Adaptation in the transition to school: perspectives of parents,preschool and primary school teachers

Background: Transition to school is a highly demanding phase at an intellectual, social and emotional level and is, therefore, an opportunity for growth and development. Despite the greater emphasis given to school transition in Portugal over recent years, namely by means of new educational policies, studies on the adaptation processes involved in the transition to primary school are still scarce.

Purpose: The present qualitative study sets out to contribute to the knowledge on the adaptation process of children to school transition (around age 6) in Portugal, by comparing preschool teachers’, primary school teachers’, and parents’ perceptions about success indicators and relevant factors in the transition to school.

Design and method: In order to collect data, 14 focus group interviews with different participants were conducted, three with preschool teachers (N = 18), three with primary school teachers (N = 13), four with parents conducted before the child’s transition to primary school (N = 14) and four with parents conducted after the child’s transition to primary school (N = 20).

Results: While the preschool and primary school teachers stressed factors of a family nature, such as parental involvement and parental support of children, the parents referred more frequently to the overall running of the school and the characteristics and methodology of the teacher as being relevant to the adaptation process in the first year of primary education.

Conclusions: The findings suggest different factors associated with adaptation to school and also offer clues for designing strategies to facilitate such adaptation. New strategies are needed to facilitate the construction of a robust educational family–school partnership.     

How do college students solve proportion problems?

Problems which could be solved using proportional reasoning were administered nationwide by college faculty to their own science classes during a three year period. The reasoning of more than 8000 students covering three sections of the country was classified as concrete, transitional, or formal using Piagetian categories. Data from the West closely replicated that from the Midwest on similar metric conversion tasks. Student performance changed noticeably with a different problem format. The percentages of students using a ratio formula, ratio attempt, or intuitive methods of solution held approximately constant over time, task, and section of the country. The data shows the use of additive and conversion methods of solution depends upon the problem presentation.     

Trajectories of early childhood family instability and the development of externalizing behaviors from middle childhood to adolescence: A prospective study of at-risk families

This study examined associations between trajectories of family instability across early childhood and trajectories of externalizing behaviors from middle childhood to adolescence. Growth mixture models were fit to annual caregiver reports of instability from child ages 2–5 (N = 731; 49% girls, 50% White). A curve of factors model was fit to externalizing behaviors from child ages 7.5–14. Chronic, elevated instability across early childhood predicted elevated externalizing behaviors from middle childhood to adolescence. Data collection spanned from 2002 to 2017. Increasing or declining levels of instability predicted elevated externalizing behaviors in middle to late childhood, but not in adolescence. Caregiver depressive symptoms mediated the association between instability and the externalizing behavior intercept. Intervening on chronic instability may reduce child externalizing problems.     

Changing the narrative in schools: Addressing systemic barriers and stereotypes that prevent gender and sexual diverse youth from thriving

Schools are no different than other political and cultural institutions that have at their foundations assumptions and policies based on stereotypes, hegemonic masculinity, binary notions of gender, and heteronormativity. When these foundations are questioned or challenged, resistance and disruption can occur. While there is evidence of greater acceptance of gender and sexual diversity (GSD) in schools, school professionals are often called upon to address the needs of GSD youth, as school environments may contain systemic barriers that prevent these youth from thriving. Addressing the needs of GSD youth can be complicated by other intersecting identities including race, religion, culture, disability, immigration status, and so forth. This special issue of PITS explores gender and sexual diversity, LGBTQ+identity, and the intersectionality of GSD with other identities that have historically struggled with marginalization and bias. An advocacy stance is proposed that focuses on the unique strengths and resilience of GSD youth to change the narrative from one of clinicalization of GSD youth to one of adaptability and empowerment. The articles in this special issue focus on barriers at multiple levels that impact GSD youth, from systemic barriers in educational contexts to those in the classroom, curriculum, extracurricular activities, and sports. Changing the narrative of GSD youth means focusing on stories of youth empowerment, advocacy, and healthy GSD development, while simultaneously challenging and dismantling the oppressive systems of heterosexism, cissexism, sexism, and racism, among others, that perpetuate unequal educational environments for minoritized student populations.     

