Variables involved in personal, social and school adjustment in a sample of preschool-aged children from different cultural backgrounds

The continuing incorporation of immigrant populations into the Spanish educational system poses an important challenge in that all participants must cooperate toward creating the best possible adaptation process at the academic level as well as on the personal and social levels. A number of different factors appear to influence children’s adjustment during the preschool stage, and these factors are especially relevant since many studies have shown that this is a key period for the prevention of future difficulties. The present study examines the variables involved in the adaptation of a group of preschool-aged children from different cultural backgrounds in Spain. The results indicate that preschoolers, regardless of their background, have similar performance and learning potential, with language proficiency being the factor that most clearly affects the other variables investigated. It was also found that children’s attitudes toward learning were related to the presence of behavioral difficulties and with the quality and type of parental child-rearing practices. These practices appear to be related to a number of difficulties immigrant children may experience on personal and social levels.     

Reduction of disruptive behaviors using an intervention based on the Good Behavior Game and the Say‐Do‐Report Correspondence

Disruptive behavior can waste a great deal of teaching time in the classroom, leading to feelings of frustration in teachers and an increase in academic failure among pupils. Prior research indicates that intervening in these kinds of behaviors improves the classroom atmosphere and facilitates the learning process. With this in mind, the aims of this article are to (a) reduce the incidence of disruptive behaviors such as standing up without the teacher's permission, shouting, fighting, and interrupting the teacher or a fellow classmate, using a combination of the Good Behavior Game (GBG) and Say‐Do‐Report (S‐D‐R) Correspondence training; (b) achieve long‐term maintenance of results following the gradual withdrawal of the intervention; and (c) introduce the GBG in a different educational context than those discussed so far in the empirical literature. The intervention took place with the 15 children of a standard primary classroom (Cycle 1) at a state‐run school in Andalusia (Spain). Using a multiple baseline design across situations, the GBG and Say not‐not Do‐Request not (Sn‐nD‐Rn) Correspondence training were introduced. A significant reduction in the incidence of disruptive behavior was observed, contingent on the respective application of the intervention in each baseline. The combined application of the GBG and the S‐D‐R Correspondence proved to be an effective way of decreasing disruptive behaviors (shouting, interrupting, etc.) in the classroom, and the results were maintained for 1 year following the gradual withdrawal of the treatment. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Children´s play and affective development: affect,school adjustment and learning in preschoolers / El juego infantil y el desarrollo afectivo: afecto,ajuste escolar y aprendizaje en la etapa preescolar

Preschool education is a privileged setting where social development and the progressive achievement of emotional adjustment occur. During this stage, affect plays an important role in social interaction. Furthermore, children’s play has been described as an activity with a great potential for promoting development. This article reports results from the systematic observation of 38 five- to six-year-old children in four different school activities on two separate occasions. A total number of 304 registries, totalling 1,520 minutes, were made during the observations, which were conducted with the objective of comparing affective expression in different activities and inquiring into its relationship to school adjustment and performance in preschoolers. It was found that affect’s intensity and quality is higher during play. Results are discussed taking into account positive relationships between affect and school adjustment and performance, concluding that children’s play is a privileged activity for affective development and should be promoted in preschool education.     

LEARNING POTENTIAL ASSESSMENT AND ADAPTATION TO THE EDUCATIONAL CONTEXT: THE USEFULNESS OF THE ACFS FOR ASSESSING IMMIGRANT PRESCHOOL CHILDREN

The objective of this study was to test the usefulness of dynamic assessment for determining cognitive abilities such as classification, auditory and visual memory, pattern sequences, perspective taking, verbal planning, learning potential, and metacognition in immigrant preschool children with and without competence in the dominant language (Spanish). One hundred seventy‐six preschool‐children were distributed in three groups according to the cultural background of their parents (native Spanish/Spanish‐speaking immigrants/non‐Spanish speaking immigrants). The children were assessed by means of the K‐BIT, the Application of Cognitive Functions Scale (ACFS), and metacognition, language competence and academic performance estimates. The results show that although there are initial differences in execution between the two groups (Spanish/immigrants), there are no differences with regard to learning potential. The study also demonstrates the importance of behavioral, attitudinal, and metacognitive variables in children's test execution and academic performance.     

A Self‐Teaching Guide to the Management of Equipment and Material Used in Education in Developing Countries

Abstract

This article covers the background which led to the production of the self‐teaching guide to the management of educational resources soon to be published by Unesco. It gives the structure of the publication, and the text of the Preface and Introduction which serve to explain the guide.

Further information on the guide can be obtained from the ICEM Secretariat, c/o CNDP, 29 rue d'Ulm, 75230 Paris, Cedex 05, France     

A plan to encourage home reading

Museums have the capacity to enhance social cohesion, which is the product of a trusting, connected community. History museums and historic sites, in particular, can serve communities by stimulating dialogue on difficult issues, accurately representing all the people of a nation, and creating forums for discussion among groups with disparate opinions. History museums promote social cohesion by solidifying the identities of their audiences—as members of communities, ethnic groups, nations, and the world. This article combines extensive research with firsthand experience in history museums to accurately portray the ways different museums affect social cohesion. It looks first at what social cohesion is, and the ways in which both civil society and educational organizations contribute to it. It makes the argument that museums share attributes of both civil society and educational organizations. This article then addresses the different ways museums contribute to defining identity, bridging community divides, and addressing society's most difficult issues. It does this with in-depth analysis of several Holocaust museums and the movement in Russia to memorialize sites of Stalinist terror.     

Assessment of prosocial–altruistic behavior of members and non-members of the scout movement

The aim of this study is to evaluate the differences in prosocial altruistic behavior between children and young students who belong to the scout movement and those who do not belong to this or any other similar movement. The prosocial altruistic behavior has been assessed with questionnaires for the school: self-evaluation, teacher, classmate, and parents. By means of a prospective design of case–control, every scout has been compared with another non-scout matched in variables like age; number of siblings; whether he/she is the oldest, the youngest, etc.; sex; the order between the siblings; if the mother works inside or outside the home; and if he/she lives with his/her two parents. The results show that significant differences exist between one group and another in the questionnaires of self-evaluation, for the teacher and for the classmate. It seems that children and young people who are scout members are better assessed than the non-scouts in prosocial altruistic behavior.     

Intelligence assessment: Gardner multiple intelligence theory as an alternative

In the multiple intelligence framework, newer and more contextualized cognitive tasks are suggested as alternative to more traditional psychometric tests. The purpose of this article is to examine whether or not these two types of instruments converge into a general factor of cognitive performance. Thus, the Battery of General and Differential Aptitudes (BADyG: reasoning, memory, verbal aptitude, numerical aptitude and spatial aptitude) and a set of Gardner's multiple intelligence assessment tasks (linguistic, logical, visual/spatial, bodily-kinesthetic, naturalistic and musical intelligences) were administered to 294 children aged 5 to 7. The confirmatory factor analysis points out the absence of a common general factor considering both batteries, indicating instead the existence of two general factors, which gather the tests that encompass them. Also, these two general factors correspond to traditional and multiple intelligence assessments and show a statistically moderate correlation between them. These results challenge Gardner's original position on refusing a general factor of intelligence, especially when considering the cognitive dimensions measured which do not coincide with the more traditional tests of intelligence.