Art Conquers All? Herbert Read's Education through Art

Herbert Read's Education through Art (henceforth ETA) is a pioneering attempt to provide empirical evidence for the need for art in the public school system. Rooting for art education, Read applies the conclusions of the newly evolving psychological research to his thesis on education, which he holds to be a contemporary revival of Plato's educational theory. Psychological research proves, Read believes, that art is required for the healthy cognitive and emotional development of the child, thereby creating a stable and productive society. ‘Education through art’ nurtures each individual's potential, so that every professional direction one would later take would be ‘art'. Since its publication in 1943, art‐education enthusiasts seem to hold that Read was on the right track, but that ETA suffers from a lack of evidence – a mere technicality that can be amended when research advances. Contrariwise, I argue that Read's thesis is inherently problematic, rather than empirically inaccurate. Psychological research may never suffice for the justification of art education, if ‘art education’ is both substituted for ‘creativity’ and expected to produce testable – immediate and quantifiable – results. My interest is not only in Read's theory per se, but in this form of justification. To wit, the discussion examines ETA as a case study in the empirical justification of art education.     

Judging Hebrew adjective agreement across development: syntactic and morpho-syntactic awareness

Reading and Writing - Grammatical awareness of syntax and morphology is important in children’s literacy development for both reading and writing. Hebrew, a language with rich inflectional...     

Self learning of negative number concepts by lower division elementary students through solving computer-provided numerical problems

Research has identified difficulties in students' understanding of concepts of either signed or negative numbers and in operations on these numbers. The present study examines the feasibility of teaching certain negative number concepts and procedures to students of a much younger age than is presently done in schools. The method suggested employs the computer for promoting autonomous learning processes through solving challenging problems that are adapted to students' aptitudes, using the number line as an intuitive model. Two fourth grade classes served as the treatment and no-treatment groups. The findings support prior evidence that students have pre-instructional intuitions and informal knowledge of negative numbers and can perform simple operations on them. Such knowledge and intuitions show for high achievers to a much larger extent than for low achievers. Students' related misconceptions are also identified. Pre- and post-treatment tests and interviews reveal that students who received the treatment gained significantly more than those in the no-treatment group regarding all but one of the concepts and procedures of the negative numbers and on the overall score on the test. Low achievers gained at least as much as the high achievers, indicating that the method used here of adjusting the level of challenge to students' aptitude works well. Performing operations on negative numbers proves to be particularly difficult for the lower-achieving students.This research was supported by the BASIC RESEARCH FOUNDATION administered by the ISRAEL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES AND HUMANITIES.     

Relations between EFL teachers’ formal knowledge of grammar and their in-action mental models of children's minds and learning

We studied the relations between English as a foreign language teachers’ grammar knowledge and their in-action mental models (MMs) of children's minds and learning. The grammar knowledge we examined was English wh-constructions. A total of 74 teachers completed an assessment task and were classified to have deep, intermediate or shallow knowledge. Ten teachers (five with deep and five with shallow level) were videotaped teaching wh-questions. The data were analysed qualitatively to determine the teachers’ MM, and then quantitatively to test similarities/differences in their MM's expression. The findings revealed an identical MM among all teachers that is expressed differently as a function of knowledge level.     

The contribution of early home literacy activities to first grade reading and writing achievements in Arabic

This longitudinal study assessed the literacy development of native Arabic-speaking children from kindergarten to the end of first grade, focusing on the role of home literacy activities (mother–child shared book reading and joint writing). The contribution of these activities in kindergarten to children’s reading and writing at the end of first grade were evaluated, controlling for family SES and children’s early skills (vocabulary and letter naming). Eighty-eight Arabic-speaking children and their mothers participated in the study. Results revealed that family SES, children’s early skills and home literacy activities in kindergarten correlated with children’s achievements at the end of first grade. Joint writing contributed significantly to children’s literacy in first grade and the contribution of shared reading was almost significant. Joint writing was found to contribute to children’s literacy achievements in first grade beyond book reading. The study extends our knowledge on literacy acquisition in Arabic, highlighting the significance of early parent–child literacy activities as a predictor of Arabic-speaking children’s literacy achievements in school.     

