Using Internet delivered video cases,to support pre-service teachers' understanding of effective early literacy instruction: An exploratory study

This preliminary study explores the effects ofusing CTELL (Case Technologies EnhancingLiteracy Learning) cases on preserviceteachers' learning. Students participated inone of three instructional treatments:traditional, traditional plus video, andtraditional plus CTELL cases. A pre-postconcept web, describing students' understandingof effective reading instruction, served as themajor outcome measure. This was supplementedwith a unidimensional confidence measure,journal entries, and student interviews. Nosignificant differences were found for any ofthe three treatment conditions on the conceptmapping task or the confidence measure.However, the journal entries and interview datahighlight important issues, challenges andbenefits, with respect to the use of multimediacases. Implications for teacher education areexplored.     

Current conceptions of literacy – insights from work with children and older learners with sensory needs

There have been many efforts to conceptualise literacy, both in terms of its essence and component parts, but it has proved difficult to define. This paper considers work that is undertaken with children and older learners with sensory needs in order to promote the early stages of literacy. Recent government initiatives aimed at fostering literacy development have caused teachers of children with sensory needs to re-examine their practice. The paper discusses early literacy as part of children's attempts to communicate and describes children with sensory needs engaging in a range of activities that are termed 'literacy' by those working with them. By taking into account these activities, the authors endeavour to throw light on the broader questions around concepts of literacy.     

Attenuated and enhanced neophobia in the taste-aversion “delay of reinforcement” effect

Learning & Behavior - Rats were made ill immediately or 6 h after drinking either familiar tap water or a novel .1% saccharin solution. Control animals were given sham treatments immediately...     

A Garden of Ethics

Annemarie Roeper and Leta Hollingworth are the ethical bedrock of the field of gifted education. Though they never met, their legacies are intertwined. They gave us a child-centered perspective, in which ethical development plays a pivotal role. This article traces the similarities of their philosophies, exploring the life experiences that may have led them to see gifted children through the same lens. They both loved their gardens. The seeds of integrity and compassion that they planted inspire us to move beyond our expectations in order to see and nurture the beauty of each child.     

The CTY Talent Search: International Applicability and Practice in Ireland

The Talent Search model of above level standardized testing is a core practice of the Center for Talented Youth (CTY) at The Johns Hopkins University in the USA, where it was introduced in 1971. The Hopkins Model was adapted for use at the Irish Centre for Talented Youth (CTYI) at Dublin City University in 1993, and this adaptation marks the first major international replication, incorporating both the mathematics and verbal portions of the SAT. The SAT proved to be a valuable assessment instrument for these students, whose scores resembled those of American students.     

Ancestral Voices—‘Since Time Everlasting Beyond’: Kipling and the Invention of the Time-Slip Story

In this study of Kipling's Puck books, I attempt to clarify the enduring characteristics of the time-slip story as he and E. Nesbit invented it and also to determine his own distinctive contribution to the genre. Although his formal procedures were not influential, his genius lies in showing us the mere uncounted folk of history, not the big players of E. Nesbit's stories. As a conservative democrat, he shows what treasures are hid on one's own hearth and doorstep, so to speak, so that you do not have to venture far to find magic. For Kipling, that magic resides in the common culture of England, the surviving traditional ways, which catastrophic changes over two thousand years had not greatly altered. The magic is traced to the nature of the land itself, a place deeply enchanted and manifest in the merry supernaturalism that G. K. Chesterton saw in Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream.     

TALKING GEOGRAPHY: an investigation into young children's understanding of geographical terms PART 2

This research investigates the understanding by children of seven years of age of certain geographical terms and compares data collected in 1991, reported in an earlier paper, with that collected in 1993, after two years’ implementation of the English National Curriculum for Geography. The findings do not indicate any significant difference in the quality and range of response by the children. Most children, from both samples, appeared to show restricted or inconsistent understanding of most of the terms. It is clear from the research that children construct their own meanings for particular words, based on intuition and experience together with some formal teaching, but that even vernacular terms can present difficulties for them. Children have particular problems in conceptualising space. Further investigation of children's constructions, related to specific geographical concepts, is therefore urgently needed if geography teaching programmes are to be designed with adequate reference to the cognitive demands of particular aspects of the subject. We need to know more about children's views of geography.     

MicroObservatory Net: A Network of Automated Remote Telescopes Dedicated to Educational Use

Many students have a deep interest in astronomy, but a limited opportunity to use telescopes to explore the heavens. The MicroObservatory Network of automated telescopes is designed to provide access to classroom teachers who wish their students to conduct projects over the World Wide Web. The intuitive interface makes it easy for even 10-year-olds to take pictures. Telescopes can be remotely pointed and focused: filters, field of view, and exposure times can be changed easily. Images are archived at the website, along with sample challenges and a user bulletin board, all of which encourage collaboration among schools. Wide geographic separation of instruments provides access to distant night skies during local daytime. Since first light in 1995, we have learned much about remote troubleshooting, designing for unattended use, and for acquiring the kinds of images that students desire. This network can be scaled up from its present capability of 240,000 images each year to provide telescope access for all US students with an interest in astronomy. Our WWW address is http://mo-www.harvard.edu/MicroObservatory/