SCAN: A method of community collaboration

Recent research has highlighted the complexity of the battered child syndrome. Clinical experience suggests that treatment of troubled families is a long-term process, draining financial resources of agencies and emotional resources of professionals. The need to provide support and case consultation to professionals working in the area of child abuse and neglect evolved in the establishment, in 1968, of the Suspected Child Abuse and Neglect (SCAN) Program at Children's Hospital, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. This program provides an effective method of intervention through identification, consultation, referral and follow-up of at-risk families. Weekly meetings offer multi-disciplinary case coordination, treatment recommendations, and a channel of communication for representatives of community agencies. This paper traces the history and present status of the SCAN Program, as well as the role of SCAN as a force for change of community attitudes.     

Family‐centered positive psychology: Focusing on strengths to build student success

Family‐centered positive psychology (FCPP) is defined as a framework for working with children and families that promotes strengths and capacity building within individuals and systems, rather than one focusing solely on the resolution of problems or remediation of deficiencies. This approach to family‐based services is predicated on the belief that child and family outcomes will be enhanced if members participate in identifying needs, establishing social supports and partnerships, and acquiring new skills and competencies, rather than simply receiving services from professionals. In this article, we present a rationale for FCPP, outline its primary principles, highlight one model for working with families that exemplifies FCPP practice, and illustrate its use through an authentic data‐based case study. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Psychol Schs 41: 7–17, 2004.     

Exploring the music: a teaching-learning sequence about sound in authentic settings

Background: Research regarding students’ ideas about the nature of sound reveals a variety of conceptions about sound. In order to reconstruct these ideas and explain sound phenomena, researchers’ teaching interventions often make use of everyday-life contexts. However existing research on sound only partially addresses the correlation between the properties of sound and its perceptive characteristics.

Purpose: To identify the evolution of students’ conceptions regarding the nature of sound and its properties (frequency, intensity and frequency spectrum) through a teaching-learning sequence (TLS) about sound phenomena in an authentic musical context. The described TLS consists of three activities aiming students to correlate the properties of sound waves (frequency, intensity and frequency spectrum) with its perceptive characteristics (pitch, loudness and timbre) via the use of smartphone applications.

Sample: Eight students, in the second year of their studies in the Department of Primary Education of the XXX University.

Design and methods: Students’ perspectives on sound and their progression are investigated through a teaching experiment design. Data are collected by recording students’ interviews. Due to the explorative nature of the research qualitative methods of content analysis are used.

Results: The results show that the students’ perspectives on sound evolved, as students managed to consolidate links between their everyday experience of sounds and the underlying science concepts as frequency, intensity and frequency spectrum. The authentic environment and the use of the smartphone’s applications were key factors for the success of the teaching experiment. The interaction with the activities shifted student’s conceptualizations closer to the scientific ones, by communicating every day sound experiences with their scientific interpretation.     

How do teachers help children to learn? An analysis of teachers' interventions in computer-based activities

In British schools, educational software is normally used by children working under the supervision of a teacher, who will have set them specific tasks and organize them to work at the computer in pairs or groups. However, those theories of learning which have most influenced research into the design and use of educational software have been essentially concerned with individualized learning, and are insensitive to the nature of teaching and learning as a communicative, culturally-based process. The present paper discusses an alternative theoretical perspective, one derived from the work of Vygotsky. This is used in an analysis of interventions made by teachers in the computer-based activities of their pupils, using observational data gained from video-recordings of primary school classrooms. The usefulness of the theoretical perspective is evaluated, and implications for the development of computer-based activities are discussed.     

The effect of intra- versus post-interview feedback during simulated practice interviews about child abuse

