UNIVERSITY STUDENTS’ UNDERSTANDING OF THERMAL PHYSICS IN EVERYDAY CONTEXTS

Thermal physics is in the realm of everyday experience, underlies current environmental concerns, and underpins studies in sciences, health and engineering. In the state of NSW in Australia, the coverage of thermal topics in high school is minimal, and, hence, so is the conceptual understanding of students. This study takes a new approach at exploring conceptions of students with a qualitative analysis facilitated by NVivo complemented with reference to sociocultural ideas of learning. A 2-part pen and paper question was given to 598 first year university students of different educational backgrounds (and therefore physics expertise). ‘The Question’ was based on 2 familiar scenarios and required the selection of a concept first, followed by an explanation. The results showed that concepts were favoured based on a student’s everyday experience and their curriculum through high school, and some were more effective than others in making scientifically congruent responses. The reported thermal physics alternative conceptions were also examined in our sample, and students’ reasoning behind such conceptions indicate that some conceptions do not inhibit scientifically congruent responses whilst others do. The results implicate language and the everyday experiences of the student in the teaching and learning of thermal physics.     

Professionals’ views on the new policy for special educational needs in England: ideology versus implementation

In 2014 a new policy for special educational needs and disability (SEND) provision was introduced in England. As it has been the case in countries where SEND reforms were introduced, these changes raised challenges and opportunities for the professionals supporting children with SEND. However, to date, little systematic and large-scale evidence has been made available on how professionals perceive these changes. In this study, the views of 349 professionals were ascertained using a semi-structured online survey. The results revealed that although many professionals agreed in principle with some of the key changes introduced, several constraints were reported including tight timelines, budget cuts, and difficulties in the collaboration between education, health and care, suggesting a rather fragmented implementation of the new policy. No significant differences were found between groups of professionals for most items, however educational psychologists and special needs co-ordinators disagree on the extension of the provision age range, on how well the children’s needs are described in the education, health and care plans, and on the professional requirements of this process. The findings are discussed in light of their implications for meeting children’s needs and in comparison with other policy changes worldwide.     

Curricular quality and day‐to‐day learning activities in pre‐school

The purpose of this paper is to show how curricular quality is related to the day‐to‐day activities experienced by children and the pedagogical activities of staff, both coded through systematic target‐child observations. Data were drawn from the Effective Provision of Pre‐School Education (EPPE) and the Researching Effective Pedagogy in the Early Years (REPEY) studies. Curricular quality was measured by coding the ECERS‐E, an English curricular extension to the well‐known ECERS‐R. In centres scoring high on the ECERS‐E, staff engaged in pedagogical practices that included more ‘sustained shared thinking’ and more ‘direct teaching’ such as questioning or modelling. In high‐scoring centres, children were also observed participating in more activities associated with early reading, emergent writing and active listening. Children in centres assessed as ‘adequate’ spent more time in activities associated with the ‘Physical Development’ and ‘Creative’ curriculum. Thus the ECERS‐E gives higher scores to pedagogical practices and activities where staff take a more active role in children’s learning, including scaffolding young children’s play, especially in the communication and literacy domains of the curriculum.     

The anatomy of the RAN-reading relationship

The purpose of this study was to contrast three models of the RAN-reading relationship derived from the most prominent theoretical accounts of how RAN is related to reading: the phonological processing, the orthographic processing and the speed of processing accounts. Grade 4 Greek-speaking children (n = 208; 114 girls, 94 boys; mean age = 117.29 months) were administered measures of general cognitive ability, RAN, phonological processing, orthographic processing, speed of processing, and reading fluency. Phonological processing and orthographic processing were assessed with both accuracy and speeded measures. Structural equation modeling showed that the most parsimonious model was one in which RAN predicted reading fluency directly and through orthographic processing. Phonological processing did not predict reading fluency and speed of processing was more important for the RAN-orthographic/phonological processing relationships than for the RAN-reading relationship. Taken together, these findings suggest that what is unique to RAN is more important for the prediction of reading fluency than what it shares with either speed of processing, phonological processing, or orthographic processing.     

Cognitive predictors of literacy acquisition in syllabic Hiragana and morphographic Kanji

We examined the role of different cognitive skills in word reading (accuracy and fluency) and spelling accuracy in syllabic Hiragana and morphographic Kanji. Japanese Hiragana and Kanji are strikingly contrastive orthographies: Hiragana has consistent character-sound correspondences with a limited symbol set, whereas Kanji has inconsistent character-sound correspondences with a large symbol set. One hundred sixty-nine Japanese children were assessed at the beginning of grade 1 on reading accuracy and fluency, spelling, phonological awareness, phonological memory, rapid automatized naming (RAN), orthographic knowledge, and morphological awareness, and on reading and spelling at the middle of grade 1. The results showed remarkable differences in the cognitive predictors of early reading accuracy and spelling development in Hiragana and Kanji, and somewhat lesser differences in the predictors of fluency development. Phonological awareness was a unique predictor of Hiragana reading accuracy and spelling, but its impact was relatively weak and transient. This finding is in line with those reported in consistent orthographies with contained symbol sets such as Finnish and Greek. In contrast, RAN and morphological awareness were more important predictors of Kanji than of Hiragana, and the patterns of relationships for Kanji were similar to those found in inconsistent orthographies with extensive symbol sets such as Chinese. The findings suggested that Japanese children learning two contrastive orthographic systems develop partially separate cognitive bases rather than a single basis for literacy acquisition.     

Direct and indirect effects of executive function on reading comprehension in young adults

The purpose of this study was to examine what components of executive function (EF) – inhibition, shifting and updating/working memory – predict reading comprehension in young adults. Ninety university students (65 females, 25 males; mean age = 21.82 years) were assessed on shifting (Planned Connections and Colour/Shape Shifting), inhibition (Colour‐Word Stroop and Number Stroop), updating/working memory (Digit Memory and Listening Span), reading fluency (Word Reading Efficiency), vocabulary (Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test), and reading comprehension (Nelson‐Denny Reading Test). The results of path analysis indicated that only shifting predicted directly reading comprehension. These findings extend those of previous studies showing that different EF components predict different reading outcomes and suggest that EF has a place in reading comprehension models over and above traditional predictors of reading comprehension such as reading fluency and vocabulary.     

Parenting and children’s adjustment problems: the mediating role of self-esteem and peer relations

The aim of this study was to investigate the impact of parental and personal characteristics on children’s internalizing/externalizing problems. Further, this study aimed to examine personal characteristics (self-esteem, peer relations) as mediators in the relation between parenting and internalizing/externalizing problems. In order to address these questions, this study used a cross-sectional design. The sample included 588 pre-adolescents and adolescents (10–14 years old) and their mothers. Children completed the My Memories of Upbringing Questionnaire, the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (child report), the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale, the Friendship Quality Questionnaire, and the Harter’s Self Perception Profile (Social acceptance subscale), while mothers completed The Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (parent report). Results support a model for the influence of both direct and indirect effects on children’s internalizing/externalizing problems.