Equity and Access: All Students are Mathematical Problem Solvers

Often mathematical instruction for students with disabilities, especially those with learning disabilities, includes an overabundance of instruction on mathematical computation and does not include high-quality instruction on mathematical reasoning and problem solving. In fact, it is a common misconception that students with learning disabilities are not strong problem solvers in general. This article highlights the inherent problem solving strengths that students with learning disabilities possess; how they use those skills to address everyday barriers and challenges, and how teachers can relate these skills to academic mathematical instruction. Additionally, practical classroom examples, suggested teaching strategies, and questions for further examinations are discussed.     

Unterricht mit digitalen Medien — zwischen Innovation und Tradition?

Konzepte zum Einsatz von digitalen Medien verdeutlichen deren Potenziale hinsichtlich einer Unterstützung des problemorientierten, selbstbestimmten und kooperativen Lehrens und Lernens. Offen ist aber, ob Lehrerinnen und Lehrer dieses Potenzial auch wirklich nutzen. M?glicherweise werden die neuen Medien lediglich in überlieferte Handlungsmuster integriert. Ziel des Forschungsprojekts, über das hier berichtet wird, ist es, einen Beitrag zur Entwicklung einer Theorie zum Lehrerhandeln im Medienzusammenhang zu leisten. Dabei wurden (1) Handlungsmuster von Lehrpersonen beim Einsatz neuer Medien im Unterricht identifiziert und (2) Hypothesen über m?gliche Zusammenh?nge von Handlungsmuster, Medien-Expertisegrad und Fachzugeh?rigkeit generiert. — Es wurden Videoaufnahmen von 20 Unterrichtsstunden mithilfe eines niedrig-inferenten Kategoriensystems analysiert und hinsichtlich zugrundeliegender Grundmuster clusteranalytisch ausgewertet. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass auf einer zugrunde gelegten Skala mit den Polen „instruktional“ und „konstruktivistisch“ unterschiedliche Muster von Lehrerhandeln beim Einsatz digitaler Medien im Unterricht identifiziert werden k?nnen, die sich als traditionell-lehrerzentriert bzw. als innovativ-schülerorientiert beschreiben lassen.     

Evaluating the effectiveness of a mindfulness coloring activity for test anxiety in children

The authors investigated the effectiveness of a mindfulness art activity compared with a free draw/coloring activity on test anxiety in children. The sample consisted of 152 students (50% female; M_age = 10.38 years, SD = 0.88 years) randomly assigned to a mindful (n = 76) or free (n = 76) group. Participants completed a standardized measure of anxiety and state mindfulness before and after the coloring activity, immediately before a spelling test, as well as a measure of dispositional mindfulness. Results revealed an overall significant decrease in test anxiety and an overall significant increase in state mindfulness following the interventions. Furthermore, although a significant negative correlation was found between dispositional mindfulness and change in state mindfulness pre- and post-coloring intervention, a significant positive correlation was found between dispositional mindfulness and pre-intervention state mindfulness, suggesting a possible ceiling effect. Explanations for these findings and implications for school personnel and future research are discussed.     

‘The rules above the bed’: academic language and learning as hospitality

ABSTRACT

In times of widening participation, Australian universities trade on notions of diversity, framing themselves as hospitable places of access and inclusion. In this space, Academic Language and Learning (ALL) practitioners may be seen as extending the welcome of the university through practices aimed at addressing students’ diverse needs. These include identifying students ‘at-risk’ of failure and attrition, conducting one-to-one appointments, and embedding academic literacies by team-teaching within disciplines. In this paper, we reflect on these practices through the lens of Derrida’s notion of hospitality, drawing on key themes such as the constitutive power relationships of hospitality, the aporia between conditional and unconditional hospitality, and hospitality as an ethics of difference and openness to the ‘arrival of the new’. For each of the explored practices, we problematise the institutionalised framing of ALL practitioners as hosts in benevolent universities providing an unreserved welcome to the student ‘foreigner’. We examine the practice of identifying students-at-risk and question a conditional hospitality that risks closing the door on the unforeseeable that students may bring. Our reflection on the managerially devalued one-to-one appointments highlights hospitality as ethics, with each appointment presenting a crisis of choice in responsibly welcoming student difference. Team-teaching exposes the ambiguity of the ALL practitioner ‘being at-home’ in embedded contexts while presenting the possibility for disrupting established roles and practices. Engaging with Derrida’s hospitality thus allows us to uncover power dynamics shaping the role of ALL practitioners and offers the possibility of ethical responsiveness to student difference and a radical opening to the new.     

An Experimental Validation of a Preschool Emergent Literacy Curriculum

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of a preschool emergent literacy enrichment curriculum. Participants were 126 Head Start children, their teachers, and their parents. Matched centers were assigned to 1 of 3 conditions: experimental literacy, experimental math, or control. Teachers in both experimental groups implemented either literacy or math instruction in small groups on a daily basis, and parents and children completed supplementary learning activities at home. The control classroom implemented the ongoing Head Start curriculum. Children in the literacy condition showed the largest gains in phonemic awareness and emergent writing skills; they also made greater gains on emergent reading than did children in the math condition. There were no group differences on expressive vocabulary. Results are discussed in terms of curriculum design and practical issues involved in supporting preschools in the implementation of research-based instructional programs.     

A Tutorial in Bayesian Potential Outcomes Mediation Analysis

Statistical mediation analysis is used to investigate intermediate variables in the relation between independent and dependent variables. Causal interpretation of mediation analyses is challenging because randomization of subjects to levels of the independent variable does not rule out the possibility of unmeasured confounders of the mediator to outcome relation. Furthermore, commonly used frequentist methods for mediation analysis compute the probability of the data given the null hypothesis, which is not the probability of a hypothesis given the data as in Bayesian analysis. Under certain assumptions, applying the potential outcomes framework to mediation analysis allows for the computation of causal effects, and statistical mediation in the Bayesian framework gives indirect effects probabilistic interpretations. This tutorial combines causal inference and Bayesian methods for mediation analysis so the indirect and direct effects have both causal and probabilistic interpretations. Steps in Bayesian causal mediation analysis are shown in the application to an empirical example.     

Guest reviewers

As the majority of full-time employees drink alcohol, and alcohol can play an important role in professional interactions and career success, the current study examined the ways in which working professionals who abstain from alcohol manage communication about their non-drinking status. Framed by the theoretical lens of facework, semi-structured, in-depth interviews of 29 non-drinking professionals revealed that non-drinking in the real world is a deviant act that can be face threatening for non-drinkers and drinkers alike. Consequently, non-drinkers deployed a variety of preventive and corrective facework strategies (including passing and humor) to mitigate and remediate positive and negative face threat. This investigation uncovered practical communication tools individuals can use to abstain from alcohol without compromising their careers.