The purpose of this study was to describe the variations in literacy achievement among native and non-native upper primary school children (grades three to six) in the Netherlands. Various measures of word decoding, reading literacy and writing skill were collected from 1091 native Dutch children, 753 children with a former Dutch colonial background and 580 children with a Mediterranean background. The results showed the non-native children to lag behind their native peers on all of the tasks, although (...) the differences on the decoding and writing tasks were fairly small. The Mediterranean children scored significantly lower than the ex-colonial children on all of the reading literacy tasks but equally high on the decoding and writing tasks. For both the native and non-native children, the same underlying factor structure was found to characterise their literacy achievement. Grade and ethnic status consistently predicted the factor scores for Word Decoding, Reading Literacy and Text Writing. In addition, socio-economic status (SES) predicted Reading Literacy and the variable sex predicted Writing Skills. (shrink)

"This book presents results from a four-year project addressing the central question: What factors, challenges, and contexts contribute to and constrain literacy achievement among at-risk adolescent learners with culturally diverse ...

Music education discourse is marked by frequent comparisons of music to language, and of music notation to written language. However, the role played by writing, as opposed to reading, is often overlooked in that discourse, as well as in classroom practices and workbooks. Consequently, far too many students can read music notation but not write it. Failing to achieve full literacy in their field, they develop a habit of deference toward printed music. Plato argues in the Phaedrus that we (...) should not take that which is written too seriously. Letting students write music will help them to achieve the perspective of Plato—himself a writer. To read and write are inseparable phases of the same process, representing the understanding and domination of the language and of language. (shrink)

the walls of the academy. The wall is defended by the idea that not only do experts possess knowledge beyond the ken of lay people, which is trivially true, but that there is an unbridgeable gulf between the two. The aim of this presentation, then, is to discuss the possibility of building a bridge between the ordinary educated citizen and the expert. The tool for this is the famous effort to disseminate scientific literacy, or more generally, any specific sophisticated (...) literacy. The subject-matter of this presentation, then, is scientific literacy, and the question is, how can it best be disseminated? Now the word "literacy" in expressions like "scientific literacy" and "computer literacy" may be meant literally or metaphorically. As I will try to show later on, if time permits, profound ambiguity and ambivalence reside here. The significance of all this remains to be seen. Let me first contrast any specific sophisticated literacy with elementary literacy, and center first on the elementary. It is of course the one that is denoted by the first two of the three r's, reading writing and arithmetic, the three skills teachers of the lower grades of elementary schools are supposed to transmit to their charges. Before discussing scientific literacy or computer literacy or any other specific sophisticated literacy, I will discuss this elementary literacy. My suggestion is that by advancing somewhat our knowledge of elementary literacy we can see what is specific to any specific literacy, however sophisticated it may be, but that there is more profit for understanding the nature of elementary literacy by examining specific cases. My thesis will be that any literacy, elementary or specific, is best achieved by guided, aided experimentation: the trainee should learn by trial and error.. (shrink)

Many different professionals play a key role in maintaining welfare in a welfare society. These professionals engage in moral judgements when using (new) technologies. In doing so, they achieve that radical responsibility towards the other that Levinas describes as being at the very core of ethics. Also, professionals try to assess the possible consequences of the involvement of specific technologies and adjust their actions in order to ensure ethical responsibility. Thus, ethics is necessary in order to obtain and sustain one's (...) professionalism. This presents care institutions with the challenge to design work processes and technology work in ways that include a sense of ‘the Other’ and make moral judgement an indispensable part of professional competence in technology. This article provides new understandings of the way ethics are involved in care institutions. Nurses’ moral judgements are sophisticated with regard to ethical perspectives. In hospitals, nurses combine Latour's notion of symmetry in human/technology relations with an ethics implying ethical priority to human beings over other beings. This combination of ethics is not only sophisticated; it is also paradoxical, as it puts together mutually contradictory ethics. Instead of causing moral confusion, this ethical paradox is employed to produce a particularly refined notion of care situations, allowing nurses’ care to include patients and technology alike. (shrink)

This paper is particularly concerned with shame, sometimes considered the ‘master emotion’, and its possible role in affecting the consent process, specifically where that shame relates to the issue of diminished health literacy. We suggest that the absence of exploration of affective issues in general during the consent process is problematic, as emotions commonly impact upon our decision-making process. Experiencing shame in the healthcare environment can have a significant influence on choices related to health and healthcare, and may lead (...) to discussions of possibilities and alternatives being closed off. In the case of impaired health literacy we suggest that it obstructs the narrowing of the epistemic gap between clinician and patient normally achieved through communication and information provision. Health literacy shame prevents acknowledgement of this barrier. The consequence is that it may render consent less effective than it otherwise might have been in protecting the person's autonomy. We propose that the absence of consideration of health literacy shame during the consent process diminishes the possibility of the patient exerting full control over their choices, and thus bodily integrity. (shrink)

Technologies can range from the simplest of shelters to keep us warm and dry, to the most complex bioengineering interventions. In this technologically mediated world we now inhabit, there is a growing need for human beings, and particularly young people, to be more critically involved in the discourse surrounding technology. In order to achieve a truly democratic world, any tensions or confusions between human beings, their environment, and their technologies must be resolved. Only then will people become empowered to improve (...) their world in a creative, sensitive, informed and above all, sustainable fashion. This collection offers a solid basis for defining this new technological literacy by bringing together theoretical work that ranges from philosophy, design, and pedagogy. (shrink)

