Development of Episodic Prospection: Factors Underlying Improvements in Middle and Late Childhood

Episodic prospection is the mental simulation of a personal future event in rich contextual detail. This study examined age-related differences in episodic prospection in 5- to 11-year-olds and adults (N = 157), as well as factors that may contribute to developmental improvements. Participants’ narratives of past, future, and make-believe events were coded for episodic content, and self-concept coherence (i.e., how coherently an individual sees himself or herself) and narrative ability were tested as predictors of episodic prospection. Although all ages provided less episodic content for future event narratives, age-related improvements were observed across childhood, suggesting future event generation is particularly difficult for children. Self-concept coherence and narrative ability each independently predicted the episodic content of 5- and 7-year-olds’ future event narratives.     

“Children Who Speak in Their Parents’ Clichés”: Exploring the Broader Social Relationship Between Cultural Practices and Teacher Identity in Lithuanian Holocaust Education

This article examines how broader cultural practices influence teachers teaching the Holocaust in Lithuania. This article uses the concept of the “cultural curriculum” to examine how community “stories” intersect with formal education. It finds that teachers feel they have become responsible for challenging long-standing cultural practices as well now. This is not always welcome because most are uncertain how to engage with community behaviors and preserve their place in the community at the same time.     

Collective intelligence for advancing ocean literacy

Ocean literacy is an understanding of the ocean’s influence on us and our influence on the ocean. A lack of ocean literacy presents a significant obstacle for citizens to engage in environmentally sustainable behaviour, and thus is acknowledged as a ‘complex problem’ that requires deliberative participation and joint-action by stakeholders across domains. The aim of the article is both to demonstrate the value of Collective Intelligence (CI) as a methodological tool to advance and enhance the promotion of environmental literacy, and to share outcomes from using the CI approach. The participatory context behind CI illustrates that working ‘with’ a range of stakeholders across marine education, outreach, regulation and policy, to debate how to better promote ocean literacy among young people, improves ocean literacy and broadens society’s awareness of sustainable marine environments. Findings reveal a hierarchical barrier structure localised to each country, a valuable order of echelon toward environmental change.     

Through the Dąbrowski Lens: Empathy and the Syntonic Continuum

Kazimierz D?browski’s five-level theory of personality development, the Theory of Positive Disintegration, is one in which the experience of all emotions is essential for the process of individual growth toward the personality ideal. In this article, we synthesize D?browski’s conception of syntony and the development of empathy. We discuss the genesis of empathy within the lower levels of human personality development and visually demonstrate the multilevelness of the development of empathy through a diagrammatic representation of syntonic and empathic responses with examples of these traits mapped to the varying levels of development within D?browski’s Theory of Positive Disintegration.     

What is technology? Development and evaluation of a simple instrument for measuring children's conceptions of technology

Technology is important to all aspects of our lives, so helping students develop an accurate understanding of technology should be an educational goal at the K-12 level. Assessments are important tools in reaching this goal. We developed an instrument to measure the technology conceptions of children ages 8–11, the ‘What is Technology’ (WT) instrument. We gathered evidence for the validity of using the WT instrument to measure children's conceptions of technology, including changes due to an intervention, and we describe those changes. We used exploratory factor analysis (EFA) to establish scales, and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) with new samples of subjects to confirm our hypothesised model of children's conceptions. For further evidence, we analyzed and coded the written responses children gave to open-ended questions asking them to explain their understanding of technology, then calculated correlations between these codes and the CFA-confirmed scale measures. We found that children tend to think of technology as artifacts that are powered by electrical energy; however, after instruction most children's conceptions become more consistent with definitions given in educational standards. The instrument is shown to be valid and reliable for its intended use, to assess preadolescent children's conceptions of technology, and evaluate the impact of an intervention.     

Contemporary dilemmas in american childbirth education: findings from a comparative ethnographic study

In this article, we examine key dilemmas childbirth educators experienced as they made crucial decisions about the content and format of their classes in the current U.S. maternity-care context. This ethnographic study demonstrates that childbirth education is a cultural phenomenon with deeply embedded values regarding the nature and importance of information, scientific evidence, and consumer choice. Articulating how culture shapes the presentation, content, and format of childbirth classes is an important step in understanding and increasing the relevance of this experience for birthing women.     

Assessing return on investment in health libraries requires lateral thinking

This study considers the status of trends in value and impact research in health libraries and discusses how return on investment approaches such as social value analysis could be used. It uses an example, based on the Health Education England evaluation framework for health library and knowledge services, to outline how a theory of change can be developed. Health libraries now work more closely with health care staff and researchers in co‐creating value and impact for improving patient care. Therefore, collection of data to assess social value should be drawn not only from performance data already collected by libraries, but also data collection by and for the health care organisation on evaluation of care quality and professional competence.     

The education and training needs of health librarians - the generalist versus specialist dilemma

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES: The aims of the study were to examine whether and how librarians with a generalist background can transfer to roles demanding more expert knowledge in the health sector. The objectives were (i) to compare the education and training needs of health librarians with science degrees with the education and training needs of health librarians with arts and humanities degrees; (ii) to compare the education and training needs of librarians working in the National Health Service (NHS) sector with the education and training needs of librarians working for the health sector but within higher education. METHODS: Face-to-face interviews with 16 librarians, a convenience sample of librarians working in the Thames Valley NHS region. RESULTS: The main findings confirmed that structured continuing professional development (CPD) is required to meet the rapidly changing needs in the health sector. The emphasis ought to be on teaching skills, outreach work, marketing and promotion, research skills and methods, subject knowledge and terminology, and management skills. Library school curricula do not appear to meet the demands of medical library posts. A first degree in scientific subjects is advantageous in the early stages of a career but diminishes with continuing training and experience. There is no evidence of a significant difference in training needs and provision between the librarians in NHS posts as opposed to those in higher education (HE) posts. CONCLUSIONS: The conclusions suggest that library schools need to update their programmes to include teaching skills, advanced search skills, project management skills, research methods, with more practical exercises. Particular attention should be given to librarians with a first degree in non-scientific subjects in terms of time allocated for CPD, quality of training and access to reliable mentorship.     

ADHD and academic attainment: Is there an advantage in impulsivity?

Pupils diagnosed with ADHD and pupils with ADHD symptoms tend to do less well at school than their symptom-free peers. This has been found to be particularly true for predominantly inattentive pupils. This paper aimed to establish the relative importance of inattention, hyperactivity and impulsivity to the academic progress of young children. A large dataset which held children's reading and maths attainment at the end of their first year at school, as well as teachers' ratings of ADHD-related behaviours based on the DSM-IV criteria was analysed. Inattention was strongly linked to under-attainment whilst impulsivity was positively related to attainment for similar levels of inattention. The item “Blurts out answers” on the teachers' rating scale was particularly important. When impulsivity acted as an overt sign of cognitive engagement it seemed to have a positive function. This raises questions about the inclusion of the “blurting out” item in the ADHD DSM criteria.