The Relative Influence of Material and Purpose on Reading Rates

Abstract

An interest scale was used to compare secondary students expressing high social studies-low English interest versus low social studies- high English interest. Similar studies were conducted for social studies-math and social studies- science combinations. Statistical tests for differences between interest and I.Q., reading ability, grades, sex, and parent educational level indicated (1) boys express higher interest in social studies than in English, with girls the opposite; (2) girls express higher interest in social studies than in science, with boys the opposite; and (3) mothers of students expressing high social studies interest but low math interest have higher educational levels than do mothers of students expressing the opposite interests.     

Knowledge and attitudes of secondary school teachers regarding sexual health education in England

Objective To assess the sexual health knowledge of teachers who contribute to secondary school sexual health education in order to determine whether teachers are adequately prepared to implement present government education and public health policies.

Design Results were obtained from a questionnaire as part of a two‐phase intervention study.

Setting Nineteen mixed‐sex, state secondary schools in central England.

Participants One hundred and fifty‐five teachers (94 female, 61 male) participated.

Main outcome measures The questionnaires were distributed to teachers to assess their knowledge of sexual health, contraception and sexually transmitted infections. In addition, teachers' attitudes on the subject of sex and relationships education were evaluated.

Results The results suggest that teachers have insufficient sexual health knowledge to effectively teach sexually transmitted infections or emergency contraception, although their general sexual health knowledge was good. Therefore, at present teachers do not have adequate specialist knowledge in sexual health to contribute to current recommendations for sex and relationships education in secondary schools. There were no statistically significant differences in the results regarding location of school, area of residence, gender or age of the participant.

Conclusions Many teachers are being expected to contribute to secondary school sexual health education programmes at a time when they do not have sufficient knowledge to provide young people with adequate sexual health education and when they do not feel prepared to teach, and in many cases would prefer not to teach, these programmes.     

Adolescents’ motives for selling sex in a welfare state – A Swedish national study

In addition to money or other compensation, other motives for selling sex may be important in a welfare country such as Sweden. The aim of this study was to carry out an exploratory investigation of adolescents’ motives for selling sex in a population-based survey in Sweden. A total of 5839 adolescents from the third year of Swedish high school, mean age 18.0 years, participated in the study. The response rate was 59.7% and 51 students (0.9%) reported having sold sex. Exploratory factor analysis and hierarchical cluster analysis were used to identify groups of adolescents according to underlying motives for selling sex. Further analyses were carried out for characteristics of selling sex and risk factors. Three groups of adolescents were categorized according to their motives for selling sex: Adolescents reporting; 1) Emotional reasons, being at a greater risk of sexual abuse, using sex as a means of self-injury and having a non-heterosexual orientation. 2) Material but no Emotional reasons, who more often receive money as compensation and selling sex to a person over 25 years of age, and 3) Pleasure or no underlying motive for selling sex reported, who were mostly heterosexual males selling sex to a person under 25 years of age, the buyer was not known from the Internet, the reward was seldom money and this group was less exposed to penetrative sexual abuse or using sex as a means of self-injury. In conclusion, adolescents selling sex are a heterogeneous group in regard to underlying motives.     

Associations between blocking,monitoring, and filtering software on the home computer and youth-reported unwanted exposure to sexual material online

ObjectiveTo examine the relationship between the use of preventive software on the home computer and unwanted exposure to sexual material online.MethodsThe Youth Internet Safety Survey-2 was a national, RDD telephone survey conducted in March–June 2005. Eight hundred households (one caregiver and one child between the ages of 10 and 17 years) with home Internet access answered questions pertaining to Internet prevention activities in the household and adolescent behaviors and exposures online.ResultsUnwanted exposure to sexual material occurred in 32% of youth in homes with pop-up/spam blockers and 25% of youth in homes with filtering, blocking, or monitoring software on the home computer, compared to 43% of households without preventive software installed on the home computer. Among otherwise similar youth, pop-up/spam blockers installed on the home computer were significantly associated with 59% lower odds of reporting unwanted exposure to sexual material on the home computer; and filtering, blocking, or monitoring software was significantly associated with 65% lower odds. When data were stratified by youth sex, associations between preventive software and unwanted exposure were similar for boys and girls. When stratified by age, preventive software was associated with significantly reduced risk of unwanted exposure for 10–12-year olds and 13–15-year olds, but not for 16–17-year olds.ConclusionAlthough these correlational analyses are far from providing conclusive evidence that preventive software protects children from unwanted exposure to sexual material online, findings suggest that caregivers of boys and girls 15 years of age and younger who want to reduce the likelihood of unwanted exposure to sexual material on the home computer should consider including preventive software—especially filtering, blocking, or monitoring software—in their Internet safety plan.Practice implicationsPractitioners should partner with caregivers in developing an Internet safety plan, including proactive caregiver-youth discussions about expected Internet behavior appropriate for their household.     