One of the key achievements of critical realism has been to expose the modernist myth of universal reason, which holds that authentic knowledge claims must be objectively ‘pure’, uncontaminated by the subjectivity of local place, specific time and particular culture. Wright aims to address the lack of any substantial and sustained engagement between critical realism and theological critical realism with particular regard to: (a) the distinctive ontological claims of Christianity; (b) their epistemic warrant and intellectual legitimacy; and (c) scrutiny of (...) the primary source of the ontological claims of Christianity, namely the historical figure of Jesus of Nazareth. As such, it functions as a prolegomena to a much needed wider debate, guided by the under-labouring services of critical realism, between Christianity and various other religious and secular worldviews. This important new text will help stimulate a debate that has yet to get out of first gear. This book will appeal to academics, graduate and post-graduate students especially, but also Christian clergy, ministers and informed laity, and members of the general public concerned with the nature of religion and its place in contemporary society. (shrink)

Research suggested that developing mindfulness skills in children improves proximal outcomes, such as attention and executive functions, as well as distal outcomes, such as academic achievement. Despite empirical evidence supporting this claim, research on the benefits of mindfulness training in child populations is scarce, with some mixed findings in the field. Here, we aimed to fill in this gap, by examining the effects of a mindfulness training on third graders’ proximal and distal outcomes, namely, attention and executive functions (viz., (...) inhibitory control, working memory, and cognitive flexibility) as well as literacy-related achievement (viz., handwriting fluency, text quality, Portuguese grades). These outcomes were measured with behavioral tasks and teacher ratings. Sixty-six Portuguese children were randomly allocated to an experimental group receiving mindfulness training (n= 29) or an active control group receiving relaxation training (n= 37). Both training programs were implemented by psychologists in two 30-min weekly sessions for 8 weeks. All students were assessed before and after the interventions. Three main findings are noteworthy: (a) mindfulness training enhanced teacher-rated cognitive flexibility and a performance-based composite score of executive functions among children with higher pretest scores; (b) relaxation training improved performance-based cognitive flexibility and the composite score of executive functions among children with lower pretest scores; (c) children receiving mindfulness training had higher handwriting fluency and better grades in Portuguese than those receiving relaxation training. These findings provide preliminary evidence on the benefits of mindfulness training in educational settings and highlight the moderating role of baseline performance on those benefits. (shrink)

BackgroundThe positive component of Mental Health Literacy refers to a person’s awareness of how to achieve and maintain good mental health. Although explored recently, the term still lacks a clear definition among healthcare practitioners.AimTo identify the attributes and characteristics of PMeHL, as well as its theoretical and practical applications.MethodsLiterature search and review, covering the last 21 years, followed by concept analysis according to the steps described by Walker and Avant approach.ResultsPositive component of Mental Health Literacy is considered one (...) component of MHL, integrating positive mental health. The concept’s attributes include: competence in problem-solving and self-actualization; personal satisfaction; autonomy; relatedness and interpersonal relationship skills; self-control; and prosocial attitude. Four case scenarios were used to clarify the antecedents and consequences of PMeHL.ConclusionPositive component of Mental Health Literacy is considered a component of MHL, which deserves attention throughout the lifespan, in different contexts and intervention levels. Considering PMeHL as a multi-faceted and dynamic construct will help understand the mechanisms that improve mental health and promote healthy behaviors. Priority should be given to robust primary research focused on nursing interventions that enhance and sustain PMeHL in people and families. (shrink)

In aiming to frame plagiarism as an academic literacy issue, this paper focuses on the strategies used by firsts years Portuguese university students, when writing from sources, along with the relationship between these strategies and the way students view themselves as readers, writers and users of sources. The study was based on 44 short summary essays written by students as well as their responses to a questionnaire and checklist on citation rules. The evaluation of the essays revealed that students (...) often use copying and patchwriting. In addition, we found that much of the time students changed the meaning of the content expressed in the source. In relation to the way students evaluated themselves, generally their view was they used appropriate strategies. The study did not reveal a relationship between perceptions of using appropriate strategies and the use of those same strategies. Nonetheless, we found an association between performance and perceptions of using copying. Perceived use of a ‘think-then-do’ strategy was also related to changing the meaning when writing from sources. Concerning school achievement, stronger students evaluated themselves as using more appropriate strategies, and those who had not previously failed school year also displayed a better knowledge of citation rules. However, we failed to find any relationship between school achievement and the use of strategies for writing from sources. The main findings of the current research point to the existence of issues concerning how to address academic literacy, findings that go beyond plagiarism and, consequently, indicate the need for pedagogical responses. (shrink)

School belonging is of great significance to students' physical and mental health development, especially academic improvement. However, the mechanism of the influence of school belonging on student academic achievement should be further explored, especially reading performance. Based on ecological systems theory and self-determination theory, the present research constructs a multilevel design to examine a moderated mediation model in which school belonging as a level-1 predictor, mastery goal orientation as a level-1 mediator and school disciplinary climate as a level-2 moderator (...) jointly impact reading literacy. Results of the study were based on the questionnaires from 11,364 15-year-olds nested in 332 schools in mainland China that participated in PISA 2018. The cross-sectional analysis indicated that: school belonging had a direct and positive effect on student reading literacy; the relationship between school belonging and reading literacy was prominently mediated by mastery goal orientation; both school disciplinary climate level and strength could negatively moderate the latter half path of “school belonging → mastery goal orientation → reading literacy.” Implications, limitations, and future research directions are discussed. (shrink)

