World War I,Japan’s Road to Pearl Harbor

This qualitative study investigates the perspectives of two cohorts of elementary preservice teachers on citizenship education in today's culturally and globally diverse classrooms. Both cohorts were enrolled in the same university; however, one group participated in an urban-based teacher education program designed around the needs of urban school children. While participants reported varying views of citizenship and offered diverse strategies for incorporating citizenship in the classroom, findings suggested that those participating in the urban-based cohort viewed citizenship more in terms of culture and valued promoting cultural learning and sharing in the classroom. Implications for teachers wanting to teach for cultural citizenship are discussed.     

Guidelines for teachers to elicit detailed and accurate narrative accounts from children

This paper provides interview strategies for teachers who talk to children about serious events, including bullying, truancy, and suspected maltreatment. With regard to the latter, teachers are among the largest group of professionals reporting child abuse, but also tend to evince low substantiation rates. We review research on best practice interviewing, with a focus on its application in school settings. Interview phases are described chronologically, with interview excerpts included for illustrative purposes. Gaps in knowledge about the appropriateness of techniques are highlighted, and recommendations for future research specifically within the school setting are made. It is proposed that teachers receive basic training in best practice interviewing so that, when required, they can confidently ask about difficulties in children's lives while minimizing the potential for contamination of children's responses.     

Implementation of a successful long-term school based physical education intervention: Exploring provider and programme characteristics

There is an ongoing need for research focusing on how to implement physical activity programmes into a school setting. This includes documentation of the extent to which programmes are compatible with the basic views of providers and their local practices. The present study explores the Svendborgproject – a programme tripling the amount of physical education in six public schools, sustaining it for 10-years and documenting a decreased incidence of overweight, obesity and cardiovascular risk factors. The aim was to analyse provider and programme characteristics of the Svendborgproject to gain insights into providers motives for adopting, implementing, and maintaining the programme. Six school heads and six teachers were interviewed to explore how they perceived programme compatibility to their school’s practice and their own role as providers. Both teachers and school heads found the additional lessons a valuable asset that fitted existing school values and priorities. Additionally, physical education teachers participated in a course providing new perspectives and teaching methods that aided the implementation of the programme. Lastly, school heads stressed that implementation fidelity was heavily dependent on the dedication of physical education teachers and on having simple programme requirements that made it clear what could be expected of the programme.     

Process evaluation of a preschool physical activity intervention using web-based delivery

Background and purposePreschool/childcare settings offer a practical target for physical activity interventions. Online learning programs have the potential for greater public health reach and impact. The SHAPES-Dissemination (SHAPES-D) project adapted the original SHAPES in-person intervention for online delivery to teachers. The purpose of this paper is to describe the implementation monitoring and process evaluation for the SHAPES-D project.MethodsNine preschools with 26 classrooms participated. A total of 41 teachers were trained via online learning to implement the SHAPES-D program in their classrooms. The dose received, completeness, and fidelity of implementation were assessed through website metrics, teacher surveys and interviews, and classroom observations.ResultsDose received was adequate (73%). Observed completeness and physical activity enjoyment fidelity were high (100%), although moderate-to-vigorous physical activity fidelity and social environment fidelity were low (25% each). Overall implementation was high (91%).DiscussionResults indicate that the online method of delivery is viable for dissemination. The online delivery system provides an easy method of monitoring dose received. This may be the first structural intervention to monitor dose received through web metrics.ConclusionThe adaptation of an in-person intervention to an online delivery system increases the potential for dissemination of a successful program to increase physical activity in preschool settings.     

Addressing religious plurality – a teacher perspective on minority religion and secular ethics education

The Finnish education system recognizes religious plurality by offering education in pupils’ own religion or in secular ethics. However, little research has been undertaken on how plurality is addressed in classroom practice. This study investigates how 31 minority religion and secular ethics teachers view the task of supporting and including plurality within their classrooms. The findings of this study show how instruction places high demands on teachers due to religious and cultural diversity, as well as age differences in the classroom. Teachers generally made an effort to take diversity into account by considering the different backgrounds of pupils in instruction and engaging pupils in class. However, teachers frequently took a traditional rather than a modern perspective on plurality in religious instruction by assuming pupils’ religious belonging. Confessional elements such as religious family background and religious practice outside school were also commonly seen as vital. Consequently, teachers had at times difficulties in supporting pupils with plural or little religious affiliation. The findings show a need to strengthen the non-confessional character of Finnish religious education so that both modern and traditional plurality among pupils occupy an equal position in the classroom.     

Examining Ecuadorian teachers’ perspectives on their students’ multiculturalism

ABSTRACT

This study investigated Ecuadorian teachers’ attitudes towards multilingual students. This work was informed by findings from two previous studies consisting of observations and interviews with secondary school teachers. In this mixed methods study, 26 teachers completed a 22-question Likert Scale questionnaire that explored their awareness of the influences of students’ cultural norms on classroom instruction. In small focus groups, participants responded to three open-ended questions documenting their definition of multiculturalism and philosophies of how to create a culturally responsive classroom. Findings suggest that Ecuador’s teachers are aware of the diversity within their country but report their training did not stress the pedagogical need to consider cultural influences on teaching and learning.     

