Responsibility for nurturing a child’s wellbeing: teachers teaching mindfulness with children

ABSTRACT

A thriving and evolving pool of research and commentary is emerging in relation to the integration of mindfulness techniques in school and out-of-school settings. In the current study the author explored how experienced mindbody wellness instructors make sense of teaching children mindfulness. The methodology of Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis was used to interview eight teachers teaching mindfulness with children from the United States and Australia. Four thematic categories emerged from the analysis and in this article the author discusses findings related to the theme of, Responsibility for Nurturing a Child’s Wellbeing. It was discovered that having a holistic-wellness-orientated vision was an important aspect of how teachers made sense of mindfulness instruction. The findings showed that teaching children mindfulness has the capacity to raise academic performance while synergistically enhancing a child’s spiritual, environmental, emotional, social, creative and physical wellbeing. It is recommended that mindfulness teacher training programs be established in universities to better prepare students to meet the demands of 21^st Century education.     

The Community of Practice among Mathematics and Mathematics Education Faculty Members at an Urban Minority Serving Institution in the U.S.

Using narrative inquiry as a research method, four mathematics and mathematics education faculty members explored the integration of theoretical perspectives into their personal narratives as they developed a community of practice. Initially their focus was strictly on improving their students’ mathematical knowledge. As their community of practice matured, however, their work took on a larger meaning as they contributed to the institution’s strategic goal of raising the annual dollar amount of external funding and to the development of their personal and collective identities. This unusual level of inter-departmental collaboration has been recognized by the institution’s highest administrators, who have called upon its members to develop new, collaborative partnerships with regional school districts and community colleges.     

The use of limericks to engage student interest and promote active learning in an undergraduate course in functional anatomy

The study of anatomy is a content-dense discipline with a challenging vocabulary. A mnemonic is a series of letters, a word, a phrase, or a rhyme that students can use when studying to facilitate recall. This project was designed to promote active learning in undergraduate students studying anatomy and physiology by asking them to create limericks based on course content and then to evaluate the limericks written by their peers for learning value, accuracy, style, and adherence to limerick characteristics. Students (278 and 288, respectively, in the 2009 and 2010 sections of ANP1107) worked in groups of three to create a total of 242 limericks. Peer evaluation was accomplished in two stages using a 20-point marking rubric. In Stage 1, students were randomly divided into 10 groups (n = 23 ± 2 students) with each group member evaluating the same 12 ± 1 limericks. In Stage 2, the top 19% of limericks were reevaluated by all students so that the best three could be chosen. In each of the two years, 60% of students completed all parts of the assignment. Higher percentages (75-80%) participated in limerick writing and one of the two assessment stages. A positive association was noted between level of student participation in the limerick assignment and final course marks. Limerick creation and evaluation can be used to promote active learning by encouraging students to review functional-anatomy-based content to create limericks with good learning value and to provide valid assessments of limericks written by their peers.     

Assessing the effects of school‐wide Second Step implementation in a predominately English language learner,low SES,Latino sample

Because school violence is widespread, social and emotional competence must be targeted. Second Step is a social and emotional violence‐prevention curriculum that teaches prosocial skills and reduces aggressive behavior. The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of Second Step implementation on students (N = 403) in preschool through fourth grade who were predominately Latino, English language learners, and from families with low socioeconomic status. The data of 165 out of the 403 students were included in the present study. Analyses consisted of paired‐samples t‐tests to identify changes in social and emotional knowledge and behavioral and emotional risk. Results showed that there was a significant increase in both social and emotional knowledge and behavioral and emotional risk following the implementation of Second Step. These results are discussed with regard to previous and future research, limitations, and implications for school practice.     

Three Contemporary Dilemmas for Rural Superintendents

The school district is the fundamental administrative unit of schooling in the United States and the superintendent the lead official. The nature and the challenges of this position, however, vary across the landscape. Because most superintendents lead rural districts, the challenges facing those districts are the ones that typically bedevil the superintendency overall (perhaps a surprising thought to many readers). From this vantage, we theorize such challenges overall, and illustrate the theory with three episodes: (1) the continuing threats of school and district consolidation; (2) the arrival of ethnic diversity in previously all-White rural places; and (3) the leasing of school lands for mining, with a focus on hydraulic fracturing (“fracking”).     

Teaching Interpersonal Psychotherapy (IPT) in an MSW Clinical Course

Interpersonal Psychotherapy (IPT) is a relatively brief psychodynamic intervention of approximately 12 sessions focusing on how current interpersonal relationships have contributed to a person’s mental health symptoms. Areas targeted for work involve significant role transitions, grief and loss, and interpersonal disputes. IPT is an evidence-based treatment for depression, bulimia nervosa, and binge eating disorders. Despite these advantages, social work students rarely receive instruction on the delivery of IPT in their graduate programs. The purpose of this project, therefore, was to begin to address this gap by implementing an IPT component in a clinical practice course and testing student knowledge pre- and post-test. An example of sample assignments involving application of IPT to student fieldwork is provided. The sample in this study involved a small number of students enrolled in a clinical course taught in the first semester of the second year of training. Students improved their knowledge score at a statistically significant level. Implications of the study are explored, with the main conclusion being that more clinical majors in MSW programs be exposed to IPT.     

Upper Secondary Chemistry Students in a Pharmacochemistry Research Community

This study deals with the participation of 10 upper secondary chemistry students, aged 16–17, and their chemistry teacher in a pharmacochemistry research community on anti-allergy medicines at VU University, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Participation of students in scientific research raises the question of how to bridge the gap between an upper secondary school inquiry practice and a scientific research practice. To bridge this gap, a design based on 6 principles derived from an educational model of a community of learners was proposed. The study first aimed at revealing whether the proposed principles were necessary according to the students, their teacher and three pharmacochemistry researchers for successful participation of the students in the research community. Second, the study examined whether the students' understanding of discipline-specific content knowledge, interest in scientific research and knowledge about the nature of science changed during the course of the study. Data were obtained from questionnaires, interviews and video tapes. The results indicated that according to the teacher all 6 principles were necessary to bridge the gap, whereas according to the students 1 principle and according to the pharmacochemistry researchers 2 principles were necessary but difficult to achieve. Furthermore, all students gained discipline-specific content knowledge. Their interest in scientific research exhibited a positive change and their knowledge about the nature of science increased. The implications for further research and practice are discussed.