Education Commons^™

“Big History At Other Institutions: “Introduction’ And ‘The Big History Project: Bill Gates’S Favorite Course.’ ”, Mojgan Behmand

Mojgan Behmand

“Assessing Big History Outcomes: Or, How To Make Assessment Inspiring.”, Mojgan Behmand

Mojgan Behmand

"Big History And The Goals Of Liberal Education”, Mojgan Behmand

Mojgan Behmand

Teachers' Discourse On English Language Learners: Cultural Models Of Language And Learning, Amy Heineke

Amy J. Heineke

This qualitative case study explores teacher learning about English language learners (ELLs) in a small-group, school-based context at an urban elementary school inArizona. Sociocultural perspectives on teacher learning guided the analysis of teachers’ participation in a teacher study group over six months. The teacher study group aimed to support educators of ELLs at a time of new language policy implementation, which required ELLs to enroll in an English language development (ELD) classroom for four hours of skill-based English language instruction.

In the first semester of language policy implementation, I collected discursive data that showcased the social interaction of teachers and …

Leveraging Resources Across Units And Universities To Address Academic Literacies And Research Skills In Ontario Graduate Students, Melanie Mills, Elan Paulson

Melanie Mills

Fostering Preservice Teachers' "Nature Of Science" Understandings In A Physics Course, Ehsan Kattoula, Geeta Verma, Lisa Martin-Hansen

Geeta Verma

In this paper, the authors examine an algebra-based physics course designed for preservice teachers and explore how the course integrated two pedagogical strategies to bridge the gap between inquiry-learning experiences and the teachers' nature of science (NOS) understandings. The results of this research show that the explicit, reflective process allowed participants to examine their NOS understandings, which thereby fostered changes in their understanding.

Examining The Mediation Of Power In A Collaborative Community: Engaging In Informal Science As Authentic Practice, Anton Puvirajah, Geeta Verma, Horace Webb

Geeta Verma

Focusing on the interplay of context and language, this study examined a group of high school students and their mentors’ use of language during a robotics competition. This informal setting allowed us to gain insights into the mediation and manifestation of power within the group. Using critical discourse analysis of competition transcripts and interviews we found that both students and mentors felt a sense of ownership and community leading to symmetry in power amongst them. The shift in power led to greater student ownership and agency and created a space for authentic and meaningful science learning. The context of the …

The Influence Of University Coursework On Pre-Service Middle And High School Teachers’ Experiences With Multicultural Themes, Geeta Verma

Geeta Verma

The study explored the influence of university-based teacher education courses on pre-service middle and high school teachers’ experiences with multicultural themes in a secondary science alternative certification program. Eight participants (N = 8), six women and two men, volunteered to be a part of the study that took place over a period of four semesters. Qualitative data was collected, coded and analyzed to make meaning of the participants’ experiences. Data comprised of participants’ reflective journals, personal and group interviews, and classroom observations done in middle school practicum and high school student teaching placements. The findings indicated that while the participants …

Power Examined In Paradoxical Educational Contexts: Creating And Valuing Knowledge [Book Chapter], Geeta Verma

Geeta Verma

No abstract provided.

Science And Society In The Classroom: Using Sociocultural Perspectives To Develop Science Education, Geeta Verma

Geeta Verma

In 21st-century America, one of the goals of the education is to successfully prepare students for their meaningful, sustained, and robust participation in a democratic society. In the context of K–12 science education, this means educating students so that they develop into future adult citizen capable of considering and deciding on conflicting issues and policies influenced by science, technology, and sustainability issues. The challenge for science education is thus to find successful ways to integrate content, pedagogy, and citizenship education.

It is important to examine curricular approaches in science classrooms since most of the science education a student receives take …

Critical Mass In The Teacher Education Academy: Symbiosis And Diversity, Gertrude Tinker Sachs, Geeta Verma

Geeta Verma

Critical Mass in the Teacher Education Academy is a book that will generate a great deal of conversation about the value and contributions of teacher educators in preparing the next generation of teachers and teacher educators. Our work in the field of teacher education is ultimately grounded in who we are, where we have come from, and the extent to which we are prepared to acknowledge and critique our learning experiences. This book affirms the value of theorized self-critique and critical reflection in anchoring the field to empower educators to be active agents of change for the greater good. The …

Learning From Classroom Ethnographies: Same Places, Different Times [Book Chapter], David Fernie, Rebecca Kantor, Kimberlee Whaley

Rebecca Kantor

No abstract provided.

Social Constructivism [Book Chapter], Samara Madrid, Rebecca Kantor

Rebecca Kantor

No abstract provided.

"There It Is!" Exploring The Permanence Of Objects And The Power Of Self With Infants And Toddlers [Book Chapter], N. May, Rebecca Kantor, M. Sanderson

Rebecca Kantor

No abstract provided.

What We Have Learned Through An Ethnographic Lens [Book Chapter], David Fernie, Rebecca Kantor

Rebecca Kantor

No abstract provided.

Career Pathways In Ohio's Early Childhood Profession: Linking Systems Of Preparation Inside And Outside Of Higher Education [Book Chapter], Rebecca Kantor, David Fernie, J. Scott, O'Brien

Rebecca Kantor

No abstract provided.

Viewed Through A Prism: The Enterprise Of Early Childhood In Higher Education [Book Chapter], David Fernie, Rebecca Kantor

Rebecca Kantor

No abstract provided.

