The body and pedagogy: beyond absent,moving bodies in pedagogic practice

Following the corporeal turn in social theory, this paper explores how the body is implicated in pedagogic practice and leaning. Focusing on the body has usually been recognised as part of the regulative rather than instructional discourse in schools. Work has begun to redress the mind–body imbalance through the ‘corporeal device’ developed from Bernstein’s ‘pedagogic device’, the fundamental relay through which social inequalities are reproduced in schools. To properly recognise the way bodies act as pedagogic relays requires a robust understanding of persons as multi-sensorial acting beings. Examples for choreographic pedagogy are used to illuminate the complex and multimodal features of instructional discourse and to suggest how the moving body could be enlisted to enhance students’ access to formal academic discourses and better understand why some young people fail to achieve in schools.     

Emeritus Colleges: Enriching Academic Communities by Extending Academic Life

The emeritus college, a recent higher education innovation, provides retired professors with a means to stay intellectually engaged and continue to contribute professionally in retirement. The emeritus college can also help institutions maintain a steady flow of professional talent by making retirement more attractive for senior academics. This article introduces the emeritus college concept; discusses its implementation at four universities; assesses its benefits for individuals, institutions, and the community; and offers guidelines for institutions wishing to implement their own emeritus college. The emeritus college can provide a bridge from an academic career to a fulfilling retirement while also helping to enrich academic communities.     

Enrolment trends in school science education in Australia

Investigations were carried out to find the amount of science portrayed by terrestrial television in the UK and the public comprehension of that science as shown on television. UK terrestrial programming was derived from the Radio Times . Advertisement information was derived from UK terrestrial commercial television commercials. Public opinions were solicited by a survey of 200 members of the public ( n = 196). Science-based programming formed 5.36% of all terrestrial broadcasting time, with people watching an average of 1.75 science programmes per week (approx. 0.2% of programmes possible). 65% of all television advertisements were found to be science-based, although only 26% of advertisement categories were recognized as being science-based by the public. If interest in science is reflected in the amount of science programmes watched then the public are not interested in science. The lack of comprehension of the scientific basis of many advertisements is indicative of the lack of relevance of science education to people in modern society.     

Children as readers: what we learn from their conversations about reading

This article analyses a conversation about reading with three Year 8 students. Drawing on sociocultural theories of learning and elements of discourse analysis, it explores not only details of what the students read, but also how the process of the conversation itself shapes their perception of themselves as readers. Analysis of the data suggests that close attention to conversations such as these can affect our understanding of young readers and the reading practices in which they engage, in ways which may be valuable for classroom teachers of English.     

Judges' Use of Examinee Performance Data in an Angoff Standard‐Setting Exercise for a Medical Licensing Examination: An Experimental Study

Although the Angoff procedure is among the most widely used standard setting procedures for tests comprising multiple‐choice items, research has shown that subject matter experts have considerable difficulty accurately making the required judgments in the absence of examinee performance data. Some authors have viewed the need to provide performance data as a fatal flaw for the procedure; others have considered it appropriate for experts to integrate performance data into their judgments but have been concerned that experts may rely too heavily on the data. There have, however, been relatively few studies examining how experts use the data. This article reports on two studies that examine how experts modify their judgments after reviewing data. In both studies, data for some items were accurate and data for other items had been manipulated. Judges in both studies substantially modified their judgments whether the data were accurate or not.     

Poverty, Relationship Conflict, and the Regulation of Cortisol in Small and Large Group Contexts at Child Care

The purpose of this research is to explore the dynamics of cortisol regulation in the context of center-based child care by examining the impact of social context (large classroom vs. small group) and relationship quality with caregivers (conflict with mothers and teachers). We extend the research on children's physiologic stress system functioning in center-based child care by focusing on morning cortisol levels among young children living in poverty. While in high-quality center-based child care, children's cortisol levels decreased over the course of the morning—a result that contrasts with findings in previous research with middle-class children, for whom cortisol typically increased over the course of the day while attending center-based child care. Cortisol levels were further reduced when children were moved from a large classroom environment to a small group context. Relationship conflict with mothers and teachers moderated these effects. Children who had high conflict with their mother exhibited cortisol levels that remained higher (decreased less) over the course of the morning, and children who had high conflict with their teacher exhibited cortisol levels that remained higher (decreased less) in response to the small group context. These results indicate that high-quality child care has the potential to support reduced stress among children living in poverty, at least as indicated by adrenocortical activity.     

