The role of educational psychologists in promoting ethical research conducted with children: an exploratory study

This study explored perceptions of educational psychologists on their role in promoting ethical research involving children. Participants were 10 South African educational psychologists (females = 60%; males = 40%) from mostly public services (90%). Data on their perceived roles in research ethics monitoring and implementation were collected through individual interviews and a brief questionnaire. The data were thematically analysed. Findings suggest that educational psychologists have a role in protecting children from harm during research participation while also monitoring benefits due to the children. A social justice perspective appears to explain the role of educational psychologists in research protection for children.     

Teaching for the recovery of meaning: An imagination‐centered pedagogical approach for today's college students

In the face of a mounting mental health crisis among college students, professors have an opportunity and responsibility to respond to their students’ psychological distress. Psychological and historical scholarship suggests that the proliferation of modern media and breakdown in traditional sources of existential meaning like religion are significant factors in young adults’ declining mental health. In response to this crisis, this article examines the crucial role of the imagination in constructing meaning and proposes an imagination‐centered pedagogical process by means of which teachers can assist students in recovering meaning and integration in their lives.     

Teaching about Christianity: a configurative review of research in English schools

This article presents a systematic review of empirical research on teaching about Christianity in state schools in England between 1993 and 2013. First, I explain the background to this religion’s current place within English religious education. The value of a configurative review is set out, and inclusion criteria are outlined, leading to the selection of 58 publications. Then the article’s theoretical frame is explained, drawing on activity theory, and the analysis is set out under three broad organising principles: (1) Teachers’ professional and pedagogical intentions; (2) How teachers draw on different pedagogical strategies to enact these intentions, for example systematic or thematic approaches; and (3) How these intentions and strategies affect pupil learning, such as pupils’ conceptions of difficult topics. The implications for research in religious education are then drawn together, notably the need to consider the pedagogical issues for different religions individually.     

Perceptions of parents as a function of their marital status and sex

This study examines participants’ perceptions of four different male and female parent groups (married, divorced, step and never‐married parents) and, as a comparison group, of men and women in general. Using an independent groups design, in which participants made estimations of the percentage of a single specified group possessing particular characteristics, it is found that perceptions of married parents tend to be more positive than perceptions of other groups. The never‐married tend to be viewed least positively. Overall, perceptions of mothers are typically more favourable than those of fathers. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Evaluation of a Trauma-Informed School Intervention with Girls in a Residential Facility School: Student Perceptions of School Environment

In response to the high nationwide prevalence of psychological trauma among court-involved youth who have been exposed to abuse and neglect and the associated far-reaching adverse consequences, there are calls to develop a trauma-informed workforce across the various systems (child welfare, juvenile justice, mental health, and education) designed to serve this population. We describe a pilot test of a modified version of the Heart of Teaching and Learning (HTL) curriculum, an intervention designed to increase trauma-informed practices in education settings. This program was implemented in a public charter school that exclusively serves court-involved youth placed in residential treatment. The intervention was associated with decreases in trauma symptoms experienced by youth. Because student perceptions of teachers were high both before and after implementation of the curriculum, no statistically significant changes were observed. The article concludes with a discussion of the ways in which the curriculum can be used to help prepare a national education workforce capable of implementing trauma-informed evidence-based practices in school settings.     

The effects of classroom teaching on students' self-efficacy for personal development

The personal development of students is an essential component of school guidance and counselling programmes, but no published research on guidance and counselling has investigated the effects of regular classroom teaching on students' self-efficacy for personal development. In this study, questionnaire items were constructed to measure classroom teaching, student self-efficacy for personal development and student use of deep learning strategies. Data were collected from 16,208 secondary school students in Hong Kong. Using structural equation modelling, regular classroom teaching was found to have a direct effect on personal development self-efficacy as well as an indirect effect through student use of deep learning strategies. Implications of these findings for implementing a whole-school approach to guidance and counselling are discussed.     