Comparing Ourselves to Others: International Knowledge and Attitudes

The authors focus on the collaboration between a university methods professor and two classroom teachers in teaching social studies methods as a way of bridging the gap between university preparation for teaching social studies and putting that preparation into practice in elementary classrooms. The teachers offer recommendations from their own teaching experiences for how preservice teachers can find time for powerful social studies teaching despite pressures to meet the requirements of No Child Left Behind in literacy and mathematics. They integrate social studies with literacy and math, use "teachable moments" and transitions between subjects, and incorporate social studies research with computer and media skills. In addition, they employ class meetings to practice the democratic processes of collectively setting and revising class rules, accepting responsibility for those rules, and working together to solve classroom problems. Informal feedback from the preservice teachers reflects their appreciation of advice from classroom teachers with current experience in addressing the challenge of making time for powerful social studies teaching.     

The “Real Thing”

This article examined the value of using nonfiction graphic novels as historical narratives in the social studies curriculum. Preservice teachers evaluated several graphic novels and identified attributes of graphic novels that could contribute to students’ development of historical thinking and understanding of multiple perspectives. Despite the preservice teachers’ value for graphic novels as resources and their desire to use them in their future classrooms, all of the preservice teachers identified reasons why they would not be able to use graphic novels in their future school context. The findings suggested that the preservice teachers’ desire to be accepted by their school community took precedence over their intention to use resources that they deemed engaging and beneficial for student learning.     

The deaf and the classroom design: a contribution of the built environmental ergonomics for the accessibility

In any concept of school design, classroom occupies the central place. Dimensions, lighting, the equipment needed, ventilation are old questions already answered, even in form of laws and standards adopted. However, the best use of available materials and physical conditions of comfort is not sufficient for a classroom design guaranteed success. The classroom should provide deaf students elements to facilitate the learning process, eliminating as much as possible the obstacles created by lack of hearing and allowing them to have the same access to learning as a listener student. As users of a school building, teachers, students, parents and staff are the best evaluators of the physical environment of schools. The environmental comfort is a largest ally of pedagogy. The learning comes from the perception and the concentration of students in the classroom. The purpose of this study is to detect the role of direct perception (physical) and indirect (intangible) elements that informs and have symbolic value, and propose layouts for accessible classrooms to deaf students. The ergonomics of the built environment evaluation methods could use the participatory design method tools as basis to assessing how users perceive and use the school environment.     

The discursive construction of learning in a multiethnic school: perspectives from non‐immigrant students

This paper provides data from individual interviews conducted with 15 and 16 year‐old non‐immigrant students from a highly multiethnic secondary urban school in Barcelona, Spain. In this school, mixed classrooms (immigrant and local) and small linguistically heterogeneous working groups are frequent in the mathematics lessons. The focus is on the non‐immigrant students’ perspectives on the notion of learning. Findings show that these students interpret certain whole‐class and small‐group interactions among local and immigrant students as not constitutive of learning. In particular, I explore some of the meanings associated with the representation of the multiethnic classroom as a conflictive place for learning.     

From Resistance to Involvement: Examining Agency and Control in a Playworld Activity

In the recent sociocultural literature, it is possible to identify at least three ways of understanding the development of individual agency in social practices: (a) through transforming the object of activity and through self-change, (b) through responsible and intentional membership, and (c) through resistance and transformation of the dominant power relations. This article puts these different perspectives in a dialogical relation to each other and examines the development of individual agency in the context of schooling. The problem of promoting student agency is that, although personal sense and motivation are crucial for learning and development, the need for control and order in classrooms often makes it hard for teachers to give space to them. To develop more meaningful educational practices, there is a need for a thorough understanding of the ways through which teachers and students deal with and momentarily overcome this contradiction in their classrooms and are able to enact or promote agency. The article introduces an empirical case study of Anton, a 7-year-old boy's participation in a joint narrative classroom practice. Anton's orientation and interest toward the narrative activity alters drastically during the spring, as does the teachers' understanding and attitude toward him. Moreover, in Anton's participation, all the three different formulations of agency just presented are visible and concurrently “in action.” The article creates conceptual and analytical tools for examining the potential that narrative learning settings provide for supporting children's engagement and development in classrooms.     

Utilizing Online Training for Child Sexual Abuse Prevention: Benefits and Limitations

The prevalence of child sexual abuse demands innovative approaches to prevent further victimization. The online environment provides new opportunities to expand existing child sexual abuse prevention trainings that target adult gatekeepers and allow for large scale interventions that are fiscally viable. This article discusses the benefits and limitations of conducting online organizational trainings from the perspective of participants, including what participants found effective, what challenges were most commonly encountered, and trainee perspectives of the program's overall impact. The final section provides recommendations and lessons learned for practitioners and researchers who hope to utilize and assess online prevention trainings in the future.     

