Illuminating Children's Scientific Funds of Knowledge Through Social Media Sharing

The ubiquitous use of social media by children offers a unique opportunity to view diverse funds of knowledge. Connecting learning to students’ funds of knowledge is particularly important for non-dominant learners, who experience tensions between home, community and school science cultures. This study is embedded in a research project which iteratively designed a social media app to be integrated into a science learning program which engaged families in science in their community. I conducted an exploratory case study on children’s use of a social media app for science learning and found that three focal learners (ages 9-14) often shared scientific funds of knowledge through social media in an after-school learning program and in their homes and communities. Their teachers connected some scientific funds of knowledge they shared on social media to formal science concepts. However, other scientific funds of knowledge were not obvious by observing the posts alone. Rather, these tacit funds of knowledge emerged through the triangulation of posts, interviews and observations of their learning experiences in the life-relevant science education program. The findings suggest implications for the design of technology and learning environments to facilitate the connection of children’s implicit and more unconventional scientific funds of knowledge to formal science concepts. I build on these findings to explore how teachers can bridge funds of knowledge shared on social media to scientific practices in formal learning environments with a case study of three teachers from a diverse urban middle school. Using the framework for Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK), I seek to understand how to best support teachers to draw upon student’s funds of knowledge through social media sharing and connect them to formal scientific concepts. The teachers struggled to engage in dialogue with their students about their posts, missing opportunities to gain contextual information about students’ funds of knowledge, in order to facilitate connections to science concepts. These findings suggest that aspects of usability, policy and teacher beliefs are necessary to consider in order to promote the recognition of children’s funds of knowledge through social media sharing in formal learning environments

Teacher Professional Development in Nepal: Theories and Scope

Teaching today takes place in a world of rapid change and development and teachers are expected to meet high standards of teaching and raise levels of achievement in schools and colleges. Goal of teacher professional development is required to ensure that all teachers have the knowledge and skills required to effectively facilitate students learning processes (MoE, 2009). Teaching today takes place in a world of rapid change and development and teachers are expected to meet high standards of teaching and raise levels of achievement in schools and colleges (MoE, 2009). However, this article has highlighted some theories and its scope in education for development of teachers in Nepal. Keywords: Teacher, professional development, skills, theories and scop

Review of practice-led research in art, design & architecture

This review report sets out the outcomes of a 10 month investigation to describe the landscape of practice-led research in Art, Design and Architecture (ADA) in the UK and beyond. We were asked for a qualitative review but of course it has been important to gather some numbers to check and illustrate our observations. We have consulted widely, both face to face and in the virtual world, with experts and novices in the UK and around the world. We have tried to strike a balance between the natural desire of our colleagues to debate the more contentious aspects of this territory (they were never going to forgo that opportunity) and the equally strong wish of the AHRC that we should provide a clear description of what is happening. We have collected some diverse examples of research and subjected them to various examinations. We have also examined a selection of research projects funded by AHRC and other projects by creative practitioners, funded by a non-research organisation. From all this we have been able to describe the landscape in a straightforward sense: We have measures of the proportions of ADA academics involved in practice-led research. We have clarified differences in the ways that the different ADA disciplines engage with practice-led research and identified some problems that indicate possible future support strategies. We have discussed some problems with general definitions of research and identified issues that should be addressed to ensure that the AHRC definition can be applied to the full range of practice-led research. We have picked out some specific case examples that illustrate the range of contexts, methods and contributions made by practice-led researchers, and more are described in detail in Appendix F. We have also sought to assess how this research relates to the wider international picture in which the UK appears to have a strong position in both volume and development of research. We have also set out some issues that affect this community of researchers: What strengths and weaknesses have we observed and where is there a need to support development? Do the AHRC definition of research and guidance on practice-led research provide an effective framework? We have illustrated the state of development of research in ADA, and some reasons why it is less robust than might be expected from such long established disciplines. We recommend that the career path of researchers in ADA needs some attention and make some suggestions about how that could be achieved. We have also indicated some areas of inquiry that might be supported to advance the theory and methods of practice-led research. In particular we have come to the conclusion that conventional ideas of contribution to knowledge or understanding may not be serving us well. This is significant to fine artists but we believe that it relevant across ADA and a shared effort to develop appropriate new models would be a constructive development. The full set of recommendations can be found in chapter 5

Re-conceptualizing the nature of resources in multimodal literacy: The case of young children’s meaning making in an intergenerational art class

This case study was embedded in a SSHRC project called: Learning together: A multiple case study of intergenerational multimodal curricula, led by Dr. Rachel Heydon. The study specifically focused on resources employed by young children in their processes of meaning making within intergenerational art classes. Research questions concerned: 1) what resources were available for young children’s meaning making within the intergenerational art classes? 2) what resources were chosen and used by young children in their processes of meaning making and how? and 3) how did different resources interact with each other in multimodal ensembles? The theoretical tool of the study was the theory of multiliteracies. Sources of data were derived from the original SSHRC project, including audio and video transcripts, interview transcripts, field notes, photos, and participants’ digital portfolios. Methods of data analysis included micro-analysis approach (Kress, 2009) and constant comparison method (CCM) (Cohen, Manion, & Morrison, 2011; Glaser & Strauss, 1967). Findings of this study indicated that except for semiotic resources, human-based resources, contextual resources and young children’s funds of knowledge and funds of identity were employed for young children’s meaning making. Young children chose different types of resources according to their interests and perceived representational appropriateness. Findings also relate that in the multimodal ensembles, different types of resources were orchestrated for meaning making. The resources co-presented and enhanced each other’s expressiveness. Multiple types of resource expanded opportunities for young children’s literacy practices and identity formation. The study enriches the existent understanding of resources for young children’s literacy learning and offers recommendations about resources for young children’s literacy learning in the 21st century

