II. DEVELOPMENT OF ADOPTED CHILDREN WITH HISTORIES OF EARLY ADVERSITY

This chapter first presents a review of research on the development of adopted children, focusing on meta‐analytic evidence and highlighting comparisons between adopted children with and without histories of early adversity. Some methodological issues arising from this literature are considered as well. Second, 7 longitudinal studies of adopted children's development are described, and the convergence of findings across the longitudinal studies and with the cross‐sectionally based meta‐analytic evidence is discussed. Third, the role of the adoptive family in supporting adopted children's development is explored.     

What makes a youth-produced film good? The youth audience perspective

In this article, we explore how youth audiences evaluate the quality of youth-produced films. Our interest stems from a dearth of ways to measure the quality of what youth produce in artistic production processes. As a result, making art in formal learning settings devolves into either romanticized creativity or instrumental work to improve skills in core content areas. We conducted focus groups with 38 youth participants where they viewed four different films produced by the same youth media arts organization that works with young people to produce short-form, autobiographical documentaries. We found that youth focused their evaluations on identifying the films' genre and content and on assessing how well the filmmakers' creative decisions fit with identifications of genre and content. Evaluations were mediated by audiences' expectations and seemed to inform judgments of quality and creativity. We hope that our work can inform the design of formal learning spaces where young people are producing narrative art.     

Oral English language proficiency and reading mastery: The role of home language and school supports

The analysis of 21,409 participants of the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study–Kindergarten cohort focused on home and school factors sought to understand the level of reading mastery that children experienced throughout elementary school and Grade 8 by relating home language use, timing of oral English language proficiency, and the provision of school-based English language learner services to reading mastery. Results confirm that non-English language use at home is associated with a decreased reading mastery at higher levels of proficiency in Grades 1 and 3, and is reduced to nonsignificance in Grades 5 and 8 with the inclusion of teacher and school factors. Also, the negative association between timing of oral English language proficiency and reading mastery is partially explained by teacher and school factors, particularly children's receipt of English language learner services. The findings provide support for policies that provide language services for language minority children and families during the transition to school and through the elementary school years.     

Supportive classrooms for Latino English language learners: Grit,ELL status,and the classroom context

Students' academic achievement is the result of the interplay between person-level and contextual factors (R. R: Greene, 2014; D. E. Hunt, 1975). Students perform better when classroom characteristics support their characteristics. The authors examine whether student perceptions of two classroom characteristics (care and control) fit with two Latino student characteristics (English language learner status and grit) in relation to their academic achievement. Using a sample of fourth- and fifth-grade Latino students from the Measures of Effective Teaching dataset (n = 3,272), the authors conducted a series of nested regression models with two- and three-way interactions between student characteristics and student perceptions of classroom characteristics. Findings revealed that grit is most strongly associated with Latino English language learners’ English/language arts achievement when students perceived that teachers used high levels of care and control. We conclude with implications for practitioners.     

Turkish Prospective Chemistry Teachers’ Beliefs about Chemistry Teaching

Given the progressive loss of influence for the school relative to television in youngsters’ everyday lives, this article describes the procedure and the results of including cartoons in the physics curriculum in secondary education. Work was carried out intensively with a small group of pupils and sporadically with a larger group. In the first case, cartoons were used for identifying and discussing fictitious phenomena, problem‐solving, and assessment of the learning. In the second case, for identifying and discussing fictitious phenomena, a quasi‐experimental research design was followed. The results back the use of this didactic tool as an element for motivating and invigorating the classroom, for identifying the pupils’ alternative ideas and the assessment of their learning, as well as for a more critical way of watching television.     

Sincretismo y pensamiento categorial: génesis y diferencias socioculturales

Resumen

El estudio de la representación del mundo en el niño es una de las vías que permiten acercarse a la génesis del pensamiento infantil, a su progresiva estructuración. Interesados en la evolución del sincretismo y del pensamiento categorial, los diálogos con los niños en torno a las ultra-cosas nos han permitido detectar distintos niveles evolutivos dentro del pensamiento sincrétn o y del categorial y nos han puesto en la pista de posibles diferencias socioculturales ligadas con la pertenencia al medio rural o urbano.     

Las ideas de los padres sobre sus hijos en la investigación evolutiva

Resumen

Este artículo presenta una revisión de literatura sobre el tema de las ideas de los padres sobre el desarrollo y la educación de sus hijos. Se analizan los antecedentes históricos y posteriormente se discuten la diversidad, los contenidos y los determinantes de las ideas evolutivo-educativas de los padres. Después de una referencia a las relaciones ideas-conducta-desarrollo, se propone para este ámbito de investigación un marco teórico elaborado a partir de las propuestas de Vygotski.     

The impact of formative and shared or co-assessment on the acquisition of transversal competences in higher education

The use of formative and shared or co-assessment has been shown to improve the motivation, involvement and learning of university students. The aim of this study is to analyse the effect that implementing these processes has on university students’ perception of their acquisition of transversal competences. The participants in the study were 1021 students from five Spanish universities taking degree courses in primary education or physical education and sport science. They all experienced formative and shared or co-assessment throughout a complete academic year of their courses. For the data collection, a Self-Perception Scale of Transversal Competences was created, which had adequate values of reliability and validity. Using a transversal design (inter-subjects), inferential statistical analysis was undertaken of the differences in means between the perception of a range of transversal competences before and after the course. The results show significant perceived improvements at the end of the course for most of the competences analysed, which indicates, among other thing, the value and importance of this type of assessment for the educational process.