Using web design with pre‐service teachers as a means of creating a collaborative learning environment

This study involves a group of over 300 third‐year Bachelor of Education students attending St Patrick’s College of Education, Dublin, Ireland. Working in groups of not more than three, the students completed an assignment to create a WebQuest. On construction of the WebQuest the students were asked to reflect on the experience, considering issues such as collaboration, cooperation, planning, decision‐making, time management, project direction and design. They were also asked to reflect on the impact of the exercise on their own learning styles and its influence on their concepts of teaching and learning. Finally, they were asked if the exercise had affected their ideas of how to use the Internet in school and if they envisage using WebQuests as part of their teaching in the future. Their reflections were facilitated by a questionnaire. Results of the project have implications for future course design.

Die Erstellung eines Webdesigns durch Lehramtsstudenten als Mittel, eine kollaborative Lernumgebung zu erzeugen

Diese Studie umfasst eine Gruppe von mehr als 300 Lehrerstudenten des St. Patrick’s College of Education in Dublin, Irland. In Gruppen von nicht mehr als drei Personen füllten die Studenten einen Zusatz zur Erzeugung eines Webfragebogens aus. Im Verlauf der Arbeit an der Konstruktion des WebQuest wurden sie aufgefordert, über die Erfahrung mit Dingen wie Zusammenarbeit, Kooperation, Planung, Entscheidungsfindung, Zeitmanagement, Projektziel und Konzeption nachzudenken. Zusätzlich wurden sie angehalten, über den Einfluss dieser Übung auf ihren eigenen Lehrstil und auf ihre Konzepte von Lehren und Lernen zu reflektieren. Schließlich wurden sie befragt, ob diese Übung ihre Einschätzung, wie das Internet im Schulunterricht genutzt werden könne und ob sie sich vorstellen könnten, WebQuests im Rahmen ihres zukünftigen Unterrichts einzusetzen. Ihre Reflexionen wurden durch einen Fragebogen unterstützt. Die Ergebnisse des Projekts haben Auswirkungen auf zukünftige Lehrgangsentwürfe.

Comment utiliser la conception de sites Web avec des enseignants en formation initiale pour créer un environnement d’apprentissage collaboratif

Cette étude porte sur un groupe de plus de 300 étudiants de Licence en Education inscrits à l’Institut St Patrick de formation des Maîtres de Dublin. Travaillant en groupes de trois au maximum, ces étudiants ont mené à bien un projet de création d’un WebQuest.Au moment de la construction de ce WebQuest, on a demandé aux étudiants de réfléchir sur l’expérience en cours et sur les problèmes de collaboration, de coopération, de planification, de prise de décision,de gestion du temps,d’ orientation et de conception du projet. On leur a aussi demandé de réfléchir à l’impact de cet exercice sur leurs propres styles d’apprentissage et à son influence sur la façon dont ils envisageaient l’enseignement et l’apprentissage.On les a finalement interrogés pour savoir si cet exercice avait affecté leur façon de penser aux usages de l’Internet à l’école et si ils (elles) envisageaient d’utiliser WebQuest dans leur enseignement à l’avenir. Un questionnaire a facilité la réponse à ces questions. Les résultats de ce projet auront des conséquences pour la conception des cours à venir.     

Do more hours in center-based care cause more externalizing problems? A cross-national replication study

Whether high quantities of center-based care cause behavior problems is a controversial question. Studies using covariate adjustment for selection factors have detected relations between center care and behavior problems, but studies with stronger internal validity less often find such evidence. We examined whether within-child changes in hours in center-based care predicted changes in externalizing problems in toddlers and preschoolers (N = 10,105; 49% female; data collection 1993–2012) in seven studies, including from Germany, Netherlands, Norway, two from Canada and two from the U.S. Race/ethnicity data were only collected in the United States (57% and 80% White; 42% and 13% African-American; 1.2% and 5% Latinx). Meta-analyses showed no association (r = .00, p = .88) between hours in center-based care and externalizing problems.     

Strategies for incorporating cultural competence into childbirth education curriculum

Cultural competence affects all interactions with prospective parents and families. Childbirth educators need to assess their own cultural competence, beginning with an understanding of their own background and how it affects interactions with families. The purpose of this article is to enhance the incorporation of cultural competency, cultural awareness, and cultural sensitivity into the childbirth education curricula. Methods for enhancing cultural competence in a multicultural global society are discussed. Strategies are also presented to address the challenges of assessing parents and families of diverse cultures and their beliefs, traditions, and special needs in the plan of care.     

