“I Have a Hippopotamus!”: Preparing Effective Early Childhood Environmental Educators

ABSTRACT

This article describes an early childhood teacher-preparation program that infuses environmental education and nature experiences into courses, practicum, and student-teaching experiences. Program philosophy, pedagogy, materials, and methods are described and linked to the Early Childhood Environmental Education Programs: Guidelines for Excellence, the Guidelines for the Preparation and Professional Development of Environmental Educators, and state-level early learning guidelines that focus on connecting young children with nature. Preservice teachers build knowledge, skills, and dispositions for effective environmental education beginning from an awareness level and progressing to application and refinement. The value of nature is communicated explicitly and implicitly throughout the program. Preliminary analysis of student outcomes indicated that, over the course of the program, students’ ratings of the importance of nature and science experiences and outcomes increased, along with their confidence implementing environmental-education activities.     

Is drawing after learning effective for metacognitive monitoring only when supported by spatial scaffolds?

Instructional Science - In this study, we investigated whether drawing after learning supports metacognitive monitoring especially when students are supported in their drawing efforts. Therefore,...     

Same As It Ever Was: The Nexus of Race,Ability, and Place in One Urban School District

Lack of access to general education for students with disabilities, particularly students with extensive support needs, students of color, and students from low-income households, reflects continued educational inequities for multiply marginalized students. Here, we present findings of a geospatial analysis of the intersections of race, socioeconomic status, disability labels, and levels of inclusion for students with disabilities in an urban school district, serving primarily students of color. Findings show trends in segregated placements mirroring historical redlining practices, suggesting the persistence of racial segregation that is enacted systematically and systemically via special education placements, disability categories, and geography. Results suggest the need to examine student-level placement data in the context of race, class, disability label, and space to identify and address inequities in access to inclusive schooling.     

Letter knowledge precipitates phoneme segmentation,but not phoneme invariance

There is a wealth of evidence linking letter knowledge and phoneme awareness, but there is little research examining the nature of this relationship. This article aims to elucidate this relationship by considering the links between letter knowledge and two sub‐skills of phoneme awareness: phoneme segmentation and phoneme invariance. Two studies are reported. The first study consisted of an eight‐month longitudinal study with 56 pre‐literate children. No child within this group was successful on any phoneme awareness task unless they knew at least one letter. Letter knowledge was also a significant predictor of later phoneme completion and deletion. The hypothesis that letter knowledge is an important precursor for phoneme awareness was then investigated in a small‐scale intervention study with ten children. These children were taught letters and their phoneme awareness was monitored. It was found that letter knowledge was specifically related to the development of phoneme segmentation in pre‐literate children. Possible reasons for this finding are discussed.     

Sozialverhalten und Schulleistungen

Prior research indicates that social behavior contributes to school achievement. The underlying mechanisms, however, have received little research attention to date. To investigate peer acceptance as mediating the influences of prosocial and antisocial behavior on school grades, this prospective study draws on 2387 ninth graders. All students in a class rated their peers in terms of prosocial and antisocial behavior, class teachers rated their students’ peer acceptance in class, and grades in German and mathematics were collected from students’ report cards. Prior report card grades, gender and socioeconomic status were controlled for. Structural equation modeling shows direct positive paths between prosocial behavior and both peer acceptance and grades; antisocial behavior negatively predicted both peer acceptance and grades. Prosocial behavior contributed to better grades via higher peer acceptance, whereas concerning antisocial behavior, the mediating effect was statistically not significant. Results are discussed with regard to their practical relevance and implications for future research.     

On the relationship between regulatory focus and response bias in multiple-choice exams

Regulatory focus is a strong predictor for a person’s behaviour in signal detection tasks. While a promotion focus is related to a risky response strategy (hits, false alarms), a prevention focus is associated with a conservative strategy (correct rejections, misses). The present research is based on the assumption that multiple-choice (MC) examinations represent typical signal-detection situations. It includes six studies that examined the effect of students’ regulatory focus on their test-taking response bias in MC items with a multiple true–false format. Altogether, the results support the hypothesized association between promotion focus and the tendency to make errors of commissions (rather than omissions), and conditioned evidence for the hypothesized association between promotion focus and the tendency to confirm (rather than negate) test items. Findings concerning prevention focus were heterogeneous. In sum, this research extends the generalizability of the predictions from regulatory focus theory to the context of MC examinations.     

Child Care Subsidy and Quality

This study compared the quality of child care programs serving children receiving government subsidies to those not serving such children. Thirty-four classrooms in full day programs serving preschool aged children (19 subsidized, 15 unsubsidized) were observed using the Early Childhood Environment Rating Scales-Revised (ECERS-R). (1) Research Findings: One way ANOVA indicated that programs not serving children receiving subsidies were rated higher on overall quality, language and reasoning, learning activities, and social interactions. Teacher salary was significantly correlated with overall quality, and after controlling for teacher salary, subsidy density did not uniquely predict variance in overall quality. (2) Policy Implications: Overall low quality indicates a need for a quality improvement initiative using proven methods. Minimum guidelines for quality beyond state licensing standards should be used to ensure that children in subsidized programs are receiving adequate care and to oversee state and federal investments in early childhood education.     

“Math Is What I Love. I Think If I Got Anything from Community College,It’s the Beauty of Math.”: Promoting Mathematics Teacher Education Through Community College Outreach

Deficient publicity challenged participants when selecting community college for postsecondary education and identifying secondary mathematics teaching as a career. Secondary mathematics teaching career promotion by the community college out in the local community and on the community college campuses was found to be nonexistent but necessary to increase the teacher-of-color pool. The purpose of this case study was to understand the role community colleges played in preparing current Washington State secondary mathematics teachers of color. Teachers-of-color voices were evaluated through Critical Race Theory, and recommendations were developed to support and counter identified oppressive structures: A future secondary mathematics teacher community outreach club would engage the community by (a) developing partnerships with local K–12 schools to increase teaching career exploration, (b) exploring feasibility of Math in the Community, and (c) promoting the community college as A College FOR the Community with outreach mathematics application courses taught in nonschool-based community venues.     

Returning to Teaching: the career breaks and returns of married women primary headteachers

The term ‘broken career’ is used to describe the most common work pattern for married women teachers. The break in teaching service involves leaving teaching for a period, usually in order to have and to care for young children, and then returning to teaching when family responsibilities seem to permit. The article considers what were the significant features in the timing, the length and the type of the breaks in teaching service of a sample of married women who were primary and infant headteachers. The manner of the returns, is examined, in particular how the returns came about, and this indicates the importance of personal contacts and informal networks in bringing women back into primary teaching. Finally the article considers the inadequacy of the term ‘broken’ or ‘interrupted’ career to describe or explain the experiences of these women.