Question, explanation, follow-up: a global mechanism for learning from others?

Five studies were conducted examining a pattern of interaction children use as a mechanism for learning from others. The three components of this interaction pattern consisted of children’s questions, adults’ explanations and children’s follow-up. I was interested in how individual differences might influence this interaction pattern. In Study 1, I performed a secondary data analysis to explore the entire pattern of interaction. Analyses revealed that children across diverse socioeconomic groups asked a similar proportion of information seeking questions in daily conversations with caregivers. However, when looking at the responses children received, caregivers from low-SES families offered significantly fewer exemplary responses (those that include explanations) to causal questions than mid-SES caregivers. When exploring the quality of explanations that caregivers offered, low-SES caregivers provided more circular explanations while mid-SES caregivers provided more non-circular explanations. Finally, when exploring children’s follow-up to unsatisfactory responses, no differences were found when looking at fact-based questions. Indeed, children from low-SES and mid-SES families were most likely to re-ask their original question which indicates that children across diverse backgrounds purposely use their questions to acquire new knowledge. Significant differences were found when looking at follow-up to unsatisfactory responses to causal questions. Mid-SES children were significantly more likely to provide their own explanations. These findings extend previous work and suggest that this interaction pattern may not look the same across diverse backgrounds. Studies 2, 3 and 4 explored the first half of this interaction pattern: questions and adult explanations. Here I focused on 3- and 5-year-olds’ evaluation of non-circular and circular explanations, and their use of such explanations to determine informant credibility. Whereas 5-year-olds demonstrated a selective preference for non-circular over circular explanations (Study 2: long explanations; Study 3: short explanations), 3-year-olds only demonstrated a preference for the non-circular when the explanations were shortened (Study 3). Children’s evaluation of the explanations extended to their inferences about the informants’ future credibility. Both age groups demonstrated a selective preference for learning novel explanations from an informant who had previously provided non-circular explanations – although only 5-year-olds also preferred to learn novel labels from her. However, when looking at individual differences in these preferences by socioeconomic status (Study 4) children from low-SES families selectively preferred informants who provided circular explanations, whereas mid-SES children showed a preference for non-circular explanations. Study 5 explored the second half of the interaction pattern: adult explanations and children’s follow-up. Here I explored individual differences in epistemological beliefs and their impact on caregiver’s explanations and children’s subsequent learning. Epistemological stance predicted children’s learning. Children of caregivers who adopted an evaluativist stance learned more than children of caregivers who used an absolutist stance. Taken together, these results have the potential to inform caregivers, daycare providers and classroom teachers about the importance of the responses they offer to children’s questions. These responses are integral to the question, explanation, follow-up pattern of interaction that children use when acquiring new knowledge from others. Understanding how individual differences impact this interaction pattern may help decrease cognitive disparities between children across sociocultural contexts before the onset of formal schooling

Key Components of Musical Discourse Analysis

Musical discourse analysis is an interdisciplinary study which is incomplete without consideration of relevant social, linguistic, psychological, visual, gestural, ritual, technical, historical and musicological aspects. In the framework of Critical Discourse Analysis, musical discourse can be interpreted as social practice: it refers to specific means of representing specific aspects of the social (musical) sphere. The article introduces a general view of contemporary musical discourse, and analyses genres from the point of ‘semiosis’, ‘social agents’, ‘social relations’, ‘social context’, and ‘text’. These components of musical discourse analysis, in their various aspects and combinations, should help thoroughly examine the context of contemporary musical art, and determine linguistic features specific to different genres of musical discourse

Understanding the Meaningfulness of Vocal and Instrumental Music Teachers' Hand Gestures Through the Teacher Behavior and Gesture Framework

