Tamar Zelniker

Attention and Cognitive Style in Children

Invariably, whether growing out of the psychoanalytic concept of ego functions (Klein, 1958; Gardner, Holtzman, Klein, Linton, & Spence, 1959), the Wernerian construct of psychological differentiation (Witkin, Dyk, Faterson, Goodenough, & Karp, 1962), or Kagan’s notion of conceptual tempo (Kagan, Rosman, Day, Albert, & Phillips, 1964), research on cognitive styles is based on perceptual tasks that reflect individual differences in some aspect of perceptual selectivity. Most influential in determining the direction of current research were Kagan (Kagan, Moss, & Sigel, 1963; Kagan et al, 1964) and Witkin (Witkin et al., 1962). Initially, Kagan and his colleagues were concerned primarily with the development of children’s categorizing behavior, and this work led to the Conceptuad Style Test. It is probably not too unfair to say that this test has not proved as useful as might have been expected given its intuitive appeal.

Cooperative learning in Israel: Historical, cultural and educational perspectives

This chapter examines 20 years of CL practices in Israel, from historical and ideological perspectives. The examination reveals that U.S.A. methods of CL are inherently culture-bound, and that their basic structure and techniques are incompatible with Israeli educational values. Small group teaching methods developed in Israel are commensurate with social characteristics of the culture. Israeli-generated cooperative teaching methods focus on intrinsic motivation, peer discussion and knowledge construction, via investigative and creative procedures. These methods have successfully permeated the schools of Israel while other methods have failed.

Theoretical framework for Cooperative Participatory Action Research (CPAR) in a multicultural campus: the social drama model

This paper describes a long‐term research seminar, developed in 2001 by Hertz‐Lazarowitz at the University of Haifa (UH). The goal of the seminar was to involve students in a meaningful, experiential and cooperative–interactive learning environment, based on topics relevant to their development as individuals coming from diverse collectives to the university campus, and to prepare them for life in an increasingly multicultural society. The seminar was based on the principles of the Participative Action Research and Group Investigation methods. The researchers aimed to create a model of learning, teaching, and action to bring awareness and enable change within the university’s community, so that it could become a place of justice, equality, and recognition of the many cultural groups on campus. Since 2001, the Cooperative Participatory Action Research (CPAR) seminar has been offered to students through UH’s Department of Education. This paper describes the theoretical framework and the stages and structures interwoven in the CPAR during its first eight years. The authors call on universities around the world to be committed to CPAR seminars within multicultural and conflict‐ridden campuses so that social justice will become an essential part of students’ experiences and action.

Selective listening and threshold for tones appearing on a relevant and on an irrelevant input channel

Threshold scores for tones appearing on shadowed and on nonshadowed messages were obtained in order to test whether input presented on an irrelevant channel is attenuated when Ss attend to another channel. Comparisons were made between threshold scores obtained for each ear, when Ss shadowed messages appearing on that ear and when Ss shadowed messages appearing on the contralateral ear. The threshold scores in the two conditions were highly similar. Data are evaluated in the context of auditory target detection, with targets identified by their verbal content vs their physical characteristics.

Arab and Jewish Students’ Participatory Action Research at the University of Haifa

National identity and religion have been core issues within the protracted conflict between Jews and Arabs in Israel. The dynamics of identity formation among Arabs and Jews in Israel reflect a complex political and historical context characterized by conflict such as the 1948 war, subsequent wars with neighboring Arab countries, and more recently, the “Intifada” of the Palestinians in the occupied territories. Since 1948, Israel has been a Jewish state with a Jewish majority, maintaining a moderate democracy, with only partial equality of civic rights for the Arab minority (White-Stephan, Hertz-Lazarowitz, Zelniker, & Stephan, 2004; Yiftachel, 2006).