The Relations of Maternal Practices and Characteristics to Children''s Vicarious Emotional Responsiveness

This study examined the relations of maternal vicarious emotional responding and child-rearing practices, as well as familial emotional environment, to 5-6 and 8-9-year-old children's vicarious emotional responding. There were some correspondences between mothers' and children's heart rate, facial, and self-reported reactions to a sympathy-inducing film. Maternal sympathy/perspective taking and reinforcement of sympathy/prosocial behavior, as well as negative subordinate emotion in the home, were associated with markers of girls' sympathy; mothers' personal distress (for girls), restrictiveness regarding displays of hurtful negative emotions (particularly for young girls), and negative dominant emotion in the home (for both sexes) were associated with markers of personal distress. Mothers' linking of the film character's experience to children's own experience was associated with children's responsiveness to the film, and mother's verbalizations during the film concerning her own emotional state and role taking were associated with boys' self-reported sympathy.     

Implementing Online Counselling in Australian Secondary Schools: What Principals Think

Today’s young people have integrated the online world into their everyday reality and schools have generally accepted the importance of technology in the education process. However, there has been limited use in schools of technology to counsel young people, although early indications suggest that school counsellors may be prepared to offer synchronous online counselling if they were supported by school principals. The aim of this study was to investigate Australian secondary school principals’ views about using an online format for counselling in schools. There were 33 principals who participated and they indicated technological competency and acknowledged the benefits of using technology in the counselling process. The principals were generally supportive of the provision of online school counselling, although their major concern was the need for more counsellors and the impact on the workload of current counselling staff. A few principals, however, were unconvinced about offering online counselling and had a fundamental preference for face-to-face communication experiences for students. Strategies for facilitating the acceptance of online counselling by principals and guiding implementation in schools are proposed.     

A Comparative Study of Black South African Children from Three Different Contexts

This study compares family characteristics and developmental outcomes of black children (N = 300) from 3 rural contexts in South Africa: the homeland, the resettlement, and the white-owned farms. Parents in the homeland were more likely to be married and had more education, less household crowding, and lower mobility than parents in the other 2 areas, and higher occupational status than parents from the farms. Child outcomes paralleled these differences in material resources and family stability. Children from the homeland scored higher than children from the resettlement or farms on head circumference, vocabulary, quantitative skill, and self-concept, with no significant differences between the latter 2 areas on these outcome variables. Children from the homeland also scored higher than resettlement children on weight, copying skill, and height, with children from the farms measuring lowest on height. Child outcomes were highly intercorrelated in all 3 residence areas, but correlations among family variables, and between family and child variables, showed different patterns across areas. Parent education, occupation, and crowding were the most consistent predictors of physical development, cognitive development, and self-concept. Family mobility and marital status, however, showed different relationships to other family variables and to child outcomes across the 3 environments. These results highlight the importance of studying children in multiple environmental contexts, because family characteristics are not associated uniformly across residence areas.     

Shaping Expectations: Defining and Refining the Role of Technical Services in New Resource Rollouts

ABSTRACT

From trial to implementation, technical services staff play an important role in shaping awareness and expectations of new or updated electronic resources. With appropriate message control during the rollout process, technical services staff can positively influence understanding and awareness of resources while keeping co-workers’ and patrons’ expectations in check. At the same time, by embracing this public service role, technical services acts as a full partner with public services in mediating resources to patrons. This article explores technical services’ public-facing role by describing a protocol for managing rollouts that emphasizes timing internal and external communications, providing training and support materials, and maintaining accuracy and objectivity in all rollout communications.     

The use of visual schedules and work systems to increase the on‐task behaviour of students on the autism spectrum in mainstream classrooms

Apparent differences in executive function can lead to challenges for students on the autism spectrum in mainstream settings. Difficulties with staying on‐task and transitioning between tasks and task elements can interfere with students’ participation in educational activities and lead to stress and anxiety. While the use of visual supports, such as visual schedules and work systems, has been shown to be effective in supporting students to stay on‐task in special education and autism‐specific settings, there is little research to support the use of these strategies by teachers in mainstream classrooms. This study evaluated the use of visual schedules and work systems in supporting four students on the autism spectrum to stay on‐task and work independently in a mainstream setting. These strategies were implemented by teachers as inclusive practices, and evaluated using observations within the natural classroom environment to examine their feasibility in mainstream settings. All participants demonstrated improvements in on‐task behaviours. Results for other, secondary, dependent variables were mixed, with some students showing reduced off‐task behaviours and increased productivity. The implications for clinical practice and future research directions are discussed.     

