Children's literature north of the Arctic Circle: Teaching in an unusual community

Children's Literature in Education -     

The Effects of Physical Abuse on Children's Social Relationships

Social behavior and peer status of 87 physically abused 8–12-year-old urban children were compared with those of 87 case-matched nonmaltreated classmates. Peer nominations and peer ratings were collected in classrooms, social networks were assessed by child interview, family variables were assessed by interviewing mothers, and behavior problems were rated by parents and teachers. Significant findings were that abused children had lower peer status and less positive reciprocity with peers chosen as friends; they were rated by peers as more aggressive and less cooperative and by parents and teachers as more disturbed; and their social networks showed more insularity, atypicality, and negativity. Social behavior as perceived by peers accounted for a significant portion of the variance in social status; global disturbance measures did not add to this association. Results are discussed in terms of a context of family violence in the development of social maladjustment.     

Openness and reciprocity: Indigenous community requirements for hosting university students*

ABSTRACT

Although there is a substantial literature critical of the colonising discourses of higher education in both teaching and learning and research, there has been relatively little commentary about work integrated learning (WIL) from an Indigenous perspective. Currently, the higher education discourse of WIL is dominated by a teaching and learning perspective, which focuses almost entirely on the benefits to the student and/or the educational institution. This leaves the Indigenous community experience invisible and continues to reinforce a neo-colonial relationship between higher education providers and Indigenous people. This article reports the findings of a study undertaken in partnership with the Aboriginal community of Cherbourg in Queensland, Australia, which sought to understand the community experience of students undertaking WIL within Cherbourg. Twenty yarns, undertaken by a research assistant employed from the community, provided the basis for identifying key meanings and requirements of the community in their hosting of higher education students. The recent experience of students by the community was found to be positive with reciprocity, openness and practical benefit over time being central concerns. The study concludes that WIL with Indigenous agencies and communities requires decolonising, temporal and relational frames to be employed in the process of negotiating the purpose and processes of higher education student engagement.     

An Experiment toward Establishing Communication from Audience to Lecturer

Many techniques, audio and video, are available for projecting a lecturer's performance to a large audience, but techniques for feedback from audience to lecturer are almost totally lacking. The return communication link, if available, would be an important factor in the performances of lecturer and audience, hence in the educational process. An experiment using 30 students for a semester is described. Each student had a pair of push-buttons at his seat, and could answer either "red" or "black." Answers were then "frozen" and totals displayed. After discussion the instructor inserted the correct answer. The circuit then "graded" each student's answer and recorded the score in a count-register, which accumulated each student's score throughout the semester. The electrical problems were easily ironed out; the psychological effects were more complicated and interesting. Frequent scoring at unexpected times produced too much tension and interfered with rapport. Scoring during a few minutes at one end of the period and use of the machine at other times for information only without registration of scores seemed to be satisfactory. Typical student reaction, "Does this mean we have to know our lesson every day?"