conocimiento, informativo, personal, gestión, consecuencia, colaboración y enfoque. Este estudio concluyó en lo siguiente: (1) los maestros en conjunto estaban involucrados intensamente en las fases siguientes: informativo, personal y enfoque; (2) había diferencias estadísticas significativas en la mayoría de las fases de preocupación entre los maestros con tres niveles de percepción de su situación; y (3) el perfil de preocupación para cada uno de los tres subgrupos corroboró la hipótesis de Hall con respecto al desarrollo de las fases de preocupación para los tres usuarios diferentes–inexperto, experimentado y renovado. Conclusiones internacionales para los maestros que se interesan en la integración de la tecnología han sido propuestas.