Novel noun and verb learning in Chinese-, English-, and Japanese-speaking children

When can children speaking Japanese, English, or Chinese map and extend novel nouns and verbs? Across 6 studies, 3‐ and 5‐year‐old children in all 3 languages map and extend novel nouns more readily than novel verbs. This finding prevails even in languages like Chinese and Japanese that are assumed to be verb‐friendly languages (e.g., T. Tardif, 1996 ). The results also suggest that the input language uniquely shapes verb learning such that English‐speaking children require grammatical support to learn verbs, whereas Chinese children require pragmatic as well as grammatical support. This research bears on how universally shared cognitive factors and language‐specific linguistic factors interact in lexical development.     

‘Cuidar Muito em Educar as Crianças Segundo a Natureza’! Portuguese Contributions to Eighteenth- and Early Nineteenth-Century Health,Exercise and Educational Reform

The importance of exercise and physical education in relation to the health and development of children and youth has been of recurring interest. During the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries a remarkable number of educators, physicians, philosophers, and even an occasional political leader addressed the topic and/or proposed means by which these would be incorporated into educational programs and reforms. Although the work of Rousseau, Guts Muths, and several other European authors is well known, developments on the Iberian peninsula have received little attention in the English-language press. This contribution examines events and ideas that occurred in and/or had strong connections with Portugal during the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries.     

Physical Performance Scores as a Function of Experimenter Sex and Experimenter Bias

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to determine the main effects of the sex of the experimenter, the interaction effects of the sex of the experimenter and the sex of the S, and the experimenter bias effect upon 50-yd dash, shuttle run, and sit-up scores. The subjects were 48 male and 48 female junior high students. The experimenters were six male and six female upper-division college students. The subjects were randomly assigned for testing to sex of experimenter and experimenter bias effect. The experimenter bias condition resulted from the fact that the experimenters were led to believe that half of the Ss had particular characteristics that would cause them to score well on the tests while the other half had characteristics that should cause poor performance scores. The significant findings in the study were that male experimenters received much better scores from their Ss than did female experimenters on the sit-up test, that Ss scored better when tested by experimenters of the opposite sex on both the 50-yd dash and shuttle run test, and that experimenters obtained results in the direction of their expectations on the shuttle run test.     

Guided Play: Where Curricular Goals Meet a Playful Pedagogy

Decades of research demonstrate that a strong curricular approach to preschool education is important for later developmental outcomes. Although these findings have often been used to support the implementation of educational programs based on direct instruction, we argue that guided play approaches can be equally effective at delivering content and are more developmentally appropriate in their focus on child‐centered exploration. Guided play lies midway between direct instruction and free play, presenting a learning goal, and scaffolding the environment while allowing children to maintain a large degree of control over their learning. The evidence suggests that such approaches often outperform direct‐instruction approaches in encouraging a variety of positive academic outcomes. We argue that guided play approaches are effective because they create learning situations that encourage children to become active and engaged partners in the learning process.     

Live Action: Can Young Children Learn Verbs From Video?

The availability of educational programming aimed at infants and toddlers is increasing, yet the effect of video on language acquisition remains unclear. Three studies of 96 children aged 30–42 months investigated their ability to learn verbs from video. Study 1 asked whether children could learn verbs from video when supported by live social interaction. Study 2 tested whether children could learn verbs from video alone. Study 3 clarified whether the benefits of social interaction remained when the experimenter was shown on a video screen rather than in person. Results suggest that younger children only learn verbs from video with live social interaction whereas older children can learn verbs from video alone. Implications for verb learning and educational media are discussed.     

E-Mentoring in Physical Education

Mentoring can be a critical component of teachers' professional development and retention, yet logistical and fiscal challenges often limit the amount of contact a protégé can have with a mentor teacher. This investigation explored a school district initiative to address this need for more mentor interaction by supplementing traditional face-to-face mentoring with electronic mentoring. Thirty elementary physical education teachers participated in a year-long program that involved workshops, school visits, videotaped lessons, and electronic mentoring via chat rooms. Data were collected from chat room postings and analyzed for frequency of response and quality. In addition, a series of interviews were analyzed via constant comparison process to further understand teachers' perceptions of electronic mentoring. In general, teacher postings were minimal in frequency and quality. The limited use of the chat rooms was likely linked to the teachers' perceptions of electronic mentoring, which included several concerns with the technical and human dimensions of the process.     

Pour Bien Faire du Sport (1912): An Important Precursor to Recent Books that Support and Acclaim the Achievements of Women in Sports

A short time before the 2012 London Olympics, the President of the International Olympic Committee declared: ‘Women have the right to practice sport … [W]e must make sure that barriers are broken down.’ Although such words would have greatly troubled Pierre de Coubertin, they would be lauded by his contemporary la Duchesse d’Uzès, who had written in the preface to Pour Bien Fair du Sport (1912): ‘Oh my sisters … have hands that are capable of grasping a rifle or leading a horse … Courage! And above all perseverance.’ Pour Bien Faire du Sport was in many ways a precursor to recent popular books such as Coming on Strong (1994) and Heroines of Sport (2000); however, it has been grossly overlooked. This paper sheds much-needed light upon the book and its messages – and also upon la Duchesse d’Uzès and Pierre Lafitte, whose interests had made its publication possible.