The Young Child's Pictorial Representation of the Human Figure

This study investigated reasons for the omission of the torso typical in most young children's drawings of the human figure. Do they have an incomplete mental image of the human figure; if so will the torso be omitted from a manikin task too? As the head is normally drawn first, is the torso simply forgotten; if so will children include it if they are asked to draw the torso first? Eighty tadpole‐drawers (aged between 2 years 7 months and 5 years) were randomly allocated to a drawing or a manikin condition; they were further subdivided into a head‐first or torso‐first condition. Significantly more children produced a conventional figure when they constructed a manikin compared with those who were asked to draw; the order of body parts (head‐first vs torso‐first) had no significant effect. These results suggest that young children omit the torso from their human figures because they have yet to devise a way of drawing it, perhaps because it is a relatively unimportant item; there is little evidence that they have simply forgotten it or that their mental model for the human figure is incomplete.     

The Effect of Information Framing on Academic Task Completion

Information framing was investigated as a classroom management technique for academic task completion. Framing effect refers to the finding that people's choices are affected by how pre‐decisional information is framed (Tversky & Kahneman, 1984). In five 3rd and 4th Grade classrooms, teachers observed task completion rates of their students under five different framing conditions: unframed instruction; positively framed instruction with (a) group and (b) individual consequence; negatively framed instruction with (a) group and (b) individual consequence. Task completion rates were significantly greater under all framed instruction conditions than unframed, with effect sizes ranging from 0.21 to 0.32 and much greater at the class level. Improvement rates corresponding to effect sizes ranged from 20% to 70% at the class level, showing the usefulness of framing instructional directives.     

The relative effects of university success courses and individualized interventions for students with learning disabilities

Little is known about the relative effects of post‐secondary learning services for students with learning disabilities. We compared outcomes for students with learning disabilities who selected to: (1) take an academic learning success course (course‐intervention), (2) have regular individual interventions (high‐intervention) or (3) use services only as needed (low‐intervention). Pre‐ and post‐test comparisons revealed improvements in academic self‐efficacy and academic resourcefulness for students in the course‐ and high‐intervention groups. The course‐intervention group also showed decreases in their failure attributions to bad luck and increases in their general repertoire of learned resourcefulness skills in comparison to the high‐intervention group and had significantly higher year‐end GPAs in comparison to the low‐intervention group. Here we find positive outcomes for students with learning disabilities taking a course that teaches post‐secondary learning and academic skills.     

Steps toward innovative childbirth education: selected strategies from the blueprint for action

To mark the 50th anniversary of Lamaze International, Childbirth Connection celebrates landmark accomplishments in education for childbearing women and families, and takes stock of the changing educational needs and preferences of current childbearing families in looking toward the future. Childbirth Connection's multi-year, multi-stakeholder Transforming Maternity Care initiative resulted in two landmark reports: 2020 Vision for a High-Quality, High-Value Maternity Care System and Blueprint for Action: Steps Toward a High-Quality, High-Value Maternity Care System. Selected recommendations of greatest relevance to the field of childbirth education are discussed, and the new Transforming Maternity Care Partnership is introduced.     

前行、攀升与飞翔——与朱永新对话教师专业发展

教师专业水平的高低决定其教学效果的优劣,影响教师专业水平高低的因素一是师范教育的质量,二是教师的继续教育与提高。而面对教师队伍现状,后者显得更为重要。作为已经进入教师队伍的教师,可以从三个方面去提高自己的专业素养和专业水平:专业阅读——站在大师的肩膀上前行;专业写作——站在自己的肩膀上攀升;专业发展共同体——站在集体的肩膀上飞翔。     

均衡发展:我国义务教育发展的战略选择

新中国建立后,共和国就把提高民族素质、普及义务教育当做崇高而神圣的责任。从把义务教育作为教育工作的重中之重,到把农村义务教育作为教育工作的重中之重,再到把均衡发展作为义务教育的重中之重,是教育思想的升华、教育工作重点的转变。均衡发展是我国义务教育发展历史和现实的双重选择。在整个国家教育体系和教育战略布局中,必须始终把义务教育作为教育改革发展的重中之重,把均衡发展作为义务教育的重中之重。积极推进县(市、区)域内率先实现义务教育均衡发展,依法保证每个适龄儿童接受义务教育的基本权利和享有均等的受教育机会,着力统筹地区、城乡、学校、群体教育均衡发展,构建教育均衡发展制度机制。