The Teacher''s Role in Facilitating Memory and Study Strategy Development in the Elementary School Classroom

The efforts of 69 elementary school teachers to instruct children in cognitive processing activities were observed. Although the teaching of such activities was relatively infrequent, it varied by grade (occurring more often in grades 2-3 than in higher or lower grades) and by the content of instruction. Teachers of grade 4 and above more often provided rationales for the use of cognitive strategies than did teachers of younger children. In a second study, children of three achievement levels were selected from classrooms in which teachers varied in their use of suggestions regarding cognitive processes. Subsequent to training in the use of a memory strategy, children's performance on a maintenance trial was evaluated: Among average and low achievers, those whose teachers were relatively high in strategy suggestions showed better maintenance and more deliberate use of the trained strategy than did children whose teachers rarely made strategy suggestions. The role of school experience in the development of children's memory skills is discussed.     

The stability of attachment security from infancy to adolescence and early adulthood: general discussion

For over three decades, critics of the developmental and psychometric paradigms have argued that individual differences are neither stable, coherent, nor clinically significant. The present studies extend a long line of research demonstrating the coherence of individual development in attachment security. They make it clear that attachment security can be stable from infancy through early adulthood and that change in attachment security is meaningfully related to changes in the family environment. The task now is to better understand the roles of cross-age consistency in caregiver behavior and the structure of mental representations of early experience in stability and change.     

High school students' use of diagrams during reading

This study examines how high school students use diagrams and summaries during reading and the effects of such on comprehension. The roles of verbal and spatial ability are also examined. Seventy-four Year 7 (13-year-old) students each read a text presented on a computer screen. The text was presented one sentence at a time and subjects could call up a diagram or content-equivalent summary of the main ideas of the text at any time. Time to read the sentences and the adjunct aids was controlled by the subject and recorded by the computer. In addition, the computer kept a record of where in the text subjects made a text-to-aid move. After reading, the subjects completed a 10-minute filler task and then produced free recalls of the text. The free recalls were examined for the inclusion of details and main ideas. Path analyses showed a significant direct effect of verbal ability on the recall of details and main ideas as well as a significant indirect effect through time on diagram. Spatial ability was not found to have any effect on recall, either directly or indirectly. Analyses of text-to-diagram moves showed more inspections in the first few sentences followed by an essentially random inspection pattern. Instructional implications are discussed.     

Systems negotiation training

The paper presents a model developed in the U.S./Mexico border area for teaching persons the art of using their personal assets to gain access to highly impersonal social systems. The model focuses on the use of small group dynamics and psychodrama using articulated videotape feedback in the development of effective job-seeking behaviors. The model training format was used over a three-year period to train approximately three thousand persons ranging from incarcerated Mexican Nationals to college graduates in the art of accessing social systems. Most of the participants in the programs viewed themselves as victims of powerful social systems and initially saw themselves as having no control over their lives. The model was successful in demonstrating to the participants the aspects of the human interaction process they indeed had control over and, that by exerting this control in a structured fashion, they could net positive results.     

Techniques of Mediocrity

The mission statements of many public (taxpayer-supported) colleges promise economic development outreach to local business communities. Unfortunately, faculty may be hard-pressed to devote time to outreach. The author looks for specific outreach activities that garner strong support from both faculty and business representatives. The author examines the case of four-year business schools. Survey data were collected from a sample of faculty and a sample of business leaders. The win—win activities tended to have a strong teaching component, including degree programs for working adults and community-class-room links such as student projects and internships.     

Beginning teachers reflect on inclusive practices – ‘I didn't realize that he only had half a hand’

Learning to value difference and diversity is a central goal of Initial Teacher Education (ITE) professional practice programmes in New Zealand. Yet the authors have continued to struggle to work with their ITE students to move them as a group towards such valuing in both theory and practice. In this article events that lead up to the changes initiated in an ITE inclusive education module in response to tensions arising during tutorial sessions in this paper in three previous years are outlined. A new pedagogical approach consisting of changes to curriculum material, the format of discussions and the tutorial environment itself is introduced. Four examples from participants’ discussions are discursively analysed, uncovering key teaching moments-of-transformation possibilities inherent in the talk. What is revealed is that less confrontational, more productive conversations became possible through the changes initiated. Theorisation of the authors’ experiences of the changes is then provided, drawing on postmodern notions of difference, normalisation, intra-action and affective climates. Finally we suggest that it is important for tutors of such papers to interrogate their practices and where possible to prioritise pedagogies that support an openness to difference and being affected by others as a foundational pedagogical element.     

International Communication

Jim Richstad and Michael Anderson, Crisis in International News: Policies and Prospects (New York: Columbia University Press, 1981--- $28.50/12.50)

Amadou-Mahtar M'Bow, Building the Future: Unesco and the Solidarity of Nations (Paris: Unesco, 1981 ---price not given, paper)

Voices of Freedom: A World Conference of Independent News Media (Edward R. Murrow Center of Public Diplomacy, Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University, Medford, Mass. 02155---$4.50, paper)

Edward W. Ploman and L. Clark Hamilton, Copyright: Intellectual Property in the Information Age (London and Boston: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1980---$35.00)

Marxism and the Mass Media: Towards a Basic Bibliography Nos. 6-7 (International Mass Media Research Center, 173 av de la dhuys, 93710 Bagnolet, France or International General, P.O. Box 350, New York, N.Y. 10013---£3.50/$7.50, paper)     

Migrant space,migrant community: Williams,Bakhtin, and cultural analysis

This essay begins to excavate the theoretical basis of Raymond Williams’ largely unacknowledged spatial perspective on culture and communication, locating an important source in the work of the Bakhtin Circle. It then applies these insights to a Californian migrant labor camp and its newspaper, which was produced during the late 1930s and early 1940s. The essay seeks to demonstrate how attention to cultural forms of community as embodied and active in newspapers help produce new kinds of spatial experience and identities. It concludes by considering Williams, Bakhtin, and their contributions to understanding the role of these spatial practices in modern, capitalist societies.     

Placism in NCLB—How Rural Children are Left Behind

No Child Left Behind (NCLB) has been proclaimed by some as a reform that will improve education for students from all backgrounds, in all locations. The main components of NCLB, however, are biased against students in small and rural schools. This bias, called “placism,” discriminates against people based on where they live. This rural incompatibility is evident in NCLB's accountability provisions, sanctions, and highly qualified teacher provisions. Problems in these areas are the result of ignoring, or distorting, the realities of rural schooling. The accountability provisions are constructed so that small schools will frequently be incorrectly labeled as failing. The sanctions, inappropriate for rural areas, fail to provide solutions to existing rural challenges. The “highly qualified” teacher provisions make it more difficult, not easier, for rural districts to attract and retain competent teachers. Unless these injustices are corrected, NCLB will serve to decrease educational quality for rural students.