The number of books at home is commonly used as a proxy for socioeconomic status in educational studies. While both parents’ and students’ reports of the number of books at home are relatively strong predictors of student achievement, they often disagree with each other. When interpreting findings of analyses that measure socioeconomic status using books at home, it is important to understand how findings may be biased by the imperfect reliability of the data. For example, it was recently suggested (...) that especially low-achieving students tend to underestimate the number of books at home, so that use of such data would lead researchers to overestimate the association between books at home and achievement. Here we take a closer look at how students’ and parents’ reports of the number of books at home relate to literacy among fourth grade students, by analyzing data from more than 250,000 students in 47 countries participating in 2011 PIRLS. Contrary to prior claims, we find more downward bias in estimates of books at home among high-achieving students than among low-achieving students, but unsystematic errors appear to be larger among low-achieving students. This holds within almost every country. It also holds between countries, that is, errors in estimates of books at home are larger in low-achieving countries. This has implications for studies of the association between books at home and achievement: the strength of the association will generally be underestimated, and this problem is exacerbated in low-achieving countries and among low-achieving students. (shrink)

The successful early acquisition of reading literacy represents a crucial learning process determining the further course of academic development (Stanovich, 2009). During this process, interactions between children and their proximal social environment are of utmost importance. Therefore, we introduce a systemic framework for the development of learning potential (e.g., Mudrak et al., 2015, 2019, 2019b; Ziegler & Stoeger, 2017) and explore the interactions between the social and motivational processes associated with reading literacy development in school-age children. We base (...) our analysis on a representative Czech sample of fourth-grade pupils involved in the Progress in International Reading Literacy study (PIRLS, Martin et al., 2016). On the basis of the systemic framework, we hypothesized hierarchical relationships among family socioeconomic status, related developmental resources (including parental support, expectations, and reading resources), children’s reading motivation (including reading engagement and reading confidence), and manifested learning outcomes (including school grades and reading competence). We implemented three structural equation models to test the hypothesized relationships. The first model tested the direct effect of developmental resources on reading competence. The second model included the motivational variables as mediators between resources and competence. The third model included school grades as mediators between resources and motivational variables. Our analyses indicated the good fit of the proposed models. The final model explained 37.8 % of the variance in children’s school grades and 46.5 % of the variance in reading literacy test scores (compared to 34.8 % in the first model). Moreover, parental socioeconomic status was strongly associated with parental expectations, which were associated with reading confidence, partially through the effect of parental expectations on children’s school grades. Reading confidence was the main predictor of reading literacy within the model, followed by the direct effects of parental resources. The results illustrate complex processes through which the family environment affects the development of learning competencies such as reading literacy by providing children with the relevant social and material resources associated with their motivation and school outcomes. We discuss some of the reasons that these relationships may take place and consider their implications for educational practice. (shrink)

Literacy plays a significant role in community development. Without literacy, development goals cannot be achieved easily. Through literacy, the community does not face any challenge to improve their quality of life. For this reason, developed and developing countries nowadays are investing a lot on social and natural innovations, plus human capital in communities to increase their level of literacy. Iran is no exception. For this purpose, the government of Iran has formulated several community literacy development (...) programs in the country. One of the major programs that has been implemented for this purpose is the Community Learning Centers Program (CLCP) (Mehdizadeh, 2003). In the Islamic Republic of Iran, CLCP was implemented in early 2000. It has had very encouraging results in solving the problem of illiteracy in this country. All communities that have pioneered the program have experienced a remarkable increase in their literacy level (Ebrahimian, Bahirai, & Iranian National Commission for ISESCO, 2006). What are the reasons of such achievements? Therefore, the main purpose of this study is to investigate the factors that have contributed to the success of CLCP in community literacy development in the Islamic republic of Iran. (shrink)

Farm to school programs have been positioned as interventions that can support goals of the global food sovereignty movement, including strengthening local food production systems, improving food access and food justice for urban populations, and reducing distancing between producers and consumers. However, there has been little assessment of how and to what extent farm to school programs can actually function as a mechanism leading to the achievement of food sovereignty. As implemented in North America, farm to school programs encompass (...) activities not only related to school food procurement, but also to the development of student knowledge and skills under the framework of food literacy. Research on farm to school initiatives has largely been conducted in countries with government-supported national school feeding programs; this study examines farm to school organizing in Canada, where there is no national student nutrition program. Using qualitative fieldwork and document analysis, we investigate the farm to school movement in British Columbia, in a context where civil society concerns related to education and health have been the main vectors of farm to school mobilization. Our analysis suggests that, despite limited institutional infrastructure for school meals, the British Columbia farm to school movement has contributed toward realizing goals of food sovereignty through two main mechanisms: advocacy for institutional procurement of local and sustainable foods and mobilizing food literacy for increased public engagement with issues of social justice and equity in food systems. (shrink)

A person’s financial well-being is the complete contentment gained from one’s present financial condition. This has a powerful impact on the entire achievement of an employee’s “well-being.” Researchers, financial analysts, financial planners, educationists, and economists have explored the “enablers” to improve employees’ living standards by investigating the possible “FWB” resources for decades. There is no literature available to show the connection between social capital theory, social exchange theory, social cognitive theory, financial literacy and FWB, and employees’ financial knowledge (...) sharing a moderator to expand the complete FWB. (shrink)

