GraphoGame SI: the development of a technology-enhanced literacy learning tool for Standard Indonesian

Early intervention programs are generally considered the most efficient and beneficial approach to providing support to struggling beginning readers. This paper discusses the theoretical background, development, and design of, as well as the first results obtained with, GraphoGame for Standard Indonesian, a technology-enhanced learning environment that trains the basic skills of reading by high but playful exposure to grapheme-phoneme coupling. The results of the pilot study assessing the usability of the program in 69 first-graders show that the more the students with low pre-test phonological skills were exposed to the game, the better their post-test performance on reading and decoding fluency became. Although large-scale, randomized controlled studies are needed to confirm the effectiveness of GraphoGame SI, these promising first results may offer a stepping stone for the development of additional language versions and future systematic comparisons of the method’s results in different languages and populations.     

Attention to Faces Expressing Negative Emotion at 7 Months Predicts Attachment Security at 14 Months

To investigate potential infant‐related antecedents characterizing later attachment security, this study tested whether attention to facial expressions, assessed with an eye‐tracking paradigm at 7 months of age (N = 73), predicted infant–mother attachment in the Strange Situation Procedure at 14 months. Attention to fearful faces at 7 months predicted attachment security, with a smaller attentional bias to fearful expressions associated with insecure attachment. Attachment disorganization in particular was linked to an absence of the age‐typical attentional bias to fear. These data provide the first evidence linking infants' attentional bias to negative facial expressions with attachment formation and suggest reduced sensitivity to facial expressions of negative emotion as a testable trait that could link attachment disorganization with later behavioral outcomes.     

Learning environments preferred by university students: a shift toward informal and flexible learning environments

Learning Environments Research - Universities are facing new challenges that pose various demands for developing learning environments. These challenges are related to different pedagogical...     

Sensitivity to rhythmic parameters in dyslexic children: a comparison of Hungarian and English

It has been proposed that sensitivity to the parameters underlying speech rhythm may be important in setting up well-specified phonological representations in the mental lexicon. However, different acoustic parameters may contribute differentially to rhythm and stress in different languages. Here we contrast sensitivity to one such cue, amplitude envelope onset (rise time), in dyslexic and normally-developing children in two languages, Hungarian and English, ages from 7 to 11. Dyslexic and control children received phonological tasks, reading and spelling tasks and auditory processing tasks. While sensitivity to rise time was related to phonological representation in both languages, clear differences were found between languages. It is suggested that these differences may reflect differential language-specific weighting of different acoustic cues to rhythm and stress.

The effect of using a mobile literacy game to improve literacy levels of grade one students in Zambian schools

This intervention study was conducted to document conditions under which a computer based literacy game (GraphoGame?) could enhance literacy skills of first grade students in an African city. The participants were first grade students from Government schools (N = 573). These students were randomly sampled into control (N = 314) and various intervention groups (N = 259). GraphoGame? was administered on cellphones to students at their schools under supervision. Each student in the study was assessed using a battery of locally developed cognitive tests that measured emergent literacy skills (Orthography test), decoding competence (Spelling test), vocabulary (Picture Vocabulary Test—PVT) and arithmetic (Zambia Achievement Test—ZAT). There was a positive effect of the game for the Spelling test—which closely targeted the skill GraphoGame? is designed to promote. The most effective intervention combined exposure of both the teachers and the students to the game. Initial letter knowledge was a good predictor of final letter knowledge on GraphoGame?.     

Predictors of mothers' and fathers' teaching of reading and mathematics during kindergarten and Grade 1

The aim of the present longitudinal study was to investigate factors contributing to mothers' and fathers' teaching of reading and mathematics to their children during kindergarten and Grade 1. It was assumed that mothers' and fathers' teaching during kindergarten would be influenced by their socioeconomic status and their own learning difficulties, whereas during Grade 1 by their children's academic performance. A total of 189 mothers and 165 fathers filled in questionnaires regarding their teaching of reading and mathematics twice, once in kindergarten and once in Grade 1. Children's reading and mathematics performance was also examined twice, once in kindergarten and once in Grade 1. The results showed that the lower the socioeconomic status of mothers and fathers, the more teaching of reading and mathematics they reported. Moreover, the lower the children's academic performance in reading and mathematics in the beginning of Grade 1, the more teaching by mothers and fathers reported later on. Overall, the results suggest that mothers and fathers adjust their teaching to the actual skill level of their children when their children enter primary school.     

“Betwixt and Between”: Leisure-time Teachers and the Construction of Professional Identities

In 2014, a newly formed group of teachers graduated from Swedish universities. In addition to their qualification as leisure-time pedagogues, their degree includes teaching practical/aesthetical subjects in compulsory school. This group of teachers thus has to relate to dual professional identities and to maintain a balance between the socially oriented leisure-time centres and a goal- and results-driven school. In this article we describe their first two years after graduation, trying to get hold of their negotiation of professional identities and orientation in the professional landscape. Results shows that the graduates try to balance own ideals and hybrid professional intentions against traditional professional identities and labour market conditions and that position in a liminal phase might be crucial for the outcome.     

The Tyranny of the Temporal Dimension: Learning about fundamental values through the Internet

In this article we report on one of four schools involved in a research project aiming to develop knowledge about the way in which teaching knowledge is conveyed with the help of information and communication technology. A particular interest was issues of fundamental values. Two classes in Grade 9 of Swedish compulsory school were studied, by observations and interviews, when seeking information about international conflicts on the Internet. The results show that most students searched for and collected information with a focus on mainly one dimension: the temporal dimension of the conflict in question. How this focus on chronologically ordered historical events affected the students' ability to develop the capacity for individual standpoints on questions concerning ethics, morals, equality, and democracy by way of studying conflicts is discussed.     

文化与幼儿教育的欧洲视角:走向自然

化与幼儿教育是一个很大的题目。要充分地把握这个问题，我们需要总览历史上不同思想的根源和发展，因为正是这些不同的思想导致了欧洲早期教育保育中不同的政策和实践。我选择从孩子与自然这个话题，从这样的角度来阐述解释有着多种化差异的欧洲在幼儿教育政策和实践上的特别之处。