THE PLOWDEN REPORT'S RECOMMENDATIONS FOR IDENTIFYING CHILDREN IN NEED OF EXTRA HELP

The inadequacies of an area or school‐based approach to the problem of identifying children who are in need of extra help at school are illustrated with data collected from the infant reception classes of 12 schools. These sample schools were each nominated for one of three categories according to the characteristics of the areas which they served. The two local education authorities involved each nominated an advantaged school, a settled working‐class school, and four deprived schools. The socio‐economic and developmental characteristics of the infant reception class intakes of these categories of school type were examined. The findings were that categories of school type are not as socio‐economically disparate as may often be assumed; and that there appears to be a sizeable relationship between school type and the school entrants’ developmental characteristics, but there are too many exceptions to this general trend to justify the use of school characteristics for identifying ‘children at risk’.     

VCR attitudes and behaviors by length of ownership

A random sample telephone survey of 579 VCR owners revealed that length of VCR ownership was related to attitudes, behaviors, and communication technology ownership. The longer the VCR presence, the more likely respondents were (a) to express positive altitudes about watching and recording network television; (b) to record television shows; (c) to perform higher level recording behaviors (e.g., recording a program while watching another); (d) to record sports programs, news magazines, and public television shows; and (e) to seek particular tapes at the video store. The results support the contention that VCR adopters are not a monolithic group and that familiarity may cause the newest adopters to reinvent the way they use the VCR.     

Predicting the Adoption of Mobile DTV by Local Television Stations in the United States

Just a few years after local TV stations transitioned from analog to digital transmissions, dozens of stations across the United States have begun to provide live programming via mobile digital television (DTV). An exploratory study of television station managers (adopters and non-adopters of mobile DTV) focused on various perspectives of the technology, adoption motivations, and audience factors. Findings revealed that station owners and management were the ones who primarily determined whether to adopt mobile DTV. In addition, stations that had adopted the technology were more likely than non-adopters to be motivated by a desire to be the first to use mobile DTV.     

Lesbian and Gay Issues in the Wake of HIV and AIDS

Having provided an historical review of the development of theories of personality, this paper discusses the significant research that has been undertaken in this area. One example is Myers' work which is important both in terms of the original research and of the production of a questionnaire (type indicator) which has been used in over 40 countries. Using Jung's theory of psychological types and the more recent work of David Keirsey on temperaments, Patricia Hedges argues that there will be cases where a mismatch between teacher and pupil temperament will exist, with potentially serious consequences. The final section introduces a programme designed to increase self-understanding, heighten awareness and ultimately lead to more satisfactory relationships and to more effective learning and teaching.     

Making the Muscular Briton

The subject of this article is ‘The Royal Readers’, a group of reading anthologies published in Britain by Thomas Nelson between 1872 and 1881 for use in elementary schools. The focus is not on their contribution to the teaching of reading but rather on how they functioned as the tools of an education system conceived primarily as an agent of socialisation. Using examples drawn directly from the texts, it is shown by what means the educators sought to transmit the ideology of imperialism and to define for working-class children – especially boys – a future role in Empire. The article concludes by speculating on the possible impact on pupils of the kind of reading experience offered by these materials.

Below-average, average, and above-average readers engage different and similar brain regions while reading

Event-related potentials (ERPs) were recorded from 27 children (14 girls, 13 boys) who varied in their reading skill levels. Both behavior performance measures recorded during the ERP word classification task and the ERP responses themselves discriminated between children with above-average, average, and below-average reading skills. ERP amplitudes and peak latencies decreased as reading skills increased. Furthermore, hemisphere differences increased with higher reading skill levels. Sex differences were also related to ERP amplitude variations across the scalp. However, ERPs recorded from boys and girls did not differ as a function of differences in the children's reading levels.     

Behavioral patterns of Djungarian hamsters: An adaptive profile

Djungarian hamsters (Phodopus sungorus) were observed in a series of laboratory tests, including home cage activity, wheel running, open-field behavior, sexual dimorphism for body mass, copulatory behavior, tonic and dorsal immobility, climbing, digging, nest building, and parental behavior. Fourteen resulting measures were compared with previous results from this laboratory from a variety of muroid species. A cluster of behavioral adaptations emerged with several marked similarities to the behaviors of a group of North American Microtus species, whereas other behaviors appeared to more closely reflect the classification of the hamsters as cricetines. It is suggested thatPhodopus andMicrotus species may have evolved many similar adaptive characteristics in response to shared environmental variables.