Learning to argue via apprenticeship.

We examined apprenticeship, in the form of interaction with a more capable other, as a mechanism of development of higher-order reasoning skills, specifically argumentation. Over a 1-year period, middle school students engaged in twice-weekly electronic dialogs with a sequence of different peers on a series of social issues. In one group, unbeknownst to participants, a highly capable adult substituted for peers in half of their dialogs. Beginning immediately, increasing with time, and extending to peer-only dialogs on a new topic, the quality of argumentation shown by the experimental group exceeded that of a comparison peer-only group, highlighting the power of apprenticeship as a mechanism in the development of reasoning, a demonstration of both theoretical and applied significance.

The effectiveness of a feminist-informed, individualised counselling intervention for the treatment of eating disorders: a case series study.

BACKGROUND: Currently, there is limited empirical validation of feminist-informed or individualised interventions for the treatment of eating disorders. The aim of this study was to examine the effectiveness of a feminist-informed, individually delivered counselling intervention for the treatment of eating disorders at a community-based eating disorder treatment service. METHODS: Eighty individuals aged between 17 and 64 years presenting to an outpatient eating disorder service were examined in a case series design at baseline, session 10, session 20 and end of treatment (session 30). Changes in eating disorder symptomology, depression, anxiety, stress, and mental health recovery over the course of treatment were examined in linear mixed model analyses. RESULTS: The treatment intervention was effective in reducing eating disorder symptomology and stress and improving mental health recovery after 10 sessions in a sample of 80 eating disorder participants engaged with the treatment service. Reductions in eating disorder symptomology and stress and improvements to mental health recovery were maintained at session 20 and session 30. CONCLUSIONS: The findings of this study provide preliminary support for feminist-informed and individualised interventions for the treatment of eating disorders in community-based settings.

Eating disorders can result from a variety of factors including previous trauma and sociocultural influences. Critical feminist perspectives acknowledge these influences are core contributing factors to the development and maintenance of eating disorder behaviours and postulate the exploration of the eating disorder in relation to these wider factors as crucial to the treatment process. Therefore, treatment interventions that utilise feminist frameworks and approaches that are integrative of a variety of psychological therapies to suit individual needs may be useful to address underlying factors while also managing eating disorder behaviours. However, there have been few experimental studies that have evaluated these interventions. This article aims to address this gap in current eating disorder literature by describing and evaluating the effectiveness of a counselling therapy for eating disorders that employs feminist practice and a variety of psychological therapies. The results indicate that eating disorder symptoms, stress, and mental health recovery improved after 10 sessions of the counselling intervention for a sample of 80 participants receiving eating disorder treatment. The results from this study provide initial evidence for the usefulness of feminist-informed practice and individualised counselling interventions for the treatment of eating disorders.

Brincadeira e desenvolvimento infantil: um olhar sociocultural construtivista / Play and child development: a sociocultural constructivist approach

Como e por que as crianças brincam? Qual o significado desta atividade em cada cultura? Estas questões da temática da brincadeira e sua relevância para a compreensão científica do desenvolvimento infantil são discutidas neste estudo. Analisa-se o conceito da atividade de brincar a partir de diferentes autores, privilegiando quem a vê como socialmente construída. Aborda-se a importância da brincadeira do faz-de-conta como atividade que promove a representação e a metarepresentação no desenvolvimento da criança. Finalmente reflete-se sobre a brincadeira no contexto pedagógico vivenciado pelas crianças em instituições de educação infantil, o papel do professor no desenvolvimento e educação infantil.

How and why do children play? What does such activity means in different cultures? These issues are discussed in this present paper, which stresses its relevance for the scientific understanding of child development. The concept of play according to different theorists is analyzed; especially those that conceive play as socially constructed activity. It is verified the role of pretend-play as an activity of representation and metarepresentation along child development. Finally on discusse how such theoretical ideas can be translated into educational practices within the contexts of child care and preschool settings, stressing the role of teacher in promoting child development and education.