Addressing bullying through critical making

This paper explores how maker pedagogies helped middle school students develop transferable competencies, such as creativity, problem solving, self-directed learning and citizenship skills. We offer an in-depth look at how purposeful or critical making related to bullying awareness can help struggling students develop positive attitudes related to their roles as contributing members of a classroom community of learners.     

Research on Language and Communication in Children who have Severe Handicaps: a review and some implications for intervention

Abstract This paper presents a critical discussion of some contemporary literature on the language development of, and problems in communication for, persons with severe handicaps. For meaning to be transmitted from one person to another requires a social interactive context. These transactional exchanges begin very early in a child's life and carry particular implications for caregivers and therapists. Some implications of this literature for intervention are suggested.     

Two daddy tigers and a baby tiger: promoting understandings about same gender parented families using picture books

There is a small body of work examining how picture books can be used with young children and their families to develop understandings of contemporary issues including diversity and practices towards inclusion. This article describes a study in one New Zealand kindergarten that explored teachers’ interpretations of children’s responses to a selection of picture books featuring same gender parented families. The research sought to go beyond traditional understandings of families and the dominant discourse of heteronormativity. Findings show that despite children reportedly being open to the possibilities of non-traditional families in their setting, and their play, teachers appeared hesitant to ask probing questions or fully engage with children’s thinking, or their own, to explore understandings in this area. Nevertheless, this research demonstrates that taking tentative steps towards making an alternative discourse available through the proactive use of curriculum resources does not have to be ‘difficult’ or ‘dangerous’. In inclusive educational settings, lesbian and gay headed families can be affirmed, and children can be supported to construct understandings about ‘family’ outside of normative boundaries.     

Academic Achievement Trajectories of Homeless and Highly Mobile Students: Resilience in the Context of Chronic and Acute Risk

Analyses examined academic achievement data across third through eighth grades (N = 26,474), comparing students identified as homeless or highly mobile (HHM) with other students in the federal free meal program (FM), reduced price meals (RM), or neither (General). Achievement was lower as a function of rising risk status (General > RM > FM > HHM). Achievement gaps appeared stable or widened between HHM students and lower risk groups. Math and reading achievement were lower, and growth in math was slower in years of HHM identification, suggesting acute consequences of residential instability. Nonetheless, 45% of HHM students scored within or above the average range, suggesting academic resilience. Results underscore the need for research on risk and resilience processes among HHM students to address achievement disparities.     

A 10‐Year Review of the Food Science Summer Scholars Program: A Model for Research Training and for Recruiting Undergraduate Students into Graduate Programs and Careers in Food Science

Abstract: A pressing problem facing regulatory agencies, academia, and the food industry is a shortage of qualified food science graduates, particularly those with advanced degrees (that is, M.S. or Ph.D.). In 2000, the Cornell Institute of Food Science established the annual Food Science Summer Scholars Program as an experiential summer research program for undergraduate students with the goal of increasing the number of individuals enrolling in graduate programs in Food Science and entering careers in food science. In 2008, to explore expansion to other food science programs, the program also included 5 students placed at the Univ. of Massachusetts. Between 2000 and 2009, a total of 147 undergraduate students, representing a nationally and internationally diverse student body, have participated in the program. Sixty program participants have been recruited from nonfood science majors and 25 have been U.S. citizens representing traditionally underrepresented minorities. Forty‐five program alumni have completed graduate degrees with a food science or related major, and 56 alumni are currently pursuing graduate degrees in food science or related disciplines. Thirty program alumni are working in the food industry. The Food Science Summer Scholars Program at Cornell and the Univ. of Massachusetts has proved to be an effective program for recruiting students into graduate programs and careers in food science. Furthermore, the Summer Scholars Program at Cornell and the Univ. of Massachusetts serves as a model for the development of a cooperative multi‐institutional food science summer research program for undergraduates to further increase the supply of students for graduate study and careers in food science.     

Do the Youth Olympic Games promote Olympism? Analysing a mission (im)possible from a local youth perspective

On the basis of the Youth Olympic Games (YOG), we assess if and how the youth in the communities of the YOG host cities have been influenced concerning their perception of the Olympic values (OV) and the Olympic movement (OM). Special attention of the study is paid to the analysis of intervention mechanisms which the local youth underwent (e.g. attending the YOG on-site, participating in school programmes). Our study was conducted among 1004 adolescents living in the host region three years after the Innsbruck 2012 YOG had been staged. Our analyses extend the corresponding literature by (1) showing that the YOG and the involvement of the local youth in such an event have the power of creating an interest in the OM and its events, but do not have the power to influence the young citizens’ perception of the OV significantly; (2) illustrating that the perception adolescents have of the OV depend mainly on their socio-demographic background, their a priori interest in sports events, social capital (norms, institutional trust) and the extent to which the youngsters follow the event in the different media; and (3) corroborating the hypothesis that intervention programmes (e.g. school programmes) for promoting (Olympic) values and ideals should not be single, obligatory and isolated activities. We conclude that it is not surprising that the International Olympic Committee has reformulated the goals for the YOG in the Olympic Agenda 2020, as some goals relating to the promotion of the OV might have been a mission impossible.     

Changing boundaries—Shifting identities: Strategic interventions to enhance the future of educational research in Australia

This paper reflects on the geography of Australian educational research in the context of the ERA 2010 and 2012 assessments results. These results reflect significant changes to the nature of educational research over the past decades, where this research is conducted and by whom. We recap the historical changes to the formation of educational institutions and their impact on research outputs to demonstrate that interdisciplinary work is growing in a context where there has been a shift in research outputs away from the traditional area of school education. The ERA results demonstrate a high level of research activity in the intersections between previously distinct discipline areas, particularly in the scholarship of teaching and learning. The future of ERA itself is addressed in order to propose interventions that might make a difference to an ecology that is anchored in traditions and tends towards inertia. Finally, we argue that efforts by universities to build research capacity are likely to continue to be competitive, to focus on the individual rather than on departments and schools, and to be subject to an increasingly pervasive culture of accountability. Against this discourse of accountability, and an accompanying loss in autonomy and creative ‘think-time’, we propose that academics in education actively engage in a community of research. We conclude with interventions designed to build a high-quality, analytical and theoretically intensive research culture to underscore educational research in Australia.     

Unique Effects of a Family Literacy Program on the Early Reading Development of English Language Learners

Research Findings: The present study evaluated the effects of a Family Literacy program on the early English reading development of speakers of English as a first language (EL1s) and English language learners (ELLs). The study included a linguistically and culturally diverse sample of 132 kindergarten children and their parents. Families in the experimental group participated in a 9-week intervention program that was designed to promote early literacy in the home, whereas those in the control group did not receive the intervention. Both the experimental and control groups included EL1 and ELL children. Dependent variables included children's gains in alphabet knowledge, conventions of print, and meaning. Results indicated that ELL children in the experimental group made greater gains in their knowledge of the alphabet and their ability to infer meaning from print than EL1 children in the experimental group and both ELL and EL1 controls. There were no language group differences in children's gains in conventions of print. Practice or Policy: The results suggest that Family Literacy programs are associated with differential effects on the English reading development of EL1 and ELL children. Educational implications related to the development and implementation of effective Family Literacy programs for diverse communities are discussed.