The Mind's "I": Children's Conception of the Mind as an Active Agent

1 hypothesis about children's developing conception of the mind is that preschoolers are limited to an understanding that persons have internal, mental contents like thoughts and beliefs, whereas older children and adults conceive of the mind itself as an independent, active structure or processor. Adults' conception of the mind in this independent active fashion seems evident in their use of personified mental metaphor (e.g., "My mind tricked me"). 3 studies examined the development and consolidation of this active, personified view. Study 1 provided an analysis of natural language data regarding 1 child's uses of vision words such as see and look from age 2 1/2 to 8 years. We examined the child's use of such words to refer literally to perception (e.g., "I see the TV") and also to refer nonliterally to active mental processes such as comprehension and inference (e.g., "I see what you mean"). Studies 2 and 3 examined 6-, 8-, and 10-year-olds' comprehension and production of mental metaphors. In a metaphor comprehension task, we asked children to interpret personified metaphoric statements about the mind (e.g., "My mind wandered") and 3 comparison domains, mechanics (e.g., "The car is dead"), nature (e.g., "The wind is howling"), and emotion (e.g., "Her heart was smiling"). In an explanation task, we asked children to explain the processes underlying the making of both instant photos and mental images. The findings reveal a developing ability to interpret and produce statements personifying the mind and provide considerable evidence about children's movement toward a conception of the mind as an independent entity deserving reference and conceptualization in its own right.     

Indian child welfare: A community team approach to protective services

The purpose of this study is threefold: first, to describe the characteristics of child abuse and neglect on a major Indian reservation; second, to examine the impact of a community team approach to child abuse and neglect as measured by the incidence of reported abuse and neglect and admissions for emergency foster care; and third, to make recommendations for actions to close the gaps in child welfare services to Indian children living on reservations.     

On the Nature and Role of English in Asia

The present paper is divided into eight sections:introduction,the global diffusion of English,perceptions of the new varieties,the issue of intelligibility,features that cause unintelligibility,need for a broader pragmatics,and pedagogical impli- cations,and conclusion,followed by the references.Not surprisingly,the global spread of English has generated varying perspec- tives on the nature and functions of its acculturated varieties.Broadly speaking,the debate has divided scholars into two camps holding diametrically opposing views on the multiple versions of English.On the one hand,some scholars view variations as symp- toms of linguistic degeneration and deterioration;on the other hand,some scholars legitimize them as inevitable manifestations ne- cessitated by the demands of the new cultural contexts.The normative view of the former camp stems,at least partly,from the problems the new forms of English pose in terms of international intelligibility.It is in this context that the paper examines the traditional,one-sided,native speaker-centred idea of intelligibility and the recent two-sided view of intelligibility that places the onus on both the native speaker and the non-native speaker.The argument of the latter camp is based on the premise that the new varieties require a broader pragmatic framework,because universal pragmatics is inadequate to describe them satisfactorily. Thus,the camp advocates a need for a language specific pragmatics,and a comparative pragmatics,in addition to the traditional universal pragmatics.Logically,the debate on phonological,lexical,grammatical,and discourse structure variations,and their le- gitimacy has prompted English language teaching specialists to have a fresh look at the goals and objectives of teaching English in the countries of the outer and expanding circles,and accordingly prioritize the teaching of national and regional varieties over that of the so-called native varieties.Thus,the paradigms of independence and centrality of the new varieties are replacing the paradigms of their dependence and marginality.     

An Examination of Change in Teacher Self-Efficacy Beliefs in Science Education Based on the Duration of Inservice Activities

Journal of Science Teacher Education -     

Introduction to the research policy 20th anniversary special issue of the publication of “Profiting from Innovation” by David J. Teece

This introductory essay reviews the key contributions of David Teece's landmark paper “Profiting from Innovation” published in research policy in 1986. It summarises the contributions of each of the papers in the special issue. It then offers some perspectives on the key themes emerging from these papers, and on the broader challenges facing researchers, strategists and policymakers in the field of technology innovation today.     

Teachers' education, classroom quality, and young children's academic skills: results from seven studies of preschool programs

In an effort to provide high-quality preschool education, policymakers are increasingly requiring public preschool teachers to have at least a Bachelor's degree, preferably in early childhood education. Seven major studies of early care and education were used to predict classroom quality and children's academic outcomes from the educational attainment and major of teachers of 4-year-olds. The findings indicate largely null or contradictory associations, indicating that policies focused solely on increasing teachers' education will not suffice for improving classroom quality or maximizing children's academic gains. Instead, raising the effectiveness of early childhood education likely will require a broad range of professional development activities and supports targeted toward teachers' interactions with children.     

写给我亲爱的小孩

你一直想要出现在别人的文字里．可是最终还是决定自己提笔写一些关于你的文字。