Predicting reading growth with event-related potentials: Thinking differently about indexing “Responsiveness”

The purpose of this study was to determine if event-related potential (ERP) data collected during three reading-related tasks (Letter Sound Matching, Nonword Rhyming, and Nonword Reading) could be used to predict short-term reading growth on a curriculum-based measure of word identification fluency over 19 weeks in a sample of 29 first-grade children. Results indicate that ERP responses to the Letter Sound Matching task were predictive of reading change and remained so after controlling for two previously validated behavioral predictors of reading, Rapid Letter Naming and Segmenting. ERP data for the other tasks were not correlated with reading change. The potential for cognitive neuroscience to enhance current methods of indexing responsiveness in a response-to-intervention (RTI) model is discussed.     

Accounting for unexpected test responses through examinees’ and their teachers’ explanations

Researchers have developed indices to identify persons whose test results ‘misfit’ and are considered statistically ‘aberrant’ or ‘unexpected’ and whose measures are consequently potentially invalid, drawing the test’s validity into question. This study draws on interviews of pupils and their teachers, using a sample of 31 10‐year‐olds who were flagged as most ‘aberrant’ in a standardised mathematics test. The children’s and their teachers’ explanations were analysed and attributed: (i) to item‐, person‐ (self/other) and classroom‐levels; and ii) according to causal dimensions. Children’s and teachers’ explanations were mostly in agreement in relation to unexpected negative results and they included references to previously well‐cited sources of construct‐irrelevant variance (e.g. ineffective test‐taking strategies, careless mistakes) as well as construct‐relevant variance (e.g. misconceptions, weaknesses in particular topics). Findings of this exploratory study are discussed from a test validity and attribution theory perspective: we conclude that this approach offers grounds for multi‐level explanations of person misfit and that this qualitative research approach to unexpected responses is worthy of more attention.     

Calcium carbonate polymorph control using droplet-based microfluidics

Calcium carbonate (CaCO(3)) is one of the most abundant minerals and of high importance in many areas of science including global CO(2) exchange, industrial water treatment energy storage, and the formation of shells and skeletons. Industrially, calcium carbonate is also used in the production of cement, glasses, paints, plastics, rubbers, ceramics, and steel, as well as being a key material in oil refining and iron ore purification. CaCO(3) displays a complex polymorphic behaviour which, despite numerous experiments, remains poorly characterised. In this paper, we report the use of a segmented-flow microfluidic reactor for the controlled precipitation of calcium carbonate and compare the resulting crystal properties with those obtained using both continuous flow microfluidic reactors and conventional bulk methods. Through combination of equal volumes of equimolar aqueous solutions of calcium chloride and sodium carbonate on the picoliter scale, it was possible to achieve excellent definition of both crystal size and size distribution. Furthermore, highly reproducible control over crystal polymorph could be realised, such that pure calcite, pure vaterite, or a mixture of calcite and vaterite could be precipitated depending on the reaction conditions and droplet-volumes employed. In contrast, the crystals precipitated in the continuous flow and bulk systems comprised of a mixture of calcite and vaterite and exhibited a broad distribution of sizes for all reaction conditions investigated.     

Young Children's Trust in Their Mother's Claims: Longitudinal Links With Attachment Security in Infancy

In a longitudinal study of attachment, children ( N = 147) aged 50 and 61 months heard their mother and a stranger make conflicting claims. In 2 tasks, the available perceptual cues were equally consistent with either person's claim but children generally accepted the mother's claims over those of the stranger. In a 3rd task, the perceptual cues favored the stranger's claims, and children generally accepted her claims over those of the mother. However, children's pattern of responding varied by attachment status. The strategy of relying on the mother or the stranger, depending on the available perceptual cues, was especially evident among secure children. Insecure-avoidant children displayed less reliance on their mother's claims, irrespective of the available cues, whereas insecure-resistant children displayed more.     

Cultural transitioning of Jewish immigrants: Education, employment and integration

This paper discusses the cultural transitioning process that immigrants undergo in order to attain educational, occupational, and social integration within Canadian society. Results of this phenomenological study examining 31 Jewish immigrants from Argentina, Israel, France and the Former Soviet Union, reveal that lack of educational equivalency and lack of recognition of foreign work experience, language barriers, discrimination, insider/outsider sentiments and the structure of the community were common impediments to cultural transitioning. However, findings suggest that despite a common religious identity, immigrants’ ethnic identities and expectations lead to divergent cultural transitioning experiences.     

Gaze Behavior of Gymnastics Judges: Where Do Experienced Judges and Gymnasts Look While Judging?

Gymnastics judges and former gymnasts have been shown to be quite accurate in detecting errors and accurately judging performance. Purpose: The purpose of the current study was to examine if this superior judging performance is reflected in judges’ gaze behavior. Method: Thirty-five judges were asked to judge 21 gymnasts who performed a skill on the vault in a video-based test. Classifying 1 sample on 2 different criteria, judging performance and gaze behavior were compared between judges with a higher license level and judges with a lower license level and between judges who were able to perform the skill (specific motor experience [SME]) and those who were not. Results: The results revealed better judging performance among judges with a higher license level compared with judges with a lower license level and more fixations on the gymnast during the whole skill and the landing phase, specifically on the head and arms of the gymnast. Specific motor experience did not result in any differences in judging performance; however, judges with SME showed similar gaze patterns to those of judges with a high license level, with 1 difference in their increased focus on the gymnasts’ feet. Conclusion: Superior judging performance seems to be reflected in a specific gaze behavior. This gaze behavior appears to partly stem from judges’ own sensorimotor experiences for this skill and reflects the gymnasts’ perspective onto the skill.     

Structure reconsidered: Towards new foundations of explanatory transitions theory

The most prominent framework for studying socio-technical transitions to date is the multi-level perspective (MLP). While appreciated for its flexibility and usefulness for studying socio-technical transitions it has not been without its critics. In this paper we focus on the ontological foundations of the MLP and its (in)ability to explain transitions and how they come about. The purpose is to initiate development of an explanatory theory for socio-technical transitions, by carrying out an immanent critique of the ontological foundations of the MLP together with a methodological critique. We show that the ontological foundations of the MLP to a large extent inhibits explanatory capacity. The argument is fourfold: since structure and agency are understood as inseparable, (i) the causal influence of material properties are undervalued, and (ii) different degrees of structural constraint and freedom of actors are ignored. As a consequence (iii) transitions are reduced to shifts in the maturity and spread of socio-cognitive rules, without analysis of systemic change. Moreover, (iv) mechanisms are reduced to recurring patterns of events which cannot explain why some transitions fail while others succeed. To remedy these limitations we outline alternative critical realist foundations for transitions theory.     

Language Specialists to Reap Dividends

Schools are to receive financial rewards for encouraging pupils to study modern languages at GCSE and A level.The extra ivestment was announced as Ofsted,the schools inspectorate,discloses today that England‘s specialist schools continue to outperform the non-specialists,with language colleges achieving the highest grades.