Infants' tactual discrimination of novel and familiar tactual stimuli

40 10-month-old infants were given 2 min to explore tactually an object in a totally darkened room. Subsequently, during a 2-min test trial in the dark, half of the infants were given the same object and half were given a novel shape. Infants presented with the novel shape evidenced significantly longer durations of manipulation than infants presented with familiar forms. Infants are thus capable of tactually discriminating novel and familiar shapes in the absence of vision and demonstrate a preference for novelty within the tactual modality.     

Repeating History: Teacher Licensure Testing in Massachusetts

This paper reviews the history of initial teacher licensure testing in the United States from the 1980s and summarizes the issues and problems that have ensued. The author shows how Massachusetts, a state that has only fairly recently started this testing, is experiencing many of the same difficulties. Included are extensive tables, based on the authors research, providing information concerning the specific tests that were used in the past and an update showing what most states participating in this testing are currently using for their teacher licensure purposes.     

Towards an ethic of cultural responsiveness in researching Māori and Tongan children’s learning in everyday settings

ABSTRACT

To inform a larger research programme on informal teaching and learning in everyday settings in Aotearoa New Zealand, two parallel pilot studies were conducted to determine an appropriate method for capturing the everyday learning of culturally and socio-economically diverse children. The studies took place during the six-week holiday break between school years. In one, three Māori children participated, in the other three Tongan children. This paper discusses the unanticipated issues that arose as a result of the ‘ethic of cultural responsiveness’ that the research team developed during the course of the research. These included: the insights made visible by culturally informed interpretation of unremarkable everyday activities; the effects on family dynamics of the research; and responsibilities to participants. It is argued that for Māori and Tongan children culture and family are central to everyday learning and therefore the research process and interpretation of data must be culturally informed.     

Children's Capacity to Consent to Participation in Psychological Research: Empirical Findings

This is a series of studies that attempted to obtain some systematic data on the capacity of children between the ages of 5 and 12 to consent to psychological research. Most of the children understood all or most of what they were asked to do in a psychology study, but few children below the age of 12 fully understood or believed that their performance would be confidential. Similarly, most children appeared to know that they could end their participation in the study, but younger children were not clear on the details of how to accomplish this, and many of all ages believed that there would be some negative consequences if they asked to stop. Moreover, obtaining prior permission from parents, while providing protection for the children, appeared to introduce additional pressure on them to agree to participate in the research and to continue once they had agreed. It is concluded that in general children of these ages do have the capacity to meaningfully assent to participation in research, but that there are substantial problems in guaranteeing that they are able to make this decision freely.     

Teacher candidates' transformative thinking on issues of social justice

This article examined how teacher candidates' thoughts shifted regarding social inequity in a sophomore-level Foundations of Education course located in the mid-Atlantic region of the United States. First, we described in detail the teacher education program and course, as well as class simulations, school observations, course readings and class discussions. Then, we examined the narratives of our teacher candidates' transformation. We found that the afore-mentioned experiences successfully supported transformative thinking regarding social justice. By the end of the course, many teacher candidates began to take ownership over their learning and started viewing themselves as responsible change agents. They began to examine education as embedded in larger social contexts, scrutinized their own schooling experiences and stepped outside of their own conceptions of education to initiate discussions of social justice.     

Educational Approaches in Autism: What we know about what we do

There has been little attempt to relate well‐known educational approaches in autism to increased psychological understanding about the condition. This paper addresses that gap. Four discrete educational approaches to autism (Higashi, Lovaas, Option, TEACCH), and two ‘eclectic’ approaches (SPELL, one LEA specific), are explored within the context of four psychological interpretations of autism. Our purpose is to better understand how the different educational approaches in autism align with, or diverge from, the core purposes of teachers, namely to develop independence and critical thought to the optimum level possible for individual pupils, irrespective of their underlying condition.