Studies in mindfulness: widening the field for all involved in pastoral care

Abstract

Since 2010, the University of Aberdeen, Scotland, UK, has offered an MSc in studies in mindfulness degree programme within its School of Education. The programme has attracted over 200 students from multiple professional contexts, providing the authors with the opportunity to gather and analyse demographic data, as well as data regarding student motivations and expectations, both personal and professional. The paper initially creates a picture of the current UK ‘studies in mindfulness’ landscape by describing the established programmes at UK universities. Data from an entry questionnaire completed by three cohorts of students on the ‘Aberdeen’ programme and data collected from students throughout their studies is then presented, analysed and discussed. The authors argue that, in their professional roles, graduates from programmes and courses at Universities in the UK are introducing an ever-increasing number of people to mindfulness. They are implementing and integrating mindfulness into diverse social, business contexts as well as into all sectors of education. The University of Aberdeen’s programme, based in the School of Education, perhaps represents a move towards more holistic, pastoral and multi-professional applications of mindfulness. This contrasts with the clinical, pathological settings for mindfulness to date.     

Representations as mediation between purposes as junior secondary science students learn about the human body

The aim of this article is to investigate students’ meaning-making processes of multiple representations during a teaching sequence about the human body in lower secondary school. Two main influences are brought together to accomplish the analysis: on the one hand, theories on signs and representations as scaffoldings for learning and, on the other hand, pragmatist theories on how continuity between the purposes of different inquiry activities can be sustained. Data consist of 10 videotaped and transcribed lessons with 14-year-old students (N?=?26) in Sweden. The analysis focused instances where meaning of representations was negotiated. Findings indicate that continuity is established in multiple ways, for example, as the use of metaphors articulated as an interlanguage expression that enables the students (and the teacher) to maintain the conversation and explain pressing issues in ways that support of the end-in-view of the immediate action. Continuity is also established between every day and scientific registers and between organisation levels as well as between the smaller parts and the whole system.     

Teachers' computer anxiety: implications for professional development

Changes in society's expectations mean that school teachers need to be able to use computers in education with minimal anxiety. Some 350 primary and secondary school teachers completed a questionnaire that identified sources of computer anxiety and provided teachers with the opportunity to suggest solutions. The teachers were very supportive of the use of computers in education, but reported moderately low levels of computer competence. A number of suggestions for the reduction of computer anxiety are made, based on teachers' first-hand accounts, and an analysis of trends in the quantitative data. The implications of these suggestions for teachers' professional development are explored     

Ethnic Differences in the Effect of Parenting on Gang Involvement and Gang Delinquency: A Longitudinal, Hierarchical Linear Modeling Perspective

This study examined the relative influence of peer and parenting behavior on changes in adolescent gang involvement and gang-related delinquency. An ethnically diverse sample of 300 ninth-grade students was recruited and assessed on eight occasions during the school year. Analyses were conducted using hierarchical linear modeling. Results indicated that, in general, adolescents decreased their level of gang involvement over the course of the school year, whereas the average level of gang delinquency remained constant over time. As predicted, adolescent gang involvement and gang-related delinquency were most strongly predicted by peer gang involvement and peer gang delinquency, respectively. Nevertheless, parenting behavior continued to significantly predict change in both gang involvement and gang delinquency, even after controlling for peer behavior. A significant interaction between parenting and ethnic and cultural heritage found the effect of parenting to be particularly salient for Black students, for whom higher levels of behavioral control and lower levels of lax parental control were related to better behavioral outcomes over time, whereas higher levels of psychological control predicted worse behavioral outcomes.     

Answer Preference and Answer Conflict in Children's Completions of Concrete Operational Stories

Abstract The procedures used in presenting many concrete operational problems have two drawbacks: children may fail through misunderstanding the questioner's intention and there is a biasing towards a unidimensional interpretational of the question. Story completion procedures were used here in an effort to circumvent these problems. In the first experiment six and seven year‐old children had to select one of four completions of a story of traditional style and content. Selection of completions that involved the coordination of perceptual dimensions was associated with separately‐assessed ability in conservation and in class inclusion. This was interpreted as showing that success and failure on these standard tasks reflects answer preferences which are not specific to the procedures used in the tasks. The second experiment attempted to equalise the biasing towards the unidimensional answer in conservation tasks. The problem was presented through a narrative in which the answers of a nonconserving and of a conserving protagonist came into symmetrical conflict. Selection of the conservation completion by the four and five year‐old subjects was far more common than in the standard situation, suggesting that when the biasing is removed a more basic form of conservation competence is revealed.     

Dealing with assumptions underlying statistical tests

The validity of a hypothesis test is partly determined by whether the assumptions underlying the test are satisfied. In the past, a preliminary analysis of the data has been suggested prior to the use of the statistical test. In this article, the authors describe several limitations of preliminary tests (e.g., influence on significance levels). Another strategy that uses theoretical knowledge in conjunction with prior empirical evidence and reason, prior to data collection, is described. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Psychol Schs 44: 495–502, 2007.     

Integrative Public Health-Aligned Physical Education and Implications for the Professional Preparation of Future Teachers and Teacher Educators/Researchers in the Field

ABSTRACT

This article has two purposes: (a) to consider existing platforms and future possibilities in the United States for what the authors refer to as Integrative Public Health-Aligned Physical Education (IPHPE), which integrates standards-based K–12 physical education with a public health agenda focusing on promoting increased physical activity and fitness, and (b) to consider the implications of IPHPE for the preparation of future physical education teachers and teacher educators/researchers. First, the historical context that has nurtured the development of ideologies that inform IPHPE is summarized. Second, examples of these ideologies in terms of their current and prospective contributions to IPHPE perspectives are discussed. Third, building from existing public health-aligned recommendations for pre-service physical education teacher education (PETE) programs, IPHPE-based professional preparation requirements for future physical education teachers are considered. Finally, the focus shifts to doctoral PETE (D-PETE) programming and professional preparation requirements for future physical education teacher educators/researchers from an IPHPE perspective. The overall intention of this article is to propose a way forward for physical education which bridges educational priorities of the profession to contemporary and relevant public health needs.     

The effects of a problem solving strategy on the achievement of earth science students

A review of the stated goals for education reveals a consistent emphasis on problem solving. Problem solving is compatible with the investigative nature of science and with higher order thinking. Consequently, a problem solving strategy was developed to improve the achievement of eighth grade students enrolled in earth science. The sample consisted of 287 eighth grade students randomly assigned to fourteen sections taught by four teachers. This resulted in seven control sections and seven experimental sections. The students in the treatment groups received approximately six weeks of instruction with the experimental groups receiving a variety of problem solving activities. A forty item posttest consisting of four subtests was administered to all students. The results indicate that the problem solving approach was useful in improving the overall achievement of students. It was particular effective in facilitating application of earth science subject matter. This problem solving approach appears to be a feasible strategy to use in most secondary science classrooms.     

Educational Research in an Introductory Astronomy Course

The lecture is a common method used in college instruction, but many teachers are questioning its effectiveness. For this study, two successive spring semester sections of introductory astronomy for non-science majors were studied. The spring 1999 semester was the instructor's first attempt to incorporate innovative instructional techniques to include hands-on, minds-on instruction within the lecture setting. The educational research involved classroom observations, personal interviews, and pre-instruction/post-instruction administration of the Texas Attitude Survey and the Astronomy Diagnostic Test. During the spring 2000 semester, the instructor modified instruction to respond to student concerns from the previous semester. Student scores for the second course showed significant improvement in astronomy content and the institutional course survey, but not in student self-efficacy.