The role of letter knowledge and phonological awareness in young Braille readers

Research into sighted children’s reading shows that letter recognition skill predicts phonological awareness skill. Congenitally–blind children do not receive exposure to environmental print and do not generally learn to recognise written letters of the alphabet prior to schooling in Braille. A cross–sectional analysis revealed that blind children with no knowledge of written letters or written words showed no ability at measures of phonological awareness. Blind children with knowledge of written letters and no written words showed much increased phonological awareness scores and blind children with knowledge of written letters and written words scored higher still on phonological awareness measures. It was concluded that letter learning is a major contributor to the development of phonological awareness in blind children. It suggests key similarities in the underlying processes of reading development across two different populations using different modalities to learn to read.     

Same beginnings, different stories: a comparison of American and Chinese children's narratives

This study examined social, emotional, and cognitive characteristics of American and Chinese children's narratives. Twenty-four American and 26 Chinese 6-year-old children participated. Each child was interviewed individually twice with a 1-week delay interval. During the two interviews, children were asked to tell 11 stories prompted by pictures and standard verbal leads and to recount 7 emotional memories. Content analyses were performed on children's stories and memories. In line with predictions, findings indicated that compared with American children, Chinese children showed greater orientation toward social engagement, greater concern with moral correctness, greater concern with authority, a less autonomous orientation, more expressions of emotions, and more situational details in both their stories and memories. A few gender differences were found. Findings are discussed in terms of different value systems and early socialization practices in these two cultures.     

Practitioners and Parents Have Their Say About Best Practice: Early intervention in Queensland

This paper reports initial findings of a research project in Queensland, Australia that did not adopt recommended practices from listings established in other countries for early childhood intervention services. Instead, a contextual and participatory process served to determine a relevant listing of program quality indicators for a large, early intervention service conducted by the state Department of Education (Stage 1). Thirty-one indicators of program quality were identified for this particular service. To validate these indicators and to gather additional information about their implementation, a statewide survey was conducted (Stage 2). For each of the 31 indicators, parents and staff from within this service were asked to (a) indicate their level of acceptance, (b) report on current use, and (c) comment on barriers to implementation. Results provide strong support for the indicator listing and reveal high level of indicator acceptance accompanied by a lower level of indicator implementation. Lack of time and lack of staff were identified as the primary barriers to implementation across all indicators. The validated indicator listing for Early Special Education (Qld) services is provided.     

Relations between teachers' approaches to teaching and students' approaches to learning

This paper reports on an empirical study which shows that qualitatively different approaches to teaching are associated with qualitatively different approaches to learning. More specifically, the results indicate that in the classes where teachers describe their approach to teaching as having a focus on what they do and on transmitting knowledge, students are more likely to report that they adopt a surface approach to the learning of that subject. Conversely, but less strongly, in the classes where students report adopting significantly deeper approaches to learning, teaching staff report adopting approaches to teaching that are more oriented towards students and to changing the students conceptions. The study made use of a teaching approach inventory derived from interviews with academic staff, and a modified approach to learning questionnaire. These conclusions are derived from a factor and cluster analysis of 48 classes (involving 46 science teachers and 3956 science students) in Australian universities. The results complete a chain of relations from teacher thinking to the outcomes of student learning. Previous studies have shown relations between teachers' conceptions of teaching and learning and their approaches to teaching. Numerous studies have shown correlations between students' deeper approaches to learning and higher quality learning outcomes. The results reported here link these two sets of studies. They also highlight the importance, in attempts to improve the quality of student learning, of discouraging teacher-focused transmission teaching and encouraging higher quality, conceptual change/student-focused approaches to teaching.     

Adopting a toolkit to manage time,resources, and expectations in the systematic review process: a case report

Background:The proliferation of systematic reviews has impacted library operations and activities as librarians support, collaborate, and perform more tasks in the systematic review process. This case report describes a toolkit that librarians with extensive experience in supporting multiple review teams use to manage time, resources, and expectations in the systematic review process.Case Presentation:The toolkit is a compilation of documents that we use to effectively communicate with and help review teams understand and navigate each stage of the systematic review process. Elements included in the toolkit and discussed in this case report are intake forms, communication templates and memoranda, a process flow diagram, library guides on tools for retrieval and data appraisal, and established standards for guidance during the write-up stage. We describe the use of the toolkit for both education and project management, with a focus on its use in helping manage team time, resources, and expectations.Discussion:The systematic review toolkit helps librarians connect systematic review steps and tasks to actionable items. The content facilitates and supports discussion and learning by both librarians and team members. This toolkit helps librarians share important information and resources for each stage of the process.     

