Implementing Education for Sustainable Development in schools: learning from teachers’ reflections

In recent years, in the UK, there has been a significant focus on research in Education for Sustainable Development/Global Citizenship Education (ESD/GCE) in initial teacher education and on projects and initiatives used with pupils in schools. However, there has been less specific focus on the ‘voices’ of teachers who have undertaken such projects: the documentation of their perceptions of effective pedagogy for the development of their pupils’ learning and, importantly, the development of their own concepts and values in relation to sustainability education as a result of implementing ESD/GCE-related topics. This paper aims to provide data from this relatively under-reported area. It examines what the teachers learned about effective pedagogy from undertaking a systematic study of their own practice in ESD/GCE-based topics, and it highlights the development of their own understanding of, and values about the place of ESD/GCE in the curriculum. The paper presents an analysis of the reflective journals kept by 10 teachers during the planning and implementation of ESD/GCE projects within their own classrooms. Findings emerging from the study were that critical reflection on their work gave the teachers the confidence to adopt the more learner-centred pedagogy of ESD/GCE, and that teachers, too, were able to benefit from the participation in ESD/GCE activities.     

Rethinking mobile delivery: using Quick Response codes to access information at the point of need

This article covers the use of Quick Response (QR) codes to provide instant mobile access to information, digital collections, educational offerings, library website, subject guides, text messages, videos, and library personnel. The array of uses and the value of using QR codes to push customized information to patrons are explained. A case is developed for using QR codes for mobile delivery of customized information to patrons. Applications in use at the Libraries of the University of Utah will be reviewed to provide readers with ideas for use in their library.     

Seven plus or minus two

For over 50 years, seven plus or minus two has been a commonly used guideline for gauging how many chunks of new information should be presented at one time in learning and performance situations. Often cited as the limit of working memory, this guideline was created as a result of misinterpreting an article by Miller (1956). More recent studies suggest that the limit for working memory is more like three, and sometimes four, with various factors influencing the capacity of an individual's working memory. Given too much novel information at one time, learners and performers can be derailed by cognitive overload. Instructional designers and performance consultants can adjust the presentation of new information to manage intrinsic, extraneous, and germane cognitive load. This column provides suggestions about how to reduce cognitive overload to improve learning and performance.     

From the research: Myths worth dispelling: Seriously,the game is up

When new media and delivery systems are introduced, they are often accompanied by claims that they provide increased learning. The temptation to ascribe learning powers to delivery systems is strong, as evidenced by repeated attempts over many decades to do so. A relatively new arrival, serious games are currently the recipient of much attention in this regard. In a new meta‐analysis of learning in training programs with or without games, Sitzmann (in press) suggests that delivering training via simulation games enhances learning, while she also acknowledges that instructional methods—not delivery systems—provide the ingredients that facilitate learning. If blog posts and Internet articles provide a useful indication, many practitioners are furthering claims for increased learning and retention via serious games. These claims provide fertile ground for a new set of myths about this relatively new delivery system. Before choosing to invest in acquiring or developing serious games, decision makers should consider (a) instructional methods and (b) whether they will realize benefits from a cost and implementation perspective. They should not select serious games because of claims that the games will intrinsically enhance learning.     

Transitions On and Off AFDC: Implications for Parenting and Children''s Cognitive Development

The goal of current national and state legislation on welfare reform is to decrease the number of people who are dependent on public assistance, most of whom are mothers and their young children. Mothers' patterns of welfare receipt in the 3 years following the birth of a child were examined vis-à-vis their associations with maternal emotional distress (General Health Questionnaire), provision of learning experiences (Home Observation of the Measurement of the Environment), parenting behavior, and the child's cognitive test score (Stanford-Binet) in the third year of life. The data set was the Infant Health and Development Program, an eight-site randomized clinical trial designed to test the efficacy of educational and family support services in reducing developmental delays in low-birthweight, preterm infants (N = 833). Strong negative associations were found between receiving welfare and parenting behavior and child outcomes at age 3 years. Outcomes varied depending on when the mother received public assistance (earlier or later in her child's first 3 years) and family poverty status on leaving welfare. The parenting behavior of mothers who had left welfare by their child's third birthday was more likely to be authoritarian if she had left public assistance without also leaving poverty. Implications of these findings for the well-being of children in low-income families are discussed.     

