Spoken vocabulary growth: Its role in the development of phoneme awareness and early reading ability

In this paper, two theoretical positionsregarding the developmental origins of thephoneme as a unit for lexical representationand processing are outlined – theaccessibility and emergent positions. OurLexical Restructuring Model (Metsala & Walley1998), which is consistent with the secondposition, focuses on the role of vocabularygrowth in prompting the implementation of morefine-grained, segmental representations forlexical items in childhood; this restructuringis viewed as an important precursor to theexplicit segmentation or phoneme awarenessskills implicated in early reading success.Empirical evidence that supports this model issummarized, including preliminary results fromone of our most recent studies. Severalsuggestions are made for future research thatwill lead to a better understanding of thedevelopment of spoken word recognition and thelinks between speech- and reading-relatedabilities.     

Alternatives to rules for knowledge-based modelling

The technology of knowledge-based systems undoubtedly offers potential for educational modelling, yet its practical impact on today's school classrooms is very limited. To an extent this is because the tools presently used in schools are mostly rule-based expert system shells, which lack usability. We developed three alternative tools, using ideas from knowledge acquisition research, and compared their effectiveness to that of an established rule-based shell. Children working with the new tools produced higher quality models and developed more positive attitudes. We relate these findings to the forms of representation provided by the new tools and present evidence that modelling increases children's representational skill. We conclude that knowledge acquisition systems and alternative forms of representation can contribute to improved forms of knowledge-based modelling.     

Teaching and Research: Identity Representations Among Teacher-Education Faculty Members,Decades After an Institutional Change

Recent emphasis on research productivity in teacher-education institutions has intensified the inherent tension in faculty members’ roles as both educators and researchers. We adopt the framework of social representations theory to explore identity perceptions among teacher-educators whose organization required them to take on the identity of “researcher.” The study relies on qualitative content analysis of data from eight focus groups (n?=?100) comprising faculty members at an Israeli teachers’ training college that transitioned into an academic research institution. We observe that, in the wake of the organizational change, participants abandoned the traditional hegemonic representation of the centrality of pedagogy and accepted new representations combining teaching and research. Yet few participants identified with the new representation on a personal level, and pedagogy continued to constitute the essence of their work.     

Static Versus Dynamic Disposition: The Role of GeoGebra in Representing Polynomial-Rational Inequalities and Exponential-Logarithmic Functions

This study investigates prospective secondary mathematics teachers’ visual representations of polynomial and rational inequalities, and graphs of exponential and logarithmic functions with GeoGebra Dynamic Software. Five prospective teachers in a university in the United States participated in this research study, which was situated within a framework of productive disposition and visual representations in pre-calculus. The main result was that the role of GeoGebra as a cognitive tool fostered the research participants’ productive disposition, despite recurrent mismatches between the algebraic and visualized formalisms. Moreover, participants exhibiting dynamic productive disposition seemed to understand and make better sense of the conceptual underpinnings of the mathematical content they explored in contrast to those embracing static productive disposition.     

School as ‘survival game’: representations of school in transition from preschool to primary school

In children's lives the start of school is a turning point: compulsory education is their first encounter with civil duties. This important step in the process of becoming individual citizens is permeated with strong emotions and ambivalent expectations. However, the representations of school are created, established and negotiated in educational experiences preceding the start of school. In this article I explore the ways in which school is constructed in a Finnish preschool context. I build on ethnographic data generated in two preschool classes. First, I focus on how school is constructed in the social practices of teaching and in the physical space of preschool. Second, I analyse how children construct themselves as future school children and citizens by taking up available discourses and cultural practices. I argue that in official preschool, an ethos of individual survival characterises representations of school. Psychological, social and physical challenges are emphasised. Although preschool teachers in interviews and informal discussions sometimes problematise the ways in which school operates, in their teaching school practices are represented as natural. However, children actively exhibit their agency by collectively reworking of discourses and cultural practices and by renegotiating their informal relationships.     

