The impact of a community-based music program during infancy on the quality of parent–child language interactions

The early language environment, especially high-quality, contingent parent–child language interactions, is crucial for a child's language development and later academic success. In this secondary analysis study, 89 parent–child dyads were randomly assigned to either the Music Together® (music) or play date (control) classes. Children were 9- to 15-month old at baseline, primarily white (86.7%) and female (52%). Measures of conversational turns (CTs) and parental verbal quality were coded from parent–child free play episodes at baseline, mid-intervention (month 6), and post-intervention (month 12). Results show that participants in the music group had a significantly greater increase in CT measures and quality of parent verbalization post-intervention. Music enrichment programs may be a strategy to enhance parent–child language interactions during early childhood.     

Undocumented Latino students pursuing degrees in STEM disciplines: Attitudes,perceptions, teacher support,and future views

If classrooms are being filled with undocumented Latino students, it is essential that teachers are trained on how to better serve this population, placing a particular focus on those students who have a passion for STEM disciplines, because the U.S. deserves a group of multilingual and multicultural student workers who will help America compete with innovators throughout the world. This mixed-methods convergent parallel study examined the primary variables that undocumented Latino students attending a DC public charter school face when choosing STEM studies or degrees. Data were obtained in order to further understand student attitudes towards STEM, positive and negative perceptions about life, support from teachers, and views of the future. Through this study, educators will be able to better assist undocumented Latino students in their pursuit of a STEM discipline.     

Tactile training facilitates infants' ability to reach to targets on the body

This longitudinal study investigated the effect of experience with tactile stimulation on infants' ability to reach to targets on the body, an important adaptive skill. Infants were provided weekly tactile stimulation on eight body locations from 4 to 8 months of age (N = 11), comparing their ability to reach to the body to infants in a control group who did not receive stimulation (N = 10). Infants who received stimulation were more likely to successfully reach targets on the body than controls by 7 months of age. These findings indicate that tactile stimulation facilitates the development of reaching to the body by allowing infants to explore the sensorimotor correlations emerging from the stimulation.     

Becoming a coach: reform,identity, and the pedagogy of negation

This article examines one US high school teacher's attempt to become a coach by enacting what I call ‘a pedagogy of negation’. For this teacher, the challenge of becoming a coach is nested within a wider agenda of social and personal transformation. That agenda is symbolized first in words as she constructs ‘a language of coaching’ to inform her interactions with students and content as well her conception of herself as a teacher. Second, talk is transformed into pedagogical action through, as described by Driver, the ‘playful work’ of ritualized negation. I argue that the phenomenon of negation is a logical sense-making strategy for teachers attempting to realise transformed pedagogical identities. Negation also reveals a range of uncertainties involved in enacting the practice of coaching. As this case reveals, the pedagogy of negation is constructed as a corrective to restrictive and oppressive forms of schooling. It serves as a mechanism for ‘becoming’ a different, presumably better, kind of teacher. And though the results are mixed, this portrait of practice in the midst of change illuminates the complex and reciprocal links between identity and practice entailed in becoming a coach.     

Generalization of the CS- preexposure effect transfers to taste- aversion learning

Rats repeatedly exposed to a maple, vanilla, banana, or water solution were subsequently poisoned with lithium chloride after drinking the maple solution. Subjects preexposed to water showed the strongest aversions to maple, followed, in descending order, by rats preexposed to banana, vanilla, and maple. These results suggest that the effects of prepoisoning experience with a novel flavor generalized to the maple CS and interfered with the development of the maple aversion. The technique reported here is potentially applicable to study of gustatory discrimination processes.     

Covert and overt forms of maltreatment in the preschools

This paper examines the preschool environment, finding within it forms and patterns of maltreatment. The preschool is defined as an educational facility for children 2$\text{1}\text{2}$ to 5 years. Described are the major models of preschools, public and private, conservatively estimated at 50.000 in the United States. The study is based on data from observations by the author of 60–70 preschools in the New York City metropolitan area, 1976–1981. This five-year period witnessed a substantial increase in the preschool movement. Explored are factors related to this increase, one significant factor being the idea that early childhood education can never be too early. Demand for early academic competence in young children when combined with longer time periods spent in preschools creates difficulties for children Societal pressure upon preschool teachers to produce cognitively and emotionally competent young children while assuring their health and safety needs leads to outcomes which are cause for concern. Covert forms of maltreatment lie predominantly in staff (directors, teachers, assistants) attitudes toward young children. These include: insistence that children learn to be independent while reinforcing dependent behavior: overemphasis on the acquisition of academic skills, irrespective of age; excessive reliance on packaged “educational” materials; non-use of materials that have intrinsic interest for children; lack of enthusiasm for working with young children; rigid adherence to routine for convenience; dislike of particular children. Overt forms of maltreatment to gain compliance or obedience from young children range from direct verbal attack (insult, sarcasm, ridicule, threats, name calling, humiliation) through emotional abuse (withholding of affection or compassion) to clear physical coercion (pulling, pushing, shoving, yanking, expulsion from class, isolation in class). Such patterns are not limited to a particular model but can occur in each preschool category. Their significance suggests that caring for and educating young children in group settings may not be the panacea society wants it to be. Special preparation for early childhood educators with well supervised internships is certainly a forward step, among many others, which are cooperatively needed at this juncture to improve the preschool environment for all children.     

