It Only Happens Once: Adolescents’ Interpretations of Mediated Messages About Sexual Initiation

The current study examines adolescents’ interpretations of a televised scene narrative describing a sexual initiation encounter. The study uses the media practice model as a theoretical framework. Two hundred ninety-three 10th, 11th, and 12th graders suggested possible endings to the narrative, reflecting their outcome expectancies for sexual initiation. The adolescents’ suggested scene endings were divided into 10 categories, including emotional, physical, and relational outcomes. A thematic analysis of their outcome expectancies revealed some shared themes, but important individual differences based on gender and sexual experience also were identified, consistent with media practice model assumptions. Male students were more technical and less emotional than female students in their scene interpretations. Adolescents without sexual experience suggested more simplistic and deterministic outcomes than more sexually experienced teens. The study contributes to the understanding of adolescents’ interpretation of mediated narratives in the context of sexual initiation and supports their complex, active, and developmentally consistent understanding of this topic.     

Early literacy and parental writing mediation in young children with and without ADHD

The study compared early literacy of Israeli children aged five to six years with and without attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), contrasted parental writing mediation in the two groups and tested the relations between parents’ mediation characteristics and children’s early literacy skills. Each of 62 parent‐child dyads (32 with ADHD) was videotaped at home while writing words. Videotapes were transcribed and analysed for mediation (specific writing task measures, emotional measures typical of problem‐solving tasks, and general measures of interactions). Children’s early literacy (word writing, letter knowledge and phonological awareness) was assessed at home. Results showed that children with ADHD already exhibited lower literacy achievements at ages five to six compared to their peers without ADHD. Parents of children with ADHD scored lower than parents of children without ADHD on the writing‐specific, emotional and general mediation measures. In both groups, the specific writing mediation measures correlated significantly with children’s early literacy. More emotional mediation measures correlated significantly with children’s early literacy in the ADHD than in the non‐ADHD group. Discussion focused on parent‐child writing interactions as a context of early literacy development among young children with ADHD.     

Wikis: what students do and do not do when writing collaboratively

We investigated the collaborative writing actions carried out by 60 Open University of Israel graduate students as they built a wiki glossary of key course concepts. These actions were analysed using a taxonomy of collaborative writing actions (i.e. adding, editing and deleting information) in order to find out what students do and what they do not do when writing collaboratively. Two main findings were reported: in accord with previous research, students most frequently add content to a wiki rather than delete existing text; and contrary to previous research, students modify existing texts to a greater extent than previously reported. These findings may help teachers design collaborative learning activities. Teachers should be aware of the difficulties faced by students when writing collaboratively and should design collaborative learning activities in ways that overcome or circumvent these difficulties.     

间谍软件

KeyGhost设备在很多情况下大有用处。我使用这个键盘击键记录设备来保护自己的信息，防止在我的计算机异常停止的时候造成信息的丢失；我还使用它来记录被怀疑为内贼的客户雇员的活动情况。在指责我使用设备来监控某人计算机的活动之前，请注意，已经有一些法律程序允许(雇主)在工作区监控雇员，这一点很重要。从法律上讲，监控的范围还可以适用于雇员电话的使用情况和语音邮件，当然某些私人电话除外。     

Typing Performance and Technique of Higher Education Students with Specific Learning Disorders

Higher education students with specific learning disorders (SLD) often experience difficulties in basic learning skills, including typing on computers, which has become the most common writing mode for academic purposes. This may affect their academic performance. We compared the typing performance, product, and technique (screen gaze, finger use) of 35 SLD and 30 typically developing (TD) students using keylogging software. Compared to TD peers, students with SLD typed more slowly and less accurately, and gazed less at the screen, suggesting a less effective typing technique. They typed slower even after controlling for screen gaze, implying that additional factors may account for their lower typing speed such as language processing. Hence, students with SLD may benefit from typing instruction alongside test accommodations during computer-based exams.     

Does interest have an expiration date? An analysis of students’ questions as resources for context-based learning

ABSTRACT

Context-based approaches can bridge the gap between abstract, difficult science concepts and the world students live in. However, the relevance of specific contexts to different groups of learners, and its stability over time, have not been extensively explored. This study used four datasets, collected in different formal and informal settings, to examine which types of contexts could capture the interest of many students and remain so for many years. In the formal setting, responses to closed-ended questionnaires in which 4–12th graders indicated their interest in studying the answers to science questions were compared. Over 700 questionnaires collected in 2007 were compared to over 1600 questionnaires collected in 2016. To document the stability of children’s interest in informal science learning settings we compared over 1600 science questions sent to a TV science show in 2004 with over 7000 science questions submitted to a commercial exhibition in 2014. Although there were some differences across ages, students’ interest in science remained relatively stable over the 10 years. In the formal setting, this similarity was reflected in the significant linear relationship between the two databases (r?=?0.917) with regard to the questions students found interesting. In the informal setting, there was a striking similarity in the proportions of spontaneous questions in biology, astrophysics, Earth Science and chemistry. Based on the findings of this study and the literature we recommended, frequently asked questions are a valuable resource for context-based teaching which can serve to identify contexts that enhance the relevance of science in students’ lives.