LEISURE ACTIVITIES AS PREDICTORS OF GIFTEDNESS

The investigation of leisure time activities through lifespan analysis has revealed the importance of such activities in the prediction of later life achievements and creative products. They may be more reliable predictors of future performance than IQs, creativity test scores or school achievement. In the present paper creative leisure time activities are considered to be creative products. A total of 192 fifteen year old academic secondary school students were involved in the study: Creative leisure time inventories were filled out, Raven Advanced Progressive Matrices administered, and school grades recorded. Results indicated that differences in leisure time inventory scores between boys and girls with high intellectual potential were smaller than those of students with average potential. Girls were overrepresented in the “schoolhouse gifted” group, but in the “creative gifted” and “intellectually gifted” groups the ratio of girls and boys was balanced.     

Conflicts and resistance: potentials for democracy learning in preschool

The study aims to develop knowledge about learning for democracy in ECEC, through investigating acts of resistance in conflicts and examine these as potentials for democracy learning. The study is informed by Mouffe's theoretical ideas about conflicts as a prerequisite for democracy. The research questions are: What kind of conflicts can be identified in everyday interactions in preschool? How do children and teachers express and maintain resistance in conflicts? What potentials for democracy learning are there in such acts? Data consist of video observations of interactions in four Swedish preschools. The analyses of the interactions comprised various readings to identify expressions of conflicts and ways to communicate resistance. Ethical considerations were paramount to ensure that the studies met the ethical requirements. Identified conflicts are described in terms of qualities of space: (a) Space for diversity illustrates openness for different opinions to be articulated and heard: (b) Space for unity illustrates how alliance-building and authority create conditions and restrictions for opinions to be articulated, heard and/or neglected. Playfulness, courage and emotions are important traits for resistance and both agonism and antagonism appear to be at play. The conflicts identified offer both possibilities and obstacles in learning for democracy.     

What ensues from emotional distress? Implications for competence estimation

Although much is known about what precedes emotional distress, less is known about what follows such distress. The goal of this research was to examine the process by which emotional distress contributes to competence estimation. Children 9 to 13 years of age in fourth through sixth grade (N = 932) participated in a 3-wave longitudinal study spanning 12 months. Their emotional distress, views of themselves and their world, and competence estimation were assessed. Emotional distress predicted negative beliefs about the self and the world over time; these beliefs in turn predicted decrements in competence estimation over time. Negative views of the self and the world mediated the path from emotional distress to competence underestimation. The findings suggest that the experience of emotional distress has negative implications for children's development.     

Practical Experience of Blended Mentoring in Higher Education

The need of a guided and supervised learning has become the cornerstone of the new model of higher education. One response to such need has been the introduction of mentoring programs to facilitate student learning and to provide guidance. In this way, the main aim of our study is to determine the extent to which the implementation of information technology (IT) into a traditional mentoring program, improves students’ global satisfaction, and therefore its effectiveness. A survey was conducted of program participants’ overall satisfaction with the mentoring and also with each of the activities carried out. We concluded that the inclusion of IT in a traditional (face-to-face) mentoring model increases overall student satisfaction with the program, and thus its effectiveness. The findings obtained can serve as a resource to clarify the importance of educational interventions in the field of student guidance, to design new mentoring programs and to improve existing ones.     

Do fine motor skills contribute to early reading development?

Background

Little is known about how fine motor skills (FMS) relate to early literacy skills, especially over and above cognitive variables. Moreover, a lack of distinction between FMS, grapho‐motor and writing skills may have hampered previous work.

Method

In Germany, kindergartners (n = 144, aged 6;1) were recruited before beginning formal reading instruction and were administered a host of FMS, early reading skills and cognitive measures.

Results

Analyses indicate that FMS related less strongly than grapho‐motor skills to emergent literacy skills. Controlling for grapho‐motor and cognitive skills, FMS did not generally explain unique variance in emergent literacy skills.

Conclusions

The link between reading and motor skills is highly differential. Findings did not suggest that pure FMS played a significant role in early reading development, however, its close cousin grapho‐motor skills – even when devoid of the cognitive knowledge of letters – did.

