This study describes trajectories of early literacy skill development of 99 children (n = 55 boys) in their first year of primary school in New Zealand (NZ). Children were assessed twice weekly for 8 ...weeks on Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills (DIBELS; Good & Kaminski, 2011) First Sound Fluency (FSF) and AIMSweb Letter Sound Fluency (LSF; Shinn & Shinn, 2002), with other early literacy and beginning reading skills assessed before and after progress monitoring. FSF and LSF growth trajectories were modeled separately. Multilevel modeling indicated improved performance; however, growth mixture modeling indicated 3 growth trajectories (i.e., latent classes; FSF and LSF, respectively): typical (77.6% of children, 65.7%), developing (10.8%, 14.6%), and limited progress (11.6%, 19.7%). Beginning of year screening was sometimes associated with latent class membership, whereas latent class membership differentiated mid- and year-end literacy skills. Results support progress monitoring of early literacy skills within the NZ context to aid earlier identification of children at-risk for difficulties with reading acquisition.
Impact and Implications
This study demonstrated that monitoring children's progress on early literacy skills over one term can reflect skill development in the first year of school. Although most children's performance improved over time, this study identified distinct growth trajectories, finding some children with low initial performance who showed limited progress. This research supports screening and progress monitoring for earlier identification and provision of supports to children experiencing challenges with reading acquisition.
The present study was aimed at investigating the effects of a video feedback coaching intervention for upper-grade primary school teachers on students’ cognitive gains in scientific knowledge. This ...teaching intervention was designed with the use of inquiry-based learning principles for teachers, such as the empirical cycle and the posing of thought-provoking questions. The intervention was put into practice in 10 upper-grade classrooms. The trajectory comprised four lessons, complemented with two premeasures and two postmeasures. The control condition consisted of 11 upper-grade teachers and their students. The success of the intervention was tested using an established standardized achievement test and situated measures. In this way, by means of premeasure and postmeasure questionnaires and video data, an assessment could be made of the change in students’ scientific knowledge before, during, and after the intervention. In this study, we primarily focused on the dynamics of students’ real-time expressions of scientific knowledge in the classroom. Important indicators of the effect of the intervention were found. Through focusing on the number of explanations and predictions, a significant increase could be seen in the proportion of students’ utterances displaying scientific understanding in the intervention condition. In addition, students in the intervention condition more often reasoned on higher complexity levels than students in the control condition. No effect was found for students’ scientific knowledge as measured with a standardized achievement test. Implications for future studies are stressed, as well as the importance of enriching the evaluation of intervention studies by focusing on dynamics in the classroom.
Introduction: Oral and dental health problems in elementary school-age children are problems that require treatment, both preventive and promotive. Government efforts in improving dental health ...knowledge of elementary school-age children are made through business Dental School Health (UKGS) by involving teachers. The teacher has the role of delivering knowledge of the causes and prevention of dental and oral health in children. Purpose of the research is to find out teacher’s knowledge about oral health. Methods: The method used is descriptive, using survey techniques. Research population include 28 teachers. The study sample was all members of the population in the Public Elemen-tary School (total sampling). Results: The results showed that the teacher’s knowledge about dental disease and the mouth and oral hygiene are categorized as good; knowledge about the anatomy of the oral cavity, various teeth and how to brush teeth properly are categorized as fairly good, and tooth growth knowledge and dental anatomy are cat-egorized as bad. Conclusion: The teacher does not understand oral health. Knowledge level of the teachers will influ-ence the implementation of the UKGS, namely in maintaining and improving dental and oral health of all students at school and to achieve optimal degree of the dental and oral health status of students.
This study designed learning activities supported by a mobile learning system for students to develop listening and speaking skills in English as a foreign language (EFL). This study was carried out ...throughout one semester with one class of 35 Taiwanese fifth-grade elementary school students (10 or 11 years old). How students perceive learning activities and a mobile learning system were examined in this study. Additionally, how different practices relate to students' language proficiency was also explored. It was found that students had positive perceptions and intentions toward learning activities; thus, students were motivated to practice English skills more when using a mobile learning system. The results demonstrated how students' speaking and listening skills practices using mobile devices had different correlations depending on their proficiency levels. For example, listening diversity, defined as the number of other classmates a student listened to, was found to have an inverse correlation with speaking and listening proficiency. This finding does not support previous research and indicates that students who carefully selected their listening partners performed better than those who did not. It was further found that the better students performed in English learning, the fewer partners they would choose. EFL instructors can use the insights of this study to design more effective language learning activities for students using mobile devices. Author abstract, ed
Objective: The Behaviour Assessment System for Children, Third Edition (BASC-3) is a rating scale for screening emotional and behavioural disorders in children and adolescents commonly utilised in ...Australia but relies on a US normative sample. This study assessed the cross-cultural validity of the BASC-3 by evaluating the original factor structures of the BASC-3 Teacher Rating Scale Children (TRS-C) and Parent Rating Scale Children (PRS-C) with a clinical sample of Australian children. This study hypothesised that the factor structure of the BASC-3 TRS-C and PRS-C would yield acceptable or good fit indices among the Australian sample.
