Identification of Alcohol by Smell among Preschoolers: Evidence for Early Socialization about Drugs Occurring in the Home

This study tested preschoolers' ability to provide accurate verbal associations to alcoholic beverage odors and whether this ability was related to parental drinking patterns and motivations. Older preschoolers performed better than younger preschoolers; photographic cues improved performance; children who correctly identified a substance by smell had socially appropriate knowledge of the culturally appropriate users of the substance; children reported liking substances that are used mainly by children and adults, and generally reported disliking substances whose use is legally limited to adults only; children were better at identifying substances they commonly use, but success at recognition of alcoholic beverages was related to heavier parental drinking and use of alcohol for escape reasons. Findings have implications for theories of socialization to drug use and for models of prevention.     

Mothers' Perspectives of the Peer-Related Social Development of Young Children with Developmental Delays and Communication Disorders

Mothers' perspectives of children's peer-related social development were obtained from matched groups of young children with developmental delays, communicative disorders, and typically developing children. Structured interviews elicited information on numerous issues including mothers' views of the importance of children's social skills development, rationales with respect to why children succeed or had difficulties on specific social tasks, and the socialization strategies mothers employ to promote children's peer-related social development. Mothers also reported on their efforts to arrange play with peers for their child and the degree to which they monitored that play. Results indicated that mothers rated children's social development as highly important, offered primarily internal rationales (e.g., traits, dispositions) for success or difficulties in achieving social tasks, and endorsed moderate and low power socialization strategies. Differences across the three groups were minimal. Mothers arranged play with peers least often for children with developmental delays and communication disorders, but monitored play more extensively for children with delays. These finding were discussed in terms of mothers adopting a developmental orientation to understand children's social development and their implications for maternal participation in peer competence intervention programs.     

School Choice and the Polarization of Public Schools in A Global City: A Bourdieusian GIS Approach

ABSTRACT

Over the past three decades, urban sociologists have shed light on the intensifying social inequality between the wealthiest and poorest neighborhoods in global cities; yet limited research has been done to illuminate the relationships between urban polarization and school choice (i.e., where parents choose schools for their children). This study sociospatially examines the patterns of secondary school choice in the global city of Toronto to illuminate the relationship between urban polarization and school choice. In doing so, this study combines Pierre Bourdieu’s sociospatial theory with a geographic information systems (GIS) approach. Overall, we found that popular schools and schools with specialized choice programs tend to be located in high-status neighborhoods, defined as neighborhoods with residents in the top 20% of family income, home prices, education attainment, and representation from the dominant culture. We also show that mobile students who choose popular schools or highly sought-after specialized programs tend to come from advantaged neighborhoods. Meanwhile, local students who choose a regular school in their neighborhood tend to come from low-status neighborhoods. With a new interdisciplinary approach, this study contributes to a more spatialized understanding of how social inequality and polarization account for school choice.     

Action research as a bridge between pre‐service teacher education and in‐service professional development for students and teacher educators

The first part of this paper describes the rationale for and process of engaging student teachers in action research during the fourth and final year of their teacher education, which is also their first year as teachers (induction year). During this year the novice teachers are engaged in an action research project as a compulsory assignment in the course ‘Teacher as researcher’. The objective of the course is to provide novice teachers with reflective tools for systematic examination of their work as teachers. The second part of the paper documents the learning process of the teachers of the course (which can also be viewed as action research), since we jointly planned the course, engaged in reflective dialogues with the students and among ourselves and systematically examined our work by personal diary writing and inviting informal and more formal (questionnaire) feedback from the students. The process of our action research is documented in this paper, whereas the product is hopefully implemented in teaching a better course and in more effective support of our students.

La première partie de cet article explique la logique d'une recherche basée sur l'action menée pendant la quatrième et dernière année de formation éducative, qui par ailleurs est aussi la première année de pratique comme enseignant (année d'essai). Pendant l'année, les novices doivent s'adonner à un projet de recherche pour le cours ‘Enseignant comme chercheur’ dont le but est de leur procurer des outils de réflexion pour pouvoir examiner systématiquement leur travail comme enseignant. La seconde partie de l'article illustre ce que nous, les professeurs du cours, apprenons, ce qui peut être considéré comme recherche basée sur l'action puisque nous avons pensé le cours conjointement, et avons établi des dialogues de réflexion avec les étudiants et entre nous, avons systématiquement examiné notre travail en tenant un journal, avons requis des commentaries critiques formels (sous forme d'un questionnaire) et informels des étudiants. Le processus de notre recherche basée sur l'action est illustré dans cet article et nous espérons que son fruit se fera sentir dans un cours meilleur et un soutien plus efficace des étudiants.