The purpose of this paper is the influence of Science- Technology- Engineering- Art- Mathematics education on the Olympic education of primary and middle school students. The research object is the Beijing Olympic model school. The frame structure and educational concept of STEAM education are studied, and a questionnaire survey on the current situation of Olympic education is conducted. Finally, improvement measures based on the survey results are provided combined with STEAM education, and the teaching effect is analyzed. The results show (...) that after the improvement of the educational model, the student’s mastery of the Olympic knowledge has been greatly improved. The proportion of students who can master all knowledge increases from 5.78 to 8.45%, by 2.67%. The proportion of students with knowledge of most Olympic sports increases from 48.6 to 55.67%, by 7.07%. The proportion of students with little or no knowledge drops to 1.54%. Meanwhile, students are increasingly interested in Olympic events, especially after being inspired by the STEAM education model. The proportion of students who are very concerned about Olympic events has increased by 6.45%. The proportion of students who are more concerned about Olympic events has increased by 5.11%. Thus, the Olympic education work has achieved some results. Students gradually become interested in the Olympic events. They begin to actively pay attention to the Olympic events and learn the Olympic spirit. Then, their physical literacy is improved. (shrink)

Why hasn’t democracy been promoted by nor ICT been controlled by democratic governance? To answer this question, this research begins its investigation by comparing knowledge acquisition systems throughout history: orality, literacy, hyperlink, and hyperlead. “Hyperlead” is a newly coined concept to emphasize the passivity of people when achieving knowledge and information via algorithmic recommendation technologies. Subsequently, the four systems are compared in terms of their epistemological characteristics and political implications. It is argued that, while literacy and hyperlink contributed (...) to the furthering of democracy, hyperlead poses a fundamental challenge to it, undermining human autonomy to make decisions and aggravating vertical and lateral polarizations. In addition, the similarity between orality and hyperlead is addressed. Finally, suggestions to improve or to advert the current trend are provided. What happened during the transition period from orality to literacy and subsequently to hyperlink could be a reference for an alternative to hyperlead. Some technical adjustments and appropriate regulations requiring more transparency in algorithmic recommendation systems would help us to overcome hyperlead and preserve human autonomy. (shrink)

Many empirical studies have been conducted to investigate self-regulated learning in the Western countries. Less well investigated is the SRL in the Chinese Mainland students and how it affects their academic achievement. On the basis of PISA 2009, this paper is aimed at exploring the SRL of 15-year-old Shanghai students, as measured by cognitive strategy, metacognition, and motivational belief. In the aspect of SRL nature, the results reveal that 15-year-old students in Shanghai use elaboration strategy frequently and seldom use (...) memorization strategy, and that they have high metacognition in understanding, remembering, and summarizing but have low control strategy, and that their enjoyment of reading is relatively high. In the aspect of SRL’s consequence for reading literacy, findings from multilevel linear regression corroborate previous evidence from the Western countries about the effect of SRL on academic achievement. Specifically, elaboration strategy, metacognition in understanding and remembering, metacognition in summarizing, control strategy, and enjoyment of reading are conducive to students’ reading literacy, while memorization strategy exerts a significantly negative effect on reading literacy. The findings could be useful in helping us to gain a better understanding of Shanghai students’ SRL. (shrink)

Literary narratives are well recognised for their power to foster engagement with complex social themes. Transmedia narratives, which present the same story in different media, can help advance both critical multimodal discourse studies and multiliteracies pedagogies. To harness this potential, we need to develop methods for systematically relating media affordances to discourse-semantic patterns and the broad social themes these patterns construct in narratives, and ensure these methods build on the knowledge learners bring to the classroom. This article introduces a social (...) semiotic method for analysing transmedia narratives and illustrates its ability to reflect the persuasive power of narrative and build on young children's critical multimodal awareness. This is achieved through a case study comprising data from three adaptations of the same award-winning narrative - animated film (Joyce, W. (Producer), Joyce, W., & Oldenburg, B. (Directors) (2011). The fantastic flying books of Mr Morris Lessmore [Motion Picture]. Moonbot Studios), interactive app (Moonbot Studios. (2011). The fantastic flying books of Mr Morris Lessmore (Version 1.4). [Mobile Application Software]), and traditional-format picture book (Joyce, W. (2012). The fantastic flying books of Mr Morris Lessmore. Illustrations by William Joyce and Joe Bluhm. Moonbot Books) - and mother-child interactions with the book and the app. (shrink)

Previous research has examined the role of formal classroom economics education on student learning. However, few studies have examined the role of both in school and out of school economics education exposure on student learning. Using data from the 2006 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP)-Economics 12th grade assessment, we conducted an analysis using multilevel modeling to examine both student- and school-level effects on economics content knowledge. We analyzed the relationship among student-level variables including demographics, economics course structure, and instructional (...) exposure. Unlike prior studies, we accounted for the nesting of students in schools and determined significant building-level effects associated with NAEP-E outcomes. We included district and state accountability policies (e.g., required testing and graduation requirements) as well as contextual variables (e.g., percent minority and percent college bound) at the building level. Findings offered a more nuanced interpretation of earlier NAEP-E studies and extended earlier analyses to include instructional exposure and building-level effects. (shrink)

