Does parental employment affect children's educational attainment?

This paper analyzes whether there exists a causal relationship between parental employment and children's educational attainment. We address potential endogeneity problems due to (i) selection of parents in the labor market by estimating a model on sibling differences and (ii) reverse causality by focusing on parents’ employment when children are aged 0–3. We use data from the German Socioeconomic Panel that provide information on household income, parental employment, and time spent with child care. Our approach disentangles income and time effects of parental employment. Overall, we find little support that parental employment affects children's educational attainment. Controlling for household income, we can rule out that having a mother who works one hour more per week lowers the probability of high secondary track attendance by more than 0.1%.     

Evaluating the future value of educational interventions in a health care setting

Program evaluation is intended to systematically determine the merit and worth of a program. We broadly define merit and worth to include economic perspectives obtained through the analysis of the finances of a program—both the costs and the benefits. A study reported here addressed the cost and benefit of investing in an educational intervention to change and improve processes in a health care setting. The potential economic impact of a training intervention intended to improve the uptake of a new purchasing process was evaluated. The study illustrates economic evaluation that anticipates the future value of educational interventions, a prospective view.     

Utilizing Improvisation to Teach Empathy Skills in Counselor Education

Empathy development is foundational to counselor training, yet there is scant research on techniques for teaching empathy aside from traditional microskills models. The authors discuss empathy as a skill set, highlight how improvisation (improv) can be used to enhance training, and describe how to incorporate improv activities within the classroom.     

Pedagogies for inclusion of junior primary students with disabilities in PE

Background: Laws and legislation have prompted movement from special education towards inclusive education, whereby students with disabilities are included in mainstream physical education (PE) classes. It is widely acknowledged that including students with disabilities in PE presents significant challenges in relation to meeting the diverse needs of all students. Significantly, little is known about how teachers include junior primary students with a disability in PE.

Aims: This paper aims to explore pedagogical practices for the inclusion of junior primary students with disabilities in PE as well as environmental accommodations teachers make. In order to address these aims, the research undertaking was guided by the question: ‘What pedagogies do teachers draw upon to include junior primary students with disabilities in PE’?

Methods: This qualitative research undertaking incorporated a critical case study approach, which utilised semi-structured interviews and field observations as data collection tools. Three teachers of PE in primary schools located in Adelaide, South Australia, participated in the research undertaking. Given this small sample group we make no claims for generalisability, but seek to provide connections for others teaching in PE.

Results: Findings are presented in three general themes of: Relationships for inclusion, Practices of Inclusion and Complexity and inclusion. Participants’ statements are used to illuminate discussions about discourses drawn on and to make links between previous research and theoretical perspectives. In general terms, findings revealed that despite barriers, such as catering for multiple forms of disabilities with minimal assistance from support staff and negotiating school environments, participants embraced inclusion and made pedagogical modifications to ensure meaningful involvement in PE lessons for all students. This research also identified the important role teachers play in terms of relationships, adaptations and safe learning environments, which collectively enable the inclusion of junior primary students with disabilities.

Conclusion: Students with disabilities warrant specific recognition and access to educational resources including within the field of PE.     

Barriers and facilitators to using digital technologies in the Cooperative Learning model in physical education

Background: The influence of technology on children’s everyday lives is significant in today’s society, with children described as digital natives and/or the iGeneration. There are also a range of digital technologies available for use in education and a number of pedagogical approaches reported to support technology integration and pupil learning in physical education contexts. The use of technology by practitioners at present, however, is far from omnipresent. Consequently, the mechanisms that can support practitioners to use digital technologies to help pupils learn optimally in physical education requires further attention.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to explore the barriers and facilitators to purposeful technology integration when using the Cooperative Learning model in physical education.

Research design: Data are presented from an action research project that focussed on how a teacher-researcher used iPads (tablet personal computers) within the Cooperative Learning model to support pupil learning. An athletics (track and field) unit was taught to 2 separate classes (36 pupils in total) using the key features of the Cooperative Learning model. The teacher-researcher used action research as a professional learning mechanism to refine her practice through gathering data from focus groups interviews with pupils, teacher-researcher reflections and a colleague’s observation.

