Abstract/Notes: Travis Wright presents an important understanding of trauma that leads to a new perspective of "challenging" behaviors in the classroom. "Trauma is not an event in itself, but is instead the reaction to extremely stressful life circumstances... When children operate in overwhelming states of stress, the stress response system may become the normal mode of functioning." Offering symptoms of trauma and practical tips for use in the classroom, Wright turns the understanding of trauma upside down. He guides the reader to an appreciation for the ways children adapt to their circumstances, until it is understood that children are "fighting to live" as opposed to "failing to thrive." While focusing on the traumatized child, Wright's approach offers the opportunity to rethink the behavior of all students. While it is particularly important with children who have experienced trauma, the foundation of the work with any child is a positive, respectful relationship. [This talk was presented at the NAMTA conference titled "Children on the Edge: Creating a Path for Happy, Healthy Development," January 12-15, 2017 in New Orleans, LA.]

Language: English

ISSN: 1522-9734

Language: English

ISSN: 1522-9734

Language: English

ISSN: 1522-9734

Language: English

ISSN: 1522-9734

Language: English

ISSN: 1522-9734

Abstract/Notes: Connects the imagination with one's affective states as related to 8- to 15-year-old students' engagement in a story or narrative. Discusses particular characteristics of narratives that engage students' imagination during these years and characteristics that are imaginatively engaging but in which the narrative component is less prominent. (BB)

Language: English

ISSN: 1522-9734

Language: English

Abstract/Notes: The present paper proposes a method to isolate as much as possible the effects of the different educational innovations present in the Italian territory on the learning outcomes measured by the Invalsi National Surveys, to contribute to the debate on the effectiveness of such alternative approaches, such as “Avanguardie educative”, Montessori, “Senza Zaino”, “We Debate”, “Book in Progress”, etc. To illustrate the proposal, we take as an example the research that is taking place on Montessori teaching, in the framework of the PhD in Social & Developmental Psychology and Educational Research at Sapienza University of Rome. According to Cook, Campbell and Peracchio’s (1990) classification, the research design is a design with non-equivalent groups, with only post-tests,because there is no random assignment to experimental and control groups: the assignment takes place with the simple matching (precision control) method, which guarantees the greatest possible isolation of the effect of the independent variable, which keeps under control a) the effects of all the variables that we know affect dependent variables, and b) the effect of their interaction. The proposed method consists in five steps. The first step is about reconstructing the list of schools that follow a certain educational innovation. In the case of Montessori pedagogy, the list of 50 fifth primary classes active in Italy in 2013 and 2016 has been defined. The second step consists in reconstructing the school careers of the students attending the schools on the list. In the case of Montessori schools, for about half of the students of both cohorts, the number of years of Montessori school attended was defined through a meticulous collection of data from the secretariats of 12 Montessori schools in Italy. By this way, in addition to the experimental group of all those enrolled in the Montessori sections identified, there is an experimental group whose number of years of Montessori school attended is also known. The third step is about requesting, to the Statistical Office of Invalsi, the achievement in National Surveys of the students attending the list of identified classes. In the case of Montessori schools, on 24 November 2020 the list of sections and SIDI codes of students whose career was reconstructed was submitted, and between January and February 2021 the databases of the 2013 and 2016 National Surveys was returned, with the distinction between Montessori and non-Montessori students. The fourth step consists in defining the experimental group, made up in this case by the students who attended a Montessori school, and the control group, whose members are identified with the simple matching method (Bailey, 1982, p. 340). The last step consists in verifying, by ANOVA, any statistically significant differences between the distributions of the scores of the experimental groups and related control groups.

Language: English

Published: Milano, Italy: Franco Angeli, 2022

ISBN: 978-88-351-3917-1 88-351-3917-1

Abstract/Notes: The purpose of this study was to find out whether playing Minecraft: Education Edition would help in-class and remote students make personal connections. This action research project took place in a Grade 3, 4 and 5 public Montessori school during the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020. Of the 23 students, 14 were present in the classroom, while nine others were transitional learners with separate online teachers. Students were asked to reflect on their interactions with other players through interviews, journals and surveys. Parents participated by completing a pre-and post-survey. Students reported an increase in friends and acquaintances matching quantitative data collected by the teacher. Remote learners did not make as many connections as in-class students, likely due to technical difficulties with software and scheduling differences. Implications around the game's colonial mission, racial and gender bias as well as environmental sustainability, need further research.

Language: English

Published: St. Paul, Minnesota, 2020

Abstract/Notes: While school gardens are familiar in many Western contexts and research has reported significant pedagogical and affective benefits of these resources, there is limited reporting of their use in non-Western contexts. A pilot school gardening project involving a quasi-experimental mixed method design was undertaken in the Sultanate of Oman with several Grade 2 and Grade 7 classes to determine if this resource might provide benefits in this particular context. This paper reports on the findings for the Grade 2 cohort. While these findings were somewhat mixed and need to be treated tentatively given that the study was a pilot, they did suggest that school gardens in Oman could provide affective and possibly health benefits for students. The potential health benefits could be particularly significant because the Omani population is beginning to exhibit a rapid increase in “lifestyle diseasesâ€, most notably diabetes and cardiovascular illnesses. These illnesses appear to be linked to poor dietary habits and a more sedentary lifestyle among the younger generation.

Language: English

ISSN: 2077-2327