Observations of Children's Task Activities and Social Interactions in Relation to Teacher Perceptions in a Child-Centered Preschool: Are We Leaving Too Much to Chance?     

Adam Winsler  Martha P. Carlton 《Early education and development》2003,14(2):155-178

The goal of the present study was to describe one center's interpretation of childcentered instruction and what this looked like in terms of the children's daily activities, social affiliation, and behavior in the classrooms. Staff at a self-identified child-centered constructivist preschool program were interviewed about their pedagogical philosophy and asked to give their estimates of the proportion of time that children in their classrooms spent both interacting with different people (alone, with peer, with teacher) and engaged in various behaviors. Data were collected pertaining to children's goal-directed, sustained activities, social affiliation, affect expression, and inappropriate/aggressive behavior via 2,752 naturalistic classroom observations over the course of a semester. Results indicate children a) spent significantly less time engaging in focused, goal-directed, learning activities, b) sustained their attention on one activity for significantly smaller lengths of time, c) expressed overt positive affect considerably less often, and d) had significantly less one-on-one teacher-child interaction, than was believed and desired by the staff. Results were consistent with both a fear expressed by the center director and recent calls from researchers in early childhood education, that teachers in many child-centered constructivist early childhood programs may be committing the "early childhood error" by stepping back and refraining from getting directly involved in children's activities.  相似文献   

Disciplinary differences and other variations in assessment cultures in higher education: exploring variability and inconsistencies in one university in England     

Annamari Ylonen  Helena Gillespie  Adam Green 《Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education》2018,43(6):1009-1017

This article argues that differing disciplinary assessment cultures are likely to be an important factor in explaining differences in student marks and grades both within and between higher education institutions. Using institution-wide data on undergraduate student marks over the last five years in one UK higher education institution we demonstrate variability in the distribution of marks in terms of the ‘distance travelled’. This issue was further explored via interviews with senior teaching-active staff. We suggest that the distribution of marks is likely to reflect different disciplinary assessment cultures as well as complexity in the process of marking and assessment. These findings signify that it will be highly challenging, if not impossible, to establish nationally comparable learning gain measures using student mark data because of the underlying inconsistencies in the process of awarding marks. In the current higher education context, with the ongoing implementation of the Teaching Excellence Framework, it remains important to debate and further investigate these issues with all stakeholders, including students.  相似文献   

A Comment on: Rowlands & Carson ``Where would formal, academic mathematics stand in a curriculum informed by ethnomathematics? A critical review'     

S. Adam  W. Alangui  B. Barton 《Educational Studies in Mathematics》2003,52(3):327-335

The critique of ethnomathematics by Rowlands and Carson that appeared recently provides an opportunity to open debate on cultural issues in mathematics. This response argues that such debate must be based on contemporary writing in the field, and should not focus on extreme views within the political justification for ethnomathematics. It addresses some of the philosophical questions raised by Rowlands and Carson, and the relationship of the field with indigenous knowledge is raised. We also suggest that the role of ethnomathematics in mathematics education is now predominantly an empirical matter,and comment on some preliminary results from recent studies that indicate a positive role for culturally-based curricula. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.  相似文献   

Development of a Virtual Three-Dimensional Assessment Scenario for Anatomical Education     

Katerina Bogomolova  Amir H. Sam  Adam T. Misky  Chinmay M. Gupte  Paul H. Strutton  Thomas J. Hurkxkens  Beerend P. Hierck 《Anatomical sciences education》2021,14(3):385-393

In anatomical education three-dimensional (3D) visualization technology allows for active and stereoscopic exploration of anatomy and can easily be adopted into medical curricula along with traditional 3D teaching methods. However, most often knowledge is still assessed with two-dimensional (2D) paper-and-pencil tests. To address the growing misalignment between learning and assessment, this viewpoint commentary highlights the development of a virtual 3D assessment scenario and perspectives from students and teachers on the use of this assessment tool: a 10-minute session of anatomical knowledge assessment with real-time interaction between assessor and examinee, both wearing a HoloLens and sharing the same stereoscopic 3D augmented reality model. Additionally, recommendations for future directions, including implementation, validation, logistic challenges, and cost-effectiveness, are provided. Continued collaboration between developers, researchers, teachers, and students is critical to advancing these processes.  相似文献   

Teaching Through Collaboration: Flexibility and Diversity in Caregiver–Child Interaction Across Cultures     

Jennifer M. Clegg  Nicole J. Wen  Paige H. DeBaylo  Adam Alcott  Elena C. Keltner  Cristine H. Legare 《Child development》2021,92(1):e56-e75