The Development of Occupational Sex‐role Stereotypes,Occupational Preferences and Academic Subject Preferences in Children at Ages 8, 12 and 16

This paper reports data from a questionnaire‐based UK study aimed at examining occupational sex‐role stereotypes and occupational preferences of male and female pupils at three ages. Data were collected from 594 children in total (108 8‐year‐olds, 307 12‐year‐olds and 177 16‐year‐olds) who responded to questions that asked for their views on who (males, females or both) should perform certain occupations and how much they would like to have each of the occupations as their career. The children were also asked to indicate their favourite school subject. Analysis indicated that the youngest age group held significantly more stereotyped views regarding who should perform certain jobs than the older children and that, generally, boys sex‐typed appropriateness of occupations to a significantly greater degree than girls, although this difference was not significant in the youngest age group. Furthermore, analysis of the occupational preference ratings revealed significant differences between male and female subjects for many occupations, with higher ratings generally being awarded to stereo‐typically gender‐appropriate careers. Significant differences between the three age groups were also observed in the preference ratings for many occupations, with a tendency for the majority of occupations to be perceived less favourably with increasing age of respondent. Finally, school subject preferences were considered. No consistent or stable pattern of preference emerged for males and females across age‐groups, confirming recent suggestions that gender stereotyping of school subjects is weakening.     

Why Diversity Matters in Rural America: Women Faculty of Color Challenging Whiteness

Using critical race theory as an analytical framework to examine White privilege and institutional racism, two teacher educators, in a rural predominantly White university tell counterstories about teaching for social justice in literacy and mathematics education courses. In sharing our counterstories in this paper, we, women faculty of color, challenge Whiteness and institutional racism with the hopes of: (1) promoting social justice teaching in order to globally prepare (pre-and-in-service) teachers and educational leaders to motivate and empower ALL students to learn; (2) dismantling racism to promote better wellbeing for women faculty of color; and (3) moving educational communities at large closer toward equitable education, which is a fundamental civil right. After analyzing the counterstories, we suggest that university leaders establish policies and practices to support (recruit, retain, and promote) faculty/leaders of color, not just mainstream academics. Working toward equity and justice, we strive to form alliances between Whites and Others.     

A Developmental Perspective on the Role of Motor Skill Competence in Physical Activity: An Emergent Relationship

Although significant attention has been paid to promoting the importance of physical activity in children, adolescents, and adults, we do not currently understand how to promote sustained physical activity levels throughout the lifespan. We contend that previous research has failed to consider the dynamic and synergistic role that motor skill competence plays in the initiation, maintenance, or decline of physical activity and how this role might change across developmental time. In this article, we present a conceptual model hypothesizing the relationships among physical activity, motor skill competence, perceived motor skill competence, health-related physical fitness, and obesity. We contend that the development of motor skill competence is a primary underlying mechanism that promotes engagement in physical activity.     

Global citizenship as education for peacebuilding in a divided society: structural and contextual constraints on the development of critical dialogic discourse in schools

In post-conflict and divided societies, global citizenship education has been described as a central element of peacebuilding education, whereby critical pedagogy is seen as a tool to advance students’ thinking, transform their views and promote democratic behaviours. The present study investigates understandings of and attitudes to global citizenship and the challenges faced in its implementation. Teacher interviews highlight lack of time and resources for critical reflection and dialogue. Where opportunities for relevant training are provided, this can benefit critical engagement. Boundaries of educational systems and structures also influence pupils’ understandings of the issues as evidenced in questionnaire findings. We argue that critical pedagogies may be limited unless criticality and activism transcend local and global issues and are applied to schools themselves. Emotional engagement may be required for teachers to claim the space to critically reflect and share with colleagues within and beyond their sectors in order to enable critical discourse amongst pupils.