La primera parte de este trabajo describe el racional y el proceso de involucramiento de estudiantes de marcos de formación docente en la investigación en acción, durante el cuarto y último año de su formación, el cual a su vez constituye el primer año como docentes (año de prueba). Durante este año los jóvenes docentes se involucrarán en el proyecto de investigación en acción como una tarea obligatoria en el marco del curso ‘El docente como investigador’. El objetivo del curso es de proveer a los jóvenes docentes de herramientas reflexivas para lograr un análisis sistemático de su labor como docentes. La segunda parte del trabajo documenta el proceso de enseñanza de los docentes del curso, nosotros, que a su vez puede ser visto como una investigación en acción ya que hemos planificado el curso en conjunto, nos sumergimos en diálogos reflexivos con los estudiantes y entre nosotros, y hemos analizado sistemáticamente nuestra tarea a través de la escritura de un diario personal, además de solicitar en forma informal y más formal (cuestionario) una retroalimentación de parte de los estudiantes. El proceso de investigación en acción se documenta en este trabajo, esperamos que el producto del mismo sea implementado en el mejoramiento del curso y un apoyo más eficaz para nuestros estudiantes.

Der erste Teil dieses Artikels beschreibt die Leitgedanken und Vorgehensweise eines Aktionsforschungsprojekts mit Lehramtsstudenten im vierten (somit letzten) Jahr ihrer Ausbildung, das zugleich ihr erstes Jahr als Lehrer ist (‘Bewährungsjahr’). Im Laufe dieses Jahrs sind die Neulehrer verpflichtet, an einem Aktionsforschungsprojekt im Rahmen einer Pflichtlehrveranstaltung, ‘Lehrende als Forschende’ teilzunehmen. Ziel dieser Lehrveranstaltung ist es, Neulehrer mit reflektiven Instrumenten für die systematische Untersuchung ihrer eigenen Arbeit als Lehrer auszurüsten. Im zweiten Teil dieses Artikels wird der Lernprozess der Lehrpersonen dokumentiert, die diese Pflichtlehrveranstaltung gemeinsam entwickelten und abhalten. In kritsch‐reflektivem Dialog mit den Studierenden und miteinander, durch Führen eines perseonlichen Tagebuchs und Auseinandersetzung mit formalen und informalen Reaktionen der Studierenden auf die Lehrveranstaltung, fand somit ein Aktionsforschungsprojekt der Lehrerausbilder selbst statt. Der Lernprozess, der sich in diesem Artikel niederschlägt, wird in einer verbesserten Lehrveranstaltung und einer effektiveren Unterstützung der Studierenden beim Übergang in die Berufswirklichkeit umgesetzt.     

Using a Substitute Activity to Eliminate Eye Poking in a 3‐year‐old Visually Impaired Child in the Classroom

This paper documents the effectiveness of a substitute activity in decreasing the frequency of eye poking in a 3‐year‐old nonretarded visually impaired child who was involved in a highly participatory, full‐day reading program with four sighted classmates. Following 49 days of training, eye poking had been eliminated, and the subject was able to read 25 word cards. Elements to consider when selecting a substitute activity to interrupt an established self‐stimulating behaviour such as eye poking are discussed.     

Market segmentation for improved distance education program planning

Distance education planners face two basic, yet difficult decisions: which students should be targeted and which programs should be offered? This paper reports the process and results of the planning committee of a consortium of engineering schools in the United States that was tasked with these very decisions. A market research study measured the program preferences of potential students. Three program characteristics (course type, delivery method, and time availability) were examined. The results show there is no ‘average’ student and no single program will satisfy all the needs of the student population. Rather, the committee must choose one or more segments based on the program preferences of the students and the resources required to provide the programs.     

Orthographic analogies and early reading: Explorations of performance and variation in two transfer tasks

Two experiments investigated the use of orthographic analogies in 6 year olds. In Experiment 1, 26 children were shown CVC clue and target word pairs sharing either rimes (`fork' – `pork'), heads (`fork' – `ford') or were controls (`fork' – `hurl'). A modest advantage for rime-clued over head-cluedtargets was unreliable over by-subject and by-item analyses. Improvements in target word reading were correlated with pretest scaffolding errors (e.g. `pork' misread as `park'). In Experiment 2, 50 children were pretaught three clue words for each target word before being shown words that shared either rimes (`leak' – `peak'), or medial vowel digraphs (`leak') – `bean'), or were controls (`leak' – `herd'). A modest advantage for rime-clued over vowel digraph-clued targets was again unreliable over by-subject and by-item analyses. Neither rime nor phoneme awareness measures were correlated with rime inference use. Vowel, but not rime inference, was correlated with scaffolding errors. Rime detection was the strongest predictor of reading ability, whereas phoneme segmentation was the strongest predictor of the use of scaffolding errors.