Knowledge of secondary school pupils regarding sexual health education

Objective: To assess the sexual health knowledge of secondary school pupils in order to ascertain whether the current government public health and education policies are having any impact on pupils' sexual health.

Design: Results obtained from a questionnaire as part of a two‐phase intervention study.

Setting: Nineteen mixed‐sex, state secondary schools in central England.

Participants: Year 8 pupils (350 male, 345 female), year 9 pupils (300 male, 325 female) and year 10 pupils (310 male, 329 female).

Intervention: A questionnaire survey to assess the knowledge of pupils' sexual health education.

Main outcome measures: Questionnaires distributed to pupils as baseline to assess their knowledge of sexual health, contraception and sexually transmitted infections.

Results: Sexual health knowledge improves with age. A significant difference across all age groups was found, although knowledge regarding sexually transmitted infections and emergency contraception is poor for all age groups.

Conclusions: Current sexual health education provision is not providing young people with adequate knowledge regarding sexual health and contraception.     

Sexual abuse history among adult sex offenders and non-sex offenders: A meta-analysis

ObjectiveThe sexually abused–sexual abuser hypothesis states there is a specific relationship between sexual abuse history and sexual offending, such that individuals who experience sexual abuse are significantly more likely to later engage in sexual offenses. Therefore, samples of adult sex offenders should contain a disproportionate number of individuals who have experienced sexual abuse, but not necessarily other types of abuse, compared with samples of other types of offenders.MethodsWe compared rates of sexual and other forms of abuse reported in 17 studies, involving 1,037 sex offenders and 1,762 non-sex offenders. We also examined the prevalence of different forms of abuse in 15 studies that compared adult sex offenders against adults (n = 962) and against children (n = 1,334), to determine if the sexually abused–sexual abuser association is even more specific to individuals who sexually offend against children.ResultsWe observed a higher prevalence of sexual abuse history among adult sex offenders than among non-sex offenders (Odds Ratio = 3.36, 95% confidence intervals of 2.23–4.82). The two groups did not significantly differ with regard to physical abuse history (OR = 1.50, 95% CI = 0.88–2.56). There was a significantly lower prevalence of sexual abuse history among sex offenders against adults compared to sex offenders against children (OR = 0.51, 95% CI = 0.35–0.74), whereas the opposite was found for physical abuse (OR = 1.43, 95% CI = 1.02–2.02).ConclusionThere is support for the sexually abused–sexual abuser hypothesis, in that sex offenders are more likely to have been sexually abused than non-sex offenders, but not more likely to have been physically abused. We discuss potential mechanisms for the relationship between sexual abuse history and sexual offending, including the possibility that a third factor might account for the relationship.Practice implicationsThe most obvious implications of these findings is that the prevention of sexual abuse of children, either through prevention programs directly targeting children or through treatment programs targeting individuals who are likely to sexually offend against children (e.g., known sex offenders against extra-familial boys), may eventually reduce the number of sex offenders. This implication is dependent, however, on a causal role of childhood sexual abuse, and on the effectiveness of prevention and treatment practices.     

Communication in Online Learning – How Important is It?

Abstract

The purpose of this transcendental phenomenological study was to describe teacher experiences of teacher-to-student technology-mediated communication (TMC) in secondary virtual school (VS) environments in Alabama. The central research question for this study was: How do virtual school teachers in Alabama describe their experiences of teacher-to-student technology-mediated communication in secondary virtual school environments? Students educated in virtual environments use TMC, so teachers must know what kinds of TMC work best. The problem is that the teacher voice has been ignored in identifying teacher-to-student TMC that is effective in secondary VS environments. Using purposeful sampling of 12 VS teachers in Alabama, this research utilized semi-structured interviews, artifacts, and an asynchronous online focus group to uncover teacher experiences of teacher-to-student interactions in VS environments. In seeking meaning from their experiences, the predominant theme of whatever is best for the students became evident. Four themes developed pertaining to the participants’ experiences: Teacher mindset, teacher presence, integration of technology into instruction, and technology issues.     

