Making all the flashy stuff work: the role of the principal in ICT integration

The pervasiveness of new technologies and their rapid spread around the globe belie the fact that educational leaders still struggle with how to integrate information and communication technologies (ICT) in schools. This article describes the form of these struggles for a small group of Australian principals. Their stories emerged from a set of five longitudinal case studies of ICT integration in a range of Government schools in the state of New South Wales. During the three years over which the study was conducted, the difficulties associated with leading the integration of educational technologies in schools were common and recurring themes that emerged in interviews with principals. These cases reveal the local variations and specificities of ICT integration through a range of issues including infrastructure development, human resource development, curriculum design, pedagogical practices and futures oriented planning. In describing these issues, many of the effects of ICT integration in schools are discussed. One such effect is the requirement for principals to develop the skills of new knowledge workers, in particular they require access to knowledge and support that is sufficiently flexible to deal with immediate and practical problems.     

Evaluación por carpetas en cursos de metodología para enseñantes: predicar con el ejemplo

Convencidas de que los formadores de enseñantes deben tener gran parte de la responsabilidad de preparar a éstos para que utilicen prácticas de evaluación alternativas, Stahle y Mitchell describen sus experiencias en el empleo de carpetas en cursos de metodología para la enseñanza de la lectura y la escritura. Si la carpeta parece un buen recurso para definir el trabajo y la interacción entre educador y aprendiz, los autores exponen que lo es doblemente entre educador y aprendiz de educador.     

A Mixed-Methods Longitudinal Investigation of Mothers’ Disclosure of HIV to Their Children

Mothers living with HIV (MLH) must navigate disclosing their serostatus to their children, but the longitudinal impact on families remains unknown. This study examined HIV disclosure, parenting, parenting stress, and child adjustment among 174 MLH-child dyads (aged 6–14; 35% Latinx; 57% Black/African American). Quantitative data were collected over four waves spanning 15 months. Qualitative data were collected with 14 families in which disclosure had occurred. Latent change score modeling revealed that disclosure led to improvements in parenting stress, communication, and relationship quality. Disclosure did not predict child adjustment. Qualitative themes contextualized these findings, revealing stability and improvements in family functioning. MLH should be supported in disclosing their serostatus to their children to minimize parenting stress and bolster parenting skills.     

Predicting resilience in sexually abused adolescents

This research examined factors that predicted resilience in sexually abused adolescents. Using Bronfenbrenner's Process-Person-Context-Time (PPCT) ecological model, this study considered the proximal and distal factors that would contribute to adolescents' reactions to sexual victimization. This correlational study used hierarchical regression analysis (n=237) with cross-sectional data from the National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-Being Wave I (NSCAW, Dowd et al., 2002). This study found that school engagement, caregiver social support, hope and expectancy, caregiver education and SES predicted resilience. In line with the PPCT model, findings suggest that placing a greater emphasis on the contextual environment could improve support for adolescent resilience. Augmenting interventions that focus on individual change with those that address environmental factors may increase the benefits to adolescents affected by sexual abuse.     

Attentional Strategy Use by Experienced Distance Runners: Physiological and Psychological Effects

The purpose of this investigation was twofold: (a) to compare most and least economical runners on use of attentional strategies and (b) to determine whether the least economical runners within the subject sample could improve running economy (RE) with the use of an active associative (relaxation) attentional strategy. Subjects (N = 36) completed an initial assessment of attentional style and RE; then the 12 least economical runners ran in each of three laboratory sessions using control, passive associative, and active associative attentional strategies. Results showed that the most economical and least economical runners did not differ in associative style use. The most economical runners, however, reported less dissociation use and more use of relaxation than did the least economical runners. No significant physiological or psychological changes were associated with any of the three attentional strategy conditions. The findings are related to possible differences in how most and least economical runners use associative strategies.     

Interactive pedagogy and subsequent effects on learning in science classrooms

Observations of pupils‐in‐action whilst carrying out investigations indicated that there was plenty of social and cooperative exchange. There was, however, infrequent discussion regarding the planning of experimental approaches, predicting outcomes, consideration of the meaning of evidence and evaluation of task solutions. These observations informed the nature of interactive in‐service programmes developed in Keele University Education Department. Professional development was designed to purposely illustrate a wide repertoire of pedagogic strategies that focused around these issues to support cognitive development of pupils. The interactive nature of the in‐service training was shown to affect widespread ‘change in teachers’ practice. These teachers, involved in experiential in‐service, reflected that they intervened more regularly in children's learning. Their engagement in in‐service training as learners in problem‐solving situations resulted in conceptual shifts in understanding the learning processes their pedagogical transformations could affect. The impact of this changed praxis on pupils' learning in investigational situations was studied after in‐service intervention. These findings were compared with the performance of pupils of the same year group carrying out the same investigations before in‐service intervention. The more interactive nature of the teachers' changed pedagogy appeared to affect change in the way pupils themselves interacted and learnt from and with each other. Explicitly sharing subjective views through exploratory talk was found to be important to affect learning through social interaction.     

Writing: importance, development, and instruction

In this article, we examine why writing is important, how it develops, and effective writing practices. We situate the 5 articles in this special issue of Reading and Writing in this literature, providing a context for the contribution of each paper.     

Dramatising Science Learning: Findings from a pilot study to re-invigorate elementary science pedagogy for five- to seven-year olds

This article reports on a pilot intervention that helped teachers of five- to seven-year-old pupils (re)develop their practice to teach science in a more active and participatory way. Science is sometimes perceived as elitist, accessible to only the most able. Drama, however, offers a more lively, none traditional way to learn, that can appeal to, and involve all children in a science classroom. Dramatising science learning appears not only to promote engaging learning activity, but also to support children to conceptually grasp challenging ideas. In this study, 20 teachers from 10 Staffordshire schools experimented with new pedagogical approaches to enhance their practice. Reflective journal extracts, interviews and classroom observations indicated how the drama was enacted and augmented teachers’ scientific understanding. A survey and several focus group discussions were carried out to explore how over 200 children (that responded) felt about learning through drama. There were many success stories, but some aspects of the approach required more development than others.     

The role of visualization in learning from computer‐based images

Among the sciences, the practice of geology is especially visual. To assess the role of spatial ability in learning geology, we designed an experiment using: (1) web‐based versions of spatial visualization tests, (2) a geospatial test, and (3) multimedia instructional modules built around QuickTime Virtual Reality movies. Students in control and experimental sections were administered measures of spatial orientation and visualization, as well as a content‐based geospatial examination. All subjects improved significantly in their scores on spatial visualization and the geospatial examination. There was no change in their scores on spatial orientation. A three‐way analysis of variance, with the geospatial examination as the dependent variable, revealed significant main effects favoring the experimental group and a significant interaction between treatment and gender. These results demonstrate that spatial ability can be improved through instruction, that learning of geological content will improve as a result, and that differences in performance between the genders can be eliminated.