An ORACLE chronicle: A decade of classroom research

This article describes a decade of classroom research carried out in the United Kingdom at the University of Leicester. The ORACLE Project (Observational Research and Classroom Learning Evaluation) began in 1975 and consisted of two main projects. The first concerned a longitudinal process-product study of teaching and learning in the junior-age (7–11) classrooms while the second study concentrated on one particular aspect of the organization of these classrooms, collaborative group work. The major findings of both studies are described including the categorization of teaching styles and pupil types and the relationship between them. Evidence concerning the effectiveness of different teaching styles is also presented. More importantly, the article explores some of the possible reasons which might explain both teachers' and pupils' behaviour. It is suggested that process-product research still has an important part to play in the study of classrooms but that the outcome measures might, more usefully, concentrate on social factors affecting pupils' learning and the ways in which teachers can create supportive classroom climates rather than on the traditional measures of achievement.     

CLASSROOM CLIMATE IN AN ORTHODOX DAY SCHOOL: The Contribution of Emotional Intelligence,Demographics, and Classroom Context

I had completed a long list of wonderful ideas for the Synagogue School of the 21st Century, and was about to sit down and write my paper, when my eye glanced upon the Spring-Summer 1990 issue of Jewish Education. When I noticed the articles of Alvin Schiff and Rela Geffen Monson, I read through them before beginning to write: Lo and behold, everything I had written down and was already there — in Jewish Education under the title, “Toward the Year 2000.”     

Evaluation of a randomized intervention to delay sexual initiation among fifth-graders followed through the sixth grade

US adolescents initiate sex at increasingly younger ages, yet few pregnancy prevention interventions for children as young as 10-12 years old have been evaluated. Sixteen Washington, DC schools were randomly assigned to intervention versus control conditions. Beginning in 2001/02 with fifth-grade students and continuing during the sixth grade, students completed pre-intervention and post-intervention surveys each school year. Each year, the intervention included 10-13 classroom sessions related to delaying sexual initiation. Linear hierarchical models compared outcome changes between intervention and control groups by gender over time. Results show the intervention significantly decreased a rise over time in the anticipation of having sex in the next 12 months among intervention boys versus control boys, but it had no other outcome effects. Among girls, the intervention had no significant outcome effects. One exception is that for both genders, compared with control students, intervention students increased their pubertal knowledge. In conclusion, a school-based curriculum to delay sexual involvement among fifth-grade and sixth-grade high-risk youths had limited impact. Additional research is necessary to outline effective interventions, and more intensive, comprehensive interventions may be required to counteract adverse circumstances in students' lives and pervasive influences toward early sex.ClinicalTrials. gov identifier: NCT00341471.     

How do technique and coordination change during learning of a whole-body task: Application to the upstart in gymnastics

ABSTRACT

When learning swinging skills on a bar there has been conflicting advice in the research literature regarding whether to coach the “gold standard” technique to novices. The present study aimed to determine how technique (joint angle time histories) and (inter-limb) coordination changed as novice gymnasts learned a fundamental gymnastics skill (the upstart). It was hypothesised that both technique and coordination would become more like an expert as learning progressed. Eight novice gymnasts, unable to perform an upstart, underwent four months of training, with the number of successful upstarts out of 10 recorded at the start and then every month subsequently. In the first and last sessions motion capture was used to determine joint kinematics. Root mean squared differences for the joint angle time histories and continuous relative phase at the shoulder and hip were calculated between the novices and an expert gymnast. As training progressed technique and coordination became more like the expert gymnast. The more successful novices were better able to time their actions within the swing than the less successful novices. Gymnastics coaches teach towards a “gold standard” technique since being successful at the skill is not the only goal, as considerations for future skill development are made.     

Modalities of Infant–Mother Interaction in Japanese,Japanese American Immigrant,and European American Dyads

Cultural variation in relations and moment‐to‐moment contingencies of infant–mother person‐oriented and object‐oriented interactions were compared in 118 Japanese, Japanese American immigrant, and European American dyads with 5.5‐month‐olds. Infant and mother person‐oriented behaviors were related in all cultural groups, but infant and mother object‐oriented behaviors were related only among European Americans. Infant and mother behaviors within each modality were mutually contingent in all groups. Culture moderated lead–lag relations: Japanese infants were more likely than their mothers to respond in object‐oriented interactions; European American mothers were more likely than their infants to respond in person‐oriented interactions. Japanese American dyads behaved like European American dyads. Interactions, infant effects, and parent socialization findings are set in cultural and accultural models of infant–mother transactions.