Teachers’ acquisition of knowledge about English word structure

Previous research suggests that teachers’ knowledge about English word structure (e.g., the phonological structure of words and common orthographic patterns in English) may be limited, although this knowledge is important for effective teaching of word decoding. This study examined teacher education students’ knowledge about word structure, and improvements in their knowledge as a result of instruction, using three tasks: graphophonemic segmentation, classification of pseudowords by syllable type, and classification of real words as phonetically regular or irregular. Participants came from a special education certification program and included both preservice and inservice teachers. Results indicated that prior preparation to teach reading influenced participants’ initial performance on two of the three word-structure tasks (all but graphophonemic segmentation); however, prior experience in teaching reading did not influence word-structure knowledge. A subset of participants who received specific instruction about word structure improved their knowledge relative to a comparison group of teacher education students who did not receive word-structure instruction. Prior preparation did not influence participants’ responsiveness to instruction. Conclusions support the viewpoint that teacher education must include information about English word structure for educators who will teach reading and suggest that sufficiently intensive instruction may be important in developing word-structure knowledge.     

Artificial grammar learning in primary school children with and without developmental dyslexia

This paper explores implicit learning in typically developing and primary school children (9–12 years old) with developmental dyslexia using an artificial grammar learning (AGL) task. Two experiments were conducted, which differed in time of presentation and nature of the instructional set (experiment 1—implicit instructions vs experiment 2—explicit instructions). Repeated measures analysis of variance (group × grammaticality × chunk strength) showed a group effect only in experiment 1 (implicit instructions), with only the typically developing children showing evidence of AGL. There was a grammaticality effect (adherence to the rules) for both groups in the two experimental situations. We suggest that the typically developing children exhibited intact implicit learning as manifested in AGL performance, whereas children with developmental dyslexia failed to provide such evidence due to possible mediating cognitive developmental factors.     

David Almond’s <Emphasis Type="Italic">Skellig</Emphasis>: “A New Vista of Contemplation”?

The debates that have arisen regarding Darwin’s theories of evolution and Christian views of creation and their place in education in the United States have frequently been extremely heated, resulting in trials, hearings, and laws. This article provides an overview of some of the disagreements and illustrates how David Almond’s British novel, Skellig (1998), can be read as a response to the disputes. The author suggests a close reading of Skellig demonstrates how a decrepit, broken, dispirited creature, who might be characterized as an angel, and the crumbling building in which he lives serve as a series of metaphors for attitudes regarding the role of Christian views of creation and evolution in contemporary culture.     

Teaching Scientists to Communicate: Evidence-based assessment for undergraduate science education

Communication skills are one of five nationally recognised learning outcomes for an Australian Bachelor of Science (BSc) degree. Previous evidence indicates that communication skills taught in Australian undergraduate science degrees are not developed sufficiently to meet the requirements of the modern-day workplace—a problem faced in the UK and USA also. Curriculum development in this area, however, hinges on first evaluating how communication skills are taught currently as a base from which to make effective changes. This study aimed to quantify the current standard of communication education within BSc degrees at Australian research-intensive universities. A detailed evidential baseline for not only what but also how communication skills are being taught was established. We quantified which communication skills were taught and assessed explicitly, implicitly, or were absent in a range of undergraduate science assessment tasks (n?=?35) from four research-intensive Australian universities. Results indicate that 10 of the 12 core science communication skills used for evaluation were absent from more than 50% of assessment tasks and 77.14% of all assessment tasks taught less than 5 core communication skills explicitly. The design of assessment tasks significantly affected whether communication skills were taught explicitly. Prominent trends were that communication skills in tasks aimed at non-scientific audiences were taught more explicitly than in tasks aimed at scientific audiences, and the majority of group and multimedia tasks taught communication elements more explicitly than individual, or written and oral tasks. Implications for science communication in the BSc and further research are discussed.     

