Parenting predictors of relational aggression among Puerto Rican and European American school-age children

The relationship between parenting and physical aggression is well established. However, less consideration has been given to parenting and relational aggression. The present study investigated four aspects of maternal parenting – overreactivity, laxness, positive affect and negative affect – and their relationships to relational aggression, in a sample of ethnically and socioeconomically diverse families. In the overall sample, positive maternal affect predicted less relational aggression, and negative maternal affect predicted more relational aggression. Laxness was associated with relational aggression in girls. For European American participants, negative affect, overreactivity, and laxness predicted relational aggression, whereas these relationships did not hold for Puerto Rican families. When parenting predictors were considered together, negative affect emerged as the most consistent predictor of relational aggression. Results suggest the need for more research on predictors of relational aggression, and for continued consideration of gender and ethnicity.     

Initiating running barefoot: Effects on muscle activation and impact accelerations in habitually rearfoot shod runners

Runners tend to shift from a rearfoot to a forefoot strike pattern when running barefoot. However, it is unclear how the first attempts at running barefoot affect habitually rearfoot shod runners. Due to the inconsistency of their recently adopted barefoot technique, a number of new barefoot-related running injuries are emerging among novice barefoot runners. The aim of this study was therefore to analyse the influence of three running conditions (natural barefoot [BF], barefoot with a forced rearfoot strike [BRS], and shod [SH]) on muscle activity and impact accelerations in habitually rearfoot shod runners. Twenty-two participants ran at 60% of their maximal aerobic speed while foot strike, tibial and head impact accelerations, and tibialis anterior (TA), peroneus longus (PL), gastrocnemius medialis (GM) and gastrocnemius lateralis (GL) muscle activity were registered. Only 68% of the runners adopted a non-rearfoot strike pattern during BF. Running BF led to a reduction of TA activity as well as to an increase of GL and GM activity compared to BRS and SH. Furthermore, BRS increased tibial peak acceleration, tibial magnitude and tibial acceleration rate compared to SH and BF. In conclusion, 32% of our runners showed a rearfoot strike pattern at the first attempts at running barefoot, which corresponds to a running style (BRS) that led to increased muscle activation and impact accelerations and thereby to a potentially higher risk of injury compared to running shod.     

Examining professional learning and the preparation of professionally competent teachers in initial teacher education

The relative contributions of higher education and schools, and hence the conceptual and practical aspects of ITE, to student teachers’ professional learning have been an issue of concern in teacher education. This article reports a mixed-methods study showing the relationship between student teachers’ engagement with the practical and conceptual aspects of a Postgraduate Diploma in Education (PGDE) Programme in Hong Kong and different facets of their perceived professional competence. One hundred and thirty-two student teachers participated in the quantitative survey of whom seven were interviewed. The findings reveal that experiences associated with learning the pragmatic facets of professional practice were more valued by student teachers compared to learning the conceptual aspects of ITE. Yet, in terms of relationship with professional competence, student teachers’ engagement with the practical aspects of ITE was related to competence in classroom teaching, whereas their engagement with the conceptual aspects contributed to their mastery of professional knowledge, competence in classroom teaching and competence in interacting with stakeholders. The study illuminates the distinctive contributions of schools and higher education in ITE. While acknowledging the important role of schools in providing a setting for practical work, this study affirms the distinctive contribution of higher education in equipping student teachers with practical and conceptual tools in the preparation of professionally competent teachers.     

Institutional and personal meanings of mathematical proof

Although studies on students’ difficulties in producing mathematical proofs have been carried out in different countries, few research workers have focussed their attention on the identification of mathematical proof schemes in university students. This information is potentially useful for secondary school teachers and university lecturers. In this article, we study mathematical proof schemes of students starting their studies at the University of Córdoba (Spain) and we relate these schemes to the meanings of mathematical proof in different institutional contexts: daily life, experimental sciences, professional mathematics, logic and foundations of mathematics. The main conclusion of our research is the difficulty of the deductive mathematical proof for these students. Moreover, we suggest that the different institutional meanings of proof might help to explain this difficulty. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Depressive mood and social maladjustment: Differential effects on academic achievement

