Useful metaphors for tackling problems in teaching and learning

Textbooks and lectures are typically structured around the belief that students learn the same way they would climb a ladder: straight up, one step at a time. Marc Schwartz and Kurt Fischer propose a pyramid and webs of pyramids as far more appropriate and useful metaphors.     

Using asynchronous discussion to support preservice teachers’ practicum experiences

Conclusion This multi-genre writing, multimedia, co-inquiry project produced successful end products. The middle school students gained experience in writing in a variety of genres, communicating through multiple media, and using education technology to do so. Likewise, the pre-service teachers developed their skills in these same areas. More importantly for our preservice teachers they gained teaching experience and had a chance to interact with students in the role of the teacher. This success would not have been achieved without the collaboration and cooperation of many individuals as well as access to the required technologies. The asynchronous discussion board was an important part of that success. This mode of telecommunications facilitated increased social and substantive interactions between the middle school students and the preservice teachers from the beginning to the end of the project. With careful consideration of the points and questions we present here, we hope that you will be able to adopt or adapt this mode of telecommunications to add value to your pre-service teachers’ teaching experiences and interactions with K-12 students.     

“Everyone is Just Mixed to Me”: Exploring the Role of Multiraciality in College Students' Racial Claims

Examining discourses of multiraciality through college students' claims about race offers helpful insights for educators striving to create equitable campuses for mixed race students. One area of discourse is the positioning of multiracial individuals as evidence for the social construction of race. Another critiques the multiracial movement, with its large college student base, for reinforcing the biological concept of race. This study investigates how a diverse sample of 40 undergraduate students from two U.S. West Coast institutions used multiraciality in varied ways to assert their claims about race and whether it mattered. Six patterns of multiracial discourse emerged in their racial claims. These findings suggest that the novelty of multiraciality allows it to be invoked to support various claims about the nature of race, namely whether race is biological, and the current and future relationship between mixedness and “post-racial” progress. Implications for research and practice also are discussed.     

The Immigrant Project 1980‐81

The article deals with a teacher education response to a problem relatively new in Norwegian society, namely the immigration influx of the 60s and 70s. The need to educate for a multi‐cultural society is a new one for Norway.

The Immigrant Project at Levanger College of Education tackled this problem, with the aim of showing the positive side of cultural pluralism. New methods and new materials were needed, and an inter‐disciplinary approach was adopted. The strategies adopted are explained: first‐hand observation, field work and materials preparation are all important constituents, and students had extensive exposure to social and cultural conditions of immigrant life.

The article stresses also the importan?e of feedback into the college and of public presentation via the media. Finally, the author summarises the learnings and the achievements of the project.     

How Early Life Adversity Transforms the Learning Brain

For educators to help children exposed to adverse life experiences, it is necessary to understand how adversity impacts different mechanisms of learning, emotion, and planning as these capacities underpin success in schools and beyond. The goal of this paper is to review essential findings on how early life adversity transforms the brain which, in turn, impacts educational outcomes. Part 1 begins by discussing the species‐specific and expectant experiences that guide typical development, and then turns to early life adversities and their relationship to both physical and mental health outcomes. Part 2 summarizes four dimensions of adversity—type, timing, term, and toxicity—and how each differentially impacts the developing brain, including individual differences in psychopathology. Part 3 discusses the relevance of these findings for educators, highlighting how behavior can be modified to build resilience and greater academic and social–emotional competency.     

Trends in coverage of hygiene and disease prevention topics across national curriculum frameworks for primary science,physical education,and health

PROSPECTS - The response to the Covid-19 pandemic raises a question about the role of national curriculum frameworks in acquiring and applying knowledge about hygiene and prevention of disease. For...     

Attributions and Attitudes of Mothers and Fathers in the United States

OBJECTIVE.: The present study examined mean level similarities and differences as well as correlations between U.S. mothers' and fathers' attributions regarding successes and failures in caregiving situations and progressive versus authoritarian attitudes. DESIGN.: Interviews were conducted with both mothers and fathers in 139 European American, Latin American, and African American families. RESULTS.: Interactions between parent gender and ethnicity emerged for adult-controlled failure and perceived control over failure. Fathers reported higher adult-controlled failure and child-controlled failure attributions than did mothers, whereas mothers reported attitudes that were more progressive and modern than did fathers; these differences remained significant after controlling for parents' age, education, and possible social desirability bias. Ethnic differences emerged for five of the seven attributions and attitudes examined; four remained significant after controlling for parents' age, education, and possible social desirability bias. Medium effect sizes were found for concordance between parents in the same family for attributions regarding uncontrollable success, child-controlled failure, progressive attitudes, authoritarian attitudes, and modernity of attitudes after controlling for parents' age, education, and possible social desirability bias. CONCLUSIONS.: This work elucidates ways that parent gender and ethnicity relate to attributions regarding U.S. parents' successes and failures in caregiving situations and to their progressive versus authoritarian parenting attitudes.     

Influence of the natural setting on environmental education outcomes

Abstract

Environmental education (EE) typically occurs in natural settings, which research suggests may enhance learning outcomes. Although field trips are commonly used to teach EE, few studies have isolated the influence of different setting characteristics for enhancing participant outcomes during an EE field trip. According to the literature, certain attributes of the natural setting, including novelty, beauty, and naturalness, as well as how the setting is used such as through place-based education, immersion, and time spent inside vs. outside, are thought to positively impact people’s experiences with nature. In this study, we collected data from 334 EE field trip programs for 5-8^th grade students to investigate the influence of these natural setting characteristics on positive learning outcomes. Results suggest that the naturalness and novelty of the setting, the use of place-based education, and spending more time outside vs. inside all positively correlated with more positive student outcomes. The implications of the results for environmental educators are discussed.