Does An Early Intervention Influence Behavioral Development Until Age 9 in Children Born Prematurely?

This study examined whether the Mother–Infant Transaction Program prevents behavioral problems among preterm children (birth weight < 2000 g) until age 9. The program was administered to 72 preterms, while 74 preterms and 75 full‐terms formed control groups (N = 221). Behavior was reported by parents (Child Behavior Checklist) and teachers (Teachers Report Form) and by all on selected Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) questions. Long‐term behavioral development appeared to be qualitatively unaffected by the intervention. At ages 7 and 9, fewer attention problems and better adaptation to school were reported from parents and teachers of the intervention group compared to preterm controls. At age 9, teachers reported fewer difficulties in the intervention group and better academic performance. In these areas they were reported as being at the statistically same level as term controls.     

Dual Language and English-Only Learners’ Expressive and Receptive Language Skills and Exposure to Peers’ Language

This study examined dual language learners’ (DLLs n = 24) and English-only (EO n = 20) children's expressive and receptive language in kindergarten (M_age = 5.7 years) as well as the relation to peers’ language use. Expressive language skills (vocabulary diversity, syntactic complexity) were measured in the fall, winter, and spring (2014–2015 year). Receptive language skills (vocabulary, sentence comprehension) were measured in the fall and spring. Findings revealed increases in children's expressive and receptive language, except in terms of syntactic complexity. Moreover, peers’ vocabulary diversity was positively associated with children's vocabulary diversity. Peers’ syntactic complexity was positively associated with children's syntactic complexity and receptive vocabulary. Findings suggest that peers’ language use may influence DLLs’ and EO children's language learning.     

“Why in This Bilingual Classroom … Hablamos Más Español?” Language Choice by Bilingual Science Students

This qualitative sociolinguistic research study examines Latino/a students’ use of language in a science classroom and laboratory. This study was conducted in a school in the southwestern United States that serves an economically depressed, predominantly Latino population. The object of study was a 5th-grade bilingual (Spanish/English) class. The findings demonstrate the students’ awareness of their own bilingualism, their preference for speaking Spanish, and their conceptualization of English as the language of academic success. Most significantly, this study reveals how the institutional context impacts both the teacher’s and the students’ behaviors, resulting in an implicit institutionalized bias against Spanish.     

Attentional Processes in Low‐Socioeconomic Status Bilingual Children: Are They Modulated by the Amount of Bilingual Experience?

Recent research indicates that bilingual children are more proficient in resolving cognitive conflict than monolinguals. However, the replicability of such findings has been questioned, with poor control of participants' socioeconomic status (SES) as a possible confounding factor. Two experiments are reported here, in which the main attentional functions and pragmatic ability of 54 bilingual and 56 monolingual low‐SES children were assessed (Experiment 1: 6‐ to 12‐year‐olds; Experiment 2: 6‐ to 8‐year‐olds). A language‐switching task was also employed, to measure bilingual proficiency. Overall, the monolingual and bilingual groups did not differ significantly in any of the tasks employed, although the ability to resolve conflict was related to children's level of bilingual experience.     

Influence of Exposure Time on Prototyping Accuracy in Stereolithography

A novel stereolithgraphy system with conventional UV light as a light source uses the 2D worktable as moving components,whose characteristics determine the accuracy of the prototyping parts. Many factors including mass of the worktable, elasticity and damp coefficients, speed and acceleration affect the non-uniform exposure time of the resin, and eventually influence the cured line shape and the curing accuracy. A light shuttle is used to eliminate the cure errors, greatly improving accuracy of the parts.     

Executive Compensation in Public Higher Education: Does Performance Matter?

Executive evaluation and compensation are central to organizational accountability and governance. Driven by increasing public demand on justifications and accountability for substantial salary increases for public university presidents, this paper is intended to shed light on the linkage between performance and executive compensation in public universities by examining the determinants of university presidents’ pay from 2004/2005 to 2008/2009 academic years. The central question is whether presidential compensation is related to a wide array of newly developed university performance measures or is independent of performance, i.e., university presidents are paid like bureaucrats in line with the widely supported conclusion in Jensen and Murphy (1990b) suggesting corporate CEOs are really paid like bureaucrats. Methodologically, Arellano–Bond dynamic panel model is applied to control for serial autocorrelation in the compensation data, i.e., university presidents’ pay in the current period is dependent to a great extent on that in the prior period. With extensive individual, institutional, and performance characteristics examined, it is concluded that performance related variables play a very limited role in determining public university presidents’ executive remuneration, when temporal autocorrelation is properly controlled, and presidential pay is strongly and persistently associated over time. The statistically insignificant pay-performance relationship together with the temporally persistent increases of presidential compensation may provide initial evidence supporting that public university presidents are paid like bureaucrats.     

