Mindfulness and situational interest

In an attempt to exploit the concept of mindfulness for educational contexts, we investigated the role of dispositional mindfulness as an internal resource for the development of situational interest. Using an online questionnaire, we assessed participants’ (N?=?161, mean age?=?30.4 years, 74% female, 66% university students) mindfulness, presented them with a text on bionics, and asked them to indicate their situational interest regarding the material (t1). One week later, they indicated their maintained situational interest (t2). Findings reveal a positive relationship between mindfulness and situational interest at t1, especially with regard to participants’ ability to be momentarily ‘present’ and affective aspects of situational interest. Furthermore, we found an indirect effect of mindfulness on maintained situational interest at t2 via participants’ interest at t1. These findings were independent from participants’ initial interest and knowledge. Contrary to our expectation, we did not find a moderation effect for mindfulness on the relation between situational interest at t1 and t2. We discuss these findings in terms of implications for formal learning contexts.     

Shared book experiences in kindergarten: Helping children come to literacy

Repetitive shared book experiences provided by public school kindergarten staff were used to improve literacy competence and preparation for formal first-grade reading instruction. The entire 1983–1984 kindergarten population (N = 228) of a rural, racially mixed, southeastern school district in South Carolina received eight shared reading experiences for each of three classic children's books. The shared book experience is defined as the situation in which a group of two or three children sit close enough to an adult to see the print as a book is read. Readings were provided by teachers, teacher aides, school volunteers, older students, and audiotapes. The children were individually administered the South Carolina State Department of Education's mandated Cognitive Skills Assessment Battery (Boehm & Slater, 1974) during the first 3 weeks of first grade. The control group, composed of the 1982–1983 kindergarten population (N = 269), had 73% of its children at or above the state cutoff for first-grade readiness, and the experimental group had 83% at or above the cutoff. (T = 22.2, p < .01). In addition, the school district staff reported a 10% increase in the number of children being placed in “top” reading groups. Repetitive, personal shared book experiences were found to enhance literacy awareness and competence, to improve preparation for formal first grade, and to broaden children's literacy interests.     

Understanding Organisational Features of Texts: A Realistic Expectation at Key Stage Two?

This article explores the expectations of the National Literacy Framework (NLSF) and highlights some problem areas in the context of the National Curriculum (NC) for English. One such area relates to the assessment criteria which were selected from the framework to address children’s understanding of organisational features of texts in reading and writing. The aim of the CamPAS English Project (Cambridge Primary Assessment Scheme) was to develop materials to support teacher assessment at key stage 2, focusing on the text level strand of the National Literacy Framework. Assessment units were developed which were linked to criteria selected from the framework. The materials were trialled with key stage 2 children and the data analysis provided evidence about the factors which affected their performance in reading and writing in the context of the NLSF text level criteria. Analyses of pupil performance and the documentation of the NC and the NLSF suggested that there were problems in this curriculum area.     

What do children think as they plan their writing?

This study followed from a previous investigation into the impact of guidance given in writing tasks when six hundred eleven year olds completed writing tasks with varying content and structural support. The aim was to find if the support facilitated better writing and if the nature of the support had differing effects. The findings suggested that the support provided in the stimuli did not significantly affect performance. A qualitative study investigated the reasons why the support did not have a significant effect and explored the factors which affected children as they faced a writing task. ‘Think aloud’ strategies were used to encourage them to verbalise their thoughts as they planned a piece of writing from a given stimulus. The children were then interviewed according to a semi‐structured interview schedule and their planning sheets were also considered.     

What Can Be Learned from Computer Modeling? Comparing Expository and Modeling Approaches to Teaching Dynamic Systems Behavior

Computer modeling has been widely promoted as a means to attain higher order learning outcomes. Substantiating these benefits, however, has been problematic due to a lack of proper assessment tools. In this study, we compared computer modeling with expository instruction, using a tailored assessment designed to reveal the benefits of either mode of instruction. The assessment addresses proficiency in declarative knowledge, application, construction, and evaluation. The subscales differentiate between simple and complex structure. The learning task concerns the dynamics of global warming. We found that, for complex tasks, the modeling group outperformed the expository group on declarative knowledge and on evaluating complex models and data. No differences were found with regard to the application of knowledge or the creation of models. These results confirmed that modeling and direct instruction lead to qualitatively different learning outcomes, and that these two modes of instruction cannot be compared on a single “effectiveness measure”.     

Exploring Grade 7 Students’ Responses to Shaun Tan’s The Red Tree

As art objects, picturebooks have the potential to contribute to readers’ aesthetic development. Many scholars and practitioners have recognized how using picturebooks with older students can augment their reading motivation and extend their understanding of visual elements of art and design, as well as develop their literacy, language, and thinking skills. The Red Tree (Tan, 2001) was one of the picturebooks used during two multifaceted, classroom-based research projects with Grade 7 students. The studies explored how the students responded to and interpreted picturebooks and graphic novels with metafictive devices, and examined how the students transferred their knowledge and understanding of various literary and art elements when creating their own multimodal print texts. Overall, the content analysis of the students’ written responses to The Red Tree revealed an adoption of an “aesthetic attitude” (Doonan, Looking at Pictures in Picture Books, 1993, p. 11) towards the picturebook. The students’ responses reflected how they positioned themselves as active readers who looked closely at Tan’s sophisticated and metaphorical paintings, and who embraced a co-authoring role as they interpreted the emotional landscapes and textual fragments in the picturebook. The article concludes with a discussion of several pedagogical issues associated with using picturebooks in middle years’ classrooms.