Parental estimates of children's receptive vocabulary

Samples of 13 mothers and fathers of normal preschool children and 11 mothers of high-risk preschool children estimated their children's vocabulary ability by predicting their child's responses to individual PPVT-R items and by making a global rating of their child's vocabulary ability. Prior to the parental estimations, the children had been administered the PPVT-R. Accuracy of parental estimates, as measured by d', was low, although the mothers' average estimates were significantly higher than zero and higher than fathers' estimates. Accuracy of estimation was similar for mothers of normal preschoolers and for mothers of high-risk preschoolers. Time spent reading to the child, mothers' employment, and children's ability level were not related to parental accuracy. Although correlations between the children's scores and parental estimates all were significant, parents tended to overestimate their children's abilities by approximately 9 to 10 points on the average. Overall, parental estimates of their children's vocabulary ability, using a global rating scale, provide a somewhat useful measure for placing their children in a broad classification range.     

动物也有思维吗?

动物也有思维吗?答案是步定的.它们比我们人类所能想象到的更加聪明,有记忆,会模仿,会开心,会生气,有多种技能,让我们大开眼界.……     

Parental beliefs and their role in child-rearing

Beliefs have been a topic of considerable interest among researchers in various fields. In this article 71 articles reporting a study on parental beliefs and published in the course of fifteen years (1980–1995) are reviewed. After clarifying the term ‘belief’, the topics and the methodological solutions of the studies are discussed. Throughout the discussion the question of the origins of parental beliefs and the belief — behaviour dilemma are dealt with. Finally, the implications of the findings and suggestions for future research are presented.     

Incest survivors: the relation of their perceptions of their parents and their own parenting attitudes

The present study examined the child-rearing attitudes of incest and nonincest child sexual abuse survivors and their perceptions of their own parents' behavior. From a sample of women with a history of child sexual abuse, 40 women with children completed questionnaires designed to assess their own and their parents' child-rearing behavior in terms of the dimensions of parental acceptance and control. The data indicated that women from incestuous backgrounds had more negative perceptions of their fathers and mothers in terms of acceptance and control than women abused by men who were not related to them. Moreover, incest victims who perceived their mothers negatively endorsed autonomy promotion in their own attitudes toward child rearing. The findings are discussed in terms of (1) the lack of positive parenting models when relations with both parents are experienced as negative, (2) incest survivors' conflicts about their own early maturity, and (3) the relation of these findings to the tendency for intergenerational repetition of father-daughter incest.     

School teachers' control and involvement in their own evaluation

Summary For the technical, sociological-psychological, and political benefits of teacher participation in evaluation to occur, new structures and policies concerning evaluation must be put into place. Teachers must be given stagewise support in developing increased involvement and control. But finally, those policy makers, evaluation program designers and researchers who plan for teacher evaluation must act to more completely include teachers in their own evaluation. A great deal of good is at stake in the opportunity to increase teacher participation in teacher evaluation.     

Mentors' perceptions of their own professional development during mentoring

During 2001–2002 the Faculty of Education at the University of Hong Kong undertook a large‐scale evaluation of the school–university partnership scheme. As part of this study, all mentors were asked how, if at all, the mentoring process had enhanced their own professional development. An open‐response questionnaire was administered with a selection of follow‐up interviews. About 70% of the mentors claimed that they had benefited professionally from mentoring. Here we analyse mentors' responses and from them propose four constructs that we suggest lead to professional development, namely: learning through self‐reflection, learning from student teachers, learning through mutual collaboration, and learning from university tutors. Of these, the first appears to be the most significant.     

Tertiary students' knowledge of their own learning and a SOLO Taxonomy

This paper is a report of the analysis of statements by 869 students and their 21 lecturers in 12 courses in 5 Faculties in the Queensland University of Technology (QUT). The students and lecturers were asked to write a page about learning. The objectives were to collect data to devise a taxonomy of levels of knowledge of learning held by tertiary students and lecturers and to use this to describe student knowledge to lecturers as a basis for planning for teaching. The statements were categorised, using the SOLO Taxonomy as a model (c.f., Biggs and Collis 1982, 1989), by two trained researchers and checked by the author and a consultant. The majority of responses for both students and lecturers were multistructural. A MANOVA for SOLO levels by deep, surface and achieving motives and strategies showed that as SOLO levels increased surface motives declined and deep motives and strategies assumed more importance. The key concepts in learning identified by a random sample of 100 students were further analysed and described for each SOLO level. A SOLO type model of levels of knowledge of learning is proposed, based on the structure of the responses.     

A victim of their own success? Employment and working conditions of academic staff in comparative perspective

Interest in the status and functions, the potential and thevulnerability of the academic profession has grown in recent times.International comparison is of special interest in this context: are theproblems experienced more or less universal, or are there options andconditions in individual countries which might suggest solutions for thefuture? The paper analyses some findings and implications of the‘International Survey of the Academic Profession’ with a special focus onthe various subgroups of academics in the European countries involved inthis empirical study. The analyses focuses on the employment and workingconditions, as well as the way academics handle their various professionaltasks and functions. Considerable differences between the universityprofessoriate, middle-rank and junior staff at universities and staff atother institutions of higher education are noted. At least in the majorityof European countries surveyed, one would hesitate to consider them part ofthe same profession. By and large, however, the relatively independentnature of their jobs allows most academics to find areas of professionalactivity which are the source of professional attachment andsatisfaction.     

