Predictive indicators for adjustment in 4-year-old children whose mothers used amphetamine during pregnancy

Psychosocial factors that could be used as predictive indicators for adjustment of 4-year-old children whose mothers had used amphetamine during pregnancy were studied by means of simple and multivariate correlation analyses. The following statistically significant correlations were found: Length of maternal alcohol and drug abuse during pregnancy was correlated negatively with the child's adjustment as were numbers of paternal criminal convictions, number of stress factors of the mother, and number of earlier children born to the mother. Paternal criminality was associated with the outcome, regardless of amount of contact between father and child.     

Different backgrounds – different priorities? Student perceptions of a technology initiative

A multitude of studies has assessed the success of different technology initiatives but rarely has the focus been on special groups. This paper examines whether university students with children and those without have different perceptions of a technology initiative where students were able to acquire university sponsored laptops and were provided with a wireless local area network around campus. The division of students into these two groups is based on earlier research suggesting that the study of students with children is heavily restricted by their multiple commitments and they might, therefore, have quite different priorities from other students in their perception of this technology initiative. The results acquired by the combined use of ‘strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats’ (SWOT) analysis and analytic hierarchy process (AHP) suggest that both students with and without children consider the increased ‘effectiveness of studying’ the most important strength of the laptop initiative. It seems, however, that students with children especially appreciate the mobility and flexibility that laptops and networks offer, while other students value more the functionality of the university infrastructure and are more concerned about the deteriorative effects of technology on communality within the university. Results, therefore, indicate that students' background affects their priorities when assessing technology initiatives and university attention to this may prevent drop out and prolonged graduation.     

Alltagssituationen und Experimente: Was sind geeignete naturwissenschaftliche Lerngelegenheiten für Kindergartenkinder?

Natural sciences are an educational topic in kindergartens. At the same time, little is known about how to promote and facilitate the learning of natural sciences for children in kindergarten. This contribution reports on a quasi-experimental study with 245 children, which compares the learning situations ‘experiments’ with ‘discussions on the relevance of the natural sciences in daily life’. Three experimental groups, in which the learning situations were varied, where compared with a control and a baseline group. Children in the last year of kindergarten took part in three 90-minute learning settings on the topics ‘melting and freezing water’, ‘evaporation and condensation of water’ and ‘solubility and insolubility in water’. Learning gains were measured using a pre-post-design with a Rasch-scaling. Cognitive performance and family background were controlled for. A significant benefit in comparison to the control and baseline groups could only be found for a combination of both learning situations.     

Positive and Negative Facets of Formal Group Mentoring: Preservice Teacher Perspectives

The use of mentoring within teacher education has become more common in recent years, however, there still seems to be a lack of research about formal group mentorship models as a pedagogical process. In my study, I presented knowledge about how a formal group mentorship model used during a teacher education program at a Swedish university has affected the student teachers’ professional development. The findings suggest that nearly all the student teachers describe the mentoring group conversations as beneficial as they have contributed to a strengthened socialization, identity and/or teacher role, a possibility to share experiences, hear others perspectives, and get support in the process of linking theoretical educational content and teaching activities. A few students expressed that the mentoring program has not contributed at all to their professional development.     

On the Ontology of Networks

Society can no longer be thought of as independent of networks because discourses, theories, images, and institutions have transformed and abandoned the metaphor of hierarchy. This paper investigates the space occupied by the network metaphor during the past few decades and how it deals with the demarcation between what is “inside” and what remains “outside.” Examining theorists such as Manuel Castells, Albert-László Barabási, and Michel Callon, who have tried to map out the conditions of a “network,” the paper elucidates why “networks” should be approached ontologically more than as a matter of a conceptual tool.     

Tutor-student interaction in undergraduate chemistry: a case of learning to make relevant distinctions of molecular structures for determining oxidation states of atoms

ABSTRACT

In this study, we explore the issues and challenges involved in supporting students’ learning to discern relevant and critical aspects of determining oxidation states of atoms in complex molecules. We present a detailed case of an interaction between three students and a tutor during a problem-solving class, using the analytical tool of practical epistemology analysis (PEA). The results show that the ability to make relevant distinctions between the different parts of a molecule for solving the problem, even with the guidance of the tutor, seemed to be challenging for students. These shifts were connected to both purposes that were specific for solving the problem at hand, and additional purposes for general learning of the subject matter, in this case how to assign oxidation states in molecules. The students sometimes could not follow the additional purposes introduced by the tutor, which made the related distinctions more confusing. Our results indicate that in order to provide adequate support and guidance for students the tutor needs to consider how to sequence, move between, and productively connect the different purposes introduced in a tutor-student interaction. One way of doing that is by first pursuing the purposes for solving the problem and then successively introduce additional, more general purposes for developing students’ learning of the subject matter studied. Further recommendations drawn from this study are discussed as well.     

Booktalk Dilemmas: Teachers' organisation of pupils' reading

The syllabus for mother tongue teaching in Sweden states that an essential goal is that pupils, in conversation with others, should be able to express feelings and thoughts evoked by literature. The present paper addresses how schools try to promote pupils' reading, examining authentic school-run booktalk conversations from a discursive approach. The data consists of video-recorded sessions with small groups of pupils in Grades 4-7. A series of booktalk dilemmas were identified. The so-called book clubs studied were aimed at promoting reading for pleasure. Yet, literary practices were, at times, transformed into calculating tasks, vocabulary lessons or reading aloud exercises. Another complication concerned the synchronising of the pupils' reading, which led to extensive negotiations on the part of teacher and pupils.     

The Pimp and the Happy Whore: “Doing Gender” in Film Talk in a School Setting

The present paper concerns the use of film for eliciting discussions of fundamental values in an upper secondary school setting. In this case, Lilya 4‐ever, a feature film about sex trafficking, is used. The present paper contributes some empirical knowledge about how young people are “doing gender” in a natural setting—an educational context—that celebrates equality values. The examples from a group discussion between pupils reveal a balance between performing the school task, discussing the questions on the sheet the teacher provided, and working on their private identities, which here includes social interplay that among teenagers could involve rejecting an academic identity. The analysis concerns how pupils use discourses drawn from a film in that balancing act. The paper explores how discourses on sex are used to gain power in conversation, to challenge male sexuality, and to reject victimization.