Studying children's knowledge base of one-sided levers as force amplifiers

Attention to core concepts in science and engineering in early education has grown recently, and understanding levers as force amplifiers can be recognized as one of these. Previous studies focused on two-sided levers and do not provide sufficient information about children's knowledge of levers as force amplifiers, nor about their learning and its support from an education perspective. It is important to consider load distance and force distance separately, as may be done in one-sided levers, to understand children's knowledge of levers as “simple machines” thoroughly. Moreover, children's zone of proximal development and the possibilities to foster their knowledge should be explored to understand important features of teaching. We thus directed two studies with 6- to 7-year-old children. In study 1, we conducted a paper-and-pencil test in the context of wheelbarrows (N = 370; age M = 6.62). We investigated whether it is possible to empirically separate the features load, load distance, and force distance as well as to determine their level of difficulty. Our study showed that children's concepts of the three aspects load, load distance, and force distance are fragmented, with children finding it continuously more difficult to judge load, load distance, and force distance correctly. In study 2, we developed a 20-min intervention with a controlled 2 × 2 pre-post follow-up design for exploring the zone of proximal development of 304 6- to 7-year-old children in the domain of one-sided levers as force amplifiers, focusing on force distance and load distance. We implemented a structured learning environment that encouraged the children to manipulate wheelbarrows and supported them with pictures and/or verbal prompts. 6- to 7-year-old children had a higher learning gain when they were exposed to scaffolds that combined pictures and verbal prompts in the posttest as well as in the follow-up test four weeks later compared to the control group.     

五年一贯制高职前期教育策略

通过五年一贯制高职教育和三年制高职教育的比较,提出五年一贯制教育的前两年为前期教育阶段,探讨了在这一阶段可以实施的教学和管理策略,以期促进五年一贯制高职教育的发展。     

Interweaving a mindfully somatic pedagogy into an early childhood classroom

There has been considerable distress in early childhood classrooms due to a cultural bias of Cartesian dualism, which has led to the bullying and disappearance of Body in education. Efforts of bringing about shifts in pedagogical practices toward holistic, bodily views of the self must be supported and developed. However, with classrooms that are filled with less movement and play, the marginalization of Body is of major concern. Interdisciplinary educational settings may be rich in exposing potentials and challenges of a nondual pedagogy implemented in unconsciously dualistic classroom cultures. The purpose of this article is to describe the barriers to implementation of a Mindfully Somatic Pedagogy, as well as affordances to young children throughout a preschool yoga class over an academic year. This research provides a basis for understanding how a Mindfully Somatic Pedagogy can curate holistic, first-person experiences of young children’s bodily selves within a classroom. Likewise, differing expectations of Body from adults in classrooms can lead to mixed messages for children. Understanding how bodily experiences afford young children’s development and teachers responses to Body in the classroom is informative in understanding the roles a school culture can have on the relationship between child development and teacher pedagogy.     

Situated decoding of gender in a Swedish preschool practice

This article is based on data generated in an ethnographic study of gender in a Swedish preschool. Drawing on Judith Butler’s understanding of performativity and (un)doing of gender, a new theoretical concept, situated decoding of gender, is further developed by showing how the material and spatial dimension of the educational practice and the teachers’ actions contribute to establishing and maintaining this process in an early childhood educational setting. Instead of normalising the gender binary, a reverse process occurs that turns what is perceived as feminine or masculine into a gender decoded state in which gender is made less relevant, or even irrelevant. It is argued that this continuous reiterative process emerges and is maintained by three main factors: (a) the preschool’s physical environment, (b) the regular and repetitive structure of the educational practice and (c) the consistent actions of the teachers in the everyday practice.     

Transforming Education through School-community Partnerships: Lessons from Four Rural Early Childhood Development Schools in Zimbabwe

This article presents and discusses the findings of a multi-case study that was conducted in four remote rural early childhood development (ECD) schools located in the Chiredzi district, in Masvingo province, Zimbabwe. The article explored how school heads enhanced resources mobilisation in remote rural ECD schools through school-community partnerships in order to improve teaching and learning conditions. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with the school heads, deputy heads and teachers in charge. Document reviews and observations were also used to augment data from interviews. Invitational leadership was used as an analytic tool for the study. The findings suggest that the school heads succeeded to some degree in bringing parents and various stakeholders to the ECD schools to deal with the challenges facing them. Various strategies were used including tapping into local knowledge to ensure that parents who could afford to pay fees managed to do so.     

早教师资培养课程设置研究

0-3岁婴幼儿早期教养事业在我国处于蓬勃发展的阶段,而早教师资培养还在起步阶段。研究建构一套适合早教师资职前培养的课程体系,对早教合格人才培养工作具有重要意义。课程的设置应遵循：必修课和选修课相辅相成、专业基础课和专业技能课并重、理论课与实践课融合的三原则。课程设置应包括：公共基础课程、专业课程、选修课程、实践课程。课程理念和课程设置目标的具体实现关键在于课程的有效实施：一是组建专业建设指导委员会,做好导向;二是成立选修委员会,增加选修课;三是推行＂双证＂乃至＂多证＂教育,提高师资素质。     

何其芳早期文学思想的形成动因

论述了何其芳早期文学思想在他诗文创作中的主要体现,认为贯穿其早期文学创作的基本思想就是：＂美、思索、为了爱的牺牲＂。而何其芳这种文学思想的形成与中国古典诗词的熏陶和浸润,新月派诗歌的鼓舞和激荡以及西方文学的多元影响等因素密切相关。     

学前儿童早期阅读内涵解析

学前儿童的早期阅读在我国当前学前教育理论研究中日益受到重视,但在实践中,仍然存在很多错误的认识和做法。针对这一现状,本文从五个方面阐释了对学前儿童早期阅读的认识,具体包括早期阅读的意义、早期阅读的目标、早期阅读与识字的关系、早期阅读材料的选择以及早期阅读的实施,以此构建现实中的理性行为。     

幼儿科学素养培养方法探析

幼儿科学教育是科学启蒙教育,学习科学的过程是幼儿主动探索的过程。幼儿科学素养培养方法的科学合理性至关重要,直接影响幼儿科学素养培养的成效。对科学素养内涵的认知和幼儿园科学教育的目标解析是幼儿科学教育方法的基础。观察法和模拟实验法是幼儿期孩子科学素养培养的主要方法,这些方法的实施必须遵循安全性、兴趣性、时空性和持续性原则。     

中国早期少儿电视剧的创作与理论批评

中国少儿电视剧是中国电视业的产物,在其诞生之初即受到党和政府的高度重视,承担起教育少年儿童的重要作用。早期的中国少儿电视剧创作很丰富,但与之相关的理论批评却相对滞后,在整个20世纪60-70年代均未出现。1978年中国改革开放之后,中国电视业再一次焕发出勃勃生机,中国少儿电视剧创作迎来了第二个创作高潮期,同时,中国少儿电视剧理论批评也伴随着创作开始出现,因此中国少儿电视剧理论批评史的出发点要设置在80年代之后。