Regulating Swish: Early Television Censorship

This article investigates the mechanisms of early television censorship from 1947 to 1952, looking at the restrictions placed on content, and the process that shows and advertisements went through before being broadcast. This article focuses on the inner workings of the National Broadcasting Company's (NBC) censoring arm, the Continuity Acceptance Department, and takes into consideration the medium-specific qualities of television and the challenges presented to those who had the task of regulating broadcast content. In addition to a general discussion of regulations, this article examines the censorship of homosexual characterizations in early television, looking specifically at the use of ‘swish’ routines (which make use of stereotyped gay mannerisms) in comedy shows. While networks and the National Association for Radio and Television Broadcasters established codes to govern their censorship apparatuses, the process of censorship was less an enforcement of hard and fast rules than a constant negotiation over content and allowable material.     

Coordinating multiple representations of polynomials: What do patterns in students' solution strategies reveal?

We investigate the strategies used by 64 advanced secondary mathematics students to identify whether a given pair of polynomial representations (graphs, tables, or equations) corresponded to the same function on an assessment of coordinating representations. Participants also completed assessments of domain-related knowledge and background skills. Cluster analysis of strategies by representation pair revealed patterns in the participants' strategy use. Two clusters were identifiable on tasks that required matching equations to graphs and graphs to tables. We identified overlap between these two clusters, suggesting that while the representation pair influenced strategy choice, there was also a general distinction between students who used more and less sophisticated strategies. However, students who used more sophisticated coordination strategies were similar to the others on measures of domain-specific knowledge or background skills. We consider implications for future investigations testing interventions to promote coordinating representations.     

Public discourse on HIV and AIDS: an archival analysis of national newspaper reporting in Uganda, 1996–2011

Uganda is recognised as an early success story in the HIV epidemic at least in part due to an open and vigorous national dialogue about HIV prevention. This study examined the national discourse about HIV, AIDS, and young people in New Vision, Uganda's leading national newspaper between 1996 and 2011, building from a previous archival analysis of New Vision reporting by Kirby (1986–1995). We examined the continuing evolution in the public discourse in Uganda, focusing on reporting about young people. An increase in reporting on HIV and AIDS occurred after 2003, as antiretroviral treatment was becoming available. While the emphasis in newspaper reporting about adults and the population at large evolved to reflect the development of new HIV treatment and prevention methods, the majority of the articles focused on young people did not change. Articles about young people continued to emphasise HIV acquisition due to early and premarital sexual activity and the need for social support services for children affected by HIV and AIDS. Articles often did not report on the complex social conditions that shape HIV-related risk among young people, or address young people who are sexually active, married, and/or HIV-infected. With HIV prevalence now increasing among young people and adults in Uganda, greater attention to HIV prevention is needed.     

深入领会“三个代表”的思想努力推进电大改革与发展

本文结合“三个代表”的重要思想和教育“十五”计划的学习,联系电大改革和发展实际,认为：理论联系实际是学习“三个代表”思想的基本原则;要从“三个代表”的思想出发,加深对教育“十五”计划的理解;要在“三个代表”思想的指导下,抓紧制订学校“十五”发展规划;要以“三个代表”思想为强大动力,推进电大新一轮改革和发展。并对新形势下电大发展定位提出了若干意见。     

What underlies successful word problem solving? A path analysis in sixth grade students

Two component skills are thought to be necessary for successful word problem solving: (1) the production of visual-schematic representations and (2) the derivation of the correct relations between the solution-relevant elements from the text base. The first component skill is grounded in the visual–spatial domain, and presumed to be influenced by spatial ability, whereas the latter is seated in the linguistic–semantic domain, and presumed to be influenced by reading comprehension. These component skills as well as their underlying basic abilities are examined in 128 sixth grade students through path analysis. The results of the path analysis showed that both component skills and their underlying basic abilities explained 49% of students’ word problem solving performance. Furthermore, spatial ability and reading comprehension both had a direct and an indirect relation (via the component skills) with word problem solving performance. These results contribute to the development of instruction methods that help students using these components while solving word problems.