Learners’ Difficulties with Quantitative Units in Algebraic Word Problems and the Teacher’s Interpretation of those Difficulties

This study examines 8th grade students’ coordination of quantitative units arising from word problems that can be solved via a set of equations that are reducible to a single equation with a single unknown. Along with Unit-Coordination, Quantitative Unit Conservation also emerges as a necessary construct in dealing with such problems. We base our analysis within a framework of quantitative reasoning (Thompson, 1988; 1989; 1993; 1995) and a theory of children’s units-coordination with different levels of units (Steffe 1994) that both encompass and are extended by these two constructs. Our data consist of videotaped classroom lessons, student interviews, and teacher interviews. Ongoing analyses of these data were conducted during the teaching sequence. A retrospective analysis using constant comparison methodology was then undertaken during which the classroom video, related student interviews, and teacher interviews were revisited many times in order to generate a thematic analysis. Our results indicate that the identification and coordination of the units involved in the problem situation are critical aspects of quantitative reasoning and need to be emphasized in the teaching-learning process. We also concluded that unit coordination and unit conservation are cognitive prerequisites for constructing a meaningful algebraic equation when reasoning quantitatively about a situation.     

An exploration of social representations of the Roma woman in Italy and Brazil: Psychosocial anchoring to emotional reactions

This study investigates the content of the system of representations of Roma women as they emerge from a free-association task, collected from a sample of university students in Italy and Brazil. Available data on the situation of Roma women show that they experience greater social exclusion than the Roma men and the women of the majority community, especially in accessing employment, education, health and social services.The sample consists of 643 participants (mean age 22.9), 50.4% of whom are Italians and 74.3% female. Data were collected via a free-association task, the prompt word being “Gypsy woman”. SPAD-T software ran a lexical correspondence analysis, extracting two factors. We defined the first axis: “The mysterious Roma woman vs. The Outcast Roma woman”, and the second axis: “The seer Roma woman vs. Different sides of Roma woman”.Moreover, psychosocial anchoring to the emotional reactions towards Roma people was studied, showing how different groups of individuals, characterized by specific emotional reactions to Roma people, were attuned to certain social representations of the Roma woman.The implications of these results are discussed in terms of the role played by Roma women in traditional Roma and western societies.     

Issues of exceptionality,gender, and power: exploring Canadian children’s award-winning literature

This article explores the gendered ways in which issues of ability and exceptionality are presented in Governor-General award-winning Canadian children’s literature. In much of contemporary feminist thought, there is a strong focus on intersecting oppressions with gender as a central analytic lens. However, ability is still largely absent. Our aim is to bring ability to the forefront in an analysis of gendered representations in children’s literature. We therefore discuss gender, inclusion, and children’s fiction; detail our use of feminist discourse analysis; and present findings from our literature analysis, making connections to societal discourses of inclusion and gender. We conclude that educators must assist students in becoming aware of gendered and abled discourses, discussing their meanings, and deconstructing their hegemonic ideals. Without such critical discussions, the marginalisation of girls and individuals with exceptionalities will continue to be pervasive in children’s literature and, by extension, society.     

发展视阈中的马克思主义中国化的理论创新成果

在中国共产党领导全国人民从争取民主及民族独立到全面建设小康社会的奋斗历程中,从发展的视阈来看中国共产党人的理论创新,可以分阶段称之为民主独立发展论、改革开放发展论、"三个代表"发展论、科学和谐发展论。     

Exploring representations of Black masculinity and emasculation on NBC’s Parenthood

Here, representations of Black masculinity and emasculation are explored on NBC’s Parenthood. We question whether depictions of Black masculinity represented through Parenthood’s character, Alex, are empowering or stereotypical; how do they reflect, destabilize, and/or reinforce heteronormative depictions of Black community members? Two seasons were analyzed using Owen’s thematic analysis. Ultimately, Black males are portrayed as being societal failures, criminals, violent, and hypersexualized through his character. This embodiment ultimately preserves long-held images of Black men as “Toms, coons?…?bucks?…?as oversexed, aggressive, violent, animalistic, or emasculated” (Jackson, R. L. II. 2006. Scripting the black masculine body: Identity, discourse, and racial politics in popular media. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press). Practical recommendations and suggestions for researchers and media practitioners are provided.     

Framing the inclusiveness of the national ingroup: Do identity-related frames affect national identity representations salience?

