Developmental Stepping Stones

Background: Healthy child development is imperative for future success, parents/caregivers are at the helm of guiding children down a path that supports health and wellbeing for future success. When there is a lack of education, information, and resources readily available to families there is a risk for delayed development and lack of engagement. For many of our clients, health literacy is low, vulnerability is high, and they often feel cornered with no other available choices. Making it easier not to engage in certain activities, due to lack of opportunities, resources, and/or education. This lack of participation has a significant impact on performance, if those individuals of lower socio-economic backgrounds are never given the opportunity, how can we expect them to perform to current standards. Against all odds, many individuals make a way, but at what cost to their mental, physical, and social health. Purpose: The purpose of this capstone sought to fill the gap in parental knowledge surrounding developmental milestones by creating a media-based program to address the identified needs of the community to prevent developmental delays and major impacts to a child’s health and wellbeing. Methods: The capstone student developed a series of podcasts to educate and engage the community in a high quality, free, easily accessible form of media to promote healthy engagement within the community (through resources) and learning related to healthy child development. This podcast, titled the Developmental Stepping Stones Podcast, provided education on healthy child development for parents, caregivers and local early learning centers of children birth through 5 years of age. Included were strategies to promote healthy engagement with the child, education on healthy child development and easily accessible resources within the community. Each podcast was delivered through various media platforms on a weekly schedule In addition, a six question survey related to the podcast was made available after each episode via a link in the description of the episode. Results: The Developmental Stepping Stones Podcast received positive feedback from survey respondents/listeners, all survey participants identified that the podcasts were beneficial in increasing their knowledge surrounding healthy child development and provided more ways to engage with their child, increased their awareness about accessible community resources, and was an enjoyable listening experience. Conclusion: Results affirmed The Developmental Stepping Stones Podcasts evidence-based approach to educating parents and caregivers about healthy child development. Providing brief educational podcasts of 15 minutes or less about healthy child development, strategies for healthy child engagement and community resources are beneficial to parents, caregivers, and teachers

The Issue of Cyberbullying: A Literature Review

This paper will examine current literature regarding cyberbullying. First, cyberbullying will be defined and then, the differences between direct bullying and cyberbullying will be considered. Statistics that pertain to cyberbullying, factors regarding who is cyberbullied and who cyberbullies and what teachers can do to help will be examined. Cyberbullying is an issue that many adolescents face. As adults that spend many hours with these adolescents, teachers can make a big difference. The purpose of this paper is to review current research in order to help educate teachers on cyberbullying and how they can help

CASE STUDY: READING MULTICULTURAL LITERATURE TO AN EMERGENT READER IN THE HOME

This case study was conducted to find what happens when a parent reads multicultural books to their young child at home. The qualitative data collected was used to determine the child’s reactions to the similarities and differences between them and the characters, as well as how multicultural books can be used to address sensitive topics and complex themes in the home. A caregiver, the researcher, collected data from read aloud sessions with her five-year old daughter. After reading seven multicultural books together, the research found that the child was able to make simple and concrete connections with the physical appearance and actions of the characters in the story. Complex themes were best discussed with books that had high quality pictures and when the emotional state and physical setting were ideal for the child and caregiver. Through reflective journaling, the caregiver notes feelings of inadequacy, hesitation, and fear when discussing sensitive topics with her daughter, but found that the support of the book created a shared space that challenging conversations could happen at home

Therapeutic intervention: using sensory gardens to enhance the quality of life for children with special needs

