Sleep,Classroom Behavior,and Achievement Among Children of Color in Historically Disinvested Neighborhoods

Children of color are more likely to have poor sleep health than White children, placing them at risk for behavioral problems in the classroom and lower academic performance. Few studies, however, have utilized standardized measures of both classroom behavior and achievement. This study examined whether children’s sleep (parent and teacher report) in first grade concurrently related to independent observations of classroom behavior and longitudinally predicted achievement test scores in second grade in a sample of primarily Black (86%) children (n = 572; age = 6.8) living in historically disinvested neighborhoods. Higher teacher-reported child sleepiness was associated with lower adaptive behaviors and higher problem behaviors in the classroom, and predicted lower achievement. Parent-reported bedtime resistance and disordered breathing also predicted lower achievement.     

Professional Development of Physics Teachers in an Evidence-Based Blended Learning Program

The present study examined continuity of learning between face-to-face and online environments in a “blended” professional development program designed for 16 physics teachers. The program had nine face-to-face meetings as well as continuous online exchanges between them through a website. The program focused on “knowledge integration” (KI) innovative activities in physics classes using an “evidence-based” approach: The teachers implemented the activities, collected and analyzed data about their practice and their students’ learning, and reflected on the evidence with their peers. Five reflective tools were used to promote continuity: Your Comments, Hot Polls, Smashing Sentences, Hot Reports, and Mini Research. Continuity was assessed with regard to the ideas discussed by the teachers and the reasoning patterns that they employed. Analysis of the online exchanges in relation to teachers’ face-to-face discourse revealed that the teachers discussed the same ideas (KI, evidence and learner-centered pedagogies), employed the same reasoning patterns (e.g., forming generalizations), and extended ideas in re-visitation. The online and face-to-face environments played different and complementary roles in the teachers’ learning. This study shows that appropriate use of an online environment in a blended program can lead to a continuous course of learning and can transform a “9 once-a-month-meetings” workshop into a “9-month” workshop.     

Children with Disabilities and the Education System: the experiences of fifteen fathers

Fifteen fathers of children with disabilities living in urban and rural settings were interviewed about their experiences which included their interactions with teachers and other professionals in the school system. The fathers’ accounts revealed issues similar to those reported in studies in which mothers were the participants. Where early childhood centres and schools are rejecting of children with disabilities, and where resources are difficult to access, parents experience stress. Supportive professionals and educational settings, on the other hand, are experienced as contributing to child development and family well‐being.     

Variation indexes of marks due to continuous assessment. Empirical approach at university / Índices de variación de la nota debidos a la evaluación continua. Contrastación empírica en la enseñanza universitaria

The European Higher Education Area (EHEA) has required continuous assessment at university in Spain. The goal of this paper is to analyse how continuous assessment modifies the subject’s final mark, to ascertain whether it improves or lowers the final exam score and to determine whether other variables also affect this relationship. To accomplish this, we have created a database with the marks earned by students who took the final exam in the Financial Accounting class at university in the last three academic years. A variation index of the exam score was constructed as a consequence of continuous assessment, and it was analysed both quantitatively and qualitatively. The results obtained from the marks and the index were analysed using contingency tables, ANOVA, regression analyses and a contrast of differences in mean. The main conclusions allow us to state that continuous assessment has an important direct effect on the learning process as well as on the final exam score and the overall class mark, and that other variables also influence them.     

Resting state networks mediate the association between both cardiovascular fitness and gross motor skills with neurocognitive functioning

Recent evidence suggests that cardiovascular fitness and gross motor skill performance are related to neurocognitive functioning by influencing brain structure and functioning. This study investigates the role of resting-state networks (RSNs) in the relation of cardiovascular fitness and gross motor skills with neurocognitive functioning in healthy 8- to 11-year-old children (n = 90, 45 girls, 10% migration background). Cardiovascular fitness and gross motor skills were related to brain activity in RSNs. Furthermore, brain activity in RSNs mediated the relation of both cardiovascular fitness (Frontoparietal network and Somatomotor network) and gross motor skills (Somatomotor network) with neurocognitive functioning. The results indicate that brain functioning may contribute to the relation between both cardiovascular fitness and gross motor skills with neurocognitive functioning.     

How much anatomy is enough?

Innovations in undergraduate medical education, such as integration of disciplines and problem based learning, have given rise to concerns about students' knowledge of anatomy. This article originated from several studies investigating the knowledge of anatomy of students at the eight Dutch medical schools. The studies showed that undergraduate students uniformly perceived deficiencies in their anatomical knowledge when they started clinical training regardless of their school's didactic approach. A study assessing students' actual knowledge of clinical anatomy revealed no relationship between students' knowledge and the school's didactic approach. Test failure rates based on absolute standards set by different groups of experts were indicative of unsatisfactory levels of anatomical knowledge, although standards differed markedly between the groups of experts. Good test performance by students seems to be related to total teaching time for anatomy, teaching in clinical context, and revisiting anatomy topics in the course of the curriculum. These factors appeared to outweigh the effects of disciplinary integration orwhether the curriculum was problem‐based or traditional. Anat Sci Ed 2008. © 2008 American Association of Anatomists.     

On the need to strengthen political-critical thinking in history education

The past twenty years have seen a dramatic change in the research of history education and its meaning in the Western academic world. Basically, there are three productive research directions: (1) a growing interest in cultural studies; (2) an exploration of various educational paths towards shaping a historical consciousness; and (3) cognitive and psychological research. Situated within the second group, but drawing on knowledge that has been gathered in all three research areas, this article focuses on the need to foster a political-critical dimension in the context of history education. The author proposes the implementation of a pedagogy of subversion in history teaching practices. Seeking to unsettle the students’ mind and ignite their intellect, this pedagogy supports the strengthening of political-moral thinking through the use of particular history content and teaching practices that take into account youthful rebellion and typical juvenile desire to fix the world. Adolescent resistance to education can thus be harnessed as a content tool, providing an object for the student to contend with personally as part of his or her maturation and individuation process. The desired outcome of such pedagogical practices is the development of an effective historical consciousness that enhances autonomous thinking, reflective skills and empathetic capabilities among young people. The future use of these capabilities is the ultimate aim of all education towards democratic citizenship.