Female teachers’ coping styles with negative emotions in student aggression

European Journal of Psychology of Education - Current research has focused largely on teachers’ practices in order to promote safe and peaceful classrooms; however, research on how teachers...     

Cultivating morphological awareness improves reading skills in fifth-grade Hebrew readers

The effectiveness of an intervention program aimed at improving morphological awareness was evaluated in Hebrew-speaking poor readers in Grade 5. The 12-week intervention in small groups focused on learning morphological structure of words by identifying, decomposing, and constructing morphologically complex words. Results were compared with a comparison group of similarly poor readers that participated in the school’s reading support program focused on reading comprehension strategies. The intervention group improved morphological awareness to a greater extent than the comparison group and also showed a clear advantage in their reading accuracy and reading comprehension. The results suggest that morphological instruction develops awareness of the morphemic structure of words that contributes to extracting meaning from texts.     

Analysis of efflorescence on surface of beeswax seals

Thirteen samples of an efflorescence collected from the surface of beeswax seals or from beeswax used for their restoration were analysed in detail. The samples were of different origin, age and storage history. The composition and the incidence of the efflorescence was correlated with a chemical composition of historical and recent beeswax samples. The composition of the crystalline layer was found to be very similar in all the samples. Linear monounsaturated alkenes containing 31 and 33 carbon atoms, more precisely (Z)-hentriacont-10-ene and (Z)-tritriacont-10-ene, were identified as main components. The analyses of beeswax have revealed that all compounds identified in “wax bloom” naturally occur in recent beeswax. However, the historical beeswaxes contained only traces of unsaturated hydrocarbons, if anything. The efflorescence was observed primarily on the surfaces of those samples which contained larger proportion of alkenes. The presented results could be of particular importance not only for better understanding of the described phenomenon, but also for the development of new beeswax-based materials, which would be “bloom resistant” and useful for conservation purposes.     

Prospective and In-Service Mathematics Teachers’ Attention to a Rich Mathematics Task While Planning its Implementation in the Classroom

International Journal of Science and Mathematics Education - This study explores secondary mathematics teachers’ attention to the three components of Jaworski’s (1992) “teaching...     

Which Type of Inquiry Project Do High School Biology Students Prefer: Open or Guided?

In teaching inquiry to high school students, educators differ on which method of teaching inquiry is more effective: Guided or open inquiry? This paper examines the influence of these two different inquiry learning approaches on the attitudes of Israeli high school biology students toward their inquiry project. The results showed significant differences between the two groups: Open inquiry students were more satisfied and felt they gained benefits from implementing the project to a greater extent than guided inquiry students. On the other hand, regarding documentation throughout the project, guided inquiry students believed that they conducted more documentation, as compared to their open inquiry peers. No significant differences were found regarding ??the investment of time??, but significant differences were found in the time invested and difficulties which arose concerning the different stages of the inquiry process: Open inquiry students believed they spent more time in the first stages of the project, while guided inquiry students believed they spent more time in writing the final paper. In addition, other differences were found: Open inquiry students felt more involved in their project, and felt a greater sense of cooperation with others, in comparison to guided inquiry students. These findings may help teachers who hesitate to teach open inquiry to implement this method of inquiry; or at least provide their students with the opportunity to be more involved in inquiry projects, and ultimately provide their students with more autonomy, high-order thinking, and a deeper understanding in performing science.     

Hellos and How Are Yous: Predictors and Correlates of Communication Between Staff and Families During Morning Drop-Off in Child Care Centers

Research Findings: The amount and quality of communication between staff and guardians in child care centers was examined using extensive naturalistic observations. Interactions between staff and more than 1,000 guardians who dropped their child off at their child care center were captured through a series of 20-s time-sampled observations. Structural quality indicators (ratios, staff education, etc.) were used to predict communication. Associations between staff–guardian communication and other aspects of quality were also examined. Results: Guardians spent an average of 63 s in their child's classroom during morning drop-off. Communication between staff and parents was limited, with staff providing child-related information to or soliciting it from approximately 15% of guardians. Out of several structural quality indicators, only greater professional development hours among staff in a classroom increased the likelihood of staff providing guardians with information about the program. Drop-off communication between staff and guardians and between staff and children was somewhat related to other measures of process quality. Practice or Policy: Results are discussed in terms of the importance of connecting families and centers, implications for rating center quality, and the accuracy of the drop-off period as parents’ lens into the quality of their child's classroom.     

