Using structural equation modeling techniques to evaluate HIV risk models

Structural equation modeling (SEM) techniques were used to compare 5 methods of assessing HIV/AIDS sexual risk in a large prediction model. These were: (a) multiple measures; (b) a single latent factor; (c) modifying the computation of the dependent variables used in Methods 1 and 2 to weight sexual encounters by specific partner risk; (d) use of risk composites, obtained by multiplying number of sexual partners by number of occasions of unprotected sex; and (e) use of risk indexes that assign a number based on responses to general questions about risk behaviors. Data from 452 at‐risk women from a New England community were analyzed in 5 versions of an HIV/AIDS sexual risk prediction model. Models were compared in terms of SEM empirical fit indexes (x² [df], average absolute standardized residuals, and Comparative Fit Index); significant paths, explained variance, theoretical fit, and simplicity. Results indicate that: (a) multiple measures and latent factor models are preferable to all others by each of the standards of comparison, (b) in the composite dependent variable models, including information about the partners' number of partners provided little additional explained variance beyond knowing the number of occasions of unprotected sex, and (c) dependent measures that did not remain close to Centers for Disease Control criteria may not be adequately predicting HIV/AIDS sexual risk. Several recommendations are presented for selecting an appropriate conceptualization of HIV/AIDS sexual risk.     

Text in a Texture of Television: children's homework experience

A survey answered by 842 respondents representing British children aged from 7 to 15 measured their amounts of television viewing, listening to music, serious reading and outdoor games playing, and their attitudes to leisure activities, such as television viewing. Children said whether they did school homework and if so, with or without the television switched on, and if so, whether they regarded it as a help or not. About a quarter of those aged 10 and over said they did work along with television, accepting its presence, and another one in six did so, actually welcoming it. Attitude measures showed clearly different stereotypes of the heavy viewer, reader and music listener. This children's sample had a broadly positive image of a heavy television viewer of their own age. A process of rationalisation is detectable in which those who reported heavy viewing themselves, were more likely to do homework with the television on, to say it helped them and that it was linked with good achievement at school. Reported behaviour and stereotypes were somewhat similar among those who were heavy music users, but noticeably different among those who claimed to read a lot.     

Early Reading in Bilingual Kindergartners: Can Educational Television Help?

This study examines individual growth rates in phonological awareness and letter-word identification skills over an academic year for 150 Latino English-language learners. In October, February, and June of their kindergarten year, participants completed standardized measures of phonological awareness skills. Before the second and third assessments, one third of the children watched Arthur three times a week during school hours, and another third viewed Between the Lions. The last third did not view either show during school hours. Individual growth modeling analysis show that children who viewed Between the Lions had steeper growth trajectories than those who viewed Arthur for several of the phonological awareness measures. The findings suggest viewing Between the Lions is beneficial to children's early literacy skills.     

Mediation Analysis in a Latent Growth Curve Modeling Framework

This article presents several longitudinal mediation models in the framework of latent growth curve modeling and provides a detailed account of how such models can be constructed. Logical and statistical challenges that might arise when such analyses are conducted are also discussed. Specifically, we discuss how the initial status (intercept) and change (slope) of the putative mediator variable can be appropriately included in the causal chain between the independent and dependent variables in longitudinal mediation models. We further address whether the slope of the dependent variable should be controlled for the dependent variable's intercept to improve the conceptual relevance of the mediation models. The models proposed are illustrated by analyzing a longitudinal data set. We conclude that for certain research questions in developmental science, a multiple mediation model where the dependent variable's slope is controlled for its intercept can be considered an adequate analytical model. However, such models also show several limitations.     

Gender organization of schooling and television viewing among early adolescents: a test of two alternative hypotheses

In this analysis, single‐sex and mixed schools are compared in terms of pupils' television viewing habits, the latter factor being considered as an indicator of a pupil's sense of educational responsibilities. It was hypothesized that the presumably lower levels of television watching among girls attending single‐sex schools could be explained by school climate factors pertaining to adolescent subculture values and/or to the pedagogic approaches of a predominantly female staff. Use was made of data from 68 academic‐type secondary schools in Flanders (Belgium). Of these schools, 25 were mixed and 43 were single‐sex (21 girls', and 22 boys' schools). Respondents were third‐year pupils: 3370 girls and 3057 boys, aged 14 and 15 years. A multilevel analysis (HLM) was performed controlling for parental socio‐economic status, curriculum enrolment, school residency and school mean SES. The results mainly indicate that the differential effect of single‐sex and coeducational schools on girls' TV watching habits may be partially accounted for by factors associated with pedagogic approaches by the predominantly female staff in girls' schools, but not at all by norms related to the adolescent subculture.     

