Hugh Gash

Influences on attitudes towards children with mental handicap

ABSTRACT A sample of 125 girls in third and sixth class in two non‐urban primary schools were given a questionnaire to assess their attitudes towards children with mental handicap. One school was integrated with two special classes of children with moderate mental handicap, the other school was not integrated. Results indicate that the girls in the integrated school are significantly more prosocial along dimensions having to do with sociability with, and social concern for, children with mental handicap. Comparisons between this data set and a similar urban one reveal urban/non‐urban differences in both attitude and understanding of academic difficulties. An intervention programme in the integrated school was evaluated and changes were noted in the attitudes of participants, reflecting a maturing of the relationship towards children with mental handicap.

A constructivist attempt to change attitudes towards children with special needs

ABSTRACT A research programme was initiated to promote positive attitudes towards children with special needs. Fifteen students each taught four lessons to children from second to sixth class in Primary Schools. Their approach was constructivist involving discussion and activities designed to provide opportunities for the children to reconsider their ideas. A post‐test was given to 465 experimental and 326 control children. Experimental children were different from controls in being more prosocial in a number of ways. Children who knew somebody with a mental handicap were affected by the programme differently in comparison with inexperienced children, largely by becoming more aware of the difficulties of children with special needs. There were a number of age and gender differences in the ways children think about mental handicap.

Images of heroes and heroines: how stable?

Abstract Heroic images are presented here as constructed possible selves which may play an important role in self development. A questionnaire was given to 510 Irish and 190 U.S. third and fourth grade children in a study designed to investigate (1) their conceptions of the heroic and (2) the effects of a classroom intervention on the Irish childrens choices of heroes and heroines. The educational program was constructivist and designed to challenge children to reconsider their ideas about heroic figures and to engage in discussion designed to promote prosocial attitudes in concrete ways. While national origin and gender strongly influenced childrens heroic images, there were strong factor structure similarities in U.S. and Irish samples. “The good” was the first factor, the fifth an antiheroic factor, and the others reflected figures from film, television and sport. In addition, gender differences in the choice of proximal and distal heroic figures were identified. Prosocial effects due to the intervention program were encouraging and discussed within the context of Irish educational objectives.

School-based modifications of children's gender-related beliefs

Abstract Student teachers taught a program to reduce stereotyped beliefs among children from first to sixth grade. The program was developed on the basis of constructivist theory and involved teaching strategies designed to lead children to question existing beliefs. Compared to children in a control group, the children in the two experimental conditions were shown to have significantly less stereotyped beliefs on completion of the program. The effects of the intervention were relatively greater among boys and younger children. The effects of the program were noticeable 1 year afterwards in a subsample of girls who participated in the study. It is suggested that this approach had considerable potential for classroom application.

Reducing prejudice: constructivist considerations for special education

ABSTRACT How might teachers think about moving to challenge prejudice against persons with handicap? Drawing on Piagets and Batesons constructivist theories, prejudices are examined in terms of the processes by which they are formed within the individual, the role they play in identity, and the reasons they may be resistant to change. Consideration is then given to strategies which may be useful in inviting reconsideration of cognitive items of this type. Looking at the learners experience these include certain types of questioning strategies and counterexamples. Looking at the teachers experience a number of techniques are recommended including, neutrality, circular questioning, and parenthesising.

Changing attitudes towards children with special needs

ABSTRACT A total 305 urban primary school children participated in an educational programme to promote awareness of children with special needs. Subjects were pretested to assess their initial attitudes towards and prior experience of children with special needs and posttested to see how their attitudes changed as a result of an educational intervention programme based on constructivist ideas. Programme effects, which included both augmentation of some positive attitudes and diminution of sympathy for children with special needs, were strongly correlated with grade and gender differences in initial attitudes. Whether the drop in sympathy constitutes normalization or permission to be dismissive requires further examination

Young People's Heroes in France and Spain

Heroes play collectivist or individualist roles in imagination and self-development. Representations of heroic figures in questionnaires given to French (n = 241) and Spanish (n = 227) samples of 10 and 15-year-olds were examined to assess the extent that heroes originated in digital media, and whether they were proximal or distal personalities. There is strong evidence that heroes in this sample were largely learned about in digital media (France 45%, Spain 50%): family and community heroes were a minority (France 11%, Spain 9%). Male heroes were more important to Spanish participants compared to their French peers. The acquisition sequence for hero type reported in the pre-television era, proximal (family and community) to distal (beyond the neighbourhood), is reversed in this study. Generally, 10-year-olds preferred heroes with collectivist qualities and 15-year-olds with individualised qualities. Findings are discussed in terms of the emergence of social capital.

Vico’s Theory of Knowledge and Some Problems in Genetic Epistemology

Two aspects of Vico’s constructivist epistemology are germane to contemporary cognitive developmental psychology. These aspects are Vico’s account of cognitive op

Young People’s Heroes in Ireland and Slovenia

Abstract Digital culture is becoming increasingly global and accessible. It is important to see how participation in the European Union (EU) global economic culture is changing young people’s self-images. Representations of heroic figures in questionnaires given to Irish (n = 239) and Slovenian (n = 389) samples of 15-year-olds were examined to assess the extent to which heroes originated in film and television, and whether the heroic figures were local or global personalities. The degree to which age and gender influence choice of hero was examined within the Irish sample, which also included 10-year-olds (n = 316). There is strong evidence that heroes in this sample were largely learned about on film and television, since family or community heroes were a minority (Ireland 23%, Slovenia 17%). Children chose male heroes more often than female heroes, though a child’s sex was associated with sex of hero chosen. Family, sport and musical heroes were more important in Ireland than Slovenia, and audio-visual...

Development of Social Relations: Role-Taking Skills and Classification Abilities

Summary Ninety-seven white children, approximately an equal number of males and females in kindergarten, first, second, and third grades participated in the study. The social role-taking skills were measured with cartoons in the tradition of Flavell et al., and classification abilities were assessed with two measures of classification. On some cartoons the role-taking questions required different types of cognitive operations. As hypothesized, transitional Ss found it easier to decenter when they were shown the beginning of a cartoon and were asked to think how another person might think that the story ended. Analysis of the relation between classification structures and role-taking ability supported the hypothesis that operational responses to the measure of the concrete operational grouping structure I were a necessary but not sufficient condition for decentered thinking in social role-taking at each grade level. The other classification task (a measure of concrete operational grouping structure III) wa...