Childhood Problems in a Sudanese City: A Comparison of Extended and Nuclear Families

The relation between emotional and social development and family structure in the Sudanese capital, Khartoum, was examined. Children between the ages of 4 and 9 living in extended and nuclear families were compared on mothers' ratings of a range of childhood problems. Analysis revealed that children in nuclear families had more conduct, emotional, and sleep problems, poorer self-care, and were more likely to be overdependent than those living in extended families. They were also less likely to be breast fed, to be weaned later, and to have grandmothers involved in child care. Linear multiple regression revealed that, of these 3 childcare factors, grandmother's involvement was the strongest predictor of normal social and emotional adjustment. The possible protective characteristics of the extended family are discussed in relation to the importance of the grandmother as maternal advisor, social support, and socialization agent.     

Role Taking Ability,Nonverbal Sensitivity,Language and Social Adjustment of Deaf Adolecents

The relationships between social‐cognitive processes, language, and social‐behavioural skills were evaluated by analyzing the data of 68 deaf students, aged 14 to 2o years, who attended special education classes with vocational orientation. The social‐cognitive processes included Role Taking Ability (RTA) and Non‐Verbal Sensitivity (NVS). Language was evaluated by the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (PPVT) and by a test of Emotional Vocabulary (EV). Social‐behavioural skills were assessed by Goldstein, Sparfkin, Greshaw and Klein's (1980) Social Skills Checklist. The social‐behavioural skills were used as indicators of social adjustment. The results revealed low performance in all the social‐cognitive abilities. Language played a major role in social adjustment. However, the availability of specific emotional vocabulary was not a better predictor of social adjustment than general language ability. Although RTA was associated with social adjustment, this association was related to language ability, and RTA did not add a unique contribution to the explanation of social adjustment. NVS emerged as an important, special and independent social‐cognitive ability. The results were discussed in relation to the function of language in social cognition.     

Contact with Mainstreamed Disabled Children and Attitudes Towards Disability: a multidimensional analysis

Attitudes towards disabilities of 156 hearing students who experienced different levels of contacts with mainstreamed hearing impaired students were evaluated by a multi‐dimensional questionnaire, the Disability Factor Scale—General. Forty‐four subjects were studying in the same classes with hearing impaired students (high level of contact), 57 students were studying in the same school but not in the same classes with the hearing impaired students (moderate level of contact) and 55 subjects did not have any contact with hearing impaired children.

Subjects who had a moderate level of contact expressed more negative attitudes than subjects of the two other groups on a scale which measured the tendency to advocate segregation of disabled people and to hold a derogatory approach towards them. Subjects of the group with a moderate level of contact tended to attribute more functional limitations to disabled persons than subjects who had a high level of contact. No differences were found between attitudes of subjects who experienced high level of contact and of those who had no contact.

These results are discussed in relation to the characteristics of the different contact situations which the three groups of subjects had and the affective, behavioural and cognitive‐evaluative components of their attitudes.     

The Relation Between Global and Specific Mindset With Reading Outcomes for Elementary School Students

An emerging body of research has evaluated the role of growth mindset in educational achievement, yet little work has focused on the unique role of mindset to standardized reading outcomes. Our study presents 4 key outcomes in a sample of 195 fourth-grade students. First, we evaluated the dimensionality of general and reading-specific mindset and found that a global factor of growth mindset (GGM) existed along with specific factors of general and reading mindset. Second, GGM and reading mindset strongly predicted word reading and reading comprehension. Third, GGM and reading mindset uniquely predicted reading comprehension after controlling for basic word reading skills. Fourth, GGM was more strongly associated with reading comprehension for those individuals with weaker reading comprehension skills, whereas reading mindset was more strongly associated with reading comprehension for those with stronger reading comprehension skills. Our findings suggest the potential importance of assessing general and reading-specific mindset linked to reading.     