Environmental health and toxicology resources of the United States National Library of Medicine

For over 40 years, the National Library of Medicine's (NLM) Toxicology and Environmental Health Information Program (TEHIP) has worked to organize and to provide access to an extensive array of environmental health and toxicology resources. During these years, the TEHIP program has evolved from a handful of databases developed primarily for researchers to a broad range of products and services that also serve industry, students, and the general public. TEHIP's resources include TOXNET , a collection of databases, including online handbooks, bibliographic references, information on the release of chemicals in the environment, and a chemical dictionary. TEHIP also produces several resources aimed towards the general public, such as the Household Products Database , which helps users explore chemicals often found in common household products, and Tox Town , an interactive guide to commonly encountered toxic substances, health, and the environment. This paper introduces some of NLM's environmental health and toxicology resources.     

Head Start and children's nutrition,weight, and health care receipt

Using a sample of low-income children from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Birth Cohort (N ≈ 4350) and propensity-score weighted regressions, we analyzed children's nutrition, weight, and health care receipt at kindergarten entry, comparing (1) Head Start participants and all non-participants, and (2) Head Start participants and children in prekindergarten, other center-based care, other non-parental care, or only parental care. Overall, we found that compared to all non-participants, Head Start participants were more likely to receive dental checkups but showed no differences in getting medical checkups; they were also more likely to have healthy eating patterns but showed no differences in Body Mass Index (BMI), overweight, or obesity. However, these results varied depending on the comparison group—Head Start participants showed lower BMI scores and lower probability of overweight compared to those in other non-parental care, and the effects on healthy eating and dental checkups differed by comparison group.     

Theories of change and outcomes in home-based Early Head Start programs

Programs to promote children's early development are based on a set of assumptions, explicit or implicit, about intended outcomes and how the program will effect change. The “theories of change” were examined in ten home-based programs in the Early Head Start Research and Evaluation Project (EHSREP), using data collected through multiple interviews with program staff. All home-based programs indicated that parenting outcomes were among their highest three priorities, while only 4 of 10 programs said that child outcomes were in their top priorities. The pattern of outcome differences between randomly-assigned program and control group participants reflected the programs’ theories of change in several ways. Early Head Start home-based programs showed positive impacts on 9 of 9 parenting outcomes, including parental supportiveness, home language and learning supports, emotional responsiveness, and family conflict when children were 24 months of age. Significant program impacts on child cognitive skills (Bayley MDI scores) and social behavior (observed child engagement of parent during play) were found when children were 36 months of age. Mediation analyses showed that the 54% of the program impact on 36-month child cognitive scores was mediated by 24-month program impacts on parental supportiveness, language and learning support, emotional responsiveness, and family conflict, and 47% of the program impact on 36-month child engagement of parent was mediated by 24-month impacts on parental supportiveness, language and cognitive stimulation, and emotional responsiveness. Results from mediation analyses were consistent with these home-based programs’ theories of change, supporting the efficacy of focusing on parent change as a mechanism for child outcomes in home visiting programs.     

How front-end loading contributes to creating and sustaining the theory-practice gap in higher education programs

In this paper, I show how Mead’s theory of emergence can prove explanatory in how the theory-practice gap is co-created and sustained in front-end loading university programs. Taking teacher education as an exemplar, I argue that trainee teachers encounter different and oft-times conflicting environmental, social and cultural conditions in the two ‘fields of interaction’ of their training program, namely, the on-campus pre-service program and the in-school experience. The argument draws on interview and focus group data collected via a study of first-year graduate teachers of an Australian pre-service teacher education program. My conclusions are two-fold. First, I argue that role taking and self-regulated behaviour within the two environmental fields of interaction in front-end loading programs inhibit the trainee professional from exercising the power of agency to implement theory learned at university in practice in the workplace. Second, I conclude that Mead’s theory of emergence proves effective in predicting the obduracy of the gap between theory and practice in front-end programs.     

Enhancing the Development of Low-Birthweight, Premature Infants: Changes in Cognition and Behavior over the First Three Years

The Infant Health and Development Program is a randomized clinical trial to test the efficacy of educational and family support services and pediatric follow-up offered in the first 3 years of life on reducing the incidence of developmental delay in low-birthweight (LBW), preterm infants in 8 clinical sites ( N = 985). Effects of the intervention on cognitive and behavior problem scores over the 3 years are examined. Significant intervention effects were seen on cognitive scores at 24 and 36 but not 12 months of age; effect sizes were similar at both ages. These effects persist when controlling for earlier cognitive scores. At 24 and 36 months, behavior problem scores for the intervention group were significantly lower than for the follow-up group; the intervention was more efficacious for children with higher initial behavior problem scores. Results are discussed in terms of timing and targeting of services for LBW and disadvantaged children.