Best practices for preschool programs: an update on inclusive settings

The trend in the curriculum design of programs for young children with developmental disabilities has been toward an approach which emphasizes everyday skills taught in regular routine activities. With the enactment of Public Law 99-457, the Individuals with Disabilities Act (IDEA), states were mandated to provide services for three-to five-year-old preschoolers with developmental disabilities.     

Childbirth educators, doulas, nurses, and women respond to the six care practices for normal birth

This collection of commentaries by childbirth educators, doulas, a labor and delivery nurse, and a woman preparing for the birth of her second baby provide an overall response to all six of Lamaze International's care practice papers that promote normal birth: Labor Begins on Its Own; Freedom of Movement throughout Labor; Continuous Labor Support; No Routine Interventions; Non-Supine (e.g., Upright or Side-Lying) Positions for Birth; and No Separation of Mother and Baby with Unlimited Opportunity for Breastfeeding. Strategies for using the position papers to facilitate learning in childbirth classes and for helping expectant parents access and understand research are presented. The commentaries describe the value of the position papers as a catalyst for professional growth, a foundation for creating change, a way to encourage reflection among professionals and women planning for the births of their babies, and an inspiration for everyone who advocates normal birth.     

Making all the flashy stuff work: the role of the principal in ICT integration

The pervasiveness of new technologies and their rapid spread around the globe belie the fact that educational leaders still struggle with how to integrate information and communication technologies (ICT) in schools. This article describes the form of these struggles for a small group of Australian principals. Their stories emerged from a set of five longitudinal case studies of ICT integration in a range of Government schools in the state of New South Wales. During the three years over which the study was conducted, the difficulties associated with leading the integration of educational technologies in schools were common and recurring themes that emerged in interviews with principals. These cases reveal the local variations and specificities of ICT integration through a range of issues including infrastructure development, human resource development, curriculum design, pedagogical practices and futures oriented planning. In describing these issues, many of the effects of ICT integration in schools are discussed. One such effect is the requirement for principals to develop the skills of new knowledge workers, in particular they require access to knowledge and support that is sufficiently flexible to deal with immediate and practical problems.     

Evaluación por carpetas en cursos de metodología para enseñantes: predicar con el ejemplo

Convencidas de que los formadores de enseñantes deben tener gran parte de la responsabilidad de preparar a éstos para que utilicen prácticas de evaluación alternativas, Stahle y Mitchell describen sus experiencias en el empleo de carpetas en cursos de metodología para la enseñanza de la lectura y la escritura. Si la carpeta parece un buen recurso para definir el trabajo y la interacción entre educador y aprendiz, los autores exponen que lo es doblemente entre educador y aprendiz de educador.     

A Mixed-Methods Longitudinal Investigation of Mothers’ Disclosure of HIV to Their Children

Mothers living with HIV (MLH) must navigate disclosing their serostatus to their children, but the longitudinal impact on families remains unknown. This study examined HIV disclosure, parenting, parenting stress, and child adjustment among 174 MLH-child dyads (aged 6–14; 35% Latinx; 57% Black/African American). Quantitative data were collected over four waves spanning 15 months. Qualitative data were collected with 14 families in which disclosure had occurred. Latent change score modeling revealed that disclosure led to improvements in parenting stress, communication, and relationship quality. Disclosure did not predict child adjustment. Qualitative themes contextualized these findings, revealing stability and improvements in family functioning. MLH should be supported in disclosing their serostatus to their children to minimize parenting stress and bolster parenting skills.     

Entries on broadcasting in sociological abstracts, 1953–1963

Surveyed community leaders perceived: (1) supported points of view do not get enough broadcast coverage, while opposed points of view do, (2) access opportunities would be used and (3) access would improve diversity.     

Predicting resilience in sexually abused adolescents

This research examined factors that predicted resilience in sexually abused adolescents. Using Bronfenbrenner's Process-Person-Context-Time (PPCT) ecological model, this study considered the proximal and distal factors that would contribute to adolescents' reactions to sexual victimization. This correlational study used hierarchical regression analysis (n=237) with cross-sectional data from the National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-Being Wave I (NSCAW, Dowd et al., 2002). This study found that school engagement, caregiver social support, hope and expectancy, caregiver education and SES predicted resilience. In line with the PPCT model, findings suggest that placing a greater emphasis on the contextual environment could improve support for adolescent resilience. Augmenting interventions that focus on individual change with those that address environmental factors may increase the benefits to adolescents affected by sexual abuse.     

Attentional Strategy Use by Experienced Distance Runners: Physiological and Psychological Effects

The purpose of this investigation was twofold: (a) to compare most and least economical runners on use of attentional strategies and (b) to determine whether the least economical runners within the subject sample could improve running economy (RE) with the use of an active associative (relaxation) attentional strategy. Subjects (N = 36) completed an initial assessment of attentional style and RE; then the 12 least economical runners ran in each of three laboratory sessions using control, passive associative, and active associative attentional strategies. Results showed that the most economical and least economical runners did not differ in associative style use. The most economical runners, however, reported less dissociation use and more use of relaxation than did the least economical runners. No significant physiological or psychological changes were associated with any of the three attentional strategy conditions. The findings are related to possible differences in how most and least economical runners use associative strategies.     

Interactive pedagogy and subsequent effects on learning in science classrooms

Observations of pupils‐in‐action whilst carrying out investigations indicated that there was plenty of social and cooperative exchange. There was, however, infrequent discussion regarding the planning of experimental approaches, predicting outcomes, consideration of the meaning of evidence and evaluation of task solutions. These observations informed the nature of interactive in‐service programmes developed in Keele University Education Department. Professional development was designed to purposely illustrate a wide repertoire of pedagogic strategies that focused around these issues to support cognitive development of pupils. The interactive nature of the in‐service training was shown to affect widespread ‘change in teachers’ practice. These teachers, involved in experiential in‐service, reflected that they intervened more regularly in children's learning. Their engagement in in‐service training as learners in problem‐solving situations resulted in conceptual shifts in understanding the learning processes their pedagogical transformations could affect. The impact of this changed praxis on pupils' learning in investigational situations was studied after in‐service intervention. These findings were compared with the performance of pupils of the same year group carrying out the same investigations before in‐service intervention. The more interactive nature of the teachers' changed pedagogy appeared to affect change in the way pupils themselves interacted and learnt from and with each other. Explicitly sharing subjective views through exploratory talk was found to be important to affect learning through social interaction.