Internality,academic status and intergroup attributions

Some pupils categorized as good vs. bad pupils were given a questionnaire of attributions, thus allowing the calculation of internality scores. They were also requested to answer as would a good (vs. a bad) pupil do. Finally, they also had to predict in which way a good (vs. a bad) pupil would answer on their behalf. The results were explained within the frame of two different theoretical fields: the theory of the norm of internality and the biases in terms of intergroup attributions. These results show that 1) the attribution of internal explanations relates to an attribution of value that takes place within the intergroup evaluation, 2) whereas the ultimate attribution error can clearly be observed among the good pupils, the bad pupils exhibit an attributive pattern that is favorable to the good pupils.     

Picture Book Reading at Home: A Comparison of Head Start and Middle-class Preschoolers

This study was designed to assess the impact of taking a high quality picture book home from school daily on the at-home reading behaviors of young children and/or family members from middle and low SES backgrounds. Eighty children representing two study groups (treatment & no-treatment comparison) and two socioeconomic groups (Head Start & middle-class) composed the study sample. Treatment children selected picture books at school daily to take home over a 12-week period. Child and family picture book reading behaviors were assessed by weekly random telephone surveys. Findings indicate that taking a picture book home daily more than doubled the number of books read at home for both middle-class and Head Start treatment children over their no-treatment comparison counterparts and significantly increased the amount of time Head Start treatment children were involved in reading each day. The practicality of making high quality picture books available for preschool children to take home and the implications of increased at-home reading behaviors are discussed.     

Emotional risk to children caught in violent marital conflict—The Basildon treatment project

This paper outlines the work of the Basildon Marital/Family Violence Project set up as a result of two studies undertaken by the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (N.S.P.C.C.) School of Social Work, which looked at the effect of marital violence upon the children involved. These effects were classified under the following headings: (1) the children were scapegoated; (2) used as pawns in the marital battles; (3) turned agression against themselves; (4) had relationship problems at school; (5) were physically assaulted by the parents in 25% of the cases. The project, which is now in its 4th year, has offered social work services, consultation, training courses and research. Work with the families, and particularly with the children, has further emphasised the severe emotional damage that marital violence can have upon the children. The paper optimistically reports that after intensive work using a five-point treatment programme, and direct work with the children, there has been considerable diminution of violence in many of the cases and in some cases no repetition of such violence at all. The worker's approach, it is suggested, should be characterised by optimism combined with indestructible calm, genuine empathy combined with 24-hour access, persistence in the face of lack of progress, enhancement of parents' low self-esteem, regular contact and an ability to contain destructiveness.     

Nonverbal learning disabilities and remedial interventions

Adolescents with nonverbal learning disabilities who enroll in private, special secondary schools consistently present a pattern of behaviors which prevents achievement of their potentials in academic areas and impedes their abilities to interact effectively with others. With weaknesses in the fine graphomotor skills for writing and poor organization at all levels, they produce limited written output and often fail to complete academic assignments. Their response to pressure to produce is to become less productive. These students perceive social situations inaccurately; they are not successful in their interactions, especially with peers. They have learned to resolve difficult situations by employing their relatively strong verbal skills to enlist parents and other adults in intervening for them. They have not developed the skills to intervene for themselves. Effective remedial interventions include training the students in skills for planning and organizing, for studying, for written expression, and in social cognition and interpersonal communication. Students gain positive feelings of personal effectiveness through a process—at first verbally mediated, ultimately verbally self-directed—in which they are encouraged to plan, risk, and act on their own behalfs to resolve matters of personal concern.     

