Children's Affectionate Behavior Gender Differences

The purpose of this study was to examine differences in (a) the amount of affectionate behavior expressed by boys and girls and (b) the types of recipients of boys' and girls' affectionate behavior. Data were collected by conducting naturalistic observations of 76 children (32 males and 44 females) in six daycare centers. The affectionate behaviors observed were smiling, affectionate words, and active and passive affectionate physical contact. The results indicated that children's affectionate behavior was not gender typed as defined by social learning theory. However, there were gender differences related to the recipients of children's affectionate behavior. Children expressed more affection to (a) individual children and teachers than to groups and (b) same-gender peers than to opposite-gender peers. The specific behaviors making important contributions to the overall differences between boys' and girls' expressions of affection to male and female children differed. The results indicate there is a need to include the interpersonal context of the behavior when examining gender differences and to expand theory and research on the role of affection in children's development and relationships.     

The Relations of Emotionality and Regulation to Preschoolers' Social Skills and Sociometric Status

The purpose of this study was to examine the relations of emotionality (intensity and negative emotion) and regulation (coping and attentional regulation) to preschoolers' social skills (as rated by adults) and sociometric status. Teachers' ratings of children's constructive coping and attentional control were positively related to boys' social skills and peer status, whereas negative affect was negatively related. Acting out (vs. avoidant) coping and emotional intensity were negatively related to girls' and boys' social skills and boys' peer status. In addition, mothers' reports of boys' coping by seeking social support and low emotional intensity were associated with boys' positive social functioning, whereas avoidant coping was positively related to girls' rated social skills. The results are discussed in relation to research on emotion regulation and coping with emotion in interpersonal contexts.     

Results of an empirical study into gender differences in attitudes towards mathematics

Differences in attitude towards mathematics between boys and girls were evaluated in an empirical study carried out in (west)German secondary schools during 1989 on a group of 748 students aged 14–19. The main focus of the study was to ascertain whether the results from previous studies of the last decade, which reported significant differences between boys' and girls' attitudes to mathematics, were still valid.This study shows there are still significant gender differences in many areas, such as: interest in mathematics, importance of high attainment in mathematics, willingness to consider entering a career involving mathematics and mathematical activities and themes from the real world which interest the pupils. Despite these still prevailing gender differences, the study nevertheless shows that girls' and boys' views on gender roles and corresponding areas of activities have changed considerably in recent years (note 1).     

Working and Playing Together: Prediction of Preschool Social-Emotional Competence from Mother-Child Interaction

The impact of mother-child interaction on preschoolers' social-emotional competence was evaluated. Twenty-five girls and 23 boys (mean age = 44 mos) and their mothers were videotaped performing four play/teaching tasks. Preschool teachers completed the Baumrind Preschool Behavior Q-Sort and the Behar Problem Behavior Questionnaire. Mother-child interaction aggregates represented task orientation, positive emotion, and allowance of autonomy/reliance on mother. Results indicated that specific maternal interaction aggregates coherently predicted the children's Positive Social Behavior, Assertiveness, and Sadness in the preschool setting. Child aggregates were less effective predictors of teachers' ratings. Several gender differences in the prediction of social-emotional competence were found (e.g., maternal allowance of autonomy predicted girls' sadness, but boys' sadness was predicted by their own negative emotion). These findings' contributions to the parent-child literature are discussed.     

Curiosity of Tom Sawyer

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer is considered as one of the classics among children's literature. His curiosity wins love, especially boys' and girls' for Tom Sawyer is the reflection of themselves.     

Continuities in Emotion Understanding from Three to Six Years

As part of a longitudinal study, 47 children who were tested on their understanding of basic emotions when they were 3 years old were tested again at 6 on their understanding of conflicting emotions. Significant stability in individual differences was found over this 3-year period. Antecedents to emotion understanding at 3 continued to be significantly related to children's understanding at 6, including participation in discourse about causality, positive interaction with older siblings, and language ability. Girls outperformed boys, and there was a suggestion that the girls' understanding of emotions was more closely associated than the boys' with the quality of their sibling relationships. Children's concurrent reports of negative experiences at home and at school were related to their sensitivity to the experience of ambivalent emotions. The results are discussed with respect to the social origins and implications of this core aspect of children's social-cognitive development.     