This study investigates the design and use of sensory gardens in two special schools by evaluating their functional zones and how they are utilized, especially by children with special educational needs, and the staff who care for them. Preliminary site studies were undertaken in fourteen sensory gardens around the UK, followed by more detailed data collection at two case -study sites. The research aim was to find out the behaviour settings and issues that are common in sensory gardens. The research data collection included in -depth interviews, observation and behaviour mapping, which was used in conjunction with affordance theory. Drawing on Moore and Cosco's methodology and approach (2007) in relation to inclusive parks, the findings from the data analysis discuss the researcher's main findings, based on the two case -study sensory gardens. There are two main findings: Firstly, the layout of the circulation network enables user behaviour and use of area. Continuous pathways that link the sensory garden to the site context, with easy access to the functional behaviour settings that are placed along it, have the highest number of users. Secondly, users spent a longer time in zones where sensory, rather than aesthetic value, were emphasised. These main findings have been translated by the researcher into a subset of design recommendations that will be applicable across the majority of sensory gardens, and will assist landscape architects when they are designing sensory gardens in the future

Power of Equality Myths: A Transdisciplinary Study Examining the Influence of Equality Policy on Teaching and Learning

There has been steady interest in the ideology of equity in schooling practices reflected in the written artifacts of the United States, especially in the last thirty years. However, equality-laden language is often used without definition or critical examination. The assumed meaning of equality terminology is problematic--especially for classroom teachers who are directly held accountable for the practice of equality policy. This inquiry critically evaluates the multiple implications of this common-sense usage of language related to issues of equality, equity, sameness, and even democracy. Using the combined methodologies of educational criticism, critical discourse analysis, and self-ethnography, this transdisciplinary investigation describes, interprets, and evaluates the way staff members in a Head Start/early childhood education organization conceive of, and act upon, conceptualizations of equality policy. A close examination of these conceptualizations can serve to assist educational researchers, policymakers, and practitioners in evaluating the implications equality policies have on the teaching practice as a whole, and by extension, the specific learning lives of students

Criminal intent or cognitive dissonance: how does student self plagiarism fit into academic integrity?

The discourse of plagiarism is speckled with punitive terms not out of place in a police officer's notes: detection, prevention, misconduct, rules, regulations, conventions, transgression, consequences, deter, trap, etc. This crime and punishment paradigm tends to be the norm in academic settings. The learning and teaching paradigm assumes that students are not filled with criminal intent, but rather are confused by the novel academic culture and its values. The discourse of learning and teaching includes: development, guidance, acknowledge, scholarly practice, communicate, familiarity, culture. Depending on the paradigm adopted, universities, teachers, and students will either focus on policies, punishments, and ways to cheat the system or on program design, assessments, and assimilating the values of academia. Self plagiarism is a pivotal issue that polarises these two paradigms. Viewed from a crime and punishment paradigm, self plagiarism is an intentional act of evading the required workload for a course by re-using previous work. Within a learning and teaching paradigm, self plagiarism is an oxymoron. We would like to explore the differences between these two paradigms by using self plagiarism as a focal point

Guidance and Orientation for Adult Learners (GOAL): Final cross-country evaluation report

The “Guidance and Orientation for Adult Learners” Project (GOAL) was a collaboration between six partner countries: Belgium (Flanders), the Czech Republic, Iceland, Lithuania, the Netherlands, and Slovenia. The hypothesis underpinning GOAL was that an independent one-stop guidance service putting the specific needs of low-educated adults at its centre could help to increase the participation of this target group in adult education. To this end, each of the six countries piloted new guidance models to specific target groups within the low-educated adult population. The GOAL evaluation was carried out by the UCL Institute of Education (IOE), London, working with local evaluation teams in the participating countries. The evaluation drew on Realist Evaluation principles and had three overarching aims. The first was developmental: to support programme development across the six countries by providing evidence during the life of the pilot on programme processes and adaptations. The second was summative: to assess the impacts of GOAL on service users and other programme stakeholders. The third aim focused on knowledge cumulation: to support future policy and programme development in the field of adult education guidance. Five research questions underpinned the evaluation: 1. To what degree did programmes achieve their implementation aims across the five intervention objectives, and what factors at programme and policy level appeared to influence the achievement of implementation aims? 2. What service user outcomes were achieved, for what groups, and to what degree? 3. What programme-level factors were associated with the achievement of positive service user outcomes? 4. What policy-level factors were associated with the achievement of those outcomes? 5. To what degree were programme expectations met