Enhancing thinking skills in early childhood

A case study approach was adopted to investigate two thinking skills programmes for a maximum variation sample of five- to six-year-olds in four schools, in two local authorities (LAs), in England and Wales, using multiple methods. School staff interviewed felt that thinking skills programmes enhanced critical thinking skills and improved use of language, attentive listening, social cooperation, confidence and independence. Welsh staff indicated that the programmes had a whole-school impact, reflecting national policy, intensive training, coaching and monitoring and leading to transfer to other lessons, such as mathematics. Without a national curriculum mandate, the English thinking-skills practice was vulnerable to disruption and lack of continuity. Observation showed that teachers' delivery varied in open questioning and challenge, group work and pupil talk. Pupils' verbal reasoning and numerical attainments showed modest evidence of change and development. Conditions supporting change and sustainability included: national policy with thinking skills at its core; high-quality professional development and a whole-school approach; coaching with systematic observation and feedback. This promoted changes in leadership, trust and collaboration, structures of interaction between policy and LA, head teacher, teachers and children.     

Eye‐rollers,risk‐takers,and turn sharks: Target students in a professional science education program

In classrooms from kindergarten to graduate school, researchers have identified target students as students who monopolize material and human resources. Classroom structures that privilege the voice and actions of target students can cause divisive social dynamics that may generate cliques. This study focuses on the emergence of target students, the formation of cliques, and professors' efforts to mediate teacher learning in a Master of Science in Chemistry Education (MSCE) program by structuring the classroom environment to enhance nontarget students' agency. Specifically, we sought to answer the following question: What strategies could help college science professors enact more equitable teaching structures in their classrooms so that target students and cliques become less of an issue in classroom interactions? The implications for professional education programs in science and mathematics include the need for professors to consider the role and contribution of target students to the learning environment, the need to structure an equitable learning environment, and the need to foster critical reflection upon classroom interactions between students and instructors. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 43: 819–851, 2006     

Talking (fe)male: examining the gendered discourses of preservice teachers

Through the use of feminist poststructural discourse analysis (Baxter 2003 Baxter, J. 2003. Positioning Gender in Discourse: A Feminist Methodology. New York, NY: Palgrave MacMillan.[Crossref] , [Google Scholar]), the author examines the gendered discourses created and reified by a group of preservice secondary social studies teachers (n?=?25). Because gender is socially constructed, it is important for future teachers to examine their own gendered identities in order for them to be able to see how they contribute to the greater society. Findings reveal discourses of ‘having it all', ‘being a superwoman', ‘female struggle', and ‘gender not playing a key role in culture’ being advanced by both male and female identified individuals. Intersections of race and social class with gender added to the complexity of the different discourses. Implications for teacher education are discussed.     

Friendships, Peer Acceptance, and Group Membership: Realtions to Academic Achievement in Middle School

Two samples of sixth-grade students were followed over time to examine relations of number of reciprocated friendships, peer acceptance, and group membership to academic achievement. In both samples, group membership was the most consistent predictor of grades over time. In study 2, prosocial behavior, antisocial behavior, and emotional distress were examined as processes that might explain these significant links between peer relationships and academic achievement. Results of longitudinal analyses support a conclusion that aspects of peer relationships are related to classroom achievement indirectly, by way of significant relations with prosocial behavior. Future research might benefit from more in-depth analyses of the functions of adolescent peer relationships and the processes by which they influence orientations toward social and academic competence at school.     

Building a Social Compact for Preserving E-Journals

In the shift of scholarly publishing from the print environment to online, the preservation of the scholarly record has become more complex, difficult, and uncertain. Current efforts are not adequate. Core criteria and certification processes have been developed for digital preservation repositories. Broad library support is crucial to the sustainability of third-party preservation archives. Publisher participation in third-party archives has grown, but coverage is incomplete and uneven, leaving some categories of materials well-covered and others vulnerable. Preservation programs need to coordinate their efforts and view themselves as collaborators rather than competitors. The task of preserving the digital scholarly record cannot fall to libraries alone—it requires a social compact among all involved parties.     

“I’m Demi and I Have Bipolar Disorder”: Effect of Parasocial Contact on Reducing Stigma Toward People With Bipolar Disorder

Examining celebrity influence, participants (N = 594) completed an experiment to see if negative stereotypes toward bipolar disorder could be reduced as a function of mode of disease disclosure from a celebrity (Demi Lovato) diagnosed with the condition. Respondents were randomly assigned to view one of three conditions where the celebrity discusses her battle with bipolar disorder (or a comparison message). Measures assessing parasocial relationship (PSR), level of parasocial interaction (PSI), transportation, social distance towards, and negative stereotypes about people with bipolar disorder were used. Social distance and negative stereotypes toward people with bipolar disorder reduced significantly following exposure to Demi Lovato’s disclosure about the disease via either TV/magazine interview. Implications of results for how celebrity disease disclosures may help reduce stigma toward bipolar condition are discussed.     

Functional Assessment to Predict Capacity for Work in a Population of School‐leavers with Disabilities

This study reports on an assessment system for school‐leavers with disabilities to identify their capacity for work and the type of transition‐to‐work programme best suited to each person. Participants were 1,556 high school students in four cohorts who left school between 1999 and 2002. Each school‐leaver was assessed by rehabilitation counsellors for functional ability and capacity for work. In a supplementary study, the 2002 cohort was assessed by special transition teachers using a short screening tool. The results demonstrate that there is a predictable hierarchy of functional acquisition among school‐leavers with disabilities and that the single best predictor of future capacity for work and need for transition‐to‐work programmes among this group of young people is the capacity to manage activities of daily living. The results also demonstrate that a short screen used by teachers, together with a behavioural assessment, is sufficient to stream school‐leavers with a disability into a range of transition‐to‐work programmes.     

Adolescents who witness community violence: can parent support and prosocial cognitions protect them from committing violence?

This longitudinal study investigated the effects of witnessing violence on committing violence among diverse urban middle school students (11-15 years old) over a 1-year period (N = 1,599). It examined parent support and prosocial cognitions as moderators that might interact with one another in buffering adolescents from the effects of witnessing violence. The study also explored gender and ethnicity differences across these protective processes. According to the results, both average and high levels of parent support may offer male adolescents who witness violence protection against committing subsequent acts of violence. Adolescent females who witness violence appear to be uniquely protected from committing acts of violence if they have highly prosocial cognitions. Applications to resilience and competency models are discussed.