Inquiry-Based Early Childhood Teacher Preparation: The Personal Learning Plan Method

The purpose of this paper is to describe a Personal Learning Plan method used in undergraduate early childhood education courses as a specific case of learner-centered, inquiry-based instruction. A rationale for this approach to instruction, the instructional context in which the specific method was developed and used, the method framework (i.e., preliminary and final plans, activities, products, and reflections), and the evaluation process will be discussed. Finally, a discussion of the perceived benefits and challenges of the method as it has been implemented will be presented.     

Science Journals in the Preschool Classroom

We believe that science journals can be used in the preschool classroom as tools for supporting and assessing children’s learning of science- and literacy-relevant content and procedures. To support this argument, we review changes in attitudes about the cognitive competencies of preschoolers and in teaching and learning expectations for early childhood education. We describe practical aspects of using science notebooks with this age group and discuss specific ways that journals support children’s learning. Finally, the role of journals in assessment is discussed.     

The Benefits of Using Sociodrama in the Elementary Classroom: Promoting Caring Relationships Among Educators and Students

In the current age of academic rigor, standards and accountability, the fostering of caring relationships in the classroom may not always be a priority. Expressing care for another person is a skill that can be taught and nurtured through a supportive educational environment. Sociodrama encourages each of its participants to develop self-confidence and self-expression through risk-taking and exploration in activities that explore real life personal feelings and situations. By using sociodrama as a means for exploring issues in the classroom it is possible to celebrate participants’ individuality and to create caring and nurturing relationships among educators and students. This article examines the research describing the benefits of including sociodrama in the elementary curriculum.     

Classroom Community and Peer Culture in Kindergarten

This study reflects a naturalistic, interpretive 5-month study in a public school morning kindergarten regarding the children’s social development and creation of a peer culture during the transitional months into public education. The main focus of the research was the children’s perspectives on these transitions and their evolving classroom community and peer culture in response to the teacher, classroom and school environment. This study captures the dynamic and complex flow of activity that occurs in classrooms, the give and take of relationships, and the agency that children take in developing peer culture as one piece of community. Elements of the peer culture that are foregrounded include secondary adjustments as realized in clean-up strategies, protecting play materials over time, and hypothetical competition with the afternoon kindergarten class.     

Was bedingt die Wahl eines nicht empfohlenen höheren Bildungsgangs?

According to PIRLS 17 % of German parents choose a non-recommended secondary school-type for their child. Only few empirical studies try to identify parental characteristics related to their rejection of a school-type recommendation from their child’s teacher. Based on the sociological rational choice theory, research primarily focuses on characteristics of social background and on cost-benefit considerations. In addition to this, the present study analyzes to what extent parental evaluation and attribution of the child’s achievement and the appraisal of the primary school’s advice influence the probability of parents’ rejection of the recommendation. The focus of this investigation is on parents whose educational aspirations and choices of school are higher than the teachers’ recommendations. By means of logistic regression we analyze, how well parental decision-making – i. e. adopting the teacher’s recommendation vs. insisting on own, non-compliant opinion – can be predicted by theory-based independent variables. Avoidance of a loss in educational status, parental knowledge of the school system and the perceived quality of a primary school’s advice are revealed to be significant predictors of this rejection.     

Following Young Students’ Understanding of Three Phenomena in which Transformations of Matter Occur

In order to develop successful teaching approaches to transformations of matter, we need to know more about how young students develop an understanding of these processes. In this longitudinal study, we followed 25 students from 7 to 13 years of age in their reasoning about transformations of matter. The questions addressed included how the students’ understanding of transformations of matter changed and how we can make sense of individual learning pathways. In interviews performed once or twice every year the students described and explained three situations: fading leaves left on the ground, a burning candle, and a glass of water covered with a glass plate on which some mist had formed. When analysing the interviews, we found a common pathway of how the students’ ideas changed over the years in each one of the situations. When analysing individual student’s interviews with Ausubel’s assimilation theory we could discern subordinate, superordinate and combinatorial learning. How these findings can contribute to an improvement of teaching about transformations of matter is discussed.