Stability of overt Type A behaviors in children: results from a one-year longitudinal study

This paper describes the degree of similarity between repeated ratings (taken 1 year apart) of overt Type A behaviors in 2 samples totaling 633 children. The measure of overt Type A behaviors was the Matthews Youth Test for Health (MYTH), which was completed by the children's classroom teacher. Results showed that correlations between repeated MYTH ratings approximated .55 and in general increased somewhat with the children's school grade, although correlations between repeated ratings of competitive achievement behaviors of boys residing in an affluent eastern suburb were somewhat lower than above. The degree of similarity across 1 year in children's Type A behaviors is comparable to that found for adult Type A behaviors and for other cardiovascular risk factors in children. The discussion includes a consideration of assumptions underlying research on the origins of Type A behavior and suggests that etiological factors in the development of Type A might profitably be studied in primary school-aged children.     

Faculty Learning Matters: Organizational Conditions and Contexts that Shape Faculty Learning

This study explored the relationships between faculty scholarly learning, faculty teaching learning, institutional support, faculty demographics, disciplinary groups, working conditions, and career outcomes such as retention, productivity, satisfaction, and career agency. We found that the stronger the scholarly learning faculty members reported, the more institutional and unit support they perceived for learning, the more satisfied they were, the less likely they were to intend to leave their institution, and the more career agency they reported. Similarly, we found that faculty members who reported more learning related to teaching reported a decreased intent to leave the institution and increased career agency. We draw implications for the development of work environments that support scholarly and teaching learning.     

Mass Incarceration in California Counties: A Mechanism for Educational Inequality

Abstract

Although there is substantial evidence of the negative effects of being incarcerated or having a father imprisoned, there is little research on the spillover effects created by the concentration of incarceration within disadvantaged communities. This article addresses this limitation by investigating the association between mass incarceration and the educational outcomes of all Black and White children living in a community where many of its members were incarcerated across counties within California from 2009 to 2013.     

Leveraging the potential of peer feedback in an academic writing activity through sense-making support

The act of revising is an important aspect of academic writing. Although revision is crucial for eliminating writing errors and producing high-quality texts, research on writing expertise shows that novices rarely engage in revision activities. Providing information on writing errors by means of peer feedback has become a popular method in writing instruction. However, despite its popularity, students have difficulties in leveraging the potential of peer feedback: feedback uptake is low and students engage in little revision. Instructional support might help learners to make sense of peer feedback and to reflect on the provided information more deeply. The present study investigated the effect of sense-making support on feedback uptake as well as on revision skills, in particular problem detection and problem correction. In an experimental study, 73 university students were randomly assigned to conditions with or without sense-making support. The results indicate that feedback uptake improved concerning two out of three variables: students in the condition with sense-making support made fewer new errors and rejected more incorrect feedback comments. Students’ revision skills only improved with regard to problem detection. Overall, we were able to show that peer feedback alone might not be sufficient to make successful changes in the text and improve revision skills. Sense-making support proved to be effective to some extent and partially helped to maximize the benefits of peer feedback.     

The relationship of teacher ratings of executive functions to emergent literacy in Head Start

Reading and Writing - The purpose of this study was to investigate the concurrent relationships between selected teacher-rated executive function (EF) and a comprehensive array of emergent literacy...     

Racialised Schooling, 'Ethnic Success' and Asian-Australian Students

Based on discussions with Asian-Australian young women at a mixed-sex, Australia State high school, this article argues that the pro-school conformity of Asian-Australian young women sets them in a problematic and precarious relationship to the material and symbolic and processes of racialisation. The first part of the article identifies the limitations of research into the pro-school/anti-school orientations of minority students, arguing that most accounts are based on theories of culture, acculturation, class and gender, and class and race that neglect an analysis of race and sex. I then argue that practices of racialisation and sexualisation actually sustain pro-school culture and Asian female group associations. While these formations are effective in securing Asian female educational success, they are also problematic because they limit the educational possibilities and employment opportunities of Asian young women in Australia.     

Idealisation and Galileo’s Pendulum Discoveries: Historical, Philosophical and Pedagogical Considerations

Galileos discovery of the properties of pendulum motion depended on his adoption of the novel methodology of idealisation. Galileos laws of pendulum motion could not be accepted until the empiricist methodological constraints placed on science by Aristotle, and by common sense, were overturned. As long as scientific claims were judged by how the world was immediately seen to behave, and as long as mathematics and physics were kept separate, then Galileos pendulum claims could not be substantiated; the evidence was against them. Proof of the laws required not just a new science, but a new way of doing science, a new way of handling evidence, a new methodology of science. This was Galileos method of idealisatioin. It was the foundation of the Galilean–Newtonian Paradigm which characterised the Scientific Revolution of the 17th century, and the subsequent centuries of modern science. As the pendulum was central to Galileos and Newtons physics, appreciating the role of idealisation in their work is an instructive way to learn about the nature of science.     

Organizing libraries for nonreaders

Many nursery schools and kindergartens manage to accumulate hundreds of books without ever having a library. While the same worn titles grow old on classroom shelves, treasures often lie buried in random corners or in supply closets. More often, all the books are crammed together haphazardly on shelves in a teachers' room where no child ever sees them and no teacher can find what he or she is looking for. Dian G. Smith is a freelance writer and author of My New Baby and Me: A First-Year Record Book for Big Brothers and Sisters (Scribner, 1986). Alexandra Azar is an Associate Instructor for the University of Utah, Continuing Education, in Library Science.