Do executive functions contribute to writing quality in beginning writers? A longitudinal study with second graders

Reading and Writing - Writing is an important activity that involves many demanding processes. Given the complexity and goal-directed nature of writing, this activity is heavily dependent on...     

A look at superheroes: Some issues and guidelines

Most early childhood teachers are not alarmists about children and television. TV is a fact of life for American children and simply another aspect that teachers must deal with in the classroom.     

Reading together in the classroom. A study of the difference between teacher and student interactions and the requirements of the Ministry of Education in Chile / Lectura conjunta en el aula. Un estudio sobre la distancia entre la interacción profesores alumnos y las prescripciones del Ministerio de Educación Chileno

Abstract

In this article we describe the reading comprehension teaching practices of three Chilean teachers, to contrast them with the proposed guidelines from the Chilean Ministry of Education. To do this, we have analysed what contexts of interaction were created in the classroom and which reading processes were promoted by the questions the students were asked. The results show how the teachers’ practices were closer to the ministerial guidelines when they were asked to create specific contexts of interaction, but deviated from these guidelines when the objective was to promote a reflective and critical understanding of the texts.     

恋恋布达佩斯

匈牙利首都布达佩斯是全国政治、经济和文化中心,也是欧洲著名的古城。它风光秀丽、景色如画,被人们誉为“多瑙河畔的明珠”,它是大诗人裴多菲、音乐家李斯特以及翻云覆雨的金融巨鳄索罗斯的故乡,还是茜茜公主爱恋的土地。那么,今天就让我们一起随着作者来感受这座曼妙的城市吧。     

Fostering Transit between Real World and Mathematical World: Some Phases on the Modelling Cycle

This study shows how, in the initial training of mathematics teachers, it is possible to promote processes of abstraction and mathematisation through modelling a real situation with the support of auxiliary material to mediate understanding. By adapting elements of the theoretical and methodological framework called Abstraction in Context (AiC), participants’ discussions while building a mathematical model—in a nested epistemic actions—are analysed. Two specific points are discussed in this paper. The first aims to identify how different types of knowledge emerge when an individual is faced with a modelling task. The second is regarding the use of auxiliary material as a means of metaphorising a situation. It was evidenced how the material favours the construction of a mathematical model through the simplification and idealisation that it brings. The meaning constructed for the model is supported in recognising a decreasing behaviour as a part of a whole.     

Universities,knowledge and pedagogical configurations: Glimpsing the complex university

This paper elaborates a typology of universities in which each university is characteristically associated with (i) diverse missions, (ii) different ways of producing knowledge and (iii) contrasting pedagogical configurations. Four university forms are identified, analysed and illustrated, namely the expert university, the non-elite university, the entrepreneurial university and the revolutionary university. It is suggested that the typology and the analysis of university forms offered here provide insight into the current positioning of universities in relation to the wider world and have potential in prompting new forms of university for the twenty-first century. The paper further advances another possible university for the future, namely the complex university. The complex university is part of and respectful of diverse ecosystems. It creates new frameworks to understand the world and, in that way, supports social transformations.     

The impact of individual consultation on student ratings of teaching

Abstract

The present study addressed the impact of individual consultation on teaching improvement as measured by changes in student ratings. Subjects included 91 professors who presented naturally for individual consultation services over a seven‐year period at the teaching centre of a Canadian university. Interventions by the consultant fell into three categories: 1) Feedback‐Consultation, 2) Feedback‐Consultation‐Class Observation, and 3) Feedback‐Consultation‐Class Observation and Student Consultation. End of term student ratings for the course that was the subject of the consultation were compared with student ratings for the same course taught between one and three years prior to the consultation service, and for the same course taught between one to three years following consultation. The results showed that, overall, consultation was effective in improving the quality of the consultees’ teaching, as evidenced by an increase in mean student ratings of instruction. This effect persisted post consultation. Not all intervention groups, however, showed the same pattern of results. Change was evident immediately after the intervention except in the case of brief consultation, although follow‐up data showed improved teaching for the latter group. Control data provided evidence that the change in student ratings post consultation could reasonably be attributed to consultation effects.     

Teacher-child relationships and the development of academic and behavioral skills during elementary school: a within- and between-child analysis

Despite recent growth in research highlighting the potential of teacher-child relationships to promote children's development during the early years of school, questions remain about the importance of these relationships across elementary school. Using data from the NICHD Study of Early Child Care (N = 1,364), this study examines between- and within-child associations between teacher-child relationship quality and children's academic achievement and behavior problems from kindergarten (ages 4-6 years) through 5th grade (ages 9-11 years). Results suggest that increases in teacher-child relationship quality are associated with improvements in teacher-reported academic skills and reductions in behavior problems consistently throughout elementary school. As children progressed from kindergarten through fifth grade, the importance of teacher-child relationship quality is unchanging.