The Children Depression Inventory (CDI) is a multidimensional instrument that includes items of social withdrawal, anhedonia, asthenia, low self-esteem (internalized) and behavioral problems (externalized). Child depression has been related with low academic achievement, neurotic and introverted personality traits and social maladjustment defined by aggressiveness, psychoticism and antisocial behavior. In this work, it is hypothesized that in non-clinical populations, the relationships between CDI scores and a low academic achievement might be basically due to social maladjustment assessed by the behavioral items of this instrument, which do not necessarily tap depressive mood. The effects of both depressive mood and social maladjustment on academic achievement are analyzed in an adolescent sample of 315 boys and 363 girls through Structural Equation Modelling procedures. Results corroborate the hypothesis that social maladjustment measured by the CDI behavioral items and Psychoticism explain low academic achievement over and above depressive mood measured by the rest of the CDI items, extraversion and neuroticism.     

The contribution of non-formal learning in higher education to student teachers’ professional competence

This article reports a mixed methods study on the contribution of various aspects of pre-service student teachers’ learning in initial teacher education (ITE) to their professional competence in a Five-year Bachelor of Education Programme in Hong Kong. Special attention is given to how student teachers’ non-formal learning in higher education contributes to their professional competence, an under-researched area in teacher education. A total of 282 student teachers participated in the quantitative survey, 18 of whom were interviewed. Although  Undergraduate Learning Experience: Formal Learning and Non-formal Learning was not the most highly rated factor, multiple regression indicated that it was the only ITE professional learning factor that significantly predicted all dimensions of professional competence. This supports the hypothesis that non-formal learning as a part of learning in higher education makes a significant contribution to student teachers’ professional competence. The qualitative findings showed that non-formal learning provided opportunities for service learning, co-curricular activities, and student exchange programmes with different objects of engagement. Student teachers constructed pedagogical content knowledge, general pedagogical knowledge, and knowledge of context through hands-on experiences, professional dialogue with practitioners, and observations of others’ practice. Such knowledge contributed to their competence in classroom teaching and to work in schools. Implications for ITE are discussed.     

Experimental archaeology and historical empathy: key tools for learning about our origins / Arqueología experimental y empatía histórica: herramientas clave para la didáctica de nuestros orígenes

We propose a learning methodology based on the development of historical empathy through experimentation. Experimental archaeology is an active methodology which provides dynamism and an active role and entertainment for students, as well as provoking historical empathy in them. This combination helps the students get a better understanding of the target knowledge. This paper presents a practical illustration of historical empathy through the implementation of experimental archaeology activities.     

Analyzing false memories in children with associative lists specific for their age

Two experiments attempted to resolve previous contradictory findings concerning developmental trends in false memories within the Deese-Roediger-McDermott (DRM) paradigm by using an improved methodology--constructing age-appropriate associative lists. The research also extended the DRM paradigm to preschoolers. Experiment 1 (N=320) included children in three age groups (preschoolers of 3-4 years, second-graders of 7-8 years, and preadolescents of 11-12 years) and adults, and Experiment 2 (N=64) examined preschoolers and preadolescents. Age-appropriate lists increased false recall. Although preschoolers had fewer false memories than the other age groups, they showed considerable levels of false recall when tested with age-appropriate materials. Results were discussed in terms of fuzzy-trace, source-monitoring, and activation frameworks.     

Preservice Primary Teachers' Understanding of the Concept of Altitude of a Triangle

The way teachers understand mathematics strongly influences their teaching and what their pupils learn. Using Vinner's model of acquisition of mathematical concepts with its distinction of concept image and concept definition as a framework, we analyze concept images, difficulties, and errors related to the concept of altitude of a triangle exhibited by 190 preservice primary teachers in a written test. We describe the influence of two variables on the preservice teachers' performances: (a) the presence of a formal definition and (b) previous classroom activities that dealt with the concept of altitude. We categorize and analyze some common errors and identify the concept images that may lead to those errors. Finally, we present some implications of our results for teacher education. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.