‘Lessons Learned’ from introducing universal strategies designed to support the motor and functional skills of Reception and Year 1 children in a sample of primary schools in South East England

This article describes an evaluation of universal resources designed to support motor development in Reception and Year 1 children. Four schools (Year R–Year 6) in the South East of England, three with high numbers of disadvantaged children participated. Senior leadership influenced take up of the initiative. Health and well-being practitioners and occupational therapy students contributed to ‘roll out’ of the resources with support provided by the authors over 12 weeks. Interview and focus group data from participating staff were gathered alongside examples of schoolwork from pupils. School staff needed access to support when incorporating universal strategies. The initiative contributed to schools working towards Healthy Schools targets. At the end of 12 weeks, improvements in children's sitting position, handwriting and lunchtime skills were noted, warranting further exploration of this approach to address the needs of children with poor motor skills at school entry.     

Can young students understand the mathematical concept of equality? A whole-year arithmetic teaching experiment in second grade

European Journal of Psychology of Education - Ensuring students correctly understand the notion of equality is a fundamental problem in teaching mathematics. Is it possible to teach arithmetic in...     

Physico-chemical characterization of a farmland affected by wastewater in relation to heavy metals

This study investigated selected properties of soils affected by wastewater and its relationship with some heavy metals A free survey technique involving target sampling was used in siting soil profile pits. Soil samples were collected based on horizon differentiation and analyzed using routine and special analytical techniques. Soil data were subjected to correlation analysis using SAS program. Results show that all heavy metals studied had values above critical limits in the polluted soils using known standards and that these biotoxic metals decreased with soil depths. Highly significant （P=0.01 and 0.05） relationships were established between investigated heavy metals and some soil properties, especially soil pH and organic matter. Further studies involving more edaphic properties, biotoxic metals and their bioaccessibility in crops growing on wastewater soils will surely enhance knowledge and management of these highly anthropogenically influenced soils of the study site.     

Selecting educational apps for preschool children: How useful are website app rating systems?

In the present paper, we assess whether website rating systems are useful for selecting educational apps for preschool age children. We selected the 10 highest scoring and 10 lowest scoring apps for 2–4-year-olds from two widely used websites (Good App Guide; Common Sense Media). Apps rated highly by the two websites had a higher educational potential as assessed by a validated questionnaire for evaluating the educational potential of apps and were more likely to include a learning goal and feedback compared to low scoring apps. However, high scoring apps scored on average just 9/20 for indicators of educational potential, and both high and low scoring apps had poor language quality as determined by psycholinguistic and construction type analyses. We argue that website rating systems should also include quality of feedback, adjustable content, social interactions, storyline and a more fine-grained analysis of language in their assessments.

Practitioner notes

What is already known about this topic

• Appropriately designed apps for preschool age children have the potential to teach early school readiness skills.
• Selecting high quality educational apps for preschool age children is challenging.
• The children's app marketplace is currently unregulated.

What this paper adds

• We assess whether two leading app rating websites are useful for selecting educational apps for preschool age children.
• Children's apps rated highly by two app website rating systems had a higher educational potential than low rated apps as measured by a research informed app evaluation tool.
• In-depth analysis of the language in apps shows that highly rated children's apps on app rating websites may not enrich a child's early language environment.

Implications for practice and/or policy

• Children's app rating website assessments should include potential for feedback, language, adjustable content, storyline and social interactions.
• Policy should be implemented for app ratings in the app stores or on website app rating systems.

     

Leadership roles and sustainable public–private partnership between technical universities and industry in Ghana

Tertiary Education and Management - Public–private partnership (PPP) between Technical Universities (TUs) and industry is important for development. Although the typologies, benefits and the...     

Land education: Indigenous,post-colonial,and decolonizing perspectives on place and environmental education research

This editorial introduces a special issue of Environmental Education Research titled ‘Land education: Indigenous, post-colonial, and decolonizing perspectives on place and environmental education research.’ The editorial begins with an overview of each of the nine articles in the issue and their contributions to land and environmental education, before outlining features of land education in more detail. ‘Key considerations’ of land education are discussed, including: Land and settler colonialism, Land and Indigenous cosmologies, Land and Indigenous agency and resistance, and The significance of naming. The editorial engages the question ‘Why land education?’ by drawing distinctions between land education and current forms of place-based education. It closes with a discussion of modes and methods of land education research.