Parental Mediation of Children's Viewing in a Changing Television Environment

For 25 years, Israeli television operated as a virtual monopoly, with one single channel shared by Educational TV and the Public Broadcasting Authority. Young viewers were exposed to non‐commercial quality programs primarily geared for children. The introduction of cable television challenges the ways parents control their children's viewing and fills the role of mediators between television and the child. This study is based on two surveys among parents of Israeli children aged 2‐8. The first was conducted with 537 parents in 1989, prior to the introduction of cable TV, and the second with 552 parents who had cable in 1993, when cable TV penetrated half of all Israeli homes. The results indicate that the introduction of cable TV changed strategies of parental control and mediation and parents’ assessment of television's influence on children. Active parental mediation was closely related to the attribution of learning values to children's viewing and to gratifications attributed to educational television broadcasts. Loosening of control and allowance for independent children's viewing was closely related to the attribution of entertainment value to children's viewing and to viewing of cable television.     

BBC Education: the effectiveness and evaluation of educational broadcasting

BBC Education provides educational broadcasts for people of all ages‐‐ for young children, for pupils and for students in educational institutions including the Open University, as well as for adult learners in more informal groups and for those who are listening or viewing at home. All these broadcasts are supported by printed materials of various kinds and, in many cases, by back‐up services such as telephone referral facilities. BBC Education's services are provided as part of the BBC's public service remit. This paper outlines the contextual factors which BBC Education seeks to take into account and the research measures it takes to ensure the continued relevance of its output.     

Responsiveness to General Education Instruction as the First Gate to Learning Disabilities Identification

Most definitions of learning disabilities (LD) include a qualification that adequate general education instruction was received and the child with LD did not benefit. Rarely is this tenet assessed in either practice or research before a diagnosis is made. We review three studies that investigated children's responsiveness to general education reading instruction as an indicator of need for more intensive interventions. Adequacy of instruction was quantified by children's level and rate of progress, compared to classmates, as measured by curriculum‐based measures of oral reading fluency. We found that the response‐to‐instruction model tested was valid in that (1) children who differ from their peers on level and slope of performance (dual discrepancy) have more severe academic and behavioral problems than children who have IQ‐achievement discrepancies or low achievement; (2) children who demonstrate persistent nonresponsiveness over three years differ from other at‐risk children on reading, reading‐related, and behavioral measures; and (3) at‐risk children who participated in specially designed general education interventions had better outcomes than at‐risk children who did not participate. We conducted additional analyses to assess low achievement definitional variations and found that they lack sensitivity and coverage compared to a dual discrepancy definition.     

Technology and Physical Education: Present,Possibilities, and Potential Problems'

During the early 20^th Century, female athletes who did not fit into the model of feminine beauty and grace, represented through select models of sport, were often not considered in media reports and newspapers. Through an examination of the use of narrative inquiry in the exploration of women's experiences in 20th Century Canadian sport, a lack of representation and gaps in information concerning women's participation in sport has been identified. In order to discuss how these gaps can be accounted for, the examination of narrative inquiry as an epistemological methodology is required. Building on this analysis, this paper compares and contrasts the use of a causal chain model versus the use of the story as an explanation. Through this discussion, an assessment of how an application of this school of inquiry can be used to account for the experiences of female athletes will be discussed.     

Infant temperament and subject loss due to crying during operant conditioning

Infants who failed to complete a 2-day operant-conditioning task were compared with a stratified random sample of those who did on measures of infant temperament and several demographic characteristics. A discriminant-function analysis revealed that female infants who cried differed from female infants who did not cry on measures of duration of orienting and latency to approach sudden or novel stimuli. Reliable prediction of crying and noncrying could not, however, be made for males. No sex differences emerged in the incidence of crying or in the number of sessions completed. Partially successful females (i.e., those completing 1 of the 2 sessions) could reliably be discriminated from those who cried during the first session on measures of age at testing and maternal ratings of smiling behavior. The results of this study suggest that, as with habituation studies, subject loss in operant-conditioning studies is influenced by individual differences among the infants which may or may not adversely affect external validity.     

Value System Similarity and the Supervisory Relationship

This study assesses the value systems held by supervisors and supervisees in the counseling practice. The relation between value system similarity and two dependent measures was examined; the level of communication within and the overall satisfaction with the relationship. Participants included 37 student supervisees and seven supervisors in a master's program. Correlation coefficients were computed to establish the relationships between the dependent measures and between value similarity measures and the dependent variables. The results did not indicate a meaningful relation between the similarity of value systems for supervisee and supervisor and either dependent measure. The results, however, did indicate a strong relationship between the supervisee's satisfaction with the supervisory relationship and the level of communication that was developed in supervision.     

