1. Does Participation in Music and Performing Arts Influence Child Development?

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Author: E. Michael Foster, Jade V. Marcus Jenkins

Jade V. Marcus Jenkins

University of California, Irvine
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Source: American Educational Research Journal(June 14, 2017): 399–443

Abstract:

This article reconsiders the association between childhood arts participation and cognitive and developmental outcomes. Using data from a large, nationally representative sample with extensive covariates, we employ propensity score weighting to adjust comparisons of children who do and do not participate in arts education (music and performing arts lessons) to address potential confounding from selection into arts education. We examine a broad range of outcomes in adolescence and early adulthood (e.g., GPA, self-esteem, college attendance). Our results show that selection into arts education is at least as strong as any direct effect on outcomes, providing no support for the causal associations between arts participation and cognitive outcomes. We do find that arts education increases arts engagement during young adulthood.

2.Learning Historical Thinking With Oral History Interviews: A Cluster Randomized Controlled Intervention Study of Oral History Interviews in History Lessons

Christiane Bertram

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Wolfgang Wagner

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Ulrich Trautwein

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Christine Brigid Malsbary

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Author: Christiane Bertram, Wolfgang Wagner, Ulrich Trautwein

Source: American Educational Research Journal(February 1, 2017): 444–484

Abstract:

The present study examined the effectiveness of the oral history approach with respect to students’ historical competence. A total of 35 ninth-grade classes (N = 900) in Germany were randomly assigned to one of four conditions—live, video, text, or a (nontreated) control group—in a pretest, posttest, and follow-up design. Comparing the three intervention groups with the control group, the intervention groups scored better on four of the five achievement tests. Comparing the live group with the video and text groups, students in the live condition were more convinced of their learning progress at both measurement points. However, they scored lower than the video/text group on two achievement measures and higher on one at the posttest.

3. Speech or Silence: Undocumented Students’ Decisions to Disclose or Disguise Their Citizenship Status in School

Ariana Mangual Figueroa

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Christine Brigid Malsbary

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Author: Ariana Mangual Figueroa

Source: American Educational Research Journal(February 1, 2017): 485–523

Abstract:

This article provides ethnographic evidence of the ways in which undocumented students make decisions about when to share or withhold their migratory status during conversations with peers and teachers in one elementary school. It argues that an analytic focus on how and when elementary-aged students talk about migratory status during everyday school activities can deepen our understanding of the educational experiences of a population that often remains invisible to teachers and educational researchers. The findings suggest ways in which public school and university educators can foster educational equity and inclusion for undocumented students.

4.Effects of Teacher Preparation Courses: Do Graduates Use What They Learned to Plan Mathematics Lessons?

Christine Brigid Malsbary

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Author: Anne K. Morris, James Hiebert

Source: American Educational Research Journal(March 7, 2017): 524-567

Abstract:

We investigated whether the content pre-service teachers studied in elementary teacher preparation mathematics courses was related to their performance on a mathematics lesson planning task 2 and 3 years after graduation. The relevant mathematics knowledge was studied when the teachers were freshmen, 5 to 6 years earlier. Results showed that when there were differences in how completely graduates attended to the key mathematics concepts when planning lessons, the differences favored the topics studied in the courses, especially topics emphasized most heavily. We conjecture that teacher preparation can matter for lesson planning, an important task for teaching, if enough opportunities are provided to acquire the relevant content knowledge for teaching. We consider what this might mean for teacher preparation, more generally.

5.Changes in Teachers’ Discourse About Students in a Professional Development on Learning Trajectories

Christine Brigid Malsbary

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Author: P. Holt Wilson, Paola Sztajn, Cyndi Edgington, Jared Webb, Marrielle Myers

Source: American Educational Research Journal(March 23, 2017): 568–604

Abstract:

This study examines teachers’ discussions in a professional development setting to understand the ways in which learning a mathematics learning trajectory may change aspects of their discourse about students as learners. Using mixed methods, we bring together two theoretical frames that use a Vygotskian perspective on learning to analyze professional discussions among 22 elementary-grade teachers participating in a yearlong, 60-hour mathematics professional development program. Results indicate that over time, some discursive patterns for explaining students’ academic performance changed to incorporate the trajectory, while others remained unaffected. Whereas this change transformed one of the patterns in a way that led to new explanations for student performance, another pattern changed only slightly and was still used to express the same explanations for performance.