Modifications in children's goals when encountering obstacles to conflict resolution

Previous studies have demonstrated that children's goals are associated with their success in peer relationships. The current study extends earlier findings by examining changes in children's goals during hypothetical conflicts. Participants were 252 children ages 9 to 12 years old (133 boys, 119 girls). As predicted, children's goals changed significantly when they encountered obstacles to conflict resolution, and these changes were predictive of their subsequent strategy choices. Both aggressive- and submissive-rejected children were more likely to evidence antisocial changes in their goals, including an increased desire to retaliate. They also showed reluctance to forego instrumental objectives. Other findings highlighted the need to investigate the combinations of goals children pursue as predictors of their strategies and the quality of their peer relationships.     

Contrast in usage of FCAT‐approved anatomical terminology between members of two anatomy associations in North America

Almost 12 years since the publishing of Terminologia Anatomica (TA) by the Federative Committee on Anatomical Terminology (FCAT), there has yet to be a unified adoption of FCAT‐recommended anatomical terms by North American anatomists. A survey was sent to members of the Human Anatomy & Physiology Society (HAPS) to compare the frequency of FCAT term usage with a previous study involving the American Association of Anatomists (AAA). The HAPS differed from AAA in being composed mostly of biologists (56.5%) who teach anatomy with only 18.3% of respondents having terminal degrees in anatomy. The survey included the same 25 sets of synonymic names for selected gross anatomical structures or related terms used for the AAA survey. Overall results indicate that the FCAT preferred term had the highest frequency of usage in only 40.0% of the survey questions, demonstrating 4% lower compliance than AAA respondents. Compliance with FCAT preferred terms ranged from 92.2% to 1.7% usage. When compared with AAA anatomists, there were reversals in predominant usage between FCAT and non‐FCAT terms for six sets of anatomical structures: HAPS respondents predominantly used non‐FCAT terms for adrenal gland (88.7%), antecubital fossa (57.4%), patellar tendon (65.2%), ligamentum capitis femoris (36.5%), while preferring the FCAT anterior circumflex humeral artery (45.2%) and anterior/posterior preferred over ventral/dorsal (41.7%). Almost 54% of HAPS anatomists were not familiar with the FCAT, nearly 21% higher than the AAA. Anat Sci Educ 3:25–32, 2010. © 2009 American Association of Anatomists.     

Integration of Disabled Students into Regular Classrooms in the United States and in Victoria,Australia

The authors recently visited schools in Victoria, Australia, which were representative of those involved in educating students with disabilities. This paper compares beliefs and values in the US and Victorian systems as they relate tothe education of students with disabilities. It is suggested from the perspective of a practitioner how these varying beliefs are orchestrated in public policy, with comparisons being made of important differences in practice in the education of disabled students in the two systems.     

Towards an Indigenist,Gaian pedagogy of food: Deimperializing foodScapes in the classroom

ABSTRACT

This study takes food as its scape to propose an Indigenist, Gaian pedagogy and asks what food studies might reveal ecopedagogically for approaches to teaching about Indigenous matters in the context of environmental education and its research. Drawing on empirical research about food and Indigenous-settler relations in Australia, and through analysis of data amassed from student assignments on food sources conducted over a six- year period, I find that there is resistance to taking an Indigenist approach to critical, place-based education (PBE) even as Indigenous scholarship argues for its urgent need. Even more muted is the recognition of Gaian understanding of the need to preserve the languages of “Scapes” to help with this work.     

When friends disappoint: boys' and girls' responses to transgressions of friendship expectations

In this study, the prevailing view that girls are pervasively more skilled in their friendships than boys was challenged by examining whether girls respond more negatively than boys when a friend violates core friendship expectations. Fourth- and fifth-grade children (n = 267) responded to vignettes depicting transgressions involving a friend's betrayal, unreliability, or failure to provide support or help. Results indicated that girls were more troubled by the transgressions, more strongly endorsed various types of negative relationship interpretations of the friend's actions, and reported more anger and sadness than did boys. Girls also endorsed revenge goals and aggressive strategies just as much as boys. These findings lead to a more complex view of boys' and girls' friendship competencies.     

Bilingual education policy and social justice

This paper examines the Australian government’s Indigenous policy by interrogating the concept of partnership between governments and Indigenous communities through three examples. Increasingly, the Australian federal government is focusing attention on the poor literacy and numeracy outcomes for Indigenous children in remote and very remote locations. The three examples examined in this paper occurred between 2002 and 2007 during the development of the government’s policies about partnership accountability. A case study methodological approach evolved into a policy ethnography which was adopted to investigate the central question examined in this paper about the strengths and limitations of partnering as a policy concept. The strongest theme to arise from analysis was that parents and caregivers, and indeed their broader families and communities, had a distinctly different expectation of partnership to that of the government policy. Drawing on social exchange theories, the differences identified were concerned with the asymmetry and reciprocity. Indigenous communities are asserting the right to negotiated agreements that are accountable ‘both ways’ and governments seem to be more focussed on a ‘one way’ process of making Indigenous people accountable for education failure.     

The relationships between monitoring,regulation and performance

The articles in this Special Issue reflect the growing interest in applying laboratory-based research to educational settings. These articles highlight the contribution of metacognitive monitoring and self-regulation to effective learning and performance. At the same time, they illustrate the methodological and theoretical challenges involved in bringing metacognitive research to the real world, using meaningful learning materials. In particular, the assumption of a linear causal chain from monitoring through regulation to performance represents a useful working hypothesis, but more complex interactions between these three components of self-regulated learning need to be considered.