Linking Employment to Attachment: The Mediating Effects of Maternal Separation Anxiety and Interactive Behavior

This study examined the effects of maternal employment and separation anxiety on maternal interactive behavior and infant attachment. 73 mother-infant pairs participated in a laboratory free-play session when infants were 5 and 10 months of age and in the Strange Situation when the infants were 18 months of age. Maternal feelings about being separated from her infant were assessed by questionnaire at 5 months. Employed mothers returned to work before the infants' fifth month, and nonemployed mothers did not work outside the home through their infants' tenth month. Employed mothers who reported high levels of separation anxiety were more likely to exhibit intrusive behaviors at 10 months. While employment was not directly related to attachment, we found infants of high-anxiety employed mothers to develop anxious-avoidant attachments. The results suggest that maternal separation anxiety and interactive style may be important mediators between employment and later infant outcome.     

Exploring inclusive pedagogical practices in Hong Kong primary EFL classrooms

Social diversity is now commonplace in many communities in today’s globalised world. This diversity can be seen in any classroom of learners, and international studies have shown the complex ways in which disabilities, race, ethnicity, gender and social class can determine a child’s opportunity to succeed or fail in the education system. In Hong Kong, like in many educational contexts around the world, teachers are grappling with increasing diversity amongst their students, including teaching students with special educational needs (SEN) and non-Chinese speaking students (NCS) living in Hong Kong. This paper examines how three primary TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) teachers are constructing identities as inclusive practitioners as they grapple with enacting the inclusive education policy recently introduced into Hong Kong schools. The data are drawn from a small-scale collaborative reflective inquiry for teacher professional development. Drawing upon a sociocultural and critical framing of identity theory, we trace the three teachers’ identity construction as EFL teachers and inclusive education practitioners. We view the role of discourse, self-positioning and social context as key processes in teacher identity formation. Implications for furthering the development of inclusive education in EFL classrooms are offered.     

Metafiction for beginners: Allan Ahlberg'sTen in a Bed

Margaret Mackey is studying for a master's degree in library and information studies at the University of Alberta in Canada. Previously, in Britain, she taught English language and literature in secondary schools for ten years. She has been secondary editor ofThe Essex Review of Children's Literature and has editedFestival Plays (Longman), a collection of young playwrights.     

What Is Wrong with Practicum?: some reflections

The purpose of this study was to examine students’ perceptions of previously identified negative aspects of practicum during preparation courses for careers in the field of early childhood education. Students at each of three year levels of the course earlier had been surveyed using a Likert‐type instrument following recent practicum experiences. Item frequency analysis was conducted for each separate year group's responses and for the combined group. Analysis of data from the combined responses included item properties, item‐scale relationships, scale properties and instrument factor analysis. Results of factor analysis revealed seven interpretable stressors, the most serious being the cluster labelled ‘physical demands’. The 10 most negative aspects for each year level (i.e. items with the lowest means) were compiled in a subsequent instrument similar to the original but also including a request for explanatory comments following each item. These three instruments were administered at the end of the same year. Student comments on the latter instruments clarified the statistical results and are presented here in the categories of ‘demands on students’, Hime and energy’, ‘coping with written requirements’, and ‘conforming with mistrusted practices’. Reflections on the implications of this illumination of statistical analysis are then presented.     

Many spaces: Some limitations of single readings

Margaret Mackey is studying at the University of Alberta in Canada, pursuing a Ph.D. in Education. Her particular interest is the development of readers and the importance of the relationship between readers and texts. Previously, in Britain, she taught English in secondary schools and was secondary editor ofThe Essex Review of Children's Literature.     

Challenging from the margins into the mainstream—improving renal services in a collaborative and entrepreneurial spirit

Can the development, both clinical and managerial, of practitioners involved in healthcare be enriched by connecting action learning principles and practice with research on ‘tempered radicals’? Might such connection also assist the efforts of patients and their advocates to create more holistic approaches to patient care? This paper explores these questions with reference to a UK Department of Health project to improve renal services. The prime focus is the experience of a set of set advisers who ‘held the ring’ on the project, supporting the work of the sets and attempting to make sense of the emerging learning.