Use of Decontextualized Talk Across Story Contexts: How Oral Storytelling and Emergent Reading Can Scaffold Children's Development

This study examined 33 mothers' and preschoolers' oral language skills (decontextualized discourse) across an emergent reading, shared reading, and oral storytelling interaction. The sample comprised primarily African American families from various socioeconomic backgrounds, ranging from Head Start families to middle-income families. Two measures of decontextualized language were assessed—literate language features and type of talk (i.e., a coding scheme categorizing comments/questions on a continuum from contextualized to decontextualized talk). Mothers used more decontextualized language during the oral storytelling interaction versus the other interactions, but children used more during the emergent reading interaction. Mothers with advanced literacy skills were more likely to make decontextualized comments/questions and use mental/linguistic verbs during the interactions. Results are discussed in terms of implications for parent-child home literacy interventions.     

Metacognition and Self-Regulation in James,Piaget, and Vygotsky

This article investigates the intertwined constructs of metacognition and self-regulation as they emerge in the works and theories of James, Piaget, and Vygotsky. To coordinate this exploration, we use an interpretive framework based on the relation of subject and object. In this framework, James’s perspective on metacognition and self-regulation is aligned with the Self, Piaget’s with the other and object, and Vygotsky’s with the medium or agency of language. We explore how metacognition and self-regulation function within the realm of human behavior and development as described in the works of each of these theorists. Key questions or issues that emerge for current research are outlined, and the limitations and benefits of each theorist’s perspective vis-à-vis metacognition and self-regulation are discussed.     

Students’ perceptions of teaching behaviour in Turkish secondary education: a Mokken Scaling of My Teacher Questionnaire

Learning Environments Research - Teacher behaviour has significant impact on student learning and outcomes and determines the teaching quality in learning environments. The My Teacher Questionnaire...     

Relationship between teaching motivation and teaching behaviour of secondary education teachers in Indonesia (Relación entre la motivación docente y el comportamiento docente en profesores de educación secundaria en Indonesia)

ABSTRACT

Research on teacher motivation is increasing substantially. Several studies have demonstrated the relationship between the motivation and teaching behaviour of teachers. The objective of this study was to investigate the relationship between the perceived motivation of teachers and their actual teaching behaviour in the context of secondary education. A survey on teacher motivation yielded responses from 315 teachers from 28 schools across 13 provinces in Indonesia. These teachers were observed in their classrooms by trained observers using a validated observation scheme. Results of a multilevel analysis indicate that: (1) perceived controlled motivation does not predict actual teaching behaviour; (2) perceived autonomous motivation is a positive predictor of at least some domains of actual teaching behaviour. Higher levels of perceived autonomous motivation are associated with higher scores on classroom management and clarity of instruction. There is also a slight tendency (p < .10) for autonomous motivation to explain differences in other domains of teaching behaviour, with the exception of activating teaching. This study highlights the importance of autonomous motivation in relation to teaching quality.     

First-Year College Students’ Conflict with Religion and Science

This study took place during a First Year Seminar course where 20 incoming college freshmen studied the central topic of the nature of science within the context of biological evolution. The instructor researched students’ understandings in the nature of science as they progressed through the course by examining a variety of qualitative and quantitative data including class writings, pre- and post-test selected items from the VOSTS (Views on Science-Technology-Society), and interviews. The intended outcomes of the course were to reduce the number of student misconceptions in the nature of science and to ease student apprehension when learning about evolution. Data were analyzed to determine whether students were moving toward a more generally accepted idea of the nature of science or toward another type of misconception.     

Situating Data Science: Exploring How Relationships to Data Shape Learning

The emerging field of Data Science has had a large impact on science and society. This has led to over a decade of calls to establish a corresponding field of Data Science Education. There is still a need, however, to more deeply conceptualize what a field of Data Science Education might entail in terms of scope, responsibility, and execution. This special issue explores how one distinguishing feature of Data Science—its focus on data collected from social and environmental contexts within which learners often find themselves deeply embedded—suggests serious implications for learning and education. The learning sciences is uniquely positioned to investigate how such contextual embeddings impact learners’ engagement with data including conceptual, experiential, communal, racialized, spatial, and political dimensions. This special issue demonstrates the richly layered relationships learners build with data and reveals them to be not merely utilitarian mechanisms for learning about data, but a critical part of navigating data as social text and understanding Data Science as a discipline. Together, the contributions offer a vision of how the learning sciences can contribute to a more expansive, agentive and socially aware Data Science Education.