Children at risk for learning disorders: multiple perspectives

This study examined the contribution of a multidimensional model of risk factors in explaining adaptive functioning among 5- to 6.5-year-old kindergartners with mild developmental delays who were considered at risk for developing learning disorders. Risk factors included (a) child characteristics, (b) maternal and familial ecological variables, and (c) the child's attachment style as perceived by the mother. The sample included 145 Israeli mother-child dyads: 70 mothers and their children at risk for developing learning disorders (51 boys, 19 girls) and 75 mothers and their typically developing children (46 boys, 29 girls) from the same general education kindergartens. Data were collected from children's self-reports, mothers' narratives, and teachers' ratings. Path analysis examined the multidimensional risk model for the two groups. The study indicated a high fit between the theoretical model and the empirical findings and showed a different pattern of relations between the model's components for the two populations studied.     

How simple is reading in Arabic? A cross‐sectional investigation of reading comprehension from first to sixth grade

This study aimed to examine, from a cross‐sectional perspective, the extent to which the simple view of reading (SVR) model can be adapted to the Arabic language. This was carried out by verifying, in both beginning and more skilled readers, whether the unique orthographical and morphological characteristics of Arabic contribute to reading comprehension beyond decoding and listening comprehension abilities. Reading comprehension was evaluated in a large sample of first to sixth‐grade Arabic‐speaking children. The participants' decoding and listening comprehension abilities were investigated together with their orthographic and morphological knowledge. Path analysis indicated that reading comprehension was moderately explained by the SVR (56–38%). Orthographic and morphological knowledge explained an additional 10–22% of the variance beyond that explained by the basic SVR components. These findings demonstrate that certain linguistic aspects of Arabic impact reading processes differently when compared with other languages. The psycholinguistic implications of these findings are discussed in the light of previous findings in the literature.

What is already known about this topic?

• The ‘simple view of reading’ model explains reading comprehension as the product of decoding and listening comprehension.
• This model explains between 70% and 83% of the variance in reading comprehension in English, in which the contribution of decoding and listening comprehension varies as a function of the level of the readers.
• Orthographic transparency and other unique characteristics of the languages studied might influence reading comprehension in these languages

What does this paper add?

• Arabic is a diglossic language that is characterised by relatively unique orthographic and morphological features for which the validity of the simple view of reading (SVR) has not been tested.
• The basic components of the SVR (decoding and listening comprehension) have explained between 56% and 38% of the variance in reading comprehension in children from the first to the sixth grade.
• Decoding, as one of the basic components of the SVR, failed to contribute to reading comprehension when orthography and morphology were considered.

Implications for practice and/or policy

• This large‐scale cross‐sectional study is the first of its type to assess reading comprehension in Arabic.
• The study justifies the necessity to assess the suitability of the SVR in languages with very specific linguistic characteristics such as Arabic.
• The results emphasise the necessity of considering the complex orthography and the rich morphology of Arabic for improving teaching, assessment and intervention.

     

Learning by doing—The influence of students’ experience in community television production on personality variables

The aim of the present study was to examine the influence of students’ experience in community television production, i.e. “learning by doing”, on their self-image. The research population included 157 subjects who underwent a set of tests for evaluating their self-image (personal, moral and social) and motivation. All the subjects took part in the production of a film and experienced the production roles according to their personal choice (director, editor, photographer, actor). At the end of the learning process and the production of the film the subjects took the same set of tests again in order to determine the change that took place following the process. Sixty-one subjects also participated in an interview that examined their attitudes and feelings towards the process they had undergone. The results indicate that students who experienced learning via community television production roles improved their personal, moral, social and self-image. An open experience system can thus create a common framework in which each person contributes towards a completed product, and can help develop the student’s self-image and motivation.