Method: Analyses were conducted on parent and teacher ratings of 716 children (298 children for the TRS-C and 418 children for the PRS-C) with a mean age of 8.63 (SD = 1.54) from a psychology training clinic in Melbourne, Australia. Single-factor congeneric modelling and second-order confirmatory factor analyses examined how well the TRS-C and PRS-C factor structure fit the Australian data.
Results: Good and acceptable model fit and significant factor loadings were found in the single-factor congeneric modelling and second-order factor modelling.
Conclusions: The results provide supporting evidence of the cross-cultural validity of the BASC-3 TRS-C and PRS-C among Australian children presenting with clinical challenges.
Key Points
What is already known about this topic:
(1) Emotional and behavioural disorders (EBD) are associated with a range of negative school and life outcomes.
(2) The Behavior Assessment System for Children, Third Edition (BASC-3) is a highly utilised screening tool for emotional and behavioural challenges in children and adolescents.
(3) Existing literature suggests that there is a lack of research on the generalisability of the BASC-3 in other societies and cultures.
What this topic add:
(1) The current research demonstrates the validity of the BASC-3 Teacher Rating Scale Children (TRS-C) and Parent Rating Scale Children (PRS-C) with a clinical sample of Australian children.
(2) The current research provided support for the utility of both the TRS-C and PRS-C as screening tools for EBD among Australian children presenting with clinical challenges.
(3) Future research is required to demonstrate the validity of the BASC-3 in non-clinical sample of Australian children.
This paper examines the correlation of family characteristics (material family status, parents' educational status) and the plans of primary school students to continue their education. This paper ...identifies the degree of correlation between individual characteristics of students' families and students' educational aspirations towards inclusion at the highest levels of education, i. e. tertiary education. This paper starts from the basic assumption that the family plays a significant role in choosing the future educational direction of primary school students. This study uses a descriptive and analytical method and implements a survey as a research technique. The obtained data were statistically processed and are presented as frequencies and percentages. The survey included 198 students in the final grade of elementary schools in the Jagodina municipality, located in central Serbia. The research was conducted in 2017 and the questionnaire examined (a) the social matrix of the students' families, (b) the students' views on continuing their education and (c) the students' views of their parents' expectations that they would continue their education. The %2 test was used as a measure of statistical inference. The main findings of the study showed that (a) most of the primary school students plan to continue their education by enrolling in the tertiary level of education and (b) students' educational aspirations are not significantly related to the material status of the family.
There are concerns regarding the use and impact of media in relation to adolescent girls and young women, but there is relatively little research focusing on the experiences and perspectives of young ...girls. This paper reports on a key finding from a research study in a small Australian school. Interviews with educators (n=5), parents (n=7) and young girls aged 7-13 (n=14) were analysed using a feminist phenomenological approach to elicit the essence of the girls' lived experiences with media. Common and contrasting perspectives were then identified. Adults felt that media were powerful and pervasive but also expressed some reservations about the proliferation of media. The girls showed strong personal emotional engagement with a variety of media. While further research is needed to examine children's views, the findings point to some important recommendations for parents and educators. Author abstract
The beliefs teachers hold about children's imaginative capabilities directly influence their classroom practices. This paper reports on a small research study where the authors drew on an arts-based ...framework discussing two of Kieran Egan's cognitive tools - in particular, the Somatic and the Mythic - to better understand the drawings of 5-12 years old about their imaginations. Drawing is valued as a process of metacognitive and creative meaning making that helps to explain the children's thinking about where their imaginations are located and how they access their imaginations and creative ideas. The findings highlight the important role drawing can play in enabling teachers to access children's conceptual thinking. They also offer some insight into how children understand the role imagination plays in their lives and learning. Author abstract
The purpose of this study was to compare students’ dimensions to the dimension of school furniture, in primary school, and determine whether this type of furniture is well-designed and promotes good ...sitting posture at school by taking into account the dimensions of the children.
A total of 180 (90 male and 90 female) students, from three primary schools in Thessaloniki, Greece, participated in the study. Their ages ranged from 7 to 12 years. The following human body dimensions were measured: stature, elbow height, shoulder height, upper arm length, knee height, popliteal height and buttock–popliteal length. In addition, the dimensions were measured for four different types of chairs and five types of desks prevalent in classrooms. Finally, the anthropometric measures of the students and the furniture dimensions were compared in order to identify any incompatibility between them.
The data indicate a mismatch between the students’ bodily dimensions and the classroom furniture available to them. The chairs are too high and too deep and desks are also too high for the pupils. This situation has negative effects on the sitting posture of the children especially when reading and writing.
The research investigated the effect of a science diagram on primary students' conceptual understanding about magnets. Lack of research involving students of primary age means that little is known ...about the potential of science diagrams to help them understand abstract concepts such as magnetism. Task-based interviews were conducted individually with 19 year 3 and year 5 students from a single school. Data captured students' prior ideas about magnets and changes in their understanding in response to a diagram as the only intervention. Results revealed a variety of outcomes-conceptual understanding was enhanced, reduced, simultaneously enhanced and reduced or not changed. Particular diagram features constrained students' learning for some students. The study confirms the individual nature of primary students' learning and has implications for teachers about instructional methods using science diagrams. Author abstract
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