Understanding and Supporting Inhibitory Control: Unique Contributions From Proactive Monitoring and Motoric Stopping to Children’s Improvements With Practice

Children struggle to stop inappropriate behaviors. What interventions improve inhibitory control, for whom, and why? Prior work suggested that practice proactively monitoring for relevant signals improved children’s inhibitory control more than practice with motoric stopping. However, these processes were not clearly dissociated. This study tested 162 seven- to nine-year-old children (89 female, 72 male, 1 unreported; 82% White) on the stop-signal task, following monitoring or stopping-focused practice. Both methods improved inhibitory control, supported generalization, and interacted ( = .20–.73). Practice approaches differentially impacted variability ( = .01–.09). Only monitoring benefits showed signs of depending upon proactive control ( = .02). These findings highlight unique contributions of attentional and stopping processes to inhibitory control, suggesting possibilities for tailored interventions.     

Learning zones: an evaluation of three models for improving learning through teacher/teaching assistant teamwork

Following the review of literature in the preceding article concerning the deployment of support staff, Hilary Cremin, Gary Thomas and Karen Vincett here focus attention on the classroom in their evaluation of three models of team organisation and planning for the work of teaching assistants — room management, zoning and reflective teamwork — in six primary classrooms. Readers will be interested in the detail of the methodological approach adopted and the general finding that all three models were evaluated positively by the participants.     

Learning to teach: new times,new practices (2nd ed.), by Gloria Latham,Mindy Blaise,Shelley Dole,Julie Faulkner and Karen Malone,South Melbourne,Oxford, 2011, 387 pp., AUD$92.95 (paperback), ISBN 978-0-195-56179-1

In the present article, you will read three different voices and their perspectives on the "What Keeps Teachers Going in Spite of Everything?" project that took place in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. Sonia Nieto, a university researcher who initiated the project, provides the introduction and explanations for what evolved. Stephen Gordon and Junia Yearwood, two high school teachers in the Boston Public Schools, contribute their own reflections about the project. A different font represents each voice.     

Community Engagement Project for Preservice Early Childhood Students

This article describes how a preservice early childhood program collaborates with a local agency in a community engagement project. The project was implemented in a family–community partnership class for preservice teachers. There were three purposes for this project. First, to build a partnership between the University of Alaska Anchorage Bachelor of Arts in Early Childhood (BAEC) program and a local child care center; second, to provide support for the child care center’s administration and teachers based on their needs and interests; and third, to offer authentic opportunities and experiences for preservice BAEC students to work with the children and their families. This project was a semester-long endeavor, which evolved through rich collaborative experiences.