Buying and building success: Perceptions of organizational strategies for improvement

What makes people like a team? We suggest and test here whether people’s perceptions of teams and organizations differ as a function of the strategy the teams pick on their way to success. Two main strategies are compared: (1) Development is a strategy focused on building and enhancing the abilities of current team members; and (2) Acquisition is a strategy focused on buying talent from outside the organization. Does the way to success matter? In other words, will the strategy a team endorse affects how much people like the team? In five studies (N = 1,672) we tested whether people prefer teams that were successful by being (a) built through long-term development of team members or (b) bought by acquiring expensive personal developed elsewhere. Across the five studies, people preferred built teams over bought teams, including sport teams and law firms. Effort and group cohesion were more attributed to build than to bought teams. In a “mediators contest,” effort attributions proved most robust. People like built teams more than bought ones, mostly because they value the effort and hard work that built teams represent.     

Textbooks for teaching the anthropology of religion: a review

Written from the perspective of those who teach the anthropology of religion, the paper reviews a selection of texts commonly used in teaching. The authors find the texts are generally useful, although those written clearly and with good cross-referencing detail (index, bibliography, overviews) are the most helpful. One major finding is the range of views over what might constitute 'textbook’ - itself a fairly contested term more widely.     

Perceptions of group homogeneity as a function of social comparison: The mediating role of group identity

Recent research has shown that creating an intergroup context of comparison may influence the outgroup homogeneity effect or even turn it into an ingroup homogeneity effect. In the present study, the aim was to replicate these findings by using overall judgment of similarity instead of the more commonly used dimensional ratings. Further, and more importantly, it was argued that this effect could be explained by an increase in the salience of participants’ group identity. The results showed that context of comparison revealed an effect on both level of group identification and perceptions of relative ingroup and outgroup homogeneity. In line with predictions, participants’ level of group identification seemed to account for the effect of the comparison context on the homogeneity ratings.     

Perceptions of group homogeneity as a function of social comparison: The mediating role of group identity

Recent research has shown that creating an intergroup context of comparison may influence the outgroup homogeneity effect or even turn it into an ingroup homogeneity effect. In the present study, the aim was to replicate these findings by using overall judgment of similarity instead of the more commonly used dimensional ratings. Further, and more importantly, it was argued that this effect could be explained by an increase in the salience of participants’ group identity. The results showed that context of comparison revealed an effect on both level of group identification and perceptions of relative ingroup and outgroup homogeneity. In line with predictions, participants’ level of group identification seemed to account for the effect of the comparison context on the homogeneity ratings.     

Factors influencing young children's risk of unintentional injury: Parenting style and strategies for teaching about home safety

This study examined mothers' teaching about home-safety issues to 24–30 month and 36–42 month old children, explored the relationship of teaching strategies to parenting styles, and assessed how these factors are related to children's risk of unintentional injury. A structured interview assessed home-safety issues relevant to falls, burns, cuts, poisoning, and suffocation/strangulation/choking. Mothers identified safety issues relevant to her child, and indicated the type and extent to which she utilized teaching as a strategy to address each safety issue. Standardized questionnaires provided information about parenting style and children's history of injuries. Results revealed that mothers' endorsements of home-safety issues did not vary with child age, mothers used teaching to manage safety issues for all types of injuries, and type of teaching strategy (explanations, rules, behavior modification) varied with parenting style. Greater use of explaining and less rule usage was linked to permissive parenting; these teaching strategies predicted children's medically-attended injury among highly-permissive mothers. Thus, teaching about safety is a common risk-management strategy mothers use to address hazards in the home. However, the specific type of teaching strategy used varies with parenting style, which has implications for children's risk of injury.     

Classroom engagement dynamics: examining the potency of reflective teaching approach among some selected universities in Ghana

The purpose of this research was to investigate the effectiveness of the use of reflective teaching approach by university lecturers in Ghana to achieve improved student learning outcomes. The research utilised a quantitative survey design involving 180 lecturers who were accidentally or haphazardly selected from four universities in Ghana to complete a reflective teaching survey (RTS) questionnaire. The results showed that participants frequently engaged in varied reflective teaching activities, and were successful in evaluating the effectiveness of their pedagogies. The research concluded that the approach should be an essential component of the teacher performance appraisal system.     

