How do parents learn about adolescents' experiences? Implications for parental knowledge and adolescent risky behavior

Cluster analysis was used to identify groups defined by the patterning of fathers' and mothers' sources of knowledge about adolescents' experiences in a sample of 179 families with adolescents (M = 16.5 years). Three clusters emerged for fathers (relational, relies on spouse, relies on others) and mothers (relational, questioners, relies on others). Cluster membership was associated with socioeconomic status, work hours, personal characteristics, and parent-child relationship quality. Longitudinal path analyses revealed that knowledge sources predicted levels of knowledge, which in turn predicted risky behavior 1 year later, indirect paths that were more consistent for fathers than for mothers. Although direct associations between sources of knowledge and subsequent risky behavior were scant, when fathers relied on spouses, youth engaged in less risky behavior.     

Fostering an Interest in Science in a Typically Underrepresented Population

ABSTRACT:  This "case study" details how food science was introduced into the classrooms of a typically underrepresented population. James Sarakatsannis, an 8th grade physical science teacher, was planning a unit that would use fast food to teach science to his classes, when he came across the Institute of Food Technologists (IFT) website and a wealth of information available to teachers. Along with the valuable materials James found on the website to teach food science, he also found the "Find a Food Scientist" tool and invited 3 local food scientists into his classroom at John Philip Sousa Middle School in the inner city of Washington, D.C., where many of his students represent a typically underrepresented population in the field of food science. Food was a common medium that all of his students were familiar with and had an interest in, and it turned out to be a great tool to discuss various physical science topics in the classroom. The local food scientist visits were an excellent supplement to the topics he was already covering with the students in class. Many students developed a greater interest in science in general after the unit on food science. The unit also may have planted the seed for an education or career in food science somewhere down the line for the 70 13- to 16-year-old students in James's 2 8th grade physical science classes.     

University autonomy and public policies: A system theory perspective

This article addresses problems facing universities because of external pressures for changes in their teaching, research, and governance and management policies and practices to align them with public policies. The view is put that governments are introducing public policies in times of economic recession to achieve rationalisation of human, physical and financial resources in higher education and to foster initiatives that shape university teaching and research to serve the needs of society and assist in national economic recovery. Examples of these external pressures, which have resulted in intrusions into the autonomy of university governance and management, are provided in the context of general system theory. It is assumed that the pressure of public policies on universities will continue and that each university should have a development plan for its present and future teaching and research activities, which has the endorsement of the government higher education advisory agency so that university management can function on a secure basis. The effectiveness and efficiency of functioning at the various levels of the university system should be assessed by periodic evaluative reviews. The quality of management by academic leaders should be fostered by the establishment of national centres for the study of higher education management and policy. The relationship between government higher education advisory agencies and universities should be renegotiated so that, as interdependent and interrelated parts of the higher education system, they work in joint co-operation to ensure the most effective and appropriate development of each institution. Nevertheless, a state of equilibrium between the university system and the supra (social) system within which it exists will never fully be achieved. The fundamental role and functions of a university require that it be concerned with teaching and researching both ageless and current phenomena. Hence, a perfect equilibrium state cannot exist if external social pressures are for the main weight of university activities to be shifted to providing service for the current needs of society.     

Examining child sexual abuse evaluations: the types of information affecting expert judgment

OBJECTIVE: There were two aims: First, to determine to what extent four variables, disclosure, doll play, affect and collateral information, affect the decision-making processes of child sexual abuse experts and lay persons when confronted with an abuse allegation, and second, to see how these two groups of raters might differ from one another. METHOD: A randomized block partially confounded factorial design was used. Participants made abuse likelihood and confidence ratings in response to six hypothetical cases of child sexual abuse, four of which had varying combinations of the four types of information and two of which were constant across all raters. Participants also completed attitudes and knowledge questionnaires. RESULTS: Disclosure and collateral information both had large effects on both rater groups. Doll play and affect had little or no effect on the decisions of either group. Experts were slightly more conservative in their judgments over all than students were. Experts also displayed more knowledge of the sexual abuse literature and more child-believing attitudes than their student counterparts. CONCLUSION: Concrete information such as disclosure statements and collateral information affected abuse decisions while inferential data such as doll play and affect did not. The goal of these evaluations may be the clarification of such concrete information and the inferential data may be used only to guide one's inquiry. This conclusion argues against the concern that experts might jump to conclusions of abuse merely based upon suggestive, symbolic material.     

Teacher dilemmas in challenging students in higher education

Students need to be challenged to stimulate their learning. Applying challenge in practice however is not straightforward. Challenging students may conflict with other teacher responsibilities, creating potential dilemmas for teachers. This study discloses dilemmas teachers encounter when challenging students as well as the considerations accompanying their actual choices for action when coping with these dilemmas. Based on interviews with teachers, first, a dilemma analysis instrument was developed. Seven main categories of dilemmas were found. One of the main dilemmas encompassed maximizing challenge versus keeping all students on board. University students differ in their ability, confronting teachers with the feeling that choosing to serve one group could be detrimental to the learning of others. The diversity of choices and considerations brought forward by the teachers indicates that it matters who the teacher is, and what he or she stands for and is able to do.     

Supplemental reading strategy instruction for adolescents: A randomized trial and follow-up study

In this study, the authors examine the impact of a yearlong supplemental reading course involving daily instruction in the learning strategies curriculum on lower achieving adolescent students' reading achievement and motivation. Using a multiple-cohort randomized treatment-control group design over 4 years, they compared achievement and motivation outcomes for 605 sixth-grade students who participated in the intervention with 530 students who did not participate and 593 ninth-grade students who participated in the intervention with 535 students who did not participate. Results indicated significant impacts of the intervention on reading achievement for ninth-grade students but not for sixth-grade students. Significant impacts on reading motivation were found for both sixth- and ninth-grade students. An exploratory follow-up study indicated potential benefits of a second year of intervention for sixth-grade students who are still low achieving after 1 year of intervention.     

The greater fragility of females' versus males' closest same-sex friendships

Sixty females and 60 males between 10 and 15 years of age were interviewed about difficulties in current and past close same-sex friendships. Based on prior studies, it was hypothesized that females' closest same-sex friendships would be more fragile than those of males. Analyses comparing only the closest same-sex friendship of the two sexes demonstrated that females' current friendships were of a shorter duration, that females were more distressed than males when imagining the potential termination of their friendships, that more females' than males' friends already had done something to hurt the friendship, and that females had more former friendships that had ended than males had. Possible reasons are discussed for the greater vulnerability of this type of relationship for females.     

IMPLICATIONS OF PRESTEL AND OTHER TV PRINT SOURCES

Since Prestel and other televised print sources signal a revolution in the presentation of reading material to the public, it is necessary to ensure that the viewers are able to read the material. Are they ready and able to adapt their reading skills to read televised texts? Differences between page print and television print are discussed, with respect to form and style, and recommendations are made about the responsibility of the educational establishment towards the preparation of potential viewers.     

Alfred Wegener—From continental drift to plate tectonics

What is the nature of the force or mechanism that moves massive continents thousands of miles across? What causes violent earthquakes to displace huge landmasses abruptly? How could great mountain ranges like Himalayas and Alps rise to such incredible heights? What makes earth's interior so restless? Answers to some of these questions may lie in understanding the Earth's interior itself.