Purposes for literacy in children's use of the online virtual world Club Penguin

This paper reports on a study of the purposes for literacy discernible in young children's use of the virtual world, Club Penguin. Twenty‐six children aged between 5 and 11 took part in semi‐structured interviews in which their use of virtual worlds was explored. Further, three 11‐year‐old children were filmed using Club Penguin four times each over the period of 1 month in their own homes and they and their parents took part in interviews regarding their use of this virtual world. Findings indicate that the purposes for literacy in virtual worlds such as these are varied and have much in common with purposes for literacy in the off ine world. The virtual world Club Penguin provided a motivating and enjoyable context for reading and writing and enabled the construction and maintenance of online social networks. The implications for research, policy and practice are discussed.     

Back to the future: A methodology for comparing old A-level and new AS standards

Curriculum 2000 has meant significant change for the post-16 sector. New qualifications have been introduced (e.g. the new Advanced Subsidiary examination) and the number of students involved in education and training post-16 has increased. In this scenario how can the standards of new qualifications, particularly the new Advanced Subsidiary examinations, be compared with those of previous qualifications? One method is to use the prior achievement of candidates (i.e. GCSE results) as a basis for comparison of their results on subsequent qualifications (i.e. A levels and AS). This method of comparability and its limitations will be explored using examples with actual data.     

Covering Democracy's Forum: Canadian Press Treatment of Public and Private Broadcasting

A content analysis of Canadian press coverage of public service and private broadcasting conducted by NewsWatch Canada, a media monitoring project at Simon Fraser University, shows that the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation receives far more coverage than do private broadcasters. Moreover the institutional structures, mandates, and principles of private media networks tended to be excluded. These findings suggest that commercial media are viewed as private property and therefore outside the boundaries of legitimate political discussion. Both public and private broadcasters received more positive than negative coverage.     

Children's Activity Rating Scale (CARS): Description and Calibration

Abstract

A five-level Children's Activity Rating Scale (CARS) was designed to categorize the intensity of physical activities and discriminate between levels of energy expenditure in young children. The CARS was used by trained observers over a 12-month period to assess physical activities of 3-4 year-old children during field observations. Agreement among observers using the CARS was 84.1% for 389 paired observation periods. The energy expenditure for each level was assessed by measuring VO₂s and heart rates of 5-6 year-old children (12 boys, 13 girls) while they performed eight activities representing the CARS levels. Mean VO₂s for the eight activities in Levels 1-5 ranged from 7.1 to 37.5 ml kg BW^?1 min^?1 (1 to 5.42 METS; 145% to 80.6% of VO₂max). Mean heart rates ranged from 89 to 183 b min^?1 for activities in Levels 1-5. VO₂s and heart rates at each level were significantly different from all other levels. These data demonstrate that the CARS encompasses a wide range of energy expenditures, discriminates between levels of energy expenditure, and can be used by trained observers to reliably evaluate physical activity and estimate energy expenditure of young children.     

Intervening to improve the transfer to secondary school

Evaluation data are reported on a Transfer Support Team (TST) intervention which supports pupils identified as vulnerable during secondary school transfer. Information about school concerns and broader adjustment measures were collected from TST supported pupils on three occasions and from a “typical benchmark group” on two occasions. Factors known to confer additional vulnerability around school transfer were also analysed: English as an additional language, free school meals eligibility and special educational needs. Findings indicate that this relatively brief transfer support programme impacts positively on targeted pupils’ levels of school concerns and illustrates the importance of differentiated monitoring of intervention outcomes.