This article considers the usefulness of the recently proposed “Teacher Behavior and Gesture (TBG) framework” for understanding the meaningfulness of teachers' hand gestures from an Enactive Cognition perspective (wherein cognition is fundamentally considered as embodied, embedded, enactive and extended). The framework is based on the main premise that gestures are part of an integral musical communicational process, fully integrated with speech and/or music-making and contextualized within specific teaching behaviors. By considering teachers' teaching behaviors, it is possible to realize teachers' pedagogical intentions. This, in turn, enables deeper understandings on teachers' gestures from the points of view of meaning, function and purpose. Application of the TBG framework across instrumental and vocal music pedagogical contexts (one-to-one, small, and large teaching groups) will bring relevant insights on developing practical scaffolding approaches, with direct implications on the quality of teaching and learning, for the benefit of both teachers and students

The dependency of residential real estate price on economical and physical factors

The price of residential real estate in Vilnius from 2018 until 2022 is analyzed and reviewed in this thesis. Two evaluation parameters are used to assess what factors may affect the price of residential real estate and how significantly that price may change. The aim of the research is to determine the tendencies of real estate value according to the available statistical data, identify significant variables and create housing price models. The data were analyzed in two ways: by generalized economic aspects and by a polynomial linear regression model. Using linear regression, it was found that the available data have a heteroskedasticity problem, which is why a regression of stabilized residual errors was chosen. The dependence of new house prices on physical factors was compared by distinguishing 3 main groups of buyers: people who are single, have a family, and investors. The analysis will cover what factors are common to all groups of buyers and which apply to only two other groups

Professional competence expression of the prospective technology teachers

Tyrimu buvo siekiama analizuojant mokslinę literatūrą ir švietimą reglamentuojančius dokumentus tiriamuoju klausimu, atskleidžiant būsimųjų technologijų mokytojų profesinių kompetencijų raiškos ypatumus pedagoginės praktikos metu, pateikiant technologijų mokytojų rengimo tobulinimo įžvalgas, ištirti būsimųjų technologijų mokytojų profesinių kompetencijų raiškos ypatumus. Tyrimo metodologinį pagrindą sudarė konstruktyvizmo teorija bei “Mokytojo profesijos kompetencijos apraše“ (2007) pateikta profesinės kompetencijos apibrėžtis, kompetencijos – mokytojo žinios, įgūdžiai, gebėjimai, vertybinės nuostatos. Tyrimo instrumentai parengti pagal sudarytą tyrimo modelį. Tikslui pasiekti derinti kokybinis (interviu ir nestandartizuotas anketavimas) ir kiekybinis metodai (anketavimas). Kokybiniame tyrime dalyvavo dešimt technologijų edukologijos studentų ir dešimt technologijų mokytojų. Kiekybinio tyrimo metu apklausta 70 moksleivių iš Vilniaus miesto bendrojo lavinimo mokyklų. Analizuojant literatūrą nustatyta, kad požiūrių skirtingumas nepaneigia mokytojų kompetencijų aktualumo ir jų kaitos. Profesinė kompetencija pradeda formuotis studijų procese, o gebėjimai yra akivaizdžiausia kompetencijos dalis, kurioje susilieja žinojimo ir prasmės, teorijos ir praktikos dėmenys, kartu laiduodami gebėjimų kokybę. Pedagoginių studijų studentų vertybinės nuostatos, asmeninės charakteristikos bei įgytos žinios ir išplėtoti gebėjimai įgijus formalią kvalifikaciją, sudaro jiems galimybę tapti kompetentingais. Tyrimo rezultatų analizė parodė, kad būsimųjų technologijų mokytojų profesinių kompetencijų raiškos ypatumų pedagoginės praktikos metu tyrimo rezultatai išryškino tendencijas: studentai puikiai geba motyvuoti bei paremti mokinius, šiek tiek tobulintinos kompetencijos tai pasiekimų ir pažangos vertinimo bei mokymo(si) proceso valdymo kompetencija, ypatingas dėmesys turėtų būti skiriamas būsimųjų technologijų mokytojų gebėjimo, susijusio su specialiųjų poreikių mokinių ugdymo organizavimu ir vykdymu, tobulinimui. Tyrimas parodė, jog pagrindinės technologijų mokytojų rengimo tobulinimo kryptys: teorinio ir praktinio darbo valandų paskirstymas studijų programoje, skiriant didesnį dėmesį teorinio mokymo praktiniams užsiėmimams, studentų gebėjimų įtraukti į mokymo procesą spec. poreikių turinčius mokinius ugdymas, naujausių technologijų studijoms svarbos pripažinimas, materialinės studijų bazės gerinimas.Modern society is constantly changing. Therefore educational system expectations change in respect of teacher‘s competence. The aim is to focus teacher‘s education on changing teachers‘ roles in the society of knowledge and highlight new competencies and values in modern teaching. The aim of research is to study expresion pecularities of teacher‘s profession competences in future technologies by analising scientific literature and education governing documents, identifying teacher profession competence pecularities in future technologies of pedagogical practice, presenting training technologies in improving teachers‘ perception. The basis of methodological research sonsists of the constructivism threory and definition of professional competence introduced in „Description of teacher profession competencies“(2007), competencies – knowlegde, skills, abilities, values. Research instruments correspond research model. Qualitative (interview and non standard questionnaire) and quantitative (questionnaire) methods are combined to achieve the aim. Ten technology education students and ten technology tearechers participated in the qualitative research. Seventy Vilnius secondary schools‘ pupils were interviewed in quantitative research. After analising literature it‘s found out that view differencies do not deny relevance of teacher competences and their changes. Professional competence helps to form in the process of learning, while abilities is the most evident part of competences where knowlegde and sense, threory and practice are connected together with skills‘quality. Values, personal characteristics, knowledge and abilities gained during pedagogical studies give opportunity to become competative. The analysis of research shows that students are perfectly able to motivate and support pupils. Paticular attention should be paid to the abilities of future technology teachers related to the organization, implementation and improvment of special needs‘pupils education. The research shows that main directions of technology teaching are theoretical and practical woking hours distribution emphasisng theoretical basis on practical tasks, abilities to involve pupils with special needs in the process of learning, recognising importance of new learning technologies, improvement of the material base of education.Švietimo akademijaVytauto Didžiojo universiteta

