Evaluating the effectiveness of KooLKIDS: An interactive social emotional learning program for Australian primary school children

The effectiveness of universal social emotional learning (SEL) programs are dependent on the incorporation of best practice principles, including an evaluative component. In the present study, the effects of a best practice, teacher-led SEL program was examined with 854 children aged 8–12 years. KooLKIDS uses an interactive multimedia format and animated character to help children develop their emotion regulation capacities, social and friendship skills, empathy and compassion for others, and self-esteem. A quasi-experimental waitlist-control design was used to examine the impact of KooLKIDS on social and emotional competence, behavioral and emotional problems, academic achievement and effort. Hierarchical linear modeling demonstrated significant increases in social and emotional competence, and reductions in internalizing and externalizing problems in children post KooLKIDS program in the intervention group. The findings suggest that KooLKIDS has strong potential as a teacher-led, classroom-based, structured program for enhancing children's social and emotional learning.     

Evaluating a Multidimensional Reading Comprehension Program and Reconsidering the Lowly Reputation of Tests of Near‐Transfer

We conducted a 14‐week experimental study of 2 versions of a relatively comprehensive RC intervention that involved 50 classroom teachers, 15 tutors, and 116 children drawn in equal proportions from grades 3 and 5 in 13 schools in a large urban school district. Students were randomly assigned in equal numbers to the two tutoring conditions and a control group. Results indicated that students in the two tutored groups tended to perform comparably on all tests and to outperform controls (more so in grade 5 than grade 3) on near‐transfer but not far‐transfer measures of RC. This differential pattern of program effects for near‐ versus far‐transfer measures raises questions about how tests of near‐transfer and far‐transfer are conventionally understood.     

Time of day and short-duration high-intensity exercise influences on coagulation and fibrinolysis

Exercise has been demonstrated to have considerable effects upon haemostasis, with activation dependent upon the duration and intensity of the exercise bout. In addition, markers of coagulation and fibrinolysis have been shown to possess circadian rhythms, peaking within the morning (0600–1200?h). Therefore, the time of day in which exercise is performed may influence the activation of the coagulation and fibrinolytic systems. This study aimed to examine coagulation and fibrinolytic responses to short-duration high-intensity exercise when completed at different times of the day. Fifteen male cyclists (VO_2max: 60.3?±?8.1?ml?kg^?1?min^?1) completed a 4-km cycling time trial (TT) on five separate occasions at 0830, 1130, 1430, 1730 and 2030. Venous blood samples were obtained pre- and immediately post-exercise, and analysed for tissue factor (TF), tissue factor pathway inhibitor (TFPI), thrombin–anti-thrombin complexes (TAT) and D-Dimer. Exercise significantly increased plasma concentrations of TF (p?p?p?p?p?=?.004) and TFPI (p?=?.031), with 0830 greater than 1730 (p .001), while 1730 was less than 2030?h (p?=?.008), respectively. There was no significant effect of time of day for TAT (p?=?.364) and D-Dimer (p?=?.228). Power output, TT time and heart rate were not significantly different between TTs (p?>?.05); however, percentage VO_2max was greater at 1730 when compared to 2030 (p?=?.04). Due to a time-of-day effect present within TF, peaking at 0830, caution should be applied when prescribing short-duration high-intensity exercise bout within the morning in populations predisposed to hypercoagulability.     

Genome‐Wide Association Study of Latent Cognitive Measures in Adolescence: Genetic Overlap With Intelligence and Education

Individual differences in executive functions (EF) are heritable and predictive of academic attainment (AA). However, little is known about genetic contributions to EFs or their genetic relationship with AA and intelligence. We conducted genome‐wide association analyses for processing speed (PS) and the latent EF measures of working memory (WM) and inhibitory control (IC) in 4,611 adolescents from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children. While no loci reached genome‐wide significance, common genetic variants explained 30% of the variance in WM and 19% in PS. In contrast, we failed to find common genetic contributions to IC. Finally, we examined shared genetic effects between EFs and general intelligence, AA and ADHD. We identified significant genetic correlations between WM, intelligence, and AA. A more specific pattern was observed for PS, with modest genetic overlap with intelligence. Together these findings highlight diversity in the genetic contributions to specific cognitive functions and their genetic relationship with educational and psychiatric outcomes.     

Widening participation creatively: creative arts education for social inclusion

University participation among students from low socio-economic backgrounds in Australia is low and nationwide strategies are in place to help bridge the gap. This article presents a preliminary evaluation of a creative arts-based outreach program to raise awareness and aspiration for university study among students from low-income backgrounds. The program is part of a national Australian federally funded initiative, the Higher Education Participation and Partnerships Program. It reviews an outreach advertising program facilitated by a Brisbane university. We argue that arts education has a particular role in provoking attitudinal change, due to the self-reflective, meaning-making and expressive characteristics of arts-based disciplines. In evaluating the advertising program, the value of creativity and trust as techniques of student engagement is considered. Evaluation occurred in two outer suburban high schools in Brisbane (a State capital city), using surveys and ethnographic fieldwork. The findings support an engagement model that employs creativity and uses student facilitators (undergraduate and postgraduate) to deliver the program, to meet the program's aims.     

The impact of attaining the Welsh Baccalaureate Advanced Diploma on academic performance in bioscience higher education

Since the introduction of the Welsh Baccalaureate Advanced Diploma Qualification (WBQ) in 2003, an increasing number of students are applying to higher education institutions (HEIs) with this qualification. The advanced-level WBQ is regarded as equivalent to one General Certificate of Education A-Level (GCE A-Level). This study assesses the impact of attaining the WBQ in addition to three GCE A-Levels on overall university degree performance in comparison to attaining four GCE A-Levels, in three cohorts of undergraduate students (Year 1?=?318, Year 2?=?280, Year 3?=?236) studying Biosciences from 2005 to 2011 at a UK HEI. Binary logistic regression was used to compare the academic attainment of students who had achieved four GCE A-Levels to those who had achieved three GCE A-Levels in addition to the WBQ. Comparisons were also made between students who had achieved three GCE A-Levels and those who had achieved three GCE A-Levels in addition to the WBQ. The results suggest that students who achieved the WBQ qualification in its current form, in addition to three GCE A-Levels, performed less well academically in undergraduate studies than those who achieved four GCE A-Levels. Furthermore, this effect was still present when the balance between coursework and examination was considered, and when students who had achieved the WBQ in addition to three GCE A-Levels were compared to students who had achieved three GCE A-Levels.     

Where Do All the STEM Graduates Go? Higher Education,the Labour Market and Career Trajectories in the UK

Journal of Science Education and Technology - Problems with the supply of highly skilled science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) workers have been reported by employers and...     

Making Sense of Eating Disorders in Schools

Over the last two decades we have witnessed an emerging set of conditions in schools which render them contexts replete with social messages about the body, health, and self. Research has suggested that both the formal and informal contexts of education are heavily imbued with a “culture of healthism” which places moral obligation and blame on individuals for their health/problem. In this paper we explore the ways in which young women with eating disorders constructed their identities within and against the various “health” discourses now found within schools. Data is presented from life history interviews with young women who have been diagnosed with anorexia and/or bulimia who were resident at a leading centre for the treatment of eating disorders in the UK. The experiences of the young women in the study point towards the ways in which schools, despite their best intentions, are implicated in constructing contexts which are inimical to the well-being of young women who have been diagnosed with anorexia or bulimia and perhaps others who are making sense of their bodies, health, and selves in these cultures.