A review: Journal of Research in Childhood Education Vol. 9, No. 2, Spring/Summer 1995

Childhood Education, Fall 1995 by Bergen, Doris

A learning climate is affected by many factors, including teachers' beliefs about children and parents, family cultural beliefs and practices, and types of social interactions that occur within the educational environment. The Spring/Summer 1995 issue of the Journal of Research in Childhood Education addresses some of these factors. For example, the subtle ways that beliefs, past experiences and cultural competence may influence adults' ability to work collaboratively and to support the collaborative work of children are investigated. Also, the effects of various adult interaction styles and classroom social structures on developmentally appropriate child interactive learning are explored.

* Teachers' Perspectives on their Work with Families in a Bilingual Community -- Allexsaht-Snider

The influence of teachers' beliefs on their practice with children in the classroom has long been a subject of research interest. In recent years, however, the influence of teachers' beliefs on their interactions with families from varied cultural backgrounds has received increased attention. This study extends the relatively small body of research in this area by focusing on the perspectives of three teachers who work in one bilingual community.

Earlier findings suggest that teacher views of their own efficacy may be one important factor affecting teacher-parent interaction. Both the amount of experience teachers have had working with families and their perception of their role in relation to that of parents have been found to be influential in determining levels of such involvement. The researchers observed and interviewed three 4th- to 6th-grade teachers, two from bilingual classrooms and one from a transition class, over the course of a year and developed descriptive comparisons of the three teachers. In general, the results from these descriptions are congruent with the earlier findings about teacher perceptions of families. For these three teachers, their prior experience working with parents and the sources of parent knowledge that they knew how to access influenced their level of parent interaction. Their belief systems were also involved, however, because the teachers indicated that the nature and quality of these earlier interactions affected how confident they felt about their present interaction strategies. None of these teachers had experienced any formal education that prepared them to work with families of any type.

* Bilingual Children's Writing: Evidence of Active Learning in Social Context -- Quintero & Huerta-Macias

Another approach to working with families is described in this study of the relationship between children's literacy development and the sociocultural aspects of their lives. Using a framework that combined critical theory, Piagetian and Vygotskian constructivism and symbolic interactionism perspectives, the researchers created 20 case studies of children ages 4-7 as they participated in a literacy project that included their parents as active participants. Project goals included both literacy development and empowerment. Researchers used a five-step model of literacy development that required the family "teams" to work together on the activities under the teachers' directions.

The case studies focused on the development of the children's writing, cognitive, critical and socio-emotional abilities. The children's writing samples were categorized on Piagetian-based dimensions of active learning. They were also analyzed using the other three theoretical frames, drawing upon teacher journals, parent interviews and observational field notes as data. The authors discuss the results from the critical theory perspective, which promotes learning within the cultural context, and describe the sense of empowerment that was promoted with this approach. Also discussed is the staff's concern of how this perspective might conflict with the more traditional approaches to literacy learning that the children encountered during most of the school day. The researchers suggest that the child "voices" released through this approach and the strong connections made with family members provided a positive context for children's literacy learning.

* Prosocial Behaviors of Five-Year-Old Children in Sixteen Learning/Activity Centers -- Babcock, Hartle & Lamme

Young children's prosocial behavior is related to later social, friendship and self-concept development. This study specifically focused on how the classroom activity climate influences the exhibition of such prosocial behaviors as proximity seeking, helping and sharing. Researchers describe the prosocial behaviors observed in 16 different learning/activity centers, identifying which centers were most likely to encourage prosocial behavior. Nine children from the 29-child class of 3- to 5-year-olds at a college-based preschool were observed for 45 hours during a three-month period. During "center time," the children chose which of the 16 centers they would visit; each center was limited to a certain number of participants. Staff validated the researcher's observations of prosocial behaviors.