Not the nine o'clock service: Using children's culture

This paper discusses current thinking and practice about the use of popular culture in the primary school to teach literacy. It attempts to question the methods that attempt to galvanise children's interest in popular texts to teach the current literacy curriculum. It argues that there is an incompatibility between the pleasures and practices of the world of popular culture and the traditional environment and curricula of school. The paper argues that instead of ‘using’ children's culture to teach the literacy curriculum in school, children's vibrant, sophisticated and valuable culture needs to be embedded within it.     

Including children with special educational needs in mainstream classrooms: implications for pedagogy from a systematic review

This paper reports on the outcomes of the first in a series of three systematic literature reviews in inclusive education. The aims include establishing what research has been undertaken in the area of effective pedagogical approaches to enable children with special educational needs to be included in mainstream classrooms, synthesising themes in a purposive sample of the literature and examining how this research might inform practice. One outcome of this first literature review was an overview of the various ways that teachers are effectively including children with special educational needs. In this paper, using the literature, we share some of the characteristics of the teaching approaches that have been shown to lead to positive outcomes in the areas of academic attainment, social involvement and improved behaviour. We discuss how these approaches, particularly those involving peer group interactions, might be used by teachers to support all learners.     

An Australian perspective of a forest school: shaping a sense of place to support learning

There is growing discussion on the use of local outdoor environments to enhance a person’s sense of belonging. Sense of belonging and sense of place are components that can promote positive learning identities and attachments to community and, in turn, address issues of cycles of disadvantage. This article researched the impact of an interpretation of the forest school approach to learning in a primary school in regional Western Australia. Using a case-study approach, the research aimed to develop understandings of experiences with regard to self-esteem, sense of belonging and engagement and how these factors supported learning. Results indicated that strategies such as those suggested by the forest school approach can promote a sense of self, belonging and relational connections. These in turn can help to develop dimensions of place, identified as place attachment and place meaning. This has implications for future planning by providing greater depth in understanding the impact of the forest school approach to teaching and learning within the context of the single case primary school. It also raises questions as to how place-shaped identity nurtured in this approach to learning can be positively transferred back into the school and classroom setting.     

Adolescent Work, Vocational Development, and Education

This review examines contemporary issues in vocational development with emphasis on adolescents' work experiences in social context. Attention is directed to the changing social and cultural context for vocational development, the influence of work experience on adolescent development and educational achievement, and theoretical approaches that guide contemporary studies of vocational development and career maturity. In light of the utility of current theories, new directions are suggested to enhance understanding of adolescent employment, vocational development, and educational pursuits. Social policy initiatives to promote adolescents' exercise of agency and their vocational development are considered.     

Articulating identities and analyzing belonging: a multistep intervention that affirms and informs a diversity of students

This article describes a multistep intervention developed for an undergraduate course called ‘Advocating Diversity in Higher Education.’ The goal of the intervention was to affirm diversity and foster a sense of inclusion among students within and beyond the course. We contextualize the intervention in student protests during 2015 and 2016 regarding racial and other forms of discrimination on college and university campuses in the United States, and we describe how it is informed by several theoretical frames and associated practices: intersectionality, belonging, and radical pedagogical partnership. Co-authored by the faculty member who co-designed and co-taught the course, an undergraduate student who co-designed the course, and a recent graduate who co-created the course when she took it, the article embodies the inclusion and radical partnership it analyzes. It is intended to offer individuals working in higher education an intervention that can be adapted across contexts.     

课堂教学气氛美的特点、价值与实现 ——基于气氛美学新视角的探讨

教学气氛用来描述在特定的教学空间中发生的课堂情绪.教学气氛的主要特点是双重性,它既是教学的手段又是教学的目的;既是影响教学的主体,也是被影响的客体;它具有半即兴性的性质.教学气氛美是教学美的一种表现形式,具有感性和理性和谐的特性,能调动学生的学习动力,富有新意并且需要教师和学生共同创造和维持.教学气氛美是发展学生核心素养的重要途径,它让学习更有意义,增加迁移的可能性,提高学生对学习的兴趣,完善学习状态,从而培养学生的终身学习能力,提高学生的创造力.     

Interpersonal Neural Synchrony During Father–Child Problem Solving: An fNIRS Hyperscanning Study

Interpersonal neural synchrony (INS) has been previously evidenced in mother–child interactions, yet findings concerning father–child interaction are wanting. The current experiment examined whether fathers and their 5- to 6-year-old children (N = 66) synchronize their brain activity during a naturalistic interaction, and addressed paternal and child factors related to INS. Compared to individual problem solving and rest, father–child dyads showed increased INS in bilateral dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and left temporo-parietal junction during cooperative problem solving. Furthermore, the father’s attitude toward his role as a parent was positively related to INS during the cooperation condition. These results highlight the implication of the father’s attitude to parenting in INS processes for the first time.     

Application of a rolled cookie laboratory exercise as a method for students to gain undergraduate research experience in food science

Hands‐on learning is a proven method of improving students’ critical thinking skills. Undergraduate research projects are encouraged to help students develop research and laboratory skills. If properly designed and implemented, research opportunities can be embedded in existing student coursework, which increases the number of students who can participate in these research opportunities. Objectives of this study were twofold: (a) to determine students’ perceptions of an undergraduate research laboratory exercise and (b) provide an innovative laboratory exercise for instructors to implement in their own classrooms. Rolled cookies were prepared by a food science class according to American Association of Cereal Chemists Method 10–50.05, using sucrose and alternative sweeteners and evaluated for physicochemical and organoleptic attributes. After completing the exercise, students evaluated cookie physical/organoleptic properties using a hedonic scale, were asked about personal demographics, and were surveyed about research/writing skills and food processing knowledge using a Likert scale. Approximately 50% of the class responded to the 2018 survey and nearly 85% responded to the 2019 survey. On average, 81.6% of students responded with “Strongly Agree” or “Somewhat Agree” to all survey questions, including data collection and analysis, critical thinking skills, experimental design, and replications. Students responded that detailed instructions provided by instructors were beneficial to their ability to understand experimental design, scientific communication, and the importance of using scientific resources.