Search results

Japanese preschools have been the subject of extensive ethnographic investigation over the last 40 years or more. However, the market for preschools in Japan has received almost no such attention. This market is rapidly changing, for the recent sharp decrease in the number of children in the country has resulted in a growing struggle on the part of kindergartens to attract children, largely by catering to the needs of mothers, for their survival. This chapter, by considering children as a common-pool resource (CPR) for which kindergartens quietly vie with one another, examines the situation in the capital city of Akita Prefecture, and shows how mothers – and also households – have been able to benefit in terms of convenience due to competition among kindergartens for their children.

Purpose – To provide pre-service and in-service teachers with a framework for using formative assessments to inform their literacy instructional practices.

Design/methodology/approach – Assessment as inquiry is a cyclical problem-solving stance that can be applied to instructional decision making in the classroom.

Findings – Teachers are urged to keep six design features in mind when creating formative assessments and analyzing the data gathered from them.

Practical Implications – This chapter is a helpful resource for teachers when evaluating their uses and analysis of classroom literacy assessments.

Originality/value – Teachers who apply the information in the chapter will gain a deeper understanding of each student's developing levels of literacy knowledge, skills, strategies, and dispositions. This information will facilitate a teacher's ability to better meet the needs of all students in his or her classroom.

On February 18, 2021, the NASA Perseverance rover traveled 292.5 million miles, safely landing on Mars, proving the power of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) in accomplishing such a historical feat. Glaringly absent from the photos, tweets, and commentaries showing NASA's team celebrations, however, are African American males. Their absence gives rise to the question “Where are the Black males?” – not just in NASA's celebratory photos, but in STEM-related careers altogether. Perhaps even more important questions are “What K-12 systems are in place that exclude Black males from being prepared – academically and socially – for careers with NASA and the like? And what strategies are necessary to engage them in STEM education?”

In this chapter, the author offers a historical overview of the STEM contributions offered by Black males, while explaining the competition of academic identity and Black male identity in successful school experiences. Four K-12 education barriers that derail African American males from their STEM trajectory are highlighted. As a conclusion, strategies to engage Black males in developing and nurturing an early interest in STEM are offered.

NOW that it is generally acknowledged that open‐access has come to stay, the attention of Public Librarians is becoming directed more to matters of detail in management, and less to the broader questions of policy. So far, however, the larger details, such as planning and interior arrangement, classification, and methods of issue—to name a few—have received most consideration, and there are many points of great importance to the practical utility of the library which yet remain to be dealt with systematically. It is on one of these points, the provision of Guides, that I propose to touch.

Literature in the study of leadership for Social Justice has widely discussed the roles and responsibilities of school administrators and teachers to enact and manage systems change using an educational equity agenda. Frequently missing from these discussions is how to create an urgency about impetus for change which will have lasting personal relevance to those enacting the change. The main purpose of this chapter is to share one effective approach for bringing about change through the power of story. The leader’s personal narrative of marginalization creates a space for dialog about the universality of disconnection and invisibility. This chapter illustrates that when staff are able to see that their own experiences are not separate from the experiences of marginalized students in their classrooms, staff mobilize for change without being pushed and pulled by administration.

Recent advances in digital technologies and their accessibility with ease have become indispensable for children. In contrast to expectations and many regulations, children use digital technologies effectively in many areas from an early age. Digital technologies and digital media, commonly used in entertainment, learning and everyday activities, cover several user-induced problems and challenges. These uses are user-based, not technology-based, which highlights conscious, controlled and time-limited applications that are suitable for their developmental levels. On the other hand, technology has many positive effects, such as providing children with efficient and rich learning opportunities, providing concrete experiences, and increasing their academic success and interest. Also, digital technologies are frequently preferred in learning environments due to the visual preparation of technology-supported materials, addressing more than one sensory organ at the same time, and the inclusion of interaction components. However, in this process, the selection and use of current technologies and software suitable for children's development levels and the factors that need to be considered in the process of use are important to make the learning process effective.

IT is quite impossible to write dogmatically about the general topic of the library and the platoon schools, any more than about the platoon schools themselves,—which differ so widely from each other in their approaches to the pedagogic problems of education. An interesting brief article by E. D. MacPhee in the August, 1917, number of The Canadian Forum on “New Horizons in Education” indicates the differences between some seven well known plans. Gary differs from Winnetka and the Dalton plan in retaining “class” teaching, while they abandon it for “individual” work, yet Gary and Winnetka agree in modifying the curriculum, while the Dalton plan retains it. Concerning the Gary work‐study‐play plan MacPhee says “a lengthened school day and week allow for class and individual work in regular school subjects and in the application of the knowledge and skill so acquired in the shop and the laboratory. There is specific training by practice in social activities.” The library hour, the gymnasium, the private music lesson, the voluntary week‐day church‐school classes to which the child may be released, the auditorium programmes, etc., are among the “social activities” which share in the extra‐academic half of the Gary child's schoolday, which lasts from 8–15 a.m. to 4–15 p.m., with an hour intermission for luncheon.