Adolescent Mothers and Their Children's Early School Performance

This study examined differences in child-mother interaction, classroom adjustment during kindergarten, and retention in kindergarten between 41 first-born children of adolescent mothers (18 years old or younger at the time of the child's birth) and 88 first-born children of adult mothers (20 to 24 years old at the time of the child's birth). Maternal education was included as a covariate in comparisons. The children of adolescent and adult mothers were generally indistinguishable in areas of classroom adjustment, retention in kindergarten, and child-mother interaction when mothers' education was considered. Results are discussed in terms of implications for research and policy.     

Social network perspectives reveal strength of academic developers as weak ties

Social network perspectives acknowledge the influence of disciplinary cultures on academics’ teaching beliefs and practices with implications for academic developers. The contribution of academic developers in 18 scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL) projects situated in the sciences are explored by drawing on data from a two-year national project in Australia within a case study research design. The application of a social network lens illuminated the contribution of eight academic developers as weak ties who infused SoTL knowledge within teams. Two heuristic cases of academic developers who also linked across networks are presented. Implications of social network perspective are discussed.     

Rapid naming contributions to reading and writing acquisition of European Portuguese

This study analyzed the relation and the specific influence of rapid naming (RN) on different reading (decoding accuracy and reading fluency) and writing components (spelling accuracy and fluency in composition) of European Portuguese. Moreover, it also compares the influence of Rapid Automatized Naming (RAN) tests (colors, digits) and of a Rapid Alternating Stimulus (RAS) test (shapes and colors). In a sample composed by normally achieving children, 70 in the first grade and 69 in the second grade, the results show that, when phonemic awareness is controlled, RN is a significant concurrent predictor of reading and writing performance. Its impact occurs mainly on reading fluency and is carried out predominantly by the RAN digit test. Nevertheless, the RAN color test and the RAS shape and color test also significantly predicted reading and writing performance. The results also indicate that RN has less impact on writing than on reading, and that, when compared with phonemic awareness, it is associated with distinct written language components. When combined, the data obtained are consistent with the orthographic characteristics of European Portuguese.     

Estudio comparado del comportamiento de niños educados en medio familiar y niños educados en instituciones. Una perspectiva etológica

Resumen

Se ha realizado un estudio observacional con metodología etológica en niños de 4–5 años: Un grupo de 5 Ss. procedentes de una Casa Cuna y otro grupo de 7 Ss. procedentes de un ambiente familiar. El muestreo se llevó a cabo en un hábitat común para ambos grupos: el recreo de un preescolar, ubicado en otra zona, y en condiciones de juego libre, aunque controlado por monitores adultos. Los resultados obtenidos sugieren la existencia de diferencias entre ambos grupos, que podrían implicar una manera diferente de integración social de los niños cuyo hábitat primario no es la casa familiar, aunque no es posible establecer una relación de causalidad directa con la institucionalización.     

«Un redondel con muchas cosas dentro». Eso es un conjunto

Resumen

Se examina la comprensión infantil de algunas nociones de la teoría de conjuntos en una muestra de sesenta niños madrileños entre 6 y 11 años de edad. El análisis se centra en la definición y reconocimiento de conjuntos por parte de los niños, la formación de conjuntos a partir de un material dado y la conciencia de la utilidad de los conjuntos y su relación con otras áreas de las Matemáticas. Los resultados indican que más del 50% de los sujetos identifica el conjunto con el diagrama que lo representa y son incapaces de aplicar esas nociones a problemas concretos. Se interpretan estas dificultades a la luz de la descripción piagetiana de los dos tipos de abstracción—empírica y reflexiva—, y los dos tipos de conocimiento—físico y lógico-matemático—a que dan lugar.     

Formal music education not only enhances musical skills, but also conceptions of teaching and learning: a study with woodwind students

This paper studies conceptions of woodwind students regarding learning and teaching music, within the framework of implicit theories. It analyzes whether there are differences related to participants’ instruction level, and whether it is possible to identify profiles according to their conceptions. Sixty-eight students from three different levels at 14 Spanish conservatories took part voluntarily in this study. A multiple-choice questionnaire was used, which comprised 16 dilemmas on different situations typical of learning and teaching music. Three answers were presented for each dilemma, corresponding to the three implicit theories identified in recent years: direct, interpretative, and constructive. For each dilemma, participants were requested to choose the option they most agreed with and the one they least agreed with. Data were analyzed using chi-square tests of independence, multiple correspondence analysis, and ascending hierarchical classification. From the results obtained we can state that as students’ age and level of instruction increase, so does the level of sophistication of their conceptions. Three conceptual profiles were identified: direct, direct-interpretative, and constructive, which are consistent with prior results on conceptions of teaching and learning in other domains. Implications for education are discussed.     

Successful secondary school principalship in disadvantaged contexts from a leadership for learning perspective

The paper we present here is part of the International Successful School Principalship Project (ISSPP), which is designed to analyse the characteristic traits of successful leadership in different contexts and countries [Day, C., and K. Leithwood. 2007. Successful School Leadership in Times of Change. Dordrecht: Springer-Kluwer; Day, C., and D. Gurr. 2014. Leading School Successfully. Stories from the Field. London: Routledge]. One subgroup of the Spanish research team participating in the ISSPP at the University of Granada has contributed to the project by carrying out a comparative study of the type of leadership for learning at four secondary schools in disadvantaged contexts. Following ISSPP data collection protocols and using a category system specially designed to analyse the leadership for learning carried out by the four principals, the results show that four secondary schools have principals with a similar traits, dispositions and value systems; however, the secondary schools with the best academic results employed practices and strategies more closely associated with leadership for learning than schools with poorer academic results. The data provided by this study confirm the traits and strategies that the ISSPP has been identifying in successful principals in disadvantaged contexts in various countries. It also serves as a source of reflection and discussion on the type of leadership for learning present in some disadvantaged secondary schools in Spain.     

Understanding responsibility in Responsible AI. Dianoetic virtues and the hard problem of context

Ethics and Information Technology - During the last decade there has been burgeoning research concerning the ways in which we should think of and apply the concept of responsibility for Artificial...     

A virtual experience to strengthen students' understanding of inference in experimental design

Although our students correctly define the terms p‐value, Type I and Type II errors, they sometimes misinterpret results from real data. In this work we present an assignment intended to clear up these misconceptions.