Getting up close with Taoist: Chinese perspectives on physical literacy

PROSPECTS - This article argues that ancient Chinese Tao (“The Way”) philosophy—which can be traced back more than two thousand years—can explain the essence and philosophy...     

Improving the reading skills of young people with Duchenne muscular dystrophy in preparation for adulthood

Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) is a progressive genetic condition that affects both muscle and brain. Children with DMD are at risk of psycho‐social difficulties such as poor academic achievement and behavioural and socio‐emotional problems. This article by Janet Hoskin and Angela Fawcett, both from the University of Swansea, describes how 34 participants with DMD took part in a 36‐week online literacy intervention which was delivered in partnership between home and school. The key objective was to improve reading skill. Participants were re‐tested at 36 weeks for single word and text level reading, comprehension, fluency, processing and timed single word reading. Pre and post results indicated that children who followed the intervention for 36 weeks made significant improvement in their single word reading (p = <0.0001), timed single word reading (p = <0.0001) and text level reading (p = <0.004). They also made significant improvement in their fluency and comprehension scores. The results showed that children with DMD and related literacy difficulties benefit from a regular, structured and systematic synthetic phonics programme. With young people with DMD increasingly living into adulthood, early literacy intervention is particularly important to ensure optimum career and training opportunities.     

Teaching the partial products algorithm with the concrete representational abstract sequence and the strategic instruction model

Elementary standards include multiplication of single-digit numbers and students advance to solve complex problems and demonstrate procedural fluency in algorithms. The ability to illustrate procedural fluency in algorithms is dependent on the development of understanding and reasoning in multiplication. Development of multiplicative reasoning provides the foundation for advanced mathematics and algebraic reasoning. For students who struggle in mathematics, instruction in multiplication algorithms should ensure conceptual understanding so that students have a foundation for success in advanced mathematics. The concrete representational abstract (CRA) sequence addresses conceptual understanding and the strategic instruction model (SIM) supports procedural knowledge. The current pilot study combined these methods to teach elementary students the partial products algorithm. Twelve students in grades four and five participated in the study, receiving instruction from teachers in their school during an intervention period. Within a pre-experimental design, using pre- and postintervention data, students showed a significant change in performance. The article will describe and show how teachers implemented the CRA-SIM interventions and discuss implications for practice.     

Depression and Anxiety in the Postnatal Period: An Examination of Infants’ Home Language Environment,Vocalizations, and Expressive Language Abilities

This longitudinal study investigated the effects of maternal emotional health concerns, on infants’ home language environment, vocalization quantity, and expressive language skills. Mothers and their infants (at 6 and 12 months; 21 mothers with depression and or anxiety and 21 controls) provided day-long home-language recordings. Compared with controls, risk group recordings contained fewer mother–infant conversational turns and infant vocalizations, but daily number of adult word counts showed no group difference. Furthermore, conversational turns and infant vocalizations were stronger predictors of infants’ 18-month vocabulary size than depression and anxiety measures. However, anxiety levels moderated the effect of conversational turns on vocabulary size. These results suggest that variability in mothers’ emotional health influences infants’ language environment and later language ability.     

Teaching Subtraction and Multiplication with Regrouping Using the Concrete‐Representational‐Abstract Sequence and Strategic Instruction Model

Based on Common Core Standards (2010), mathematics interventions should emphasize conceptual understanding of numbers and operations as well as fluency. For students at risk for failure, the concrete‐representational‐abstract (CRA) sequence and the Strategic Instruction Model (SIM) have been shown effective in teaching computation with an emphasis on conceptual understanding. No studies have investigated the effects of CRA and SIM for teaching multiplication with regrouping. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to replicate and extend the literature, teaching subtraction and multiplication with regrouping using CRA and SIM. Three students receiving tier three mathematics interventions participated. A multiple‐probe across behaviors design was used to show a functional relation. All of the students demonstrated increases in fluency across all regrouping tasks.     

