Challenging Students’ Intuitions—the Influence of a Tangible Model of Virus Assembly on Students’ Conceptual Reasoning About the Process of Self-Assembly

A well-ordered biological complex can be formed by the random motion of its components, i.e. self-assemble. This is a concept that incorporates issues that may contradict students’ everyday experiences and intuitions. In previous studies, we have shown that a tangible model of virus self-assembly, used in a group exercise, helps students to grasp the process of self-assembly and in particular the facet “random molecular collision”. The present study investigates how and why the model and the group exercise facilitate students’ learning of this particular facet. The data analysed consist of audio recordings of six group exercises (n?=?35 university students) and individual semi-structured interviews (n?=?5 university students). The analysis is based on constructivist perspectives of learning, a combination of conceptual change theory and learning with external representations. Qualitative analysis indicates that perceived counterintuitive aspects of the process created a cognitive conflict within learners. The tangible model used in the group exercises facilitated a conceptual change in their understanding of the process. In particular, the tangible model appeared to provide cues and possible explanations and functioned as an “eye-opener” and a “thinking tool”. Lastly, the results show signs of emotions also being important elements for successful accommodation.     

Risikokonstellationen in der frühen Kindheit: Auswirkungen biologischer und psychologischer Vulnerabilitäten sowie psychosozialer Stressoren auf kindliche Entwicklungsverläufe

Risk factors in early childhood have short as well as long term effects on child development. Researchers distinguish between vulnerabilities, which are biological predispositions and psychological characteristics of the child, and stressors, which are psychosocial circumstances in the environment. Crucial vulnerabilities and stressors are described and evaluated in the following essay. The number of influencing risk factors seems to be the best predictor to evaluate the impact on the developmental outcome. Thus, a combination of cumulative long lasting risk factors has the most negative impact on child development. The qualities of parent-child interactions and the enrichment of the (home) environment are the only factors which have a direct impact on child development. Therefore, interventions to minimize the influence of risk constellations should begin early, be long lasting and should focus on assuring a secure relationship for the child, in or outside the family.     

Acknowledging Spanish and English resources during mathematical reasoning

As English-only efforts continue in the US schooling system, dual-language programs have served as attempts to preserve students’ home language. An after-school, dual-language, Spanish–English, mathematics program, Los Rayos was developed in a predominantly Mexican/Mexican–American neighborhood in Chicago. As participant observers with a sociocultural perspective, we explored the linguistic and personal resources used by participating 4th grade bilingual Latina/o students. We found that students used imaginative, playful, and hybrid linguistic resources to make sense of and solve probability tasks when engaged within a zone of mathematical practice. Results challenge narrow perspectives on bilingual students’ linguistic resources. Language implications are discussed.     

Voyeurism and Resistance in Rap Music Videos

Longstanding explanations of the controlling effect of white consumers/producers on minority production can obscure the negotiation and struggle of artists over their images, and particularly the ways in which dominant ideologies can be disarticulated from their meanings and rearticulated as critical observations on contemporary social relations. Rap group dead prez's video for the song “Hell Yeah!” is most accurately read from the perspective of articulation theory, since the group's oppositional use of the “gaze” reworks dominant representational discourses of race and class.     

Promoting Compliance in Children Referred to Child Protective Services: A Randomized Clinical Trial

Early experiences of maltreatment have long-term negative effects on children's compliance. This randomized clinical trial examined whether a brief preventative intervention (Attachment and Biobehavioral Catch-up; ABC) was effective in enhancing compliance in children who had been referred to Child Protective Services. Participants included 101 parent–child dyads who received either ABC or a control intervention when children were infants (M = 9.4 months old, SD = 6.1). When children were approximately 36 months old (M = 38.5, SD = 3.0), ABC children demonstrated significantly better compliance than control children. Further, parent sensitivity, measured 1 month post intervention when children were, on average, 18.4 months old (SD = 6.9) partially mediated the effect of ABC on child compliance at 36 months old.     

Upper Secondary Schools and Sparsity: The Case of Northern Sweden

Governmental reforms since the early 1990s have acted as a push factor for starting new schools in Sweden and have created options for pupils to choose a school irrespective of municipal borders. This study highlights the upper secondary school system in small municipalities in northern Sweden since the late 1990s. The analysis shows that the reforms led to more schools, and thereby also to more competition in recruiting pupils both within and across municipal borders. When the cohorts started declining, the vulnerability of the school structure became obvious. The competition generated higher costs per capita and fewer available programs in small municipalities. Furthermore, it was noted that fewer pupils attending schools in small municipalities completed their education compared to those in larger municipalities.     

Gender,Behaviour and Achievement: A preliminary study of pupil perceptions and attitudes

This article reports on one element of a project undertaken in Leeds Local Education Authority (LEA) during the academic year 1995/96. The article makes some preliminary observations based on questionnaire data gathered in one of the project's schools. The data provide some useful insights into boys' and girls' attitudes towards their academic work, their behaviour, their perceptions of the relationship between the two and gender-related differences in these areas. The data also provide evidence of changes in these perceptions and attitudes with age. The analysis of the results and subsequent discussion suggests 'affective factors' which may be useful both in terms of helping to explain individual differences in performance and in the continued search for strategies which improve boys' and girls' performance.     

A teachable-agent-based game affording collaboration and competition: evaluating math comprehension and motivation

This paper presents an educational game in mathematics based on an apprenticeship model using a teachable agent, as well as an evaluative study of how the game affects (1) conceptual understanding and (2) attitudes towards mathematics. In addition, we discuss how collaborative and competitive affordances of the game may affect understanding and motivation. 19 students played the game in pairs once a week during math lessons for 7?weeks (the game-playing group) while another 19 students followed the regular curriculum (the control group). Math comprehension scores increased significantly for the game-playing group but not the control group (p?<?0.05). However, there was no significant difference in attitude change between the two groups. Post hoc analyses indicated that game-playing primarily affected students?? confidence in explaining math to a peer, but not their enjoyment of doing so. Collaborative and competitive activities seem to carry a strong motivational influence for students to play the game.