Young Children Understand That Looking Leads to Knowing (So Long as They Are Looking into a Single Barrel)

3 experiments were conducted to investigate the claim made by Wimmer, Hogrefe, and Perner that 3-4-year-old children do not understand that people gain knowledge about something by looking at it. The first experiment involved a simple forced-choice procedure in which children had to judge which of 2 assistants knew what was inside a box when one of the assistants had looked inside and the other had lifted it up. In this experiment, the children did realize that the assistant who had looked in the box knew its contents. The second experiment followed the Wimmer et al. procedure, but with a simpler question form. The children were just asked to state whether someone knew what was in the box. Again, the children were able to work out that a person who had looked in a box knew what was inside it. In the third experiment, a direct comparison was made between the simpler question and the more complex, double-barreled question asked by Wimmer et al. The children found the more complex question considerably harder. The results of these experiments suggest that, in contrast to the claims made by Wimmer et al., 3- and 4-year-old children do understand that looking leads to knowing, and that their difficulty in the Wimmer et al. study was mainly with the form of the question that they were asked.     

International researcher mobility and knowledge transfer in the social sciences and humanities

ABSTRACT

This article explores knowledge outcomes of international researcher mobility in the social sciences and humanities. Looking in particular at international experiences of longer durations in the careers of European PhD graduates, it proposes a threefold analytical typology for understanding the links between the modes, durations, and outcomes of this mobility in terms of the exchange of codified knowledge; the sharing of more tacit knowledge practices; and the development of a cosmopolitan identity. The findings suggest that, under the right conditions, there can be an important and transformative value to longer stays, which can lead to enduring outcomes in terms of knowledge production and innovation and the spatially distributed networks that sustain it.     

Impact of the Good Behavior Game on special education teachers

This study tested effects of a program that offers teachers universal classroom management strategies, on teachers’ burnout symptoms and self-efficacy, and their teaching behaviors. Data were collected from 147 teachers (mean age = 38.4 years, SD = 10.8) in 15 special secondary education schools for students with emotional and behavioral problems, at the start and end of the school year. Schools were randomly assigned to the experimental condition or a care-as-usual condition. Results show that the program impacted beneficially on self-reported levels of emotional exhaustion, and self-efficacy in engaging students and in classroom management, but not on teaching behaviors. Implications of this study for the professional development of teachers in special education and research are discussed.     

Living and learning as an international postgraduate student at a Midlands university

This paper investigates the views of 20 full-time international postgraduate students, many of whom were Chinese, on living, learning and becoming successful students at one university in a multicultural city in the Midlands of England. The qualitative study built on findings from the International Students’ Barometer (ISB) survey for the university, in that it seeks to understand how students’ experience of context (living) interacted with their experience of learning in building their identities as successful learners. Student participants were sampled opportunistically within a purposive framework. Data was collected through audio-recorded individual semi-structured interviews, using as a stimulus participant-constructed concept maps of their perceptions of learning in the university and living in the city. Interview data were transcribed and analysed thematically. The main findings showed that participants enjoyed living in a city with an international culture, although some found it strange initially because they encountered different styles of life and food, albeit including some that they enjoyed at home. They welcomed studying at a university with high international prestige, a wide range of excellent facilities and generally approachable tutors but were shocked by having to undertake unfamiliar styles of independent learning with brief teaching hours. They perceived culture shock as transitional, which declined as they made friends, often with co-linguists, and became familiar with life in the city, work in the university and the extensive support of tutors.     

Self‐help in research and development relating to assessment: a case study

This article briefly chronicles nearly a decade of research and development activity undertaken in the area of assessment by a group of committed volunteers, ‘The Student Assessment and Classification Working Group’ (SACWG). However, greater attention is given to demonstrating what a self‐help approach can achieve in respect of research and development in higher education, and to identifying the factors that contribute to success in this respect. It is suggested that the approach has transfer value, provided that certain conditions are met.     

Affiliation to school: measures and interventions

The degree of affiliation which pupils develop towards their schools is an important factor in their engagement and success. It has also been a matter of concern at the time of transfer from primary to secondary school. This article describes the development of a brief method for identifying the degree of affiliation which pupils feel, and also identifying any points of concern. Data from 670 pupils in a London secondary school is reported. Concerns about pupils’ experience of transfer are often addressed through interventions which are teacher-centred. An account is given of a pupil-centred intervention to improve affiliation, and its apparent long-lasting effects. There also seems to be an improvement trend over years, reflecting the school’s paying attention to this theme.