An interaction of screen colour and lesson task in CAL

Colour is a common feature in computer‐aided learning (CAL), though the instructional effects of screen colour are not well understood. This investigation considers the effects of different CAL study tasks with feedback on posttest performance and on posttest memory of the lesson colour scheme. Graduate students (n=68) completed a computer‐based vocabulary lesson that included either multiple‐choice or constructed‐response study tasks with feedback. Each lesson section used a different colour theme, while the posttest did not use colour. The constructed‐response study task was a little more effective for posttest memory of lesson content but was substantially less effective for posttest memory of the lesson colour scheme. These results show a clear interaction of screen colour and lesson study task, a memory‐context effect. The practical and theoretical implications of these findings are discussed.     

Gender-Specific Linkages of Affective Social Competence With Peer Relations in Preschool Children

Research Findings: We examined whether affective social competence, or the ability to effectively send and receive emotional signals and to manage one's own emotional experience, contributes to preschool children's peer relations. Forty-two previously unacquainted preschoolers were observed while participating in a week-long playschool. Greater nonstereotypical emotion knowledge was related to girls' popularity and boys' likelihood of having a reciprocal friendship. Girls with greater skill at sending emotional communications and managing emotions were more likely to have a reciprocal friendship. Boys who were better at managing emotions compared to others in their group were less popular. The role of social context in the influence of affective social competence on children's peer relations is discussed. Practice or Policy: Results have implications for early childhood educators' promotion of children's socioemotional skills.     

初中生成就目标的发展特点研究

本研究对初中生成就目标的发展避行了探讨，结畏表明．初中生成就目标存在性别差异．女生的掌握目标高于男生．男生的成绩-接近目标和成绩-回避目标高于女生；掌握目标和成绩-回避目标存在年级差异；成绩-回避目标存在城乡差异；掌握目标为初中生的主导目标。     

Parents' Reactions to Children's Negative Emotions: Relations to Children's Social Competence and Comforting Behavior

The purpose of this study was to examine the relations of mothers' and fathers' reported emotion-related practices to parents' and teachers' reports of third-to sixth-grade children's social skills, popularity, and coping, as well as the quantity and quality of children's comforting of an infant. Mothers' problem-focused reactions tended to be positively associated with children's social functioning and coping, whereas maternal minimizing reactions tended to be linked to lower levels of social competence and high levels of avoidant coping. There were few findings for fathers' reactions, although fathers reported fewer problem-focused reactions with socially competent, in contrast to less competent, daughters. Emotion-focused and problem-focused maternal reactions, as well as encouragement of the expression of emotion, were associated with boys' children's comforting behavior, although a moderate level of maternal encouragement of the expression of emotion was associated with quality of girls' comforting.     

Partnership Instability, School Readiness, and Gender Disparities

Trends in family formation during the past several decades have increased children's exposure to mothers' partnership instability, defined as an entrance into or exit from a coresidential union or a dating partnership. Instability, in turn, is associated with negative outcomes for children and adolescents. This study uses data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study to examine associations between mothers' partnership instability and children's school readiness, differences between coresidential and dating transitions, and the moderating role of child gender. Mothers' partnership transitions are negatively associated with children's verbal ability and positively associated with boys' behavioral problems at age five. In general, coresidential and dating transitions have similar effects on school readiness. The findings have important implications for our understanding of the growing gender gap in educational attainment.     