Navigating Chinese and English Multiliteracies Across Domains in Canada: An Ethnographic Case Study of Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Children’s Literacy Practices

Increasing diversity in the globalized world challenges the field of education such as policy development and curriculum design (Suarez-Orozco & Suarez-Orozco, 2009). With more and more students speaking a home language other than English entering schools, numerous studies have examined their English language development with a focus on how they learn to read and write at home and school. However, less is known about culturally and linguistically diverse children’s literacy practices across domains. This study investigated Chinese children’s literacy practices and asked What are Chinese children’s literacy practices at school, home, and in the community? What(linguistic and sociocultural) resources do Chinese children draw upon in their literacy practices? In what ways (if any) do classroom teachers, parents, and communities support Chinese children’s literacy practices? The study took the social and cultural perspectives toward literacy with a focus on multiltieracies (the New London Group, 1996). In order to examine children’s literacy practices across domains, I employed the case study approach using ethnographic tools such as participant observations and semi-structured interviews to collect data (O’Reilly, 2005; Yin, 2005). Participants included Chinese families and teachers. Data analysis involves data triangulation, constant comparison and critical reflection. Findings of the study indicate that children’s literacy practices were directed to print literacy in adult-organized literacy events and children’s literacy practices were multimodal in children-initiated literacy events, children drew upon their social, cultural and linguistic backgrounds to explore literacies, and adults provided certain degrees of support based on their understanding and backgrounds

Latine family math engagement: a phenomenological study of co-design approaches

Mathematics achievement at school entry is the strongest predictor for eighth-grade performance, regardless of race, gender, or family socioeconomic status. Yet, California Latine children continue to lack in math proficiency, struggling with concepts such as knowledge of numbers, counting, and spatial and pattern skills development. Existing literature has demonstrated that Family Engagement support children’s development. However, Latine parents often feel less comfortable doing math themselves and in participating in their children\u27s math learning. This interpretive phenomenology research study was designed to uncover participants’ cultural repertoires and learning experiences to explore how Latine families perceived and engaged in co-design workshops to develop a mathematics activity for their 3-5 years old children. This study collected data from (a) semi-structured interviews and (b) co-design workshops (including co-design workshop recordings, transcriptions, photos and screenshots). Thematic analysis identified the key findings that emerged from the semi-structured interviews are (a) traditional education virtues, (b) familismo, (c) role of language, (d) ecological environment, (e) views on knowledge, (f) interest-driven learning, (g) identity formation related to (math) learning. Further, building upon existing frameworks, this study’s results and analysis suggest that through co-design approaches, Latina mothers engaged in (h) teamwork and collaboration, (i) sense-making, (j) intrapersonal openness, and (k) conscientiousness in the co-design and co-construction of a mathematics activity for their children. In centering Latina mothers as designers and users of their own mathematics learning experience, it positioned them as experts in their own and their children’s learning and allowed for the co-design and co-creation of a meaningful learning math experience. Co-design approaches may be helpful to engage marginalized groups, such as the Latina mothers in this study, to achieve successful family engagement outcomes. Co-design approaches herald a different way of engaging Latine families as an alternative to standard family engagement interventions

Manifestations of students’ voices: Examining shifts, academic demands, and identity work in how students make themselves understood.

Voice is a concept that is both highly sought after and elusive in education. While schools aim to foster students’ voices, many academic structures inadvertently conceal their voices and in turn their identities. Definitions of voice have been assumed, vague, or looked at as a writing trait, with little consideration of voices’ dynamic and mediated structures. Drawing on scholarship grounded in sociocultural theories and dialogism (e.g., Bakhtin, 1986; Engeström; 1987, Leont’ev, 1981; Rosenblatt, 1978; Vygotsky, 1978), I contribute a new, tangible definition of voice, in which voice is a dynamic happening, continually negotiated and constructed. This dissertation explores students’ voices, advancing theoretical and empirical approaches to studying voice. Specifically, this study examines how undergraduates manifest their voices and how their voices shift in a children’s literature course. Through qualitative analyses of students’ academic writing, discussions, and reflections I illuminate various resources and structures students employed when manifesting their voice. I describe how students’ voice shifts due to disruptions—events that create instability to students’ predominant way of thinking in a given context. Additionally, I illustrate factors that both conceal and contribute to students’ voices in academic settings, such as students’ racial and gendered identities, group dynamics, and students’ desire to be seen as knowledgeable. This dissertation argues for classrooms to engage students in routine dialogic interaction to expand students’ voices, and to consider the implications students’ racial and gendered identities have on the production of their voices