This study aims to examine the key barriers to learning to raise achievement of White British pupils with low?income backgrounds. The main findings suggest that the worryingly low?achievement levels of many White working class pupils have been masked by the middle class success in the English school system and government statistics that fail to distinguish the White British ethnic group by social background. The empirical data confirm that one of the biggest groups of underachievers is the White British (...) working class and their outcomes at each key stage are considerably below those achieved by all other ethnic groups. One of the main reasons for pupil underachievement, identified in the case study schools and focus groups, is parental low aspirations of their children?s education and social deprivation. It is also perpetuated by factors such as low?literacy levels, feelings of marginalisation within the community exacerbated by housing allocation, a lack of community and school engagement, low levels of parental engagement and lack of targeted support to break the cycle of poverty and disadvantage, a legacy of low aspiration that prevents pupils from fulfilling their potential across a range of areas. The study concludes that the main obstacle in raising achievement is the government?s failure to recognise that this group has particular needs that are not being met by the school system. The government needs to recognise that the underachievement of White British working class pupils is not only a problem facing educational services but profoundly a serious challenge. Policy implications and recommendations are discussed in the final section. (shrink)

Background Achieving meaningful consent can be challenging, particularly in contexts of diminished literacy, yet is a vital part of participant protection in global health research. Method We explored the challenges and potential solutions of achieving meaningful consent through a qualitative study in a predominantly hill tribe ethnic minority population in northern Thailand, a culturally distinctive population with low literacy. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 37 respondents who had participated in scrub typhus clinical research, their family members, researchers and (...) other key informants. A thematic analysis was conducted. Results Our analysis identified four interrelated themes surrounding participants’ ability to give consent: varying degrees of research understanding, limitations of using informal translators, issues impacting decisions to join research, and voluntariness of consent. Suggestions for achieving more meaningful consent included the use of formal translators and community engagement with research populations. Conclusions Participant’s agency in decision making to join research should be supported, but research information needs to be communicated to potential participants in a way that they can understand. We found that improved understanding about the study and its potential benefits and harms goes beyond literacy or translation and requires attention to social and cultural factors. (shrink)

Since 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic had an impact on education worldwide. There is increased discussion of possible negative effects on students’ learning outcomes and the need for targeted support. We examined fourth graders’ reading achievement based on a school panel study, representative on the student level, with N = 111 elementary schools in Germany. The students were tested with the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study instruments in 2016 and 2021. The analysis focused on total average differences in (...) reading achievement between 2016 and 2021, average differences controlling for student composition, and changes in achievement gaps between student subgroups. The methodological approach met international standards for the analysis of large-scale assessments. The results showed a substantial decline in mean reading achievement. The decline corresponds to one-third of a year of learning, even after controlling for changes in student composition. We found no statistically significant changes of achievement gaps between student subgroups, despite numerical tendencies toward a widening of achievement gaps between students with and without immigration background. It is likely that this sharp achievement decline was related to the COVID-19 pandemic. The findings are discussed in terms of further research needs, practical implications for educating current student cohorts, and educational policy decisions regarding actions in crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic. (shrink)

This study investigates the influence of teacher competence on 3rd?grade students? reading achievement in public and independent schools in Sweden. The data come from the Swedish participation in PIRLS 2001 (Progress in Reading Literacy Study 2001) and comprise some 10,000 students. Students in independent schools achieved better on the reading test than did students in public schools, but when parents? education was controlled for, the effect on students? achievement of school type disappeared. Teacher certification for teaching in (...) the early grades had a strong effect on students? mean reading test scores in both school types, while no significant effects of teacher experience, age, gender, in?service training or cooperation could be established. Though school type had no influence of itself, it was a mediating factor for both parents? education and teachers? education. These effects, however, worked in opposite directions. (shrink)

Many studies have attempted to identify measures that predict reading abilities. The results of these studies may be inclined to over-identification of children considered at risk in kindergarten but who achieve parity in reading by the end of first grade. Therefore, the current study sought to analyze the specific cognitive and linguistic predictors of reading accuracy and reading speed separately. Additionally, the study examined if it is possible to use empirically validated measures to distinguish between children who are not ready (...) to learn how to read in kindergarten but manage to acquire reading skills by the end of first grade, and those who continue to exhibit difficulties. The study followed 98 kindergarteners aged 4 years 10 months to six years from three different schools, who were taught how to read in kindergarten. Multiple measures of general cognitive skills, linguistic abilities, and reading abilities were measured at three different points in time: the beginning of kindergarten, the end of kindergarten, and the end of first grade. The study found that most of the children with good literacy and cognitive abilities learned how to read by the end of kindergarten. The analysis revealed a significant difference in cognitive abilities, such as executive functions and memory, which distinguished between the ability to acquire fluent reading and accurate reading. The study was able to successfully distinguish between “children with difficulties” and “un-ready” children. These results have various implications, especially in regard to the identification of and intervention with kindergarten children at risk for reading disabilities. (shrink)

For decades, literacy research has placed a great deal of emphasis on reading engagement. It is widely acknowledged as a complex involving cognitive, behavioral, and emotional engagement. Learning engagement is an essential predictor of learning outcomes. It mediates educational intervention and learning outcomes. Although empirical studies proved the effectiveness of engagement on reading success, few studies have comprehensively reviewed the relationship between the subscales of engagement and how these subscales affect learning outcomes. To fill this gap, this review focused (...) on exploring the interaction among subsets of engagement and how they affect reading achievement. The findings revealed that how engagement affects learning outcomes is determined by the intervention and how the outcomes are assessed and reported. The relationship between the engagement subscales is complicated: cognitive and behavioral engagement is a constant predictor of reading outcomes; emotion is the facilitator and affects behavioral or cognitive engagement. Behavioral engagement mediates cognitive engagement. Furthermore, learning outcomes could enhance emotional engagement, forming a natural learning cycle. This model is significant in understanding how learning engagement affects learning outcomes. It also demonstrated how the engagement subscales interacted and worked together to facilitate learning outcomes. (shrink)

