Patterns in children's ability to recall explicit,implicit and metaphorical information

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of grade level and recall task type on children's memory for explicit, implicit and metaphorical information following reading. Forty second and 40 fifth grade subjects balanced as to gender read four prose passages and were randomly assigned to cued and free recall conditions. A MANOVA produced significant main effects for grade level and task type on each of three dependent variables; EXPLICIT, IMPLICIT and METAPHOR recall measures. As predicted, fifth graders fared better than second graders and the cued condition exceeded free recall. Of greater significance was the finding that second graders were able to engage in metaphorical reasoning when the task was appropriately structured. The results suggest that providing externally generated, structured probes can greatly enhance children's reading recall at both grade levels and can enable children to demonstrate metaphorical comprehension prior to the age at which it spontaneously appears. In addition, significantly different patterns of recalled information were found within the two task conditions, patterns that remained stable across age groups.     

Dignifying the educational process through conscientização

Teaching is a very complex endeavor. Embedded within this complex environment are issues of power, culture, ethnicity, and race. When teachers and students come together, in the classroom, some of these issues become visible and others remain invisible. Attempting to make influences on teaching and learning visible is one of the steps toward developing a practice framed by conscientização. Ms. Cook, the teacher of this story, is empowering herself and her students; through critical reflection that serves to deneutralize educational acts by recognizing they are embedded in issues of culture, ethnicity, politics, power, and, race. Classroom based research must be more inclusive and indeed cognizant of the mediating macrostructures that teachers deal with everyday. For example, Goldberg and Muir Welsh describe some of the students as being Latinos. In doing so, they adopts a third person as opposed to a first person view of these students. A first person view can acknowledge a dialectical relationship between race and ethnicity.     

‘They call me headmaster’: Malawian and Australian women leaders

This article explores commonalities in the lives and work of women head teachers in Malawian secondary schools and women principals in Australian Lutheran schools. In both Australia and Malawi women are under-represented in school leadership and often appointed to complex schools and communities. We commence with a brief discussion of Malawi and Australia’s political and educational histories which have much in common, before outlining current selection policies for school leadership. The second part of the article explores women leaders’ initial and ongoing challenges in relation to their school systems, daily work and domestic lives. The final section focuses on their perspectives of current strategies to address women’s under-representation as leaders in their respective school systems. Notwithstanding the stark contrast in socio-economic contexts, we highlight enduring transnational inequalities in women leaders’ lives and work in Malawian secondary and Australian Lutheran schools.     

Fluid ingestion and exercise hyperthermia: Implications for performance,thermoregulation, metabolism and the development of fatigue

The development of fatigue during exercise and the subsequent onset of exhaustion occur earlier in the heat than in cooler environments. The underlying mechanisms responsible for the premature development of fatigue in the heat have yet to be clearly identified. However, the proposed mechanisms include metabolic, cardiovascular and central nervous system perturbations, together with an elevated core temperature. Fluid ingestion is one of three strategies that have been shown to be successful in enhancing the performance of endurance exercise in the heat, with the other interventions being precooling and acclimatization. However, like the development of fatigue in the heat, the mechanisms by which fluid ingestion allows for improved exercise performance remain unclear. We propose that fluid ingestion enhances exercise performance in the heat by increasing the heat storage capacity of the body. We suggest that the thermoregulatory, metabolic and cardiovascular alterations that occur as a result of this increased heat storage capacity contribute to performance enhancement when fluid is ingested during exercise heat stress.     

Factors contributing to mathematical problem-solving performance: An exploratory study

This paper describes differences in mathematical problem-solving performance of third-grade gifted and fifth-grade average students observed during an eight week period. Results indicated that such factors as attitude, motivation, and belief systems were important to performance. In addition there were major differences in problem-solving behavior between the girls and boys in this study. Because these results were incidental to the original questions of the study (Buchanan, 1984), they were deemed especially significant. Four groups, one of third-grade gifted boys, one of third-grade gifted girls, one of average boys and one of fifth-grade average girls met with the experimenter twice a week for eight weeks to solve a variety of mathematical problems. In the global analysis of video tapes of all sessions and post hoc statistical analysis of selected quantifiable variables, differences in problem-solving performance were best described in terms of motivation, beliefs about mathematics, problem-solving strategies, and means of achieving satisfaction. In addition, the girls' groups were more ego-involved and social; they completed fewer problems and had longer solution times than the boys' groups. Further holistic research is needed to describe the complex interaction that occurs during mathematical problem solving in group situations. Then, appropriate intervention might be designed to assure that both boys and girls have an opportunity to perform at optimum levels.     

Personal and Institutional Influences on Beginning Teachers’ Classroom Management Perspectives

The current investigation focused upon the changing perspectives of four young student teachers in their transition from university to secondary schools. Use was made of an interpretive inquiry method, including employing interviews and classroom observations for data collection.     

Student/Faculty Connections in the Development of Teaching

This project directly involved students in two different models of instructional development. The first model was a Student Consultant program in which faculty selected from a menu of instructional services carried out by students. Typical services included attending class as impartial observers, soliciting feedback from other students on their learning experiences, videotaping class sessions, and evaluating course Web sites. The second model of instructional development was a program of student‐assisted teaching seminars for college faculty. Student Associates helped serve as panelists and facilitators. Assessments of attitudes toward teaching indicated that faculty members viewed both professors and students as collaborators in the classroom as a result of the seminar series.