Mothers’ Goals Influence Their Responses to Children’s Performance: An Experimental Study in the United States and Hong Kong

This research examined the role of mothers’ self-worth and self-improvement goals in their responses to children’s performance in the United States (80% European American) and Hong Kong (100% Chinese). Mothers (N = 330) were induced to prioritize self-worth or self-improvement among children (M_age = 10.24 years; 48% girls) . Mothers induced to prioritize self-worth (vs. self-improvement) used more success-oriented responses in both regions (ds = 0.53 and 0.35). Mothers induced to prioritize self-improvement (vs. self-worth) used more failure-oriented responses only in the United States (d = 0.29). Mothers’ success-oriented responses predicted more positive beliefs and affect in a cognitive task among children (βs = .10–.18). Taken together, the findings support the importance of parents’ goals in the socialization process.     

Parental Involvement in Math Homework: Links to Children’s Performance and Motivation

The present study examined the longitudinal associations between children’s perceptions of parental involvement in math homework (control and support) and their math performance and motivation (task-persistent homework behavior and math self-concept). Children (n = 512) reported their perceptions concerning parental involvement in sixth-grade math homework. In grades 3 and 6, children completed math tests, evaluated own math self-concept, and their mothers (n = 420) evaluated task persistence during homework. The results showed that low self-concept in math predicted increased parental control, which in turn related to low math performance, task persistence, and math self-concept. Second, perceived parental support was related to increased task persistence during homework. Finally, parental control was especially detrimental for boys’ task persistence and math self-concept.     

Mentalization in Chilean Educational Staff With 12-Month-Old Children: Does It Make a Difference in Relation to What Children Receive at Home?

Parental mentalizing, which is the capacity to understand behavior in terms of mental states and to reflect this back to a child through speech, is a key construct in child development. Adults with high mentalization promote children’s secure attachment, mentalization and self-regulation. This study describes this competency in a sample of teachers from Chilean nurseries in interaction with 12-month-old children during a storytelling scenario and compares it with the children’s mothers. The sample comprised 208 adults (104 teachers and 104 mothers). The adults were asked to tell 2 stories to the children, and these situations were recorded, transcribed, and codified using guidelines that identified 4 references to mental states (desires, cognitions, emotions, and attributes) and 4 references to nonmental states (causal and factual talk, physical states, and connections with the child’s life). Research Findings: The results showed significant differences between the educational staff and the mothers, and the teachers performed better than the mothers in terms of both greater mentalization and a greater number of references to desires, causal talk, emotions, and physical states. Practice or Policy: The results provide evidence regarding the supportive role played by educational staff in children’s development, especially in underprivileged sectors.     

Does Poor Handwriting Conceal Literacy Potential in Primary School Children?

Handwriting is a complex skill that, despite increasing use of computers, still plays a vital role in education. It is assumed that children will master letter formation at a relatively early stage in their school life, with handwriting fluency developing steadily until automaticity is attained. The capacity theory of writing suggests that as automaticity develops, the proportion of working memory dedicated to the mechanics of handwriting is reduced, releasing capacity for the planning, composing and editing of content. This study examined the handwriting ability of 284 mainstream primary school children and explored possible associated factors. Correlations were found between poor handwriting, lower cognitive and literacy scores, and a longer duration for handwriting tasks. Giving children the opportunity to practise their handwriting sufficiently to increase the level of automaticity may release working memory to be applied to the cognitive demands of the task and may potentially raise their level of attainment.     

How Does Parental Reading Influence Children’s Reading? A Study of Cognitive Mediation

Cognitive processes underlying a behavioural outcome (like reading ability) and the impact of familial risk (e.g., for dyslexia) have been studied in isolation. We present a novel design, linking the two avenues. How do familial influences impact on children’s cognitive skills, which subsequently underlie reading development? Participants from the Familial Influences on Literacy Abilities (FIOLA) Project included 373 children and their parents. We considered three causal routes from parental reading and children’s putative cognitive endophenotypes to children’s reading. Path analyses showed that half of parental effects on children’s reading bypassed and half operated through children’s cognitive underpinnings. Spousal correlation was small but significant. Findings do not support a strong hypothesis of cognitive endophenotypes with full mediation. Furthermore, we discuss the use of parental skills as a proxy for offspring’s liability. Finally, familial reading difficulties are not fully accounted for by known cognitive skills, which has implications for dyslexia diagnosis.     