This between-subject survey experiment, conducted in two waves using a German sample (N = 1166 in Wave 1, N = 829 in Wave 2), examined the hypothesis that identity-related frames – specifically, assimilation versus multicultural – affect outgroup prejudice and admission policy preferences by increasing the salience of different national identity representations (NIR). Participants were exposed to identical articles (except for the manipulations) framing information about Syrian refugees in Germany in either assimilation or multicultural terms. As predicted, exposure to assimilation versus multicultural frames led to higher ethnocultural NIR salience and, in turn, to higher outgroup prejudice and preference for more restrictive admission policies. Still, findings pointed to the defining role of frame content and valence perception in these effects, as perceiving the frame as more assimilationist and anti-immigration was related to higher ethnocultural NIR salience. Furthermore, frame perception explained a larger portion of variation in ethnocultural NIR salience than treatment alone. Additionally, ethnocultural NIR salience fostered intergroup threat perception leading to higher outgroup prejudice and preference for restrictive asylum policies. In contrast, civic NIR salience was unaffected by the experimental manipulation. We discuss the impact of identity-related frames on ethnocultural NIR salience and the role of exclusionary national identities on outgroup prejudice and preference for restrictive admission policies. We also highlight the benefits of using multicultural frames to frame information about refugees and asylum to foster positive intergroup perceptions.     

Representation, Arts and Media in Education and Community

This paper outlines a view about the use of art and why it matters. It discusses the purposes of education in the arts, the role of individual consciousness in the making of the arts, the arts role in developing societal self-awareness, the way art brings about a cultural presence and the relationship between the production and consumption of culture.     

Hypermedia as a Medium for Textual Resistance

This paper depicts the research the authors have done at Memorial University of Newfoundland with secondary English education students to investigate how technology can be integrated into the classroom practices of secondary English teachers in ways compatible with critical theory. The authors describe their efforts to challenge the trend in new Canadian curricula to technologise literacy. Opportunities for authoritative textual resistance and creative knowledge construction using hypermedia are foregrounded over technological competencies and the commercial implications of the Internet.     

The effects of scientific representations on primary students’ development of scientific discourse and conceptual understandings during cooperative contemporary inquiry-science

Teaching students to use and interpret representations in science is critically important if they are to become scientifically literate and learn how to communicate their understandings and learning in science. This study involved 248 students (119 boys and 129 girls) from 26 grade 6 teachers’ classes in nine primary schools in Brisbane, Australia. Teachers were randomly allocated by school to one of three conditions: the contemporary science + representations condition (Experimental^a), the contemporary condition (Experimental^b), or the comparison condition as they participated in an eight-week inquiry-science unit on Natural Disasters. Data on students’ discourse were collected at two time points during the implementation of the unit and data on the concept maps were collected pre- and post-intervention while data on the reasoning and problem-solving (RP-S) task were collected following the intervention. The results show that when students participate in an inquiry-based science unit that is augmented with a variety of multimedia resources presenting a range of current contemporary events (Experimental^a and Experimental^b conditions), they demonstrate significantly more social language and basic scientific language and marked increases in moderate scientific language than their peers in the comparison condition. Interestingly, although there were no significant differences on the Personal Concept Map scores between the conditions at Times 1 and 2, the students’ scores in all conditions improved decidedly across time. It appears that as the children had more time to engage with the material, participate in cooperative peer discussions, and receive encouragement from their teachers to provide elaborated feedback to each other, their conceptual understandings of earthquakes were enhanced. However, although the children in the experimental conditions demonstrated significantly more social and scientific language than their peers in the comparison condition, these oral language skills did not transfer to the RP-S task, possibly because they may not have had enough time to consolidate their application in a novel context where they had to work independently.     

Identifying processes underlying the multimedia effect in testing: An eye-movement analysis

Test items become easier when a representational picture visualizes the text item stem; this is referred to as the multimedia effect in testing. To uncover the processes underlying this effect and to understand how pictures affect students' item-solving behavior, we recorded the eye movements of sixty-two schoolchildren solving multiple-choice (MC) science items either with or without a representational picture. Results show that the time students spent fixating the picture was compensated for by less time spent reading the corresponding text. In text-picture items, students also spent less time fixating incorrect answer options; a behavior that was associated with better test scores in general. Detailed gaze likelihood analyses revealed that the picture received particular attention right after item onset and in the later phase of item solving. Hence, comparable to learning, pictures in tests seemingly boost students' performance because they may serve as mental scaffolds, supporting comprehension and decision making.