A longitudinal study of children's early literacy experiences at home and later literacy development at home and school

Studies of literacy attainment in the early years of school have identified various measures at school entry which predict later attainment. The study reported has sought not only to replicate earlier findings but to investigate significant home factors from a younger age. Literacy experiences of 42 children at ages 3, 5 and 7 were investigated, and the relationship of home factors to literacy development explored. Findings are reported concerning two outcome measures at age 7: children's reading level, as determined by the difficulty level of their school reading book, and whether or not children at age 7 were judged to have literacy difficulties. Significant factors included having favourite books at age 3; letter knowledge and parents reading to children at school entry; and at age 7, access to home computers, and parents’ knowledge of literacy teaching in school. Children with literacy difficulties owned fewer books, were less likely to read to themselves or their parents, and generally had less support for literacy at home. Implications for teachers, highlighting the relevance of home literacy, are discussed. The findings underline the importance of home factors for children's literacy development.     

How Interest in Science Negatively Influences Perceptions of Women

We examined whether women who pursue scientific training are viewed negatively by college students. Participants (N = 114 college students; 56 women, 58 men) saw a woman describe her major (either chemistry or the humanities) and express either strong commitment to her course of study or ambivalence about it. Participants then provided judgments about the speaker's traits (such as assertiveness and sociability), social behaviors (including how often she dates), and her future potential (including happiness and fulfillment with her career, as well as starting salary). Results indicated that both major and commitment level influenced perceptions of the speaker. Commitment to the major increased judgments of future career fulfillment, intellectual competence, school achievement, and assertiveness. Pursuit of chemistry, however, was perceived as negative, as people judged the woman as less sociable when she was committed to being a chemist, and women participants predicted she would have a less fulfilling career. Men participants said they would not want to date her. Although women may understand that they could make more money in the sciences, negative judgments about their social capabilities and future happiness may contribute to their propensity to avoid science.     

Discontinuities in university student experiences of learning through discussions

This article reports on research into the student experience of learning through discussions in a third‐year undergraduate engineering subject. Information engineering students studying e‐commerce were required to engage in face‐to‐face and online discussions as a key aspect of their learning experience. This study investigates the quality of the experience of learning through those discussions using quantitative methodologies from Student Learning Research. Analyses of student ratings on the closed‐ended questionnaires identify qualitatively different approaches to learning through discussions, both in face‐to‐face contexts and online. Relationships are found among the variation in the quality of these approaches and how students perceive issues such as workload, what they thought they were learning through discussions and performance. Implications arising from these results identify different suggestions for teaching students to discuss successfully in different contexts.     

Power,rights and play: control of play in school grounds,an action research project from Wales

This paper focuses on the role of control, power and people in utilising school grounds for play. Despite children’s right to play in statute and evidence that play has positive outcomes for children, evidence suggests that school grounds are under-utilised. An action research methodology was adopted with three primary schools in Wales (UK), opening school grounds after school hours. Findings indicate that power and control are factors affecting accessibility and use of outdoor spaces, particularly in relation to who was allowed access to play spaces, where children were allowed, as well as when and what types of play were acceptable.     

Play: A Paradox for Teacher and Scientist

The objective of this article is to describe the historical development of sport and exercise psychology, with a particular emphasis on the construction and evolution of the “box” through history. The box represents the dominant paradigm that serves as the model for research and application as it evolves through successive historical eras (Kuhn, 1962). Seven historical eras related to the development of sport and exercise psychology are discussed. Of particular interest for this review were individuals whose curiosity and motivation established the roots for the study of sport and exercise psychology, as well as the controversies and tensions in both kinesiology and psychology that shaped the fi eld. Suggestions for the future include a problem-based approach to scholarship and a cultural praxis version of sport and exercise psychology to enhance relevancy and social impact.     

Using scenarios to design complex technology-enhanced learning environments

Science Created by You (SCY) learning environments are computer-based environments in which students learn about science topics in the context of addressing a socio-scientific problem. Along their way to a solution for this problem students produce many types of intermediate products or learning objects. SCY learning environments center the entire learning process around creating, sharing, discussing, and re-using these learning objects. This instructional approach requires dedicated instructional designs, which are supplied in the form of what are called pedagogical scenarios. A SCY pedagogical scenario presents the learning process as an organized assembly of elementary learning processes, each associated with a specific learning object and a tool for creating this learning object. Designing a SCY learning environment is basically a two-step procedure: the first step is to select one of the available scenarios, and the second step is to define the domain content. The SCY technical infrastructure then handles the instantiation of the scenario as a SCY computer-based learning environment. In this article we describe the SCY pedagogical design scenarios and report on our experiences in designing four different SCY learning environments.