Patterns of image comparison using compare and contrast feature in Urinalysis Tutor™

This study examined how students interacted with a computer-based feature, Compare and Contrast , which facilitated image comparisons. Unlike previous research, which explored the use of images ordered and presented by investigators, this study examined emerging patterns of image comparison as students selected the presentation mode. Three main image-viewing modes emerged including one successive mode and two simultaneous modes: (1) single image viewing in which only one image was viewed at a time; (2) paired viewing in which different pairs of images were displayed; and (3) anchored viewing in which a single image in one image panel served as an anchor against which multiple image comparisons were made using the second panel. Overall, anchored viewing was the most predominant image-viewing mode used by the students (41%) compared to single viewing (22%) and paired viewing (11%). Students who viewed images in the anchored-viewing mode attained the highest scores on the post-test exam. Our study suggests that a computer instructional program with a user-controlled interactivity feature can provide insights on how learners form different types of visual comparison strategies. Future experimental studies involving interface design that explicitly supports single, paired, and anchored viewing modes could confirm or challenge the results of our study and therefore, contribute to on-going research on the effective mode of image presentation for visual concept acquisition.     

Examining the predictive validity of behavior screeners across measures and respondents

Through this study we compared different informants and different behavior screening tools that are available to screen for behavioral and emotional risk. We examined screening results from 100 students from a high school with a high achiever's magnet program in the Southeastern United States (school demographics: 71% female and 79% black, non-Hispanic). This school conducted behavior screening using both teacher-report via the Student Risk Screening Scale, Internalizing/Externalizing (SRSS-IE) and student report via the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ). Nonparametric correlation tests were conducted between the SRSS-IE and SDQ externalizing and internalizing scores. Generalized linear regression models were created based on the data (demographics, internalizing, and externalizing scores on both screening tools) to model the two count outcomes (office discipline referrals [ODRs] and absences). Diagnostic accuracy metrics were generated from the scores on both the SRSS-IE and SDQ with the outcome measures (ODRs and absences). Externalizing scores on both screening tools had statistically significant low correlations. The ODR model contained two predictors: externalizing score on the SRSS-IE and internalizing score on the SDQ, while the absence model contained grade and the externalizing score on the SDQ. The highest accuracy and agreement values were seen between students with elevated risks on both screening measures and ODRs. The results confirmed that teacher and student reporting, as well as different screening tools, will result in some different students being identified. The choice of informant and screening tools should be dependent on the needs and resources of the school.     

Television Police Dramas and Children's Beliefs about the Police

An experimental study was carried out among three groups of children aged 10 to 16 years, two of whom were shown episodes from two UK‐produced police drama series and the other (control group) viewed nothing. Children were tested one week before the viewing sessions and immediately afterwards with a series of questions about their perceptions of the police and police work, their real life contact with the police or crime, and details of their television viewing habits and demography. Both viewing groups were tested for their comprehension of the police drama episode they had been shown. Results showed that older children were better able than younger children to follow dramatic plots, but that the evidence for an effect of single television drama episodes on children's beliefs about the police was less clear‐cut. Both children in the two viewing groups and those in the control group exhibited some shifts in their perceptions of the police. Children who watched the television episodes, however, were more likely to show opinion shifts in relation to specific attributes of the police or police work which were strongly featured in the programmes.     

Exploring the use of multiple analogical models when teaching and learning chemical equilibrium

This study describes the multiple analogical models used to introduce and teach Grade 12 chemical equilibrium. We examine the teacher's reasons for using models, explain each model's development during the lessons, and analyze the understandings students derived from the models. A case study approach was used and the data were drawn from the observation of three consecutive Grade 12 lessons on chemical equilibrium, pre‐ and post‐lesson interviews, and delayed student interviews. The key analogical models used in teaching were: the “school dance”; the “sugar in a teacup”; the “pot of curry”; and the “busy highway.” The lesson and interview data were subject to multiple, independent analyses and yielded the following outcomes: The teacher planned to use the students' prior knowledge wherever possible and he responded to student questions with stories and extended and enriched analogies. He planned to discuss where each analogy broke down but did not. The students enjoyed the teaching but built variable mental models of equilibrium and some of their analogical mappings were unreliable. A female student disliked masculine analogies, other students tended to see elements of the multiple models in isolation, and some did not recognize all the analogical mappings embedded in the teaching plan. Most students learned that equilibrium reactions are dynamic, occur in closed systems, and the forward and reverse reactions are balanced. We recommend the use of multiple analogies like these and insist that teachers always show where the analogy breaks down and carefully negotiate the conceptual outcomes. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 42: 1135–1159, 2005     

Do Differences in Phonological Processing Performance Predict Gains Made by Older Low-progress Readers Following Intensive Literacy Intervention?

