Supporting teachers’ technological pedagogical content knowledge of fractions through co-designing a virtual manipulative

This study explores the impact that co-designing a virtual manipulative, Fractions Lab, had on teachers’ professional development. Tapping into an existing community of practice of mathematics specialist teachers, the study identifies how a cooperative enquiry approach utilising workshops and school-based visits challenged 23 competent primary school teachers’ technological, pedagogical and content knowledge of fraction equivalence, addition and subtraction. Verbal and written data from the workshops alongside observations and interviews from the school visits were analysed using the technological, pedagogical and content knowledge (TPACK) framework. The findings show that the assumptions of even experienced teachers were challenged when Fractions Lab was shared as an artefact on which they were asked to co-design and subsequently interact with, using it in subsequent phases of the cooperative inquiry process. Two original aspects of successful co-design of virtual manipulatives through communities of practice are identified and offered to others: (1) careful bootstrapping of the first design iteration that gathers intelligence about the content area and the technological affordances and constraints available; and (2) involvement of highly motivated teachers who perceive themselves as agents of change in the domain area.     

Development of children with autism spectrum disorders in special needs education schools in the Netherlands: a three-year follow-up study

The purpose of the study was to investigate the development of symptomatology and academic growth of children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) attending a special needs education school in the Netherlands as well as to explore the relationship between academic achievement and symptom reduction of those children. To this end a three-year follow up study was conducted by using multiple informants. The group of children with autism was compared with a group of children having other diagnoses but attending the same school. Results showed that teachers’ and parents’ perceptions about children’s symptomatology development differed significantly. Even though teachers reported a significant symptom reduction of ASD symptoms after two years of school attendance the parents of the same children did not. Furthermore, it was found that both groups of children had gains in different aspects of school-based cognitive skills; however, no association was found between symptom reduction and academic growth of the children. Implications of the study are discussed.     

Children’s Teleological Intuitions: What Kind of Explanations Do 7–8 Year Olds Give for the Features of Organisms, Artifacts and Natural Objects?

Research has shown that children usually provide teleological explanations for the features of organisms from a very early age (3?C4?years old). However, it is not clear if teleology is applied selectively for organisms, or if it is generally applied to other objects as well (artifacts and non-living natural objects). The present study examined whether 7?C8?year old students provided teleological explanations for particular organisms, artifacts and natural objects. We investigated whether children's familiarity with these objects influenced the types of explanations they gave. Finally, we also investigated correlations between 'teleology' and 'usefulness' in children's explanations. The results indicate that 7?C8?year olds are able to distinguish between living and non-living entities, as well as that they provide teleological explanations mostly for organisms and artifacts. This may have important implications for biological education, since teleological explanations in classrooms are likely to pose important conceptual obstacles to the development of a scientific understanding of evolution.     

Exploration of teaching strategies that stimulate the growth of academic skills of children with ASD in special education school

The cognitive growth of children with developmental disorders, like autism, can be seriously impaired due to the disorder. If so, in the Netherlands, these children can attend special schools where they are treated to ameliorate disorder symptoms and to stimulate cognitive growth. The aim of this paper was to identify teaching strategies that stimulate the growth of academic skills in children diagnosed with autism, attending a special needs education school in the Netherlands. Findings showed that the strongest underlying teaching strategy that predicted the academic growth of the children on the autism spectrum in the short and long term was the provision of structure in place, time and activities. It was further found that long-term academic gains were partly predicted by the emotional support from their teachers. The implications of the findings are discussed.     

Early Family Environments May Moderate Prediction of Low Educational Attainment in Adulthood: The cases of childhood hyperactivity and authoritarian parenting

Using longitudinal data from the 1970 British Cohort Study, this study explored conditions under which the effects of risk factors for low educational attainment might be moderated. Two different risk factors, hyperactivity and maternal authoritarian parenting attitudes, were studied. The results showed that on the whole these two risk factors were negatively related to educational attainment at age 26. However, mother's authoritarian parenting was not related to educational attainment in children raised in low‐resource (e.g., low social class) environments. Analogously, hyperactivity was less strongly associated with low educational attainment in children raised in low‐stimulation (e.g., maternal depression and low maternal educational attainment) environments. The implications of these findings for intervention programs are discussed.     

Science and Technology in Greek Newspapers, 1900–1910. Historiographical Reflections and the Role of Journalists for the Public Images of Science and Technology

Based on our research on two Athenian daily newspapers for the first decade of the twentieth century, we present some historiographical reflections concerning the role of the daily press in the circulation of scientific knowledge, ideas and practices. From the wealth of material provided, we examine some of the ways in which scientific and technical knowledge was made available to a wider public and contributed to the creation of a general scientific literacy. Although Greece has never been in the forefront of scientific and technological research, the vast amount of newspaper articles on science and technology, but also references to science and technology in other kind of articles, show how discussions on science and technology become part of daily life in order to serve various agendas. Since newspapers address a very wide and diverse public on a daily basis they become privileged media not only for understanding the role science and technology played in the formation of modern societies, but also for examining the values and ideas attached to them and communicated to a wider public.     

Bullying,moral disengagement and empathy: exploring the links among early adolescents

The present study examined possible interactive links between empathy (cognitive and affective), moral disengagement (MD) and various bullying forms using a mediation model in 301 Greek early adolescents (10–12 years old). Results indicated that both dimensions of empathy were significantly negatively correlated, whereas MD was positively correlated with bullying forms. Two mediation models were tested separately for each gender. Mediation analysis indicated that boys with low affective, but not cognitive, empathy were more likely to demonstrate morally disengaged behaviour which in turn increased self-reported bullying involvement. Moreover, boys with high MD were more likely to report cognitive and affective empathy which resulted in greater direct and indirect relational bullying. In the case of girls, low affective and cognitive empathy evoked highly morally disengaged behaviour which triggered greater involvement in several bullying forms. Finally, cognitive and affective empathy partially mediated the link between MD and all forms of bullying for girls. The findings are discussed in the light of the relevant literature and implications for practice.     

Urban neighbourhood quality and school leaving age: Gender differences and some hypotheses

This study used longitudinal data from the 1970 British Cohort Study (BCS70) to examine the role of neighbourhood quality, assessed when cohort members were aged five, in boys’ and girls’ school leaving age. It was expected that, since context is in general more strongly predictive of boys’ rather than girls’ behaviour, neighbourhood quality would be more strongly related to men’s than women’s school leaving age. Results showed that, as expected, even after controlling for cognitive ability, parental socio‐economic disadvantage and social class, family structure, and maternal education, age and depressed mood, neighbourhood quality was more strongly related to men’s than women’s school leaving age. To rule out the possibility that neighbourhood quality is simply picking up individual level social class the study also explored the interaction of neighbourhood quality with parental social class. It was found that, compared to cohort members of high social class groups, cohort members of lower social class groups were less likely to stay in education after the minimum school leaving age in both neighbourhood groups, but being in the lower social class groups was more of a disadvantage for children living in well‐to‐do rather than average or poor neighbourhoods at age five.