Thematic continuities: Talking and thinking about adaptation in a socially complex classroom

In this study I rely on sociocultural views of learning and teaching to describe how fifth–sixth‐grade students in a Fostering a Community of Learners (FCL) classroom gradually adopted scientific ideas and language in a socially complex classroom. Students practiced talking science together, using everyday, scientific, and hybrid discourses as they studied endangered species. Students' overarching content themes, or “thematic continuities,” acted as generative scaffolds for developing complex lines of inquiry, leading ultimately to the appropriation of aspects of the biological principle of adaptation. Thematic continuities provided an organizing framework for thinking and talking about previously disconnected science facts, and set the stage for the adaptationist stance. Mixed method data analyses relied on written assessments, in‐depth guided clinical interviews, video and audiotaping of small and large group participant structures, in‐class student work, and ethnographic notes. Data analysis included two discrete levels, the macro (whole and half class) and the intermediate (case study of one small group) to capture both holistic and detailed aspects of dialogue. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 45: 1–30, 2008     

Teacher reform in Indonesia: can offshore programs create lasting pedagogical shift?

Regional and national interest in reforming teaching in Indonesia has seen governments, NGOs and education specialists combine to drive pedagogical changes among school teachers there. Results of these programs have been indifferent at best. This paper reports on teacher reform programs in Provinsi Papua, one of the most marginal societies in Indonesia. The Papuan Provincial Government, AusAID and an Australian University focused on bringing cohorts of secondary teachers and Principals for professional development to Australia. An evaluative, survey inquiry was conducted into the effectiveness of a series of AusAID (now DFAT Australian Aid) Scholarship programs on changing capacities and approaches of teachers and Principals at least eighteen months after their off-shore experience. Findings revealed significant changes in teaching practices, improved quality of teacher-student relationships and improved interactions with colleagues. We argue that our findings demonstrate an appetite for student-centred approaches to teaching and that off-shore programs may have important outcomes that larger scale, in-country programs fail to realise. This has implications for DFAT Australian Aid-funded and similar Scholarship programs.     

Enduring Association Between Parenting and Cortisol: A Meta‐analysis

Warm caregiving is associated with concurrent hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenocortical (HPA) axis function, although the persistence of this association over time is less established. Using longitudinal and intervention studies, this meta‐analysis examined the enduring association of parental warmth (measured when children were ages < 1 through 15 years) with basal cortisol, reactivity and recovery (measured when children were ages < 1 through 25 years; k = 38; N = 6,608). These studies demonstrate no overall associations between parenting and children's HPA axis; instead there are small associations that vary based on moderators such as socioeconomic status, developmental stage, study design and stressor type, though many moderators are confounded. This first wave of studies indicates that the enduring association between parenting and cortisol is small and only understood in the context of other factors, and directly informs four sets of methodological and theoretical recommendations to strengthen this literature.     

Friendship and Popularity in Preschool Classrooms

The development of friendships and peer acceptance and their relation to children's emotional regulation and social-emotional behavior with others among a group of 3-5-year-old children was examined. Peer relationships and social-emotional skills were assessed early in the preschool year and peer relationships were assessed again late in the year. Preschool friendships were prevalent, moderately consistent across situations, and moderately stable over the course of the school year; peer acceptance also was moderately stable. Popularity of preschool children was related to their social behavior with peers both early and late in the school year but acceptance by the group was unrelated to children's emotion regulation. Number of mutual friendship choices was related to children's emotional regulation but not to social behaviors with peers late in the year. Acceptance by the peer group was related to number of mutual friends but there were some well-liked children who had no friends and disliked children who had friends. These results show the importance of popularity and early friendships in preschool classrooms. That is, these peer relationships are lasting and related to social and emotional development. Therefore, efforts to foster both group relations and mutual dyadic relationships should be included in preschool programming.     

Relative Heights of Males and Females in Children's Drawings Taille Relative des Silhouettes Masculines et Fe´minines dans les Dessins d'Enfants Alturas Relativas de las Figuras Masculina y Femenina en los Dibujos de los Niños