The research study examined the gains in single word recognition and oral reading fluency made by a group of low-progress readers following an intensive, systematic skills based reading programme (MULTILIT). Performance on the Phonological Assessment Battery (PhAB) was used to identify 'dyslexic' students (with poor phonological awareness) from 'garden-variety' low-progress readers. It was hypothesised that the identified group of 'dyslexic' students ( N = 16) would make smaller gains in reading outcomes compared to the group of 'garden-variety' low-progress readers ( N = 6). The results did not support the hypothesis since both groups of low-progress readers made substantial gains on both reading measures. Moreover, PhAB sub test scores did not predict size of gains. The results provide evidence for the usefulness of intensive literacy remediation to increase the reading gains of disabled readers despite their status (dyslexic or garden-variety) as a low-progress reader and lend support to those researchers who advocate a non-categorical approach to addressing reading disability. There is tentative evidence to suggest that the inclusion of a short phonological awareness training component for nine students may have impacted favourably on the reading outcomes of the 'dyslexic' group of low-progress readers.     

Mental Models of Text and Film: a multidimensional scaling analysis

Abstract Following a brief review of research using multidimensional scaling as a measure of literary perception, it is proposed that the technique provides one possible route to an illumination of Bransford & Johnson's (1973) idea that when people understand a text they create a model within which events described in the text might reasonably occur. Two hypotheses are proposed and tested. First, that models are constructed, in memory, of the inter‐relationships and cross‐relationships of character attributions made in accordance with those themes understood in reading a piece of work of novel length. Secondly, that similar models are constructed from viewing a feature length film. Orwell's (1945) Animal Farm, the book and the film (Halas & Bachelor, 1955), were selected as content because of their known distinctive structures. Results support both hypotheses. They also support the earlier work of Bisanz (Bisanz, La Porte, Vesonder & Voss, 1978) concerning the validity of multidimensional scaling for representing mental organisations of the thematic structure of short stories, extending their results to the reading and viewing, respectively, of a novel length book and film. Two related issues concerning the possible effects of medium of communication on modelling and the educational implications of modelling are discussed.     

Learning to Re-imagine: Uncovering affective investments in female film characters

ABSTRACT In this article I explore how I use my imagination to analyse the two main female characters, Dede and Jane, in the film Little Man Tate (1991). Although I perceive Dede and Jane to be portrayed in very stereotypical ways, my analyses do not remain limited to this detached level of viewing, rather I try to gain an understanding of the tremendous pain I experienced while watching their lives performed on the screen. I examine closely how my imagination has been shaped by the traditional message that women must choose between motherhood and a career and how, as a result, I invested in the conflict between Dede who I perceived as a 'good mother' stereotype and Jane who I perceived as a 'successful career woman' stereotype. By reassessing how I have learned to evaluate female characters, I discuss how students, like myself, can be taught to uncover their affective investments in the filmic stories they are learning to criticise.     

Hyperactive children's perceptions of teachers' classroom behavior

The relationship between hyperactive behavior and children's perceptions of teachers' behavior was investigated. Particular attention was paid to two aspects of teacher behavior—acceptance and demand. An extensive literature review supported the position of viewing hyperactive behavior from a situational and an interactional perspective. The literature also indicated that children's behavior is affected by their perceptions of adult behavior. The subjects were 92 boys enrolled in 8 regular elementary school classrooms. Children's perceptions of acceptance and demand in their teacher's behavior were measured by administering a partial form of the Teacher Behavior Questionnaire to classroom groups. Observed levels of hyperactive behavior were measured by having the subjects' teachers complete the Conners Abbreviated Questionnaire for each boy. Using correlational analyses, hyperactive behavior was found to be significantly related to both variables in the directions of less perceived acceptance and greater perceived demand. The combination of these two measures accounted for 16% of the variance between hyperactivity and student perception of teacher behavior. On group comparison measures, hyperactive boys perceived significantly less acceptance and greater demand than did their nonhyperactive peers.     

The Socialization of Compassionate Behavior by Child Care Teachers

The present study examined how child care teachers' socialization practices and child characteristics jointly predict children's sympathetic-prosocial responding. A total of 25 teachers of 105 five-year-old children were observed during free play with regard to their warmth, non-directiveness and passivity-activity. The children's reactions to distress simulations in two different situations were observed. The children's inhibition and aggression were rated by teachers and parents. More compassionate behavior was shown by girls as compared to boys and by children in classes with warmer teachers; inhibited children showed tendentially less sympathetic-prosocial reactions than non-inhibited children. Furthermore, girls who showed sympathetic-prosocial reactions were rated as more aggressive than girls who did not, and boys who showed sympathetic-prosocial behavior as compared to those who did not were in classes with warmer teachers. The data suggest that child characteristics as well as socialization practices play an important role in children's interpersonal functioning. Among the teacher variables, their ability to interact in a warm, affectionate way is of central importance for the development of emotional competence in children.