Infants' attention to patterned stimuli: developmental change from 3 to 12 months of age

To examine the development of look duration as a function of age and stimulus type, 14- to 52-week-old infants were shown static and dynamic versions of faces, Sesame Street material, and achromatic patterns for 20 s of accumulated looking. Heart rate was recorded during looking and parsed into stimulus orienting, sustained attention, and attention termination phases. Infants' peak look durations indicated that prior to 26 weeks there was a linear decrease with age for all stimuli. Older infants' look durations continued to decline for patterns but increased for Sesame Street and faces. Measures of heart rate change during sustained attention and the proportion of time spent in each phase of attention confirmed infants' greater engagement with the more complex stimuli.     

Preservice teachers perspectives and experiences teaching personal and social responsibility

ABSTRACT

Background: Pedagogical models have become an established component of physical education over the past several decades. One such model, the Teaching Personal and Social Responsibility model, has gained momentum in practice and research, though little is known regarding its use in preservice teacher training. The model follows a flexible format focused on teaching life skills (e.g. leadership) that can be applied in all lived ecologies. Occupational socialization theory provides insight into the pretraining and teacher education experiences of preservice teachers that shape their understanding and practice of physical education and associated pedagogical models.

Aims: The purpose of this study was to understand the influence of a sequence of methods courses and early field experiences on U.S. preservice teachers’ understanding and implementation of the teaching personal and social responsibility model with youth from a community affected by poverty.

Method: This study took on a phenomenological and social constructivist approach. Ten preservice teachers (9 males, 1 female) took part in the study. The participants were an average age of 22.10 years old (SD?=?4.38) and seven identified as White and three as Black. Each participant was enrolled in methods and early field experience coursework that provided scaffolded training in primary education in a community affected by poverty. Preservice teachers team-taught groups of 10–15 children twice a week along with one day committed to on-campus reflection. Data collection included autobiographical essays, critical incident reports, reflective journals, non-participatory observations and field notes, and semi-structured interviews. Data were analyzed deductively through the lens of occupational socialization theory, and inductively as theory divergent trends were sought. Open and axial coding was completed with member checking throughout, resulting in a final set of themes and subthemes.

Findings: The preservice teachers initially struggled to connect with their students due to conflicting backgrounds, but the teaching personal and social responsibility model guided the relationship-building process. As the model was continuously utilized, more empathy and care were shown towards the children. Preservice teachers felt there was a lack of progression in positive behaviors but were able to empower youth and felt that the model was culturally relevant. Overtime, the students began to appreciate the affective domain despite the challenge of working in a community affected by poverty through frustration towards the larger system limiting any potential progress was present.

Conclusions: Subjective theories transitioned to include relationship building and life skills learning, likely because of the extended field experience and faculty support. The preservice teachers desire to connect with and teach the students well displays the connection between models-based practice and positive relationships. Preservice teachers’ knowledge of their students was limited as it was based on secondhand knowledge of youth, teacher educators, and school staff. Evidence indicates some cultural responsiveness development though there were also elements of a deficit model due to white privilege and class differences. Further work explicitly integrating a culturally relevant approach and social justice in teacher education programming should occur.     

FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT IN TEACHER EDUCATION: THE DEVELOPMENT OF A DIAGNOSTIC LANGUAGE TEST FOR TRAINEE TEACHERS OF GERMAN

ABSTRACT:  This article describes the development and validation of a diagnostic test of German and its integration in a programme of formative assessment during a one-year initial teacher-training course. The test focuses on linguistic aspects that cause difficulty for trainee teachers of German as a foreign language and assesses implicit and explicit grammatical knowledge as well as students' confidence in this knowledge. Administration of the test to 57 German speakers in four groups (first-year undergraduates, fourth-year undergraduates, postgraduate trainees, and native speakers) provided evidence of its reliability and validity.     

Inhibitory control by one stimulus after an increase in the frequency of reinforcement associated with another stimulus

Pigeons were trained on a multiple variable-interval 5-min variable-interval 5-min schedule and then shifted to either a multiple variable-interval 1-min variable-interval 5-min or a multiple variable-interval 30-sec variable-interval 5-min schedule. A generalization test was subsequently administered along the dimension containing the stimulus associated with the variable-interval 5-min component. The generalization gradients for subjects that received multiple variable-interval 1-min variable-interval 5-min training were not consistent in shape. However, an incremental gradient was obtained from each subject that received multiple variable-interval 30-sec variable-interval 5-min training. Thus, a sufficiently large reduction in merely the relative frequency of reinforcement during a stimulus resulted in that stimulus’ acquiring inhibitory control over responding.     

Reclaiming Teacher Agency in a Student-Centred Digital World

This article examines the current dilemma faced by many teachers: the drive for a modern day pedagogy advocating student-centred, technology-enabled learning is at odds with teacher comfort zones still nestled in a teacher-talk, print-based classroom. Put another way, the 'techno-reluctance' of many teachers represents a negative reaction to the perception that new technologies represent a threat to their traditional roles and general sense of practical agency in the learning process or classroom. The paper interprets some of the key factors impacting on techno-reluctance as a means of moving beyond such a simplistic view of the connection between digital technologies and changing teacher roles. On this basis, it goes on to discuss the concept of 'technoliteracy' as a means of reclaiming teacher agency in a studentcentred, computer-mediated environment and also reframing teacher attitudes to electronic texts and related literacy practices.     

The Severity of State Truancy Policies and Chronic Absenteeism

ABSTRACT

Since the Common School era, states have maintained truancy laws to ensure that students attend school. However, we know little about the severity of these laws and their relationship to student outcomes, particularly absenteeism. In this study, we survey state education statutes to document the severity of truancy policies. We estimate the relationship between these truancy policies and rates of chronic absenteeism via multilevel models using data on all U.S. public schools from the Office of Civil Rights. We find that most students live in states where they may be referred to legal authorities for levels of absenteeism below federal standards. We find little evidence that states with truancy policies have lower chronic absenteeism after adjusting for demographic and other characteristics. However, while non-White high-school students are overrepresented among chronic absences overall, they have rates of chronic absenteeism comparable to their White peers in states with less severe truancy policies.     

Developmental and gender influences on coping: Implications for skills training

The transition to adulthood for today's youth is a difficult journey filled with risk, rapid change, and seemingly endless choices. Effective coping skills can help youth navigate these challenges. This article explores the impact of gender and developmental level on coping skill acquisition in adolescence. Suggestions for helping youth to develop effective coping strategies are provided from both a prevention and intervention perspective. By helping today's youth develop the necessary strategies to deal with the unavoidable stresses encountered in life, school psychologists and counselors can help to ultimately create adults who have the skills and necessary psychological resources to successfully cope and adapt to life's changes. © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.