Culturally responsive peacebuilding pedagogy: a case study of Fambul Tok Peace Clubs in conflict-affected Sierre Leone

Recent research on the peace-promoting agency of teachers in conflict-affected contexts has critiqued the dominance of a menu of curriculum initiatives circulated within aid organizations which ignore or dismiss indigenous cultural resources available within local communities. On the other hand, the turn to local culture in peacebuilding interventions has also been critiqued for idealizing the local. This paper presents a case study of the work of Fambul Tok Peace Clubs in conflict-affected Sierra Leone which aim to support teachers in drawing on local practices, rituals and symbols. Using an interpretative approach, alert to the meanings teachers ascribe to their pedagogical practices, it finds that teachers respond to local culture in multiple, sometimes contradictory ways. These range from celebration of indigenous practices as resources for conflict resolution that resonate with their pupils and communities to critique of their oppressive gender norms and inability to address structural drivers of conflict.     

Using <Emphasis Type="Italic">I am Moving,I am Learning</Emphasis> to Increase Quality Instruction in Head Start Classrooms

Quality teacher-child interactions are characteristic of effective classrooms resulting in benefits for all children, but may be particularly important for children from low-income families. The purpose of this study was to explore the perception of Illinois Head Start teachers related to how I am Moving, I am Learning (IMIL) could improve the quality of their instruction as measured by the Classroom assessment scoring system (CLASS^®), an observation instrument used to assess the quality of teacher-child interactions across three broad domains and their supporting dimensions. While the study found that early childhood professionals perceive IMIL as a meaningful resource, additional research is needed to substantiate the preliminary findings as well as to guide training initiatives that would help Head Start professionals to make the connection between IMIL and the CLASS^®.     

Accounting for Model Uncertainty in the Prediction of University Graduation Rates

Empirical analysis requires researchers to choose which variables to use as controls in their models. Theory should dictate this choice, yet often in social science there are several theories that may suggest the inclusion or exclusion of certain variables as controls. The result of this is that researchers may use different variables in their models and come to disparate conclusions with respect to predicted effects and their statistical significance. In such cases one is uncertain of which particular set of regressors forms the model that represents the data. The approach used below accounts for uncertainty in variable selection by using Bayesian model averaging (BMA). Accounting for uncertainty, we demonstrate that BMA provides better out-of-sample prediction for university graduation rates than results based on alternative variable selection methods.     

Why Are Partnerships Necessary for Computer Classroom Administration?

Computer classrooms (CCs) have been an important part of writing instruction since the mid 1980s, yet little scholarship concerns the roles that directors of computer classrooms play in maintaining these facilities. Based on a review of scholarship of CC administration and an informal survey of CC administrators, this article argues that CC directors walk a tightrope between the role of teacher and manager and that we need to focus on building partnerships to maintain our facilities, because we simply cannot do by ourselves everything that this complex role requires of us.     

The Determinants of Students' Perceived Learning Outcomes and Satisfaction in University Online Education: An Empirical Investigation*

In this study, structural equation modeling is applied to examine the determinants of students' satisfaction and their perceived learning outcomes in the context of university online courses. Independent variables included in the study are course structure, instructor feedback, self‐motivation, learning style, interaction, and instructor facilitation as potential determinants of online learning. A total of 397 valid unduplicated responses from students who have completed at least one online course at a university in the Midwest were used to examine the structural model. The results indicated that all of the antecedent variables significantly affect students' satisfaction. Of the six antecedent variables hypothesized to affect the perceived learning outcomes, only instructor feedback and learning style are significant. The structural model results also reveal that user satisfaction is a significant predictor of learning outcomes. The findings suggest online education can be a superior mode of instruction if it is targeted to learners with specific learning styles (visual and read/write learning styles) and with timely, meaningful instructor feedback of various types.     

University students' expectations of geography,chemistry and biology courses with special reference to students' perception of geography

Conclusion First year students in geography, biology and chemistry indicate many similarities in their expectation of university courses. There are some interesting differences when categories of expectations are considered in isolation and when students are allowed to choose in the ‘final four’ expectations test. Expectations of geography are quite definitely science oriented if one assumes that a ‘practical’, ‘problem solving’ approach is inherently scientific. If these orientations are a consequence mainly of experience, and this would seem to be very likely, then one needs to consider carefully the appropriateness of these orientations. There are aspects of these results which should be of interest to curriculum developers and educators interested in a broad evaluation of student goals. Student's expectations emphasize knowledge, thinking skills, experimental work and related skills, as well as long term goals and attitudes. There is certainly an element of general balance which must be heartening to those who might have had doubts about the motivation of new university students. Students have expectations which indicate that they are aware of and presumably value all four categories of goals.     

Promoting Parents' Social Capital to Increase Children's Attendance in Head Start: Evidence From an Experimental Intervention

Improving children's attendance is a high priority for Head Start and other early childhood education programs serving low-income children. We conducted a randomized control trial in a major northern city to evaluate the impact of a low-cost intervention designed to promote parents' social capital as a potential influence on children's attendance in Head Start centers. The intervention assigned children to treatment group classrooms based on (a) neighborhood of residence (geography condition) or (b) the geography condition plus the opportunity for parents to form partnerships in support of their children's attendance, or to control group classrooms according to Head Start guidelines only. We did not find impacts on average attendance throughout the year. However, the intervention did lead to increased attendance during the winter when average center attendance was lowest. There were no impacts on fall or spring attendance. Follow-up exploratory analyses of focus groups with parents and staff suggested that parents' level of connection and trust, self-generated partnership strategies, and commitment to their children's education may be factors by which parents' social capital expands and children's attendance improves.     

Exploring the relationship between homework task difficulty,student engagement and performance

This article considers the relationship between differential homework task difficulty, student engagement and performance across four Irish post-primary school sites. A total of 236 participants completed all elements of this study. All participants were junior cycle students, aged between 12 and 16 years. The study employed a standardised test–retest approach, with a one week interval between tests. Between testing, participants were randomly subdivided into three cohorts. Each cohort received homework questions of different difficulty levels to complete for one week. The results of this study found that Cohort A, who received the least difficult homework tasks, completed the most non-compulsory questions. Although Cohort A demonstrated higher levels of engagement, no statistically significant difference was found in the change in performance scores of the three cohorts. The results highlight the negative impact of increased task difficulty on student engagement with independent homework tasks. The findings suggest that in order to support student engagement it is important that teachers afford ample opportunity for student success when designing self-directed tasks such as homework.     

Emotional autonomy versus detachment: revisiting the vicissitudes of adolescence and young adulthood

3 studies reexamine Steinberg and Silverberg's construct of "emotional autonomy" (EA) in adolescent and young adult samples. We argue that rather than measuring either autonomy or independence, EA represents emotional detachment from parents. In Study 1, EA is shown to be negatively associated with early adolescents' (n = 148) reported quality of attachment to parents, but not to friends. In Study 2, EA is shown to be positively related to experienced parental rejection but largely unrelated to perceived independence-support in a high school sample (n = 193). In Study 3, EA in young adults (n = 104) is inversely related to measures of family cohesion, parental acceptance, independence support, and self-perceived lovability. Finally, a projective measure of parental nurturance taken by a subsample of subjects (n = 58) was associated negatively with EA but positively with perceived lovability. Discussion concerns the conceptualization of attachment versus detachment, dependence, and autonomy in theories of adolescence.