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The fields of science and literacy education continue to be shaped by pervasive gender inequality. Previous research has documented how the formation of a 'science identity' is contingent on access to science capital while research in literacy education continues to highlight how boys struggle in their literacy acquisition. Despite a robust scholarship on gendered literacy practices and gender in STEM subjects, to date, there has been little investigation of the relationships between boys' science identity/ies and their literacy practices. We draw on a case study of 24 middle school boys living and learning in two different regions (e.g. metropolitan, rural) where we focus on how boys conceive of themselves as learners in two curriculum areas: science and literacy. Bridging multiple areas of scholarship (e.g., science literacy, science identity, boys in schooling), we concentrate on the participants' "self-belief in science" and "self-belief as readers" and consider the way they inform each other in reference to place. The implications of our study concern how the "science literate boy" comes to be in reference to the construction of discursive performances of science masculinities and how they are maintained alongside literate identities.

Immersive virtual reality (VR) technology is becoming widespread in education, yet research of VR technologies for students' multimodal communication is an emerging area of research in writing and literacies scholarship. Likewise, the significance of new ways of embodied meaning making in VR environments is undertheorized--a gap that requires attention given the potential for broadened use of the sensorium in multimodal language and literacy learning. This classroom research investigated multimodal composition using the virtual paint program Google Tilt Brush™ with 47 elementary school students (ages 10-11 years) using a head-mounted display and motion sensors. Multimodal analysis of video, screen capture, and think-aloud data attended to sensory-motor affordances and constraints for embodiment. Modal constraints were the immateriality of the virtual text, virtual disembodiment, and somatosensory mismatch between the virtual and physical worlds. Potentials for new forms of embodied multimodal representation in VR involved extensive bodily, haptic, and locomotive movement. The findings are significant given that research of embodied cognition points to sensorimotor action as the basis for language and communication.

Research shows that epistemic cognition can support reasoning about the inclusion of diverse children. We argue that, to engage in such reasoning, children need the capacity to consider and evaluate competing knowledge perspectives (epistemic cognition) and to be cognitively flexible. Cognitive flexibility involves a subset of skills within the suite of self-regulation skills known as executive functions (EF). This study explored the extent to which cognitive flexibility might be related to epistemic cognition and the effectiveness of a pictorial and interview methodology to explore children's epistemic cognition. Eighty-two children participated in three EF tasks designed to assess their ability to flexibly shift from one mental set to another (cognitive flexibility). Children were also interviewed about the drawings they created to represent social exclusion/inclusion in their play settings. Results indicated that, in contrast to expectations, cognitive flexibility and epistemic cognition were not related. Challenges associated with using the pictorial and interview methodology are discussed.

This article reports on a survey of 332 Year 3 students from 14 Australian schools. We are interested in exploring Year 3 primary school student aspirations and what this data shows us about any societal changes, or not. This study is timely as it reports on contemporary data within an Australian educational context marked by significant investment in improving equitable gendered participation, particularly for girls entering STEM. Drawing on conceptions of masculinities and femininities as social constructions, we report on the participants' desired occupations and explore their justifications for such choices. The top three occupations for boys included careers in professional sports, STEM-related jobs and policing/defence. Girls reported wanting to be teachers, veterinarians or to work in the arts as their top choices. As part of our exploration, we found issues of money and power--traditionally coded masculine--and conceptions of love and care--traditionally coded feminine--ingrained in boys' and girls' justifications for their desired trajectories. Findings are significant for illustrating how traditional constructions of gender are ingrained in career choices in the early years of primary school and how policy agendas to widen participation need to start early in life.

