Relations between intelligence and the development of metaconceptual knowledge

Across two studies, we developed and tested a declarative metacognitive interview to investigate the effects of developmental level and verbal intelligence on children's metaconceptual understanding of processes related to concept use and object categorization. Metaconceptual knowledge developed throughout elementary school, with near ceiling scores for adults. IQ scores correlated positively with metaconceptual interview scores for all groups of children. Study 2 confirmed a relationship between scores on the metaconceptual interview and performance on a Twenty Questions task for which strategic performance was presumed to depend on such knowledge, though metaconceptual knowledge was most important when IQ was lower. Implications for theory development and hypotheses about how metaconceptual knowledge develops are discussed.     

DEWEYAN DEMOCRACY IN A GLOBALIZED WORLD

Drawing primarily on the work of John Dewey, Kathy Hytten argues that rethinking democracy can help us to respond more productively to the challenges of globalization. Dewey maintained that democracy is much more than a political system; instead it is a personal way of life, a mode of associated living, and a moral ideal. Yet this is not the vision of democracy prevalent today, especially within the rhetoric of globalization. Hytten begins by describing some of the challenges of globalization. She then shows how Dewey faced similar challenges, discussing why Dewey's ideas are still relevant. Hytten goes on to trace how Dewey's conception of democracy can help us to think differently about these challenges. She concludes by arguing that Dewey offers us some valuable democratic habits, dispositions, and visions that remain important resources in building a pluralistic, socially just, inclusive, and enriching community within our globalized world.     

The emergence of reading literacy in post-primary teacher education: from the background to the foreground

While recognising the fact that historically teacher education and adolescent literacy are two fields that have had limited intellectual contact, the development of reading literacy is increasingly now accepted internationally as a core responsibility of all teachers and teacher educators. Adopting a socio-cultural perspective, this paper, drawn from the Learning to Teach Study, focused on the beliefs, knowledge and experiences regarding reading literacy of Irish post-primary student teachers on one initial teacher education (ITE) programme. The data were collected through three interviews with each of 17 student teachers. Results suggest that the surveyed student teachers had some concerns about their own literacy, had narrow conceptions of literacy, tended not to see it as their responsibility, held a minimal threshold view of literacy and viewed new digital technologies as a resource and motivator for their students’ literacy learning. Results are discussed in terms of how student teachers’ knowledge of literacy in ITE programmes could be reframed, extended and deepened.