At Home With Data: Family Engagements With Data Involved in Type 1 Diabetes Management

This article reports on an exploratory study of quantitative data use situated in families’ management routines while taking care of a child with Type 1 diabetes (T1D). T1D treatment requires frequent measurement and recording of numerical data about blood sugar concentration, nutritional intake, and insulin dosage at the child’s home, at school, and at other activities. We analyze coordination work between family members and others involved in the care of children with T1D using the lens of distributed cognition, and we introduce the notion of a data catchment to refer to the pathways of data flow and information storage within and between multiple agents and spaces. Interviews and observations reveal three main features of storage and use in data catchments: First, there is a great variability in how data move and are retained to enable communication between family members and others. Second, families tended to focus more on individual data points and less on aggregate readings despite some indications of ability to narrate through aggregate readings. Third, families engage in recurrent conversations and sometimes use novel artifacts to make numerical values meaningful to children with T1D. Implications for understanding this space of practice as constituting a data catchment are discussed.     

The visual motor integration test: High interjudge reliability,high potential for diagnostic error

Extending Pryzwansky's (1977) work on the Developmental Test of Visual Motor Integration (VMI), this paper investigated scoring agreement among three levels of increasingly better trained VMI diagnosticians. Correlational data demonstrated high interexaminer reliabilities (.92, .93, and .98) between groups of Consumers (Special Education undergraduates), Experts (doctoral Psychology students), and Consensus-Judges (experienced school psychologists) in their scoring of 39 subject protocols. However, gross errors in precision were discovered after the raw scores had been converted into the VMI age equivalent scores: fully 56% of the assigned age equivalent scores resulted in discrepancies of at least one year of age. These findings indicate that, despite high interexaminer reliabilities, great caution must be exercised when children are evaluated or placed by virtue of their age equivalent scores.     

Interactions of black inner-city mothers with their newborn infants.

Interactions of 45 black inner-city mothers with their healthy full-term newborn infants were observed during a bottle-feeding on the third day after birth. An exhaustive catalog of some 100 mother and infant behaviors was used to describe objectively the interactions of mothers and infants. In addition to being observed with their mothers, infants were examined with the Rosenblith scale. The infants' birth weights, birth order, and sex and maternal medication were found to affect the infants' behaviors and/or the patterns of mother-infant interactions.     

Crime,Camping, and Fear: Developing High Impact Practices in Criminal Justice

High Impact Practices (HIPs) have been shown to increase critical thinking skills, student engagement, persistence, and GPA. Examples of HIPs include research experiences, collaborative projects, study abroad, and internships. One of the main characteristics of a HIP is the effort they require. This effort not only applies to the experience, but the development of the experience itself. In the fall of 2014, a HIP was utilized to provide criminal justice students an opportunity to engage in research and data collection. This paper will explore the logistics, best practices, benefits, and pitfalls of developing a high impact practice.     

Young Children From Three Diverse Cultures Spontaneously and Consistently Prepare for Alternative Future Possibilities

This study examined future-oriented behavior in children (3–6 years; N = 193) from three diverse societies—one industrialized Western city and two small, geographically isolated communities. Children had the opportunity to prepare for two alternative versions of an immediate future event over six trials. Some 3-year-olds from all cultures demonstrated competence, and a majority of the oldest children from each culture prepared for both future possibilities on every trial. Although there were some cultural differences in the youngest age groups that approached ceiling performance, the overall results indicate that children across these communities become able to prepare for alternative futures during early childhood. This acquisition period is therefore not contingent on Western upbringing, and may instead indicate normal cognitive maturation.     

Peer deviancy training and peer coercion: dual processes associated with early-onset conduct problems

The prospective relationships of conduct problems and peer coercion and deviancy training during kindergarten (mean age = 5.3 years) to overt and covert conduct problems in third-fourth grade were examined in a sample of 267 boys and girls. Coercion and deviancy training were distinct peer processes. Both were associated with earlier child conduct problems but were differentially associated with child impulsivity, verbal ability, anxiety, peer rejection, and deviant peer affiliation. Coercion by peers predicted overt conduct problems and peer deviancy training and the interaction of deviancy training and coercion predicted covert conduct problems in third-fourth grade. Peer deviancy training occurs in early childhood and may serve as an independent risk mechanism in addition to peer coercion for early-onset, persisting conduct problems.     

How Should I Use My E‐Reader? An Exploration of the Circumstances Under Which Electronic Presentation of Text Results in Good Comprehension

The present research aimed to determine the circumstances under which comprehension between paper and e‐readers is comparable and what role working memory plays in successful comprehension of text presented in these formats. Narrative and expository texts were presented in electronic and paper formats to determine whether readers glean different information for these text types via different presentation formats. Results indicated that comprehension for paper and electronic formats may not be equivalent. Although comprehension of thematic information presented via e‐reader was better than when reading for detail (as in expository passages), it did not lead to comprehension as successfully as printed text. In addition, removing working memory led to the disappearance of the effects of presentation method and the type of questions, suggesting that it was important for individual differences in use of the e‐reader device. Implications for the appropriate use of e‐readers are discussed.