The Planning, Implementation, and Movement of an Academic Library Collection

published or submitted for publicatio

Combined Toxicity of Insecticides and Fungicides Applied to California Almond Orchards to Honey Bee Larvae and Adults

Beekeepers providing pollination services for California almond orchards have reported observing dead or malformed brood during and immediately after almond bloom—effects that they attribute to pesticide exposure. The objective of this study was to test commonly used insecticides and fungicides during almond bloom on honey bee larval development in a laboratory bioassay. In vitro rearing of worker honey bee larvae was performed to test the effect of three insecticides (chlorantraniliprole, diflubenzuron, and methoxyfenozide) and three fungicides (propiconazole, iprodione, and a mixture of boscalid-pyraclostrobin), applied alone or in insecticide-fungicide combinations, on larval development. Young worker larvae were fed diets contaminated with active ingredients at concentration ratios simulating a tank-mix at the maximum label rate. Overall, larvae receiving insecticide and insecticide-fungicide combinations were less likely to survive to adulthood when compared to the control or fungicide-only treatments. The insecticide chlorantraniliprole increased larval mortality when combined with the fungicides propiconazole or iprodione, but not alone; the chlorantraniliprole-propiconazole combination was also found to be highly toxic to adult workers treated topically. Diflubenzuron generally increased larval mortality, but no synergistic effect was observed when combined with fungicides. Neither methoxyfenozide nor any methoxyfenozide-fungicide combination increased mortality. Exposure to insecticides applied during almond bloom has the potential to harm honey bees and this effect may, in certain instances, be more damaging when insecticides are applied in combination with fungicides