Do German-speaking children have a chance to overcome reading and spelling difficulties? A longitudinal survey from the second until the eighth grade

In a longitudinal study the development of reading and spelling abilities of 458 Viennese school children from the second until the eighth grade was analysed. Although the students’ level of performance displayed a great consistency with poor readers and spellers retaining their weaknesses, groups of students whose performance either improved or deteriorated with time were also identified. Not only cognitive prerequisites, but also the classroom behavior of the students and social factors proved to be significant for the long-term prognosis.     

Reconsidering meaning making and its analytical implications for cultural studies of science education

The discussion in this forum aims to push some of the ideas further and thus clarify some of the concepts used in the feature article. This includes a debate of the concepts of meaning making, procedural and conceptual learning experiences, the distinction between realism and constructivism in our research practice, and finally how to foster productive disciplinary engagement.     

Virtual relationships and real benefits: using e‐mentoring to connect business students with practicing managers

This article reports the results of our study of electronic mentoring (e‐mentoring) in a population of business students. As career paths have become more fluid and less predictable, a growing number of educational and business organizations have implemented traditional and, more recently, e‐mentoring programs. But practice is ahead of evaluation when it comes to e‐mentoring. We attempted to fill this gap by looking more closely at strengths and weaknesses associated with this type of mentoring. Building on research in traditional mentoring and integrating literature in computer‐mediated communication, education and management, we developed a model of e‐mentoring’s antecedents and outcomes. We tested our hypotheses using a sample of business students (protégés) who were mentored by practicing managers. It was found that perceived similarity in terms of attitudes and values is positively related to effective e‐mentoring, while demographic similarity (gender, race) is not. Moreover, effective e‐mentoring may lead to protégés’ enhanced academic performance, professional network and job opportunities. We conclude with implications of our findings and a discussion of opportunities for future research.     

Topics discussed with mothers and fathers for parent–child sex communication among African-American adolescents

The purpose of this study was to examine gender differences in parent–child sex communication for 14 topics among early adolescent African-American youth. Similar to prior research, a larger percentage of participants reported they discussed sex with their mother in comparison to their father. In contrast to prior research, more males than females reported they discussed sexual topics with their mothers and fathers. Binary logistic regression analysis found significant differences for males versus females for father–child conversations on 12 of the 14 topics. Only two of the analyses were significant for males versus females on mother–child discussion of the topics. Finally, parent–child conversations tended to focus on general versus personal information. For example, a larger percentage of participants reported discussing general information on HIV/AIDS compared to discussing sexual orientation. The importance of research that focuses on the role of fathers in parent–child sexual socialisation is discussed.     

Attacker's advantages in a homogeneous market: The case of GSM

Abstract

This article deals with the market entry and competitive strategies of two third entrants into the Western European GSM market: The Greek mobile communications operator Cosmote and the German operator E‐Plus. Starting point of our research is the analysis of the entire Western European GSM market, which shows a broad variance in performance indicators of the operators although the market characteristics regarding the product, the supply and the demand side are quite homogeneous. In order to explain the performance variance and the success of late movers we examine the market entry and competitive strategy of the most successful third entrant in Western Europe, Cosmote, and contrast this case to E‐Plus. The market environment and the company characteristics of both companies are similar, but their performance differs significantly. The major results of our analysis are (1) that quality of service, including particularly the network coverage at launch and in the first stage, is more important than time to market, (2) that the image of an operator depends strongly from the customer's perception in the starting phase, and (3) that the commitment in combination with the resources of the shareholders are crucial for the operators’ success.     

Children Develop Initial Orthographic Knowledge During Storybook Reading

We examined whether young children acquire orthographic knowledge during structured adult-led storybook reading even though minimal viewing time is devoted to print. Sixty-two kindergarten children were read 12 storybook “chapters” while their eye movements were tracked. Results indicated that the children quickly acquired initial mental graphemic representations of target nonwords. This learning occurred even though they focused on the target nonwords approximately one fourth of the total time while viewing the pages. Their ability to acquire the initial orthographic representations of the target nonwords and their viewing time was affected by the linguistic statistical regularities of the words. The results provide evidence of orthographic learning during structured storybook reading and for the use of implicit linguistic statistical regularities for learning new orthographic word forms in the early stages of reading development.     

Public Internet Access for Young Children in the Inner City: Evidence to Inform Access Subsidy and Content Regulation

Significant U.S. policy initiatives in the late 1990s were intended to control Internet access, privacy, and indecency--specifically among children. This study reflects on these using quantitative data from a computer center in a children's library in the inner city. Researchers gathered 16 weeks of page requests ( n = 203,647) using "click stream" and behavioral data, and analyzed these using nonparametric tests. Findings show that users are highly influenced by each other and browse only a small universe of sites. Game playing and communicating with individuals (via e-mail and chat) were the most popular uses. Children were uninterested in pornography and sites directed toward children. Advertising was extremely common. Children were most likely to engage in sharing when using games and chat. For this population, access, privacy and indecency initiatives to control Internet use fails to achieve its stated goals, but activities that encourage sharing in public places hold some promise for building computer knowledge.     

Effects of external loading on power output in a squat jump on a force platform: A comparison between strength and power athletes and sedentary individuals

The aim of this study was to determine the effects of external loading on power output during a squat jump on a force platform in athletes specializing in strength and power events (6 elite weight-lifters and 16 volleyball players) and in 20 sedentary individuals. Instantaneous power was computed from time-force curves during vertical jumps with and without an external load (0, 5 or 10 kg worn in a special vest). The jumps were performed from a squat position, without lower limb counter-movement or an arm swing. Peak instantaneous power corresponded to the highest value of instantaneous power during jumping. Average power throughout the push phase of the jump was also calculated. A two‐way analysis of variance showed significant interactions between the load and group effects for peak instantaneous power ( P < 0.01) and average power ( P < 0.001). Peak instantaneous power decreased significantly in sedentary individuals when moderate external loads were added. The peak instantaneous power at 0 kg was greater than that at 5 and 10 kg in the sedentary individuals. In contrast, peak instantaneous power was independent of load in the strength and power athletes. Mean power at 0 kg was significantly lower than at 5 kg in the athletes; at 0 kg it was significantly higher than at 10 kg in the sedentary males and at 5 and 10 kg in the sedentary females. In all groups, the force corresponding to peak instantaneous power increased and the velocity corresponding to peak instantaneous power decreased with external loading. The present results suggest that the effects of external loading on peak instantaneous power are not significant in strength and power athletes provided that the loads do not prevent peak velocity from being higher than the velocity that is optimal for maximal power output.