Assessment Focus in Studio: What is Most Prominent in Architecture,Art and Design?

What can be learned about assessment from what educators in the creative practices focus their studio publications on? What should form the focus of assessment in architecture, art and design studios? In this article we draw on 118 journal articles on studio published over the last decade in three disciplines; architecture, art and design to inform the focus of studio assessment. We believe that what is published by educators themselves in these disciplines reveals what matters most to them. In addition, we argue that regardless of the primary emphasis placed in each discipline, assessment in studio should encompass a broad set of indicators. Within the wider literature including in architecture, art and design, a view of assessment is emerging that recognises the process and the person, beyond a view that positions the product or art/design arte‐fact above all else. Therefore, drawing on what educators in architecture, art and design mentioned most in the journal publications analysed, as well as the literature on good assessment, we offer a holistic model to guide and take studio assessment in the creative disciplines further.     

Induction of newly qualified teachers in New Zealand

In this research, commissioned by the New Zealand Teachers Council, the quality of induction of provisionally registered teachers (PRT) (newly qualified) was examined utilising qualitative ‘success case studies’ within early childhood, primary, secondary, and indigenous Māori medium settings. The establishment of criteria for effective induction (from the literature and previous research) guided the identification of 20 ‘success’ sites across the sectors. In-depth data collection of each case was conducted via focus groups, one-to-one interviews and documentary analysis. The findings of the research highlighted exemplary induction practices across the sectors, with the most important associated with PRTs having access to a community, or ‘family’, of support during their induction. An interesting finding, which contrasted with previous research, was that PRTs in the secondary sector had levels of satisfaction with their role that were as high as those in other sectors. The key limitation to effectiveness was linked to lack of time for discussions and observations of the PRT's practice.     

The impact of curriculum change on health sciences first year students’ approaches to learning

This study aimed to use a learning inventory (the Approaches and Study Skills Inventory for Students, ASSIST) to measure the impact of a curriculum change on students’ approaches to learning in two large courses in a health sciences first year programme. The two new Human Body Systems (HUBS) courses were designed to encourage students to take a deep approach to learning. ASSIST was completed by 599 students enrolled in a biology class in 2006 that was part of the old curriculum, and by 705 students at the beginning and end of the new HUBS courses in 2007. Changes in students’ approaches to learning over time were examined. The ASSIST scores for both HUBS courses reflected the dominance of a surface approach, followed by a strategic and then a deep approach. However, by the end of the year, students were taking a deep and strategic approach to their studies to a greater extent, and a surface approach to a lesser extent. Moreover, students enrolled in the new course adopted a deep approach to their studies to a significantly greater degree than those studying the old curriculum. Despite the predominance of a surface approach, the results suggest that it is possible to bring about small but significant positive changes in students’ learning behaviour in a very large class through curriculum change. The proportion of students preferring a surface approach, and results showing that high performance on the final exam was significantly correlated with a surface approach, probably reflected contextual factors, including assessment, and is the focus of ongoing curriculum development.     

A whitewashed curriculum? The construction of race in contemporary PE curriculum policy

Analyses of curricula in a range of countries show how they tend to reinforce, rather than challenge, popular theories of racism. To date, we know little about the contribution of physical education (PE) curriculum policy to the overall policy landscape. This paper examines the construction of race and racism in two national contexts (Norway and England) as a means of putting race and anti-racism on the PE policy research agenda. It adopts a critical whiteness perspective to analyse how whiteness, as a system of privilege, contributes to the racialisation of valued knowledge in PE and asks, who potentially benefits and/or is marginalised within the learning spaces available in the texts? The discourse analysis reveals that two discursive techniques of whiteness combine to privilege white, Eurocentric knowledge content. Unmarked white PE practices and students are constructed as universal, normative and contingent. As a result, non-white PE practices and students are positioned on the margins in contemporary policy texts. By revealing the racialisation processes evident in the texts, we aim to trouble the profession's taken-for-granted truths about race in PE as integral to working towards the development of an antiracist subject.