Collaboration between 3- and 4-year-olds in self-initiated play on instruments

This article reports on a study of collaborative music-making on instruments among 3- and 4-year-old children. An area equipped with musical instruments was provided as a free-choice play option in an early childhood setting and a fixed camera recorded the children's play continuously during a number of visits. From the total 17 h of data five episodes of paired play were selected. Through a process of comparison across these episodes, it was established that children were coordinating their play through a repertoire of communicative and expressive behaviours. One episode of paired play considered to be representative was micro-analysed in detail.     

A collaborative autoethnography study to inform the teaching of reflective practice in STEM

The paper explores a collaborative self-study, autoethnography research project, which aided in informing practice for the teaching of reflective practice in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) at an Australian university. Self-report methods were used, because it enabled the collection of a variety of self-awareness data generated processes to help produce insights and understandings. This was achieved by undertaking a systematic approach to the exploration of a critical friendship between two academic support staff members alongside reflections from a recorded, focus group interview with nine STEM teachers. Four self-awareness data generated processes were used: (1) self-reflections; (2) collaborative reflections; (3) reflections on pertinent literature findings and (4) reflections from nine STEM teachers. A thematic analysis of the data was undertaken, which resulted in the discovery of three turning points such as moments of understandings that challenge assumptions and/or lead to new insights. The findings indicated that a STEM-centric, scaffolded approach that utilised the scientific method for reflective practice enabled the development of a shared understanding around teaching and assessing reflective practice for STEM teachers. First, because it boosted self-confidence and second, because it reduced scepticism around reflective practice as a non-scientific form of learning.     

Elasto-inertial particle focusing under the viscoelastic flow of DNA solution in a square channel

Particle focusing is an essential step in a wide range of applications such as cell counting and sorting. Recently, viscoelastic particle focusing, which exploits the spatially non-uniform viscoelastic properties of a polymer solution under Poiseuille flow, has attracted much attention because the particles are focused along the channel centerline without any external force. Lateral particle migration in polymer solutions in square channels has been studied due to its practical importance in lab-on-a-chip applications. However, there are still many questions about how the rheological properties of the medium alter the equilibrium particle positions and about the flow rate ranges for particle focusing. In this study, we investigated lateral particle migration in a viscoelastic flow of DNA solution in a square microchannel. The elastic property is relevant due to the long relaxation time of a DNA molecule, even when the DNA concentration is extremely low. Further, the shear viscosity of the solution is essentially constant irrespective of shear rate. Our current results demonstrate that the particles migrate toward the channel centerline and the four corners of a square channel in the dilute DNA solution when the inertia is negligible (elasticity-dominant flow). As the flow rate increases, the multiple equilibrium particle positions are reduced to a single file along the channel centerline, due to the elasto-inertial particle focusing mechanism. The current results support that elasto-inertial particle focusing mechanism is a universal phenomenon in a viscoelastic fluid with constant shear viscosity (Boger fluid). Also, the effective flow rate ranges for three-dimensional particle focusing in the DNA solution were significantly higher and wider than those for the previous synthetic polymer solution case, which facilitates high throughput analysis of particulate systems. In addition, we demonstrated that the DNA solution can be applied to focus a wide range of particle sizes in a single channel and also align red blood cells without any significant deformation.     

Contributions of Emergent Literacy Skills to Name Writing, Letter Writing, and Spelling in Preschool Children

The purpose of this study was to examine which emergent literacy skills contribute to preschool children's emergent writing (name-writing, letter-writing, and spelling) skills. Emergent reading and writing tasks were administered to 296 preschool children aged 4-5 years. Print knowledge and letter-writing skills made positive contributions to name writing; whereas alphabet knowledge, print knowledge, and name writing made positive contributions to letter writing. Both name-writing and letter-writing skills made significant contributions to the prediction of spelling after controlling for age, parental education, print knowledge, phonological awareness, and letter-name and letter-sound knowledge; however, only letter-writing abilities made a significant unique contribution to the prediction of spelling when both letter-writing and name-writing skills were considered together. Name writing reflects knowledge of some letters rather than a broader knowledge of letters that may be needed to support early spelling. Children's letter-writing skills may be a better indicator of children's emergent literacy and developing spelling skills than are their name-writing skills at the end of the preschool year. Spelling is a developmentally complex skill beginning in preschool and includes letter writing and blending skills, print knowledge, and letter-name and letter-sound knowledge.     

Relations of emergent literacy skill development with conventional literacy skill development in Korean

The present study investigated relative contributions of initial status and growth rates of emergent literacy skills (i.e., phonological awareness, letter-name knowledge, vocabulary, and rapid serial naming) to initial status and growth rates of conventional literacy skills (i.e., word reading, pseudoword reading, and spelling) for young Korean children. A total of 215 four-year-old children were followed for approximately 15 months. Results showed (1) consistent effects of letter-name knowledge, phonological awareness, and rapid serial naming on conventional literacy skills, and (2) the importance of children’s initial level in the emergent literacy skills for achieving conventional literacy skills. These results are discussed in light of characteristics of the Korean language and writing system.     

Students’ experience of synchronous learning in distributed environments

This article reports on a two-year ethnographic study of learners participating in multi-site, graduate-level education classes. Classes sometimes met face-to-face in the same physical location; at other times part of the class met physically elsewhere. Yet all were linked through the virtual space. Ethnographic analysis of four data types explored how the instructor and students were able to interact through videoconferencing technologies. Most of the interaction occurred between the local and distance learners by way of cultural guides, local students assigned to host a distance learner through Google Video chat. The distance learners were able to receive real-time attention from the instructor and were able to share differing perspectives that contributed to increased satisfaction in the course. These interactions allowed for a dynamic collaborative effort among a diverse set of actors in the field of education.     

Face-to-face versus computer-mediated discussion of teaching cases: Impacts on preservice teachers’ engagement, critical analyses, and self-efficacy

Two frequently-used discussion protocols were investigated as part of a program to implement teaching cases in undergraduate educational psychology classes designed for preservice teachers. One protocol involved synchronous face-to-face (FTF) discussion of teaching cases, which occurred in class after students had individually completed written case analyses as homework outside of class. The other was asynchronous computer-mediated (CM) discussion taking place outside of class, simultaneous to students’ completion of their written case analyses. Six class offerings of an undergraduate child development course taught by two instructors (three classes by each instructor) were randomly assigned within instructor in a quasi-experimental design to one of the three discussion conditions: FTF, CM, or no discussion of the cases across the semester. Findings indicated that both CM and FTF discussion conditions were associated with positive outcomes relative to the control condition. Both CM and FTF discussion related to higher cognitive–affective engagement with the cases than the control condition; and the CM discussion condition was associated with higher cognitive–affective engagement than FTF discussion. In contrast, FTF discussion, but not CM discussion, was associated with higher-than-control-condition case analysis ability at the end of the semester. Potential explanations for these findings and directions for future research are discussed.