Assessing the Impact of a Business Communication Simulation on Students' Self-Perceptions

This article examines whether participation in a business communication simulation significantly influences students' perceptions of their business communication behaviors. Results revealed several significant differences between students' pre- and post scores. Students reported significantly higher post scores in 4 of 5 of the examined categories, including message construction, message delivery, critical analysis, and collaboration. These findings suggest that participation in the simulation positively impacts students' estimations of their business communication competencies. Possible explanations and implications behind these findings are discussed. Future research directions are proposed.     

Philosophy of Science and School Science

The purpose of professional education programs is to prepare aspiring professionals for the challenges of practice within a particular profession. These programs typically seek to ensure the acquisition of necessary knowledge and skills, as well as providing opportunities for their application. While not denying the importance of knowledge and skills, this paper reconfigures professional education as a process of becoming. Learning to become a professional involves not only what we know and can do, but also who we are (becoming). It involves integration of knowing, acting, and being in the form of professional ways of being that unfold over time. When a professional education program focuses on the acquisition and application of knowledge and skills, it falls short of facilitating their integration into professional ways of being. In addition, through such a focus on epistemology (or theory of knowing), ontology (or theory of being) is overlooked. This paper explores what it means to develop professional ways of being where the focus is becoming, not simply knowing as an end in itself.     

Children's Cross‐Ethnic Relationships in Elementary Schools: Concurrent and Prospective Associations Between Ethnic Segregation and Social Status

This study examined whether ethnic segregation is concurrently (fall) and prospectively (fall to spring) associated with social status among 4th‐ and 5th‐grade African American and European American children (n = 713, ages 9–11 years). Segregation measures were (a) same‐ethnicity favoritism in peer affiliations and (b) cross‐ethnicity dislike. Social status measures were same‐ and cross‐ethnicity peer nominations of acceptance, rejection, and cool. Among African Americans, fall segregation predicted declines in cross‐ethnicity (European American) acceptance and same‐ethnicity rejection, and increases in same‐ethnicity acceptance and perceived coolness. For European American children, fall segregation predicted declines in cross‐ethnicity (African American) acceptance and increases in cross‐ethnicity rejection. Results indicate that segregation induces asymmetric changes in social status for African American and European American children.     

Engaging Middle-Grade Students to Learn in a Caring Community

Middle-level students have unique emotional and academic needs. As a result, it is important for middle-level educators to realize these needs when creating a caring and engaging classroom climate that results in successful student achievement. This article describes the Caring Community Teaching Model (CCTM), which is a synthesis of affective teaching as well as learning practices tailored to meet the unique needs of middle-grade students. The CCTM is designed as a program with a two-function approach to enhance student engagement: (1) caring relationships and (2) instructional strategies. The authors describe the theoretical framework that underpins the CCTM as well as the emerging literature that creates its needs. Additionally, the CCTM is highlighted through the lens of a case example in which the authors provide concrete examples of CCTM being used in a middle-level classroom.     

And Santayana lives on: Students' views on the purposes for studying American history

This paper explores 30 students' views on the purposes for studying US history. Twelve students were 5th graders, 12 were 8th graders, and six were high school students. Responses were drawn from detailed interview protocol data compiled over three years in the context of a larger research programme that extensively studied the teaching and learning practices in five American history classrooms, two at 5th grade, two at 8th grade, and one at the high school level. Two questions from the protocol frame this exploration:'Why do you think they teach you American history in school?' and 'How might learning American history help you in your life away from school?'. Responses indicated that (a )all the students were able to construct some answer to the questions; (b ) rationales for learning history varied considerably by age, interest and ethnic background, but versions of the Santayanan rationale and utilitarian responses were most common; (c ) students seemed initially puzzled by the questions as though they had never considered them before; and (d ) students appeared to hold a 'stabilized', consensus view of history, meaning that they thought of history as a collection of putative facts and that their task was to learn them. Implications are considered against the backdrop of teaching and learning American history and the current history curriculum.     

Because trucks aren’t bicycles: orthographic complexity as an important variable in reading research

Severe enduring reading- and writing-accuracy difficulties seem a phenomenon largely restricted to nations using complex orthographies, notably Anglophone nations, given English’s highly complex orthography (Geva and Siegel, Read Writ 12:1–30, 2000; Landerl et al., Cognition 63:315–334, 1997; Share, Psychol Bull 134(4):584–615, 2008; Torgesen and Davis, J Exp Child Psychol 63:1–21, 1996; Vellutino, J Learn Disabil 33(3):223, 2000). They seem rare in transparent orthography nations such as Finland, which use highly regular spelling and few spelling rules beyond letter sounds, and most children read and write with impressive accuracy by the end of Year 1 (Holopainen et al., J Learn Disabil 34(5):401–413, 2001; Seymour et al., Br J Psychol 94:143–174, 2003; Spencer and Hanley, Br J Psychol 94(1):1–29, 2003; J Res Read 27(1):1–14, 2004). Orthographic complexity has strong and diverse impacts on reading, writing and academic development (Aro, Learning to read: The effect of orthography, 2004; Galletly and Knight, Aust J Learn Disabil 9(4):4–11, 2004; Aust Educ Res 38(3):329–354, 2011). Despite these strong effects, orthographic complexity is rarely included as a variable in reading research studies considering evidence from both Anglophone (complex orthography) and transparent-orthography readers, or included in discussion of factors influencing results. This paper discusses the differences in reading-accuracy development and difficulties evidenced in studies of Anglophone (complex-orthography) and transparent-orthography readers. It then explores instances of orthographic complexity not being considered in studies where it may have impacted results. This disregarding of orthographic complexity as a variable in research studies appears an oversight, one likely to be contributing to continuing confusion on many aspects of reading and writing development in both healthy- and low-progress readers. Needs for research in these areas are discussed.