Our Reflections On Collaborative Research [Book Chapter], David Fernie, Rebecca Kantor

Rebecca Kantor

No abstract provided.

New Ideas And Existing Frameworks: Learning From Reggio Emilia [Book Chapter], Rebecca Kantor, K. Whaley

Rebecca Kantor

No abstract provided.

Cultural Knowledge And Social Competence Within A Preschool Peer Culture Group [Book Chapter], Rebecca Kantor, P. Eglas, David Fernie

Rebecca Kantor

No abstract provided.

Becoming Ethnographers Of An Early Childhood Classroom [Book Chapter], Rebecca Kantor, David Fernie

Rebecca Kantor

No abstract provided.

Early Childhood Classroom Processes, Rebecca Kantor, David Fernie

Rebecca Kantor

This Volume is the culminating project of 10 years of collaborative study in a preschool classroom, where each year, 3- and 4-year olds and their teachers meet daily to construct a life together in an early childhood program. In the chapters, each author presents a discussion of his or her early childhood education topic of interest. In each chapter the uniqueness of a sociocultural/ethnographic perspective and the field of a data analysis is highlighted through a comparison with a traditional early childhood literature on that topic. Certain salient and pervasive "cultural themes" emerged across analyses: peer culture and school culture, …

Peer Culture [Book Chapter], Rebecca Kantor, David Fernie, J. Galbraith

Rebecca Kantor

No abstract provided.

The Challenge Of Reggio Emilia’S Research: One Teacher’S Reflections [Book Chapter], D. Williams, Rebecca Kantor

Rebecca Kantor

No abstract provided.

Constructing Meaning In Preschool Curricula (In Becoming A Student), Rebecca Kantor

Rebecca Kantor

No abstract provided.

First The Look And Then The Sound: Creating Conversations At Preschool Circle Time, Rebecca Kantor, Peggy Elgas, David Fernie

Rebecca Kantor

Becoming a student means learning to interpret and construct the multiple demands for interaction in distinctive classroom events. For an increasing number of children, the preschool provides the setting for the first encounter with these complex and dynamic classroom communicative environments. This article presents an interactional analysis of preschool circle time from an ethnographic perspective. The social participation structure for conducting these events is uncovered using Green's conversational mapping system. Findings suggest that the rules and guidelines, expectations, and roles within the event change over time. The focus of learning within the event, evident in social action rules (Erickson, …

Understanding Natural Sciences Education In A Reggio Emilia-Inspired Preschool In America. Journal Of Research In Science Teaching, Hatice Inan, Kathy Trundle, Rebecca Kantor

Rebecca Kantor

This ethnographic study explored aspects of how the natural sciences were represented in a Reggio Emilia-inspired laboratory preschool. The natural sciences as a discipline—a latecomer to preschool curricula—and the internationally known approach, Reggio Emilia, interested educators and researchers, but there was little research about science in a Reggio Emilia classroom. The current research aimed to gain insight into natural science experiences in a Reggio Emilia-inspired classroom. To gain in-depth information, this inquiry-based study adapted a research design with ethnographic data collection techniques (i.e., interview, observation, document/artifact collection, and field-notes), namely Spradley's Developmental Research Sequence Method, which was a well-known, pioneer …

Reggio Emilia’S Approach To Early Care And Education: Creating Contexts For Discussione (Book Chapter), R. New, Rebecca Kantor

Rebecca Kantor

Book Synopsis: From approaches steeped in the history of education, child development, and the psychological sciences, to contemporary approaches that address multiculturalism and inclusion, this comprehensive book, with its contributions by major experts in the field, more thoroughly examines more topics and models than does any other book on the market. Coverage is strengthened by the broad-based expertise of the contributors and the exceptional reach of the programs chosen for discussion. Chapter topics cover programs for infants and toddlers, the Head Start program, a model preschool program for typical and special needs children, behavior analysis and principles in early childhood …

Being Kitties In A Preschool Classroom: Maintaining Group Harmony And Acting Proper In A Female Peer-Culture Play Routine, Samara Madrid, Rebecca Kantor

Rebecca Kantor

This study examines how young girls construct emotional themes in their peer-culture play routines and rituals in the daily life of a preschool classroom. This research is part of a larger eight-month ethnographic study of one preschool classroom. The data selected and analysed in this article are taken from a focused six-week theoretical sampling of five female preschool children's play. Micro-level analysis of the data (field notes, videotaping, video revisiting and interviews with teachers and students) revealed how children's peer-culture and emotional themes were socially constructed through a specific play narrative that centred on five females being ‘kitties’. A closer …

Becoming A Person In The Preschool: Creating Integrated Gender, School Culture, And Peer Culture Positionings, David Fernie, Bronwyn Davies, Paula Mcmurray, Rebecca Kantor

Rebecca Kantor

This article explores social processes related to the social competence of children evident in preschools and to researchers’ collaborative efforts to understand it. Drawing examples from the authors’ respective programs of research in the United States and Australia, we demonstrate how preschool children struggle to construct their full social membership in classroom discourse to achieve the often simultaneous accomplishment of oneself as a student, peer, and gendered person. With regard to research processes, we demonstrate how researchers with different but compatible theoretical#shresearch perspectives may widen their interpretive lenses through collaborative dialogue, the yield being a more multifaceted vision of young …