Moral reasoning in values education can promote a democratic way of life. It involves addressing behaviour expectations in responses to violence or bullying. There is increasing interest in how children make moral judgments about social inclusion within diverse cultural settings. Critical research highlights the relationship between epistemic cognition (views about the nature of knowledge and knowing) and reasoning. In this paper, we argue that this relationship is likely to be important in reasoning about moral values for inclusion in culturally diverse schools. However, we know little about how children in diverse educational settings reason about and enact school values for inclusion. Our study addresses this gap by examining primary school children's epistemic reasoning about the social inclusion of peers with a focus on justifications for inclusion/exclusion of aggressive peers. Twenty-six children (10-11 years old) from one culturally diverse school community in Australia were asked to illustrate (drawings) and reflect on (15-20 minute interviews) a conflict situation involving exclusion from play. The findings showed that most children reasoned about including/excluding others based on a 'one right answer' pattern which reflected an explicit focus on following the school rules. Fewer children moved 'beyond right answers' to show transition towards perceiving multiple perspectives in their reasoning about inclusion/exclusion. Implications for values education are discussed.

This article addresses a gap in research about primary school boys' identification as 'gamers.' Drawing on a survey of 318 Year 3 (7-8 years old) students, the research identified boys' self-reported enjoyment for gaming, their frequency using digital devices, and their self-rated digital skills. Interviews with four boys from the survey also explored the lifeworlds of self-professed 'gamers.' Findings point to the salience of games for many boys' emerging identities and the inter-related nature of their experiences. We argue that teachers can capitalise on the strength of video games to create 'in-group' cultures and communities of practice in their classrooms to support learning.

Low participation rates of students studying science at the secondary level are of international concern. One of the under-researched factors influencing low participation rates in the sciences in Australia is primary school student stereotypes concerning science and scientists. We explore how Year 4 (9-10-year-olds) students perceive science, scientists, and a career in science. Data sources included 45 students (m = 29; f = 16) attending six primary schools in diverse contexts in Queensland, Australia. Analysis indicated that when prompted to consider a career in the sciences 13 students aspired to a career in science, 6 students were unsure, and 25 students indicated no aspirations toward an occupation in the sciences. Findings indicated there were no significant differences regarding aspirations towards a science career based on the location of schools with socio-economic status not a salient influence. Categories and sub-categories identified included (i) Stereotypical views of scientists (non-gendered; paraphernalia), and, (ii) Non-Aspirations (difficulties and pressure; science work as physically dangerous). Outcomes provocate research into tensions between the non-gendered language used by students to describe who can be a scientist, on the one hand, and their reluctance to become a scientist due to the masculine nature and dangers of such work, on the other hand.

Previous research has emphasised the importance of active citizenship in the early years for the development of tolerant and cohesive societies. This paper reports data from 174 children, aged 6-7 years, who were interviewed in the first year of a longitudinal study. Children were presented with two scenarios about inclusion of others in play. One scenario focussed on a peer from a different ethnic background and the other scenario was about a peer who was aggressive to others. Children were asked about their reasons to include or exclude the other child. Children were more likely to include the peer from a different ethnic background than the aggressive peer and cited moral or prosocial reasons. Children were also asked if they would still include or exclude, if friends or teachers disagreed with their decision. Most children maintained their original judgement in the face of contrary views by their peers but were more likely to change their opinion if a teacher disagreed. The implications of these findings for teachers in early childhood education are discussed with a focus on understanding contextual influences on children's moral judgements and how children come to value diverse perspectives.

Improving the quality of education for young people growing up in high poverty and culturally diverse communities is an escalating problem in affluent nations with increasing gaps between the wealthy and the poor. Improving the quality of teachers and improving the quality of teaching are amongst the prominent solutions offered to redress the differences between student academic performances related to socio-economic family circumstances. This article examines the different discourses of "quality" in relation to the preparation of pre-service teachers to work in high poverty schools such as graduates of the National Exceptional Teaching for Disadvantaged Schools pre-service teacher education program. Key tenets of "quality teacher" and "quality teaching" solutions are summarized along with their critiques. An alternative approach starting from a position of social justice is considered. This approach situates the work of teaching within high poverty school communities and considers what pre-service teachers need to understand and learn to do with respect to context.

