For many minority children, the classroom is a space in which language and culture often awkwardly and harmfully collides. Schools often maintain a culture that is misaligned with the culture of their students, which is seen as an incompatibility between home and school, and is often used by educators to justify this mismatch within the classroom. This incompatibility is clearly displayed by the misinterpreted interactions that often occur within the classroom between teachers and students, often surrounding the differing assumptions about appropriate ways of using language within the classroom (Villegas, 1988, p.4). The purpose of this paper is to explore the intersections of language and culture for African-American children within education. I begin by outlining what we currently know about language development and how it manifests itself in the classroom setting. Secondly I provide a short overview of the history of language in education and its relationship to cultural perceptions of standard versus non-standard English and identity formation. Lastly, I offer African-Centered and Culturally Relevant education as responses to the current challenges that surround language and culture within many traditional classrooms and as a means of reform. / Urban Education

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

The intent of this study was to describe the complex phenomenon of mentoring student teachers in one elementary teacher education program. A case study research design was used. Interviews, observations, and an examination of documents were used to uncover two major themes, support and challenge, across the three central topics of curriculum, classroom management, and school culture. An operational definition of preservice mentoring was constructed, using the literature as well as data from the participants: Emergent teachers moving through the teacher education continuum of preservice, induction, and inservice, construct a mentoring system to help them manage their professional growth and development: a unique network of people who support and challenge them with curriculum, classroom management, and the school culture. A mentor/protege relationship is characterized by shared beliefs, negotiation, reciprocity, commitment, collegiality, nurturance, and respect for the autonomy of the protege along a developmental path of initiation, reciprocity, separation, and redefinition, always with a goal of increased self-reliance. (Templeton, 1994). The study focused on the cooperating teacher/student teacher relationship that occurs during the student teaching semester in order to arrive at a description of the vital elements that are central to mentoring in preservice teacher education. The study described the context underlying the collaborative mentoring support system that operates within this elementary teacher education program. The questions that guided this inquiry were (1) How does mentoring operate in the cooperating teacher/student teacher relationship in the student teaching component of one elementary preservice teacher education program? (2) What do cooperating teachers and student teachers identify as the key elements of mentoring relationships in the student teaching component of one elementary preservice teacher education program? The study revealed that mentoring occurs at many different levels during teacher development and is interpreted in many different ways, both in the mentoring literature and in practice. Phases of the mentoring relationship were experienced in the same order, but in varying intervals by each of the three student teachers. These phases were initiation, reciprocity, separation, and redefinition. The study may provide a basis for guiding others interested in incorporating mentoring into their teacher education programs. Teacher educators could benefit from this study because the data may exhibit elements which will contribute to a systemic model of mentoring at the preservice level. It is important for teacher educators to start thinking about the skills they need to provide, model, and encourage preservice mentoring processes because mentoring can be a critical element in providing a bridge between preservice education and induction into teaching.

Significant improvement in American science education is desirable from many perspectives. This need can be encapsulated in the student learning goal of flexible, inquiry-based problem solving. To guide efforts to move towards this goal, an Amalgamated Model of science education is synthesized from six major trends in science education. Explication of this model is focused on the physical sciences, as is the research carried out to test one of the predictions of the Model. One keystone of the Amalgamated Model is the delineation and characterization of concepts according to the three properties of generality, complexity, and abstractness. Using these three properties, a conceptual structure for physical science is constructed. When this structure is compared with conventional physical science curricula, a large discrepancy is in the treatment of the conservation of energy concept. The Model predicts that elementary and middle school age children develop intuitive understandings of the concept, whereas conventionally it is believed to be inherently difficult and comprehensible only to older, high school students. To test this prediction, two sets of tasks and associated clinical interviews are administered to 48 subjects randomly drawn from a K-6 population. The first set of tasks consists of the classical Piagetian conservation instances and the second set investigates understanding of conservation of energy. The quantitative data generated by the two tasks is analyzed to measure the degree of connection within subjects' conceptual structures between their ability to conserve quantity, substance, weight and volume and their ability to conserve energy. The results indicated that understanding of conservation of energy is connected to and apparently develops from the understandings of Piagetian conservation. The experimental and analytical methodologies could be used for further mapping of conceptual structures. It would seem that the prediction of the Amalgamated Model cannot be rejected as false, providing some justification for using the Model as a future framework for research in conceptual structures and for science curriculum development.

