Anne-Mari Folkesson

Children's participation and teacher control

In this study we have tried to come close to, and at the same time problematize, what participation in educational practice might be. The overall aim is to study how a toddlers participation can be understood in two kinds of educational activities, where the degree of teacher control differs. The data in this study are video observations of interactions between preschool teachers and toddlers. Two situations are analyzed. One refers to a situation characterized by strong classification and framing, while the other refers to a situation with weak classification and framing. The result shows that strong classification and framing risks restricting childrens participation, and that a weak classification and framing can promote childrens possibility to participate on their own terms. An important issue for childrens participation is a participant teacher who is creating meaningful contexts, where teacher control is about being emotionally present, supportive and responsive.

Self-regulated learning through writing on computers: Consequences for reading comprehension

The overall aim for the present study was to analyze the consequences for reading ability among the children of a computer supported self-regulated learning environment in grade two. By means of a quasi-experimental design in a natural setting, an experimental group (n=39) was compared to a control group from a national sample (n=3409) on reading comprehension. The statistical analyses showed that the experimental group achieved better on reading comprehension both as a group (p<.001) as well as girls (p<.001) and boys (p<.05) separately. The proportion of high achievers was higher, and the proportion of low achievers was lower in the experimental group. In order to explain the level of reading comprehension in the experimental group Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) was used. The main explanatory factor for reading comprehension was writing with @b=.44. As a tentative conclusion it was suggested that the extended writing in combination with the self-regulated learning environment can promote reading comprehension in grade two, whereas home literacy had no impact on reading comprehension in this context.

Computer Use in a Primary School: A Case-Study of Self-Regulated Learning

The notion of self-regulated learning (SRL) has been defined as the degree to which students are metacognitively, motivationally and behaviourally active participants in their own learning process. The objective of the present study was to explore the features of a computer-supported learning environment in primary school, with focus on metacognition, motivation, and behaviour. The data consisted of participant observations and interviews, collected within a 3-year case study of a computer project in a Swedish primary school. A content analysis of the data revealed 12 sub-themes; the sub-themes for metacognition were awareness of the processes in the learning environment, self-monitoring of the working process, planning, awareness of the relations between different leaning activities, and finally no benefit from the computer. For motivation the sub-themes were positive affect, negative affect, opportunities for choice making, work eagerness, and teacher demands. Finally, for behaviour the sub-themes were helpfulness and involvement.