Student-Produced Action Research in Early Childhood Teacher Education

This article describes how preservice teachers accomplish and write up action research projects as part of their teacher preparation at one university in the United States. The paper is divided into four major sections. In the first section, the instructor describes how teacher research is introduced to teacher education students and how they are guided through the processes of conceptualizing, doing, and writing up their projects. The next two sections are the stories of two 1st-year teachers who describe and reflect on what they learned from completing action research projects under the direction of the instructor. The concluding section offers generalizations that synthesize lessons learned by the authors.     

A Field Test for Upper Body Strength and Endurance

Abstract

Historically, a measure of upper body strength and endurance has been included in fitness test batteries that are typically administered in the school setting. Pull-ups, or some modified form of pull-ups, have been the most popular test item used for the measurement of upper body strength and endurance. Despite the widespread usage of pull-ups, the test has often been criticized because of the large number of zero scores and the subsequent loss of discrimination among ability levels (Jackson & Griffin, 1983). The inability to achieve a score is perceived as failure on the part of the student.     

Relationship between household literacy and educational engagement: Analysis of data from Rajkot district, India

Household engagement in a child??s education is a complex process; depending on the culture and the context, it may be revealed through a variety of behaviours. Using data from one district in rural Gujarat, India, four indicators of a household??s educational engagement were employed to investigate the relationship between household literacy levels and the household??s engagement in the education of its child members. The findings on educational engagement were also compared across households with different wealth and income levels. Uniformly, indicators of household literacy levels were found to be more important in understanding a household??s educational engagement than a household??s wealth and income levels.     

The importance of the personal element in collaborative research

This account draws on the experience of five final-year students of human communication and one tutor from the Manchester Metropolitan University who conducted collaborative research into life stages. The research was personally developmental for all those involved and resulted in an increased sense of personal power. The authors discuss the use of their personal development as a research tool, using the models of cooperative inquiry and heuristic inquiry. Ultimately, they consider how their ‘therapeutic’ process can be termed ‘research’, and how their approach can be utilised in research that is personally and socially educational.     

Making a difference: using action research to explore our educational practice

This paper describes and discusses an action research collaboration between a multi-disciplinary team of practice educators, a practice development nurse and a university lecturer in order to explore, evaluate and improve a dementia care training package developed for a range of staff providing care for people with dementia. Whilst it is recognised that the findings of this small evaluation study are only of local interest, we believe the approach we took to be of general use for other teams of practice educators as a way of exploring and evaluating their own practice. This paper will therefore focus mostly on the philosophy, methodology and conduct of the study, including our own reflections and learning as novice action researchers.     

That’s so homophobic? Australian young people’s perspectives on homophobic language use in secondary schools

Abstract

It is generally accepted that hearing homophobic language can be detrimental to the well-being of same-sex attracted young people. Writing Themselves In 3, a survey of Australian same-sex attracted young people, found that almost half of the respondents reported hearing such language on a regular basis, and considered it offensive. Less is known however about heterosexual young people’s experiences. Homophobic language use is often assumed to be motivated by prejudice, but this topic has not been well studied. Using interviews and an online discussion with young people aged 16–21 years, this study explored heterosexual young people’s perspectives on homophobic language use at school. Contrary to the framing often used in anti-homophobia education, the meaning of this form of language was seen to largely depend on the context in which it was employed, frequently functioning to reinforce masculine gender norms, particularly for popular male students. Furthermore, while many heterosexual participants in this study used homophobic language regularly, they did not see themselves as homophobic and viewed school policies against the use of homophobic language as largely ineffective. Findings suggest that heterosexual young people may respond more favourably to anti-homophobia education if these programmes acknowledge the variety of meanings and functions of language commonly understood to be homophobic in character.     

Canadian contexts in educational leadership: a hermeneutic approach to distributed leadership for teachers’ professional learning

Educational leadership in Canada has traditionally been conceptualized as a solo activity. However, in recent years, there has been a growing interest in the distributed character of leadership. Like any other theory or concept, distributed leadership has attracted praise as well as criticism. In this chapter, we conceptualize distributed leadership as concerted actions that happen in everyday practices in schools and through relationships among various partners such as principals/heads and teachers. The chapter is divided into four sections. In Section 1, we trace historical and theoretical antecedents of distributed leadership in general with respect to questions of representation, legitimation and praxis, with specific references to social impetuses. Section 2 considers Canadian educational contexts in terms of current conditions and trends in distributed leadership. The third section deals with the global perspective in terms of social, political and aesthetic forces. The fourth section speculates upon the future of distributed leadership in terms of utopian/dystopian possibilities. In this final section, we experiment with what philosophical hermeneutics may offer to a re-conceptualization of distributed leadership. Through Gadamer’s notion of praxis, we discuss concerted action of distributed leadership. We highlight the importance of this form of leadership in an era of unprecedented global interconnectedness, and how it may facilitate teachers’ professional learning and development.     

Gender Differences in Children's Throwing Performance: Biology and Environment

Abstract

This study evaluated the influence of biological and environmental variables on the differences between the throwing performance of 5-year-old girls and boys. A total of 100 children (48 girls, 52 boys) were tested on throwing for distance and rated on two components of throwing form—trunk rotation, and foot action. Children were evaluated on eight biological characteristics—height, weight, body mass index, ponderal index, sum of four skinfolds, body diameters, arm and leg girths, and somatotypes—and four environmental characteristics—older brother, older sister, presence of adult male, and playing with older children. Results indicated that boys threw farther than girls and exhibited more mature form. Boys had greater joint diameters than girls, a smaller sum of four skinfolds, and more estimated arm muscle. Boys were more likely to play regularly with older children. Girls' throwing performance was only 57% that of boys, but when throwing was adjusted for a linear composite of biological variables, girls' throwing performance increased to 69% of boys'. Thus, while the differences in most motor performance tasks between boys and girls prior to puberty have been attributed to environmental factors, some of the differences in throwing performance appears to reflect biological characteristics, even as early as 5 years of age.