Relationships between children’s drawing and accompanying peer interaction in teacher‐initiated drawing sessions

In this article the author focuses on drawing‐related interaction among 5–6‐year‐old children in two Year One classes in Norwegian primary schools as they engage in teacher‐initiated learning activities involving drawing. Inspired in particular by Gunther Kress’ semiotic perspective on drawing, the author presents four interaction categories to explore social aspects of young children’s engagement in the process of forming visual‐graphic signs that convey meaning. The author proposes that while the children’s interaction can add support to the drawing process, it may also produce some risk for the children’s confidence as drawers. It is the role of the practitioner to manage and facilitate interaction so that support is maximised and risk minimised.     

Different effects of L-arginine on morphine tolerance in sham and ovariectomized female mice

Objective  

The roles of gonadal hormones and nitric oxide (NO) on the analgesic effects of morphine, tolerance to morphine, and their interactions have been widely investigated. In the present study, the effect of l-arginine (an NO precursor) on morphine tolerance in sham and ovariectomized (OVX) female mice was investigated.     

Vocational teachers' gendered reflections on education,teaching and care

In this article, we discuss teachers' reflections on the relation between teaching and care in the two most gender-segregated sectors of vocational upper secondary education in Finland, namely Health and Social services and Transport and Technology. We first discuss the concepts around education, teaching, taking care for and caring about students, using theoretisations of care and feminist pedagogies. Using teacher interviews and field notes, we then analyse teachers' ambivalence about care work in the context of teaching, placing special emphasis on care as a gendered task, and then discuss the ‘moral panic’ or ‘worry speech’ about young people in vocational education from the perspective of caring about. The findings are reflected through earlier studies in lower secondary schools. We argue that even if teachers in vocational education, especially male teachers, tend to feel awkward about caring work, they cannot avoid it, and they do care about their students and regard care as a general responsibility.     

Children’s physical activity in day care and preschool

The purpose of the study was to investigate the dynamics of physical activity (PA) in day care and preschool. The participants were 823 Finnish 1–7-year-old children from 50 day care centres and preschools. The research methods were systematic observation, evaluation of children’s skills and interviews with children. Altogether 18,366 observations were collected. Vygotsky’s concept of the ‘zone of proximal development’ is redefined in relation to PA. The results of the study show that environmental factors, and specifically peers, do indeed play a significant role in enhancing PA among children. There are cogent reasons for paying more attention to the dynamics of children’s PA. Furthermore, there is reason to ponder extensively how to provide opportunities for PA and, more precisely, the development of motor competence in the day care and preschool context.     

Finnish secondary school students’ interreligious sensitivity

The aim of this study was to assess the self-evaluations of Finnish secondary school students’ (N?=?549) interreligious sensitivity. The data were collected from 12–16-year-old young people with a 15-item Interreligious Sensitivity Scale Questionnaire (IRRSSQ). The IRRSSQ is based on Abu-Nimer’s Developmental Model of Interreligious Sensitivity, which is based on the Developmental Model of Interreligious Sensitivity by Bennett. The IRRSS measures the orientations towards religious differences in five categories: Denial, Defence, Minimisation, Acceptance and Adaptation, of which the first three are religiocentric orientations and the last two religiorelative. Three research questions were examined: Are there any differences in the interreligious sensitivity between (1) girls and boys, (2) students who study religious education and (religion-free) ethics education in school, and (3) students who differ in academic achievement, measured with the grade point average (GPA)? The results showed that the girls assessed their interreligious sensitivity higher than did the boys. Further, no statistically significant differences were found between the students attending religious education in school and the students attending ethics education. However, the low GPA scores were related to a religiocentric framework and the high GPA scores to a religiorelative framework.     