Race-Based Differential Prediction in Air Force Technical Training Programs

Bayesian Johnson-Neyman methodology was used to investigate differential prediction by race in United States Air Force technical training programs. Meaningful Johnson-Neyman regions of differences were found in eight of nine comparisons. In all nine training courses the regressions for blacks were flatter than for whites and the race-differentiated regression lines intersected within the range of predictor test scores. In six cases the cut-score for course qualification was within the Johnson-Neyman region, and in every case the bias was negative for blacks. It is noted that if the cut score had been set substantially higher the bias would have been positive for blacks in all cases. This analysis may explain why earlier studies that averaged bias across the predictor distribution yielded mixed results. It is hypothesized that the consistent results obtained here are a consequence of the lower predictability found in the black subpopulation.     

Does Part-Time Faculty's Self-Efficacy Predict Critical Dimensions of Online College Teaching?

Surveys have repeatedly depicted a dismal picture of part-time teaching in academia, including low pay, scant benefits, limited institutional support, and lack of job security. Thus, the main purpose of the present study was to delve deeper into part-time faculty's ability to sustain the demands of a tough work environment by examining the extent to which specific psychological characteristics predict key self-reported dimensions of teaching in such faculty. The sample selected comprised part-time online instructors, as they are a relatively new and growing entity in academia. Teaching dimensions upon which faculty rated themselves belonged to three categories of factors known to shape satisfaction of faculty in the online environment (i.e., instructor-related, student-related, and institution-related). They included current satisfaction with the teaching profession, preparation to teach subject matter, responsibility for students' academic success, beliefs in the impact of one's teaching on student learning, perceived institutional support, and desire to remain in the teaching profession (i.e., commitment). Psychological characteristics examined were self-efficacy and self-monitoring. In this study, each key dimension of teaching was found to be positively related to one or more self-efficacy measures, whereas no links with self-monitoring were uncovered. The findings involving self-efficacy confirm those of studies of full-time faculty in that beliefs of one's capability are a source of resilience and, as such, a staple of the teaching profession.     

Inter-Life: a novel,three-dimensional,virtual learning environment for life transition skills learning

This paper presents the findings from one of the first empirical research studies which has investigated the impact of Inter-Life; a novel three-dimensional immersive virtual learning environment, on learning and development of social and educational life transition skills in a group of looked after and accommodated children. Drawing on social constructivism in which meaningful learning is related to context and situated in practice, we report on a series of Inter-Life workshops that enabled young people to work together and through the processes of participation in authentic learning activities contributed to the development of life transition skills such as self-confidence, empathy, negotiation and mediation skills, teamwork and active problem-solving skills. The novel affordances of the Inter-Life virtual world which contributed to the development of the learning community included the ability to personalise learner engagement and activities from the outset along with ‘co-presence’ and ‘immersion’ and the flexibility provided by the innovative, technology-enhanced Inter-Life platform. This study presents some empirical evidence to demonstrate the efficacy of new models of learning that are mediated by innovative malleable technologies that can be shaped by the learner in a participatory manner.     

Writing4practice in engineering courses: Implementation and assessment approaches

In this article, we analyze a two‐semester effort to integrate writing instruction into a multi‐disciplinary sophomore engineering design course in Northern Arizona University's College of Engineering and Technology. Specifically, we describe the programmatic implementation and assessment approach to evaluate whether student writing improved over the course of the semester. After discussing the reasons for taking a writing‐intensive approach to engineering, we analyze the results of a pre‐and post‐test administered over the span of an academic semester. Although the outcome of our assessment did not show significant improvement, we argue that writing instruction is important for increasing students’ overall learning skills. We conclude by pointing out several benefits and disadvantages of trying to assess writing improvement over two one‐semester periods.     

Student Apathy

In this article, we examine a new global studies program that departs from the traditional state-centric approach and uses a geocentric, or earth-centered, approach that emphasizes the roles of individuals, grassroots organizations, cultural groups, and international organizations in an attempt to help students conceptualize global events and their role in the world as interrelated and interdependent. We describe the process of program development, the program itself, and the challenges of program approval.