The influence of a multicultural teacher education program on teachers’ multicultural practices

This study examined the multicultural classroom practices of two novice secondary English teachers employed by the same US school district that serves a diverse student population. Findings indicated a high level of consistency between the teachers’ intended multicultural practices and their implemented practices. Based on classroom observations, both teachers implemented the general multicultural practices of critical pedagogy, real life application, student choice, multicultural literature, individual student attention, cultural physical adaptation, active learning and cooperative grouping. The factors supporting multicultural infusion were the teachers’ previous experiences with diverse populations, the teachers’ own previous meaningful high school experiences and the teachers’ backgrounds that were similar to their students. The impeding factors were the structure of the school, time constraints, racism and tracking.     

Encouraging Creativity in the Social Work Classroom: Insights from a Qualitative Exploration

Creativity is vital to the learning process of social work students. Despite its importance, educators are still uncertain of ways to enhance creativity and translate it from classroom to practice. Therefore, this study examines social work student perspectives on ways to define creativity, infuse it into the classroom, and apply it as practitioners. This study qualitatively explores the open-ended insights of 37 social work students. Through an unguided semantic analysis and application of Kolb’s experiential learning theory, the following themes emerged: classroom, creativity, performance, activities, and ideas. These themes indicate that students believe that additional creative opportunities in their classrooms would eventually benefit them as practitioners. Further pedagogical emphasis on increasing student creativity through experiential learning activities would be beneficial.     

Variables affecting teachers’ intentions to include students with disabilities in regular primary schools in Bangladesh

This paper presents an overview of a study conducted to examine the influence of teacher attitudes, teacher efficacy and perceived school support on teachers’ intentions to include students with disabilities in government primary schools in a region of Bangladesh. All of the variables were conceptualized within the Theory of Planned Behaviour. The participants in the study were 1387 in-service teachers drawn from government primary schools located in urban, semi-urban and rural sectors of Dhaka. Hierarchical regression analysis revealed that all three Theory of Planned Behaviour variables (teacher attitudes, teacher efficacy and perceived school support) explained 40% of the variance in teachers’ intentions to include students with a disability in regular classrooms. This paper describes the process for conceptualizing the variables, discusses the methodology and presents the outcomes concluding with implications for educational policy reform and practices in Bangladesh. Areas for further research are also identified.     

The Child Labor Amendment in the Social Studies Class

As part of a geography-based minority recruiting program (MRP), teachers were asked to serve as mentors for teams of high school students interested in both postsecondary education and geography as a major discipline or career path. The goal was to determine whether teacher participation in MRP programs was an effective tool to mentor underrepresented populations in geography. One component of the program evaluation examined the impact of teacher participation in a MRP by analyzing participating teachers’ classroom strategies and students’ performance in the school year following the summer program. Teachers were surveyed and participated in follow-up interviews during the school year following their participation in the MRP to determine the effects of the program's professional development components. The research hoped to reveal: (a) the participant-teachers’ function and role as mentors for students and the changes of participant-teachers’ behaviors, and (b) how any changes in their classrooms have affected their students’ understanding of geography. Data collection, reduction and analysis followed a grounded-theory approach to qualitative research. The research confirmed that participants leave professional development with an increased enthusiasm for and a better understanding of geography that they shared with their colleagues and students. Furthermore, teachers reported overcoming campus and district barriers in order to implement strategies and technologies provided during the MRP. More promising findings validate the prevailing thought that the positive energy of the MRP continues to reach into the classrooms in the following years. By understanding the impacts of professional development on participating teachers, the discipline may better recruit and retain high-achieving minority students.     

Reading,Writing, and Revolution: Facilitating Social Activism in First Grade

This article examines how teachers can develop a sense of social activism in students through critical multiculturalism. Drawing upon data from a nine-month participant observation study of a first-grade public charter school classroom in central California, this article highlights how teachers can integrate critical multiculturalism within an elementary classroom by connecting artists' lives to social issues to raise awareness of social injustices, promote critical reflection and consciousness, and develop a sense of social activism. Particular attention is paid to how teachers can incorporate this curriculum into their own classrooms.     

Exchange programs for educators: American and Russian perspectives

International exchange and training programs play a significant role in the development of international cooperation between educators from different nations. More and more teachers and school administrators participate in exchange programs and implement new curricular and instructional practices in their institutions. This paper presents findings of a phenomenological interpretive case study of the impact of international exchange programs for educators on their participants’ pedagogical practices, social status and professional careers. The study was conducted in 2005 in the US and Russia. Through observations and in‐depth interviews with 35 informants, the author compares the perception of exchange programs and their outcomes for American and Russian alumni. The findings demonstrate differences and similarities in participants’ perspectives on their roles in international programs and on the application of program outcomes.