Phonological Awareness and Bilingual Preschoolers: Should We Teach It and, If So, How?

This article briefly reviews recent research on teaching phonological awareness skills to preschoolers as well as the benefits of different types of bilingual education. A more in-depth analysis of research on cross-language transfer of phonological awareness/metalinguistic skills follows. The major recommendation resulting from this review is that the teaching of phonological awareness skills in both the home language and school language of preschoolers is the preferred intervention.     

Integration in Victorian Schools: A Review of Policy and Progress (1984‐1989)

ALTHOUGH a dual system of special education has existed for many years in Victoria, the Report of the Ministerial Review of Educational Services for the Disabled(Collins, 1984) clearly revealed the Government's intentions to hasten the integration movement. The five guiding principles of the Review, which are firmly based on social justice and equity issues, shaped Ministerial policy and practices. These guidelines, associated Ministerial documents and memoranda, and resultant policies, structures and services are discussed in detail. The progress of integration in Victorian schools since the Review is outlined, barriers identified and strategies to overcome these obstructions or difficulties provided.     

Formal structure and pattern length in serial pattern learning by rats

When rats learn to anticipate a sequence of stimulus events, such as a serial pattern of different food quantities, they are sensitive to the rule-based formal structure relating the magnitude of successive stimuli. Earlier research has shown that if formal structure is simple (e.g., if a single “less than” rule relates the size of each successive quantity), patterns are learned faster than if formal structure is complex (e.g., if two or more rules such as “less than” and “greater than” relate successive pattern quantities). Two experiments tested the hypothesis that pattern length modulates the role of pattern complexity. We predicted that pattern length and pattern complexity interact in determining pattern difficulty. That is to say, long complex patterns should be learned more slowly than short complex patterns. However, long simple patterns should be learned faster than short simple patterns. In Experiment 1, rats ran a straight runway to receive repeated sequences of food quantities. The long-monotonic group received a formally simple 18-10-6-3-1-0 pattern, in which each number represents a quantity of food pellets. The long-nonmonotonic group received a formally complex 10-1-3-6-18-0 pattern. Similarly, the short-monotonic and short-nonmonotonic groups received 18-1-0 and 1-18-0 patterns. Pattern tracking—fast and slow running in anticipation of large and small quantities of food, respectively—was taken as an index of pattern learning. In Experiment 2, comparable patterns were used, but rats leverpressed in a discrete-trial procedure; response latencies measured pattern tracking. In both experiments, rats learned formally simple patterns faster than they did formally complex patterns. In Experiments 1 and 2, but less clearly in Experiment 2, the predicted interaction was obtained. The results support and generalize the idea that rats encode and use some representation of the formal rule structure of serial patterns as they learn them.     

Mana Wahine and Washday at the Pā

Abstract

Washday at the Pā (‘pā’ is used colloquially by Pākehā to refer to a Māori settlement) is the title of an old schoolbook, a picture reading book for younger schoolchildren, which was produced in 1964 by the state education system in Aotearoa-New Zealand in 1964, written and photographed by Ans Westra, who later became one of the most famous photographers in the country. Washday at the Pā provoked a national debate when the Minister of Education acceded to protests by the Māori Womens Welfare League against its use in classrooms by withdrawing it completely, and the story of this controversy has remained alive in national consciousness ever since. This research brings Māori feminist philosophy to the Washday debate: I take up Mana Wahine theory as a useful lens on the controversy, understood as an event about, with and for women, in the history of Māori education. The purpose of this article is to reread, using Mana Wahine theory, existing arguments about the book’s withdrawal, and to propose an original resolution of the question at the centre of debate: should the book have been withdrawn from schools, or not?     

Documenting English syntactic development in face-to-face signed communication

The authors explored the face-to-face English competence of five students who were participating in a larger study of teachers' use of English-based signing. Using case studies, the authors report on the students' development of English-based signing at the beginning and end of their involvement in this 4-year study. Grammatical forms similar in English and American Sign Language (ASL) were initially more readily produced when tested for in English, and showed consistently higher attainment levels across all the students, than grammatical forms that are different in English and ASL. The authors found emerging English forms that could be documented (a) between prompted and imitated utterances and (b) within blocks of test items examining the same grammatical constructions. The authors conclude that teachers' concerted efforts to use English-based signing as a language of instruction enhance deaf students' English acquisition. Such signing helps build a bridge between native sign language and the development of English skills necessary for literacy.     

Globalisation and education

This paper analyses the links between globalisation and education. The growth of the global economy has increased opportunities for those countries with good levels of education, but has made growth more difficult for countries with weak levels of education. Countries with good human resources, high savings and good economic policies (chiefly in East and Southeast Asia) have attracted foreign investment and technology, and have experienced fast growth in exports of manufactures and in output per capita. Developed countries find it increasingly difficult to compete with such economies unless they invest in good education, training and skills, leading to high rates of innovation and productivity. Countries with weak levels of human resources have found it more difficult to succeed—and many, especially in Africa, have experienced falling per capita incomes. Globalisation has made it more difficult to build up educational levels in these countries, as public expenditure has been cut during adjustment. Hence virtuous and vicious cycles of development have emerged, with a good spread of education leading to high growth and generating resources for further development of education and, conversely, countries with poor human resources having low or negative growth and reduced potential for building up their educational systems.     

Evolution and the nature of science: On the historical discord and its implications for education

Research in the teaching and learning of evolutionary biology has revealed persistent difficulties in student understanding of fundamental Darwinian concepts. These difficulties may be traced, in part, to science instruction that is based on philosophical conceptions of science that are no longer viewed as adequately characterizing the diverse nature of scientific practice, especially in evolutionary biology. This mismatch between evolution as practiced and the nature of science as perceived by researchers and educators has a long history extending back to the publication of Darwin's theory of natural selection. An examination of how this theory was received by the scientific community of the time may provide insight into some of the difficulties that students have today in learning these important biological concepts. The primary difficulties center around issues of metaphysics and scientific method, aspects of the nature of science too often ignored in science education. Our intent is not to offer a specific course of action to remedy the problems educators currently face, but rather to suggest an alternative path one might take to eventually reach a solution. That path, we argue, should include the use of broader models of science that incorporate these elements of scientific practice to structure teaching and education research in evolution. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 35: 1069–1089, 1998     

Parent and Student Voices on the First Year of the DC Opportunity Scholarship Program

In January 2004 President Bush authorized the DC School Choice Incentive Act, an initiative funded at $14 million that created a scholarship program providing 1,700 low-income Washington, DC, children the opportunity to attend participating K–12 nonpublic schools in the district. In addition to offering opportunities to participating children, the DC Opportunity Scholarship Program opens a door for examining the implications when more families are given the opportunity to select private schools for their children. This article reviews the results of a qualitative assessment aimed at understanding how families experienced their first year in the program. Referencing direct quotes from families that took part in focus groups, we address the following areas of participants' experience: reaction to the choice opportunity, motivation for participation, what was valued in schools, how information was received, selection of final school, reaction to new school environment, parent responses to new challenges, student–school responses to new challenges, financial policies, and overall satisfaction. Each section contains family responses juxtaposed with popular literature on school choice. This report is the first in a series that will monitor the experiences of families during the first 5 years of this program.