Teaching Philosophy of Education: The Value of Questions

The teaching of foundations courses, and in particular philosophy of education, is frequently under siege in teacher education programs across Canada, as these programs struggle to meet other demands on student teachers. This article results from a panel discussion addressing the context of a variety of undergraduate philosophy of education courses across the country, and the principles and practices instructors take in teaching their discipline. The result of the discussion is a strong argument in favour of teaching philosophy of education as an important means of achieving many of the other aims Faculties of Education and teacher education programs have for their teacher education students, in an atmosphere of reflective thought about the profession and its challenges.     

Knowledge management support for teachers

Business organizations worldwide are implementing techniques and technologies to better manage their knowledge. Their objective is to improve the quality of the contributions people make to their organizations by helping them to make sense of the context within which the organization exists; to take responsibility, cooperate, and share what they know and learn; and to effectively challenge, negotiate, and learn from others. We consider how the concepts, tools, and techniques of organizational knowledge management can be applied to the professional practices and development of teachers. We describe a framework for knowledge management support for teachers where the sharing of concrete knowledge scaffolds the attainment of more abstract levels of knowledge sharing. We describe the development of a knowledge management support system emphasizing long-term participatory design relationships between technologists and teachers, regional cooperation among teachers in adjacent school divisions, the integration of communication and practice, synchronous and asynchronous interactions, and multiple metaphors for organizing knowledge resources and activities. This work was supported by the National Science Foundation, REC-0106552.     

Stability of Inhibition in a Swedish Longitudinal Sample

2 of the major questions prompted by recent research on inhibition are: (1) Should inhibition be considered a trait dimension, or do those who manifest extreme inhibition constitute a discrete personality type? (2) Are there sex differences in stability of inhibition? We addressed these questions using mothers' ratings over 16 years and psychologists' ratings over 6 years of a Swedish longitudinal sample. From the mean of mothers' 18- and 24-month ratings and the mean of psychologists' 18- and 24-month ratings, we predicted later ratings through 16 years. We performed these analyses for children constituting the extreme 10%–15% from each end of the distribution and then for children not rated as extreme. Ratings were more stable for children in the extreme groups than for those in the nonextreme groups through 6 years; however, only for the inhibited girls did early inhibition predict inhibition into adolescence. We conclude that culturally shared notions of gender-appropriate behavior influence the stability of inhibition.     

Growth in Externalizing and Internalizing Problems in Childhood: A Prospective Study of Psychopathology Across Three Generations

Three generations of participants were assessed over approximately 27 years, and intergenerational prediction models of growth in the third generation’s (G3) externalizing and internalizing problems across ages 3–9 years were examined. The sample included 103 fathers and mothers (G2), at least 1 parent (G1) for all of the G2 fathers (99 mothers, 72 fathers), and 185 G3 offspring (83 boys, 102 girls) of G2, with prospective data available on the G2 fathers beginning at age 9 years. Behavior of the G2 mother, along with father contact and mother age at birth were included in the models. Intergenerational associations in psychopathology were modest, and much of the transmission occurred via contextual risk within the family of procreation.     

Buddy up: the Köhler effect applied to health games

The present investigation examined the K?hler motivation gain effect in a health game using an absent partner, presented virtually. The K?hler effect occurs when an inferior team member performs a difficult task better in a team or coaction situation than one would expect from knowledge of his or her individual performance. The effect has been strongest in conjunctive task conditions in which the group's potential productivity is equal to the productivity of its least capable member. Participants were randomly assigned to one of four conditions (individual control, coaction, additive, and conjunctive) in a 4 (conditions) ? 2 (gender) factorial design and performed a series of isometric plank exercises within an exercise game. They performed the first series of five exercises alone holding each position for as long as they could, and, after a rest period, those in the partner conditions were told they would do remaining trials with a same-sex virtual partner whom they could observe during their performance. The partner's performance was manipulated to be always superior to the participant's. Results showed that task persistence was significantly greater in all experimental conditions than in the individual control condition. The conjunctive condition was no more motivating than either the additive or coactive conditions. Results suggest that working out with virtually present, superior partners can improve persistence motivation on exercise game tasks.     

Broadcasting Education and Children's Programming

Wilbur Schramm (ed.) Quality in Instructional Television (Honolulu: University Press of Hawaii, 1973 - $5.00, paper)

Ralph M. Jennings, Marcella Kerr and Truman E. Parker's Public Television Station Employment Practices and The Composition of Boards of Directors: The Status of Minorities and Women (Office of Communications, United Church of Christ, 289 Park Ave. South, New York 10010, January 1973 - $10.00, but free on request to poverty organizations and citizen-action groups)

I. Keith Tyler and Catharine M. Williams (eds.) Educational Communication in a Revolutionary Age (Worthington, Ohio: Charles A. Jones, 1973 - $7.95)

Dennis Benson's Electric Evangelism (Nashville, Tenn.: Abingdon Press, 1973 - $3.95)

G. William Jones' Landing Rightside Up in TV and Film (Nashville, Tenn.: Abingdon Press, 1973 - price not known, paper)

Radical Software which is entitled “The TV Environment.”

Children's Television: Economics and Public Policy by William Melody (142 pp. spiral bound, $15.00)

Network Programming and Advertising in the Saturday Children's Hours: A June and November Comparison by F. Earle Barcus (32 pp., spiral bound, $5.00)

Network Children's Programming: A Content Analysis of Black and Minority Treatment on Children's Television by Gilbert Mendelson and Morrissa Young (of Best), (20 pp., $5.00)