‘Tugging at our sleeves’: understanding experiences of obligation in teaching

Classrooms are complex spaces. These complexities magnify the teacher’s sense of obligation to children and the subsequent experiences of being overwhelmed, which can influence the teacher’s decision to leave the profession. Yet, we believe that a teacher’s obligation to children is inherent to morally defensible teaching. Drawn from a larger research project, we explore one teacher’s experience of obligation as a promissory relation between the teacher and the child, and consider the effect this has on the teacher’s relationships with other professionals and her disengagement from the profession. In doing so, we will illustrate the teacher’s experiences of obligation; the ways these are complicated within the matrix of relationships with professional colleagues; and the possibilities for professional disengagement to be considered an act of moral resistance.     

Peer Conflicts of Preschool Children: Issues, Resolution, Incidence, and Age-Related Patterns

This study examined 2-, 3-, and 4-year-olds' peer conflicts in the naturalistic classroom setting during free-play time. 400 preschoolers from 25 classrooms were videotaped. Only the first conflict event generated by each target-child observation was included in the analysis. Of the 400 target-child observations, 322 generated a conflict event. In general, there was a shift in the issues of conflict from tangible material concerns to those that were more mental and social. 2-year-olds had a higher proportion of distribution of resources conflicts than did 3- and 4-year-olds. Conflicts about play and ideas significantly increased with age while those stemming from physical harm were low overall. Further, child-generated resolutions increased while insistence decreased significantly with age. What changes with development appears to be the issues of conflict and the way they are handled; not the incidence of conflict per se. These findings support the proposal that conflicts are natural contexts in which children develop socially, morally and cognitively. Implications for teaching are discussed.     

Exploratory learning with a computer simulation for control theory: Learning processes and instructional support

Computer simulations create a context that is well fitted for exploratory or discovery learning. The aim of the present two studies was to gain deeper insight into what constitutes exploratory learning and to assess the effects of a number of instructional support measures. The domain involved was control theory at the university level. In the first study we made an inventory of exploratory learning processes by observing 17 students working with a computer simulation and analyzing students' thinking-aloud protocols. Subjects received a structured assignment with hints as an instructional support measure. In the second study, 91 students received an open-ended assignment with instructional support that consisted of an information sheet and a set of fill-in forms. On both sheets and forms, six cells were presented. A cell was given for each of the following six learning processes: identifying variables and parameters, generating hypotheses, designing an experiment, predicting, interpreting data, and drawing of conclusions. Information sheets were either of a domain specific or of a general nature. The set of fill-in forms were either free or had the cell HYPOTHESIS already filled in. The statements of the students on the fill-in forms were analyzed in a stepwise order. Twenty-two detailed learning processes were identified and classified. Two of the main classes of processes are transformative and regulative. Both studies showed that students were reluctant to apply learning processes that are considered characteristic for exploratory learning. Furthermore, students had problems with the exploratory learning processes, especially with the processes of generating hypotheses, interpreting data, and drawing conclusions. Effects of the instructional support measures were not conclusive. Hints did not result in significant improvements of the study process. Supporting learning processes with information sheets appeared to help students in performing learning processes, but no different effects of domain specific and general information could be found. Students who were provided with hypotheses showed a higher global activity level and higher scores in domain correctness of their learning processes.     

Shared Responsibility and Issues of Injustice and Harm within Sport

The purpose of this article is to present a conceptual model of shared responsibility within the sport context. Focusing on issues of harm and injustice, this model proposes that organized sport can exist as an oppressive social structure that endorses ignorance through the presence of asymmetrical power relations. This ignorance reinforces oppressive structures as well as fosters vulnerability, a byproduct that, in turn, also reinforces oppressive structures. Rather than assigning responsibility to any one entity specifically, however, this article proposes that each and every individual with a vested interest in sport possess some degree of responsibility in securing safe, fair, and just sport experiences. Thus, the concept of shared responsibility is offered as a moderating factor through which the processes that result from oppressive structures may be interrupted and the structures themselves broken down.