This article disrupts dominant discourses around boys and reading that often homogenise young males as reluctant, disengaged and, at times, adversarial readers. Rather than essentialising boys, we argue there is a need for a more sophisticated knowledge base about the influences, constraints and diverse experiences of boys as readers in society today. Drawing on interviews (n = 30) with Year 4 (8 to 9-year-old) boys at six schools, we consider their personal recounts of their enjoyment in reading, their preferred reading choices and narratives related to their experiences as readers at school. Analysis highlights boys' emerging reading interests, sophisticated and specific reading preferences, and changes in reading identities over time. Boys' preferences for particular fiction authors, novel series and genres dispute the common assumption in educational contexts that boys prefer to engage with non-fiction books. This finding is significant, as negative gendered stereotypes can impact on boys' reading self-concepts. It is also critical given Jerrim and Moss's recent research highlighting the importance of fiction in the development of reading skills. We consider implications for pedagogical practices that broaden reading experiences for the diversity of emerging masculine reading identities in nations such as Australia, where there is an absence of reading for pleasure in education policies.

This paper explores how geographies of place and familial relationships influence the formation of 'science capital' and a 'science identity', which are widely considered influential to sustained engagement in the sciences. Drawing on interviews with 45 Year 8 students from two diverse locales in Australia, we analyse science-related forms of cultural and social capital with a focus on place-based knowledges which may help explain differential patterns of engagement among young people. First, the paper recounts recent theoretical and empirical work on science capital and science identity, extending this scholarship by considering the role of family and place in science knowledge acquisition. Second, we present the study concentrating on student lifeworlds and familial relationships as identity resources, exploring the differences in terms of place. To conclude, we critique the data with attention to implications for teachers' pedagogy, considering the role of 'science capital pedagogies' and a 'Funds of Knowledge' approach to science education.

Drawing on interviews we explore the centrality of belonging to rural places, embedded within time, in shaping life as a male reader, regardless of country of origin, or generation. Place theory explored the assemblages of spaces important for 6 boys (10-11 year-olds) from Australia and 6 men (25 year-olds and 60 year-olds) from Sweden in their reader identities. Findings illustrate how assemblages of geography, resourcing, relationships with the land, and desires to connect to broader cultural affinity spaces become ingrained for males in rural places and distinguish them from working class males in metropolitan contexts. Classroom experiences related to 'academic reading' became embodied in non-reader identities and shaped life as a reader through the lifespan, while peer group cultures and connections to place offered alternative spaces to engage with reading a range of texts related to cultural life worlds with a shared sense of meaning, purpose, and value.

Building on work that brings literacy instruction and student science learner identity together, this study addresses a gap in research related to student experiences as readers in middle school science classrooms. To understand student perceptions of pedagogical approaches to reading in science, we asked 45 middle school students to reflect on what sort of reading participation was valued in their classroom and what they thought characterised a good learner in science. Findings show that evaluative reading is not perceived as central to learning; rather, a transmission pedagogic model of reading with an overreliance on fact sheets, worksheets and PowerPoint was reported. Students also drew attention to how listening to the teacher for information and following instructions related to practical activities is integral to a 'good science student' identity. Findings suggest that beliefs about what is valued in science classrooms has implications for science learner identities.

A seminal body of work emerged in the 1980s recognising reading as a site for gender and class identity work. However, understandings around working-class girls' reading identities are invisible in the current Australian education policy space where gender equalities with respect to curriculum subjects have disappeared. This paper draws on a broader study of the reading experiences of 615 boys and girls attending elementary schools in Australia to focuses on interviews with eight girls (9-11 years old) attending schools in lower socioeconomic communities. The paper explores the girls' perspectives on reading, being popular at school, and academic success from an understanding of literacy as social practice. Highlighted are discourses of femininity associated with reading where popularity is associated with anti-reading identities; being pretty and hanging out with the boys is associated with higher social status; and doing well academically can lead to social marginalisation. Highlighted are tensions between the lived lives of the girls and the idealised feminine reader depicted in the educational policy context in Australia and broader performativity agendas where girls are illustrated as successful and motivated readers.

