Understanding the Gaps Between Turkish Teachers’ Beliefs and Practices for Dealing With Preschoolers’ Peer Relationship Problems

Research Findings: This study explores the beliefs, self-reported practices, and observed practices of Turkish preschool teachers toward children’s peer relationship problems as well as the gap between their beliefs and practices. Five female teachers of 5-year-old children were selected as participants for this multiple case study. Approximately 79 hr of observation was conducted on the children’s daily routines and activities in a natural classroom environment, which specifically included the teachers’ problem-solving strategies while confronting peer relationship problems. The participants were also interviewed regarding their beliefs and strategies for solving peer relationship problems. The findings of this qualitative investigation indicated that the teachers’ beliefs and self-reported practices included both teacher- and child-related factors. However, the observed practices included several teacher-initiated strategies; child-initiated strategies appeared, albeit less than teacher-initiated ones. This affirms the teachers’ stress on children’s role in managing peer problems. Although some of the teacher practices and beliefs were consistent, certain inconsistencies may indicate the presence of external constraints. Practice or Policy: The results of this study highlight the importance of teacher education programs providing preservice and in-service teachers with the knowledge and skills required to understand children’s peer relationships, guide their interactions, and apply appropriate intervention strategies for various peer relationship problems.     

“Lo que yo en realidad quería hacer”: Rationales of Latina/o DACA Recipients for Pursuing Careers as Teachers

The Urban Review - The decision to rescind Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) will have major repercussions amongst beneficiaries, especially in terms of employment. One of the sectors...     

Innovative moments and narrative change in career counselling: a case study

International Journal for Educational and Vocational Guidance - This case study of an undecided university student has two aims: to assess the effect of life design career counselling on...     

对提升高校教师科学素质的思考

2020年建成创新型国家是我国本世纪的宏伟目标,要实现这个目标,需要大批素质高能力强的创新型人才．高校教师既是创新型国家建设的主力军,又是培养建设创新型国家高素质人才的教育者,因此提升高校教师科学素质是我国建设创新型国家的迫切需要．目前我国高校教师的科学素质现状难以胜任创新型国家建设主力军和创新型人才培养的双重任务,必须采取有效措施和途径,提升高校教师的科学素质,为创新型国家建设做贡献．     

毛泽东同志的“减负”思想及启示

毛泽东同志在减轻学生负担、关注学生身心健康方面作了大量论述,对新中国成立后的教育发展影响很大。毛泽东同志“减负”思想的基本出发点是要学生生动活泼地、主动地发展,其科学内核包括精简课程设置和教材;反对注入式教学方法,提倡启发式教学方法;改革考试和评价方法。毛泽东同志的“减负”思想,对当前我国教育改革有重要的启示。     

Learning Is Moving in New Ways: The Ecological Dynamics of Mathematics Education

Whereas emerging technologies, such as touchscreen tablets, are bringing sensorimotor interaction back into mathematics learning activities, existing educational theory is not geared to inform or analyze passages from action to concept. We present case studies of tutor–student behaviors in an embodied-interaction learning environment, the Mathematical Imagery Trainer. Drawing on ecological dynamics—a blend of dynamical-systems theory and ecological psychology—we explain and demonstrate that: (a) students develop sensorimotor schemes as solutions to interaction problems; (b) each scheme is oriented on an attentional anchor—a real or imagined object, area, or other aspect or behavior of the perceptual manifold that emerges to facilitate motor-action coordination; and (c) when symbolic artifacts are introduced into the arena, they may both mediate new affordances for students’ motor-action control and shift their discourse into explicit mathematical re-visualization of the environment. Symbolic artifacts are ontological hybrids evolving from things with which you act to things with which you think. Students engaged in embodied-interaction learning activities are first attracted to symbolic artifacts as prehensible environmental features optimizing their grip on the world, yet in the course of enacting the improved control routines, the artifacts become frames of reference for establishing and articulating quantitative systems known as mathematical reasoning.     

后现代视野中的高等教育

后现代已经走向式微 ,但后现代的精神气质却发生着久远的影响。“后现代”是在对“现代化”的批判和否定基础上发展起来的。后现代主义的理论景观包括 :否定和怀疑的理论本性、非中心化的解构策略、多元化的思维风格、富有建设性的创造精神、寄予关爱的全球视野。后现代观照下的高等教育有如下特点 :打破叙事范式 ,奉行实用的知识观 ;反对理性教育 ,追求多元的目的观 ;活化静态课程 ,倡导对话的教学观 ;立足本土文化 ,面向全球的发展观。     

Validation of a self-perceived media competence instrument for pre-service teachers / Validación de un instrumento de autopercepción de competencia mediática para docentes en formación

Abstract

Key to guaranteeing the fundamental human rights of freedom of expression and information is the development of media competence, particularly in schools. Training teachers in the area of media competence is particularly important for developing these skills in the broader citizenry. In order to provide educators and educational policymakers with a useful diagnostic tool, we have designed a self-perception questionnaire. The questionnaire was applied to a sample of Peruvian education students (N = 501). On the one hand, the results confirm the construct’s coherence, validity and instrumental reliability. On the other hand, they allow us to propose a theoretically based update to the way in which this construct is interpreted and applied, confirming the multidimensionality of media competence. Finally, we use this empirical evidence to discuss the integral, transversal and ecological status of media competence.     

A Cross-Age Study of the Understanding of Three Genetic Concepts: How Do They Image the Gene, DNA and Chromosome?

The study was carried out with 175 Turkish students by using drawings at different ages understanding of gene, DNA and chromosome concepts. Students from 8th, 9th, 11th grades and, science and biology student teachers were simply asked to draw the structure of gene, DNA and chromosome in a cell and also to give explanations about these three concepts. Differences in understanding between the age groups were found to be significant for the concepts of gene and DNA. None of the groups exhibit sound understanding and regardless of the age levels, students in all groups had alternative ideas about the three concepts investigated.     

Pedro Gutiérrez Bueno’s Textbooks: Audiences, Teaching Practices and Chemical Revolution

Pedro Gutiérrez Bueno wrote two editions of a chemistry textbook between 1788 and 1802. The paper offers a comparative view of both editions taking into account Gutiérrez Bueno’s biography, his intended audience and the changes related to the so-called chemical revolution. Some conclusions are at odds with common images about scientific revolutions and the role of textbooks in science. The analysis aims to shed some light on the multiple historical forces shaping textbooks and the way in which scientific change is assimilated by their writers. This research was partially supported by the program BHA2002-04611-CO3-02