OBJECTIVE: This study compared the effectiveness of two types of instructor feedback (relative to no feedback) on investigative interviewers' ability to adhere to open-ended questions in simulated practice interviews about child abuse. METHOD: In one condition, feedback was provided at the end of each practice interview. In the other, the instructor stopped the interviewer at various stages during the practice interviews to provide feedback. The relative effect of these conditions was examined by measuring interviewers' performance in a standardized mock interview paradigm immediately prior to, immediately after, and 12 weeks after the practice and feedback sessions. RESULTS: Prior to and 12 weeks after the practice sessions were administered, there was no significant difference in participants' adherence to open-ended questions irrespective of the nature of the feedback, or whether feedback was received. At the immediate post-practice assessment interval, however, the participants who received feedback during the practice interviews performed better (M proportion of open-ended questions=.85, SD=.13) than the other participants (post-interview feedback M=.67, SD=.18, p<.001; no feedback M=.56, SD=.16, p<.001). This heightened use of open-ended questions was associated with a greater tendency among the interviewees to provide abuse-related details in response to open-ended questions (M=.91, SD=.11) compared to the other participants (post-interview feedback M=.77, SD=.15, p<.05; no feedback M=.69, SD=.16, p=.001). CONCLUSIONS: Different types of feedback can be differentially effective in training child abuse investigators to adhere to open-ended questions. The benefits of any training program, however, are likely to be short-lived without ongoing practice. PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS: A single study compared the relative effectiveness of two types of instructor feedback (relative to no feedback) on investigative interviewers' ability to adhere to open-ended questions in simulated practice interviews about child abuse. This research is relevant to trainers of investigative interviewers because there is currently large variability in the type of feedback employed in training programs. This study is one of the first to empirically demonstrate that different types of feedback may be differentially effective in improving the performance of investigative interviewers.     

Semantic networking: The new kid on the block

This article briefly describes the SemNet? software and some of its uses as an educational and research tool, with emphasis on the similarities and differences between concept mapping and semantic networking. A semantic network captures (in part) each concept's position in psychological space, identifying both the other concepts to which it is connected and the nature of the links that bind them. Computer-based semantic networks differ from paper-and-pencil maps in that they are n-dimensional; each concept can be linked to many other concepts; relations are bidirectional; representations can include images, text, and sound; and nets can be very large. Disadvantages of SemNet? networks include (a) the difficulties in obtaining a clear overview and (b) the homogeneous nature of the representations, in which all links look alike. Advantages include the ability to integrate ideas across a large knowledge base, the ease and rapidity of net creation, the ease with which elements (concepts, relations, or propositions) can be found within nets, and the utility of nets as self-study tools. Concept mapping and semantic networking are complementary strategies that can be used effectively in tandem to help students learn, to help teachers teach, and to support cognitive research.     

Investigations of Temperament at Three to Seven Years: The Children''s Behavior Questionnaire

This article reviews evidence on the reliability and validity of the Children's Behavior Questionnaire (CBQ), and presents CBQ data on the structure of temperament in childhood. The CBQ is a caregiver report measure designed to provide a detailed assessment of temperament in children 3 to 7 years of age. Individual differences are assessed on 15 primary temperament characteristics: Positive Anticipation, Smiling/Laughter, High Intensity Pleasure, Activity Level, Impulsivity, Shyness, Discomfort, Fear, Anger/Frustration, Sadness, Soothability, Inhibitory Control, Attentional Focusing, Low Intensity Pleasure, and Perceptual Sensitivity. Factor analyses of CBQ scales reliably recover a three-factor solution indicating three broad dimensions of temperament: Extraversion/Surgency, Negative Affectivity, and Effortful Control. This three-factor solution also appears to be reliably recovered in ratings of children in other cultures (e.g., China and Japan). Evidence for convergent validity derives from confirmation of hypothesized relations between temperament and socialization-relevant traits. In addition, parental agreement on CBQ ratings is substantial. The CBQ scales demonstrate adequate internal consistency, and may be used in studies requiring a highly differentiated yet integrated measure of temperament for children in this age range.     

The Role of Artists in Sites for Learning

Socially engaged, participatory and educational arts activities have been recognised by artists as a legitimate area of creative practice for a considerable time. Current policy initiatives around social inclusion and life long learning demonstrate that this government has a keen interest in the transformative nature of creativity and participation in arts activity. This paper explores the significance of the, Arts Council's Artists in Sites for Learning Scheme and a related piece of research within the context of recent cultural agendas and governmental policy initiatives. The research examined the ‘forms of engagement’ that occur between artists, participants and others and concludes that the role the artist inhabits within this form of creative practice is multifaceted and highly sophisticated. This paper also raises key issues concerning the ‘value’ and critical assessment of this form of practice and the need for appropriate support for (and evaluation of) it in the future.     

Embedding the literacy strategy: snapshots of change

This paper considers the government's initiative to change the teaching of literacy in primary schools in England. It draws on evidence from a one‐year ESRC‐funded project that observed teaching in the first year of the NLS and a two‐year follow‐up study that revisited and re‐interviewed several of the teachers from the original study. It proposes that, although substantial changes have been made to the organisation and procedures of literacy teaching, deeper pedagogical change is less obvious in some classrooms. It further argues that for teachers to have the freedom to develop their pedagogy, the climate of coercion and outcome‐led education must change.