Antecedents to psychosocial environments in middle school classrooms in Taiwan

This study investigated gender differences in students' perceptions of their psychosocial environment and related variables. Analyses of data collected from 644 middle school students reveal that there were significant differences in boys' and girls' perceptions, in favor of girls. Ten academic background variables were examined. Multiple regression results identified, in addition to gender, school membership, attendance, time spent doing homework, students' academic expectations, course grade, and course content as significant variables for all students, accounting for 31% of the variance in environment. There were gender-related disparities for the variables involved. While time spent doing homework, students' academic expectations, course grade, and course content had significant effects on both boys and girls' environments, school membership and time spent in watching TV had effects only on girls' perceptions. Educational implications of the findings are also discussed in the article. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Relations Between Effective Emotional Self-Regulation, Attentional Control, and Low-Income Preschoolers' Social Competence with Peers

Relations between children's emotional self-regulation, attentional control, and peer social competence (as reported by both teachers and peers) were examined for 51 low-income, preschool-aged children enrolled in Head Start. Using a short delay-of-gratification task administered at Head Start sites, children's use of self- distraction was found to be positively associated with their success in handling the delay, replicating previous, laboratory-based research. Contrary to our expectations, children's use of self-distraction was found to be unrelated to their attentional control, as assessed during a computer task. Hierarchical regression analyses revealed that children's use of self-distraction predicted significant variance in both peer- and teacher-reports of childrem's competence with peers, even after children's attentional control was statistically taken into account. These findings are discussed in light of current models of reactivity and regulation in predicting young children's social behavior, as well as in the context of early intervention efforts for children facing socioeconomic risk.     

Young children's play qualities in same-, other-, and mixed-sex peer groups

This research examined how children's play varied as a function of the sex of the child, the sex of the play partner, and whether they played in dyads or groups. Children (mean age = 52 months) were observed during their free play. Data revealed that boys' same-sex play was more active-forceful, further from adults, and more stereotyped than girls' play, and that this pattern was generally exaggerated in groups versus dyads. Children rarely played only with children of the other sex (other-sex peers), but about one fourth of their interactions involved children of both sexes (mixed-sex peers). Compared with same- or dyadic other-sex play, mixed-sex play was more likely to occur near adults, and was intermediate in active-forceful and stereotyped activity choices. Findings confirmed that children's experiences in peer groups vary depending on the sex of the child and sex of play partners.     

Relationships among individual task self-efficacy,self-regulated learning strategy use and academic performance in a computer-supported collaborative learning environment

This study investigates relationships between self-efficacy, self-regulated learning strategy use and academic performance. Participants were 96 undergraduate students working on projects with three subtasks (idea generation task, methodical task and data collection) in a blended learning environment. Task self-efficacy was measured with self-reports administered during each subtask. Learning strategies were assessed by counting each instance of strategy use as it occurred in peer-to-peer conversations typed into a computer software system. Results showed that for each subtask, learners with higher task self-efficacy had higher task performance. Those who used more learning strategies on each subtask also had higher performance. In turn, high performance was associated with high self-efficacy on subsequent subtasks. Surprisingly, results showed that task self-efficacy and learning strategy use were not significantly related during any subtask. Overall, results imply that task self-efficacy, learning strategy use and past performance are important predictors of task performance.     

Gender effects in children's beliefs about school performance: a cross-cultural study

Do young boys and girls understand what leads to academic success (e.g., talent, effort, good teaching, luck) in the same way? Do young girls and boys have equivalent perceptions of their academic competence? Are these beliefs engendered in the same way across sociocultural contexts? In a cross-cultural study of over 3,000 children in grades 2 to 6, ages 7.2 to 13.6, we discovered that boys and girls around the world have very similar ideas about what generally leads to academic success. Moreover, in the few contexts where boys' and girls' academic performances were equal, their beliefs were also equal. However, when girls outperformed boys, their beliefs in their own talent were no greater than boys' beliefs, even though they did have stronger beliefs than boys in other facets of their achievement potential (e.g., putting forth effort, being lucky, getting their teacher's help). Our findings support the generally close correspondence between children's achievement and their competence-related beliefs, with the exception that young girls appear to specifically discount their talent. The effects held regardless of the children's achievement, intelligence, or age (approximately 8 to 13 years). Girls were more biased in some contexts than in others, however, suggesting that competence-related biases are rooted in culture-specific aspects of school settings.     