Two studies are reported concerning the height of male and female figures in children's drawings. In Study 1, 5 and 7 year olds were asked to draw a man and a lady or a boy and a girl. Adult figures were drawn taller than child figures. For boys, the mean heights of their male and female figures were approximately the same but girls drew their females taller than their male figures. The reason for this was that more girls than boys used different structures (incorporating a skirt or trousers into the drawing) to differentiate their figures; this use of different structures results in a taller drawing of a skirted figure. This finding was replicated in Study 2 in which 7-year-olds were asked to draw a lady in a skirt and another in pyjamas: the skirted figure was taller when it had a different structure from the figure in pyjamas, whereas the mean heights of both figures were approximately the same height when the same structure had been used. Deux travaux de recherche ont étudié la taille des silhouettes masculines et féminines dans les dessins d'enfants. Dans l'étude 1, des enfants de 5 et 7 ans ont dû dessiner un homme et une femme ou un garçon et une fille. Les silhouettes adultes ont été dessinées plus grandes que les silhouettes d'enfants. Les garçons ont dessiné des silhouettes d'hommes et de femmes à peu près de la même taille en moyenne, mais les filles ont dessiné leurs femmes plus grandes que leurs hommes. La raison en est que plus de filles que de garçons utilisaient des structures différentes (en incorporant une jupe ou un pantalon dans le dessin) pour différencier leurs silhouettes; cette utilisation de structures différentes résulte en un dessin plus haut de la silhouette en jupe. Ces résultats se retrouvent dans l'étude 2, où des enfants de 7 ans ont dû dessiner une dame en jupe et une autre en pyjama: la silhouette en jupe était plus haute quand elle avait une structure différente de celle en pyjama, tandis que la hauteur moyenne des deux silhouettes était à peu près la même quand la même structure était utilisée. Se informa de dos estudios relacionados con la altura de las figuras masculina y femenina en los dibujos de los niños. En el Estudio 1, se pidió a niños de 5 y 7 años que dibujan un hombre y una mujer, o un chico y una chica. Las figuras adultas fueron dibujadas con una altura mayor que las figuras de niños. Para los niños, las alturas medias de sus figuras masculinas y femeninas fueron aproximadamente las mismas, pero las niñas dibujaron sus figuras femeninas más altas que las masculinas. La razón para esto fue que más niñas que niños usaron estructuras diferentes (incorporando una falda o pantalones en el dibujo) para diferenciar sus figuras. El uso de estas estructuras diferentes resulta en un dibujo más alto de una figura con falda. Este hallazgo se reprodujo en el Estudio 2, en el que se pidió a niños de 7 años que dibujaran una señora con una falda y otra con un pijama: la figura con falda fue más alta cuando tuvo una estructura diferente a la de la figura con pijama, mientras que las alturas medias de ambas figuras fueron aproximadamente la misma altura cuando la hizo uso de la misma estructura.     

Manager communication and workplace trust: Understanding manager and employee perceptions in the e-world

Today's business environment is populated with individuals who are digitally connected to clients, contractors, managers, and employees. Traditionally, the ways and behaviors of managers had developed and thrived within face-to-face work environments, but as computer-mediated technologies continue to change the boundaries of the business community, permit alternative worksites to increase, and the traditional workday to disappear, the role of the manager has changed. This article focuses on the communication behaviors between managers and their employees, and how these behaviors have changed as digital communication methods have become mainstream within organizations today. The variables of interest are manager communication and workplace trust. The intended outcome is to uncover the expectations that have yet to be agreed upon within the manager–employee e-relationship.     

Effects of integrated video media on student achievement and attitudes in high school chemistry

This study explored the effects of an integrated video media curriculum enhancement on students' achievement and attitudes in a first-year general high school chemistry course within a multiculturally diverse metropolitan school district. Through the use of a treatment-control experimental design, approximately 450 students in Grades 9–12 were sampled on measures of chemistry achievement and attitude over the period of 1 academic year. The results revealed significantly higher achievement scores on standardized measures of achievement as well as on microunit researcher-designed, criterion-referenced quizzes for the treatment students who experienced a general chemistry course enhanced with an integrated use of a structured chemistry video series. Correlation of student achievement with logical thinking ability revealed that students with high levels of logical thinking ability benefited most from the video-enhanced curriculum. Treatment students also scored significantly higher than control students on the chemistry attitude instrument. These results along with qualitative supportive evidence suggest that this integrated video media curriculum intervention can positively affect student chemistry achievement and attitude across ability levels and across a diverse multicultural population. Furthermore, the data suggest that educational science video media in general, and the World of Chemistry video series in particular, are instructional tools that can be used effectively to bring the often abstract, distant worlds of science into close focus and within the personal meaningful realm of each individual student. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 34: 617–631, 1997.     

Seeing History: Malaika Favorite's Furious Flower Poetry Quilt Painting and Pan‐African Memory

Malaika Favorite's Furious Flower Poetry Quilt (2004) is an acrylic painting that depicts 24 portraits of leading poets of the African Diaspora. Commissioned by Dr Joanne Gabbin, English professor and director of the Furious Flower Poetry Center at James Madison University, the painting is part of a larger programme of poetry education. The painting's interweaving of the portraits with fragments from the poets’ writing functions to create an interactive visual‐textual body of poets and poetry, a collection which has been taught at all levels of education from primary school to university. Its quilt structure pays homage to the historic role of women in preserving history and memory. The painting also serves to construct a pan‐African identity and collective memory about slavery, African American history and empowerment.