Formula-based research incentive plans at colleges and universities

Financial problems at colleges and universities have led many institutions to initiate extra efforts to obtain extramural funds. One such effort has been the establishment of formula-based research incentive plans. These plans generally utilize the recovery of indirect costs as the basis for allocating additional incentive funds to various areas as an encouragement to obtain additional extramural funds. Data from surveys conducted by the University of Missouri-Kansas City and Ohio University were combined with National Science Foundation reports to provide information about this relatively recent phenomena. The increasing popularity of these plans was shown in that a majority of institutions had such plans in effect during FY 1979. Analyses of the effectiveness of these plans showed no statistically significant differences between institutions with incentive plans and those without such plans, although mean federal research expenditures were approximately 20% greater at those institutions without these incentive plans. The evidence presented indicates that the receipt of federal research funds is not associated with the use of a formula-based research incentive plan.     

Analysis of switching devices with bond graphs

Modelling and simulation of switching devices with bond graphs is a subject which has no totally satisfying solutions. In this paper, switching devices are represented by flow or effort sources, with a variable circuit topology at switching time. For the simulation, the usual method uses causality resistors to insure integral causality to energy storage elements. The choice of those resistors is quite arbitrary and can lead to stiff systems. We propose, for linear systems, an approach without such resistors. When components lose the integral causality, the order of the state vector changes, provoking the use of pulse variables. A solution is proposed to compute the amplitude of the pulse and the value of the new variables.     

Developmental Changes in Imitation from Television during Infancy

Infants' (N = 276) ability to learn from television under seminaturalistic conditions was examined in five experiments with 12-, 15-, and 18-month-olds. In all experiments, an adult performed a series of specific actions with novel stimuli. Some infants watched the demonstration live, and some infants watched the same demonstration on television from prerecorded videotape. Infants' ability to reproduce the target actions was then assessed either immediately or after a 24-hour delay. Infants of all ages exhibited imitation when the actions were modeled live. There were age-related and task-related differences, however, in infants' ability to imitate the same actions modeled on television. The role of perceptual, attentional, and cognitive development in the ability to learn from television is discussed.     

The Story of Phoenix Quest: How girls respond to a prototype language and mathematics computer game

This article describes a case study of six girls' experiences with the Phoenix Quest computer game. In addition to the case study, a supplementary large-scale study of the reactions of both boys and girls to the same computer game was conducted for comparative analysis. Phoenix Quest (PQ) was designed not only to encourage children to explore language and mathematics, but also to offer game features that would especially appeal to girls. Participants in the case study were given opportunities to become acquainted with PQ for several months before being observed and interviewed. Four issues that emerged as being important to the participants were (a) presentation of the story in a non-linear format, (b) appreciation for the problem-solving elements of PQ, (c) identification with the main character (female), and (d) lack of awareness of the mathematics embedded within the game. The findings provided evidence that PQ appealed to girls because the protagonist was of their age and gender, and because the puzzles and searches were engaging throughout the game. Some aspects of the game, however, were less successful; for instance, the non-linear story format was disconcerting to all but one of the participants, and only one student identified the mathematics in the game structure. The large-scale study involved 41 boys and 57 girls, aged 8-12, from four junior school classes (Grades 4, 5 and 6). The aggregate data collected showed that more girls than boys used the postcard-writing feature of PQ and appreciated following the adventures of a female protagonist. More boys than girls were reported to offer advice to other students, discuss the game during their free time, and observe others playing the game. Some boys even formed groups to exchange information and game-playing strategies. Also, more boys than girls recognised the mathematics embedded within the game. Although these studies did not focus on teacher-student interaction, the finding that more than 25% of participating students were not able to identify the mathematics embedded in PQ, supports supplementary instruction on the part of a teacher as a requirement for making the mathematics more salient. Further research to address this issue is strongly recommended. Both the case study and the large-scale study revealed that among computer games, PQ's uncommon approach of celebrating and challenging a female protagonist is important to girls. This does not suggest that the presentation of a female protagonist will discourage boys from playing and enjoying the game. On the contrary, our findings showed that boys were also engaged by PQ, a game that encourages cooperative play and group problem-solving. In the realm of computer games, gender identification plays a key role, in first capturing the attention of girls, and then sustaining their interest, enjoyment and participation.