What's in a game? A study of games as an instructional method in an adult education class

An experiential approach employing game design and play was tried in a graduate adult education class. This article describes a follow-up study which attempted to capture class members' perceptions on value of game design/play; group interactions in game development; effectiveness of game design/play as a learning stimulant; appropriateness of the grading criteria; likelihood to use a similar strategy in their own teaching; and, identification of helpful resources in gaming. Game design/play appears to offer an effective adult teaching strategy which produces a variety of learning outcomes.Jessica Somers earned her BBA and MBA degrees at West Georgia College. She is currently a doctoral student in instructional technology at the University of Georgia and is a self-employed computer contractor.Margaret E. Holt is associate professor of adult education at the University of Georgia and is an associate with the Charles F. Kettering Foundation. Her most recent publication is a book co-edited with Dr. George Lopos for Jossey-Bass Publishers entitled,Perspectives on Educational Certificate Programs (Winter 1991). She is also a former editor ofInnovative Higher Education.     

Assessing the importance of subvocalization during normal silent reading

A concurrent speaking paradigm was used to assess the importance of subvocalization during the reading of lengthy natural prose passages. Experiment 1 showed that having subjects count aloud while reading interfered with their comprehension and recall of the text's details as well as its gist, but did not affect the durability of the memory trace. Experiment 2 replicated these findings and established the validity of using concurrent speaking as a technique to interfere with speech-specific processes during silent reading. By pitting concurrent speaking against a nonverbal concurrent task, Experiment 2 provided evidence that its detrimental effect on comprehension was due to a competition for speech-related resources rather than a general competition for cognitive resources. Interfering with speech recoding during silent reading led to an average decrement of 10–12% in comprehension performance. However, Experiment 2 also showed that there were substantial individual differences in the magnitude of the speech interference effect and that these differences were systematically related to subjective reports about the concurrent speaking manipulation.     

Integrating Writing into the Early Childhood Curriculum: A Frame for Intentional and Meaningful Writing Experiences

Despite the importance of early writing development to children’s school success, research documents that early childhood teachers spend little time actively supporting children’s writing development in preschool classrooms. This article provides a framework for integrating writing experiences across the early childhood curriculum. Practical examples are given regarding how writing opportunities can be incorporated into existing activities and play settings. The metaphor of backgrounding and foregrounding writing experiences is used to illustrate ways that teachers can set writing rich environments and activities in a manner that makes it easier for teachers to bring these experiences into everyday learning opportunities. Attention is given to how teachers can bring writing to the foreground of the curriculum by drawing attention to writing materials, making natural connections with children’s interest and play, and scaffolding children’s early writing attempts and experiences.     

Choosing Strategies of Children and the Impact of Age and Gender on Library Use: Insights for Librarians

Libraries continue to be an important source of books for young people, though relatively little is known about how gender and age influence visitation frequency for this purpose. In addition, while supporting children to choose books is part of the role of both school and public librarians, little is known about the strategies and processes children use to select books, and the beliefs and attitudes that underpin them. Findings from the 2016 Western Australian Study in Children's Book Reading offer insights into these areas that can support librarians to guide book choice, and they encourage targeted intervention to ensure that boys and older children make use of their libraries to support their literacy growth.     

Family Reading Behavior and Early Literacy Skills in Preschool Children From Low-Income Backgrounds

This study investigated the family reading behavior of 233 preschool children from low-income backgrounds who were attending Head Start. Parents completed a survey of their family reading behavior, including Child Reading, Parent Reading Interest, and Parent-Child Reading Interaction, and provided demographic data on their educational level, parent and child age, and family size. Children's receptive vocabulary, story and print concepts, letter knowledge, and general emergent literacy skills were assessed in the fall of their preschool year. Analyses focused on the variation in family reading behavior, the relationship between different dimensions of family reading behavior, and the contribution of family reading behavior to early literacy skills. Results indicated that Parent-Child Reading Interaction and Child Reading Interest were significantly related to children's early literacy skills. In addition, multiple regression analyses indicated that Parent-Child Reading Interaction was a small yet significant predictor of children's receptive vocabulary, story and print concepts, and general emergent literacy skills, above and beyond the influence of demographic variables. Child Reading Interest was a significant, albeit small, predictor of letter knowledge above and beyond these demographic controls. Implications of these results for the early literacy education of children of low-income families are discussed.