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.     

The influence of the hand’s acceleration and the relative contribution of drag and lift forces in front crawl swimming

The aim of this study was to assess the effect of the hand’s acceleration on the propulsive forces and the relative contribution of the drag and lift on their resultant force in the separate phases of the front crawl underwater arm stroke. Ten female swimmers swam one trial of all-out 25-m front crawl. The underwater motion of each swimmer’s right hand was recorded using four camcorders and four periscope systems. Anatomical landmarks were digitised, and the propulsive forces generated by the swimmer’s hand were estimated from the kinematic data in conjunction with hydrodynamic coefficients. When the hand’s acceleration was taken into account, the magnitude of the propulsive forces was greater, with the exception of the mean drag force during the final part of the underwater arm stroke. The mean drag force was greater than the mean lift force in the middle part, while the mean lift force was greater than the mean drag force in the final part of the underwater arm stroke. Thus, swimmers should accelerate their hands from the beginning of their backward motion, press the water with large pitch angles during the middle part and sweep with small pitch angles during the final part of their underwater arm stroke.     

Disgust,Need for Affect,and Responses to Microbiome Research

Contributing to the literature on affective processing and attitude formation, this study investigates the effects of a discrete emotion (disgust) and an emotional disposition (need for affect [NFA]) on support for regulation in the context of microbiome research. Data from a web-based experiment (N = 1,005) showed that experienced disgust mediated the effect of disgust-eliciting information on support for regulation. This mediated relationship was moderated by NFA. More specifically, NFA moderated the path between experienced disgust and regulatory attitudes but not that between message exposure and experienced disgust. The two dimensions of NFA played different moderating roles: Emotional approach amplified the relationship between disgust and the attitudinal outcome, whereas emotional avoidance attenuated it. The study furthers understanding about how NFA influences emotional processing and contributes to research on disgust as a relatively understudied discrete emotion.     

Professional noticing of coordinated mathematical thinking

Over the past three decades, research and policy in many geographic regions has promoted a shift from direct, lecture-oriented mathematics instruction to inquiry-based, dialogic forms of instruction. While theory and research support dialogic instructional approaches, some have noted that the complexities of dialogic teaching make it difficult for teachers to implement. One mechanism by which teachers can improve their decision-making practices in dialogic classrooms is learning to notice (i.e. becoming aware of learners’ processes). While research has contributed frameworks for understanding how teachers notice individual learners’ mathematical thinking, there is little conceptualization regarding how teachers notice group processes in mathematics classrooms, which is integral to dialogic instruction. We offer a noticing framework termed professional noticing of coordinated mathematical thinking that describes how teachers notice group activity in mathematics classrooms. Professional noticing of coordinated mathematical thinking is conceptualized as a bi-dimensional process: noticing groups’ mathematical activity and noticing groups’ coordinated activity. Teachers must become aware of how groups approach the mathematical and collaborative nature of a task, since both of these aspects inform whether learners develop opportunities to learn in groups. The framework describes noticing practices integral to dialogic instruction and promotes inquiry for future research related to teaching moves in dialogic classrooms.     

Impact of gender and prior knowledge on learning performance and motivation in a digital game-based learning biology course

Educational technology research and development - Gender and prior knowledge may affect students' performance and motivation when simulations and games are used for learning. Accommodations...     

The Home Literacy Environment and Preschool Children's Reading Skills and Interest

Research Findings: This study explored the association between the home literacy environment (HLE), conceptualized as comprising parents’ reading beliefs and home literacy practices, and preschoolers’ reading skills and reading interest. It also identified factors in the HLE that predict emerging reading competence and motivation to read. A total of 193 children age 6 years from 14 preschools across Singapore and their parents participated in the study. The parents completed a reading belief inventory, a family literacy activity inventory, and a demographic questionnaire that surveyed the child's reading interest. The children were administered a battery of standardized literacy tests. The study found a moderate relationship between the HLE and children's reading competencies and a strong relationship between the HLE and children's reading interest. When parents’ education level and children's age were controlled, hierarchical multiple regression analyses found that family literacy activities contributed more unique variance to children's reading outcomes and reading interest than did parents’ reading beliefs. Active parental involvement was the strongest component of the HLE, with parent–child engagement in reading and writing emerging as the best predictor of both the child's emerging reading skills and reading interest. With respect to reading beliefs, parents’ efficacy in supporting literacy development before their child attended school positively predicted reading competence, as did parents’ affect and verbal participation in fostering reading interest. However, verbal participation negatively predicted Singapore children's reading competence. Practice or Policy: The implications of the results were discussed.     

University Library Strategy Development: A Conceptual Model of Researcher Performance to Inform Service Delivery

ABSTRACT

This case study presents a conceptual model of researcher performance developed by Deakin University Library, Australia. The model aims to organize research performance data into meaningful researcher profiles, referred to as researcher typologies, which support the demonstration of research impact and value. Three dimensions shaping researcher performance are identified: researcher practices, career stage, and activity space. We argue this model serves two practical functions for Deakin Library and librarians: (a) to develop a holistic understanding of what constitutes researcher performance in the contemporary higher education environment in Australia; and (b) to translate this understanding into a service needs diagnostic tool for the development of the Research Metrics and Advisory Service (ReMAS), a strategic library service providing systematic research metrics support to Deakin researchers, schools, and faculties. We argue that both the model and its practical applications may be adapted by other academic libraries within their national and higher education contexts.     

The Effects of Inflated Seating Cushions on Engagement in Preschool Circle Time

Inflatable balls and cushions made of non-latex rubber can provide alternatives to sitting on the floor/ground or classroom chairs. This study tested the effect of inflatable cushions (wiggle cushions) placed on the floor for seating during circle time in typical preschool classrooms. The effect on attention was tested using alternating periods of usual seating and wiggle cushions. Four preschool classrooms (n = 25) were utilized, with two randomly assigned to the intervention condition (n = 15) and two as control (n = 10). Circle time was led by classroom teachers. Preschoolers’ engagement was rated using five subscales of the Child Behavior Rating Scale (Mahoney and Wheeden 1999), a five-point Likert-type scale, from video recordings of a uniformly structured seven-minute period at the beginning of circle time. With use of wiggle cushions, there were statistically significant improvements in Attention and Persistence subscales (p = .002, .026 respectively). Teachers provided positive feedback for the intervention, indicating social validity. Results provide support for the use of wiggle cushions to enhance engagement during preschool circle time.