The function or debate

Classical debate involves orderliness and freedom of speech. There are debates in Homer, the earliest surviving Greek author. The debates in Thucydides, Demosthenes, and the reported Roman debates in the handbook of Seneca the Elder turn upon issues of freedom of speech which are not without relevance for our time; even in a time of absolutism Roman orators kept the spark of freedom alive.     

Factors related to the underachievement of university students in Turkey

The study aims to elucidate the characteristics of gifted underachievers at the university level and the reasons for their underachievement. The sample consisted of students from Bogazici University in Istanbul. The School Attitude Assessment Survey‐Revised (SAAS‐R) instrument was administered to 91 underachievers and a comparison group of 74 university students. The instrument employed five subscales: academic self‐perceptions, attitudes toward teachers, attitudes toward school, goal valuation, and motivation/self‐regulation. Findings indicated that the comparison students and the underachieving students differed on all five subscales of the SAAS‐R. In addition, the instrument correctly classified almost 80% of the students in the present sample as either underachievers or comparison students. Among the five subscales, the motivation/self‐regulation subscale was most predictive of underachievement status.     

Gender and science achievement: A reanalysis of studies from two meta-analyses

Data from 30 studies of the magnitude of gender differences in science achievement previously examined in two separate reviews were synthesized using modern methods for meta-analysis. Two meta-analysis methodologies were used: analyses of effect sizes (standardized mean differences) and vote-counting estimation procedures. Analyses revealed that magnitudes of gender differences in science achievement varied according to the subject matter under study. Males showed significant advantages in studies of biology, general science, and physics, but significant differences were not found for studies of mixed science content, and geology and earth sciences, or in a single study of chemistry. However, in all cases the numbers of effects examining each subject-matter area were quite small (seven or less). Also, studies which had focused on gender differences evidenced larger gender differences than other studies. Other possible predictors of the magnitudes of gender differences, such as grade level of the subjects and test length, did not account for significant amounts of variation among these study outcomes. Consequently, they also did not provide as strong an explanation of the patterns of gender differences as did subject matter and focus on gender.     

Does Day-care Experience Affect Young Children's Judgments of Home and School Rules?

The current study was designed to determine whether children's ability to distinguish moral rules from conventional school-based rules, and conventional home- based rules was affected by the amount of experience they had in day-care. Preschoolers (N = 42), ranging in age from 35 to 61 months, were interviewed about: (1) the legitimacy of authority to abolish a rule, (2) the accept- ability of behaviors that were permitted by an authority, and (3) the seriousness of behaviors that were prohibited by an authority. The results revealed that previous day-care experience did not affect children's judgments. Moral events were distinguished from conventional events on all questions. In addition, home-based conventional events were distinguished from school-based conventional events suggesting that children consider the social context in which conventional events occur.     

Adolescent Internalizing,Externalizing, and Social Problems Following Iron Deficiency at 12–18 Months: The Role of Maternal Responsiveness

This study tested whether maternal responsiveness moderated or mediated pathways from iron deficiency (ID) at 12–18 months to adolescent behavior problems. Participants were part of a large Chilean cohort (N = 933). Iron status was assessed at 12 and 18 months. Maternal responsiveness was assessed at 9 months and 5 years. Parents reported their child’s symptomology at 5 years, 10 years, and adolescence (11–17 years; M = 14.4). Structural equation modeling identified a previously unrecognized pathway by which child externalizing problems and negative maternal responsiveness at 5 years mediated associations between ID at 12–18 months and adolescent internalizing, externalizing, and social problems. Positive maternal responsiveness in infancy did not buffer those with ID anemia from developing 5-year internalizing problems.     

Do you know what I'm thinking? A comparison of teacher and parent perspectives of underachieving gifted students' attitudes

The Achievement Orientation Model posits students are motivated to do well in school when they believe they have the necessary skills to perform a task (self-efficacy), find the task meaningful (goal valuation), and see their environment as supportive. When these factors are present, students self-regulate and achieve. We examined these factors from underachieving gifted students', their parents', and teachers' perspectives. Results indicated teachers recognize students who are confident and not confident about their abilities to be academically successful; however, they are less able to recognize when students value the work they are encountering in school. Parents' perceptions of students' attitudes more closely correlated with students' perceptions than teachers' perceptions correlated with students' perceptions. Teachers and parents appeared to base their perception of the importance students hold for school on their perception of students' self-regulation. Furthermore, gender differences existed in students' perceptions. Females' self-efficacy scores were statistically lower than males' self-efficacy scores, and males' self-regulation scores were lower than females' self-regulation scores. We provide suggestions for how school psychologists may use these findings to (a) collect important information from students, teachers, and parents, (b) interpret these data to identify underlying influential factors, and (c) guide the development of appropriate interventions to address student underachievement.