The Representation of Altruistic and Egoistic Motivations in Children’s TV Programming

A content analysis of children’s television examined the frequency with which behaviors were (a) driven by altruistic versus egoistic motivations, (b) performed by affable/surly characters, (c) rewarded/punished, and (d) present in content popular among different age groups (2–5, 6–11, and 12–17 years old). We found that portrayal patterns stressed the importance of egoistic motivations (particularly competence, autonomy, and relatedness) for older children. The findings are interpreted in line with logic underlying the model of intuitive morality and exemplars (MIME; Tamborini, 2013), suggesting that media representations can influence the motivations of their viewers.     

Reading Instruction for English Learners in the Middle Grades: a Meta-Analysis

This meta-analysis synthesizes the last two decades of experimental and quasi-experimental research on reading instruction across academic contexts (e.g., social studies, science, mathematics, English language arts) for English learners (ELs) in grades 4 through 8, to determine (a) the overall effectiveness of reading instruction for upper elementary and middle school students who are ELs and (b) how the magnitude of the effect varies based on student, instructional, and study characteristics. The analysis included a total of 11 studies with 46 individual effect sizes and yielded a mean effect size of g?=?0.35 across all (i.e., standardized and unstandardized) reading measures, g?=?0.01 across standardized reading measures, and g?=?0.43 across unstandardized reading measures. For all reading, unstandardized reading, all vocabulary, and unstandardized vocabulary measures, results suggest that higher quality studies tended to have smaller effects, and these effects were even more evident for unstandardized measures (i.e., one unit increase in study quality was associated with decreased effects: g?=?0.21, g?=?0.30, g?=?0.24, g?=?0.30, respectively). For all comprehension measures, effects were larger for instruction that included both vocabulary and comprehension (g?=?0.39) than for instruction that focused on vocabulary alone (g?=?0.08). Results suggest the benefit of developing and refining high-impact approaches to reading instruction for ELs that can be delivered across content areas and grades.     

Navigating Mandates and Working toward Coherence: Our Journey with a High-Stakes Teacher Performance Assessment

Abstract

This article details the experiences of four teacher education faculty members as we navigated the consequential implementation of a state-mandated high stakes teacher performance assessment in our educator preparation program. By shifting our perspective from simply complying with an assessment mandate to considering how we can leverage implementation of high stakes performance assessment as a vehicle for program inquiry, we were able to gain significant insight into our practice.     

Teaching,learning and ethical dilemmas: lessons from Albert Camus

Over the past half century, Albert Camus's story ‘The Guest’ has attracted a great deal of scholarly attention. ‘The Guest’ focuses on the ethical dilemmas faced by Daru, a school teacher in Algeria, and the two visitors he receives one day: Balducci, a gendarme, and an unnamed Arab prisoner. This paper addresses Camus's text from an educational point of view. The first section outlines the position taken by Daniel Muhlestein, who analyses ‘The Guest’ in the light of Louis Althusser's distinction between Repressive State Apparatuses (RSAs) and Ideological State Apparatuses (ISAs). The second section provides an alternative educational reading of the text – one based on the moral complexity of the three principal characters. It is argued that the ethical questions raised by ‘The Guest’ are similar to those faced by many teachers, and that this is a story worthy of continuing educational engagement.     

The Roles of Privacy and Trust in Children's Evaluations and Explanations of Digital Tracking

A “digital revolution” has introduced new privacy violations concerning access to information stored on electronic devices. The present two studies assessed how U.S. children ages 5–17 and adults (N = 416; 55% female; 67% white) evaluated those accessing digital information belonging to someone else, either location data (Study 1) or digital photos (Study 2). The trustworthiness of the tracker (Studies 1 and 2) and the privacy of the information (Study 2) were manipulated. At all ages, evaluations were more negative when the tracker was less trustworthy, and when information was private. However, younger children were substantially more positive overall about digital tracking than older participants. These results, yielding primarily medium-to-large effect sizes, suggest that with age, children increasingly appreciate digital privacy considerations.     

Child abuse fatalities and cases of extreme concern: lessons from reviews

OBJECTIVE: The study was commissioned by the Welsh Office to pull together lessons from all reports on cases involving either a child abuse fatality or serious child protection concern ("Part 8 Reviews") since the introduction of the Children Act 1989. METHOD: Twenty-one such reports were identified and subjected to a content analysis to extract practice issues. RESULTS: From 19 reports (excluding Reviews concerning adult sexual abusers), the authors identify seven practice themes emerging from that analysis which are related to those identified in previous studies and to six previously undertaken British overviews of child abuse fatalities. The themes are assessment, interagency communications, responsibility, number of professionals involved, role of general practitioners, insufficient training for pediatricians/radiologists, and parental choice. CONCLUSIONS: British child protection agencies are attempting to address apparently conflicting policy objectives. On the one hand they are required to ensure the protection of the most vulnerable children within the child protection system. At the same time they are also being encouraged to adopt a "lighter touch" in child protection work. The authors conclude that the seven themes may provide some indicators as to how these conflicting objectives may be reconciled.     

ICT and resource–based learning: implications for the future

Current learning and teaching methods, such as resource–based learning, require children to make use of a range of resources within and outside school. However, access to learning resources, especially ICT (information and communications technology), depends on the facilities available within a child's school, home and local community. A research project entitled "Children, Access and Learning: Resource–based Learning and the Impacts of Environment and Learning Cultures" was undertaken by CIRT (Centre for Information Research) at the University of Central England in Birmingham, UK between March 2000 and September 2001. This research emerged from concerns that circumstances in and beyond school may disadvantage those children without easy access to resources. This article outlines some of the findings of the research in the context of current debates surrounding the growing importance of ICT in education.