Implications for practice

What is already known about this topic

• Fine motor skills (FMS) are considered an important school readiness indicator
• FMS play a role in cognition and language development
• Some research suggests that FMS might be important for reading

What this paper adds

• First study to look differentially at FMS and emergent literacy
• FMS was considered separately from grapho‐motor and handwriting skill
• Links between these motor skills and a broad range of emergent literacy and cognitive skills were investigated

Implications for practice and/or policy

• FMS may be important in the development of grapho‐motor skills
• Grapho‐motor skills appear, in turn, linked to reading
• Fostering children's grapho‐motor skills may be important in kindergarten

     

Characteristics of Swedish preschools that provide education and care to children with special educational needs

In Sweden, preschool inclusion is embraced and preschools are open for children both with and without special educational needs. The purpose of this study was to examine the characteristics of a number of preschool units in Sweden that provide education and care to children with special educational needs with regard to organisation, resources and quality. The purpose was also to provide reflections on the usefulness of different structured observation rating scales designed to assess preschool quality. Eight preschool units located in four Swedish districts were visited. A total of sixteen 5-year-old children with special educational needs/disability and forty typically developing children of the same age participated. The data sources were structured observation rating scales (Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale, Caregiver Interaction Scale and Inclusive Classroom Profile), ABILITIES Index questionnaire, unstructured observation, interviews, conversations and documents. Two overall typologies of preschool units were identified: the comprehensive units enrolled children with various special educational needs/disability, while the specialised units enrolled children with the same disability. The staff resources were greater in the specialised units. The overall quality in the observed units ranged from low to good. In units educating children with a disability diagnosis, the quality was never low. None of the preschool units was scored as having a good inclusive environment. The structured observation rating scales complemented each other and covered, in part, different quality aspects of the units. The study shows that there is a large variation in quality between the units and that there is a need to further develop the quality of the preschool units and of the services for children with special educational needs in Swedish preschools.     

Challenges Faced by Canadian Social Work Field Instructors in Baccalaureate Field Supervision

ABSTRACT

This article examines the challenges faced by social work field instructors in two Canadian provinces. The results are based on the responses from 239 field instructors to a questionnaire survey. Findings highlight student difficulties, administrative issues with the social work schools, and practicum setting challenges. These demands hinder the optimal implementation of social work field education, reveal the concerning gatekeeping role of schools of social work, and discourage some social workers from taking on (or continuing) as field instructors. Implications for social work student placements, supervision of students, academic programs, and directions for future research are presented.     

An examination of some difficulties in integrating Western science into societies with an indigenous scientific tradition

Few would argue that science and technology have had an impact throughout the world. When we speak about such impacts we are implicitly talking about Western science. Historians of science (especially in science textbooks) tend to place the beginnings of modern science at the time of Bacon, with a slight nod to Greek influences. There is little or no recognition of the scientific traditions of Eastern societies (such as China, India, and the Islamic world) and other indigenous cultures. Although there is no argument that science did not develop in the same manner in these societies, it is argued that they have a scientific tradition that should be considered when incorporating modern science into those societies. The difficulties in doing that are discussed, as is the question of the universality of science. The universality of science as a systematized set of processes for learning about the world is supported, but the culture that has arisen around it, resulting in a certain arrogance, is not. It is argued that the benefits of science and technology can be incorporated without the loss of cultural integrity if the society takes over its own research agenda and paradigms and maintains pride in its own traditons. The role of science education in this process is discussed.     

Creative visualization activities

This collection of activities is directed toward developing within children an awareness of their own inner authority and ability to choose and the resulting sense of responsibility, freedom and self-esteem.This article is reprinted from He Hit Me Back First! by Eva D. Fugitt © 1973 B. L. Winch and Associates/Jalmar Press, 45 Hitching Post Drive, Bldg. 2, Rolling Hills Estates, CA 90274. Used with permission from B. L. Winch and Associates/Jalmar Press.