States are beginning to restructure their U.S. history assessments from previous multiple-choice based assessments to include written-response questions that have higher levels of academic language demands. These higher-order thinking and analytical items pose challenges to linguistically and culturally diverse students. The purpose of the current study is to investigate how the restructuring of a U.S. history state assessment is associated with English Learners’ (ELs) achievement over time. The author incorporates 3 years of data from the Tennessee Department of Education, (...) and utilizes multi-level modeling (Hierarchical Linear Modeling) to examine and compare the association between school percentage ELs and U.S. history achievement on Tennessee's (TN) U.S. history state assessment. Findings indicate that the restructuring of the TN U.S. history state assessment in the 2015–16 school year is significantly and inversely associated with ELs’ achievement on this assessment. At the same time, there are no significant associations for the 2012–13 and the 2013–14 school years. This suggests a negative inverse association between the restructuring of the TN U.S. history state assessment and ELs’ performance. In addition, this suggests that ELs’ lack of U.S. history reading and writing ability may have contributed to the negative association. (shrink)

The proposition that digital innovations can put people in charge of their health has been accompanied by prolific talk of empowerment. In this paper we consider ethical challenges and opportunities of trying to achieve justice and empowerment using digital health initiatives. The language of empowerment can misleadingly suggest that by using technology, people can control their health and take responsibility for health outcomes to a greater degree than is realistic or fair. Also, digital health empowerment often primarily reaches people who (...) already have high technological and health literacy, leaving others behind. We critically investigate whether the concept of health empowerment could be re-engineered to mean something different, namely the process of improving the health literacy and access of those who least possess it, in line with recent proposals for conceptual engineering in the service of justice. We settle on the weaker conclusion that underlying ethical values including justice should be used to interpret the existing concept of empowerment. To conclude, we take a high-level view of various strategies for achieving the ethical value associated with digital health empowerment. (shrink)

PurposeInformation and communications technologies (ICTs) have transformed the lives of many people around the world, yet billions remain unconnected. While many initiatives attempt to “connect the unconnected,” initiatives focused on access and skills-development alone will still fall short. Based on the authors’ experience with the SolarSPELL initiative, this study aims to propose using the concept of socio-technical awareness as a step forward in conceptualizing a more accurate picture of capabilities necessary to enable people to make meaningful use of the internet.Design/methodology/approachThis (...) paper uses an integrative literature review for the ideas related to the digital divide, digital inclusion and digital literacies, as well as the applied work of the authors in the SolarSPELL initiative, to develop the concept of socio-technical awareness, which is presented as a method for understanding empowered, meaningful internet use.FindingsThe argument is made that access, skills- and literacy-development are necessary but insufficient conditions for meaningful ICTs use. Accordingly, a third concept, socio-technical awareness, is introduced, and the case is made for including this concept in both application and measurement of meaningful use of ICTs.Practical implicationsThe design of digital inclusion initiatives should focus on increasing socio-technical awareness to empower users to make meaningful use of digital technologies.Originality/valueTaking a step further than most assessments of the digital divide or digital inclusion, this study proposes that to achieve meaningful internet use, people need access, requisite skills development and socio-technical awareness, to be able to make informed, empowered decisions about ICT use. (shrink)

Hirsch shows why American students perform less well than students in other industrialized countries. Drawing on classroom observation, the history of ideas, and current scientific understanding of the patterns of intellectual growth, he builds the case that our schools have indeed made progress in teaching the mechanics of reading, but do not convey the more complex and essential content needed for reading comprehension. Hirsch reasons that literacy depends less on formal reading 'skills' and more on exposure to rich knowledge. (...) His argument gives parents specific tools for enhancing their child's ability to read with comprehension; shows how No-Child-Left-Behind tests and SATs are measuring a kind of knowledge that is not being taught in our schools; and maps out how American schools can become a strong antidote to poverty and to the race-based achievement gap, and thus fulfill our democratic ideal for our children.--From publisher description. (shrink)

A models-based approach has been advocated as a means of overcoming the serious limitations of the traditional approach to physical education. One of the difficulties with this approach is that physical educators have sought to use it to achieve diverse and sometimes competing educational benefits, and these wide-ranging aspirations are rarely if ever achieved. Models-based practice offers a possible resolution to these problems by limiting the range of learning outcomes, subject matter and teaching strategies appropriate to each pedagogical model and (...) thus the arguments that can be used for educational value. In this article, two examples are provided to support a case for educational value. This case is built on an examination of one established pedagogical model, Sport Education, which is informed by a perspective on ethics. Next, I consider Physical Literacy which, I suggest, is an existentialist philosophical perspective that could form the basis of a new pedagogical model. It is argued, in conclusion, that a models-based approach along with a reconstructed notion of educational value may offer a possible future for physical education that is well grounded in various philosophical arguments and the means to facilitate a wide range of diverse individual and social educational ?goods? (shrink)

