Maternal and Paternal Disciplinary Styles: Relations with Preschoolers'' Playground Behavioral Orientations and Peer Status

To explore relations among parents' self-reported disciplinary styles, preschoolers' playground behavioral orientations, and peer status, 106 mothers and fathers of preschool-age children (age range = 40-71 months) participated in home disciplinary style interviews. Observations of their children's playground behavior in preschool settings and measures of sociometric status were also obtained. Results indicated that children of more inductive mothers and fathers (i.e., less power assertive) exhibited fewer disruptive playground behaviors. In addition, daughters and older preschoolers of inductive mothers exhibited more prosocial behavior. Children of inductive mothers were also more preferred by peers. Few significant relations were found between paternal discipline and child behavior/peer status. Age-related patterns of behavior also indicated that older preschoolers who engaged in more prosocial and less antisocial and disruptive playground behavior were more preferred by peers. In addition, child behaviors were found to mediate maternal discipline and peer status.     

Awkward Practice: Teaching media in English

The Models of Media Education research project in England explored major issues about the aims and methods of media teaching amongst teachers of English. Its central research question was 'What are teachers of English doing when they say they are doing media education at Key Stage 4 (ages 14–16) in secondary schools?' This article begins with a brief contextualisation of the current curriculum for media teaching within English. It then examines, through a detailed case study, the work of one teacher in the classroom and relates this to the wider picture in secondary schools. This is followed by a discussion of the project's general findings. It concludes that the study of media production and institutions is frequently avoided by teachers of English and that teaching methods often repress essential aspects of social learning in relation to the media, privileging limited teacher knowledge over young people's own cultural experience. Finally, it suggests a new focus for research in the future that will encompass these neglected learning areas, teaching methods and new media technologies.     

Service family support – a small-scale project of educational psychologists working with parents

Being in a Service family can be a difficult position for children and parents alike due to high levels of mobility, parental separation, and the remaining parent’s stress and emotional well-being. A Service family is defined as a family with one or both parents employed by the Ministry of Defence (MOD). The current project looked at the under-researched area of supporting parents in Service families with an intervention funded by the MOD. Work carried out involved inviting parents of primary aged children to take part in consultation sessions and parent discussion groups, facilitated by educational psychologists (EPs). These looked at the psychological concepts of separation, anxiety, self esteem and friendship as well as positive psychology. Outcomes indicated that parents experienced an increase in confidence and a decrease in concern following the consultation sessions. Parents valued the support of the group and found the sessions practical and informative. This intervention filled a gap in support for Service parents and indicates a role for EPs in terms of further input and research.     

The Teacher''s Role in Facilitating Memory and Study Strategy Development in the Elementary School Classroom

The efforts of 69 elementary school teachers to instruct children in cognitive processing activities were observed. Although the teaching of such activities was relatively infrequent, it varied by grade (occurring more often in grades 2-3 than in higher or lower grades) and by the content of instruction. Teachers of grade 4 and above more often provided rationales for the use of cognitive strategies than did teachers of younger children. In a second study, children of three achievement levels were selected from classrooms in which teachers varied in their use of suggestions regarding cognitive processes. Subsequent to training in the use of a memory strategy, children's performance on a maintenance trial was evaluated: Among average and low achievers, those whose teachers were relatively high in strategy suggestions showed better maintenance and more deliberate use of the trained strategy than did children whose teachers rarely made strategy suggestions. The role of school experience in the development of children's memory skills is discussed.     

Problem solving and engineering design,introducing bachelor students to engineering practice at K. U. Leuven

A present-day engineer has a large scientific knowledge; he is a team-player, eloquent communicator and life-long learner. At the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, the course ‘Problem Solving and Engineering Design’ introduces engineering students from the first semester onwards into real engineering practice and teamwork. Working in small groups, the students integrate basic principles of all regular scientific courses to solve real-life engineering problems. This makes the coursework more interesting and helps the students to master the abstract theories presented in lectures. Through the increasing complexity of the assignments, the students are gradually confronted with technical and social competencies such as a systematic approach to problem solving and engineering design, teamwork, project management and communication skills. ‘Problem Solving and Engineering Design’ has been implemented in the bachelor of engineering since September 2003. The current paper describes the course objectives, the way the course is implemented to support project-based learning and the feedback obtained from the didactic team and the students.     

It happens all the time,you just don't take any notice

This article discusses research undertaken with a group of ten adolescent school girls about their understandings and perceptions of sexual harassment. The research took place 2 years after the Department of Education, Queensland, had developed and disseminated its Sexual Harassment Policy and Grievance Procedures (1994). In a series of interviews, the research participants revealed their understandings of sexual harassment and the factors they considered when making the decision to report sexual harassment and/or to utilize existing grievance procedures. The research indicates that the elimination of sexual harassment must take into account the complexities and ambiguities at work in the school lives of adolescent girls. At present it would appear that schools are driven by the legal imperative to implement policy, and have yet to focus on the educative responsibility attending the policy. Schools’ educative responsibility for the effective implementation of sexual harassment policy requires that students have opportunities to examine in the formal curriculum a range of discourses that expose the contradictory ways in which gender, power, sexuality and desire are constructed in education and schooling. The findings of this research therefore have significant implications for school communities, curriculum developers and policy makers     

An interdisciplinary analysis of microteaching evaluation forms: how peer feedback forms shape what constitutes “good teaching”

Microteaching, a standard method for developing teaching skills, places high importance on peer feedback, which is guided by post-session feedback forms. This paper focuses on how feedback forms can shape what becomes understood as important to teaching. A sample of 10 microteaching evaluation forms drawn from North American postsecondary education institutions were examined using both qualitative and quantitative methods. Through a mixed-methods, interdisciplinary approach combining quantitative form classification based on distinct teaching elements with qualitative analysis drawing on Foucauldian and post-structural feminisms, key challenges are identified in the way that peer feedback forms may shape perceptions of what constitutes “good teaching”. We interpret that the close attention paid to the management of the body and the disproportionate focus on presentation and style may foreclose other modes of teaching beyond a conventional lecture-based class. This leads to a discussion on the ways in which the evaluation forms can be enhanced to provide a more effective educational tool.     

Playing Soccer on the Football Field: The Persistence of Gender Inequities for Women Faculty

Sports metaphor is employed as an epistemic tool for describing psychological, sociocultural, and organizational factors that contribute to enduring gender bias, inequalities, and discrimination faced by women faculty at colleges and universities. Quantitative and qualitative data from two comprehensive institutional campus climate studies show that women and men faculty experience their work lives differently. Based upon our analyses, we argue for restructuring the embedded normative values and processes that inform the academic playbook.