Roles,Risks, and Benefits of Peer Mentoring Relationships in Higher Education

Successful peer mentoring in university settings is the result of relationships among students, mentors, and instructors. Findings from this study indicate that even in programs where training is ongoing and established, assumptions cannot be made about the understanding of the roles, risks, and benefits involved in such relationships. This study demonstrates that students, instructors, and mentors all have different perspectives about a mentor’s role and how that role should be enacted. Connecting link, peer leader, learning coach, student advocate, and trusted friend were identified as predominant roles enacted by mentors. Also described are risks and benefits for being or having a peer mentor.     

Annual Index Volume 8

The objective of this paper is to report the development and use of an observation checklist to identify typically developing children with behavioural manifestations associated with inattention, hyperactivity and impulsivity. This measure is termed the Scope Classroom Observation Checklist (SCOC). The SCOC was developed, assessed for reliability using an independent observer and teacher ratings, and administered to a sample of 157 mainstream schoolchildren. The SCOC revealed a normal distribution of scores on the checklist, and the top and bottom quartiles of this distribution were found, as would be expected, to differ significantly on SCOC score. The SCOC had good inter‐observer reliability and a high rate of concordance with teacher ratings of attentional difficulties. The SCOC has emerged as a reliable measure that could prove to be a useful tool in a battery of screening measures to identify mainstream schoolchildren with difficulties characterised by inattention and hyperactivity‐impulsivity.     

Improving sexual health for young people: making sexuality education a priority

How well do young people understand their developing sexuality and what this means? This paper reports on findings from the Our Lives: Culture, Context and Risk project, which investigated sexual behaviour and decision-making in the context of the everyday life experience and aspirations of Indigenous and non-Indigenous young people (16–25 years) in the Northern Territory, Western Australia and in South Australia. Using qualitative data, this paper focuses on what participating young people thought was necessary to improve the quality of sexuality education. Participants suggest that current forms of sexuality education are too clinical, didactic and unengaging, and are missing in relevant content. Young people requested more information on relationships, first sexual experiences and negotiating condom use. These requests indicate that young people realise that they need more knowledge in order to have healthy relationships, which conflicts with the popular belief that providing young people with open, honest information around sex will encourage them to have sex or increase sexual risk taking. Making sexuality education more of a priority and listening to the needs of young people could be a positive step towards improving sexual health and well-being.     

Best Practices for English Language Learners in Massachusetts: Five Years After The Question 2 Mandate

Educating English language learners (ELLs) presents a challenge for teachers and policy makers; the population of ELLs increases, yet their achievement trails that of their native English-speaking peers. In November 2002, Massachusetts voters supported a law that mandated Sheltered English Immersion (SEI) as the primary means of instruction for ELLs, effectively ending transitional bilingual education. This report examines key considerations in educating ELLs, and in implementing SEI in Massachusetts schools. It also presents case studies of three schools making significant strides with ELLs through innovative programming built around SEI methods yet maintaining important bilingual education practices that promote educational equity. Cross-case analysis identified themes about strategic data use, staff recruitment, and supports for students and families.     

The surprising viability of a simple alternate estimation procedure for construction of large‐scale structural equation measurement models

As part of developing a comprehensive strategy for structural equation model building and assessment, a large‐scale Monte Carlo study of 7,200 covariance matrices sampled from 36 population models was conducted. This study compared maximum likelihood with the much simpler centroid method for the confirmatory factor analysis of multiple‐indicator measurement models. Surprisingly, the contribution of maximum likelihood to model analysis is limited to formal evaluation of the model. No statistically discernible differences were obtained for the bias, standard errors, or mean squared error (MSE) of the estimated factor correlations, and empirically obtained maximum likelihood standard errors for the pattern coefficients were only slightly smaller than their centroid counterparts. Further supporting the recommendations of Anderson and Gerbing (1982), the considerably faster centroid method may have a useful role in the analysis of these models, particularly for the analysis of large models with 50 or more input variables. These results encourage the further development of a comprehensive research paradigm that exploits the relative strengths of both centroid and maximum likelihood as complementary estimation procedures along an integrated exploratory‐confirmatory continuum of model specification, revision, and formal evaluation.     

Creating Inclusive,Literacy-Embedded Play Centers in a Children's Museum: Connecting Theory to Practice

Preservice teachers enrolled in an early literacy or developmental preschool course collaborated in order to create inclusive, literacy-embedded play centers at a local children's museum. Using a grounded theory approach, theoretical questions were generated after analyzing multiple data sources. The focus of this paper is how preservice teachers connected theory to practice in an authentic setting. The importance of connecting theory to practice, the place of play in assessment, and the viability of children's museums as alternative field placements are discussed. Implications for preservice teacher education are presented.     

Kawaii Killers and Femme Fatales: A Textual Analysis of Female Characters Signifying Benevolent and Hostile Sexism in Video Games

ABSTRACT

Game developers potentially convey socio-cultural values about gender through design choices. This study interpreted the designs of 11 purposively selected female game characters, developed by studios located in the United States and Japan, through the lens of ambivalent sexism. This social psychological theory posits that sexism consists of hostile and benevolent attitudes about women. Two themes emerged across characterizations: bodies as objects, bodies as weapons and (in)dependence. Both consisted of empowering qualities paired with problematic beliefs about women. This analysis contributes to interdisciplinary literature by using an empirical perspective to interpret gender representations in video games.