Children at play: the role of peers in understanding the effects of child care

Although the studies of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) Early Child Care Research Network (this issue) and of Watamura, Donzella, Alwin, and Gunnar (this issue) identify the potential of child care to affect children's adjustment, how these effects are produced remains unclear. In this commentary, it is argued that there is a need to expand child care research by considering one of the most important, but unrecognized, contributors to child care effects-peers. Research is reviewed that suggests that children's interactions in same-sex peer groups at child care affect their short- and long-term adjustment. We consider how research on early peer influences can inform the findings of the NICHD Early Child Care Research Network and Watamura et al. studies, aswell as contribute to the next generation of child care research.     

A Professional Development System as a Catalyst for Changing Science Teachers

Journal of Science Teacher Education -     

Evaluating the efficacy of a small-group oral narrative intervention programme for pre-primary children with narrative difficulties in a mainstream school setting

This study designed and evaluated the efficacy of a manualised programme for children in mainstream school with delays in narrative discourse. Efficacy was evaluated using a Phase 1 non-randomised single-subject across multiple-baselines design. The programme was delivered by a speech pathologist with 11 mainstream children aged 5;0–5;11 years, in small groups, three times a week for 6 weeks. Intervention focused on explicit teaching of narrative macrostructure using icons, graphic organisers and repeated story retellings. Microstructure (morphosyntax and vocabulary) was targeted using implicit language facilitation procedures including modelling, recasting, expansion and vertical structuring. Participation in the programme resulted in significant changes with moderate to large effect sizes for most participants in the number of macrostructure elements, and conjunctions and adverbs. Analysis of pre-post standardised narrative data revealed clinically significant improvements for 9 of the 11 participants. The findings add to the research supporting the effectiveness of small-group oral narrative intervention.     

On the evaluation of systemic science education reform: Searching for instructional sensitivity

We propose a multilevel‐multifaceted approach to evaluating the impact of education reform on student achievement that would be sensitive to context and small treatment effects. The approach uses different assessments based on their proximity to the enacted curriculum. Immediate assessments are artifacts (students' products) from the enactment of the curriculum; close assessments parallel the content and activities of the unit/curriculum; proximal assessments tap knowledge and skills relevant to the curriculum, but topics can be different; and distal assessments reflect state/national standards in a particular knowledge domain. To provide evidence about the sensitivity of the multilevel approach in ascertaining outcomes of hands‐on science programs we administered close, proximal, and distal performance assessments to evaluate the impact of instruction based on two Full Option Science System units—Variables, and Mixtures and Solutions—in a Bay Area school district. Results indicated that close assessments were more sensitive to the changes in students' pre‐ to post‐test performance than proximal assessments. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 39: 369–393, 2002     

Navigating individual and collective notions of teacher wellbeing as a complex phenomenon shaped by national context

In an era of globalisation (Spring 2008), wellbeing no longer can be explored within one’s own national borders, but necessitates cultivating shared international understandings to maintain healthy twenty-first-century classrooms. This literature review across Chinese and English international publications contends that understanding wellbeing entails more thoughtful global discussions examining wellness as a personal commodity and shared societal experience. This paper initiates explorations of teacher wellbeing as an individual and collective phenomenon that includes teacher autonomy, goal orientation, professional efficacy, personal health and positive collegial relationships, institutional recognition/support and professional development opportunities. This review suggests teachers in Western and Chinese contexts may benefit from unique forms of support to balance and reconcile individual and collective aspects of teacher wellbeing. Teachers across contexts must have professional opportunity and incentives for engaging in autonomous practice supported by professional collaboration and development.     

A Facilitator's guide to career transition workshops for educators

Conclusions The teaching profession is in a state of flux which will continue until changes in salaries, security, and class size are adjusted and overall attractiveness of the profession increases. The CPPC is committed to offering the Career Alternatives for Educators workshop and encourages other career centers to do so. Assisting educators in choosing to remain in teaching, or to enter another field, may help to reduce teacher burnout, enhance teacher job satisfaction, and increase their effectiveness in the classroom. In addition, the workshop provides educators with a better understanding of their University system, increases their awareness and attention to the career development process, and provides better understanding of career opportunities. Career Centers' involvement in this is particularly logical given the role which educators play in their daily interaction with potential university students as teachers or parents. For a variety of reasons, an Alternative for Educators workshop is an important outreach effort for Career Centers, and is a rewarding role for them to play.     

Longitudinal Genetic Analysis of Early Reading: The Western Reserve Reading Project

We examined the genetic and environmental contribution to the stability and instability of reading outcomes in early elementary school using a sample of 283 twin pairs drawn from the Western Reserve Reading Project. Twins were assessed across two measurement occasions. In Wave 1, children were either in kindergarten or first grade. Wave 2 assessments were conducted one year later. Results suggested substantial genetic stability across measurement occasions. Additionally, shared environmental influences also accounted for stability, particularly for variables more closely tied to direct instruction such as phonological awareness, letter knowledge, and word knowledge. There was also evidence for independent genetic and shared environmental effects, suggesting that new sources of variance may emerge as the demands of school change and children begin to acquire early reading skills.     

Can typical game features have unintended consequences? A study of players’ learning and reactions to challenge and failure in an educational programming game

It is difficult to motivate learners to seek out and persist at challenging learning tasks where failure is likely. However, in game environments, people seem highly motivated to engage with challenges and respond productively to failure. Many typical game features purportedly enhance intrinsic motivation and self-efficacy, which should improve students’ reactions to challenge and failure, which should in turn enhance learning. An experimental study with early middle school students tested these assumptions by comparing a “Full” version of a typical, commercial programming game to a “Minimal” version of the same game where common game features such as narrative, performance metrics, high-quality graphics, and sound were removed. In contrast to our hypotheses, players of the Full Game were less likely to choose coding challenges, were less tolerant of coding failures and gained less coding knowledge. Intrinsic motivation and self-efficacy did not differ between conditions. Correlational analyses showed that failure tolerance and challenge seeking may critically affect learning from educational games. The current study offers an existence proof that some common game features can hinder players' failure tolerance, challenge-seeking and learning, in certain game contexts. Future research should isolate the effects of individual game features, test generalizability and explore which contextual variables influence the findings.     

Writing flexibility in argumentative essays: a multidimensional analysis

Reading and Writing - The assessment of argumentative writing generally includes analyses of the specific linguistic and rhetorical features contained in the individual essays produced by students....     

Developing Mentors: An Analysis of Shared Mentoring Practices

Understanding how experienced teachers share and articulate effective mentoring practices can guide efforts to prepare quality mentors. This qualitative study focused on mentoring practices within a teacher-designed student-teaching program conceptualized while the mentor teachers within the program were students in a graduate-level mentoring course and implemented upon the mentors’ completion of their graduate studies. Data sources included interviews and field notes from meetings with mentors and student teachers. The results detail specific mentoring practices: explicit instruction through scaffolding, developing the whole teacher, student-teacher-directed learning, fostering student teachers’ individual practice, explicit mentoring of one another, and reflecting on mentoring. These practices were enabled by program structures such as mentor meetings, an online forum, and mentors’ observation of all student teachers in the program.