Teaching supports the high-fidelity transmission of knowledge and skills. This study examined similarities and differences in caregiver teaching practices in the United States and Vanuatu (N = 125 caregiver and 3- to 8-year-old child pairs) during a collaborative problem-solving task. Caregivers used diverse verbal and nonverbal teaching practices and adjusted their behaviors in response to task difficulty and child age in both populations. U.S. caregivers used practices consistent with a direct active teaching style typical of formal education, including guiding children’s participation, frequent praise, and facilitation. In contrast, Ni-Vanuatu caregivers used practices associated with informal education and divided tasks with children based on difficulty. The implications of these findings for claims about the universality and diversity of caregiver teaching are discussed.  相似文献   

Education as an Evolutionary Phenomenon: Huxley,Waddington, and the Foundational Importance of Ethics     

Scarfe  Adam C. 《Interchange》2021,52(2):133-165

Interchange - This essay sheds light on the “father of epigenetics,” Conrad Hal Waddington’s (1905–1975) tacit critique of one of the most prominent biologists of the...  相似文献   

Differential Third‐Grade Outcomes Associated With Attending Publicly Funded Preschool Programs for Low‐Income Latino Children          下载免费PDF全文

Arya Ansari  Michael Lόpez  Louis Manfra  Charles Bleiker  Laura H. B. Dinehart  Suzanne C. Hartman  Adam Winsler 《Child development》2017,88(5):1743-1756

This study examined the third‐grade outcomes of 11,902 low‐income Latino children who experienced public school pre‐K or child care via subsidies (center‐based care) at age 4 in Miami‐Dade County, Florida. Regression and propensity score analyses revealed that children who experienced public school pre‐K earned higher scores on standardized assessments of math and reading in third grade and had higher grade point averages than those who attended center‐based care 4 years earlier. The sustained associations between public school pre‐K (vs. center‐based care) and third‐grade outcomes were mediated by children's kindergarten entry preacademic and social–behavioral skills, and among English‐language learners, English proficiency. Implications for investing in early childhood programs to assist with the school readiness of young Latino children in poverty are discussed.  相似文献   

Children's judgments of disloyal and immoral peer behavior: subjective group dynamics in minimal intergroup contexts     

Abrams D  Rutland A  Ferrell JM  Pelletier J 《Child development》2008,79(2):444-461

The developmental model of subjective group dynamics hypothesizes that peer exclusion during middle childhood involves inferences about group dynamics. To test the generality of this prediction, children judged, within minimal groups, peers whose behavior was loyal versus disloyal (Study 1: n = 46, mean age = 113 months) or morally acceptable versus unacceptable (Study 2: n = 121, mean age = 90 months). As hypothesized, in Study 1, children used their understanding of loyalty norms as a basis for evaluating peers. In both studies, higher commitment to the in-group increased use of group-based criteria for judging peers. In Study 2, children employed moral- and group-based criteria independently for judging peers. Multiple classification skill was associated with lower intergroup bias and greater use of morality-based judgment.  相似文献   

Design implications from a usability study of GramStain-Tutor^TM     

Sara Kim  Douglas M. Brock  Adam Orkand  & Michael L. Astion 《British journal of educational technology : journal of the Council for Educational Technology》2001,32(5):595-605

To examine interface issues in an educational software program, we recruited twenty-two users in health sciences departments for a usability study. Using the GramStain-Tutor™ (GST) CD-ROM, these users performed tasks in navigating the program and using various interactive features. Their actions and comments were recorded with a digital video recorder and an audio recorder. The main results of our study are: (a) the majority of the users did not use the multiple navigational options available in the program; (b) navigational patterns differed based on the training background and content knowledge of the users; (c) several visual cues critical to program use were not discovered by the majority of the users; and (d) icons representing specific functions were not intuitive from users' perspectives. We demonstrated how a usability study of a relatively small number of users can identify specific problems in interface design. We recommend these interface problems be addressed before conducting educational studies that examine how educational software programs affect student learning.  相似文献   

Resource use and academic performance among first year psychology students     

Gail Huon  Branka Spehar  Paul Adam  Will Rifkin 《Higher Education》2007,53(1):1-27

Multiple questionnaires completed over the semester by 514 students enrolled in a first year psychology course reveal that no single pattern of reliance on print, online, or in-person resources guarantees a high mark. Analyses of the reported and measured frequency of use of various resources correlated against students’, performance on both individual assessments and their final marks suggests that students employ a range of strategies in their use of class resources. They tend to rely on their textbooks, Web-based lecture notes, and online quizzes, but their final marks are more strongly determined by their university entrance scores than by their resource use strategy, their sex, or whether or not English is their first language. The data suggest that students adapt their learning strategies to the resources available, with an apparent emphasis on learning what will be assessed rather than exploring for understanding. Importantly, the results argue that investment in development of educational technologies – and students’, use of educational technologies – must be informed by empirical data concerning its impact on the efficiency and quality of learning.  相似文献