Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous: Celebrity Media Diet and the Cultivation of Emerging Adults’ Materialism

The present study used cultivation theory to explore the relationships between celebrity media diet and materialism for a sample of 224 emerging adults. Results indicated main effects between both celebrity magazine consumption and celebrity TV news consumption on materialism. Total celebrity media diet was also significantly related to materialism. Findings suggest that a media diet high in celebrity culture and lifestyle has significant impact on emerging adults’ preoccupation with consumerism, particularly for women. This research contributes to a growing body of literature on the effects of a celebrity-saturated media environment and the cultivation of materialistic attitudes.     

“But it doesn’t come naturally”: how effort expenditure shapes the benefit of growth mindset on women’s sense of intellectual belonging in computing

Research suggests growth mindset, or the belief that knowledge is acquired through effort, may enhance women’s sense of belonging in male-dominated disciplines, like computing. However, other research indicates women who spend a great deal of time and energy in technical fields experience a low sense of belonging. The current study assessed the benefits of a growth mindset on women’s (and men’s) sense of intellectual belonging in computing, accounting for the amount of time and effort dedicated to academics. We define “intellectual belonging” as the sense that one is believed to be a competent member of the community. Whereas a stronger growth mindset was associated with stronger intellectual belonging for men, a growth mindset only boosted women’s intellectual belonging when they did not work hard on academics. Our findings suggest, paradoxically, women may not benefit from a growth mindset in computing when they exert a lot of effort.     

Working with adolescent mothers of babies and toddlers: an approach to parent education

Adolescent mothers and their very young children are a high‐risk group, physically, emotionally and socially. These very young parents present special challenges to the early childhood educator, who must often deal with the simultaneous demands created by an immature adolescent and the needs of her child for responsible parenting. Social isolation, lack of education, inexperience, and un‐met needs to play further complicate the lives of teen parents, and of educators who attempt to teach them parenting skills.

Recognising the adolescent needs of very young parents and building a parent education program based on concrete, playful experiences with plentiful opportunities to interact with peers seem to be keys to successful intervention. In this presentation we will look at the special characteristics of adolescent parents and review a series of field‐tested hands‐on parent education workshops for them.     

A Self-Regulated Learning Approach to Teaching Educational Psychology

In this paper, we describe an undergraduate educational psychology course that utilizes self-regulated learning as the organizing principle. The course aims to facilitate students' development in self-regulated learning and to promote students' understanding of how to embed instruction for self-regulated learning strategies into classroom teaching. In the first section of the paper, we develop the rationale for this position and identify underlying assumptions we believe should guide the development and implementation of such a program. In the second section of the paper, we demonstrate how we have incorporated these assumptions in a basic educational psychology course.     

Designing Curriculum-Based Mathematics Professional Development for Kindergarten Teachers

This study examines the influence of a year-long mathematics professional development program on Kindergarten teachers’ beliefs, content knowledge, instructional practices, and their students’ achievement. The professional development program is grounded in the theoretical construct of learner-centered professional development and focuses on supporting teachers’ integration of standards-based pedagogies aligned with the Common Core State Standards in Mathematics. Data analysis included examining 15 Kindergarten teachers’ mathematics content knowledge, their beliefs about mathematics, their enactment of student-centered pedagogies, and student achievement on curriculum-based assessments. Findings indicated that teachers adopted more student-centered pedagogies and embraced more student-centered beliefs about mathematics teaching during their time in the project. Further, Kindergarten teachers also demonstrated gains in their mathematical content knowledge, and those content knowledge gains were linked to gains in student achievement.     

'Bad Days don't Kill You; They Just Make you Stronger': A case study of an early childhood educator's resilience

What enables some early childhood educators to sustain their commitment to a career in children's services despite multiple adverse conditions that lead to high rates of attrition from the field? The case study documented in this article seeks to address this question by identifying influences contributing to the resilience of an Australian early childhood educator. The findings highlight the importance of personal qualities, contextual features, and the interplay between the personal and the contextual. I conclude by suggesting that fostering resilience could contribute to efforts to address the escalating staffing shortfall in children's services in Australia and internationally. Qu'est-ce qui permet quelques e´ducateurs de la premie ¤ re enfance de soutenir leur engagement a ¤ une carrie ¤ re dans le service des enfants en de´pit des conditions contraires divers qui menent aux hauts taux d'attrition dans ce champ? L'e´tude de cas documente´e dans cet article cherche a ¤ adresser cette question en identifiant des influences contribuant a ¤ la re´sistance demontre´e par un e´ducateur Australien de la petite enfance. Les de´couvertes soulignent l'importance des qualite´s personnelles, les caracte´ristiques contextuelles, et l'interaction entre ce qui est personnel et ce qui constitue le contexte. Je conclus en sugge´rant que la stimulation de cette re´sistance pourrait contribuer aux efforts qui abordent une manque croissante de personnel dans les services des enfants dans l'Australie et dans le cadre international. Que´ permite a algunos educadores de la primera infancia a sostener su compromiso a una carrera de servicios para nin ¨ os a pesar de variadas condiciones adversas que llevan a altas tasas de desgaste de personal en este campo? El caso documentado en este art L ´culo procura contestar esta pregunta identificando las influencias que contribuyen a la resistencia de un educador de la primera infancia australiano. Las conclusiones destacan la importancia de las caracter L ´sticas personales y contextuales y de la interaccio´n entre lo personal y lo contextual. Concluyo sugiriendo que al fomentar la resistencia se podr L ´a contribuir a los esfuerzos que se hacen para solucionar el de´ficit creciente de personal en los servicios para nin ¨ os en Australia y en el plano internacional.