published_or_final_version / Education / Master / Master of Education

This study is based on the Arts Integration Program, a series of lesson outlines utilizing fine arts experiences (dance, music, theatre, and visual arts) to teach core curriculum subjects. The study took place over two years in six schools, combining qualitative and quantitative research methods to determine: if learning actually took place concurrently with the program's lessons; how the classroom learning environment was affected; and what teachers who use the Arts Integration Program lessons for the first time report about the experience? The study was continued into a second phase based on results of the first. In the development of an Arts Integration Program teacher-mentor model, two teachers from the first year of the study worked with new teachers in their schools who were beginning to use the program. This second phase of the study asked: What is involved in establishing a successful teacher-mentor model with the Arts Integration Program? And, How do the lessons effect the classroom learning environment? Lesson outlines and arts integration techniques are described and results from the Content Area Tests and the Perceived Self-efficacy, Attitude, and Linguistic Domain Questionnaire from both phases of the study are presented. The evolution of the Arts Integration Program Teacher-mentor Model is also described. The process of implementing the program in each school was documented through teacher journals, observations, interviews, and videotapes. The aesthetic reaction that Vygotsky (1971) wrote about seems to be present in these children. Their teachers each report having a more cohesive and supportive classroom environment as a result of the theatre lessons. They all noted improvement in the childrens' communication, expressive and receptive, skills. There is also evidence of transfer into other academic areas. The study showed the more successful Arts Integration Program Teacher-mentor model to be: (1) At least a one-year. (2) Concentrating on one, or two, arts areas. (3) With teacher observing teacher. (4) Regular meeting to plan and discuss. (5) Videotape and review for teachers and students. Plans for future implementation of the Arts Integration Program and ideas for further study are presented.

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Situated within Bronfenbrenner's (1977; 2001a) ecological systems theory, this thesis rested the hypothesis that relative age effects (RAEs) are prevalent and recurring across broad systems and niche contexts of sport and education.

This thesis is in two parts. Part 1 reviews work on comprehension of grammatical structure in children and describes the development of a new Test for the Reception of Grammar (TRCG). TROG assesses understanding of a variety of grammatical contrasts using a format where the child is required to select from an array a picture to correspond to a phrase or sentence spoken by the tester. Results from 280 normal children aged from 3—6 to 13-2 are presented. It is shown that several grammatical structures are not completely mastered by age 13. and in some instances it appears that the accepted rule that comprehension precedes production is contravened. Data on reliability and validity of TROG are also presented. Part 2 is Concerned with the application of TROG to 73 children with receptive and expressive developmental language disorders. It is shown that the majority of these children perform below age level both on TROG and on a test of receptive vocabulary. Further. there is a strong relationship between performance on TROG and grammatical complexity of expressive speech. Structures involving decoding of .word order appear to give these children particular difficulty, over and above their general comprehension deficits. Results are discussed in relation to psychological theories of developmental language disorders, and implications for the classification of these disorders are considered.

The current research aimed to examine children’s understanding of cardinality by looking at their ability to use several quantitative concepts that underpin this understanding: correspondence, counting and equivalence in the context of sharing. Understanding cardinality requires children to develop knowledge about the relations between these quantitative concepts which is important for the development of mathematical reasoning. The first study aimed to investigate how flexibly children can use correspondence to build equivalent sets in different types of sharing scenarios: equal sharing, reciprocity and equity. In some situations two characters each received one object at a time, and in others one character received double units while the other character received single units. After children shared blocks between the two characters, they were asked to make a number inference about the cardinal of one set after counting a second, equivalent set. Children had more difficulty sharing in the reciprocity and equity conditions than the equal sharing condition. The majority of children were able to make number inferences in the equal sharing and reciprocity conditions where both characters received equivalent shares in the end. A second study with new groups of four and five- year-olds investigated whether children were using visual cues about the relation between double and single blocks to help build equivalent sets and make number inferences. It was predicted that the use of coins would be difficult and would increase the difference between the equal sharing and reciprocity conditions. In half of the trials children shared Canadian $2 and $1 coins and in half they shared blocks. There are no visual cues about the relation between $2 and $1 coins because they are the same size. Children were allowed to use counting or correspondence to build equivalent sets to compare their use of both strategies. Contrary to the first study, the reciprocity and equal sharing conditions were not significantly different. This may be due to the appearance of a new sharing strategy in the reciprocity condition termed “equalizing” where children first counted each set, dealt singles to make the two sets equal and then shared blocks or coins on a one-to-one basis. There was also no significant difference between the trials using coins and trials using blocks. The majority of children were able to answer the number inference questions correctly, however 25% of children made the number inference after sharing all singles but not after sharing doubles and singles, suggesting that using different units did impact their understanding of the equivalence of the two sets. A third study aimed to investigate children’s ability to coordinate cardinal and ordinal information to determine the cardinal of a single set, and their ability to coordinate counting principles with knowledge of equivalence to determine the cardinal of an equivalent set. Children in this study were asked to make a numerical inference about a set of blocks after watching a puppet correctly or incorrectly count an equivalent set of blocks. Many children were able to identify that the puppet did not count correctly, but struggled to correct the mistake. This indicates a gap in their knowledge about ordinality and cardinality in the context of a single set. The miscount also impacted their ability to make a correct number inference. Children performed significantly better on trials where the puppet counted correctly than trials where he made a counting error. This suggests that while children have good knowledge of counting principles in isolation, they are still developing an understanding of how to coordinate these principles with ordinal information and knowledge of equivalence to establish the cardinal of one set and to infer the cardinal of an equivalent set.

Background: Understanding of child development is predominantly based on maternal influences on children’s emotional, behavioural and cognitive outcomes. Although there has been an increase in research focus on fathers in recent years suggesting that fathers are important in the development of their child, there is still a shortage of research on fathers in the literature. Research has shown fathers negatively impact on their children’s emotional, behavioural and cognitive development, but there is a lack of understanding regarding the specific mechanisms through which paternal depression influences their children. The aim of the current PhD is to address this gap in the literature and this is done by: a) investigating the prevalence of depressive symptoms among fathers of children (aged 9 months – 7 years) and their associated risk factors; b) investigating the association between paternal depressive symptoms and different aspects of parenting such as warmth, conflict and involvement; c) testing whether fathers’ parenting mediated any association between paternal depressive symptoms and children’s emotional, behavioural and cognitive outcomes; and d) investigating the association between paternal depression/depressive symptoms and insecure father-child attachment. Methods: There are two methods employed for this PhD. One is secondary data analysis of the large and representative Millennium Cohort Study (MCS) (investigating a, b and c) and the other is primary data analysis of the Fathers-in-Focus (FIF) study using interview and observational methods to investigate (d). Results: Paternal depressive symptoms peak during the first year of children’s lives and then gradually decline between the first year and 7 years old (a). These depressive symptoms across the first 7 years of fatherhood were consistently associated with maternal depressive symptoms, relationship conflict and unemployment (a). Moreover, depressive symptoms in the first year were associated with father-child conflict, but not father-child warmth or involvement in parenting activities (b). Father-child conflict mediated the association between paternal depressive symptoms and children’s emotional and behavioural outcomes (c). Finally, father’s depressive symptoms were not associated with father-child attachment or children’s cognitive development (c and d). Conclusion: The key finding of this PhD is that father-child conflict is an important factor that may be associated with the risk transmission of paternal depressive symptoms and children’s emotional and behavioural outcomes. Therefore, it may be beneficial for service providers and clinicians to target interventions with depressed fathers’ and at-risk families.