Kindergarten child care experiences and child achievement and socioemotional skills

Young children's experiences outside of both home and school are important for their development. As women have entered the labor force, child care has become an increasingly important context for child development. Child care experiences prior to school entry have been well-documented as important influences on children's academic and socioemotional development. However, less is known about the importance of non-parental, out-of-school care for young school-age children's development. Using a nationally representative sample of kindergartners (n = 16,888), this study examined the relationship between child care experiences during the kindergarten year and children's academic and socioemotional skills. Given that the amount of time available for child care is by definition related to the type of kindergarten a child attends, differences in the relationship between child care and child development were explored separately by full- and part-day kindergarten. Results showed that across both types of kindergarten, more hours of center care during the kindergarten year were associated with small improvements in math test scores for all children. Any center child care during the kindergarten year was associated with increased problem behavior and decreased prosocial skills, even after accounting for a large number of confounding factors. Differences by family income and child gender were also investigated. Implications for policy and practice are discussed.     

Applied positive psychology: Improving everyday life,health, schools,work, and society

Multiple disciplines guide our practice, but none is more relevant than the wholesome approach of positive psychology. In Applied Positive Psychology: Improving Everyday Life, Health, Schools, Work, and Society (2011), the editors address four core areas: society, human development, institutional organizations, and future directions. The strength of this book lies in its comprehensive compilation of research‐based, applied, and integrated practices for improving the living, working, and social conditions of those we strive to help every day. Applied Positive Psychology: Improving Everyday Life, Health, Schools, Work, and Society (ISBN: 978‐0‐415‐87781‐7) is published by Routledge.     

Using a wiki to facilitate an online professional learning community for induction and mentoring teachers

The purpose of this case study was to report on the use of a wiki as a tool for conducting online professional learning communities (OLCs) with 26 induction and mentor teachers. Data sources include teachers’ wiki postings and teacher interviews. Results indicate that: (a) Web 2.0 tools may be most effective in OLCs when the social features are utilized in addition to the features that enable task completion; (b) Using Web 2.0 tools restrictively, and without consideration of their affordances, may inhibit the success of OLCs; (c) Online learning communities for induction teachers may be most effective when supplemented with face-to-face discussion; and (d) A task-driven environment in OLCs can encourage professional dialogue and reflection, but may make induction teachers feel isolated and unsupported.     

Research summaries for normal birth

In this column, the author presents summaries of four research studies that further illuminate the physiology and benefits of normal birth. The topics of the studies are home birth, upright positions during the second stage of labor, delayed pushing in women using epidural analgesia, and the effect of exposure to familiar odors on newborns.     

Empathetic Responses and Attitudes about Older Adults: How Experience with the Aging Game Measures Up

This study aimed to assess the impact of pre-professional education on students' knowledge and attitudes about aging, including the option of a simulated learning activity. Using a mixed design, groups of nursing and nutrition students (n = 127) were randomly assigned to experience the Aging Game. Pre- and posttest observations included measures of anxiety, attitude and empathy. In the Aging Game, students played the role of an elderly adult with common physical disabilities during various scenarios and then reflected on the experience. As a result, students became more familiar with what being an older adult felt like, and increased understanding and empathy.     

Doing the right thing: infants' selection of actions to imitate from observed event sequences

Two studies were conducted to investigate how 14- to 16-month-old infants select actions to imitate from the stream of events. In each study, an experimenter demonstrated two actions leading to an interesting effect. Aspects of the first action were manipulated and whether infants performed this action when given the objects was observed. In both studies, infants were more likely to imitate the first action when it was physically necessary to generate the effect, and in Study 2 they were also more likely to imitate the action when it was socially cued. It seems that infants' own knowledge of space and causality as well as their sensitivity to others' social signals both contribute to their tendency to imitate actions.     

Subtypes, severity, and structural stability of peer victimization: what does latent class analysis say?

This study uses latent class analysis (LCA) to empirically identify victimization groups during middle school. Approximately 2,000 urban, public middle school students (mean age in sixth grade = 11.57) reported on their peer victimization during the Fall and Spring semesters of their sixth, seventh, and eighth grades. Independent LCA analyses at each semester yielded 3 victim classes based on victimization degree rather than type (e.g., physical vs. relational). The most victimized class always represented the smallest proportion of the sample, decreasing from 20% in sixth grade to 6% by the end of eighth grade. This victimized class also always reported feeling less safe at school concurrently and more depressed than others 1 semester later, illustrating the validity of the LCA approach.     

Evaluating fifth- and sixth-grade students’ expository writing: task development, scoring, and psychometric issues

Drawing from multiple theoretical frameworks representing cognitive and educational psychology, we present a writing task and scoring system for measurement of students’ informative writing. Participants in this study were 72 fifth- and sixth-grade students who wrote compositions describing real-world problems and how mathematics, science, and social studies information could be used to solve those problems. Of the 72 students, 69 were able to craft a cohesive response that not only demonstrated planning in writing structure but also elaboration of relevant knowledge in one or more domains. Many-facet Rasch Modeling (MFRM) techniques were used to examine the reliability and validity of scores for the writing rating scale. Additionally, comparison of fifth- and sixth-grade responses supported the validity of scores, as did the results of a correlational analysis with scores from an overall interest measure. Recommendations for improving writing scoring systems based on the findings of this investigation are provided.