Contingency and choice: The implications of matching theory for classroom instruction

This paper describes a mathematical account of behavior known as matching theory. Matching theory evolved out of basic operant research and assumes that individuals can engage in a variety of behaviors at any moment, but they choose one to the exclusion of others. According to the matching equation, choices in behavior match the relative amount of reinforcement provided for each alternative. Although the principles of matching theory have proven useful in developing novel treatment strategies, few data exist validating the matching equation in natural human environments. Recent applications of matching theory to children's classroom behavior are described, and the implications of matching theory for classroom management and effective teaching are discussed.     

The learning benefits of teaching: A retrieval practice hypothesis

Teaching educational materials to others enhances the teacher's own learning of those to‐be‐taught materials, although the underlying mechanisms remain largely unknown. Here, we show that the learning‐by‐teaching benefit is possibly a retrieval benefit. Learners (a) solved arithmetic problems (i.e., they neither taught nor retrieved; control group), (b) taught without relying on teaching notes (i.e., they had to retrieve the materials while teaching; teaching group), (c) taught with teaching notes (i.e., they did not retrieve the materials while teaching; teaching without retrieval practice [TnRP] group), or (d) retrieved (i.e., they did not teach but only practised retrieving; retrieval practice group). In a final comprehension test 1 week later, learners in the teaching group, as did those in the retrieval practice group, outperformed learners in the TnRP and control groups. Retrieval practice possibly causes the learning benefits of teaching.     

Free-time as a consequence for behavior in classroom settings: A critical review

Osborne (1969) presented adolescent hearing impaired students with five minutes of free- time contingent upon remaining seated for 15 minutes in the classroom. This procedure substantially reduced the frequency of out- of- seat behavior. Since the publication of this seminal work, 49 studies have used free- time as a consequence to change behavior. This review critically examines these 49 studies. The review shows that free-time has been used effectively with a variety of different behaviors and student populations, and with different methods of delivery. Based on a synthesis of information from the review, optimal methods for the use of free-time are suggested. Finally, it is concluded that additional research is needed, especially to answer the question of why free-time is effective.     

Civic learning and teaching as a resource for sexual justice: An undergraduate religious studies course module

Civic learning and teaching, a form of critical and democratically engaged pedagogy, is utilized in an upper‐level undergraduate sexual ethics course to leverage public problem solving around the sexual violence on a mid‐size Catholic collegiate campus. Through the course, students, faculty, staff, and community members work together to deepen understanding of the causes and consequences of sexual violence within society and the local community in order to evaluate and design programming for bystander intervention, education, and sexual violence prevention advocacy. After a discussion of the application of civic teaching and learning to sexual violence, the course module describes the learning outcomes and assignments used to assess them. See as well Donna Freitas's response to this essay, “The Risk and Reward of Teaching about Sexual Assault for the Theologian on a Catholic Campus,” published in this issue of the journal.     

Information transmission for one-dimensional stimuli: The role of strategies

Important evidence about the information flow between perceptual and motor processes has been obtained from the lateralized readiness potential (LRP) recorded in two-choice go/nogo tasks. Here, we investigated the effect of time pressure on information transmission for one-dimensional stimuli (four squares differing in size). In between- and within-subject designs, respectively, Experiments 1 and 2 showed that under time pressure partial information initiates hand decision and response preparation before complete size information is available. These findings appear to be at odds with the asynchronous discrete coding model. Experiment 3 assessed the mechanisms behind these effects by manipulating the relative difficulty of extracting hand- and go/nogo-specific information from the size of the stimuli. Consistent with asynchronous coding, our results suggest that serial-consecutive processes in extracting partial and full size information may occur also for one-dimensional stimuli. Our data are inconclusive as to the question of discreteness or continuity of information transmission. On a more general level, our data support the notion of flexibility in the coding of perceptual dimensions to adapt performance to environmental conditions.