Sharing Stories: Parents' Involvement in Reading with Inner-City Nursery Children

Recent research has underlined both the benefits of parents reading stories to their children before they start school and of parental involvement in the early reading stages. A one-year project was carried out in the nursery class of an inner-city primary school to set up a regular book borrowing service to enable and encourage parents to read regularly to their pre-reception class children. The level of parental and child interest was monitored throughout. An attempt to measure the effect of the input was made by testing the children involved in the project at the end of their reception class year. Although the results do not show any significant difference in the level of achievement between the experimental school and the two control schools, the project did reveal an unexpectedly high level of parental interest in orienting children towards literacy.     

Three-dimensional trunk kinematics in golf: between-club differences and relationships to clubhead speed

The aims of this study were (i) to determine whether significant three-dimensional (3D) trunk kinematic differences existed between a driver and a five-iron during a golf swing; and (ii) to determine the anthropometric, physiological, and trunk kinematic variables associated with clubhead speed. Trunk range of motion and golf swing kinematic data were collected from 15 low-handicap male golfers (handicap = 2.5 ± 1.9). Data were collected using a 10-camera motion capture system operating at 250 Hz. Data on clubhead speed and ball velocity were collected using a real-time launch monitor. Paired t-tests revealed nine significant (p ≤ 0.0019) between-club differences for golf swing kinematics, namely trunk and lower trunk flexion/extension and lower trunk axial rotation. Multiple regression analyses explained 33.7–66.7% of the variance in clubhead speed for the driver and five-iron, respectively, with both trunk and lower trunk variables showing associations with clubhead speed. Future studies should consider the role of the upper limbs and modifiable features of the golf club in developing clubhead speed for the driver in particular.     

Killing God? Secular and spiritual elements in some recent literature for children

What beliefs and values are upheld, implicitly or explicitly, by recent writers of fiction for older children? The first of Philip Pullman’s trilogy, Northern lights, was published in 1995 and the first of the 10-year sequence of Harry Potter books by J.K. Rowling came out in 1997. This paper begins by considering Pullman and Rowling’s fantasies. It briefly appraises recent books by four leading authors, set either in secular Britain or a historical context in which Christian churches had a significant role. (In the order in which they are considered these are: Kevin Brooks, Meg Rosoff, Siobhan Dowd and Theresa Breslin.) It concludes with the work of another Carnegie Medal winner, David Almond, which seems to bring earth and heaven into meaningful contact with each other.     

Changes in depressive symptoms in first time mothers in home visitation

ObjectiveThe expansion of Home Visitation Programs for at-risk, first-time mothers and their young children has drawn attention to the potential impact of depression on program outcomes, yet little research has examined depression in the context of home visitation. The purpose of this study was to determine the prevalence of and changes in depressive symptoms in mothers enrolled in home visitation and identify predictors of change in symptoms over the first 9 months of service.MethodsSubjects consisted of 806 at-risk, first-time mothers enrolled in a Home Visitation Program. Self-reported depression was measured at enrollment and again 9 months later. Established clinical cutoffs were used to identify clinically elevated levels of depression. Additional measures were taken of interpersonal trauma history, concurrent intimate partner violence, and social support.ResultsResults indicated that: (1) 45.3% of mothers had clinically elevated symptoms of depression at some point during the first 9 months of service, (2) 25.9% of mothers had elevated symptoms at both time points or at the 9-month assessment, and (3) 74.1% experienced an interpersonal trauma prior to enrollment. Lack of improvement or worsening of depressive symptoms from enrollment to 9 months was best predicted by pre-enrollment interpersonal trauma history, young maternal age, being African American, and symptoms severe enough to have led to mental health treatment.ConclusionsFindings suggest that maternal depressive symptoms are a significant problem in home visitation. The role of interpersonal trauma in depressive symptoms, and how to best address these clinical issues in home visitation, warrants further examination.Practice implicationsMaternal depression is prevalent in Home Visitation Programs, and many mothers exhibit elevated symptoms at multiple time points over the first year of service. Interpersonal trauma history is also prevalent, and is predictive of increased depressive symptoms over time. Home Visitation Programs should note that mothers with interpersonal trauma history, young maternal age, and being African American have an increased likelihood of persistent depressive symptoms, which may in turn pose significant challenges to providing services.     