Few studies in science education have examined how place-based experiences influence students' STEM career aspirations. Rural school students' lived experiences of place and non-traditional STEM career aspirations such as farming are scarcely considered in dominant narratives around science aspirations and career pathways. Adopting a critical relational perspective that considers place as a lived experience we ask "How do rural Australian students' ethnogeographies related to people and place influence their STEM career aspirations?" Drawing on a broader study (n = 45) of science aspirations, we focus on semi-structured interviews with six middle school students (13-14 years of age) in rural Australia who aspire to be farmers. Thematic analysis of the data demonstrates students' intended careers as farmers relate to their "connections to people" and "belonging to place." This article works through rural-urban binaries to present a counternarrative that legitimises farming as an important STEM career for young people and challenges dominant narratives around post-compulsory participation in senior secondary school and tertiary science as the ideal or only career pathway. Finally, implications of our findings for designing place-conscious school science education are discussed. This includes place-attentive strategies related to policy, pathways, and practice that appreciate the complex realities, strengths, and inequities in rural communities.

Compelling international evidence illustrates the potential of reading for pleasure for enhancing student reading achievement along with other learning and wellbeing outcomes. Yet profound challenges exist for nations seeking to encompass attention to students' volitional reading. In this paper we critically review the growing research evidence in this area by drawing systematically on cognitive psychological studies of reading attainment and motivation, educational studies of classroom practice, and the work of literary scholars and medical professionals. We consider and critique the methodologies deployed and read between the lines, exposing contradictions and complexities across this interdisciplinary field before considering the demands of operationalising this agenda in education. Through a dual focus on England and Australia, where, exemplifying international trends, young people's voluntary reading continues to decline, we examine difficulties and dilemmas which play out in policy and practice contexts. Our points of commonality and comparison surface key issues for consideration in countries working to reconcile the push and pull of performativity and reading for pleasure agendas in order to nurture children's volitional reading. To conclude, we examine ways forward for research, policy and practice which deserve increased global attention, and offer future-focused recommendations to advance this significant social justice agenda. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this editorial to the special issue on the future of volitional reading, the editors explain the significance of volitional reading, both in school and out-of-school settings, for children and adolescents' reading proficiency, student engagement and learning, and wellbeing. They offer an overview of the seven articles in the collection, highlighting the key themes of content, choice and community involvement when it comes to encouraging engaged reading. New ways of researching reading are also shared. As a collection, the special issue highlights the range and complexity of young people's reading practices and encourages scholars, policymakers and educators to consider new ways of framing research and practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Engagement with video games can potentially advance student digital competence however, there is a digital skills gap by the time young people progress into adolescence. This current research explores how elementary school students' digital self-efficacy might relate to experiences in video game environments to influence perceptions of digital competence. We examine the differential impact of sex, self-efficacy, and socioeconomic status (SES) on 7–10-year-old students' (N = 613) perceptions of video gaming and their digital skills. Analysis revealed the unexpected finding that SES was inversely related to enjoyment for gaming and digital technology, with students in the lower-SES category responding more positively compared to students in higher SES categories. As expected, boys self-reported digital skills higher than girls across all SES categories. We argue for the use of gaming pedagogies to support learning in classrooms that accounts for nuances in students' digital self-efficacy moderated by gender and SES. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: A growing body of research shows that the beliefs we hold about the nature of knowing and knowledge (epistemic beliefs) may mediate moral reasoning. However, a limitation of much of the research in the area of epistemic beliefs is the lack of a longitudinal approach. Aims: The study investigated longitudinal changes in Australian elementary school children's beliefs about knowing and knowledge (epistemic beliefs) across three judgement domains (personal taste, ambiguous facts, and moral values). Sample: The participants in this longitudinal study were tracked from Year 1 through to Year 3 of primary school. In Year 1, there were 169 participants (83 boys, 86 girls) aged 6-7 years (M = 6.7, SD = 0.32). In Year 2, there were 156 participants (79 boys, 77 girls), and in Year 3, there were 129 participants (65 boys, 64 girls). Methods: Using vignettes that reflected each of the three judgement domains, children were interviewed about the beliefs held by two puppet characters. The interviews took place each year across the early years of elementary education in Year 1, Year 2, and Year 3. Results: Findings revealed that children's epistemic beliefs in each of the judgement domains became more subjectivist over time but that the age at which this occurred differed according to the judgement domain in question. Conclusions: We argue that it is important for teachers to pay attention to children's beliefs about the nature of knowledge and knowing in the process of scaffolding their reasoning about moral values for active citizenship.

