Located in the thin of it: Young children’s use of thin moral concepts

One important socio-cultural medium through which young children’s moral understanding is cultivated is parent/child discourse. Of particular interest to us was young children’s use of basic (‘thin’) evaluative concepts (good, bad, right and wrong), which are ubiquitous in everyday discourse and serve as a potential bridge from the non-moral to the moral domain. We investigated 14 2–5-year-old children’s (and their parents’) use of thin evaluative concepts and found that while they frequently used good and bad to morally evaluate other people’s and their own psychological/dispositional states and behaviors—as well as, less frequently, to highlight relevant standards, expectations and rules—they did not use right and wrong. In contrast, a sample of US written and spoken public conversation revealed that adults did. Reasons for this are discussed, along with the frequency of different types of moral evaluations, differences between children and their parents, and age-related trends.     

More than meets the eye: patterns and shifts in middle school mathematics teachers’ descriptions of models

Modeling is a major topic of interest in mathematics education. However, the field’s definition of models is diverse. Less is known about what teachers identify as mathematical models, even though it is teachers who ultimately enact modeling activities in the classroom. In this study, we asked nine middle school teachers with a variety of academic backgrounds and teaching experience to collect data related to one familiar physical phenomenon, cooling liquid. We then asked each participant to construct a model of that phenomenon, describe why it was a model, and identify whether a variety of artifacts representing the phenomenon also counted as models during a semi-structured interview. We sought to identify: what do mathematics teachers attend to when describing what constitutes a model? And, how do their attentions shift as they engage in different activities related to models? Using content analysis, we documented what features and purposes teachers attended to when describing a mathematical model. When constructing their own model, they focused on the visual form of the model and what quantitative information it should include. When deciding whether particular representational artifacts constituted models, they focused on how the representations reflected the system under study, and what purposes those representations could serve in further understanding that system. These findings suggest teachers may have multiple understandings of models, which are active at different times and reflect different perspectives. This has implications for research, teacher education, and professional development.     

Modifying socially withdrawn behavior: A playground intervention for students with internalizing behaviors

There is little research regarding interventions for children with internalizing behaviors in schools, both within classrooms and in nonclassroom environments. In response to this need, a nonclassroom treatment package, consisting of (a) social skills instruction, (b) mediated self‐management, and (c) a reinforcement system, was implemented to modify the socially withdrawn behavior of 3 elementary students. The effects of this treatment package were evaluated on the school playground—during recess—by recording both the number of communicative acts and the total time spent engaged in appropriate peer play for each target student. All target students showed marked improvement in their playground, social interaction. Future research should be conducted with similar populations, using variations of the described methods in other school settings. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Psychol Schs 44: 779–794, 2007.     

Validating a model of effective teaching behaviour and student engagement: perspectives from Spanish students

Research consistently shows that teaching behaviour is a highly-important indicator of learning environments. Based on a teacher effectiveness model with six observable teaching behaviour domains (safe learning climate, efficient classroom management, clarity of instruction, activating teaching, teaching–learning strategies, and differentiation), the present paper examines the psychometric quality of the My Teacher questionnaire for capturing student perceptions of teaching behaviour in the Spanish secondary-education context. Additionally, this study validated the model of teaching behaviour and student engagement and its relevance in Spain. 7114 students of 410 teachers attending 56 public and private Spanish schools constituted the sample. The six teaching behavioural dimensions model were confirmed in the Spanish context. Regarding student academic engagement, the presence of two domains (behavioural and emotional engagement) were confirmed. Furthermore, results of a multiple-group structural equation modeling path analysis, examining the relationship between teaching behaviour and student engagement across different teaching experiences, revealed differential effects of teaching behaviour influences on students’ engagement. The percentage of explained variance was larger for emotional engagement than for behavioural engagement. Furthermore, teachers’ teaching experience explained differences in the relationship between perceived teaching behaviour and engagement. Two domains (learning climate and activating teaching) appeared to be the two most-important teaching domains for students’ behavioural engagement while, for emotional engagement, the most important domains for student engagement were learning climate and teaching learning strategies.

