Early Differentiation of Causal Mechanisms Appropriate to Biological and Nonbiological Kinds

Although Piaget characterized young children as precausal until about 7-8 years of age, recent work indicates that preschoolers do honor fundamental principles of causality. This literature has mainly focused on general principles invoked in reasoning about mechanical events. By contrast, the present study examined whether children differentiate between the causal mechanisms appropriate for different conceptual domains. The results of 3 preliminary investigations and 1 main experiment suggested that preschoolers prefer natural mechanisms for color inheritance in biological kinds, particularly when causal substrates resemble their consequences. By contrast, the same children recognized the importance of human intentions in producing the color of an artifact, and also judged that mechanical mechanisms serve to mediate between intentions and outcomes. The results are relevant to recent studies on the development of biological thought, and overall suggest that early causal reasoning reflects both domain-specific and domain-general principles.     

Sport as a site of transformative non-formal education: A South African action research project

One of the legacies of apartheid is a crisis in South African education. The existing formal structures of education cannot cope with the scale nor the nature of the educational needs of the vast majority of South Africa's population. This article explores the potential role that sports programmes can play in non-formal educational provision. Within an action research format, the research project utilized the apprenticeship model of social organization for the general development of 10-year old boys through the medium of the game of rugby. Results of the project show that the developmental benefits of participation in a well organized sports programme, generalize to the contexts of formal schooling, home, and broader community life.     

Systems Thinking and Ecosystemic Psychology

This paper outlines the systems aspects of ecosystemic psychology. The terms ‘system’ and ‘systemic’ have a wide range of meanings and the main purpose of the present paper is to clarify the way in which these terms are used in ecosystemics. A general review of systems theory is provided in order to identify those issues which are relevant to the present discussion. The paper shows that, although social constructionist views are relevant, hermeneu‐tic considerations are far more important in ecosystemic psychology.     

A learning model for science education: Deriving teaching strategies

A learning model for science education was proposed by Appleton (1989), based on Osborne and Wittrock’s generative learning theory (1983) and the Piagetian notions of disequilibrium, assimilation, and accommodation. The model incorporated many aspects of difficulties in learning science experienced by students, as revealed in the LISP projects and similar research. This paper examines how the model may be used to derive teaching strategies: components of the model are analysed in terms of specific types of teacher interventions which could facilitate students’ progress to accommodation. Some established teaching strategies are analysed in terms of these interventions. Specializations: primary teacher education, teaching strategies in science.     

Young Children's Understanding of a Biological Basis for Parent-Offspring Relations

2 experiments evaluated whether young children understand that kinship implies, but does not guarantee, physical resemblance among family members. In Experiment 1, preschoolers expected adopted babies to share physical properties, but not beliefs and preferences, with their biological parents rather than with their adoptive ones. However, preschoolers in Experiment 2 recognized that shared properties per se do not guarantee kinship: a baby who looks like and lives with a woman is not her biological baby if he or she initially grew inside someone else, whereas a baby may neither resemble nor live with its biological parents. Overall, the results suggest that children expect parents and offspring to share physical properties, but understand that shared properties do not necessarily entail kinship. In both experiments, the extent of this understanding increased with age. However, preschoolers' overall performance supports the claim that some children at this age have a naive theory of biology. The results further suggest that the critical development in an understanding of kinship is acquisition of factual knowledge rather than structural change.     

Beginning Elementary Teachers' Development as Teachers of Science

Journal of Science Teacher Education -     

Distance education and the impact of technology in Europe and Japan

Conclusion Imagine the possibilities of distance education in our future, even the near future. The pace of technological development allows for increased personal interaction between people at great distances. This is the essence of distance education: to be able to take part in an instructional activity without regard to time or distance. The potential for the Internet and other developing technologies is impossible to forecast accurately. Who would have guessed 20 years ago today's technological advances that allow us to expand our opportunities to learn, and to enjoy an improved lifestyle. This is an eventful time in the world's history, with much to look forward to. However, less developed countries may not share this positive outlook. If distance education is to spread around the globe, beyond the economic wealth of Europe, Japan and the United States, we have to consider the particular needs of countries with lesser means. This may mean not using the highest or latest technology available. The communications micracle brought about by the Internet facilitates the sharing of the haves with the have-nots. It is well known that the gap is widening between the richest and poorest countries. Ironically, the very technology that is part of widening this gap can also be used to close it. Ken Albrechtsen completed his master's degree in Instructional Technology at Utah State University and currently is with Parker Aerospace, Ogden, UT. She works for the Center for Persons with Disabilities. Chad Parker is seeking his master's degree in Instructional Technology at Utah State University and is a program manager for the off-campus Educational Technology program.     

Imagining the Antiracist State: Representations of racism in Canadian history textbooks

This paper examines how knowledge about racism has been represented in high school Canadian history textbooks authorized by the Province of Ontario during the 1960s and after the year 2000. I argue that even though historical racisms have increasingly made their way into Canadian history textbooks as valid and important topics of study, the idea of racism continues to be understood largely within a prejudice/discrimination framework that reduces racism to irrational and individualized problems of thought, behaviour, and assumption. Moreover, through multiple techniques of containment, racism is imagined to exist within temporal and spatial locations, events, or incidents that are represented as either foreign to Canada or aberrations within Canada. The combined effect is to depict the space of Canada as one largely antithetical to racism.