In memory of all the broken ones: catalytic validity through critical arts research for social change

The authors of this article use data produced in a collaborative community arts group in BC Canada as a way to think about validation in arts-based educational research (ABER). As Lather attempted to find middle ground between ‘rampant subjectivity’ and ‘pointless precision’ in research, she (1986) suggested that studies with an ideological or critical agenda might be validated by their catalytic potential – the ability to generate change. She has further argued that such work must be both conceptually and methodologically rigorous. With this charge in mind, the authors describe and discuss a memory box made by one participant in a two-year federally funded postdoctoral research project. They consider the catalytic validity of this artefact and reflect upon research methodology in ABER, in terms of triangulation, face and construct validities and member checks. They conclude with a challenge: What new and imaginative research methodologies might be invented for critical research in arts-based education?     

HIGH SCHOOL LIFE IN AUSTRALIA

目前，政府尽最大努力进行教育改革，大力提倡素质教育。但在高考中考出高分仍是学校和学生追逐的目标。在高中阶段，教师和学生仍然很累很累，因为各个学校都不得不“轰轰烈烈搞素质教育，踏踏实实搞应试教育。”下面这篇文章让广大读者领略和对比一下澳大利亚的高中学生的学习状态。     

Are there differences between children’s display of self-regulation and metacognition when engaged in an activity and when later reflecting on it? The complementary roles of observation and reflective dialogue

Recent years have seen considerable growth of evidence that young children possess metacognitive and self-regulatory skills, alongside a view that some research tools, including observation and video-stimulated interviews, may provide better opportunities to see them. This paper examines possible differences in the evidence these two tools may afford. Data from 29 children aged 4–5 years in a London Reception class were analysed using a behavioural coding scheme. Overall, children were significantly more likely to display self-regulation and metacognition in post hoc interviews about an activity rather than during the activity. This was particularly so for metacognitive knowledge. Children were more likely to show regulatory aspects such as planning and monitoring during an activity, whilst evaluation was more evident in later discussion. Observations and video-stimulated interviews are suggested as valuable tools when combined with one another, offering complementary insights, and helping make children’s learning more visible to both themselves and to adults.     

The effectiveness of teleconferencing in fostering interaction in distance education

A recent investigation indicates that using teleconferencing in teaching mathematics by distance education gives the students access to a flexible educational medium. Results confirm that this technology can support interaction between teacher and students similar to that in a conventional school. The investigation concludes that using teleconferencing in teaching mathematics by distance education gives the students access to education that, although different from that available in a traditional classroom, forms part of an effective teaching and learning environment. It also highlights the need to address pedagogical issues to maximise interaction within this environment.     

Developing interactive mathematical talk: investigating student perceptions and accounts of mathematical reasoning in a changing classroom context

In recent years there has been an increased focus on the need for teachers to develop learning communities where all students have opportunities to engage in interactive discourse. However, there are few studies that focus on student perceptions and accounts of mathematical reasoning in classrooms with interactive mathematical talk as a focus of reform. A framework of teacher actions to develop classroom and mathematical practices was developed from classroom observations. Photo-elicitation interviews were used to investigate student perception and accounts of mathematical explanations and reasoning. The professional development programme, shifts in the teacher actions, and subsequent shifts in student perception and their recall of their own and peers’ mathematical reasoning over a school year are highlighted. Developing interactive dialogue in the classroom took considerable time and attention. Facilitating change to the way students both participated and understood their obligations required constant, ongoing attention to both the classroom and mathematical practices.     

Can we avoid digital structural violence in future learning systems?

ABSTRACT

This paper introduces the concept of digital structural violence and examines the negative role it could have in future learning systems. To address it, we propose a new interdisciplinary research agenda at the intersection of three current but disparate lines of work that:

1. Use the concept of epistemic privilege to theorise the inclusion of marginalised learners in the design of learning systems, and utilise participatory action research and emancipatory methodologies to pragmatically ensure this happens;

2. Support young learners and teachers to understand and build their own artificial intelligence algorithms;

3. Develop sustainable interdisciplinary links with computer science to address digital structural violence at the algorithmic level and to make its societal implications and underlying processes more widely understood, especially by teachers.

Taken together, these provide for a material form of resistance to digital structural violence and a theoretically and methodologically coherent future research agenda for building just learning systems.