Pedagogy and possibility thinking in the early years

Connecting to current work in the area of creative pedagogies, this paper reports findings of an exploratory study that sought to identify what characterises possibility thinking in young children's learning experiences and how teachers’ pedagogical practice fosters this critical aspect of creativity. It focuses in particular on pedagogy, seeking to demonstrate how approaches adopted facilitated children's possibility thinking. Possibility thinking has been conceptualised as being central to creative learning although its role, as manifest in the learning engagement of children and the pedagogical strategies of practitioners has not been fully illuminated. The co-participative research team involved in this study comprised staff in an early childhood centre, in an infant and a primary school, working collaboratively with three university-based researchers. The 12-month long segment of a longer study employed various data collection methods including video-stimulated review (VSR) to facilitate reflection, critical conversations, classroom observation, interviews and examination of planning documents. The paper illuminates the perspectives and embedded values that the teachers expressed whilst reflecting upon their practice, and highlights common pedagogical themes, including the practice of ‘standing back’, profiling learner agency and creating time and space. Particular strategies were employed by each of the teachers. These approaches appeared to foster possibility thinking in young learners. In addition, the paper considers the development of the teachers’ thinking through the phases of the research process and presents a model for conceptualising a pedagogy of possibility thinking.     

阐释中国文化中的“穷而后工”

从“穷而后工”诗学命题的历史梳理入手,指出该命题之广受关注主要是因为它关联着中国古代士子的人生体验与人生价值,并进一步从文化蕴含、主体人格与诗学形象诸角度对此进行了深入阐发。     

Book matters: The effect of Cocky’s Reading Express on student performance

The literature argues that children are more likely to succeed academically if they acquire strong reading skills and a love of reading at a young age. In this paper, I evaluate an early childhood literacy program, Cocky’s Reading Express (CRE), to understand how reading events at school and the gifts of books impact learning. Combining the CRE visit records with administrative student data, I find that CRE leads to 0.02–0.03 of a standard deviation increase in statewide English Language Arts test scores among low-income students one year after the visit and find suggestive evidence that CRE improves the math scores for subgroups of students in poverty. In particular, the CRE effect varies based on locality and access to reading materials, with a larger effect on students residing in metropolitan areas or close to public libraries. However, the positive effects on low-income students diminish over time; CRE does not show impacts on the scores of students from better-off families either.     

阿尔泰冲乎尔盆地花岗质岩类的锆石SHRIMP U-Pb定年及其构造意义

通过对新疆阿尔泰冲乎尔地区北缘花岗质类岩石的矿物学、岩石学及电子探针分析研究，鉴定冲乎尔盆地北缘花岗岩属斜长花岗岩．英云闪长岩系列。岩石主微量元素分析显示，花岗岩和盆地火山沉积岩具有相似的微量及稀土元素特征，表现为：准铝到弱铝过饱和的钙碱性系列，镁含量较高，Ba、Y、Nb等大离子亲石元素亏损，轻稀土富集，稀土元素分布曲线为Eu弱负异常的右倾平坦型，岩石地球化学特征显示花岗岩的物质来源可能主要来自中上地壳。用单颗粒锆石SHRIMP U-Pb定年方法。测得该岩体成岩年龄为413±3.8Ma，晚于盆地火山岩436±4Ma，结合花岗岩分布及基底构造特征，认为该期花岗岩受区域南北向构造控制，冲乎尔盆地可能为早古生代火山沉积盆地，盆地岩浆岩相似的元素地球化学特征暗示它们可能具有同源岩浆演化系列的性质。该期花岗岩可能为志留纪活动大陆边缘环境下，古亚洲洋板块向西伯利亚板块俯冲，热一构造作用引起中上地壳部分熔融，在阿尔泰山及其南缘形成S型花岗岩。     

Managing the written text: the beginning of punctuation in children's writing

This study aims at understanding the use of punctuation in children's early writings in connection with the organisation of the written text. Data are drawn from a larger comparative study in which written stories of Little Red Riding Hood were collected from primary school children who speak one of the three Romance languages (Spanish, Portuguese, and Italian). The corpus consists of 134 written stories of second grade children from low income families. Different quantitative and qualitative analysis are presented. Results show that all children, in spite of differences in literacy practices, try to make sense of the conventions of a system of writing, including punctuation marks (PMs). Some children seem to assume a ‘graphic principle', while others make sophisticated attempts to distinguish the function of PMs for different types of speech genre. Contrastive textual use of PM seems to be critical also for teaching purposes.     

恩格斯对政党理论的早期探索

恩格斯是在1842年底来到英国的曼彻斯特之后展开他对政党问题的早期探索的。这时的英国政党政治已经发展到比较高的水平,因而为恩格斯研究政党政治提供了远比德国和法国更为充足、更为典型的现实材料。与马克思从探讨国家问题开始涉足政党问题不同,恩格斯涉足政党问题的切入点不是理论批判,而是直接的现实考察和研究。这就决定了恩格斯对政党理论的早期探讨比起马克思来,似乎更直接、更现实、更系统一些。     

试论清季民初梁启超的道德救国思想

清季民初,梁启超深入揭露和批判了社会上道德沦丧、吏无廉耻、士无名节、重私轻公、名实相悖等社会陋习。为阐释其道德救国思想,他围绕理论上界定道德概念、近代道德核心为爱国民族精神、近代道德内涵体现为近代私德公德统一、其形成源于理性把握中外道德实质、而主旨在于塑造近代人格等方面作了比较全面系统论证,主张通过立志与修身结合、教育与引导并举、改造与育人互动、道德与制度统一达到塑造新国民,实现救国之目的。     

Enhancing young children's arithmetic skills through non-intensive,computerised kindergarten interventions: A randomised controlled study

Children in kindergarten were randomly assigned to adaptive computerised counting or comparison interventions, or to a business-as-usual control group. Children in both intervention groups, including children with poor calculation skills at the start of the intervention, performed better than controls in the posttest. However the effects of training held in grade 1, playing serious counting games improving number knowledge and mental arithmetic performances, and playing serious comparison games, only enhanced the number knowledge proficiency in grade 1. The value of these short periods of intensive gaming in kindergarten are discussed as a look-ahead approach to enhance arithmetic proficiency.     

Head start and the intensification of teaching in early childhood education

Head Start is the largest early childhood education program in the US. Echoing patterns emerging in ECE world-wide, Head Start has dramatically changed. Greater emphasis is now placed on kindergarten readiness, child and teacher assessment, professionalization, and increased competition for program funding. Drawing on a mixed methods research design, a case study was conducted that explores the nature and effects of these changes on teachers and the work of teaching within Head Start. Strong evidence of work intensification was found, a topic little explored within the wider ECE literature. In the light of this finding the authors question the model of professionalism that now dominates ECE reform.     

Using video to promote early childhood teachers' thinking and reflection

This article examines findings from a qualitative study employing group stimulated-recall interviews using video-recordings of early childhood teachers to elicit their thinking and reflections about their teaching interactions. It focuses on the value of video to enable teachers to reflect on their practices and the extent to which collectively viewing recorded episodes allows negotiated understandings of their own and other teachers' practices. Whilst these findings suggest that video and collective dialogue are useful professional learning tools for teachers to examine and improve their teaching, structural and relational challenges exist that may impact on how effectively such tools are used.