An Experimental Study of the Internal Consistency of Judgments Made in Bookmark Standard Setting

Validating performance standards is challenging and complex. Because of the difficulties associated with collecting evidence related to external criteria, validity arguments rely heavily on evidence related to internal criteria—especially evidence that expert judgments are internally consistent. Given its importance, it is somewhat surprising that evidence of this kind has rarely been published in the context of the widely used bookmark standard‐setting procedure. In this article we examined the effect of ordered item booklet difficulty on content experts’ bookmark judgments. If panelists make internally consistent judgments, their resultant cut scores should be unaffected by the difficulty of their respective booklets. This internal consistency was not observed: the results suggest that substantial systematic differences in the resultant cut scores can arise when the difficulty of the ordered item booklets varies. These findings raise questions about the ability of content experts to make the judgments required by the bookmark procedure.     

Priorities in children's expectations about object label reference: form over color

Young children show considerable interest in color similarity; thus we might expect them to use color as a basis for generalizing object labels. However, natural language observations suggest they do not: children tend to overextend labels based on form similarity and rarely, if ever, overextend labels to objects that share only color. Perhaps, then, children give form priority over color in their expectations about object-label reference. This hypothesis was investigated in 2 studies. In a first study, 40 2- and 3-year-olds sorted 10 sets of 3 pictures that contrasted form with color. Children participated in 1 of 2 conditions: half of the children were shown a target object and asked to "find another one" from among the two choice objects, while the other children heard a novel label for the target (e.g., "See this zom?") and were asked to extend the label (e.g., "Can you find another zom?"). 3-year-olds sorted almost exclusively on the basis of form in both conditions, while 2-year-olds performed differently in the 2 conditions: they frequently chose the color match when labels were absent, but selected by form rather than color when asked to extend a novel label. A second study replicated these findings with novel objects that were real rather than pictured. This study also suggested that 3-year-olds grant color some role in their decisions about object-label reference as long as form differences are reduced to a tolerable level. In sum, young children expect form to be more important than color for guiding object-label reference, even though they may find color interesting when not asked to extend labels. This expectation helps explain the speed and relative ease with which children acquire object labels.     

Learning through collaborative writing

This article looks again at the dynamics of reading, writing and telling stories. It argues that working collaboratively can motivate writers in ways which encourage them to redraft their work purposefully and explicitly in pursuit of particular creative effects. It exemplifies ways in which knowledge about language at word, sentence and whole text level can effectively be brought to bear as part of a holistic approach to writing.     

Infants'' Contribution to the Achievement of Joint Reference

This research examines whether infants actively contribute to the achievement of joint reference. One possibility is that infants tend to link a a label with whichever object they are focused on when they hear the label. If so, infants would make a mapping error when an adult labels a different object than the one occupying their focus. Alternatively, infants may be able to use a speaker's nonverbal cues (e.g., line of regard) to interpret the reference of novel labels. This ability would allow infants to avoid errors when adult labels conflict with infants' focus. 64 16-19-month-olds were taught new labels for novel toys in 2 situations. In follow-in labeling, the experimenter looked at and labeled a toy at which infants were already looking. In discrepant labeling, the experimenter looked at and labeled a different toy than the one occupying infants' focus. Infants' responses to subsequent comprehension questions revealed that they (a) successfully learned the labels introduced during follow-in labeling, and (b) displayed no tendency to make mapping errors after discrepant labeling. Thus infants of only 16 to 19 months understand that a speaker's nonverbal cues are relevant to the reference of object labels; they already can contribute to the social coordination involved in achieving joint reference.