Learning the Colonial Past in a Colonial Present: Students and Teachers Confront the Spanish Conquest in Post-Conflict Guatemala

In Guatemala, three centuries after Spanish conquest and in the wake of more than three decades of internal conflict, the framers of the 1996 Accord for a Firm and Lasting Peace placed educational reform at the center of efforts to make peace with this contentious past. This article, based on a multisite qualitative study, describes how Guatemalan teachers, working within an ostensibly standardized national curriculum aimed at creating a common historical narrative, differed in their presentation of Spanish colonialism. In the social studies classrooms of two different settings, a private school serving affluent Ladino students and a public school serving low-income indigenous students, young people constructed usable pasts amid distinct approaches to this era. In the first, a static, fixed version of colonial history distanced these young people from their indigenous cocitizens; students described the colonial era as part of a completed and distant past. In the second classroom, the teacher framed colonialism as an enduring part of students’ lives; students articulated the continued reach of the colonial era through language loss, structural inequality, and cultural devaluation. In this postconflict setting, curricular attempts to use historical study to create a new, unified, national identity were met with local challenges embedded in distinct historical memories.     

Competence is in the Eye of the Beholder: Perceptions of intellectually disabled child witnesses

This study examines mock jurors’ perceptions of a young witness according to whether or not he was described as having an intellectual disability. Our study examined perceptions of a child witness younger (five or seven years) than previously studied. Mock jurors (n = 71) viewed a short video excerpt of a boy recalling a personally experienced event, and then rated him across nine domains of eyewitness ability. The boy was described as either having an intellectual disability or typically developing. Participants rated the child more negatively on dimensions relating to cognitive competence, but not trustworthiness, when he was presented as having an intellectual disability. Participants also watched the child answer a series of suggestive questions; when described as having an intellectual disability he was rated as less accurate in responding to these. The findings have implications for the involvement of children with intellectual disabilities within the legal system.     

Use of national parks for outdoor environmental education: An Australian case study

Abstract

The need for environmental education through outdoor education experiences is becoming increasingly evident in outdoor education theory and practice. In Australia, this environmental focus is reflected in recent outdoor education curriculum documents, particularly in the Victorian Certificate of Education (VCE). For many outdoor education teachers who do not have expertise in environmental education, this curriculum development presents a challenge. Outdoor education teachers frequently use National Parks to help them address this challenge.

The study examined the educational objectives and roles of teachers and park staff involved in environmental education through outdoor education in National Parks in Victoria, Australia. This paper discusses findings related to the teachers' educational objectives and roles while those of the park staff are examined in a separate paper. The findings indicate that the teachers often lack the environmental knowledge and skills needed to teach some aspects of the curriculum thus making the role of the park ranger or education officer particularly significant in educating teachers as well as students. Issues are raised about the training of outdoor education teachers and of park rangers to meet the environmental education needs of outdoor education students. Questions are also raised about the appropriateness of using National Parks for outdoor education purposes.     

Vocational Expectations and Self‐Stigmatizing Views Among Collegiate Recovery Students: An Exploratory Investigation

Collegiate recovery programs (CRPs) provide support for students in recovery from substance use disorders. Little research exists examining factors relevant to this population, making it challenging to prioritize recovery and educational goals. This study used a national sample (N = 80) of students involved in CRPs to investigate the relationships among self‐stigma, quality of life, psychological health, and vocational expectations. A regression model revealed these factors to explain 34% of self‐stigmatizing views in this sample.     

Use of national parks for outdoor environmental education: An Australian case study

The need for environmental education through outdoor education experiences is becoming increasingly evident in outdoor education theory and practice. In Australia, this environmental focus is reflected in recent outdoor education curriculum documents, particularly in the Victorian Certificate of Education (VCE). For many outdoor education teachers who do not have expertise in environmental education, this curriculum development presents a challenge. Outdoor education teachers frequently use National Parks to help them address this challenge.

The study examined the educational objectives and roles of teachers and park staff involved in environmental education through outdoor education in National Parks in Victoria, Australia. This paper discusses findings related to the teachers' educational objectives and roles while those of the park staff are examined in a separate paper. The findings indicate that the teachers often lack the environmental knowledge and skills needed to teach some aspects of the curriculum thus making the role of the park ranger or education officer particularly significant in educating teachers as well as students. Issues are raised about the training of outdoor education teachers and of park rangers to meet the environmental education needs of outdoor education students. Questions are also raised about the appropriateness of using National Parks for outdoor education purposes.     

Preserving the Past: An Early Interview Improves Delayed Event Memory in Children With Intellectual Disabilities

The influence of an early interview on children's (N = 194) later recall of an experienced event was examined in children with mild and moderate intellectual disabilities (CWID; 7–12 years) and typically developing (TD) children matched for chronological (7–12 years) or mental (4–9 years) age. Children previously interviewed were more informative, more accurate, and less suggestible. CWID (mild) recalled as much information as TD mental age matches, and were as accurate as TD chronological age matches. CWID (moderate) recalled less than TD mental age matches but were as accurate. Interviewers should elicit CWID's recall as early as possible and consider developmental level and severity of impairments when evaluating eyewitness testimony.     

