A labour of love: mothers,emotional capital and homework

This paper develops a new analysis of homework by building on feminist scholarship which documents the invisible labour done by women in support of their children's education. While numerous studies have examined the relationship between homework and achievement, little attention has been paid to the largely gendered and potentially stressful nature of ‘parental involvement’. The analytic focus in this paper is on the complex emotional and pedagogical dimensions of homework and the ways it is shaped by socio-cultural contexts. Videotaped homework interactions between one working-class and two middle-class mothers and their children are examined using Bourdieu's concepts of habitus and capital. The analysis distinguishes between productive pedagogical relationships and those that promote extensive anxiety and are counterproductive to learning. The paper argues that the reserves of cultural and emotional capital required for homework completion are significant and that class position does not necessarily guarantee the ways in which these capitals are mobilised.     

Students' Knowledge About Environmental Matters and Their Belief in Their Own Action Possibilities–A Danish Study

Abstract

Drawing chiefly from Paul Shepard's (1982) Nature and Madness and David Abram's (1996) The Spell of the Sensuous, this essay draws attention to two underlying foundations of educational thought: the process of human social development and the emergence of language and literacy. A reading of Shepard and Abram implies that the meaning of human social development and the meaning of literacy must be recovered from our shared human heritage in which human beings developed a sense of interconnection with nonhuman others. This perspective suggests many challenges to environmental educators including (a) the need to take a more philosophical (and less instrumental) approach to our work, (b) the need for a working theory of development and literacy in education that takes nonhuman otherness seriously, (c) the need to advocate for more regular and extended experiences in the natural world in order to nurture relationship with otherness, (d) the need to reinvent “accountability” in education, (e) and the need to develop in all learners, including ourselves, a sense of at-homeness.     

Assisting self-explanation prompts are more effective than open prompts when learning with multiple representations

Learning with multiple representations is usually employed in order to foster understanding. However, it also imposes high demands on the learners and often does not lead to the expected results, especially because the learners do not integrate the different representations. Thus, it is necessary to support the learners’ self-explanation activity, which concerns the integration and understanding of multiple representations. In the present experiment, we employed multi-representational worked-out examples and tested the effects of two types of self-explanation prompts as help procedures for integrating and understanding multiple representations. The participants (N = 62) learned about probability theory under three conditions: (a) open self-explanation prompts, (b) self-explanation prompts in an assistance-giving-assistance-withholding procedure (assisting self-explanation prompts), or (c) no prompts (control group). Both types of self-explanation prompts fostered procedural knowledge. This effect was mediated by self-explanations directed to domain principles. Conceptual knowledge was particularly fostered by assisting self-explanation prompts which was mediated by self-explanations on the rationale of a principle. Thus, for enhancing high-quality self-explanations and both procedural knowledge and conceptual understanding, we conclude that assisting self-explanation prompts should be provided. We call this the assisting self-explanation prompt effect which refers to the elicitation of high-quality self-explanations and the acquisition of deep understanding.     

When in Doubt,Go to the Library: The Effect of a Library-Intensive Freshman Research and Writing Seminar on Academic Success

The paper is an extension of a previous study, which examined student perceptions of a unique freshman seminar offered to Criminology and Criminal Justice students at Florida State University. The seminar is characterized by a heavy focus on interactive library sessions in which students learn how to conduct research and write a scholarly paper. The previous article reported on student perceptions of research and writing skills developed in the seminar. This report, using Multivariate Regression and Propensity Score Matching reveals that compared to a carefully constructed comparison group, first time in college students enrolled in the seminar have statistically significantly higher cumulative grade point averages and percentages of graduation within four years. The seminar’s emphasis on the library as a research tool is thought to have contributed to the differences seen on academic outcomes between students who took the seminar and a matched comparison group.     

Prompting undergraduate students’ metacognition of learning: implementing ‘meta-learning’ assessment tasks in the biomedical sciences

To succeed at post-secondary education, it’s essential that students develop an understanding of their own knowledge and learning processes. This metacognition of learning, or ‘meta-learning’, helps students to become more effective learners, as they become more aware of their self-regulatory processes and recognise the effectiveness of their study strategies. To increase biomedical science students’ self-awareness, we have designed and implemented meta-learning assessment tasks across our biomedical science courses. Most students reported that meta-learning tasks had a positive impact on their learning, as they prompted self-regulatory processes of forethought and self-reflection. We found that students were equally likely to change or not change their study strategies across subsequent semesters. Those students that did not change were generally high achievers, believing their study approaches were most effective, but their performance did not improve across semesters. In contrast, students who adapted, mostly by modifying how they appraised and rearranged records or improved planning and time management, performed less well overall but significantly improved their performance across semesters. Meta-learning tasks may prompt students to become more self-reflective and independent learners by affecting their approach to learning, enabling them to reflect on their study strategies, adapt and improve performance, and may enable the development of lifelong learning skills.     

The impact of the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic on physical activity in U.S. children

BackgroundDaily moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) is vital to the physical, mental, and social well-being of children. Early restrictions during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic included the closure of schools and physical activity (PA) amenities across the US. This study aimed to examine the impact of the pandemic on the PA and play behavior of U.S. children and to provide evidence-based recommendations to improve their PA.MethodsA cross-sectional, online, parent-reported survey was conducted of children aged 3–18 years between April and June 2020 to assess light PA and MVPA using a modified Godin Leisure-Time Exercise Questionnaire. Additional items included family/child socioeconomic demographics, child adaptability to the pandemic, and community access. The survey was shared through social media and snowball sampling distribution.ResultsAnalysis of 1310 surveys indicated child PA scores declined significantly during the pandemic (from 56.6 to 44.6, max 119, p < 0.001). Specifically, MVPA score decreased (from 46.7 to 34.7, max 98, p < 0.001) while light PA remained the same. Age-based changes were seen in the quantity, variety, and intensity of PA, with the lowest pandemic-related impact seen in preschoolers and the highest in high schoolers (–4.7 vs. –17.2, p < 0.001). Community-based peer PA decreased across all age groups.ConclusionThis study shows decreased PA levels in U.S. children, according to parent reporting, during the COVID-19 pandemic. Recommendations for community leaders, educators, and parents to improve PA in children are provided. With continued spread of COVID-19, these results and recommendations may be imperative to the physical well-being of U.S. children.     

By the Water’s Edge: a Hermeneutic Look at Suffering and Self-Compassion in Counselling Psychology

What is to be done in response to client suffering? Our aim in this paper is to explore the generative potential in viewing the topic of suffering and self-compassion through an interpretive lens. To accomplish this goal, we review Gadamerian philosophical hermeneutics as a way of understanding these topics while looking to the central tenets of counselling psychology as a guide in elucidating the therapeutic experience. In so doing, we stress the significance in recognizing the interpretive and unique experience of suffering and self-compassion, in turn privileging the client’s conceptualizations and experiences.