This paper considers whether societal changes are making space for some working-class boys to go against the grain and foster positive reader identities. Drawing on interviews with 30 Australian boys about their experiences at school, Nancy Fraser's social justice framework is used to explore their parity of participation as readers. Responses raise questions about the need for recognition of boys as readers across demographics and more equitable redistribution of reading resources to the most economically marginalised educational contexts. Boys' narratives also challenge homogeneous images of boy/girl reading preferences that are often represented in literacy policies. The article explores nuances in how working-class boys conceive of themselves as readers within their local communities amidst global shifts in the post-industrial era. It also positions Fraser's social justice framework as a transferable lens for situated analysis that educators interested in enhancing parity of participation for marginalised students can draw upon.

Background: Research illustrates that girls indicate more positive attitudes towards reading than boys. Gender differences are often presented in simplistic terms with 'all boys' represented as one homogenous group. Methods: This study developed a survey to identify similarities and differences in boys' and girls' attitudes towards a range of school-related activities, including reading, and among boys themselves. The survey of 296 (f = 137, m = 159) 8- to 10-year-olds attending elementary schools in Australia was designed to identify the way attitudes towards school-related activities, including reading, may be interrelated. Cluster analysis identified nuances associated with socio-economic background, reading frequency and reading outcomes. Results: Results indicated that girls and boys were represented similarly in the cluster groups that indicated positive enjoyment for books. However, there were significantly more girls than boys who enjoyed the social aspects of reading. A main finding was that many boys indicated they personally enjoyed reading, in contrast to previous studies, however, they did not necessarily enjoy the social aspects of reading with this finding particularly evident for boys from lower socio-economic backgrounds. Attitude towards reading was interrelated with the social aspects of reading and other school-related activities such as competition sports. Conclusions: Outcomes from the survey cluster groupings made visible the multiplicity of differences among boys' attitudes towards reading that are often left out of simplistic representations in educational policies, teaching literature and the popular media. Findings suggest the need to open up educational discussions about the ways that reading attitudes may be embedded within, and related to, socio-economic location and other school-based experiences.

Doing the right thing at school involves moral reasoning about right and wrong that interplays with a sense of responsibility as children move towards being active citizens. In the current study, we investigated how 124 Australian children's understanding and reasoning about doing the right thing changed over the early years of primary school (age 5-6 years through to age 7-8 years). This study included children's ideas about how they knew what was right and wrong and how they worked out for themselves what was right and wrong at school. The main finding suggests that children did not believe they were engaged in personal decision-making or reflections about what was right and wrong at school as they progressed through Year 1 to Year 3. Instead of developing autonomy and personal decision-making, children came to rely more on external authorities for knowledge. The implications from these findings point to the need to support children to become active citizens through participatory pedagogies and a focus on democracy.

Freda Briggs (2007), a leader in the field of child protection in Australia continues to raise concerns about the vulnerability and victimisation of boys that she believes is substantially under-recognised. She argues that boys have not been well supported by child sexual abuse (CSA) prevention programs with child protection curriculum not yet developed to meet the special needs of boys. Briggs (2007) advocates for school-based child protection programs that address issues relevant for boys. This paper responds to these concerns and explores some of the complexities inherent in issues associated with boys and CSA including boys' perceptions of abuse, their tendency to under-report the incidence and perceptions of prevention programs as not relevant. The paper also considers some of the barriers to effectively engaging boys in prevention programs while proposing games-based CSA prevention offers a contemporary mode of delivering key messages to address the needs of both boys and girls

