Alternative technologies and social studies textbooks

In order to determine the potential of alternative technologies in social studies education, we must understand the goals of such education, the capabilities of the technologies, and teachers’ and students’ responses to new technologies. The author suggests that the new technologies can contribute to the goals of learning about the past, learning about democratic life and institutions, and making students knowledgeable as consumers and producers of information. One major obstacle is a lack of time and money for teachers to experiment with the technologies. Stephen T. Kerr is professor of education in the College of Education at the University of Washington. His research focuses on the application of new technologies in schools and other educational environments, and particularly on the ways in which technology affects the social structure (roles and expectations, instructional patterns, organization) of those institutions. He has done work on human-computer interaction, as well as on how new communication technologies have changed the educational system of the former USSR.     

Spectators’ points of attachment and their influence on behavioural intentions of women’s national football games

Research on women’s football is still, especially in Asia, scarce. The purpose of this research has been to investigate the underlying points of attachment of women’s football spectators and how these influence future behaviour. The points of attachment scale – drawing on social identity theory – developed previously has been modified for the research setting to detect whether they are general determinants or country-specific indicators. Research was conducted in two countries, namely Japan and Germany. Surveys were conducted at two friendlies of the national team in each country (Japan: n = 607; Germany: n = 597). Attachment with the team, coach and women’s sport were defining overall attachment best. Intention to attend matches of the national team was significantly predicted by football attachment and previously attended games, while intention to attend matches of the league was significantly predicted by attachment with the coach and attended league games in the past.     

“Gymnasts Are Like Wine,They Get Better With Age”: Becoming and Developing Adult Women’s Artistic Gymnasts

Women’s artistic gymnastics is commonly understood to require early entrance and intense training during childhood. Most gymnasts retire before reaching adulthood. In recent years, the gymnast population at the highest level has “aged.” In this article, we adopt a socio-pedagogical perspective to explore the training contexts, pubertal development, and associated learning 10 older elite gymnasts reported. We develop a cultural perspective of gymnast development and show that transitioning through puberty allowed the gymnasts to extend their careers. Support from their coaches and parents, self-reflective time, and genetic predispositions facilitated the transitioning. Through this, gymnasts gained control over self, body, relationships, and performance. In conclusion, we provide implications for gymnast development practice.     

White working class achievement: an ethnographic study of barriers to learning in schools

This study aims to examine the key barriers to learning to raise achievement of White British pupils with low‐income backgrounds. The main findings suggest that the worryingly low‐achievement levels of many White working class pupils have been masked by the middle class success in the English school system and government statistics that fail to distinguish the White British ethnic group by social background. The empirical data confirm that one of the biggest groups of underachievers is the White British working class and their outcomes at each key stage are considerably below those achieved by all other ethnic groups. One of the main reasons for pupil underachievement, identified in the case study schools and focus groups, is parental low aspirations of their children’s education and social deprivation. It is also perpetuated by factors such as low‐literacy levels, feelings of marginalisation within the community exacerbated by housing allocation, a lack of community and school engagement, low levels of parental engagement and lack of targeted support to break the cycle of poverty and disadvantage, a legacy of low aspiration that prevents pupils from fulfilling their potential across a range of areas. The study concludes that the main obstacle in raising achievement is the government’s failure to recognise that this group has particular needs that are not being met by the school system. The government needs to recognise that the underachievement of White British working class pupils is not only a problem facing educational services but profoundly a serious challenge. Policy implications and recommendations are discussed in the final section.     

Making the Personal Professional: Pre-service teacher education and personal histories

Pre-service teachers tend to use their personal experiences as critical filters in accepting and integrating course content that is intended to develop professional decision-making frameworks. This may restrict their abilities to deal with pedagogical issues associated with the acceptance of diversity and individuality, and encourage an unthinking acceptance of the status quo in classrooms, schools and society. To address this problem and nurture the growth of 'reflective practitioners', we structured the content and experiences of one unit of the Graduate Diploma of Education (secondary) to allow for the integration of personal life histories with other views and perspectives. This paper reports on the use of this life-history approach, its potential and its limitations.     

Beyond seat time and student satisfaction: A curricular approach to residential education

The success of a traditional residential education program is typically measured by numbers of students who attend and how much they liked it. Kathleen Kerr and James Tweedy offer a peer‐reviewed curricular approach that determines success by how much students learn.     

Creating educational software and transforming the curriculum: Projects that are changing the face of the Russian school

Conclusion Few would doubt that education is the only way to deal with those global problems that are being felt today in virtually all countries of the world. It is sad that everywhere both the educational system and the researchers who work in it are experiencing difficult times. This is especially true for Russian researchers and teachers. The work I have discussed above is being carried out by true professionals and enthusiasts for their cause. The work continues. The authors of these programs believe that the time has arrived for serious international projects on the design of methodological support and typical modules for a system of global education in the context of the developing global information society.