Student voice as risky praxis: democratising physical education teacher education

Background: Student voice agendas have been slow to permeate higher educational institutions. Curricula in universities, like those in primary and secondary education, are still usually made for students by teachers who, while they may have the best interests of the students in mind, rarely if ever engage students in curriculum decision-making. The need for more equitable, dialogic and democratic engagement by students is particularly relevant in the context of teacher education. It has been argued that pre-service teachers should experience democratic practices during their teacher education experiences in order to have the confidence, knowledge and skills to support democratic opportunities in schools.

Purpose: Through the participatory action research project described in this paper we sought to position pre-service teachers as pedagogical consultants who would design feedback strategies, gather feedback with faculty and co-construct physical education teacher education (PETE) curricula. We saw this process as a democratic possibility that might create opportunities for pre-service teachers to critique and transform their own educational experiences. In this paper we detail the process we used to support dialogue about teaching and learning between students and faculty members and draw on the perspectives of the students, pedagogical consultant, lecturer and teaching and learning advocate involved in this project.

Participants and setting: The project was undertaken with one cohort (77) of pre-service teachers during the final year of a four-year undergraduate PETE programme in an Irish university and focuses on the democratization of one PETE course.

Data collection: Data were generated with and by the pre-service teachers, the pedagogical consultant, the lecturer and the regional teaching and learning advocate. The primary data collection methods were interviews and observation.

Data analysis: The data were reviewed repeatedly looking for patterns, themes, regularities, paradoxes, variations, nuances in meaning and constraints [Rubin and Rubin 1995. Qualitative Interviewing. The art of Hearing Data. London: Sage]. The authors coded all data sets independently using constant comparison [Glaser 1965. “The Constant Comparative Method of Qualitative Analysis.” Social Problems 12 (4): 436–445] and then shared their processes and subsequent codes. Our analysis engages Greene’s [1988. The Dialectic of Freedom. New York: Teachers College Press] dialectical theory, to explore how naming and holding the tensions involved in this research and pedagogical enterprise was not stultifying but generative.

Findings: Three key dialectics were constructed from the data: student–teacher, critical reflection–learning and responsibility–accountability. We speak to each of these themes from the perspectives of the students, the pedagogical consultant and the lecturer who participated in this project.

Discussion and conclusion: Our discussion turns to the challenges and benefits associated with the pursuit and realization of democratic possibilities in PETE.     

Effects of obesity on breast size,thoracic spine structure and function,upper torso musculoskeletal pain and physical activity in women

Purpose:This study investigated the effects of obesity on breast size,thoracic spine structure and function,upper torso musculoskeletal pain and physical activity participation in women living independently in the community.Methods:A total of 378 women were divided into 3 groups(Not Overweight:body mass index(BMI)=22.5±0.2 kg/m^2(mean±SE);Overweight:BMI=27.4±0.3 kg/m^2;Obese:BMI=35.4±0.3 kg/m^2).Outcome variables of breast volume(mL),thoracic flexion torque(N·m),thoracic kyphosis(degrees),upper torso musculoskeletal pain(score) and time spent in physical activity(min) were calculated and compared among the 3 groups,adjusting for between-group differences in age.Results:There was a significant main effect of BMI on all outcome variables.Participants classified as Obese displayed significantly larger breasts,had greater thoracic flexion torques and reported less time participating in physical activity relative to the participants who were classified as Not Overweight and Overweight.Participants in the Obese group also displayed significantly more thoracic kyphosis and reported significantly more upper torso musculoskeletal pain compared to their counterparts who were classified as Not Overweight.Conclusion:This study is the first to demonstrate that increased obesity levels were associated with compromised kyphosis and loading of the thoracic spine,as well as increased symptoms of upper torso musculoskeletal pain and reduced time spent in physical activity in women living in the community.We recommend further research to determine whether evidence-based interventions designed to reduce the flexion torque generated on the thoracic spine can improve these symptoms of upper torso musculoskeletal pain and the ability of women with obesity to participate in physical activity.     

Convergent validity of the BASC and SSRS: Implications for social skills assessment

The present study examined the psychometric relationship between two new rating scales, the Behavior Assessment System for Children (BASC; Reynolds & Kamphaus, 1992) and the Social Skills Rating System (SSRS; Gresham & Elliott, 1990), for a sample (N = 53) of minority kindergarten children using both parent and teacher ratings. The similarities and differences between these instruments were investigated through correlational and content analyses. In general, the results provide preliminary convergent validity evidence for the BASC and SSRS. In regard to the Social Skills subscale of the BASC, convergent validity evidence was demonstrated for the parent form of this instrument, but not the teacher form, when the SSRS Social Skills scale was used as the criterion. In addition, the correlations between the various scales of the BASC and SSRS were in the expected direction. That is, the correlation between the BASC Adaptive Skills Composite and the SSRS Social Skills scale was moderate in the teacher group (r = .44) and high in the parent group (r = .54). Similarly, correlations between the BASC Hyperactivity, Aggression, and Externalizing scales and the SSRS Problem Behaviors scale ranged from .50 to .60 and .50 to .56 in the teacher and parent groups, respectively. Implications regarding the practical utility of the BASC and SSRS for assessing social skills functioning, in particular, were presented. © 1996 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.