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The current issue (9/12/2009) of Science
News has a long, for them, feature article entitled "Morality Play", by
Bruce Bower (pp 16-19). The article makes many of the same points as our
film MORALITY: JUDGMENTS AND ACTIONS with Elliot Turiel. It cites Dr.
Turiel several times and it seems that the other research in the article is
based on Turiel's work showing that there are universal moral codes about
fairness and justice in addition the conventional codes that are culturally
based but individuals can question. Conventional codes include such things
as the role of women in a society or a society's decision about what foods
are acceptable. It cites Turiel's "influential" study of women in the Druze
Arab community of Israel where women "regarded their unequal
standing in marriages as unfair. Wives routinely said that they did
their husband's bidding only to avoid becoming impoverished by
abandonment or divorce." The third kind of decision, in Turiel's view, is
purely personal, such as who to befriend, what colors to wear and more than
the moral and conventional decisions is a source of conflict universally
between parents and children. But it is the big moral decisions about how
to react to violence, what is fair in terms of dividing resources, etc.
that seem to be universal concerns based on cross cultural studies in China
and Japan that are in cited in this article. The article concludes with,
"When it comes to making moral judgments, it may be a small world after
all."
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Vygotsky, Bodrova and Leong make the New York Times!
The New York Times Magazine of September
27, 2009 features an article several pages long ("The Make-Believe Solution"
about the TOOLS OF THE MIND educational program of Elena Bodrova and Deborah
Leong, based on the work of Russian psychologist Lev Vygotsky.
Davidson Films made VYGOTSKY'S DEVELOPMENTAL THEORY: AN INTRODUCTION, with
Drs' Bodrova and Leong in 1994, when they were first developing their TOOLS
OF THE MIND project. We have gone on to make three additional films with the
duo: SCAFFOLDING SELF-REGULATED LEARNING IN PRIMARY CLASSROOMS, PLAY:
A VYGOTSKIAN APPROACH, and BUILDING LITERACY COMPETENCIES IN EARLY
CHILDHOOD.
The New York Times article largely covers the same
ground as the PLAY film. According to Vygotsky, and now demonstrated in the
several hundred pre-kindergarten and kindergarten classrooms using the TOOLS
OF THE MIND curriculum, high level play is the key for young children to
learn self-control. In high level creative play, children take on roles
which they have to maintain despite distractions. They have to respond in
character to the actions of the other children and act appropriately to
their role. This, say Drs. Bodrova and Leong, creates an arena in which
children learn self-regulation, and far more effectively than top-down
direction from teachers or parents.
Our film, PLAY: A VYGOTSKIAN APPROACH, shows children
at play, maintaining roles and developing them. It also illustrates how
teachers support this kind of play by helping children plan and monitor
their activities.
SCAFFOLDING SELF-REGULATED LEARNING IN PRIMARY
CLASSROOMS illustrates other aspects of the Vygotskian TOOLS OF THE MIND
curriculum that are mentioned in the New York Times article. These include
the use of private speech and mediators to give the children the ability and
motivation to take on more of the responsibility for their own learning than
is found in traditional classrooms.
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Crisis in the
Kindergarten: Why Children Need to Play in School
[ A research based
report from the Alliance for Childhood ]
It is always
encouraging to find that a group of people you respect hold opinions very
close to your own. That is the case with a well done report by the Alliance
for Childhood on the importance of play, specifically in kindergarten
classes. We’ve been worried about the “push down” nature of education with
kindergarteners doing lessons that used to be reserved for at least first
grade and on up the ladder.
Education is not a
race. And too often, in our experience, students who have set the fast pace
in early years burn out early, fed up with the constraints of formal
education and having lost the curiosity and delight in learning that should
have carried them through the rigors that higher levels of education
demand.
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At
http://www.allianceforchildhood.org/sites/allianceforchildhood.org/files/file/kindergarten_report.pdf.
this report cites research that finds that school districts have restricted
time, materials and support for play in kindergarten in recent years in
their attempts to raise test scores.
The report suggests
that though the test scores may be raised in the short run, in the long run
they don’t. The study reminds us, as we know from other sources, that
school systems abroad in Europe and Japan that don’t start formal literacy
and math lessons at age five have better long term results than US systems
where very didactic work is being mandated for the very young.
