The Relation between Early Childhood Teachers’ Conceptualization of “Play” and Their Practice: Implication for the Process of Learning to Teach

For centuries, educators and psychologists have advocated “play” as the ideal activity for the development of young children. Actually, play has been found currently to be the central pedagogy in the learning of young children in 21 countries in the world. However, the quality of play-based pedagogy is becoming a key concern across countries. Scholars found that play is either too loosely framed to result in children’s optimal development; or it is too “teacherly” and looses the essence of play. The recent report released by OECD highlighted its concern about play in early childhood education and, urged international researchers and educators to make efforts to bridge the gap. Hong Kong is not an exception on the issue of play enactment. Though resources have been put in for the professional upgrading of early education teachers in the last two decades, the learning and teaching style is still didactic and there appears to be a misinterpretation of play-based pedagogy. The present paper attempts to explore the issue through early childhood teachers’ conceptualization of “learning and teaching through play” with the aim of understanding the problem and shedding light for better ways to prepare teachers in this sector.     

Towards understanding international graduate student isolation in traditional and online environments

A mixed-methodology approach was employed to gain a better understanding of international graduate students’ perceptions of academic and social isolation, both in traditional and online environments, to see if these differ, and to explore suggestions for improving their sense of engagement within their learning communities. A survey was completed by 54 respondents and ten individuals participated in focus group sessions or individual interviews. The results show that international students, both in traditional and online programs, experience/perceive high levels of isolation, academically and socially. However, online international students may feel even more isolated than their traditional counterparts. The independent variables gender, type of degree, and family presence appear to also have some influence on some of the respondents’ answers. Participants suggested several types of potential interventions they would find useful.     

Beginning teachers’ perceptions of their levels of pedagogical knowledge and skills: did they change since their graduation from initial teacher preparation?

This study investigated changes in beginning teachers’ self-perceptions of their pedagogical knowledge and skills after their first year of teaching. Surveys were administered to 322 graduating student teachers at the end of the initial teacher preparation programme and at the end of their first year of teaching to compare if there were any differences in their self-perceptions. The results of the study showed significant increases in beginning teachers’ perceptions of their pedagogical knowledge and skills in three factors: Instructional Support, Accommodating Diversity and Classroom Management. Results established the development of teachers to be an ongoing process that is initiated but not completed in initial teacher preparation. Implications of findings for induction and mentoring of beginning teachers are discussed.     

To Think or Not To Think: The apparent paradox of expert skill in music performance

Abstract

Expert skill in music performance involves an apparent paradox. On stage, expert musicians are required accurately to retrieve information that has been encoded over hours of practice. Yet they must also remain open to the demands of the ever-changing situational contingencies with which they are faced during performance. To further explore this apparent paradox and the way in which it is negotiated by expert musicians, this article profiles theories presented by Roger Chaffin, Hubert Dreyfus and Tony and Helga Noice. For Chaffin, expert skill in music performance relies solely upon overarching mental representations, while, for Dreyfus, such representations are needed only by novices, while experts rely on a more embodied form of coping. Between Chaffin and Dreyfus sit the Noices, who argue that both overarching cognitive structures and embodied processes underlie expert skill. We then present the Applying Intelligence to the Reflexes (AIR) approach—a differently nuanced model of expert skill aligned with the integrative spirit of the Noices’ research. The AIR approach suggests that musicians negotiate the apparent paradox of expert skill via a mindedness that allows flexibility of attention during music performance. We offer data from recent doctoral research conducted by the first author of this article to demonstrate at a practical level the usefulness of the AIR approach when attempting to understand the complexities of expert skill in music performance.     

Yoga From the Mat Up: How words alight on bodies

Abstract

Yoga is a unique form of expert movement that promotes an increasingly subtle interpenetration of thought and movement. The mindful nature of its practice, even at expert levels, challenges the idea that thought and mind are inevitably disruptive to absorbed coping. Building on parallel phenomenological and ethnographic studies of skilful performance and embodied apprenticeship, we argue for the importance in yoga of mental access to embodied movement during skill execution by way of a case study of instruction and practice in two related traditions, Iyengar and Anusara. Sharing a pose repertoire, they are based on distinctive philosophical systems with different teaching styles and metaphoric structures. To address relations between pedagogy and practice in embodied expertise, and to investigate the reciprocal influences of embodiment and thought, we explore in detail the linguistically mediated learning context where practitioners work with yoga teachers. Here, the mind/body problem comes to practical life. We demonstrate the effects of words on bodies, as knowledge is literally incorporated. We show why interpersonal influence on our movement capacities is sometimes needed to enhance expertise. We theorize and identify ‘signature patterns of tension’ among practitioners. These patterns have four sources: ghost gestures, innate differences in bodily form, functional fusing, and signature patterns of affective experience, modulation and expression. These patterns of tension produce ‘silent zones’, cognitively impenetrable actions, functional fusing of a skilful, compensatory form, and signature patterns of pain and damage. We show how instruction can disrupt these silent zones, enhancing mental and physical flexibility.     

Understanding and Engagement in Places of Science Experience: Science Museums,Science Centers,Zoos, and Aquariums

Science museums, science centers, zoos, and aquariums (MCZAs) constitute major settings of science learning with unique characteristics of informal science education. Emphasis will be given to the analysis of four specific characteristics of MCZAs that seem relevant for educational research and practice, namely, conditions of mixed motives and goals, staged popular science, and impact of physical layout, as well as the role of social exchange and participation. By doing so, we focus on the consequences of these characteristics for the learning processes and outcomes of visits of MCZAs. We show that outcomes encompass not only knowledge acquisition in a narrower sense but also changes in interest and beliefs.     

Student perceptions of satisfaction and anxiety in an online doctoral program

Eighty-four students in an online health education doctoral program taking the first course in the program over one year (four quarters) were surveyed in regards to their computer, Internet, and online course anxiety, and overall course satisfaction. An 18-item anxiety tool with domains in computer, Internet, and online learning was administered in the first and last weeks of an educational research course to assess for changes in student anxiety. A 24-item satisfaction tool with domains regarding the instructor, technology, setup, interaction, outcomes, and overall satisfaction was administered at the end of the course. Results show a significant negative correlation between anxiety and student satisfaction. Student anxiety levels were in the relatively moderate range; changes in anxiety levels over time were not significant. Participants who felt anxious when using computers or the Internet, or when taking online courses experienced anxiety with other domains.