Troubled Relationships in Early Childhood Education: Parent-Teacher Interactions in Ethnoculturally Diverse Child Care Settings

In order to study the nature of the relationships between early childhood educators and minority families, we interviewed child care teachers (N = 199) and supervisors (N = 77) in three Canadian cities of major immigrant influx. Views of minority families were elicited through 14 focus groups (total attendance, N = 108) in these cities. A coordinated analysis of data revealed four main findings as follows: 1) Although both minority parents and teachers agreed that minority parents were not involved enough in the child care setting, they disagreed about the reasons for the lack of involvement. 2) Minority parents and teachers tended to be unaware of their basic differences in ECE goals, particularly with respect to cognition, social skills, and respect for authority; they gave conflicting accounts of difficulties related to these goals. 3) Schools and minority parents appeared to have substantial differences over what constitutes proper child-rearing methods in the home. The practices of minority parents were often viewed by teachers as lax. 4) Based on teachers' and parents' reports, racial and discriminatory incidents, according to the various definitions of those involved, were not uncommon in child care centers; sometimes teachers were unaware of them. Subtle and unintended effects of racism were much more noticed by some parents than by many teachers. Some of these difficulties may be linked to an “expert model” of early childhood education; hence it is proposed that a collaborative approach is one avenue to better relations between teachers and minority parents.     

Book Reviews

The craft of scientific communication Joseph E. Harmon and Alan G. Gross Chicago and London, University of Chicago Press, 2010, 240pp. ISBN‐13: 978‐0‐2263‐166‐11 (hbk), 978‐0‐2263‐166‐28 (pbk), $20.00     

Field and laboratory correlates of performance in competitive cross-country mountain bikers

Abstract

We designed a laboratory test with variable fixed intensities to simulate cross-country mountain biking and compared this to more commonly used laboratory tests and mountain bike performance. Eight competitive male mountain bikers participated in a cross-country race and subsequently did six performance tests: an individual outdoor time trial on the same course as the race and five laboratory tests. The laboratory tests were as follows: an incremental cycle test to fatigue to determine peak power output; a 26-min variable fixed-intensity protocol using an electronically braked ergometer followed immediately by a 1-km time trial using the cyclist's own bike on an electronically braked roller ergometer; two 52-min variable fixed-intensity protocols each followed by a 1-km time trial; and a 1-km time trial done on its own. Outdoor competition time and outdoor time trial time correlated significantly (r = 0.79, P < 0.05). Both outdoor tests correlated better with peak power output relative to body mass (both r = ?0.83, P < 0.05) than absolute peak power output (outdoor competition: r = ?0.65; outdoor time trial: r = ?0.66; non-significant). Outdoor performance times did not correlate with the laboratory tests. We conclude that cross-country mountain biking is similar to uphill or hilly road cycling. Further research is required to design sport-specific tests to determine the remaining unexplained variance in performance.     

Women's recreational surfing: a patronising experience

Research analysing the operation of power within sport and physical activity has exposed the marginalisation and exclusion of women's sport in explicit and institutionalised ways. However, for women in recreational and alternative physical activities like surfing, sporting experiences lie outside institutionalised structures, thus requiring alternative surfing of conceptualising the processes of exclusionary power. In this paper, we focus on the voices of women recreational surfers to explore the changes which may or may not be occurring at smaller, more localised levels of women's engagement with surfing culture. An ethnographic methodology was employed to ask women how and why they engage in surfing and what it means for them, rather than asking questions based on existing assumptions. In presenting the data we draw upon the double meaning afforded by the term ‘to patronise’ as a means of framing the complex ways that women continue to be differentiated in surfing culture, and the ways they respond to this. In the final section, we employ a Foucauldian analytic lens to explore the subtle normalising practices in which women are incited to recognise and undertake the practices of the valued masculine ideal of the ‘good surfer’ through caring acts and advice offered by male surfers. This post-structuralist perspective offers space to think outside of simple resistance and reproduction, instead considering a complex space where women and men negotiate power in a range of ways from contextual, subjective positions. In conclusion, we argue that women recreational surfers are enacting alternative ways of operating within the power relations that circulate in the waves, creating ever-changing spaces for new ways of doing and knowing surfing to emerge.     

Researcher development through doctoral training in research integrity

ABSTRACT

The article explores research integrity training for PhD-students as a site of production of academic cultures and researcher development. Based on ethnographies of four courses in research integrity, conducted in four faculties of a large comprehensive Danish university, the article explores the vital role of academic developers, teachers, and course participants in the active translation of institutional, national, and international policies into research practices. We argue that doctoral training in research integrity does not entail the direct implementation of policy and codes from above; rather, it is a site for the development and negotiation of the meaning of research integrity in disciplinary cultures and standards, and, critically, for the responsibilisation of individual researchers in policy enactment. We show how doctoral training has become a key site for the emergence of research integrity as a field. It is also a privileged site for researching contested and multidirectional processes of policy formation and implementation.