We were pleased to
see that some of our favorite people and past consultants are involved in
the Alliance for Childhood. David Elkind wrote the preface for this
report, the work of Elena Bodrova and Deborah Leong is cited and Samuel
Meisels, Bettye Caldwell, Deborah Meier are all associated with the work of
the Alliance. You can see them and their work in our early childhood,
Vygotsky and Dewey films. Good people, with fine opinions!
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It is always interesting for us to review
journals to ascertain whether
the scholarly work discussed in our films continues to have relevance on new
research. The September/October edition of CHILD DEVELOPMENT has three
articles reporting new research that utilizes work of our collaborators or
subjects. "Changes in the Relation of Self-Efficacy Beliefs and Behaviors
Across Development." Albert Bandura's pioneering work in the field of
self-efficacy is discussed at length in our film BANDURA'S SOCIAL COGNITIVE
THEORY: AN INTRODUCTION which is narrated by Dr. Bandura himself. Bandura's work is also repeatedly cited
in an article entitled "Stability and Change in Moral Disengagement and Its
Impact on Aggression and Violence in Late Adolescence." The concept of
"moral disengagement" is also discussed in our Bandura film. This
"Stability and Change..." article also cites work by Elliot Turiel, our
consultant on our two morality films. The "Strange Situation" developed by Mary
Ainsworth and fully
documented in our MARY AINSWORTH: ATTACHMENT AND THE GROWTH OF LOVE is an
important assessment tool in the research that led to "Gene-Environment
Contributions to the Development of Infant Vagal Reactivity; The Interaction
of Dopamine and Maternal Sensitivity" in this same edition of CHILD
DEVELOPMENT.
This article is particularly gratifying to those of us who
believe in the importance of attachment and the ability of secure
attachments to mitigate potential genetically based developmental
difficulties. "At 12 months, infants with the risk allele who were also
exposed to maternal sensitivity showed levels of RSA (respiratory sinus
arrhythmia) withdrawal comparable to infants who were not at genetic risk."
Wow!
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The effect of early
experience on the brain development was the subject of several sessions at
the recent meetings of the American Association for the Advancement of
Science. The work coming from Helen Neville's Brain-Development
Laboratory at the University of Oregon was highlighted in the February 29
issue. Neville was the consultant on our film production of
HUMAN BRAIN DEVELOPMENT: NATURE AND NURTURE.
Howard Steele is a featured speaker at the
Seventh Annual Attachment Conference in March, 2008 at UCLA. Dr. Steele
is the consultant for the recently released
JOHN BOWLBY:
ATTACHMENT THEORY OVER GENERATIONS. Also on the UCLA program
are Drs. Miriam Steele and Peter Fonagy, both of whom appear in
the John Bowlby film - as well as Mary Main, whose work is
highlighted both in the Bowlby film and in our film
MARY AINSWORTH:
ATTACHMENT AND THE GROWTH OF LOVE.
Albert Bandura is the recipient of the 2008
Grawemeyer Award for psychology. This award carries with it a $200,000
prize and is administered through the University of Louisville. BBANDURA'S SOCIAL COGNITIVE THEORY: AN
INTRODUCTION is one of the best selling in the Davidson Films
catalogue. It was written and narrated by Dr. Bandura himself.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/11/071129142444.htm
Howard Steele and his wife, Miriam Steele,
have just published a new book, Clinical Applications of the Adult
Attachment Interview. It has been very well received (see
sample review below). released through The Guilford Press, the 500+ page
book can be found on amazon.com. ISBN-10: 1593856962 and ISBN-13:
978-1593856960
"Steele and Steele have brought together a really
valuable set of data and ideas concerning the Adult Attachment Interview
(AAI), one of the more intriguing and powerful clinical and research
tools available in psychology. The book stands out as a serious and
ambitious attempt to translate the AAI--and attachment theory more
broadly - to multiple clinical contexts. Chapters are written by leading
clinicians and scientists, and each is focused and thoughtful, showing,
for example, how the AAI informs case conceptualization in individual
treatment. This volume deserves to be widely read. It is highly
accessible for those just beginning to apply attachment theory to
research and practice, but there is also enough that is new to please
experienced fans of the AAI." --Thomas G. O'Connor, PhD, Department of
Psychiatry, University of Rochester Medical Center
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