What Does Your Child Really Know? Supporting Teachers to Listen Closely to Our Children

Close listening and observation of children as an alternative assessment is a powerful approach that can help balance an emphasis on standardized measurement. The tool of Reggio-inspired documentation is described for families with suggestions on how to advocate and support teachers who want to tell a story about children's learning that highlights social language, collaboration, and problem solving and to serve as evidence in meeting required curriculum standards.     

Does Performance in Digital Reading Relate to Computer Game Playing? A Study of Factor Structure and Gender Patterns in 15-Year-Olds' Reading Literacy Performance

Data from a Swedish PISA-sample were used (1) to identify a digital reading factor, (2) to investigate gender differences in this factor (if found), and (3) to explore how computer game playing might relate to digital reading performance and gender. The analyses were conducted with structural equation modeling techniques. In addition to an overall reading factor, the hypothesized digital reading factor was identified. When the overall reading performance was taken into account, a relative difference in favor of the boys for digital reading was indicated. This effect was mediated by a game-playing factor comprising the amount of time spent on playing computer games. Thus, the boys' better performance in digital reading was explained by the computer game-playing factor.     

How to Use Body Language in Class

With the reform of language teaching and learning methods,teachers should use more English in class.However,with the limitation of students’vocabulary,teachers have to simplify their teaching language with the help of body language,which has perceptual a…     

When Does Tool Use Become Distinctively Human? Hammering in Young Children

This study examines the development of hammering within an ontogenetic and evolutionary framework using motion‐capture technology. Twenty‐four right‐handed toddlers (19–35 months) wore reflective markers while hammering a peg into a peg‐board. The study focuses on the motor characteristics that make tool use uniquely human: wrist involvement, lateralization, and handle use. Older children showed more distally controlled movements, characterized by relatively more reliance on the wrist, but only when hammering with their right hand. Greater age, use of the right hand, and more wrist involvement were associated with higher accuracy; handle use did not systematically change with age. Collectively, the results provide new insights about the emergence of hammering in young children and when hammering begins to manifest distinctively human characteristics.     

What Does the Skill of Observation Look Like in Young Children?

Fifty‐six children, aged between 4 and 11 years, in seven groups, were videoed playing with, being questioned about and sorting a collection of toys in order to identify what skills of observation looked like in young children, how observations influenced other scientific skills and what supported the skill of observation. Children’s skills of observation were found to be similar across all ages and included affective, functional, social and exploratory comments, actions, and questions. These initial observations led to the use of other scientific process skills: classification, prediction, hypotheses, along with explanation for younger children and interpretations for older children. There was generally a greater sophistication of observation skills with increasing age of the children. Observations in young children were found to be tactile and developed in two ways: by engaging in more unique close observation and interpreting observation by utilising previous knowledge and experiences. Important factors affecting the development of observational and other scientific skills were found to be the context (activity, environment, resources) and combination of social interactions between individuals, peers, and adults. This combination supported the development of both observational and other scientific skills, although the nature and amount of this interaction appeared individual to different groups of children and could not be predicted.     

Performance measurement: Does education impact productivity?

This study investigated the impact of managers' educational levels on productivity in the commercial poultry industry in Ghana. The level of education of 33 production managers of the poultry farms were factored into a Cobb‐Douglas production function with other explanatory variables. The computed percentage change in productivity due to higher education relative to secondary education was 10%. The interaction terms of basic education, experience, and extension visits were positive and not statistically significant. Targeting management education could increase productivity in the commercial poultry industry. Educated managers have a higher propensity to adopt technology and alternative production mix for effectiveness and efficiency. This study concludes that higher educational level had a positive impact on productivity in the commercial poultry industry and should be harnessed for improved performance in the domestic and global market.     

Does Your Company Have a Performance GPS?

This article examines the Performance GPS, a tool to use in identifying the paths for getting from here to there. This tool cannot be purchased; it must be built. Building it requires mapping and linking the four basic domains of performance found in organizations: people, processes, units, and the organization itself. A set of such diagrams provides a Performance GPS, a road map to results.     

Does Reflective Journal Writing Improve Course Performance?

Abstract. This study investigated whether a reflective journal writing assignment would improve students' course performance. A total of 166 students from undergraduate sections of a course taught by the same instructor over three semesters completed the assignment as part of their requirements. Students (N = 317) from five previous semesters of the same course taught by the same instructor, who were not required to complete the assignment, served as a comparison group. Intervention and comparison groups were comparable on a variety of variables including all assignments, excepting the journal assignment. The findings are interpreted within the context of factors such as students' study habits and motivation.