Predictors and outcomes of low-income fathers’ reading with their toddlers

Most studies of parent–child bookreading have focused on mothers reading to their children. Though the role of fathers in children's lives is widely emphasized, we know almost nothing about father–child bookreading, particularly among low-income families. The present study was designed to examine how often low-income fathers report reading to their children and what the predictors and effects of paternal bookreading are. The fathers in this study were participants in the national evaluation of Early Head Start (EHS) and were recruited via mothers enrolled in the EHS study. Participating fathers were interviewed at home and their children's cognitive and language development were assessed using standardized measures from ages 2 to 5. Results demonstrated a wide variety in frequency of bookreading among fathers. Fathers were more likely to read to their children frequently if they spoke English at home, if they had a high school education, and if their children had better language skills. Fathers’ bookreading predicted children's cognitive outcome. Paternal bookreading did predict children's language outcomes but only for children whose fathers had at least a high school education.     

Seeing the Forest and the Trees: Comparison of Two IRTree Models to Investigate the Impact of Full Versus Endpoint-Only Response Option Labeling

In this study, we examined the results and interpretations produced from two different IRTree models—one using paths consisting of only dichotomous decisions, and one using paths consisting of both dichotomous and polytomous decisions. We used data from two versions of an impulsivity measure. In the first version, all the response options had labels; in the second version, only the endpoints were labeled. Based on past research, we hypothesized that the endpoints would be selected more frequently in the endpoint-only labeled condition, and the midpoint response option would be selected more frequently in the fully labeled condition. Results from the two models (dichotomous and polytomous) were similar and indicated that our hypotheses were partially supported—specifically, there was no consistent pattern in terms of which condition saw a higher frequency of midpoint response selection. However, our hypotheses regarding extreme responding in the endpoint-only labeling condition were supported.     

Fish Oil Supplementation in Pregnancy and Neurodevelopment in Childhood—A Randomized Clinical Trial

A double-blind randomized controlled trial of n-3 long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acid (n-3 LCPUFA) supplementation or matching placebo during third trimester of pregnancy was conducted within the COPSAC₂₀₁₀ mother-child cohort consisting of 736 women and their children. The objective was to determine if maternal n-3 LCPUFA pregnancy supplementation affects offspring neurodevelopment until 6 years. Neurodevelopment was evaluated in 654 children assessing age of motor milestone achievement, language development, cognitive development, general neurodevelopment, and emotional and behavioral problems. Maternal n-3 LCPUFA supplementation during pregnancy improved early language development and reduced the impact of emotional and behavioral problems. The n-3 LCPUFA supplementation was in boys associated with the earlier achievement of gross motor milestones, improved cognitive development, and a reduced impact of emotional and behavioral problems.     

Enhancing Scientific Communication Skills: a Real-World Simulation in a Tertiary-Level Life Science Class Using E-Learning Technology in Biomedical Literature Perception,Reflective Review Writing on a Clinical Issue,and Self and Peer Assessments

Research in Science Education - This educational study aimed to explore the feasibility and acceptance of a literacy exercise adopted from the realworld of scientific publishing in a cell and...     

Institutional repository software platforms at undergraduate libraries in the United States

For primarily undergraduate institutions, institutional repositories can become effective tools for communicating and showcasing faculty and student research, facilitating open access initiatives, or supporting new scholarly communication practices. Choosing the right software platform is crucial to the success of a repository initiative. The literature suggests that there are only two or three software platforms heavily used in undergraduate libraries. This article aims to give a landscape of the repository platforms used in sixty-seven undergraduate libraries in the United States in late 2013; it also includes the results of a short survey about current institutional repository software platforms and users/administrators’ satisfaction.     

Team learning in teacher teams: team entitativity as a bridge between teams-in-theory and teams-in-practice

This study aimed to investigate team learning in the context of teacher teams in higher vocational education. As teacher teams often do not meet all criteria included in theoretical team definitions, the construct team entitativity was introduced. Defined as the degree to which a group of individuals possesses the quality of being a team, this makes it possible to extend team learning research from strict teams-in-theory to various types of teams-in-practice, including teacher teams. The team learning beliefs and behaviours model, including team entitativity, was applied to teacher teams, assessing whether it still stands in these non-strict teams. Data were collected from 105 teams and analysed using multilevel analysis. Results showed that team entitativity, psychological safety and group potency were related to the occurrence of team learning. The latter appeared to be significantly related to team effectiveness, and the formation of mutually shared cognition was found to be a mediating variable in this relationship.     

Response bias in follow-up studies of college students

The problems of response bias in longitudinal studies of college students are examined. An extensive follow-up questionnaire was sent to 1,253 college seniors who had participated in a similar survey as freshman four years earlier. Careful measure of student responsiveness in relation to various techniques designed to increase the proportion of responders (e.g., postcard, telephone contact) were kept.The less responsive groups were significantly different from their more responsive counterparts on nearly a dozen variables representing a wide variety of content areas, including academic achievement, self-concept, alcohol consumption, social deviance, and major choice preferences. Controlling for sex and socioeconomic status served to reduce, but not eliminate, these biases. Overall, the results indicate that researchers cannot account for follow-up nonresponse bias by making statistical adjustments according to data available at initial testing. The results are discussed in light of identifying the reasons for nonresponse, and attempting to develop categories of nonresponders who may be motivated to cooperate by different types of follow-up techniques.     

The intra-active production of normativity and difference

Drawing on memory stories told in a collective biography workshop about children’s encounters with schooling, this paper experiments with re-imagining the child-student-subject as an ‘emergent intracorporeal multiplicity’ [Fritsch, K. 2015. “Desiring Disability Differently: Neoliberalism, Heterotopic Imagination and Intra-Corporeal Configurations.” Foucault Studies 19: 43–66, 51]. From the feminist new materialist perspective that the authors work with, the child is configured not as an entity prior to, or separate from, encounters with education systems, but emergent with-in them. This paper focuses on difference in human relations, and in particular on the intersections of disability and gender. It does so not in terms of essential characteristics of individuals, but as emergent, in-the-moment, with others. In focussing on the detail of lives-in-their-making, the authors ask, with Barad [2007. Meeting the Universe Halfway: Quantum Physics and the Entanglement of Matter and Meaning. Durham: Duke University Press], if we are interested in justice, how we are to ‘understand our role in helping constitute who and what come to matter?’     

Predicting item difficulty of science national curriculum tests: the case of key stage 2 assessments

Predicting item difficulty is highly important in education for both teachers and item writers. Despite identifying a large number of explanatory variables, predicting item difficulty remains a challenge in educational assessment with empirical attempts rarely exceeding 25% of variance explained.

This paper analyses 216 science items of key stage 2 tests which are national sampling assessments administered to 11 year olds in England. Potential predictors (topic, subtopic, concept, question type, nature of stimulus, depth of knowledge and linguistic variables) were considered in the analysis. Coding frameworks employed in similar studies were adapted and employed by two coders to independently rate items. Linguistic demands were gauged using a computational linguistic facility. The stepwise regression models predicted 23% of the variance with extended constructed questions and photos being the main predictors of item difficulty.

While a substantial part of unexplained variance could be attributed to the unpredictable interaction of variables, we argue that progress in this area requires improvement in the theories and the methods employed. Future research needs to be centred on improving coding frameworks as well as developing systematic training protocols for coders. These technical advances would pave the way to improved task design and reduced development costs of assessments.