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate perceived stressors and coping behaviours in student nurses on a pre-registration programme of study. Stress in student nurses has been identified with decreased emotional well-being and poor academic achievement. The significance of stress and coping behaviours in students during training has implications for education and practice. Design/methodology/approach The present study recruited 87 pre-registration student nurses in a cross-sectional design. Bivariate and multivariate analyses assessed the differences in field and year of (...) study and the students’ perceived stress and coping behaviours. Findings The findings showed that stress is a significant issue in nurse training. Fifty-three per cent of the participants had levels higher than the mean. Interestingly, the present study found that high-perceived stress was associated with avoidance behaviours. The most common type of perceived stress and ranked by highest factor were from written assignments and a lack of professional skills and knowledge. Their peer group and everyday life activities were shown as potential ways of coping with stressors. Thus, it seems reasonable to focus support on decreasing avoidant and enhancing stress-reducing behaviours. Practical implications Psychological stress and coping behaviours must be considered together, as perceived stress is bound by the ability to ameliorate stress by managing helpful and unhelpful behaviours. Originality/value The findings may suggest that a potential benefit could come from the provision of helpful strategies such as peer group support and reduction of avoidant behaviours. Also, there seems to be a need for greater mental health literacy in dealing with stress during training. (shrink)

To achieve environmental sustainability, the role of human capital and financial inclusion has been debated in limited empirical studies. Employing a reliable ARDL model approach, this study examines the dynamic link between human capital and ICT, financial inclusion, and CO2 emissions using the China economy dataset over the period 1998–2020. The vivacious side of human capital shows that literacy rate and average year of schooling curb CO2 emissions in long run. The results of human capital are also based on (...) facts in magnitude as well as in direction. Also, empirics unfold that digital financial inclusion significantly increases CO2 emissions. Based on these novel findings, a wide set of economic policies are repaired for environmental quality. Environmental education should be considered at early levels of education. The authorities and policymakers should fix energy-related issues through education. The China government should stimulate the educational sector to conduct a clean and green revolution that acts as a mechanism for a green and clean economy. This study's finding is more effective than the previous unlike empirical studies for policy-making because of the advanced econometric method. (shrink)

Competence refers to the basic concepts of modern educational theory and practice of acquiring special importance in environmental education. Environmental education specificity is the accumulation of environmental science and pedagogy achievements that may become the basis of ecological competence formation as an integrated characteristics of an individual. Environmental competence refers to the general competence, but also includes a number of specific competencies aimed at solving specific and sometimes unusual tasks. Critical intellection is an essential characteristic of environmental competence, and the (...) formation of critical intellection combined with creativity is the basis of competence approach in education. Philosophy of Education by Paulo Freire is of a basis weight for understanding the essence of critical intellection in pedagogical theory and practice. "Banking "funded" model of education" concept by Paulo Freire demonstrates the disadvantages of prevailing oppressive, narrative, uncreative educational system and uncreative mechanical learning, which is opposed to the concept of modern education and critical understanding formation through the dialogue. The fundamental feature of the modern problematic oriented education has the following aspects: 1) it is based on the activities, but it is not based on the information transfer and assimilation; 2) the object of knowledge is a link between teacher and student. The teacher and student efforts are focused on the object of knowlege research that involves the dialogue in the educational process. There is an important thesis about better explaining and implement of ecological education and it points that problematic oriented method is charecterised by cognitive approach and critical intellection. It is also important for understanding and orientation in a particular situation, environmental protection and people's health and life saving. Information literacy as a complex of skills related to education and critical intellection is an important part of the ecological competence formation. From the time of national pedagogy, philosophical - educational ideas by the Brazilian educator P. Freire were widely developed and contributed the formation of new educational vision as a social partnership to overcome the disadvantages of the command, repressive, totalitarian, uncritical educational system. Instead of these there were critical educational concepts based on humanism, creation and various human experience. The concept of the modern problematic oriented education was aimed at the critical intellection formation and environmental competence. It covers not only the standard school educational system and it also involves educational sphere and public informing. (shrink)

This study examines the conflation of terms such as “knowledge” and “understanding” in peer-reviewed literature, and tests the hypothesis that little current research clearly distinguishes between importantly distinct epistemic states. Two sets of data are presented from papers published in the journal Public Understanding of Science. In the first set, the digital text analysis tool, Voyant, is used to analyze all papers published in 2014 for the use of epistemic success terms. In the second set of data, all papers published (...) in Public Understanding of Science from 2010–2015 are systematically analyzed to identify instances in which epistemic states are empirically measured. The results indicate that epistemic success terms are inconsistently defined, and that measurement of understanding, in particular, is rarely achieved in public understanding of science studies. We suggest that more diligent attention to measuring understanding, as opposed to mere knowledge, will increase efficacy of scientific outreach and communication efforts. (shrink)

"We become what we love," states Jim Garrison in Dewey and Eros: Wisdom and Desire in the Art of Teaching. This provocative book represents a major new interpretation of Dewey's education philosophy. It is also an examination of what motivates us to teach and to learn, and begins with the idea of education of eros (i.e., passionate desire)-"the supreme aim of education" as the author puts it-and how that desire results in a practical philosophy that guides us in recognizing what (...) is essentially good or valuable. Garrison weaves these threads of ancient wisdom into a critical analysis of John Dewey's writings that reveal an implicit theory of eros in reasoning, and the central importance of educating eros to seek "the Good." Chapters: Plato's Symposium: Eros, the Beautiful, and the Good • Care, Sympathy, and Community in Classroom Teaching: Feminist Reflections on the Expansive Self • Play-Doh, Poetry, and "Ethereal Things" • The Aesthetic Context of Inquiry and the Teachable Moment • The Education of Eros: Critical and Creative Value Appraisal • Teaching and the Logic of Moral Perception This book can be used in graduate courses in foundations, teacher education, philosophy of education, qualitative research, arts and education, language and literacy, and women and education. Jim Garrison is Professor of Philosophy of Education at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, VA. He is pastpresident of the John Dewey Society and a winner of the Society's Outstanding Achievement Award. (shrink)