Data analysis: Data analysis was ongoing throughout the athletics units as part of the action research design. Following the unit, data were analysed through inductive analysis and constant comparison and the authors engaged in a peer examination process.

Findings: Unfamiliarity with technology and poor group cooperation were identified as initial barriers to pupil learning when integrating technology. Action research, however, and the process of reflection and collaborative inquiry acted as key facilitators for the teacher-researcher to learn how to use digital technology to support learning.

Conclusion: Findings challenge existing literature which position the ‘digital natives’ or iGeneration of today’s society as competent and able to use digital technologies to learn in formal educational contexts. Moreover, this study shows that selecting a well-defined pedagogical approach that has been previously reported to support technology use, such as Cooperative Learning, will not automatically result in positive learning experiences for pupils. If practitioners are to purposefully integrate digital technologies into physical education and ensure technology can help students to learn optimally, practitioners should engage with a reflexive process of learning, such as action research, to refine and develop their practices.     

‘A Million Little Bonds’: Infidelity,Divorce and the Emotional Worlds of Marriage in British Women’s Magazines of the 1930s

This article examines infidelity discourse within women's magazines of the 1930s. Marking a departure from existing studies that have explored representations of ideal marriage, it uses discussions of marital breakdown as a lens through which to consider conceptualisations of love within marriage. It demonstrates how, in the interwar period, notions of mutual emotional investment were used to reinforce marriages that were deemed to be in breakdown. Muddying the perceived binary between individuals and the institution of marriage, this research highlights how the latter could be bolstered, rather than challenged, by recourse to the emotional worlds of spouses.     

Proof,Evidence, and Complexity: Understanding the Impact of Training and Development in Business

Interventions–most notably, training–designed to improve human performance are coming under increasing scrutiny as executive management demands to know how and to what extent the investment in these interventions adds value to the organization. Often, management's demands are translated into assessment efforts involving experimental methods intended to “prove” that economic improvements can be directly and unequivocally attributed to training. Although this approach to demonstrating impact can be very effective, it is not applicable across a broad range of programs or organizations. Demonstrating value for diverse programs requires a wide range of impact assessment methods. This paper presents a framework for impact assessment that, although encompassing experimental methods, is focused on alternative ways of demonstrating value. Specifically discussed are the need to link program components in the evaluation strategy and to utilize various levels of evidence in drawing conclusions. In addition, the possibility of increasing the number of erroneous conclusions when programs are held to the highest standard of proof is discussed. Finally, chaos theory is suggested as a metaphor for understanding the complexity of the relationships between interventions and effects and as a rationale for an expanded approach to demonstrating value.     

Key to Freshwater Algae: A Web-based Tool to Enhance Understanding of Microscopic Biodiversity

The Freshwater Ecology Laboratory at Connecticut College has developed an interactive, Web-based identification key to freshwater algal genera using the Lucid Professional and Lucid 3 software developed by the Centre for Biological Information Technology at the University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia. The Key to Freshwater Algae was funded by the National Science Foundation (Award #CCLI-0229531) to encourage awareness of microscopic diversity through a creative, investigative approach to learning. Users may answer questions in any order to quickly and efficiently narrow down the list of taxa to only those that match the characteristics they have chosen. All characters and terms are clearly explained for ease of use by those unfamiliar with the algae. This non-hierarchical, user-friendly key is linked to Web pages containing a wealth of resources, including images, movies, and information about the morphology, ecology, and reproduction of each organism. These materials are especially well suited for classroom use in conjunction with cultures purchased from the Carolina Biological Supply Company, a popular distributor of biological materials. Cultures from the Carolina Biological Supply Company representing nearly 75 freshwater genera from a variety of algal groups were observed and photographed using high resolution digital imaging to fully document cellular structure and highlight distinguishing features. High quality video footage of each taxon incorporating titles, diagrams, and structural terminology was outputted as QuickTime movies, on DVD, and on VHS cassettes. The Key to Freshwater Algae and supplemental materials are available online at http://silicasecchidisk.conncoll.edu to provide an innovative alternative to traditional dichotomous keys that is particularly appropriate for introducing students in undergraduate life science courses to the algal groups and genera.