Changing their minds: the social dynamics of school leaders' learning

This paper questions whether a focus on individual development is appropriate when it comes to attempting to change professional practice. Based on a study of the conceptual development of candidates on the Scottish Qualification for Headship Programme (SQH), the paper examines evidence from detailed case studies of the learning of some of the students. These were constructed using the reflective commentaries written by the candidates at the end of each year and the outcomes of semi‐structured interviews to explore their experiences of the course and what they felt they had learned as a result. The evidence indicated that there was a complex dynamic involved in learning to change practice where the conceptual development of individuals was closely related to their experience of enacting new behaviours in the social setting of the workplace. The sense that candidates made of school leadership and management was shaped and embedded in their social experience. Change and development on their part was closely bound to the capacity and willingness to change on the part of others.     

Heat energy and temperature concepts of adolescents,adults, and experts: Implications for curricular improvements

We conducted two studies of beliefs about laboratory and everyday thermal phenomena. The first study identified concepts of heat energy and temperature held by adolescents, adults, and scientists. We found a classic separation of “school” and “everyday” knowledge in each population. We conducted clinical interviews with 37 middle school students, 9 adults, and 8 chemists and physicists to obtain their predictions and explanations of real-world phenomena. Many students believed that metals “conduct,” “absorb,” “trap,” or “hold” cold better than other materials and that aluminum foil would be better than wool or cotton as a wrapping material to keep cold objects cold. Respondents in each group held many intuitive ideas that were well established. Although scientists made more accurate predictions than students and gave theoretical definitions of terms, they too had difficulty explaining everyday phenomena. The second study investigated the impact of a middle school science curriculum designed to help students understand everyday thermal events. We found marked improvements in posttest scores and clinical interview responses as a result of instruction that built on students' intuitions.     

Using Power and Caring to Mediate White Male Privilege,Equality, and Equity in an Urban Elementary Classroom: Implications for Teacher Preparation

Although students from diverse backgrounds may have access to equal educational opportunity by occupying the same classroom space, they do not necessarily enjoy equal and fair access to the same quality of experience within that classroom. The inequalities and inequities are partially a result of privilege, an advantage afforded to individuals because of their similarity to the norms operating in the classroom. In this article, the ways in which the white male students in a diverse, urban fourth grade classroom exercise privilege are identified and the white teacher's approach to mediating white male privilege, equality, and equity is examined. The teacher's approach is evaluated in terms of fairness via the white male students' perceptions of the classroom environment, viewed in relation to power and caring and is discussed with respect to implications for teacher preparation.     

Past experience,recency, and spontaneous recovery in choice behavior

Pigeons’ responses on two keys were recorded before and after the percentage of reinforcers delivered by each key was changed. In each condition of Experiment 1, the reinforcement percentage for one key was 50% for several sessions, then either 70% or 90% for one, two, or three sessions, and then 50% for another few sessions. At the start of the second and third sessions after a change in reinforcement percentages, choice percentages often exhibited spontaneous recovery—a reversion to the response percentages of earlier sessions. The spontaneous recovery consisted of a shift toward a more extreme response percentage in some cases and toward a less extreme response percentage in other cases, depending on what reinforcement percentages were previously in effect. In Experiment 2, some conditions included a 3-day rest period before a change in reinforcement percentages, and other conditions included no such rest days. Slightly less spontaneous recovery was observed in conditions with the rest periods, suggesting that the influence of prior sessions diminished with the passage of time. The results are consistent with the view that choice behavior at the start of a new session is based on a weighted average of the events of the past several sessions.     

Association between gross motor competence and health-related quality of life in (pre)schoolchildren: the mediating role of cardiorespiratory fitness

ABSTRACT

Background: Motor competence, defined as a person’s ability to execute different motor skills, is directly associated with children’s physical, mental, and social development and may be essential in encouraging an active lifestyle in childhood. Although health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in children has been described as an individual’s subjective perception of the impact of health status on physical, psychological and social functioning, in very young children, a HRQoL parent-proxy report is needed since (pre)schoolchildren have problems expressing their feelings and understanding items on HRQoL instruments. In addition, the influence of motor competence on fitness levels has strong empirical support, so it seems reasonable to hypothesize that cardiorespiratory fitness might play a crucial role in the association between motor competence and HRQoL in children.

Objectives: This study examined the association between gross motor competence (G-MC) and HRQoL in typically developing children, and whether this association between G-MC and HRQoL was mediated by cardiorespiratory fitness.

Methods: An observational cross-sectional study with 1088 (pre)schoolchildren (51.84% boys, 48.16% girls) aged between 4 and 7 years (5.32?±?0.60) belonging to 21 schools in the Spanish provinces of Cuenca and Ciudad Real were included. G-MC was evaluated using the MABC-2 battery, HRQoL was assessed using the KINDL-R questionnaire and cardiorespiratory fitness using the 20m-shuttle-run-test. Partial correlations, covariance models and mediation analyses were conducted.

Results: The mean scores of HRQoL (physical well-being, self-esteem, friends, school and global score index) were significantly higher (p?<?0.05) in children with higher G-MC. When cardiorespiratory fitness was added as a covariate, all the results remained unchanged (p?<?0.05), except for physical well-being for the total sample as well as emotional well-being and the global score index for girls. Simple mediation analyses showed that cardiorespiratory fitness acted as a mediator between G-MC and physical well-being (Indirect Effect?=?0.04 [95% CI?=?0.01; 0.07]) for the total sample. For boys, it acted as a mediator between G-MC and physical well-being (Indirect Effect?=?0.04 [95% CI?=?0.00; 0.08]) and school (Indirect Effect?=?0.05 [95% CI?=?0.01; 0.09]), and, for girls, between G-MC and emotional well-being (Indirect Effect?=?0.04 [95% CI?=?0.01; 0.08]) and the global score index (Indirect Effect?=?0.02 [95% CI?=?0.00; 0.05]).

Conclusions: The results of this study suggest that good G-MC levels are associated with better HRQoL, mainly in global score index of HRQoL and self-esteem, friends, and school dimensions in typically developing children. Further, cardiorespiratory fitness mediates the association between G-MC and the physical dimension of HRQoL in (pre)schoolchildren. Additionally, physical and academic dimensions are mediated by cardiorespiratory fitness for boys and the emotional and global score indices of HRQoL are mediated by cardiorespiratory fitness for girls. These findings provide scientific evidence that improving motor competence and cardiorespiratory fitness might be a practical strategy to increase HRQoL in children. Thus, families and the educational community should promote effective interventions and incorporate opportunities inside and outside school that aim to jointly improve motor competence and cardiorespiratory fitness.     

The Works of Sherman Faxton Lawton

Communications Technology for Urban Improvement: Report to the Department of Housing and Urban Development Under Contract H-1221 (Washington: National Academy of Engineering, 2101 Constitution Ave., N.W., 1971—$3.00)

Abel Green and Joe Laurie Jr.'s Show Biz: Variety from Vaude to Video (New York: Kennikat Press, 1971— $22.50)