Strategije Montserrat Sarto, namenjene spodbujanju branja, ki je ključna kompetenca, in doseganju avtonomne bralne pismenosti, temeljijo na igri, postopnosti in dialoškosti. V delo v skupini vključujejo vse udeležence (učence, dijake, študente, bralce). Izhajajo iz bralskega potenciala vsakega posameznega bralca ter njegovega notranjega doživljanja in odziva na prebrano besedilo. Postopno razvijajo razu­mevanje in užitek pri samostojnem branju. Spodbujajo komunikacijo z besedilom in o besedilu, učitelj je le usmerjevalec in posrednik.

Many urgent problems that societies currently face—from climate change to a global pandemic—require citizens to engage with scientific information as members of democratic societies as well as to solve problems in their personal lives. Most often, to solve their epistemic aims (aims directed at achieving knowledge and understanding) regarding such socio-scientific issues, individuals search for information online, where there exists a multitude of possibly relevant and highly interconnected sources of different perspectives, sometimes providing conflicting information. The paper provides a review (...) of the literature aimed at identifying (a) constraints and affordances that scientific knowledge and the online information environment entail and (b) individuals' cognitive and motivational processes that have been found to hinder, or conversely, support practices of engagement (such as critical information evaluation or two-sided dialogue). Doing this, a conceptual framework for understanding and fostering what we callonline engagement with scientific informationis introduced, which is conceived as consisting of individual engagement (engaging on one's own in the search, selection, evaluation, and integration of information) and dialogic engagement (engaging in discourse with others to interpret, articulate and critically examine scientific information). In turn, this paper identifies individual and contextual conditions for individuals' goal-directed and effortful online engagement with scientific information. (shrink)

Ethics designates a structured process by which important human values and meanings of life are understood and tackled. Therein, the ability to discuss openly and reflect on (aka deliberation) understandings of moral problems, on solutions to these problems, and to explore what a meaningful resolution could amount to is highly valued. However, the indicators of what constitutes a high-quality ethical deliberation remain vague and unclear. This article proposes and develops a pragmatist approach to evaluate the quality of deliberation. Deliberation features (...) three important moments: (1) broadening and deepening the understanding of the situation, (2) envisioning action scenarios, (3) coming to a judgment based on the comparative evaluation of scenarios. In this paper, we propose seven criteria to evaluate ethical deliberations: (1) collaborative diversity, (2) experiential literacy, (3) organization of experiences, (4) reflective capacity to instrumentalize the experiences of others, (5) interactional creativity, (6) openness of agents, (7) quality of the reformulation of scenarios. These criteria are explained and applied to the three moments of deliberation. Based on these criteria, three kinds of outcomes for deliberations are identified and discussed: good ethical deliberations, partial ethical deliberations, bad ethical deliberations. Our proposal will guide researchers and practitioners interested in the evaluation of the quality of ethical deliberations. It provides a reference tool that allows them to identify the possible limitations of a deliberation and to implement actions aimed at correcting these limitations in order to achieve the desired qualitative objectives. (shrink)

Over the past two decades, two heavily funded initiatives of the Federal government of Australia have been founded on two very different and seemingly conflicting visions of education. The first, the Australian Values Education Program enshrines what may be called an ‘embedded values’ vision of education; the second, the National Assessments Program-Literacy and Numeracy enshrines a ‘performative’ vision. The purpose of this article is to unpack these two seemingly conflicting visions and to argue instead for their possible consilience, bringing (...) together apparently incompatible phenomena to coalesce into a single, more expansive vision of schooling. Against the historical context that gave rise to AVEP and NAPLAN in Australia, the article argues that the visions of education rendered in these abrupt policy shifts are vestiges of a history of dichotomous and dualistic thinking in western educational philosophy. Underpinning this dualism is a fundamental schism between cognition and emotion and a Cartesian separation of mind from body that can no longer be sustained. Our increased understanding of the neural substrates of cognition, the ‘intertwined’ nature of cognition and emotion, combined with a philosophy of mind that does not dissociate propositional knowledge from the disposition of the learner, points to an alternative vision of education. A vision that is thoroughly values embedded, concerned with the educational wellbeing of each child, while also giving value to and prioritising educational performance and achievement, and the intellectual liberation these can offer each and every child. (shrink)

Thomas Sankara was 33 years old when he seized power in a bloodless coup. During the four years of his governance, he organized adult literacy campaigns and mass vaccination of children, promoted women's rights and fought corruption as well as desertification caused by inappropriate agricultural practices introduced during the colonial period. Within two years, child mortality and illiteracy dropped significantly and vaccination coverage increased. Beyond these quantitative results, Sankara firmly believed that the decolonization of his country started from the (...) formation of the conscience of citizens, from learning to “rely on themselves” – materially and psychologically – and from the abandonment of a logic of technological and financial dependence that generated hunger and debt. To achieve his goals, he launched campaigns to “consume Burkinabè,” to plant trees and preserve rainwater in areas affected by desertification. (shrink)