跨国公司为何纷纷自已办大学

从20世纪80年代以来,以美国为主的西方发达国家企业中高层管理人才培训工作发生了变化,培训的机构、培训场所以及专业教师逐步从普通高校(大学商学院)向企业转移,培训形式和做法也与以往有所不同,相继出现企业自己纷纷建立公司大学的现象.     

An investigation of student teachers' knowledge about their own learning

Twenty-nine student teachers from a large metropolitan university in Queensland, Australia were interviewed at the beginning (Time 1) and end (Time 2) of a year-long graduate diploma in education to investigate the nature of their knowledge about learning and changes in such knowledge over the year. At Time 1 and Time 2 most students thought learning should be meaningful and preferred to use transformative learning approaches. However, students indicated a willingness to engage in reproductive approaches to learning if the content to be learned was uninteresting, workloads were high, or assessment was examination-focussed. The results also indicated that while many students did not experience significant changes in their knowledge about learning over the year, they believed that transformative learning had become more of a focus for them. Investigating student teachers' knowledge about learning has implications for effective learning in teacher education programs.     

对教师自行设计的英语测试的题项分析

为评估教师自行设计的英语测试的题项质量,通过一次调查问卷和两次测试,对一套英语精读考试卷的多项选择题部分进行了题项分析。结果表明部分题项的质量偏低,不能有效区分学生的水平。此结果足以引起大多数教师的重视,以采用科学的语言测试分析方法来提高命题质量。     

Healthcare needs of older adults: in their own words

Community-based health and human services professionals can play an important role in bolstering wellness through offering education to elderly residents and healthcare providers on how to address the unique needs of this population. The purpose of this study was to examine the healthcare needs of the elderly living in two metropolitan counties in Georgia that have experienced an increase in the number of elderly residents. Utilizing qualitative data garnered through focus groups, two main themes were identified: the role of exercise as a means of personal power and feelings of powerlessness. Participants’ narratives reflected opportunities and situations fostering good health through exerting their personal power to alter or improve individual health. On the other hand, negative pathways leading away from optimal health were realized when participants felt powerless to change their health status. For health and human services professionals working with the elderly, these findings should be considered as population, personal well-being, and power changes overtime.     

Parental predictions of their children's knowledge about dangerous situations

This study explored the extent to which parents can predict their 5-, 8-, and 12-year-old male and female children's responses to questions about safe and dangerous situations. A total of 68 children and 61 parents of these children were questioned about their children's knowledge of (1) home address/telephone number, (2) strangers, (3) what to do in various emergency situations, (4) trust in police, (5) compliance towards police, and (6) resistance towards strangers. Parents were most accurate in predicting their children's understanding of strangers and trust in police officers. Parents overestimated their 5-year-olds' knowledge of home address/telephone and appropriate behaviors when lost or in abduction situations. Parental overestimations of knowledge and the likelihood to behave safely were more frequent with boys than with girls. Parental underestimations of children's knowledge of certain types of avoidance actions also were found. The results were interpreted in terms of metacognition and sex differences in spatial freedom.     

Explaining home education: Parents' accounts of their decisions to teach their own children

This paper analyzes the reasons that parents choose to teach their children at home. From data collected over 18 months of qualitative research in a state in the southeast, three broad explanations for choosing home schooling emerged. First, the parents believe that home education will strengthen their families. Second, many home-schooling parents (particularly those who are fundamentalist Christians) believe that schools teach values and beliefs that directly contradict those they want their children to learn. Third, many of the parents believe that only they, as parents, understand their children's unique educational needs well enough to effectively teach them. The failure of educational policy makers to consider the extraeducational issues raised by home-schooling parents is then discussed.     

大学生应付方式及其与父母教养方式的关系研究

本文主要从大学生心理健康研究的视角,采用问卷方式,对在校大学生应付方式与父母教养方式的关系进行了系列问卷调查研究。研究表明,大学生应付方式与父母教养方式密切相关。即大学生在父母情感温暖理解得分越高,其积极应付方式行为越多;反之,其消极应付方式行为越多。因此认为,大学生心理健康水平的提升,需要学生家长和学校教育两相配合,协同教育。     

Teachers' memories of disciplinary control strategies from their own school days

This article provides a vision of school disciplinary strategies as provided by childhood school memories of practicing or unemployed teachers. This narrative approach allows us to understand the school and its daily routines and rituals from an insiders' point of view, drawing upon the double perspective teachers employ when reflecting on their own experience as school children. The results of the study demonstrate a wide range of disciplinary practices coinciding with a Foucauldian disciplinary structure – a system of micro‐penalty governing time, activity, behavior, speech, the body, and sexuality. Analyzing the systemic regulation of bodies in schools can uncover institutional meanings and make them available for questioning, perhaps even negotiation. Recognizing the ways in which teachers' roles are inextricably bound with the disciplinary power relations of their institutions can help alleviate frustration and burnout and help teachers make more informed pedagogical decisions.