Impacts of a Comprehensive School Readiness Curriculum for Preschool Children at Risk for Educational Difficulties

This article reports findings from a cluster‐randomized study of an integrated literacy‐ and math‐focused preschool curriculum, comparing versions with and without an explicit socioemotional lesson component to a business‐as‐usual condition. Participants included 110 classroom teachers from randomized classrooms and approximately eight students from each classroom (N = 760) who averaged 4.48 (SD = 0.44) years of age at the start of the school year. There were positive impacts of the two versions of the curriculum on language, phonological awareness, math, and socioemotional outcomes, but there were no added benefits to academic or socioemotional outcomes for the children receiving explicit socioemotional instruction. Results are discussed with relevance to early childhood theory, policy, and goals of closing the school readiness gap.     

Environment–attitude relationships: girls in inquiry-based mathematics classrooms in the United Arab Emirates

Girls’ attitudes towards mathematics can impact their achievement and career choices in STEM fields. Can the introduction of inquiry-based learning (IBL) in mathematics classes generate positive associations between girls’ perceptions of the learning environment and their attitudes towards mathematics? Based in the United Arab Emirates, this study provided important information about the relationships between learning environment factors central to an inquiry method and student engagement. Data collection involved administering two surveys to female mathematics students (N?=?291) in four schools: one to assess students’ perceptions of the learning environment and another to assess students’ attitudes towards mathematics. Positive and statistically-significant (p?<?.01) associations emerged between learning environment factors important to an inquiry approach and students’ attitudes. These findings provide important information about how IBL might improve girls’ attitudes towards mathematics classes and whether IBL environments are related to their attitudes.

     

Mentors for beginning teachers as middle leaders: the messy work of recontextualising

ABSTRACT

Mentors for beginning teachers in schools are often unacknowledged middle leaders in their schools. Through their work with beginning teachers, they not only provide local leadership in their contexts, they influence and shape the work of the next generation of teachers. Government-funded mentor training for the purpose of supporting beginning teachers in Education Queensland schools commenced in 2014 (Queensland Government. [2017]. Mentoring Beginning Teachers. http://education.qld.gov.au/staff/development/employee/teachers/mentoring.html). In Queensland, Australia, over 3000 experienced teachers have completed a two-day professional learning Mentoring Beginning Teacher (MBT) programme. Upon completion, mentors were expected to design and enact a mentoring programme that met the beginning teachers’ needs in their context, using the dialogic mentoring principles they had learned to fulfil the policy goals of increasing the number of beginning teachers transitioning to full registration. This article draws on Bernstein’s ([2000]. Pedagogy, Symbolic Control, and Identity: Theory, Research, Critique. Revised ed. Rowman & Littlefield) concepts of recontextualisation, and horizontal and vertical discourses of knowledge to understand how mentor teachers negotiated and enacted their roles as middle leaders in schools in diverse schooling contexts.     

A systematic approach to the design of secondary school lessons in Guyana

Selected physics and geography classes in Guyanan secondary schools received four different instructional treatments. Three experimental groups received (A) a systematically designed curriculum unit implemented by the designer of the unit (B) the same unit implemented by another teacher and (C) a lesson utilising the aims and objectives defined in the curriculum unit. A fourth (control) group received the conventional lesson for this aspect of the curriculum. Pre- and post-test data revealed significant learning gains in experimental groups. The implications of these results are considered for curriculum development and the training of teachers in Guyana.     

Building learning communities: foundations for good practice

The School of Health Sciences at the University of Birmingham provided opportunities for the development of student learning communities and online resources within the neurological module of the BSc Physiotherapy degree programme. These learning communities were designed to facilitate peer and independent learning in core aspects underpinning clinical practice, thus laying the foundation for the development of effective clinical reasoning. This paper examines some of the problems that staff encountered, including the lessons that they learnt through the design, development, and implementation processes of the module, and the subsequent modifications that were made. Student experiences of this course are also included, as they provided staff with further insights into the ways in which these problems impacted upon their preparation for clinical practice and how the module might be improved for future cohorts. From an analysis of the problems that staff encountered and then sought to resolve, and of student experiences of the course, this paper identifies foundations for good practice in the development and delivery of innovative learning and teaching methods.     

Teacher perceptions of facilitators and barriers to implementing classroom physical activity breaks

Abstract

Physical activity plays an important role in childhood development and is associated with positive health, social, emotional, and academic benefits. Despite this, children are often sedentary for most of their school day and fail to meet daily activity recommendations. Incorporating physical activity breaks into the classroom can achieve many positive outcomes, however has not been widely adopted. This study used the diffusion of innovation theory as a framework to examine teacher perceptions of barriers and facilitators to incorporating physical activity breaks into their elementary classrooms. Teachers perceived compatibility with teaching philosophy and observability of benefits to most students as strong facilitators. They struggled to reconcile relative advantage and trailability, primarily due to classroom management issues associated with just a few students. Lack of complexity facilitated implementation, however upper grade teachers felt a strong need to connect activity to academics which threatened complexity. The authors conclude with recommendations to increase adoption.     

Experiences in After-School Programs and Children's Adjustment in First-Grade Classrooms

The experiences of 150 children in after-school programs were examined in relation to performance in first grade. Three aspects of program experiences (emotional climate, quality of peer interactions, and program curriculum) were associated with the children's concurrent adjustment at school, controlling for family selection factors. Staff positivity in the after-school programs was associated with boys displaying fewer internalizing and externalizing problems, whereas staff negativity was related to boys obtaining poorer grades in reading and math. Program flexibility was associated with boys having better social skills. More frequent negative interactions with peers in the programs were related to more internalizing and externalizing problems, and poorer social skills at school. Boys who attended programs offering a larger number of different activities had more internalizing and externalizing problems, and poorer grades in reading and math. After-school experiences also were related to girls' behaviors, but associations were less apparent for girls than boys.