Building Bridges in Early Literacy

This paper reports on a case study of two teachers teaching reading in the child's first year of school. The researcher analysed the largely spontaneous, literacy related responses made by teachers to children and the comments these teachers made about their thoughts and actions in interviews after the teaching sessions. Very little direct teaching was observed and teachers seemed to be reacting more often than working in a proactive way. This has been termed ‘crisis management’ by some, but it is argued here that this ‘reaction’ was, in reality, purposeful interaction.

These teachers worked at building bridges between children's experience and their literacy learning. Analysis of the interactions suggested ways in which teachers may adopt procedures that go some way towards compensating for the differences between home and school learning. The writer argues that demands for an organisational structure that reduces individualisation could be counter‐productive for the youngest children in school.     

The Use and Impact of Explicit Instruction about the Nature of Science and Science Inquiry in an Elementary Science Methods Course

Teachers' understanding of the nature of science(NOS) and science inquiry (SI) can be linked to the use of the teaching methods advocated by the currentscience education reforms. The purpose of this study was to describe and evaluate an elementary science methodscourse in which the NOS and SI are embedded and explicitly taught. As a result of the course, incomingconceptions of science as primarily a body of knowledge changed to a more appropriate, blended view of science as abody of knowledge generated through the active application of scientific inquiry.     

Learning from students,inquiry into practice,and participation in professional communities: Beginning teachers' uneven progress toward equitable science teaching

In this research project, we investigated two beginning secondary science teachers' efforts to learn to teach science in ways that build from and celebrate the ethnic, gender, linguistic, and academic diversity of their students. To do so, we followed Troy and Brian from their preservice teacher education experiences through their first year of teaching 8th grade physical science at local junior high schools. We also conducted a follow‐up observation and interview with each participant after he had moved past the beginning stage of survival in the teaching profession—once in his fourth year of public school science teaching. Through qualitative analysis of interviews, classroom observations, and teachers' written work, we identified patterns and explored commonalities and differences in Troy and Brian's views and practices tied to equity over time. In particular, we examined successes and challenges they encountered in learning to teach science for all (a) from their students, (b) from inquiry into practice, and (c) from participation in professional communities. In our implications, we suggest ways teacher educators and induction professionals can better support beginning teachers in learning to teach science to all students. In particular, we highlight the central roles both individual colleagues and collective school cultures play in aiding or impeding beginning teachers' efforts to learn from students, from practice, and from professional communities. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 44: 586–612, 2007.     

Case study: what supports students to improve their grades?

Abstract

This case study considers students who achieved ‘borderline’ (40–45%) grades in their first assignment on a module, but went on to markedly improve their grades over the course of the module. The students were studying nursing and social work at the UK Open University, and they were all sponsored by employers. Semi-structured telephone interviews were used to explore the experiences of the students, including the way in which they reacted to assessment feedback and how this contributed to their learning and development. Other themes that emerged from the study include the emotions experienced by the students, sometimes challenging their self-confidence and evoking feelings associated with emotional vulnerability, and the tendency for students to initially approach assessment independently, but later to create and take advantage of opportunities for social learning. The role of the tutor in helping students to prepare for assessment appears to be significant, as does the fact that students are sponsored by their employers, which provides an additional incentive to complete the module.     

Providing Opportunities to Learn in Home-Based Child Care Settings: Observations of Learning Contexts and Behavior

ABSTRACT

Research Findings: This observation study investigated the prevalence and correlates of learning contexts provided to preschool-age children in 133 registered child care homes in below-average-income neighborhoods in the U.S. Pacific Northwest. On average, 30% of the observed proportion of time was spent in structured teacher-led activities, 51% in free-choice activities, 10% in routine activities, 1% in watching video/TV, and 7% in transition. Home-based child care providers gave significantly more positive recognition during structured teacher-led activities, and children engaged in more prosocial behavior during free-choice time. Directives and noncompliance occurred more often during transitions. A higher child-to-caregiver ratio was associated with more time spent in free-choice time, and caregiver experience and education were not associated with the time spent in specific learning contexts. Practice or Policy: Similar to preschool and center-based child care, current practice in home-based child care is to offer a mix of structured teacher-led and free-choice activities. To facilitate young children’s skill development within these learning activities typically offered, it is necessary to increase research and provide empirically based professional development opportunities relevant to home-based child care settings. Attention to home-based child care will likely reach many young children and be particularly beneficial for those in low-income households.     

