An Exploratory Look at the Relationships Among Math Skills, Motivational Factors and Activity Choice

This study of a preschool classroom of 4 year old children examines underlying skills of number sense such as counting and spatial skills and Spontaneous Focusing on Numerosity. It also investigates children’s patterns of engaging in spontaneous mathematical activities in free-play activity centers in relation to behaviors associated with classroom achievement such as attention/persistence, self-regulation, perceived math ability, and motivation. A mixed method design with structured empirical measures and naturalistic observations was used. Several data sources were analyzed, including videotaped interviews, systematic observational data, and teacher ratings. Findings indicate that children who spontaneously focus on numerosity are advanced in their counting skills. Teacher rating of motivation and interest is also correlated with counting skills and spatial skills. Teacher rating of persistence is correlated with counting skills and child self-reports of persistence in math correlated with spatial skills. Variability existed in free play activity time, with social or dramatic play the only activity observed for all children. The major math activities chosen were those involving block construction and some computer games. It was noted that students less skilled in math tended to choose less cognitively challenging activities involving small motor tasks rather than more cognitively challenging activities. Using a Vygotskian socio-cultural lens, several suggestions are made about how verbal interactions with teachers and other adults may contribute to children’s cognitive competence in math.     

Seeking Balance: The Importance of Environmental Conditions in Men and Women Faculty’s Well-being

Faculty retention is of increasing importance in the current economic climate. We examined the role of an institution’s environmental conditions (e.g., climate, collegiality, and administration) in faculty well-being (i.e., job satisfaction, intent to leave, emotional and physical health). Women reported significantly lower well-being and a more negative perception of all environmental conditions than men. Intriguingly, for both men and women, the more institutional support perceived by faculty members for work-life integration, the more positive their well-being. Policies that support work-life integration, often viewed as merely a “women’s issue,” may encourage the retention of both men and women faculty members.     

Digital natives: Where is the evidence?

Generational differences are seen as the cause of wide shifts in our ability to engage with technologies and the concept of the digital native has gained popularity in certain areas of policy and practice. This paper provides evidence, through the analysis of a nationally representative survey in the UK, that generation is only one of the predictors of advanced interaction with the Internet. Breadth of use, experience, gender and educational levels are also important, indeed in some cases more important than generational differences, in explaining the extent to which people can be defined as a digital native. The evidence provided suggests that it is possible for adults to become digital natives, especially in the area of learning, by acquiring skills and experience in interacting with information and communication technologies. This paper argues that we often erroneously presume a gap between educators and students and that if such a gap does exist, it is definitely possible to close it.     

Ratings, Quality, and Accreditation: Policy Implications for Educational Communications and Technology Programs in a Digital Age

At a time when higher education is being pushed not only to increase efficiencies to provide greater value and to innovate to meet new global challenges, processes of accountability and accreditation to demonstrate quality may be leading to conformance and a one-size-fitsall model of what institutions and programs should be. Further, in the public marketplace, rankings are increasingly viewed as key quality indicators not only for students and their parents in making educational choices, but to administrators who perceive these as important for their institutions’ futures and funding. The influence of markets and accountability policy as increasingly major drivers of change impacting the field of educational technology are reviewed from historical and current perspectives. Leadership roles that the Association for Educational Communications and Technology (AECT) and its members might develop in response to these expanding pressures are proposed which may lead to higher visibility for the field, greater policy advocacy, and new research agendas. In particular, the issues of quality assessments and visibility are viewed for ensuring higher education programs in the educational technology field continue to provide excellence and value to future professionals.     

更新公民教育

本文认为,现在到了恢复美国高等教育丢失的使命的关键时刻。在简要回顾了公民教育三要素——思想、道德和行动后,本文详细描述了公民教育在美国大学的衰落和针对公民教育真空的四种反应,最后提供了若干建议作为把思想、道德和行动等不同角色结合起来的对话框架。     

Modeling reading vocabulary learning in deaf children in bilingual education programs

The acquisition of reading vocabulary is one of the major challenges for deaf children in bilingual education programs. Deaf children have to acquire a written lexicon that can effectively be used in reading. In this paper, we present a developmental model that describes reading vocabulary acquisition of deaf children in bilingual education programs. The model is inspired by Jiang's model of vocabulary development in a second language (N. Jiang, 2000, 2004a) and the hierarchical model of lexical representation and processing in bilinguals (J. F. Kroll & E. Stewart, 1988). We argue that lexical development in the written language often fossilizes and that many words deaf readers acquire will not reach the final stage of lexical development. We argue that this feature is consistent with many findings reported in the literature. Finally, we discuss the pedagogical implications of the model.     

Predicting Teacher Participation in a Classroom-Based, Integrated Preventive Intervention for Preschoolers

Preschools provide a promising setting in which to conduct preventive interventions for childhood problems, but classroom programs can only be effective if teachers are willing and able to implement them. This study is one of the first to investigate predictors of the frequency of teacher participation in a classroom-based, randomized controlled trial of an integrated prevention program for preschoolers. The intervention was designed to promote school readiness with an integrated social and academic program, to be implemented by teachers with the support of classroom consultants. The current study is part of a larger project conducted with Head Start and community child care centers that serve primarily economically disadvantaged families; 49 teachers from 30 centers participated in this study. Overall, teachers conducted approximately 70% of the program activities. Participation decreased significantly over time from the first to the final week of the intervention, and also decreased within each week of the intervention, from the first to the final weekly activity. Teachers working at community child care centers implemented more intervention activities than did Head Start teachers. Teacher concerns about the intervention, assessed prior to training, predicted less participation. In addition, teachers' participation was positively related to their perception that their centers and directors were supportive, collegial, efficient, and fair, as well as their job satisfaction and commitment. Teacher experience, education, ethnicity, and self-efficacy were not significantly related to participation. In multi-level models that considered center as a level of analysis, substantial variance was accounted for by centers, pointing to the importance of considering center-level predictors in future research.