Vocational Interests and Career Efficacy Expectations in Relation to Occupational Sex-Typing Beliefs for Eighth Grade Students

Following the recommendations of Lent, Brown and Hackett's Social Cognitive Career Theory (2000), we measured eighth grade boys' and girls' perception of the proportion of men and women employed in occupations and their level of interest and self-efficacy for those occupations. Results indicated that eighth grade boys and girls expressed stronger career interest in and higher self-efficacy for those occupations that they rated as employing more of their own gender. The study highlights how career practitioners can work with adolescents to widen their perceived range of occupational choices.     

Science related attitudes amongst Victorian catholic primary school teachers

Conclusion This study is preliminary in nature, and the instrument will require some modification to reduce its length and to further increase the reliability of the attitude scale. None-the-less, in addition to replicating some important aspects of previous studies, and introducing a measurement of primary school teachers' science related attitudes, it does provide valuable data prior to the introduction of the new course guides. When used in conjunction with the findings of a similar survey which is to be conducted in 1983, these data will help to assess the impact of the introductory phase of the course in Victorian Schools.     

A fresh approach to child protection practice and legislation in Australia

This paper outlines some of the findings and approaches of the Victorian Review. It assesses a stylized "orthodox model" of child welfare law and practice, a model which remains in many Australian jurisdictions and which has its popularity in Britain, Canada, and the United States. It concludes that serious consideration should be given to rebuilding and strengthening these arrangements. This entails emphasis on utilizing laws to serve an educative function and facilitating access by children and families to preventive and support services. It argues that a broad concept of neglect should be adopted and that the "welfare orientation" of the Children's Court requires reconsideration, because the capacity of courts to resolve entrenched structural problems of society has been overrated. Welfare practice, and specifically a community approach to welfare, should shape the primary response to protection of children; judicial involvement should be a last resort.     

Transfer of facilitation in the rat

In two experiments, rats solved two concurrent discrimination problems in which one stimulus (i.e., a facilitator) signaled the reinforcement of another stimulus (i.e., a target). Then a transfer test assessed the capacity of facilitators trained in one problem to promote responding to targets trained in the other. Experiment 1 found that a facilitator promoted as much responding to such a transfer target as to the target with which it was originally trained. Transfer was not obtained with a pseudofacilitator that was uninformative, in training, about the reinforcement of its target. Experiment 2 manipulated the stimulus modality of the targets and facilitators. Its results indicated that transfer performance was not due to generalization between training and transfer targets or facilitators. These results parallel those from comparable autoshaping paradigms with pigeons, and they agree with the view that facilitators promote responding by lowering the threshold for activation of the US representation.     

Interpretations of colposcopic photographs: evidence for competence in assessing sexual abuse?

Accurate assessment of physical findings for child sexual abuse is medically and legally important. This study evaluated (1) interobserver reliability of clinicians rating colposcopic photographs, and (2) correlates of reliable interpretations. Seventy physicians and two nurse practitioners, divided by professional levels, assessed colposcopic photographs and completed a questionnaire. Ratings by a professional with extensive experience in this field were used as an accuracy standard. Leaders in the field of child sexual abuse assessment made significantly more "accurate" assessments than pediatricians, pediatric and family practice residents, and intern physicians. Leaders made fewer "inaccurate" interpretations than interns. Predictors of agreement with standard assessments, although weak, were knowledge of female perineal anatomy and professional level. Total number of sexual abuse examinations conducted and knowledge of sexually transmitted diseases as acquired by children were not significant predictors of accurate assessment. The findings are interpreted as to their potential relevance to actual sexual abuse evaluations of children.     

Peer collaboration and concept development: Learning about photosynthesis

The researchers designed the study to achieve two goals: (1) determine the affect of peer collaboration on high school biology students' acquisition of concepts related to photosynthesis and (2) examine interactions in a collaborative peer group situation to determine how these interactions relate to the developpment of concepts associated with photosynthesis. Using quantitative and qualitative data analysis techniques, the researchers concluded that students working in peer collaborative groups developed more scientifically correct conceptions of photosynthesis than did students working alone. However, not all group-generated views were internalized by group members when assessed individually. Based on qualitative data, a functional relationship exists between prior knowledge and concept development. Two types of peer interaction, consonant and dissonant, were identified as enhancing concept development. When peer group roles are not assigned, roles fluctuate depending on group members' expertise or perceived expertise displaying a bidirectional zone of proximal development. This zone allows for enhanced concept development. Based on the above conclusions, the researchers recommend that (1) peer collaboration be used to help students overcome scientific misconceptions; (2) peer collaborative tasks be designed to engage students in consonant and dissonant interactions; and (3) cognitive group roles, as opposed to traditionl managerial cooperative group roles, be used.     

Embryonic auditory experience and maternal call recognition

Peking duck embryos respond selectively to the maternal call of their species on the day before hatching, given normal embryonic auditory experience (the sounds emanating from their siblings and themselves which begin late on Day 24 of development). Groups of Peking embryos were subjected to recordings of either the mallard or the Burmese red jungle fowl maternal call beginning on Day 21 of incubation. Responses to these calls were tested on the day before hatching to determine the effects of the prenatal auditory experience. The responses of those birds exposed to the mallard maternal call were neither attenuated nor enhanced (as compared to the controls) when presented that call; those subjects which were exposed to the jungle fowl maternal call later failed to respond to that call or the mallard maternal call.     

Direct instruction in math word problems: students with learning disabilities

This investigation was conducted to test the effectiveness of strategy teaching and sequencing practice problems in teaching students with learning disabilities to identify the correct algorithm for solving addition and subtraction word problems. Sixty-two students were assigned to one of three experimental groups: strategy plus sequence, strategy only, and sequence only. The results indicated that students in the strategy-plus-sequence group, as well as those in the strategy-only group, scored significantly higher than did students in the sequence-only group. Findings indicated that strategy teaching was the more effective of the two instructional components. Implications are discussed in terms of instructional design for students with learning disabilities.