The impact of computer-mediated and traditional academic task presentation on the performance and behaviour of children with ADHD

This project aimed to examine whether the use of computers could have a positive impact on the performance of academic tasks and their behaviour whilst completing them of children with ADHD. This small exploratory study therefore investigated the impact of the use of a laptop computer, with and without stimulating animations and features incorporated into task presentation, on Key Stage 2 level science tasks. The effects of these different forms of computer presentation were examined in relation to performance on more traditionally presented, pen and paper, tasks. The results of this study revealed that, in contrast to typically developing children, participants with ADHD produced the greatest number of accurate responses on the more basic computerised tasks (presented as simple Microsoft Word documents) and exhibited significantly more on-task activity on animated computerised tasks. In summary, computerised presentation significantly improved the accuracy of responses and the on-task focus of participants with ADHD. These early findings are encouraging and may have wide reaching practical implications in terms of the design and implementation of educational software aimed at promoting improvements for children with ADHD in terms of both their academic performance and, critically, appropriate on-task focus and behaviour in the classroom.     

Learning strategies and the learner's approach to a problem solving task

Summary In this paper data were presented about the differences in performance of several learners on a problem solving task. The nature of these differences was explored in terms of the learners' strategies and approach to the task. It was argued that the pattern of strategy application should be interpreted in relation to the way in which the learner engaged in the task. Furthermore, the pattern of strategy application was found to be most meaningful when interpreted within the framework of the learners' approach to the task. Success on the task appeared to be more strongly linked to the learners' approach than to the strategiesper se. This paper has provided further insight into what is meant by a deep and surface approach to a task. Evidence has been presented which shows that the learners' approach may be implemented in practice in different ways. It is hoped that the paper will stimulate many questions relating to learning on other tasks and in different contexts. For example, do learners have a characteristic learning approach? Does their approach vary according to the task or context? What factors influence the learning approach which is adopted? What implications does the notion of approach to learning have for classroom teaching?     

Applying Neuroscientific Findings to Education: The Good, the Tough, and the Hopeful

ABSTRACT— Advances in neuroscience during the past century have yielded important insights into mental functioning, but their implications for the field of education have remained largely unexplored. In a bold attempt to bridge this gap, Immordino-Yang presents findings from 2 boys, Nico and Brooke, each of whom lost half of his brain. The remarkable recovery of functions in the 2 boys highlights the degree to which children's emotional and social experiences shape brain development, as well as the importance of plasticity. Immordino-Yang places emphasis on cognitive plasticity—the ability to use different strategies in solving a task—which is clearly evident in the boys' performance. It is possible, however, that neural plasticity may have occurred as well, either prior to or after surgery. Although it may not be possible to distinguish between cognitive and neural plasticity at this point, Immordino-Yang makes a crucial contribution. By placing these findings in an educational context and presenting their implications in a clear and compelling fashion, she successfully brings neuroscience and education a notch closer.     

Helpfulness and the Development of Competence in Adolescence

Using data from a representative panel of 1,000 Minnesota youth, this paper explores "helpfulness" in 2 spheres of adolescents' lives: the home and paid work settings. We examine the social structural conditions under which helpful behaviors are elicited, the interrelations of helpfulness and competence across 2 years of middle adolescence, and whether social circumstances moderate the effects of helpfulness on competence. Both boys' and girls' helpfulness in the home is responsive to family need. Furthermore, helpfulness at work and girls' competence are reciprocally related. We find evidence that the effects of helpfulness depend on the helper's motivations and the act's meaning, as shaped by the social context. Girls' competence is diminished by helpfulness in the home under conditions of poor father-daughter relationships and coercive maternal control.