STUDENT TEACHERS’ REFLECTIONS AND COLLABORATIONS THROUGH ELECTRONIC MAIL DISCUSSIONS

Abstract

This qualitative study looked at how early childhood teachers talk about and interact with the most powerful children in their classrooms—the student leaders. Relying primarily on interviews with six teachers in early childhood classrooms (infants, toddlers, and preschoolers) within a University‐affiliated center, this paper reconsidered leadership qualities in young children from the teachers’ point of view, probing the often overlooked challenges and dilemmas that young leaders present in student‐student and student‐adult relationships. Findings showed that the teachers described children's leadership skills in positive ways in the abstract, but these theoretical beliefs were quickly challenged by the realities of the classroom. As a result, teachers faced the complex dilemma of supporting individual children's leadership strengths while nurturing their own visions of classroom community. Findings are discussed with reference to implications for practice, including implications for early childhood teacher education, and suggestions for further study.     

Teachers as researchers: Classroom inquiry initiatives at undergraduate and graduate levels in early childhood education

Abstract

This article discusses the importance of including a teacher‐as‐researcher strand in college courses at both undergraduate and graduate levels. It describes four competency areas that contribute to the ability to engage in classroom inquiry including frequent and quality clinical experiences, practicing data collection methods of authentic assessment, opportunities to learn reflective practices, and experience using the inquiry cycle. Two undergraduate courses in early childhood education and a masters degree program in teaching & learning provide illustrations for embedding the teacher‐as‐researcher strand into the teacher education program. The article discusses the potential for classroom inquiry to stimulate renewal in university and public school settings. © 2001 Elsevier Science Inc. All rights reserved.     

Ignoring the Past: Coverage of Slavery and Slave Patrols in Criminal Justice Texts

The authors reviewed 18 criminal justice and 13 policing texts published since 2000 to explore the amount of coverage these texts give to the relationship between slavery, slave patrols, and the early American criminal justice system. To provide a basis for comparison, 14 introductory texts published in the 1970s were also reviewed. We found coverage of topics related to slavery to be nearly nonexistent in the 1970s texts and to be perfunctory in the majority of the current texts. We argue that given slavery’s importance to American history, introduction to criminal justice and policing texts should be more comprehensive in their discussions regarding how this peculiar institution shaped American criminal justice and law enforcement.     

Toward a Framework for Using Student Mathematical Representations as Formative Assessments

This article explores how students' mathematical representations can be used as formative assessments. We introduce a framework for teaching and learning that integrates representations as instructional and assessment tools, and illustrate these uses of student representations with reference to a study conducted with 250 5th-grade students. This study focused on students' ability to recognize and use a variety of representations of the fraction concept. Finally, we discuss the implications of the framework for teacher knowledge and classroom practice.     

Single-subject designs and action research in the K-12 setting

Inasmuch as educational research is concerned with individual student assessment and development, it is surprising that single-subject designs are not more readily utilized in classroom-based action research. The purpose of this article is to emphasize benefits of single-subject research in the K-12 setting, given that teachers teach and assess individual students, the availability of individual student data, the uniqueness of all students' needs, and the ease with which data can be summarized and analyzed. A basic framework for conducting single-subject research is provided with the use of examples and discussion.     

Assessing dyslexia in higher education: the York adult assessment battery‐revised

Although there are a number of standardised measures to assess dyslexia in children, there are comparatively fewer instruments suitable for the assessment of dyslexia in adults. Given the growing number of students entering UK higher education institutions, there is a need to develop reliable tools for assessing the additional needs of those with dyslexia and related difficulties. This study reports data from a revised version of the York Adult Assessment: An Assessment Battery for Dyslexia Screening in Higher Education. The current York Adult Assessment‐Revised (YAA‐R) is an assessment battery consisting of tests of reading, spelling, writing and phonological skills. Data from a normative sample of 106 adults without dyslexia and a validation sample of 20 adults with dyslexia illustrate significant group differences on the tests comprising the YAA‐R. Additionally, the YAA‐R has good discriminatory power yielding 80% sensitivity and 97% specificity. Taken together, the YAA‐R is a suitable test battery for the assessment and identification of dyslexia in university students.     

A review of pedagogy related to information and communications technology

Abstract

This article reviews research on pedagogies associated with the use of information and communications technology (ICT) in primary and secondary schools. We propose a framework for examining pedagogical practices based on an analysis of the nature of pedagogy as revealed in the literature. In the light of this framework we discuss empirical evidence of the use of different types of ICT in different subjects and phases of education. We identify pedagogical issues associated with ICT use and their implications for teachers' pedagogical reasoning and practices. The evidence suggests that new affordances provided by ICT-based learning environments require teachers to undertake more complex pedagogical reasoning than before in their planning and teaching that incorporates knowledge of specific affordances and how these relate to their subject-based teaching objectives as well as the knowledge they have always needed to plan for their students' learning. In addition the research shows that teachers' beliefs about the value of ICT for learning and the nature of successful learning environments are important in teachers' pedagogical reasoning