The occurrence of analogies in elementary school science books

An analogy is a model drawn from one contextand used to support understanding in anothercontext. This study investigates the extent towhich analogies in instructional science booksare provided by authors. The books surveyed areavailable from commercial suppliers andintended for use in the elementary schoolclassroom with 7 to 11 year old children.Eighty texts were analysed for the presence orabsence of analogies. Forty-five of the booksoffered no analogies at all. In the remainingthirty-five books, 92 analogies were found.These were classified in line with earlier workon analogies for older students by Curtis andReigeluth (1984) and the findings arediscussed. The extent to which teachers candraw upon the analogies in such texts tosupport children's understanding isconsidered.     

Hostility, hostile detachment, and conflict engagement in marriages: effects on child and family functioning

This study examined the relations between patterns of marital communication, child adjustment, and family functioning. Couples with a 4- or 5-year-old child were divided into three groups (N = 126) based on observed patterns of emotional communication: Hostile couples showed a cumulative increase in negative speaker behaviors over the course of a high-conflict marital discussion; hostile-withdrawn couples showed a cumulative increase in both negative speaker and negative listener behaviors over the course of the interaction; and engaged couples showed a cumulative increase in both positive speaker and listener behaviors over the course of the interaction. The families of these three types of couples were then compared on child outcomes (i.e., peer relations, behavior problems), parenting quality, co-parenting quality, and family-level functioning. Differences in marital violence and marital satisfaction between marital couples were also examined in relation to family risk. Families in which couples were hostile-detached showed the most negative outcomes. Hostile-detached couples were more likely than hostile or conflict-engaging couples to use more power-assertive methods of discipline; to be ineffective in co-parenting their child; to have family units that were less cohesive, less playful, and more conflictual; and to have children that exhibited behavior problems. Results also indicated that marital typology still accounted for significant variance in child outcome after controlling for marital violence and marital satisfaction. Differences in the absolute degree of negative behaviors also did not account for results. Findings are discussed in terms of the detrimental impact of marital conflict on child and family functioning.     

Does early reading failure decrease children's reading motivation?

The authors used a pretest-posttest control group design with random assignment to evaluate whether early reading failure decreases children's motivation to practice reading. First, they investigated whether 60 first-grade children would report substantially different levels of interest in reading as a function of their relative success or failure in learning to read. Second, they evaluated whether increasing the word reading ability of 15 at-risk children would lead to gains in their motivation to read. Multivariate analyses of variance suggest marked differences in both motivation and reading practice between skilled and unskilled readers. However, bolstering at-risk children's word reading ability did not yield evidence of a causal relationship between early reading failure and decreased motivation to engage in reading activities. Instead, hierarchical regression analyses indicate a covarying relationship among early reading failure, poor motivation, and avoidance of reading.     

Unpacking personal identities for teaching mathematics within the context of prospective teacher education

This article explores the personal identities of two prospective elementary teachers as they progressed from mathematics methods coursework into their capstone student teaching semester. Results indicate that both prospective teachers perceived contrasting obligations of effective mathematics teaching in the teacher education and student teaching contexts, yet came to reconcile these differences in different ways. Whereas one prospective teacher was able to oppose the obligations set forth in the student teaching context, the other complied with obligations in both the teacher education and student teaching contexts. Implications for teacher education include differentiated experiences and placements, methods design, and explicit foci on students’ mathematical thinking.     

Is Schooling a Risk? Gender,Power Relations,and School Culture in Uganda

This article relates a study of AIDS education in Uganda which used an ethnography of school culture to explore the contradictions in curriculum intervention. The school was found to be a site of an extensive set of gendered practices which constituted a risk in themselves in terms of sexual health. Four forms of control are examined in this article: hegemonic masculinity, gendered discipline patterns, sexual harassment and 'compulsory' heterosexuality. Male domination and power imbalances in the school encouraged attitudes and practices with regard to sexual relationships which negated the official messages of the AIDS curriculum.     

Teaching Quality Across School Settings

Districts are increasingly making personnel decisions based on teachers’ impact on student-achievement gains and classroom observations. In some schools, however, a teacher’s practices and their students’ achievement may reflect not just individual but collaborative efforts. In other settings, teachers’ instruction benefits less from the insights and support of their colleagues. This article analyzes multiple measures of teacher and teaching quality for 24 language arts teachers in New York City who teach in different types of school environments. Teachers in different value-added quartiles were observed and scored using two protocols, PLATO and CLASS. Schools were categorized as more and less functional using Department of Education environment grades. To compare the practices of higher and lower value-added teachers in more and less functional schools, we conduct MANOVAs of observation scores and use qualitative coding of field notes. We find value-added measures and observation protocols provide confirmatory information in less functional schools but provide contradictory information about teacher quality in more functional schools. Implications for teacher education, policy, and future research are discussed.     

Children's Responses to Character Education

This is an investigation of Character Education in American public schools in the Chicago area. The research involved interviewing almost 700 children from a wide variety of schools and ages. The children were asked about their views on citizenship, Americanness and identity. They were also asked explicitly what they thought of Character Education. The results indicate that, despite a similar programme of education, teaching attitudes and teaching materials, the most marked difference between the children's responses correlated strongly with the type of school, magnet or non-magnet, they were attending. This indicates that the social and political background, which determines their school, does have an impact on the way that an educational programme is received and understood, at least in the terms of how children articulate their ideas, if not in terms of how these programmes affect their behaviour.     

Teaching Trump: Student Recommendations to Ensure Safe Discussions in a Time of Polarized Political Divide

ABSTRACT

This article includes findings from a mixed method survey at a large, public midwestern university following the election of Donald J. Trump as the president of the United States. It examines student perceptions about effective engagement in political discourse within social work classes. Survey questions urged students to suggest how instructors might facilitate this dialogue fairly in the classroom given the passionate emotions and differing viewpoints surrounding the election, while acknowledging and educating about values espoused by the profession. Findings from this study illustrate the challenges that students face in having these conversations and outline their recommendations to social work educators for facilitating safe, sensitive, and inclusive classroom discussion about politics.