Eloen graces us: two perspectives of a home birth

In continuing The Journal of Perinatal Education's mission to promote normal birth, this issue's "Celebrate Birth!" column features mother and daughter, Nancy Ferguson and Shelley Beebee, who share two complementary perspectives of the magic and mystery surrounding the home birth of Eloen, Nancy's granddaughter and Shelley's daughter.     

Children's observations,ideas, and the development of classroom theories about light

The purpose of this study was to examine the interaction between children's observations of light and shadows and their developing theories in the context of a series of lessons in a third-grade classroom. Detailed analysis of videotapes of the children's discussions of their investigations into light and shadows led to the finding that the children's observations of light led to the development of a limited theory about light that was largely useful in explaining classroom investigations. However, this theory of light was less helpful in helping them understanding shadow phenomena and was too limited to explain out-of-classroom observations of light and shadows.     

Parent perspectives on inclusive education in Budapest

The purpose of this study was to better understand parents’ perspectives of education in Budapest, particularly parents of children with disabilities or children who struggle with learning. Nine parents were interviewed. Parents found schools for their child with a disability to be lacking in terms of updated materials, methods and service provision for students; relationships with families and the burden placed on families to advocate for their child or find alternatives were also problematic. Changes are required at all levels of the educational system, including parent involvement and teacher preparation programmes.     

The special needs of teachers of special needs children

More and more, special needs children are entering early childhood education programs. But the integration of special needs children into the regular classroom — and their acceptance by their nonhandicapped peers — continues to be a concern of both parents and teachers. Many of the proposed benefits of mainstreaming are based upon opportunities for interactions between special needs children and their nonhandicapped peers. What we know about enhancing the quality of these interactions has definite implications for teachers. After examining the research on social relations and social skills training programs for special needs children, we will discuss these implications.Cary A. Buzzelli is an assistant professor in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction at the University of Alabama at Birmingham in Birmingham, Alabama. Nancy File is a doctoral student in the Department of Child Development and Family Studies at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana.     

Emotion regulation in context: the jealousy complex between young siblings and its relations with child and family characteristics

Jealousy is a social emotion that has received little attention by developmental researchers. The current study examined sibling jealousy and its relations to child and family characteristics in 60 families with a 16-month-old toddler and an older preschool-age sibling. Sibling jealousy was elicited in social triads consisting of a parent (mother or father) and the two siblings. Positive marital relationship quality (i.e., love and relationship maintenance) was a particularly strong predictor of the older siblings' abilities to regulate jealousy reactions in the mother sessions. Younger siblings' jealous affect with mothers was linked to the child's temperament, whereas older siblings' jealous affect with mothers was related to the child's emotional understanding. Younger siblings displayed more behavioral dysregulation in the mother-sibling triads if there was greater sibling rivalry reported by mothers. Session order (i.e., which sibling was challenged first in the jealousy paradigm) had a strong effect on both the affect and behavioral dysregulation displayed by the older and younger siblings. Results are discussed with respect to the need for future research to consider social relationships as developmental contexts for young children's emotion regulation.     

The Changing World of Home Technology: A Microsoft Case Study

We have entered the “digital decade,” when advances in technology will become deeply woven into home life. But how will technology evolve from an experience that is technologically challenging to an experience that is intuitive and fun? This article reviews new technologies and related possibilities that Microsoft is envisioning in the context of home life. As a specific example of the impact of home technology, we review lessons learned from the adoption and integration of a home Internet device from a user experience perspective. Looking ahead to the next decade, we then take a look at Microsoft's vision for the home of the future, examining new directions.     

The use of mobile technology for work‐based assessment: the student experience

This paper outlines a research project conducted at Leeds University School of Medicine with Assessment & Learning in Practice Settings Centre for Excellence in Teaching and Learning, collaboration between the Universities of Leeds, Huddersfield, Bradford, Leeds Metropolitan University and the University of York St John. The research conducted is a proof of concept, examining the impact of delivering competency based assessment via personal digital assistants (PDAs) amongst a group of final year undergraduate medical students. This evaluation reports the student experience of mobile technology for assessment with positive effects; concluding that overall the students found completing assessments using a PDA straight forward and that the structured format of the assessment resulted in an increased, improved level of feedback, allowing students to improve their skills during the placement. A relationship between using the PDA for learning and setting goals for achievement was clearly demonstrated.     

Making instruction and assessment responsive to diverse students' progress: group-administered dynamic assessment in teaching mathematics

This study entailed a 3 (instructional intervention) × 2 (assessment-type) between-subjects experimental design employing a pretest-intervention-posttest methodology. The instructional interventions were administered between subjects in three conditions: (a) dynamic instruction, (b) triarchic or theory of successful intelligence-control instruction, and (c) standard-control instruction. The assessment-type consisted between subjects of either (a) a group-administered dynamic posttest or (b) the same group-administered posttest interspersed with a control filler activity. Performance in different mathematics content areas taught in fourth grade was investigated. In total, 1,332 students and 63 classroom teachers in 24 schools across six school districts participated in the study. The results indicate the advantages of using dynamic instruction and assessment in regular classrooms while teaching mathematics, especially when the student body is highly ethnically diverse.     

Predicting teacher commitment: The impact of school climate and social–emotional learning

The aim of this study was to investigate whether school climate and social–emotional learning impact teacher commitment. The sample included 664 public schoolteachers from British Columbia and Ontario in Canada. Participants completed an online questionnaire about teacher commitment, school climate, and social–emotional learning. Binary logistic regression analyses showed that positive school climates significantly predicted three forms of teacher commitment: greater general professional commitment, future professional commitment, and organizational commitment. Of the school climate variables, student relations and collaboration among staff predicted commitment. In addition, stronger beliefs and integration of social–emotional learning predicted two types of teacher commitment: greater general professional commitment and organizational commitment. Of the social–emotional learning variables, the support and promotion of a social–emotional learning culture across the school and comfort with and regular implementation of social–emotional learning in the classroom predicted greater teacher commitment. Implications for practice and research are discussed. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Dumb Dorky Girls and Wimpy Boys: Gendered Themes in Diary Cartoon Novels

In this paper, we focus on gendered themes promulgated in three books written in diary cartoon form. Although written for different audiences, each of these books constructs gender norms in similar ways. They promote heteronormative gender roles for boys and girls by endorsing traditional femininities and hegemonic masculinities through the following themes: popularity, mean girls/bullying, self-concept and self-esteem, friendship, and adult naïveté. First, we discuss the ways in which gender is implicated in children’s literature. Then, we describe and analyze the diary cartoon books, contrasting and comparing those with girl protagonists and that with a boy protagonist. Finally, we explore the gendered implications in the books’ themes, concluding that girls and boys are represented in different manners that reinforce gender essentialism and heteronormativity.