Drawing on interviews with 15 boys attending schools in low socioeconomic communities in Australia, this paper examines the multiplicity of contextual influences on boys' everyday reading experiences. Implementing an ecological metaphor, boys' narratives about (i) their attitudes towards reading at school (microsystem); (ii) parental beliefs about reading (mesosystem); (iii) masculinities within low socioeconomic communities (exosystem), and; (iv) reading as socially valued knowledge (macrosystem) are explored. The paper illustrates the textured nature of immediate and broader influences on boys' engagement with, and positioning of, reading. In particular, the paper challenges dominant discourses about working-class boys' reading practices, contributing to research into literacy in-situ to make visible the immediate and broader contextual systems that influence the ways working-class boys engage with, and enjoy, reading.

In this longitudinal study, we explored children's reasoning about social inclusion/exclusion at Year 1 and Year 3 (n = 169 Year 1, n = 129 Year 3) of early primary education in Australia and how this reasoning related to changes in children's epistemic cognition. The data collection involved 30-minute interviews in which children were asked to engage in two tasks related to (1) epistemic cognition and (2) including an aggressive child in play. Findings showed that children were more likely to choose to include the aggressive child in Year 3 if they also expressed Subjectivist epistemic beliefs than if they expressed Objectivist beliefs. The children who expressed Subjectivist epistemic beliefs were more likely to justify their decision to include an aggressive child in a more nuanced and complex manner. We argue for a focus on epistemic reflexivity for reasoning about social inclusion as a way in which to provide new understandings about how broader contextual influences may mediate such reasoning.

International studies have established that reading for enjoyment is linked to higher reading outcomes however there are local variations of the relationship and nuances associated with gender and economic contours. The aim of this study was to examine 318 Australian Year 3 (7 to 8-year-olds) boys' and girls' self-reported enjoyment for reading, reading frequency, and achievement on national reading tests. Findings showed that students who indicated higher levels of enjoyment for fiction and non-fiction, and who read more frequently, indicated higher reading achievement. Students attending schools in higher demographic communities tended to attain higher reading scores. An unexpected and significant finding was that fiction was the most favoured reading genre for boys and that more girls had higher levels of enjoyment for non-fiction than boys. These findings challenge the long-standing myth that boy's prefer non-fiction. The study demonstrates the importance of promoting reading enjoyment – particularly fiction – early in students' schooling trajectory, with special consideration for boys and students from economically marginalised communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In response to the diverse number of child sexual abuse (CSA) prevention programs currently implemented in school contexts, this paper examines key considerations for selecting such initiatives and the multiplicity of understandings required to inform facilitation of contextually relevant prevention curriculum. First, the paper examines concerns about the lack of explicit professional development for educators concerning child protection, and the need to develop understandings about prevention program best practices within pre-service and in-service training. Second, drawing on a systematic review of literature, the paper identifies five key considerations to inform teachers' selection and facilitation of CSA prevention curriculum in school contexts. Third, the paper advances calls by Wurtele (2009) and presents CSA prevention "best practices" overview and "model programs" list for professionals such as teachers. (Contains 1 table.)

Leadership in elementary education is currently recognized as a political imperative in Papua New Guinea (PNG), as the nation develops strategies towards equitable access to schooling. One recent initiative aimed at building educational leadership was an intensive Australian Leadership Award Fellowship (ALAF) program funded by AusAID, involving a group of 10 teacher trainers from PNG. As part their involvement participants completed self-authored journal entries at the beginning and end of the leadership program. Participants were also involved in focus groups after completion of the initiative. Referring to the experiences of these teacher trainers, this paper draws on Nancy Fraser's (2005, 2008) social justice framework to examine participants' views of what constituted effective leadership in elementary education in PNG and how these views may have changed throughout the ALAF program. Key findings of this study included participants' emphasis on relationships and valuing people in elementary education leadership contexts, participants' concern about economic/financial barriers to effective leadership in the PNG context and participants' perception of research as a way to support leadership roles. (Contains 2 tables and 2 figures.)