Group peer assessment for summative evaluation in a graduate-level statistics course for ecologists

Peer assessment is often used for formative learning, but few studies have examined the validity of group-based peer assessment for the summative evaluation of course assignments. The present study contributes to the literature by using online technology (the course management system Moodle^?) to implement structured, summative peer review based on an anchored rubric in an ecological statistics course taught to graduate students. We found that grade discrepancies between students and the instructor were fairly common (60% of assignments), relatively low in value (mean = 3.3 ± 2.5% on assignments that had discrepancies) and proportionally higher for criteria related to interpretation of statistical results and code quality and organisation than for criteria related to the successful completion of analysis or instructional tasks (e.g. fitting particular statistical methods, de-identification of one’s submission). Students reported that the peer assessment process increased their exposure to alternative ways of approaching statistical and computational problem-solving, but there were concerns raised about the fairness of the process and the effectiveness of the group component. We conclude with some recommendations for implementing peer assessment to maximise student learning and satisfaction.     

Seating order as a symbolic arrangement

The study set out to explore the bases on which the school assesses pupils’ educability and which show up as pupil categorizations manifested in seating order. The research was carried out with ethnographic methods and focused on the classroom situations of one first-grade class during one autumn term. The points of interest were those changes and episodes in which the seating order organized the action. Four stages was the spontaneous order created by the pupils themselves on their first day of school; the seating order of the other three stages was set up by the teacher on the basis of mixing boys and girls, of reading skills, of settledness, of capability for pair-work, and of “interpersonal chemistry”. It was found that the teacher made an active use of seating order as a pedagogical instrument. The pupils seemed to adopt the classification criteria and used them in their talk, but the application of these criteria, especially gender and interpersonal relations, was a constant source of dispute between the pupils and the teacher. It was concluded that seating order manifests, implements, and conveys to the pupils important symbolic elements of the representation of educability endorsed by the school.     

Preterm Children at Early Adolescence and Continuity and Discontinuity in Maternal Responsiveness from Infancy

Patterns in mother-child interaction from infancy to age 12 were investigated in a prospective, longitudinal study of 44 English-speaking mothers and their preterm children. Maternal responsiveness was assessed by home observations during infancy and the Family Interaction Q-Sort at age 12, derived from 2 structured laboratory situations requiring cooperation of mother and child. A cluster of maternal behaviors of critical control toward the toddler was assessed at age 2 years. Children of mothers who were consistently more responsive during both infancy and early adolescence, as well as children whose mothers became more responsive by age 12, achieved higher IQ and arithmetic scores, had more positive self-esteem, and their teachers reported fewer behavioral and emotional problems than children of mothers who were consistently less responsive both during infancy and at age 12. Continuity in parenting behaviors was related to control and criticism beginning in the toddler period and not to degree of responsiveness to the infant.     

Anxious girls and laid-back boys: teachers’ and study counsellors’ gendered perceptions of students

ABSTRACT

Efforts to reach gender equality in education in Finland have been extensive. Both teacher education and policy documents for schools have focused on gender equality and gender-neutral treatment of students. The aim of this study is to explore if and how these efforts are manifested in upper secondary school teachers’ and study counsellors’ perceptions of students’ self-belief, academic emotions, study habits and behaviour at school. Twenty-three interviews were conducted and analysed qualitatively through inductive content analysis. The results revealed that teachers and study counsellors perceive that girls’ low self-belief and high achievement expectations affected their academic performance, while boys’ insecurity or need for support was rarely mentioned. The teachers ascribed the students several gender-stereotypical attributes: girls were perceived as diligent and hard-working while boys were perceived as being indifferent towards school and achievements. The implications of these results for students’ self-belief and for teacher education are discussed.     

Public speaking students’ perceptions of cheating

While cheating has been studied in a variety of academic fields little to no research has been done in the field of communication studies and more specifically in the basic public speaking classroom. This may be due in part to a false sense of security public speaking instructors feel when they observe and evaluate a student as he or she stands and delivers a speech. Instructors may assume that since the student delivers the speech the student also researched and wrote the speech. However, the results of this study indicate that students self‐report cheating on speeches and do not seem to have a clear‐cut idea about what constitutes cheating in a public speaking class.