The interrelationships among preschool predictors of reading acquisition for German children

A sample of 169 German children were tested in general verbal ability, verbal memory span, phonological awareness, lexical access speed and accuracy, and letter knowledge in preschool. These tests were used as independent measures predicting performance on second grade reading comprehension, word discrimination, and word decoding speed. Tests of verbal ability, memory capacity, and phonological awareness were also given over a year later in elementary school. After determining that the influence of verbal ability, memory capacity, and phonological awareness on reading comprehension was comparable when measured in preschool and elementary school, the effects of all preschool measures on the three dependent reading measures were assessed. These analyses revealed differential main effects and interactions for the three dependent measures. However, a significant three-way interaction among lexical access, memory capacity, and phonological awareness was found for all three reading measures. These results indicate that the interaction and subsequent effects of these linguistic skills precedes and influences reading acquisition. This is contrary to the view that these skills interact as a result of reading experience. The implications of these results, as well as comparisons of conducting such studies with German rather than English speaking children are discussed.     

Conceptually enhanced simulations: A computer tool for science teaching

In this paper, we consider a way computer simulations can be used to address the problem of teaching for conceptual change and understanding. After identifying three levels of understanding of a natural phenomenon (concrete, conceptual, and metaconceptual) that need to be addressed in school science, and classifying computer model systems and simulations more generally in terms of the design choices facing the programmer, we argue that there are ways to design computer simulations that can make them more powerful than laboratory models. In particular, computer simulations that provide an explicit representation for a set of interrelated concepts allow students to perceive what cannot be directly observed in laboratory experiments: representations for the concepts and ideas used for interpreting the experiment. Further, by embedding the relevant physical laws directly into the program code, these simulations allow for genuine discoveries. We describe how we applied these ideas in developing a computer simulation for a particular set of purposes: to help students grasp the distinction between mass and density and to understand the phenomenon of flotation in terms of these concepts. Finally, we reflect on the kinds of activities such conceptually enhanced simulations allow that may be important in bringing about the desired conceptual change.     

Collaborative Interaction among Young Children in Primary School Classes in the Republic of Ireland

This paper reports analyses of collaborative interaction among pairs of young children (ages 4.0‐8.0) in a city school in the Republic of Ireland. The sample comprised 36 children; 12 at each of the three age groups: 4, 6 and 8 years. In each of these age groups six pairs of children were observed during paired work of a type routinely found in primary school classrooms. Children used familiar materials which were age appropriate. Analyses of interaction focused on three tasks: a jigsaw (previously unseen), construction of a robot model using LEGO and free choice of LEGO modelling. Analyses of interaction focused on the use of specific collaborative strategies. The results show that collaborative pairs, contrasted with non‐collaborative pairs, were characterised by more direct partner involvement, longer term views of the task, mutual support, provision of feedback and devices to move the action forward. The nature of collaborative interaction differed in same‐sex and cross‐sex pairs, by task and across the age range studied. The results indicate that qualitatively different types of collaborative processes occur in same‐sex and in cross‐sex pairings of young children. It is concluded that a variety of forms of collaborative grouping have a valuable place in early years classes.     

School-college collaborations: A strategy for helping low-income minorities

Today, with all the talk about educational excellence, schools and colleges still live in two separate worlds. Presidents and deans rarely talk to principals and district superintendents. College faculty do not meet with their counterparts in public schools, and curriculum reforms at every level are planned in isolation. It's such a simple point—the need for close collaboration—and yet it is a priority that has been consistently ignored. Universities pretend they can have quality without working with the schools, which are, in fact, the foundation of everything universities do.--Ernest Boyer (1985, p. 11)     

Functional play: A tool for toddler learning

Doody, doody, dop, dop, boom, the toddler chants as she drops clothespins in a box and dumps them out again. Over and over the toddler dumps the pins and puts them back in the box only to dump them out again. Nearby, in the sand box, another toddler is aimlessly pushing a truck through the sand — back and forth, — back and forth, over and over again.Carol Seefeldt is a professor at the University of Maryland in College Park. Nita Barbour is chair of Early Childhood And Elementary Education at the University of Maryland in Baltimore County.     

How Do Children Come to Use a Taught Mental Calculation Strategy?

This study provides an in-depth analysis of children's use of a taught mental calculation strategy. Three children (aged eight to nine years) who demonstrated contrasting spontaneous calculation approaches, were interviewed following the direct instruction of a calculation strategy. Their responses are explored in relation to constructivist and participation perspectives of learning. In response to a unified view of these theories, hypotheses are generated that ask fundamental questions related to the did actics of mental calculation strategies. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Is it all memory recall? An empirical investigation of intellectual skill requirements in Leaving Certificate examination papers in Ireland

The terminal examination of post-primary education in Ireland, the Leaving Certificate, is often criticised for the reliance on memory recall over higher order thinking skills in the assessment process. In order to examine the evidence base for these critiques, this article presents an empirical investigation of the intellectual skills and knowledge domains implicit in the tasks in the written examination papers of 23 subjects in the Leaving Certificate in Ireland from 2005 to 2010. Data were collected from two sources: examination papers and student interviews. In an in-depth document analysis of the examination papers, 14,910 occurrences of command verbs were coded for the intellectual skill and knowledge domains required by the assessment task. As the same verb can require different intellectual skills in different subjects and in different tasks, each occurrence of every verb was assigned a specific value depending on its context. The article presents the frequencies and distributions of intellectual skills and knowledge domains within and across subjects. In light of key points in the literature search, the findings indicate concern regarding the level of challenge and stimulation for the development of students of the Leaving Certificate.     

The role of speed of processing, rapid naming, and phonological awareness in reading achievement

This study investigated the role of speed of processing, rapid naming, and phonological awareness in reading achievement. Measures of response time in motor, visual, lexical, grammatical, and phonological tasks were administered to 279 children in third grade. Measures of rapid object naming, phonological awareness, and reading achievement were given in second and fourth grades. Reading group comparisons indicated that poor readers were proportionally slower than good readers across response time measures and on the rapid object naming task. These results suggest that some poor readers have a general deficit in speed of processing and that their problems in rapid object naming are in part a reflection of this deficit. Hierarchical regression analyses further showed that when considered along with IQ and phonological awareness, speed of processing explained unique variance in reading achievement. This finding suggests that a speed of processing deficit may be an "extraphonological" factor in some reading disabilities.     

The psychological environment and teachers’ collective-efficacy beliefs

The psychological environment of schools is a powerful determinant of staff well-being and educational outcomes for children. The work reported here explored teachers’ Collective-Efficacy (CE) and well-being. Staff in a sample of schools completed a survey of their CE. A sub-sample of teachers was interviewed to elicit views about the relationship between CE and leadership practices. Overall staff CE was correlated with key indicators of pupils’ attainments. Four themes in the interviews indicated attributions for staff well-being and motivation: Communication, Learning, Supporting Roles, and Stress Management. Enhancing CE is critical for staff well-being. At a time when staff recruitment, retention and well-being may be jeopardised, the findings here indicate the critical importance of professional relationships for the ethos and effectiveness of schools.