     

Co-occurring forms of child maltreatment and adult adjustment reported by Latina college students

OBJECTIVES: This study had two primary objectives: First, to examine the nature and co-occurrence of various forms of child maltreatment (sexual, physical, emotional, and witnessing violence) reported by Latina college students, and second, to explore coexisting maltreatment types and acculturation status as possible contributors to long-term adjustment difficulties. METHOD: Participants were 112 Latina undergraduate students categorized by the number of childhood maltreatment types experienced (0, 1, or 2 or more) and acculturation level (1 to 5). The possible effects of co-occurring forms of maltreatment, in conjunction with acculturation status, were investigated with respect to participants' reported trauma symptomatology. Data were collected using self-report measures. RESULTS: Nearly three out of 10 participants (29%) experienced more than one type of child maltreatment and, as expected, these individuals reported greater trauma symptomatology than those reporting either a single type of maltreatment or no maltreatment at all. Those who reported multiple types also endured more severe maltreatment than did respondents who experienced a single type. Acculturation level was neither directly related to trauma symptoms nor did it moderate the lasting correlates of maltreatment among victims. Interestingly, those who experienced a single form of maltreatment reported no more trauma symptoms than did participants who reported no maltreatment history at all. CONCLUSION: This investigation documents a large degree of overlap among various forms of self-reported childhood maltreatment within a Latina college population. The results underscore the need to consider multiple forms of maltreatment, as well as severity, when making inferences regarding potential effects on later functioning.     

Letter names, letter sounds and phonological awareness: an examination of kindergarten children across letters and of letters across children

In this study 149 kindergarten children were assessed for knowledge of letter names and letter sounds, phonological awareness, and cognitive abilities. Through this it examined child and letter characteristics influencing the acquisition of alphabetic knowledge in a naturalistic context, the relationship between letter-sound knowledge and letter-name knowledge, and the prediction of Grade 1 phonological awareness and word identification from these variables. Knowledge of letter sounds was better for vowels and for letters with consonant–vowel names than for those with vowel–consonant names or names bearing little relationship to their sounds. However, there were anomalies within each category reflecting characteristics of the individual letters. Structural equation modelling showed that cognitive ability, comprising receptive vocabulary, non-verbal reasoning, rapid automatized naming of colours, and phonological memory significantly contributed to alphabetic knowledge and phonological awareness. In turn, letter-name knowledge but not phonological awareness predicted letter-sound knowledge and subsequent reading skill.This research was supported by a grant from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada to the first author. Thank you is extended to the participating schools and children and to Ian Newby-Clark for his orientation to AMOS. Michelle Bell, Shelly Moretti and Jodi Page have since graduated from the University of Guelph     

Scaling and Sustaining Effective Early Childhood Programs Through School–Family–University Collaboration

We describe the development, implementation, and evaluation of a comprehensive preschool to third grade prevention program for the goals of sustaining services at a large scale. The Midwest Child–Parent Center (CPC) Expansion is a multilevel collaborative school reform model designed to improve school achievement and parental involvement from ages 3 to 9. By increasing the dosage, coordination, and comprehensiveness of services, the program is expected to enhance the transition to school and promote more enduring effects on well‐being in multiple domains. We review and evaluate evidence from two longitudinal studies (Midwest CPC, 2012 to present; Chicago Longitudinal Study, 1983 to present) and four implementation examples of how the guiding principles of shared ownership, committed resources, and progress monitoring for improvement can promote effectiveness. The implementation system of partners and further expansion using “Pay for Success” financing shows the feasibility of scaling the program while continuing to improve effectiveness.     

Portfolio Assessment: More Than ABCs and 123s

Demands for educational accountability are being called for at all levels: preschool through graduate school. Standardized tests are being widely utilized, but this measurement is not appropriate for young children. Portfolio assessment is a more promising approach to measure children's growth, development, and achievement. This paper outlines criteria that portfolios must have in order to be effective assessment tools. Methods of gathering information and tips for portfolio development are shared and several examples of children's work samples are included