Contemporary early childhood experts, via their major professional organization, the National Association for the education of young children (NAEYC), have adopted a set of guidelines for "developmentally appropriate practice" (DAP) in kindergartens. These guidelines, based on child development research, contrast sharply with a contrary educational movement for increased formal "academic" programming for young children. The primary purpose of this study was to survey the beliefs and practices of kindergarten teachers in Massachusetts, and to examine the congruence of those beliefs with the set of nationally proposed guidelines. A second purpose was to examine the relationship between the beliefs and practices reported and selected professional development variables. A questionnaire designed by a Louisiana group (Charlesworth et al., 1991) and based on the NAEYC guidelines was used. In addition, an author-designed set of questions on key demographic and professional development variables was included. Surveys were mailed to a random sample of 150 elementary schools in Massachusetts. One hundred twenty six teachers responded, representing 102 schools for an overall school return rate of 68%. Results indicated that Massachusetts teachers tend to follow the NAEYC guidelines for developmentally appropriate practice. Correlations between the Teacher Belief Scale and the Instructional Activities Scale (r =.6225, p,.0001) indicate that teachers in Massachusetts generally report using practices that are congruent with their beliefs. Significant positive relationships were found between teachers with advanced college training and both of the Teacher Questionnaire Scales. The professional development activities most frequently listed as valuable to Massachusetts kindergarten teachers included college courses, whole language workshops, Math Their Way workshops, DAP seminars, the Lesley College Kindergarten Conference and inclusion workshops. In further analysis, the sample was divided into thirds based on the total DAP scale scores. Those with high DAP scores differed from those with low DAP scores in the amount and type of professional development activities. The results were discussed with respect to the effectiveness of specific professional development activities.

Over the past twenty years, an increasing number of schools have been integrating individuals with autism into general education classes. Although the benefits of this practice have been questioned, there has been little formal research on this subject. This qualitative study attempted to examine the short-term effects of the integration of one child with autism, Karl, into his neighborhood elementary school. Data were collected through direct observation in the classroom and interviews with the classroom teacher, support staff, the parents of the child who has autism, the parents of two classmates, the child with autism, and two classmates. The observations and interview questions focused on the behavior and perceptions of (a) the child with autism, (b) two classmates and (c) the adults participating in the integration. The participants identified locations (where the student is) and social opportunities (who the student is with) as important characteristics of an integration program, rather than strictly adhering to formal definitions of mainstreaming, integration, and inclusion. Although many of the participants were aware of the characteristics of autism, their definition of Karl was focused on who he was and what he did, rather than his label. Class membership included (a) the activities in which Karl participated, (b) the peers with whom he associated, (c) the changes that occurred in the classroom, (d) his ability to blend in, and (e) his perception of himself as a member of the class. The success of this integration program was attributed to the addition of a one-to-one integration assistant and the communication, consistency, support, and flexibility of the integration team. This study provides a rare view of an integration program that worked for a student with autism. Regardless of the characteristics unique to Karl, the participants, and this situation, this study demonstrates that it is possible to integrate a student with autism, provided the appropriate resources are made available.

"The purpose of this study is to show: (1) how a partially seeing child can be found in a school population; (2) how his eligibility for and placement in a special class is determined in Florida; (3) how a class was organized to meet his special needs; and (4) how a curriculum was cooperatively planned to enrich and facilitate the learning process"--Introduction. / Typescript. / "June, 1951." / "Submitted to the Graduate Council of Florida State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts under Plan II." / Advisor: Robert C. Moon, Professor Directing Paper. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 45-46).

Purpose of this study was to investigate environmental literacy of 6th grade students at a private school. In detail of study it is also investigated that how mothers&amp / #8217 / educational background on environmental literacy dimensions (knowledge, attitude, use and concern) and besides, relationship between environmental background characteristics and environmental literacy dimensions. The study was carried out during the fall semester of the 2007-2008 academic year. The sample of study was chosen from an accessible population and consisted of 681 sixth grades students from a private school in Ankara. Environmental Literacy Questionnaire (ELQ) is used to collect data. The relationship among environmental literacy dimensions i.e., knowledge, attitude, use and concern was investigated by Means of zero order correlation. Effect of mothers&amp / #8217 / educational level on the environmental literacy of the students is analyzed by Multivariate Analysis of Variance (MANOVA). Finally, canonical correlation is used in order to analyze relationship among environmental background of students, that is self-assessment about their interest in environmental problems (perception of interest), their views on the importance of environmental problems (perception of importance), their self evaluation of their environmental knowledge (perception of knowledge), their involvement in outdoor activities (activities), their perception of their parents&amp / #8217 / interest in environmental problems (parents&amp / #8217 / interest) and their perception of their parents&amp / #8217 / involvement in environmental activities (parents&amp / #8217 / involvement) / and environmental literacy dimensions. Results showed that majority of students (64%) received with mean of 8.2 questions out of 11 questions. Results also revealed that they have positive attitude, aware of importance between human and environment. Moreover, students have concerns about environmental problems. Results of means of zero order correlations indicated that between knowledge - use and attitude &amp / #8211 / concern are correlated positively, significantly but small. Moreover attitude-use and use &amp / #8211 / concern are correlated strong and medium in that order. Effect of mothers&amp / #8217 / educational level on EL, which is analyzed by Multivariate Analysis of Variance (MANOVA), indicated that dimensions of EL do not differentiate significantly by education level of mothers. By canonical correlation, it is found that parents&amp / #8217 / involvement in environmental activities positively related to environmental attitude, use and concern which stand for increase in parents&amp / #8217 / environmental involvement, increase in attitude, use and concern.