Dances in migratory,community and school contexts: identity marks and folklorised presences

ABSTRACT

In this research, I analyse the practice of caporales dances in community and school contexts. I put forward some debates around the position of dances in the processes of education and identity definition. I delve into the identification of the caporales with Bolivian migration, poverty and contexts of discrimination. The references are centred on the teaching and performance of these dances in workshops and festivities held by organisations of Bolivian migrants in a town near the city of Buenos Aires. I continue with the analysis of the practices of this dance in school situations and its coexistence with current trends of nationalism in Argentine schools.     

Mentalization in Chilean Educational Staff With 12-Month-Old Children: Does It Make a Difference in Relation to What Children Receive at Home?

Parental mentalizing, which is the capacity to understand behavior in terms of mental states and to reflect this back to a child through speech, is a key construct in child development. Adults with high mentalization promote children’s secure attachment, mentalization and self-regulation. This study describes this competency in a sample of teachers from Chilean nurseries in interaction with 12-month-old children during a storytelling scenario and compares it with the children’s mothers. The sample comprised 208 adults (104 teachers and 104 mothers). The adults were asked to tell 2 stories to the children, and these situations were recorded, transcribed, and codified using guidelines that identified 4 references to mental states (desires, cognitions, emotions, and attributes) and 4 references to nonmental states (causal and factual talk, physical states, and connections with the child’s life). Research Findings: The results showed significant differences between the educational staff and the mothers, and the teachers performed better than the mothers in terms of both greater mentalization and a greater number of references to desires, causal talk, emotions, and physical states. Practice or Policy: The results provide evidence regarding the supportive role played by educational staff in children’s development, especially in underprivileged sectors.     

Within the teacher evaluation policies black box: two case studies

This paper analyzes the relationship between teacher evaluation policies in Chile and Uruguay, teacher professional development, and teacher performance effectiveness. The analysis tries to understand the extent to which the existing processes for teacher evaluation stimulate an improvement in the quality of teaching. The comparison of two national cases with similar educational results but radically different educational policies allows the authors to take a close look within the ‘black box’ of educational policy-making. The paper is based on in-depth analysis of the PISA survey to heads of schools and in-depth interviews with teachers, heads, and key informants. The paper finds that policies aiming to strengthen teacher development and teacher performance through teacher evaluation cannot be understood in dichotomist ways; lack of attention to teachers’ perspectives and unintended effects of policy implementation can lead to marginal effects. Uruguay, where teacher evaluation policies have weak practical effects, has managed to obtain similar educational results to Chile. However, the experience of Chile shows that teacher evaluation can have an effect on teacher professional development and, in the long run, this may have an effect on the quality of teaching and student results.     

An Examination of the National Educational Longitudinal Study (NELS:88) Database to Probe the Correlation Between Computer Use in School and Improvement in Test Scores

The database for the National Educational Longitudinal Study (NELS:88), compiled by the National Center for Educational Statistics (NCES), was examined for connections between student use of computers in math and science classes and their academic success. Data were studied from the surveys carried out in the base year in 1988, first follow-up 2 years later, and second follow-up 2 years after that. Composite variables from the three datasets were examined for their connections to socioeconomic status, parent's level of education, respondent's race, and respondent's gender. Race was the only one of these four factors that was not found to correlate to the amount of computer use in schools. Values for the Item Response Theory (IRT) scores and gains in those IRT scores between subsequent follow-ups were examined with respect to average computer use in math and science classes. It was found that gains in IRT scores could be positively correlated to the amount and type of computer use in science and math classes.     

Associations Among Mothers’ Depression,Emotional and Learning-Material Support to Their Child,and Children's Cognitive Functioning: A 16-Year Longitudinal Study

This study examined the associations among maternal depression, mothers’ emotional and material investment in their child, and children's cognitive functioning. Middle-class Chilean mothers and children (N = 875; 52% males) were studied when children were 1, 5, 10, and 16 years (1991–2007). Results indicated that highly depressed mothers provided less emotional and material support to their child across all ages, which related to children's lower IQ. Children with lower mental abilities at age 1 received less learning-material support at age 5, which led to mothers’ higher depression at child age 10. Mothers’ low support was more strongly linked to maternal depression as children got older. Findings elucidate the dynamic and enduring effects of depression on mothers’ parenting and children's development.     

Kolorektalkarzinome

Ohne Zusammenfassung     

Application of polyurethane geocomposites to help maintain track geometry for high-speed ballasted railway tracks

There are many issues surrounding the performance of critical assets on high-speed ballasted railway lines. At assets like switch & crossings and bridge transitions high track forces can be produced resulting in higher ballast settlements and hence track misalignments. The latter result in higher track forces and hence more settlement, leading to the need for increased track maintenance to ensure comfort and safety. Current technologies for solving issues like ballast movement under high-speed loading regimes are limited. However, a technique that has been well used across the UK and now increasingly overseas to stabilise and reinforce ballasted railway tracks is the application of in-situ polyurethane polymers, termed XiTRACK. This paper discusses how this technique can be used to solve these types of long-standing issues and presents actual polymer application profiles at two typical critical sites, namely a junction and a transition onto concrete slab-track.     

Predicting academic achievement by class‐level emotions and perceived homeroom teachers’ emotional support

Using a multilevel approach, this study examined the role of classroom emotional climate on students' academic achievement. Positive and negative emotions and homeroom teachers' support were used to assess the classroom emotional climate on the individual and class levels. To our knowledge, no study to date has investigated these specific aspects of the classroom emotional climate in relation to students' GPA. Data were collected from 73 classrooms in grades 7‐12 (N = 1,641, students; 53% female) across three schools in Israel. Findings revealed that aggregated levels of both positive affect and perceived homeroom teacher support were positively tied to GPA and that aggregated levels of negative affect were negatively tied to GPA. The final model included gender, teacher support, individual and class emotions and explained 14% of within‐class GPA. A central implication of this study is the relevance of having an emotionally supportive homeroom teacher for students' academic achievement.     

Assessment policies and academic performance within a single course: the role of motivation and self-regulation

Abstract

Despite the frequently reported association of characteristics of assessment policies with academic performance, the mechanisms through which these policies affect performance are largely unknown. Therefore, the current research investigated performance, motivation and self-regulation for two groups of students following the same statistics course, but under two assessment policies: education and child studies (ECS) students studied under an assessment policy with relatively higher stakes, a higher performance standard and a lower resit standard, compared with Psychology students. Results show similar initial performance, but more use of resits and higher final performance (post-resit) under the ECS policy compared with the psychology policy. In terms of motivation and self-regulation, under the ECS policy significantly higher minimum grade goals, performance self-efficacy, task value, time and study environment management, and test anxiety were observed, but there were no significant differences in aimed grade goals, academic self-efficacy and effort regulation. The relations of motivational and self-regulatory factors with academic performance were similar between both assessment policies. Thus, educators should be keenly aware of how characteristics of assessment policies are related to students’ motivation, self-regulation and academic performance.