How Much Does a Shared Name Make Things Similar? Linguistic Labels, Similarity, and the Development of Inductive Inference

This article examines the development of inductive generalization, and presents a model of young children's induction and two experiments testing the model. The model specifies contribution of linguistic labels and perceptual similarity to young children's induction and predicts a correspondence between similarity judgment and induction of young children. In Experiment 1, 4- to 5-year-olds, 7- to 8-year-olds, and 11- to 12-year-olds were presented with triads of schematic faces (a Target and two Test stimuli), which varied in perceptual similarity, with one of the Test stimuli sharing a linguistic label with the Target, and another having a different label. Participants were taught an unobservable biological property about the Target and asked to generalize the property to one of the Test stimuli. Although 4- to 5-year-olds' proportions of label-based inductive generalizations varied with the degree of perceptual similarity among the compared stimuli, 11- to 12-year-olds relied exclusively on labels, and 7- to 8-year-olds appeared to be a transitional group. In Experiment 2 these findings were replicated using naturalistic stimuli (i.e., photographs of animals), with perceptual similarity manipulated by "morphing" naturalistic pictures into each other in a fixed number of steps. Overall results support predictions of the model and point to a developmental shift from treating linguistic labels as an attribute contributing to similarity to treating them as markers of a common category-a shift that appears to occur between 8 and 11 years of age.     

Hostility ratings by parents at risk for child abuse: impact of chronic and temporary schema activation

OBJECTIVE: Two studies examined whether accessibility of hostility-related schema influenced ratings of ambiguous child pictures. Based on the social information processing model of child physical abuse (CPA), it was expected that CPA risk status would serve as a proxy for chronic accessibility of hostile schema, while priming procedures were used to manipulate temporary accessibility of hostility-related schema. METHODS: Participants included 108 parents (79 low and 29 high CPA risk) in Experiment 1 and 88 parents (43 low and 45 high CPA risk) in Experiment 2. Parents were randomly assigned to either hostile or neutral priming conditions. Following the priming procedures, all parents rated pictures that depicted children who appeared ambiguous with regard to the extent to which they were being hostile/cooperative. RESULTS: In both experiments, high, compared to low, CPA risk parents rated the ambiguous child pictures as more hostile. Further, both supraliminal (Experiment 1) and subliminal (Experiment 2) exposure to hostility-related words independently increased hostility ratings. In both experiments, the influence of chronic and temporary activation of hostile schema was additive and not interactive. CONCLUSION: Findings from these experiments are consistent with the proposition that high CPA risk parents are more likely to infer hostility in response to ambiguous child cues. Further, accessibility of hostility-related schema in parents increases the likelihood of hostile inferences, which in turn may increase attributions of hostile intent and aggressive parenting behaviors.     

Morning and afternoon nursery sessions: can they be equally effective in giving children a positive start to school?

This paper analyses the effects of gender, attendance period and age on children's adjustment to nursery classes as measured by the teachers using the Child at School Schedule. The sample consisted of 820 children in sixteen nursery classes attached to primary schools in one Local Education Authority. Within the sample three age groups were distinguished: Oldest (4:3 — 4: 8 years); Middles (3:9 — 4:2: years); Youngest (3:1 — 3:8 years). The results of a three‐way analysis of variance showed that boys and afternoon attenders were perceived to be less well‐adjusted to school than girls and morning attenders (at 1% level). In addition, the oldest children were perceived as better adjusted than younger ones: with the exception of three items the youngest were perceived as the least well adjusted. Strategies to help boys and afternoon attenders to experience as positive a start to nursery education as girls and morning attenders are discussed. The key role of the adults in helping children to develop personal and social skills is highlighted as is the need for home/school partnership. The implications of gender for play and classroom organisation are also considered.