Changes in Urban-Rural Social Structure and Distribution of High School Educational Opportunities—An Analysis Based on Middle School Graduation Education Tracking in Q County,Gansu

Abstract

To a certain extent, the distribution of high school education opportunities among the population determines the stratification of high school education opportunities. The researchers examined the distribution of high school education opportunities within the county region based on survey data on middle school graduation education tracking in Q County, Gansu Province. The research results showed there is a phenomenon of sex and strata structure reproduction in the process of middle school graduation educational tracking. This verifies and supports the MMI hypothesis and EMI hypothesis in the secondary education segment, and the EMI hypothesis can explain the situation in China. The mobility of nonagriculturalized and nonagricultural occupations did not increase high school education opportunities for the peasant strata, and even had an opposite effect. Father’s level of education embodied in cultural stratification is the main factor determining high school education opportunities.     

调整我国软件出口战略与政策的思考

经过多年的发展,我国已成为软件销售大国,软件出口也有了长足进展。但是。由于我们一直在从事软件开发低端的应用软件设计及技术含量低的外包业务,以及我们在世界软件产业链中所占的环节太少,使得我国软件业的可持续性发展遭受了巨大挑战,因此,必须进行软件出口的战略调整,并从退(免)税政策、投融资环境改善、人才战略环境建设、政府搭建平台等方面,制定促进我国软件出口的政策建议。     

The Relationship of Classroom Organisation to Cross‐age and Cross‐sex Friendships

The friendship nominations of 40 standard 2 children (aged 8‐10 years), 20 in multi‐level and 20 in single‐level classes, were examined. Children nominated friends, including age and whether they went to the same school, by writing down friends’ names in class and stating them verbally in an interview situation. Children were asked in the interview about their best friends, their views on cross‐sex and cross‐age friendships, and what friends do together. Results showed that 65% of interview‐nominated and 56% of class‐nominated friends were of the same age, while 91% of interview‐nominated and 81% of class‐nominated friends were of the same sex. Children from multi‐level classes had significantly more different aged friends on class and interview measures, and more different sexed friends on the class measure, than children from single‐level classes. Children's out‐of‐school friendships were more likely to be with cross‐age or cross‐sex children than were their in‐school friendships. Children tended to give positive reasons for playing with different aged friends, such as learning from more skilled older friends and feeling responsible when nurturing younger children, but few positive reasons were given for playing with opposite sex friends. Most children expressed a lack of interest or even a dislike for the activities and characteristics of the opposite sex.     

Introduction

Abstract

The popularity of twins and non‐twins at school was studied longitudinally. Eight categories of pupils were distinguished by classifying them according to sex and twin type: monozygotic, dizygotic same‐sex, and dizygotic opposite‐sex as well as male and female non‐twins. Popularity ratings done by classmates on two different occasions at 11 and 13 years of age were analyzed. Differences in popularity between categories as well as changes in popularity over time were considered. The main results obtained seem to confirm and extend earlier findings reported in the literature about popularity differences between twins and non‐twins. For popularity change a relative similarity between categories was found significant, which implies that all categorical differences in popularity change can be better explained by the categorical differences in popularity at age 13 than by those at age 11.     

Interpersonal process recall: a novel approach to illuminating students’ software development processes

Background and Context: Encouraging undergraduate programming students to think more about their software development processes is challenging. Most programming courses focus on coding skill development and mastering programming language features; subsequently software development processes (e.g. planning, code commenting, and error debugging) are undervalued. Moreover, many of these processes involve tacit thinking that is often seemingly invisible, meaning it can be difficult for teachers to identify and address shortcomings in student processes.

Objective: In this paper, we employ a novel approach called Interpersonal Process Recall (IPR) to encourage students to think more about their software development processes.

Method: We conducted IPR sessions with five undergraduate programming students—we screen captured them working on programming assignments, and then used the screen captures to stimulate reflection. IPR is hallmarked by several key features, namely its developmental (rather than evaluative) focus, and the use of a facilitator to guide reflection in a structured way.

Findings: We found IPR was useful for both the teaching staff and the students, revealing incongruence between the value students placed on certain development processes and what they actually do in practice.

Implications: IPR is a novel approach for shining a light on student software development processes. We hope this paper encourages other practitioners to consider adding IPR to their toolbox of approaches for encouraging students to reflect on their software development processes.     

Indoctrination and Intent

Abstract

Two questionnaires, designated as Teachers’ Questionnaire on Sex Education (TQSE) and Student Teachers’ Questionnaire on Sex Education (SQSE) were administered to teachers and student teachers respectively to find out how interested, willing and prepared they are to be involved in sex education programmes in Nigerian secondary schools. This approach was predicated on the belief that teachers have a vital role to play in implementing any government policy on sex education particularly if such policies are to be routed through the schools.

Results show that teachers and student teachers alike are in favour of sex education. Thy are also willing, interested and prepared to participate in sex education programmes. They feel deficient, however, in their knowledge of sex education.     

