Self-Restraint as a Mediator of Family Influences on Boys' Delinquent Behavior: A Longitudinal Study

In the course of social development, family influences seem to become partly internalized and transformed into personality characteristics that regulate behavior outside the family sphere. In a longitudinal study of 81 boys and their families, we hypothesized that individual differences in boys' self-restraint would serve as a mediator between family factors in preadolescence and sons' delinquent behavior 4 years later. Measures were derived from principal components analyses of multiple indices of each construct as assessed by multiple informants. As expected, parenting practices measured at both pre- and mid-adolescence predicted delinquent acts only indirectly via their association with boys' self-restraint. In addition, general family functioning at preadolescence, independent of other scores, predicted boys' levels of self-restraint 4 years later. There was no evidence that boys' self-restraint at preadolescence systematically affected the quality of parenting that they subsequently received. Parents' and families' role in children's development of self-regulatory skills may be a primary vehicle by which they ultimately influence adolescents' problem behaviors.     

A Field Study of Adjunct Faculty: The Impact of Career Stage on Reactions to Non-Tenure-Track Jobs

As universities increasingly employ adjunct faculty in both teaching and research positions, how these individuals experience their jobs becomes of greater concern. This study uses both quantitative and qualitative data from a sample of 105 non-tenure-track instructors and research associates to examine the work experiences of adjunct faculty. The article examines both the advantages and disadvantages associated with this type of employment. In addition, the article examines how career stage influences individuals' reactions to these positions. Specifically, the results suggest that adjunct faculty in late career generally demonstrate more positive job attitudes and work behaviors than adjunct faculty in earlier career stages. The article concludes with implications for the more effective management and utilization of adjunct faculty.     

Fishing upstream: Firm innovation strategy and university research alliances

This paper examines how innovation strategy influences firms’ level of involvement with university-based research. Our results suggest that firms with internal R&D strategies more heavily weighted toward exploratory activities allocate a greater share of their R&D resources to exploratory university research and develop deeper multifaceted relationships with their university research partners. In addition, firms with more centralized internal R&D organizations spend a greater share of their R&D dollars on exploratory research conducted at universities. In contrast to other external partners, we find evidence suggesting that universities are preferred when the firm perceives potential conflicts over intellectual property.     

Teacher Learning of Technology Enhanced Formative Assessment

This study examined the integration of technology enhanced formative assessment (FA) into teachers’ practice. Participants were high school physics teachers interested in improving their use of a classroom response system (CRS) to promote FA. Data were collected using interviews, direct classroom observations, and collaborative discussions. The physics teachers engaged in collaborative action research (AR) to learn how to use FA and CRS to promote student and teacher learning. Data were analyzed using open coding, cross-case analysis, and content analysis. Results from data analysis allowed researchers to construct a model for knowledge skills necessary for the integration of technology enhanced FA into teachers’ practice. The model is as a set of four technologies: hardware and software; methods for constructing FA items; pedagogical methods; and curriculum integration. The model is grounded in the idea that teachers must develop these respective technologies as they interact with the CRS (i.e., hardware and software, item construction) and their existing practice (i.e., pedagogical methods, curriculum). Implications are that for teachers to make FA an integral part of their practice using CRS, they must: 1) engage in the four technologies; 2) understand the nature of FA; and 3) collaborate with other interested teachers through AR.     

Reading Poison: Science and Story in Nazi Children’s Propaganda

Children’s books of Nazi propaganda prove that a society can venerate science to the point of making biology the organizing principle of its educational system yet nevertheless produce children’s literature shot through with fabrication and falsehood. Three children’s books of Nazi propaganda that are frequently mentioned in accounts of anti-Semitism but seldom analyzed are discussed: Elvira Bauer’s Trau keinem Fuchs auf grüner Heid und keinem Jud auf seinem Eid (1936), Ernst Hiemer’s Der Giftpilz (1938), and Hiemer’s Der Pudelmopsdackelpinscher (1940) illustrate the ways in which racist science and ideological narrative tautologically reinforce each other in an extreme version of how “narratives play a key role in communicating science” (Pauwels, 2019, p. 434) in children’s nonfiction. These texts of lurid racism, all issued by the book publishing arm of Julius Streicher’s virulently anti-Semitic newspaper Der Stürmer, offer a monitory case study of how bad science and toxic narrative can coalesce into a literary poison intended to indoctrinate young readers. This analysis of Nazi nonfiction for children demonstrates how science and story can be exploited to promote a racist agenda.

     

Benchmarks Curricular Planning and Assessment Framework: Utilizing Standards Without Introducing Standardization

The national early learning community faces the challenge of using early learning standards and assessments to improve learning environments while preserving educators’ freedom to plan early childhood curriculum that accord with a child-centered focus and developmentally appropriate practices. Drawing on recent developments in approaches to undergraduate assessment, this article introduces an approach to curricular planning and assessment that uses state benchmarks as an umbrella structure to support curricular planning, assessment, and feedback among them. The benchmarks have a hierarchical structure that allows educators to think about benchmarks as embedded within educational goals, spanning different age-ranges, and involving activity across multiple domains of child development. The framework prompts educators to identify benchmarks for particular activities and to assess the age-appropriateness of activities and the degree to which they incorporate multiple domains of development. There are two primary curricular measures: (1) the match measure between educator predictions and observed activity, which provides timely feedback about the accuracy of educator predictions for different age-groups and across developmental domains, and (2) an open-ended measure, which provides information about the ways the children surprised educators by using the activity in an unpredicted manner. Both of these measures inform the development of classroom activities and curriculum. This article reports on the pilot implementation of this approach within an early learning program.