Educational e-books: a support for vocabulary and early math for children at risk for learning disabilities

Mathematical learning difficulties can originate at an early age. However, research on young children’s math development, especially those who are at risk, is in its early stages. The current study is the first to examine the effects of an activity with an educational e-book on emergent math with 52 preschoolers at risk for learning disability (ALD). The effects on their emergent vocabulary of the e-book intervention was also tested. The findings revealed that following the intervention, children in the experimental e-book group improved both their vocabulary and early math skills as compared to the control group who engaged in their regular preschool activities. The implications of these results are discussed.     

Science Engagement and Literacy: A Retrospective Analysis for Indigenous and Non-Indigenous Students in Aotearoa New Zealand and Australia

Previous research has underlined the importance of school students’ engagement in science (including students’ attitudes, interests and self beliefs). Engagement in science is important as a correlate of scientific literacy and attainment, and as an educational outcome in its own right. Students positively engaged with science are more likely to pursue science related careers, and to support science related policies and initiatives. This retrospective, secondary analysis of PISA 2006 national data for Aotearoa New Zealand and Australia examines and compares the factors associated with science literacy and with science engagement for indigenous and non-indigenous 15 year old students. Using a four step hierarchical regression model, our secondary analyses showed consistent patterns of influence on engagement in science for both indigenous and non-indigenous students in Aotearoa and Australia. Variations in students’ interest, enjoyment, personal and general valuing, self-efficacy, and self concept in science were most strongly associated with the extent to which students engaged in science activities outside of school. In contrast, socioeconomic status, time spent on science lessons and study, and the character of science teaching experienced by students in their schools were the factors most explanatory of variations in science literacy. Yet, the factors that explained variation in science literacy had only quite weak associations with the suite of variables comprising engagement in science. We discuss the implications of these findings for science educators and researchers interested in enhancing students’ engagement with science, and committed to contributing positively to closing the persistent gap in educational outcomes between indigenous and non-indigenous peoples.     

Can a school change its spots? The first year of transforming to an innovative school

Transforming into an innovative school is one of the strategies schools apply when facing changes in a turbulent environment. In the first year of such a transformation these schools face an essential dilemma: how to facilitate changes without jeopardizing their environmental legitimacy. Examining an Israeli elementary school as an instrumental case study through two theoretical frameworks—institutional theory and resource dependence theory—we found two ways in which the school faces this dilemma. First it seals its technical core while demonstrating the innovation by symbolical practises, and second, it employs buffering and bridging tactics in its reciprocal relations with its various partners according to the nature of their expectations. We conclude that the question is not why innovation does not change a school, but why a school needs innovation in order to change and improve. Further research directions and implications for innovative schools are discussed.     

The ABC’s of Chinese: maternal mediation of Pinyin for Chinese children’s early literacy skills

In the present study, maternal Pinyin mediation and its relations with young Chinese children??s word reading and word writing development were explored. At time 1, 43 Mainland Chinese children and their mothers were videotaped on a task in which children were asked to write 12 words in Pinyin (a phonological coding system used in Mainland China as an aid to reading Chinese characters) with help from their mothers. The videotapes were later coded on a scale (adapted from Aram & Levin, 2001) of mothers?? writing facilitation techniques. Scores on this scale of maternal mediation of Pinyin uniquely explained children??s reading of Chinese words, but not writing of Chinese words, after statistically controlling for maternal education and age, and children??s non-verbal IQ, age, and phonological awareness. At time 2, 22 of the children from time 1 were further tested on Chinese word reading and word reading task 1?year later. After controlling for children??s age and non-verbal IQ, maternal Pinyin mediation uniquely explained 6% of the variance in children??s word writing and 7% of the variance in children??s word reading performance at time 2. Results underscore the potential importance of the maternal scaffolding role for reading acquisition both theoretically and practically in a domain not previously explored (i.e., use of a common coding system (Pinyin) for learning to read, rather than word reading itself).