Storyboarding shakespeare: learners' interactions with storyboard software in the process of understanding difficult literary texts

Abstract

In the spring term of 2000, a small-scale research project was undertaken by the authors to investigate the ways in which secondary schoolaged children and their teachers might use an example of state-of-the-art educational software within their ongoing study of William Shakespeare's Macbeth, and the nature of the impact such use might have on teaching and learning. The piece of software in question was a prototype of Kar2ouche®– a storyboard tool which provides the user with the capability to create, capture, store, retrieve and interact with a range of images and texts. The development of the software and the classroom-based research into the implications for teaching and learning of advanced uses of information and communications technology in the classroom are funded by Intel. This article describes three trial lessons using Kar2ouche® and reports on two distinct ways in which this technology made a valuable contribution to pupils' learning by encouraging them to explore beneath the surface of the text of the play in order to gain a deeper understanding of plot, mood, atmosphere and character motivation. The article also addresses the notion of interactivity in educational software and the central importance of the teacher in light of these findings     

Characteristics of Moral Problems as Formulated by Gifted Adolescents

Abstract

A study was conducted to examine the nature of moral problems as formulated by gifted adolescents. Subjects from Grades 9‐12 were asked to generate stories involving a moral problem and to provide a solution. As in Kohlberg's moral dilemmas, students depicted a central protagonist as well as a definite subsidiary character. There was a significant relationship between the sex of the student and the sex of the protagonist. The protagonist and subsidiary characters were approximate to the age of the subject. Half (53 per cent) of the moral problems involved friendship or a love relationship between the protagonist and the subsidiary character. Most subjects (92 per cent) were able to give guidelines for a solution to their moral problem. Solutions to moral problems were categorized as indicating primarily either a personal (focus on self) or social (focus on group or society at large) perspective. The majority (55 per cent) of subjects gave solutions based on a social perspective, while 45 per cent offered solutions indicating a personal perspective. Comparisons by sex and grade revealed that older students (Grades 11 and 12) tended to resolve their moral problems from a personal perspective while the younger students (Grades 9 and 10) more often took a social perspective. Comparisons were also made between the stories written by gifted adolescents, the Kohlberg dilemmas, and the moral dilemmas formulated by a general population of adolescents (Yussen, 1977).     

Some sources for the history of teacher‐training in England and Wales

Abstract:

Though his best‐selling novel of school life Eric, or, Little by Little: A Tale of Roslyn School has over the years been the subject of much attention, the wider educational thought and practice of Frederic William Farrar, teacher, novelist, scientist, classicist, theologian, and Dean of Canterbury, has for the most part been neglected by scholars. This paper discusses certain aspects of Farrar the educationist, including his distinctive evangelical attitude toward children; his fervent criticism of the prevailing Classical public school curriculum; his advocacy that much more science be taught; his strong antipathy to corporal and other punishment; his distaste for the increasing athleticism in the public schools; his view of the main purpose of education, namely the inculcation of morality, religious conviction, and intellectual rigor.     

The History of Science Cases (HOSC): Nine Units of Instruction in the History of Science

Summaries

English

As a result of the strongly historical discussion of the structure of science and its social role, the history of science has become indispensable educational subject matter. The fulfilment of the widely recognized requirement for scientific orientation of learning seems no longer possible without a conception of the history of science.

Historical topics in science instruction were previously mostly limited to biographical notes. At best, occasional references can be found to the ‘discovery’ of laws considered by science as being of central importance. An explanation for this unsatisfactory situation must be the lack of appropriate instructional resources. This is especially true for the secondary‐school level. Thus, it is worthwhile to bring to mind a project which was completed in the USA several years ago, but which has so far not received much attention in Europe: the History of Science Cases by Leo E. Klopfer, which consists of nine teaching units in the history of science which are suitable for use in instruction at the ninth and tenth grades.     

Attitudes and Communications about Wildlife

Abstract

In order to determine the effects of sex, grade level, region, and academic preparation on energy opinions, selected items from Kuhn's revision of Wert's Energy Opinionnaire were constructed into a criterion measure on total score and three sub-scale scores. The Ss were 251 secondary school students from two regions of the country and an academically prepared class of secondary students enrolled in a course entitled “Science and the Economics of Energy.” The data were analyzed first to compare selected chi-square results of the study with results reported by Kuhn and to compare Alpha Statements. The second phase included the use of ANOVA and Scheffe Comparisons. In general, there were significant differences in ANOVA results by sex, region of the country and, to some extent, academic preparation. There were no significant results by grade level or conservation.