Bilingual poetry: expanding the cognitive and cultural dimensions of children's learning

Stories and poetry have long been considered a resource for the language and literacy development of bilingual children, particularly if they can work with texts in both mother tongue and English. This paper demonstrates that bilingual learning is also beneficial for second and third‐generation children whose English is often stronger than their mother tongue. Presenting data from an action research project in East London primary schools, we show how children investigated metaphor and cultural content in a Bengali lullaby, clarifying concepts through dialogue with their parents. Comparison with a lullaby in English from North America generated additional ideas concerning different cultural values. The learning process enabled children to use their bilingual skills and draw on different aspects of their bicultural identities. Finally, we explain how bilingual poetry can be used to stimulate learning in a multilingual classroom context, through the example of a whole‐class lesson based around Bengali and English lullabies.     

Meeting the challenges: The development of quality assurance in Oman’s Colleges of Education

The educational history of the Sultanate of Oman has undergone rapid development. In 1970, there were three primary schools. Today, there is universal education, with modern public and private institutions. In 1985, the first teacher education institutions offered a diploma programme. In 1994, six Colleges of Education, offering a degree, were established. Recently, the Directorate General-Colleges of Education, Ministry of Higher Education, introduced a quality assurance process in these colleges based on self-assessment, external review, feedback, and monitored change. This paper outlines how the process was established, the challenges it presented, and the solutions that have been developed.     

文本到底是什么？

文本在计算机上的表示方式影响着文本创作者与其他用户使用文本的方式。现有的电子文档模型还有很多不足和局限。笔者认为文本最好的表示模型是有序的分层内容对象模型(OHCO),这种模型揭示了文本到底是什么这一根本问题。OHCO 模型符合 SGML 等新兴标准,且有利于作者、出版商、研究者等不同用户。本文介绍了该层次模型以及未来如何将文档作为一种数据库、超文本、网络来加以利用和重用。     

Islamic parents’ attitudes and beliefs towards school-based sexual and reproductive health education programmes in Oman

School-based comprehensive sexuality education (CSE) programmes play an important role in reducing young people’s sexual risk behaviour and promoting health and well-being. There is limited evidence regarding the attitudes and beliefs of parents towards the implementation of school-based CSE programmes in Islamic cultural settings, including Oman, which this mixed-method study set out to explore. A convenience sample of 250 parents, with equal numbers of mothers and fathers of children aged 12–14 years (grades 7–9) at two urban public pre-secondary schools in Saham, completed a paper-based self-administered questionnaire in Arabic. We found most parents (72.8%) supported school-based CSE programmes that conformed to Islamic requirements of pre-marital sexual abstinence, but there was some opposition. Almost all parents supported comprehensive age-appropriate CSE being taught to students aged 10–15 years, including topics perceived as controversial in Omani culture, except for birth control and safer sex. Most parents considered themselves, school teachers and school nurses to be important sources of CSE. The study findings which suggest strong parental support for CSE programmes can facilitate education policy, CSE curriculum decision-makers and school healthcare-providers in Oman, other Middle Eastern countries, and countries with Muslim immigrant populations.     

Puberty Predicts Approach But Not Avoidance on the Iowa Gambling Task in a Multinational Sample

According to the dual systems model of adolescent risk taking, sensation seeking and impulse control follow different developmental trajectories across adolescence and are governed by two different brain systems. The authors tested whether different underlying processes also drive age differences in reward approach and cost avoidance. Using a modified Iowa Gambling Task in a multinational, cross‐sectional sample of 3,234 adolescents (ages 9–17; M = 12.87, SD = 2.36), pubertal maturation, but not age, predicted reward approach, mediated through higher sensation seeking. In contrast, age, but not pubertal maturation, predicted increased cost avoidance, mediated through greater impulse control. These findings add to evidence that adolescent behavior is best understood as the product of two interacting, but independently developing, brain systems.     

From agricultural extension to capacity development: exploring the foundations of an emergent form of practice

This essay argues that capacity development is a response to changes in the organization and practice of agricultural extension as these changes have excluded small resource farmers. In this essay I trace the changes in the organization of agricultural extension through to the emergence of the concept and practice of capacity development. The idea of capacity development is then examined as presented in the existing literature where it is concluded that capacity development is a somewhat vacuous concept. It is then argued that capacity development needs to be understood in the context of an emerging participatory worldview. The foundations of this participatory worldview are then articulated, including the dimensions of a participatory epistemology. The concept of capacity development is then revisited examining the implications of this new worldview for the practice of capacity development followed by the conclusions.