Young children's beliefs about the stability of traits: protective optimism?

Prior research has demonstrated individual differences in children's beliefs about the stability of traits, but this focus on individuals may have masked important developmental differences. In a series of four studies, younger children (5-6 years old, Ns = 53, 32, 16, and 16, respectively) were more optimistic in their beliefs about traits than were older children (7-10 years old, Ns = 60, 32, 16, and 16, respectively) and adults (Ns = 130, 100, 48, and 48, respectively). Younger children were more likely to believe that negative traits would change in an extreme positive direction over time (Study 1) and that they could control the expression of a trait (Study 3). This was true not only for psychological traits, but also for biological traits such as missing a finger and having poor eyesight. Young children also optimistically believed that extreme positive traits would be retained over development (Study 2). Study 4 extended these findings to groups, and showed that young children believed that a majority of people can have above average future outcomes. All age groups made clear distinctions between the malleability of biological and psychological traits, believing negative biological traits to be less malleable than negative psychological traits and less subject to a person's control. Hybrid traits (such as intelligence and body weight) fell midway between these two with respect to malleability. The sources of young children's optimism and implications of this optimism for age differences in the incidence of depression are discussed.     

Sensing the Coherence of Biology in Contrast to Psychology: Young Children's Use of Causal Relations to Distinguish Two Foundational Domains

To what extent do children understand that biological processes fall into 1 coherent domain unified by distinct causal principles? In Experiments 1 and 2 ( N  =   125) kindergartners are given triads of biological and psychological processes and asked to identify which 2 members of the triad belong together. Results show that 5-year-olds correctly cluster biological processes and separate them from psychological ones. Experiments 3 and 4 ( N  =   64) examine whether or not children make this distinction because they understand that biological and psychological processes operate according to fundamentally different causal mechanisms. The results suggest that 5-year-olds do possess this understanding, and furthermore, they have intuitions about the nature of these different mechanisms.     

Developing a System for Describing Teaching

If only 49.9% of the women's Division I college athletic teams are coached by women (Acosta &; Carpenter, 1985a), then based on extrapolation it seems that women hold about 25% of all Division I coaching positions. Although a few researchers have investigated the reasons for this skewed gender ratio, they have used the individual model that assumes the worker shapes the workplace. In contrast, this author attempts to explain male domination of the profession using an organizational model based on the assumption that the structure of the workplace shapes the worker. This model is the basis for Kanter's (1977) theory in which she identifies three structural determinants of the workplace that shape gender differentiated work behavior. This author explores the shape of these determinants—opportunity, power, and proportion in the coaching profession—to determine how they may affect the number of females who enter and leave the coaching profession. The discussion of each determinant is accompanied by suggestions for restructuring the workplace to make the climate more favorable for women coaches.     

Reimagining adult education and lifelong learning for all: Historical and critical perspectives

International Review of Education -     

My Wildest Dream: A Letter to My Black Son

Abstract

This article is a letter to my son. In this letter I tell him the truth of my reality in theological education, as one filled with sexism, racism, and various other experiences. I express my fears for him in this world as a black boy who will grow into a black man. I also discuss my hope for his future and the future of theological education. I discuss how I believe that playing, changing the rules, and having good friends to play with could aid in creating a better future not only for him but theological education as well.     

The Conceptualization of Models

In this paper, the theoretical basis and practical alternatives of critical pedagogy are applied to graduate courses in physical education. An autobiographical sketch is used to illustrate how critical pedagogy tries to affirm the “personal” and bridge it to the “political.” The faulty paradigmatic assumptions on which physical education in higher education is based are then analyzed and deconstructed. These paradigmatic assumptions are important factors for the crises facing physical education and society at large. Finally, an example of implementing critical pedagogy in the university classroom is provided, relating how students and the instructor can (a) connect the content and the objectives of courses to the broader social issues, (b) scrutinize and try to eliminate conventional relations of power in the classroom, and (c) bring the personal and the political into the learning process.