Shared book experiences in kindergarten: Helping children come to literacy

Repetitive shared book experiences provided by public school kindergarten staff were used to improve literacy competence and preparation for formal first-grade reading instruction. The entire 1983–1984 kindergarten population (N = 228) of a rural, racially mixed, southeastern school district in South Carolina received eight shared reading experiences for each of three classic children's books. The shared book experience is defined as the situation in which a group of two or three children sit close enough to an adult to see the print as a book is read. Readings were provided by teachers, teacher aides, school volunteers, older students, and audiotapes. The children were individually administered the South Carolina State Department of Education's mandated Cognitive Skills Assessment Battery (Boehm & Slater, 1974) during the first 3 weeks of first grade. The control group, composed of the 1982–1983 kindergarten population (N = 269), had 73% of its children at or above the state cutoff for first-grade readiness, and the experimental group had 83% at or above the cutoff. (T = 22.2, p < .01). In addition, the school district staff reported a 10% increase in the number of children being placed in “top” reading groups. Repetitive, personal shared book experiences were found to enhance literacy awareness and competence, to improve preparation for formal first grade, and to broaden children's literacy interests.     

Newly Qualified Primary Teachers: a comparative analysis of perceptions held by B.Ed. and PGCE trained teachers of their training routes

Two cohorts of newly qualified primary teachers (NQTs) beginning their careers in one LEA in England responded to two questionnaires which were designed to elicit their views about their preparation to meet the demands of their first post, their concerns about doing so and, 20 weeks into post, the nature of the demands they had experienced. The structure of the research sample allowed detailed comparative analyses to be made of the perceptions held by B.Ed. and PGCE trained teachers of their training routes and early experiences. Aspects of the training are identified which fall within the competency demands of Circular 14/93 on which NQTs feel underprepared. These represent areas where career entry support is required. Overall, students following the B.Ed. programme felt that they were better prepared than their PGCE counterparts. They also reported experiencing lower levels of stress.     

Social facilitation of pecking following differential rearing

White-Leghorn × Black-Orpington chicks were reared socially, in isolation, or were isolated and exposed to an artificial stimulus at 16 h. They were tested at 24, 48, or 72 h for pecking in the presence of another chick, of the artificial stimulus, or in isolation. Socially reared chicks pecked more during pair-testing than in isolation, and showed no increase in pecking with the artificial stimulus. Imprinted chicks pecked most with the artificial stimulus, but showed a slight increase in pecking during pair-testing compared with isolation. Isolates showed similarly low peck rates under all conditions. These results, showing the importance of familiarity with test conditions in facilitation, were interpreted as consistent with an arousal-reduction account of facilitation. The importance of stimulus movement was also discussed, both as a potential dimension of stimulus generalization and as a factor in maintaining a minimum level of arousal essential to responding.     

Teaching Spelling: microcomputers or small group tuition

Two groups of eight and nine year old children were given spelling practice using 25 words. One group used computer assisted learning whilst the other was given small group tuition by a teacher. Both groups achieved signficantly better results than a third (control group). There was, however, no significant difference between the gains made by the two experimental groups.     

Can explaining be learnt? Some lecturers' views

A random sample of 93 lecturers responded to a 40-item questionnaire based on researches into explaining. The lecturers' views on the learnability of various features of explaining were not related to their years of experience of lecturing. But there were significant differences between arts-based and science lecturers on seventeen of the variables and between least and most experienced lecturers on ten of the variables concerned with assigned values. It is suggested that a lecturer's views on explaining may arise from the experience of studying a subject as an undergraduate.     

Scaling critical pedagogy in higher education

Across the globe, neoliberal reforms have produced effects in the higher education sector that are multiple, convergent and embodied or performed. In this context, a growing number of activist-scholars, from a range of disciplines, have explored the role of critical pedagogy within the space of the classroom. Yet, persistent critiques and challenges suggest that the field of critical pedagogy needs to build upon a richer set of theoretical and practical insights. While the discipline of geography has proven to be a generative source of learning and renewal, a recurring tendency exists within the educational literature to treat the key geographical concept of scale as a discrete, pre-given unit of analysis. Consequently, scale remains largely under-theorised and misunderstood leading to simplistic binary oppositions and choices. This binary filter underpins a comfortable but problematic ‘top-down’ and ‘bottom-up’ paradigm. Drawing upon contentious debates in the field of geography, this paper explores how the intersections between diverse spatial concepts, including scale, might be strategically deployed to rework the spatial imaginings of critical pedagogy.