The Northeast-Northwest Collaborative Adoption Project

SUMMARY

One of the exciting new directions in family research is the examination of shared and nonshared environmental processes underlying the learning of cognitive, literacy, and social-behavioral skills. The adoption design is a powerful method for testing theories regarding environmental mechanisms. In this paper, we describe the Northeast-Northwest Collaborative Adoption Project (N2CAP), an ongoing adoption study in which we are examining the role of parenting environments generally, and parent-child relationships more specifically, in the development of cognitive, reading and social-emotional outcomes in childhood. The goal of this study is to identify environmental influences that impact children's cognitive and social-emotional development using a genetically sensitive design, and to further the development of models of genotype-environment processes.     

Longitudinal predictors of reading achievement among at-risk children

Early exposure to multiple risk factors is related to an elevated risk for academic difficulty. Thus, it is important to promote academic resilience as early as possible and to identify factors that support resilience. Given the positive relation between early literacy skills and later academic outcomes, examining resilience in reading is important. This study examined, first, whether the reading gap widens or narrows for below-average and above-average, at-risk children during the first four years of school; and, second, what protective factors predict reading achievement over time from kindergarten through the end of third grade. Results indicated that as a group, low-achieving children made smaller gains in reading than high-achieving children over the first four years of school. In addition, participation in center-based prekindergarten care, plus more access to books in the home, better interpersonal skills, and fewer poor physical conditions immediately surrounding elementary schools served as protective factors for at-risk children's early literacy development.     

中国公民科学素质建设的文化语境研究

科学在中国扎根的时间短,根基不够深;科学文化在我国文化系统中的主体地位不牢固,有一种历史缺失.这是我国开展公民科学素质建设的文化语境,也是我们理解和解决公民科学素质低下这一问题的现实国情.     

Social Studies Teachers’ Organization

Recent innovations in Web-based technology tools have made planning instruction with technology in mind far more doable than in years past. To aid teachers in planning with technology, tools are organized into five broad categories: communication, collaboration, presentation, organization and critical-thinking. The purpose and potential of each group of tools is explored and utilized in the development of a technology-rich unit plan on medieval China.     

后工业时代中的媒介与时间

时间是人乃至人类最内在的存在结构与生成依据.在未竞的现代性的进程中,媒介不断影响和塑造着人的时间意识与观念.媒介化时间的涌现与时间化媒介的膨胀,构成了后工业时代媒介与时间的复杂关系.媒介化时间带给人们以便利,也带来了新的遮蔽与异化.对这一挑战的应答方式之一是进行有效的媒介素养与认知教育.     

物理学史与大学物理素质教育

物理学史在大学物理素质教育中不但可以培养学生的科学素质和创造素质，还能培养学生的非智力因素。物理教师授课时结合相关素材，选择适当的教学手段和方法，将使物理学史在大学物理素质教育中起到积极作用。     

Beyond the mirror towards a plurilingual prism: exploring the creation of plurilingual ‘identity texts’ in English and French classrooms in Toronto and Montpellier

In an age of transnational mobility, there has been a growing recognition of the need for both English and French mainstream classroom teachers to be trained to teach increasingly plurilingual student populations. In this article, I begin by describing the context for an exploratory comparative and collaborative ethnographic action research study in four English and French schools in Toronto, Canada and one school in Montpellier, France that engaged children as co-researchers of their lived plurilingualism. I analyse in particular the process of creating plurilingual multimodal books with students and teachers across the five different school cases. This paper focuses on the iterative ‘identity text’ creation process across all five schools by examining one plurilingual identity text from each case, along with students’ research conversations about their creative productions, and interviews with their classroom teachers and parents. Finally, I summarize five features of inclusive plurilingual pedagogy that emerged across the five cases and call for further collaborative research across English and French schools and scholarly communities investigating creative plurilingual language and literacy production in the twenty-first century.     

Childhood roots of financial literacy

Financial literacy predicts informed financial decisions, but what explains financial literacy? We use the concept of financial socialization and aim to represent three major agents of financial socialization: family, school and work. Thus we compile twelve relevant childhood characteristics in a new survey study and examine their relation to financial literacy, while controlling for established socio-demographic characteristics. We find in a mediation analysis that both family and school positively affect the financial literacy of adults. Moreover, financial literacy and school related variables also have a direct effect on financial behavior. This suggests that family factors and schooling work through complementary channels.     

跨学科批判性思维与信息素养教育整合研究

目前我国高校的批判性思维课程与信息素养课程几乎都是单独开设的选修课程。由于缺乏具体的学科教学情境,这类课程难以激发学生的学习积极性,教学效果普遍较差;学生也经常抱怨它们与后续课程学习缺乏关联,选修只是浪费时间。本文以“复杂性科学与哲学”课程改革经验为基础,探讨跨学科批判性思维与信息素养整合的必要性和有效整合的途径。研究发现：跨学科整合课程能够激发学生的主动学习欲望和独立探究意识,也能够最有效地实现批判性思维和信息素养教育目标;教师与图书馆员的合作教学为学生提供了充分的学术能力训练机会,并帮助他们学会自主学习和终身学习;在整合课程的教学实践中,图书馆员能起到直接且积极的作用,并实现从单纯提供信息的服务者向学术指导与信息服务并重的教育者转变。     

The Heart of the Matter: Exploring Intergenerational Themes in Children’s Literature

Exploring intergenerational themes in children’s literature, this article shares the perspective of one grandfather and the reactions of educators in response to stories of young and old. Four themes found within intergenerational children’s literature are identified: (a) perceptions of grandparents’ interests and personalities, (b) passing down of knowledge, (c) shared moments/adventures, and (d) perceptions of aging. Intended as a reference point for educators as they select books depicting intergenerational themes, a question asked is, What is at the heart of the matter when it comes to children’s literature depicting themes of young and old?