Intergenerational learning in and around the home setting: Who are the learners and how do they learn?

Children spend a relatively large amount of time in and around the home setting, where intergenerational encounters may contribute to their learning. As a result of demographic and societal changes, vertical links within families between children and their grandparents could become very important. This may particularly apply where grandparents have moved to join their families who have migrated and where they could play an important role with regard to intergenerational learning. To investigate the nature of intergenerational learning exchanges young children with Sylheti/Bengali-speaking grandparents or monolingual English-speaking families of mixed ethnicity living in East London were recruited. Case studies of the families were conducted through interviews, observation, video-recordings, and scrapbooks. A qualitative analysis examined the patterns of learning interactions and the kinds of knowledge exchanged. Findings suggest that children and their grandparents take part in a wide range of activities where learning interactions are co-constructed within a relationship of trust and security, and where all participants contribute and learn. A wide range of concepts and skills was developed through intergenerational learning. The findings are discussed in relation to different notions of generation, and in relation to learning perspectives summarised as a framework representing learner agency and social engagement

Digitally retelling the tale: children’s learning encounters and materiality

While much existing work on digital storytelling with young people has focused prominently upon presenting their own personal narratives and viewpoints, relatively little attention has been given to learning that could arise from digital adaptations by young children of existing and well-known stories. This article reports work exploring learning activities through a case study involving three pupils (aged 8, 10 and 12) and their teachers engaged over a six-month period in digitally retelling a fairy tale from a printed storybook. In addition to considering the role of the printed text and the learning opportunities arising from its digital retelling, discussion focuses on how the findings cohere with more recently developing theoretical perspectives on learning that in addition to the social take into account the role of the material

Mental mechanisms, contextual effects and the processing of word-attributes.

It is known that the presence of information related to, but not necessary\ud for the completion of a speeded experimental task can affect\ud performance. Previous studies involving such 'contextual' effects with\ud information in verbal and nonverbal form have produced mixed results\ud which have been attributed to differing underlying processing\ud mechanisms. The present work examines the extent to which some\ud possible mechanisms could, in common, account for within- and crossmodality\ud contextual effects. 'Priming' information relating to\ud typographic case was presented over time intervals varying up to\ud 480 msec before, and up to 480 msec after, a target to which a speeded\ud category-decision was indicated by a left- or right-hand key-press.\ud Within-attribute' case-priming was effected using a letter string printed\ud either in upper- or lower-case (e.g., `dghej', or 'YFLRB') paired with a\ud similar target for case-decision. Within-attribute name-priming upon\ud name-decision was similarly achieved using the case-denoting words\ud `upper' and 'lower'. 'Cross-attribute' priming was possible through name\ud information priming case-decisions (e.g., `upper-YFLRB'), or, case\ud information priming name-decisions (e.g., 'YFLRB-upper'). The\ud combined effects of case- and name-priming upon case-decision were\ud also investigated using case-denoting words printed in either one or other\ud of the two typographic cases (e.g., `upper-yflrb', or `UPPER-yflrb').\ud Relatively short decision latencies accompanied by relatively low error\ud rates occurred when targets were preceded by congruent within-attribute\ud primes. Incongruent priming led to slower responses with higher error\ud rates. Similar effects were obtained with name-priming of case-decisions\ud although, in comparison to within-attribute priming, these occurred after\ud longer prime pre-exposures. Case-priming effects upon name-decisions\ud were obtained for simultaneous as well as pre-exposed primes, however,\ud congruent as well as incongruent case-priming led to relatively slow decision latencies and higher error rates. Combined congruent case and\ud name information speeded case-decisions in comparison to congruent\ud case information alone. However the converse did not occur; increase in\ud case-decision latency with incongruent case and name information\ud combined was no greater than with incongruent case information alone.\ud It has been argued that the results are consistent with models which\ud propose that input is initially subject to encoding where 'activation' may\ud spread automatically among interconnected verbal or nonverbal\ud representations. In particular, this could partly account for speeded\ud responses obtained with congruent primes. Relatively shorter decision\ud latencies can also be attributed to subsequent decision processes and the\ud generation of responses. The results also suggest that relatively longer\ud latencies could arise from competing incompatible responses having to\ud be suppressed. It has been further argued that relative speed of processing\ud different stimulus attributes and the form of experimental task can be\ud major determinants in the detection of contextual effects