The Role of the Learning Community in the Development of Discipline Knowledge and Generic Graduate Outcomes

In this paper we describe a study of learning outcomes at a research-intensive Australian university. Three graduate outcome variables (discipline knowledge and skills, communication and problem solving, and ethical and social sensitivity) are analysed separately using OLS regression and comparisons are made of the patterns of unique contributions from four independent variables (the CEQ Good Teaching and Learning Communities Scales, and two new, independent, scales for measuring Teaching and Program Quality). Further comparisons of these patterns are made across the Schools of the university. Results support the view that teaching and program quality are not the only important determinants of students’ learning outcomes. It is concluded that, whilst it continues to be appropriate for universities to be concerned with the quality of their teaching and programs, the interactive, social and collaborative aspects of students’ learning experiences, captured in the notion of the Learning Community, are also very important determinants of graduate outcomes, and so should be included in the focus of attempts at enhancing the quality of student learning.     

Analysis of Propagation Plans in NSF-Funded Education Development Projects

Increasing adoption and adaptation of promising instructional strategies and materials has been identified as a critical component needed to improve science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education. This paper examines typical propagation practices and resulting outcomes of proposals written by developers of educational innovations. These proposals were analyzed using the Designing for Sustained Adoption Assessment Instrument (DSAAI), an instrument developed to evaluate propagation plans, and the results used to predict the likelihood that a successful project would result in adoption by others. We found that few education developers propose strong propagation plans. Afterwards, a follow-up analysis was conducted to see which propagation strategies developers actually used to help develop, disseminate, and support their innovations. A web search and interviews with principal investigators were used to determine the degree to which propagation plans were actually implemented and to estimate adoption of the innovations. In this study, we analyzed 71 education development proposals funded by the National Science Foundation and predicted that 80% would be unsuccessful in propagating their innovations. Follow-up data collection with a subset of these suggests that the predictions were reasonably accurate.     

Self‐efficacy,reasoning ability,and achievement in college biology

This study compared the relationships of self‐efficacy and reasoning ability to achievement in introductory college biology. Based on the hypothesis that developing formal and postformal reasoning ability is a primary factor influencing self‐efficacy, a significant positive correlation was predicted between reasoning ability and degree of self‐efficacy to complete biological tasks. Further, reasoning ability was predicted to be more highly correlated with course achievement than self‐efficacy. The study involved pre‐ and posttesting 459 introductory biology students. Both self‐efficacy and reasoning ability increased during the semester. As predicted, self‐efficacy and reasoning ability were positively correlated. Depending on the nature of the achievement measure, reasoning ability accounted for some 15 to 30 times more variance in achievement than self‐efficacy. Also, as predicted, reasoning ability was a strong predictor of self‐efficacy, but self‐efficacy was not a strong predictor of reasoning ability. Self‐efficacy estimates and achievement were higher for the concrete tasks than for the formal tasks and higher for the formal tasks than for the postformal tasks. In general, students tended to overestimate their abilities to carry out the concrete, formal, and postformal tasks. Results support the study's working hypothesis that intellectual development continues for some students during the college years, that a postformal level of intellectual development exists, and that reasoning ability is a primary factor influencing both self‐efficacy and achievement. Student overestimation of their abilities may contribute to complacency, lack of effort, and to less than optimal achievement. Consequently, it may be advantageous early in the semester to provide students with particularly challenging tasks that “shock” them out of their complacency and perhaps increase their effort, their reasoning skills, and their achievement. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 44: 706–724, 2007     

Transition of maternal competency of married and single mothers in early parenthood

Women who perceive maternal competency in early parenthood feel comfortable with infant care. A convenience sample of 58 married, first-time mothers and 22 single, first-time mothers was surveyed at six to eight weeks after childbirth to determine the differences in maternal competence perception between married and single mothers. Findings in this pilot study reveal that single mothers significantly reported less comfort in the maternal role as compared to married mothers. Implications for practice, research, and education are discussed.