In this article, the author discusses a multiphase project that he designed to engage a group of secondary English preservice teachers in a process of reconceptualizing the initial problematic views of literacy that they held upon entering the Master of Arts in Teaching (MAT) program. In the project, Francois Truffaut's classic film "The 400…

This conceptual article re-examines the contribution of a contextual perspective to the practice of educational psychology. The two dimensions of environment and learner are placed along a continuum of active to passive. A range of theory is then situated within this matrix. The article explains and illustrates how the matrix encompasses different…

In this article, the author talks about Bakhtin's ethical concerns on the teaching of novels. In his writings on ethics, Bakhtin outlined numerous ways in which thinkers can avoid engaging with the world. They can live "representatively" by allowing the ideology or religion to which they subscribe make their moral decisions for them. Intellectual…

This article examines how Grade 5 students read and responded to two wordless picturebooks by Istvan Banyai, "Re-Zoom" (1995) and "Zoom" (1995). Analysis of the students' written responses revealed that they wrote about the books' structure and format, as well as their sense/meaning making processes. (Contains 1 figure, 1 footnote, and a list of…

A dearth of literature exists about the effects of former cult involvement on family relationships. This study employed the narrative method to explore the experiences of women and children who are former members of the Children of God. We conducted in-depth interviews with 15 middle-aged women and 12 young adults and used a life course…

Learning in workplaces is always mediated through talk. It is tempting for management to seek to utilise everyday talk as part of learning and therefore enhance productivity. This paper examines the responses of workers to interventions that aim to formalise informal conversations at work as part of an explicit workplace learning strategy. It…

To address chronic unemployment more effectively, social workers can describe the problem accurately, collect data by type of unemployment (frictional, structural, cyclical and chronic), document negative human effects, emphasize economic consequences, document the unequal burden on nonwhites, and lobby for long-term employment policy…

Sixteen preschoolers from homes with conjugal violence were compared with 16 controls from nonabusive homes. Children of abused mothers performed more poorly than controls on three of four measures of empathy (role enactment, social inference, and role taking). Implications for social development were noted. (CL)

Three experiments studied preschoolers' understanding of false beliefs resulting from developmental misconceptions. Found that children showed some (but incomplete) mastery of Level 2 perspective taking, appearance-reality distinction, line of sight, and biological principles of growth and innate potential. Performance was comparable to that with…

This study examined the potential of simulations to bolster interest in middle school social studies classrooms. Using a pre-post-design, we examined 305 middle school students (49% female) who participated in the web-based "GlobalEd" simulation. In contrast to the motivation declines middle school students usually experience, participants in this…

This chapter focuses on "learning processes" in the workplace from concepts emerging in the field of adult education, without straying into pedagogies and programs that can enhance learning. It discusses four topics on learning processes that seem to be particularly important for addressing key purposes and issues of workplace learning from an…

Patterns of development of ToM belief abilities in intellectually disabled (ID) children and typically developing (TD) children matched on their developmental age were investigated. The links between cognition, language, social understanding and ToM belief abilities were examined. EDEI-R [Perron-Borelli M. (1996). "Echelles Differentielles…

This article discusses the use of observation for reflective practice with older people, particularly the benefits and challenges of this learning tool. It outlines a study with 26 third-year Bachelor of Social Work students who undertook an elective course on reflective practice with older people. Using qualitative document analysis, the authors…

Discusses how early childhood educators can address the issues surrounding Christopher Columbus and the Quincentenary of his voyage to America to serve as an opportunity to enlighten and challenge young children's perspectives on this historical event. (BB)

School business officials and other education leaders worry now more than ever about facing legal battles. Maybe today's parents are more likely to run to the lawyer's office. Or maybe they simply expect everything to be a certain way--their way. Regardless, the result is the same: today's school leaders are likely to find themselves having to…