Intergenerational learning between children and grandparents in East London

The study set out to investigate learning events taking place between young children and grandparents in London's East End, both in activities where older people have traditionally provided support (such as storytelling) and in the newer areas of information and communication technology where children have competences which their grandparents would like to access. This area of family learning is growing in significance as grandparents are increasingly taking on a childcare role in different extended family structures. Grandparents’ own learning needs must also be taken into account in the government’s lifelong learning agenda

Training, Implementation, and Potential of a Cybermentoring Scheme in Six EU Countries

Cybermentoring refers to virtual peer support in which young people themselves are trained as cybermentors and interact with those needing help and advice (cybermentees) online. This article describes the training in, and implementation of, a cross-national cybermentoring scheme, Beatbullying Europe, developed in the United Kingdom. It involved train-the-trainer workshops for partners and life mentors in six European countries (Italy, Spain, Portugal, Romania, Poland and the Czech Republic) in 2013–2014, followed by training sessions for pupil cybermentors aged 11–16 years. Although BeatBullying went into liquidation in November 2014, the project was largely completed. We (1) report an evaluation of the training of the life mentors and mentors, via questionnaire survey; and (2) discuss findings about the implementation of the scheme and its potential at a cross-national level, via partner interviews during and at the end of the project. The training was found to be highly rated in all respects, and in all six countries involved. The overall consensus from the data available is that there was a positive impact for the schools and professionals involved; some challenges encountered are discussed. The BeatBullying Europe project, despite being unfinished, was promising, and a similar approach deserves further support and evaluation in the future

Intergenerational Learning Events Around the Computer: A Site for Linguistic and Cultural Exchange

The computer is widely recognised as a cultural tool with the potential to enhance learning, and children are considered to develop ICT skills with particular facility. However, young children still require assistance in order to gain the maximum educational benefit. This study investigates how such assistance was given to 3–6 year olds by their grandparents in Sylheti/Bengali-speaking families and monolingual Englishspeaking families living in East London. A multimodal analysis of video-recorded computer activities reveals the reciprocity of teaching and learning taking place between the generations. In each case, grandparents and grandchildren combined their resources in order to negotiate the activity, with adults usually providing knowledge of literacy and numeracy whilst children helpedwith computer skills. The intergenerational exchange was especially evident in Sylheti/Bengali-speaking families, where grandparents were less familiarwith English orwith the computer and operated bilingually with their grandchildren to co-construct learning. However, the support offered by grandparents was found to have common elements in all families, as they helped children to structure the learning event, maintain concentration and accomplish tasks relying on linguistic and cultural knowledge

Gardening with grandparents: an early engagement with the science curriculum

In many cultures, elders are revered within the extended family as a source of wisdom gained from long experience. In Western societies, this role has been marginalised by changes in family structure, and grandparents' significant contribution to children's upbringing often goes unacknowledged. A research study with families of three- to six-year-olds in East London reveals how grandparents from a variety of cultural backgrounds passed on knowledge about growing fruit and vegetables to their grandchildren through joint gardening activities. Children learned to identify different plants, and to understand conditions and stages of plant growth. Grandparents from Bangladesh introduced children to a wide range of fruits and vegetables, and concepts were reinforced through bilingual communication. Analysis shows that these intergenerational learning encounters fostered children's scientific knowledge in ways that supported and extended curriculum work in the early years

Snow White in different guises: Interlingual and intercultural exchanges between grandparents and young children at home in East London

Grandparents play a significant role in childcare and one activity that frequently occurs within this context is story-reading. However, relatively little attention has been given to the potential part that grandparents can play in terms of language and literacy development of young children.This article reports on work investigating the interlingual and intercultural exchanges occurring in a home setting in East London. In particular, it focuses on how the traditional heritage pattern of story and rhyme reading by a grandmother of Bengali origin is fused with practices experienced by her six-year old grandchild.The data reveal not only the multiple worlds inhabited by the grandchild during story-reading but also the syncretism of these worlds on a number of levels.This article contributes to the small but growing body of investigation into the reading styles occurring within families from different cultural backgrounds