Children as citizens: literacies for social participation

The last decade has seen, in the policy arena, a broad global push for children to be treated as active participants in society rather than as the passive recipients of adult decisions and interventions. The topic of literacy learning and teaching has, however, been absent from much of the policy and literature on children's social participation. This paper is an exploratory foray into possible connections between literacy and citizenship from the perspective of young children and those responsible for their education. Drawing from both sociocultural and semiotic perspectives on literacy, this analysis crosses between institutional texts, ethnographic accounts and children's own representations of their places in the world. A hierarchical model of literacy development, which emphasises the teaching of basic decoding skills in the early years, is associated with a view of young children as future citizens rather than as active social participants. Recognising children's agency, and supporting their meaningful participation, requires literacies of social participation.     

Connecting learning to the world beyond the classroom through collaborative philosophical inquiry

This study explored the impact of facilitating collaborative philosophical inquiry (CPI), in the tradition of “Philosophy for Children,” on connectedness pedagogies. The study employed an experimental design that included 59 primary teachers in 2 groups. The experimental group received an intervention that comprised training in CPI and the comparison group received training in Thinking Tools (graphic organisers), a subset of the CPI training. Lessons were coded on four variables of connectedness pedagogies, across the two groups, at three time-points. Teacher interviews were conducted to gather participants’ perspectives. Between-groups analysis of variance (ANOVA) on particular measures of pedagogy revealed that CPI significantly broadened teachers’ pedagogical repertoires, in ways that included drawing on students’ background knowledge and preparing a problem-based curriculum which connects students to the world beyond the classroom.     

A path analytic model linking foundational skills to Grade 3 state reading achievement

Considerable evidence supports that close to two thirds of all fourth-grade students read at less than adequate levels on reading achievement tests and that the problem has persisted for decades. This study of 1,064 third-grade students at risk for reading failure uses path analytic techniques to measure a hypothesized model linking developmental spelling, sight- and pseudo-word reading, and reading fluency to achievement on an end-of-year state reading test. While all hypothesized paths were found to be significant, paths not hypothesized were also significant. These paths included direct effects for spelling development on fluency and reading achievement, as well as the direct effect of sight-word reading on state reading achievement. In total, the model predicted 41.9% of the variance in state reading achievement and found that students proficient at foundational reading skills were 7 times more likely to be proficient on the state reading achievement assessment.     

It's a New World: Multiculturalism in a virtual environment

The notion of multiculturalism is vital in our global society. The emergence of efficient and effective distance learning technologies has permitted the integration of innovative techniques in the delivery of multicultural content to individuals who need flexible and convenient education and training opportunities. Strategies form the instructional foundation that promotes engagement of learners. Integral to these strategies are those that relate to personal belief systems and extension of those belief systems to behaviors. This article will add new ways of teaching and learning in the areas of diversity and multiculturalism by offering a model for building highly supportive, engaging online environments, where instructors, trainers, and instructional designers use multiple strategies to build virtual environments that foster a sense of dignity, respect, and understanding: all critical elements in a global environment.     

The racializing forces of/in AI educational technologies

ABSTRACT

In this article, we examine the sociopolitical implications of AI technologies as they are integrated into writing instruction and assessment. Drawing from new materialist and Black feminist thought, we consider how learning analytics platforms for writing are animated by and through entanglements of algorithmic reasoning, state standards and assessments, embodied literacy practices, and sociopolitical relations. We do a close reading of research and development documents associated with Essay Helper, a machine learning platform that provides formative feedback on student writing based on standards-aligned rubrics and training data. In particular, we consider the performative acts of the algorithm in the Essay Helper platform – both in the ways that reconstitutes material-discursive relations of difference, and its implications for transactions of teaching and learning. We argue that, through these processes, the algorithms function as racializing assemblages, and conclude by suggesting pathways toward alternative futures that reconfigure the sociopolitical relations the platform inherits.     

Ally,Advocate, Activist: Semester-long civic engagement in the basic communication course

Courses: Basic communication course.

Objectives: Using the Ally, Advocate, Activist framework in a basic communication course will help students apply course concepts to their lives and communities. This framework helps students practice civic engagement while mastering the skills that are typically tested for assessment purposes in the basic communication course.     

The Effects of Cooperative Learning on Student Achievement and Motivation in a High School Geometry Class

In this study, the effects of a form of cooperative group instruction (Student Teams Achievement Divisions) on student motivation and achievement in a high school geometry class were examined. Eighty students were randomly assigned to either a control group receiving traditional instruction or one of two treatment groups receiving cooperative learning instruction. Geometry achievement was assessed using scores from the IOWA Test of Basic Skills and teacher-made exams. An 83-item questionnaire was used as a pretest, posttest, and post-posttest assessment of efficacy, intrinsic valuing, goal orientation, and cognitive processing. Students in the cooperative treatment groups exhibited significantly greater gains than the control group in geometry achievement, efficacy, intrinsic valuing of geometry, learning goal orientation, and reported uses of deep processing strategies. The implications for cooperative group structures and motivation theory are discussed.