What does it look like and what can it do? Category structure influences how infants categorize

Despite a large body of research demonstrating the kinds of categories to which infants respond, few studies have directly assessed how infants' categorization unfolds over time. Four experiments used a visual familiarization task to evaluate 10-month-old infants' (N = 98) learning of exemplars characterized by commonalities in appearance or function. When learning exemplars with a common function, infants initially responded to the common feature, apparently forming a category, and only learned the individual features with more extensive familiarization. When learning exemplars with a common appearance, infants initially learned the individual features and apparently only formed a category with more extensive familiarization. The results are discussed in terms of models of category learning.     

活血皇浆对田径运动员血液动力流变学和血液有形成分参数的影响

根据中医内科辩证和因时制宜原则 ,对校田径代表队在夏季比赛期间服用活血皇浆前后进行血液动力流变学和血液有形成分参数的比较观察结果表明 ,运动员服液后在脉率 (PR)、每搏量 (SV)、心输出量 (CO)、左心有效泵力 (VPE)和左心能量有效利用率 (EWK )改善的同时 ,出现心肌耗氧量 (HOV)、心肌耗氧指数 (HOI)、心肌血液需要量 (CMBN)、心肌血液灌注量(CMBV)和总周阻 (TPR)、标准周阻 (SPR)、收缩压 (SP)舒张压 (DP)等参数下降 ,呈现机能和能量节省化 ,而血液状态则表现为血容量 (BV)增多 ,全血粘度 (η)和还原血粘度 (ηr)下降 ,切变应力增高 ,血流速度加快 ,有利于维持微循环正常功能。血液有形成分的改变提示 ,血红蛋白 (Hb)红细胞比积 (HCT)和血小板 (PL T)有增高趋势 ;平均红细胞血红蛋白浓度 (MCHC)下降 ,则有可能与 BV相对增多 ,红细胞 (RBC)体积增大有关     

An ecological analysis of infant neglect by adolescent mothers

To inform efforts to prevent child neglect, we investigated a wide range of risk factors that have been largely unexamined in relation to infant neglect, the most commonly occurring form of child maltreatment. Using an ecological model of child neglect, we assessed the influence of characteristics at the level of the child, the mother, the family, and broader childrearing contexts on adolescent mothers’ likelihood of being a perpetrator in a substantiated case of neglect against their firstborn infants (n = 383, M = 12 months). Several factors were associated with infant neglect by young mothers: median block income, low infant birth weight, maternal smoking, maternal childhood history of neglect and of positive care, intimate partner violence (IPV) perpetrated by either the mother or her partner, and maternal use of mental health services. In multivariate models, income, a maternal childhood history of positive care, IPV by either a mother or her partner, and mental health service usage made significant contributions to the odds that a mother neglected her infant. Our findings suggest that these factors have particular salience to policymakers’ and practitioners’ efforts to identify high risk families and to intervene during the earliest months of life to prevent child neglect.     

Discontinuity of Reference Hinders Children's Learning of New Words

When referring to objects, adults package words, sentences, and gestures in ways that shape children's learning. Here, to understand how continuity of reference shapes word learning, an adult taught new words to 4-year-old children (N = 120) using either clusters of references to the same object or no sequential references to each object. In three experiments, the adult used a combination of labels and other object references, which provided informative discourse (e.g., This is small and green), neutral discourse (e.g., This is really great), or no verbal discourse. Switching verbal references from one object to another interfered with learning relative to providing clustered references to a particular object, revealing that discontinuity in discourse hinders children's encoding of new words.     

The Developmental Sequence and Relations Between Gesture and Spoken Language in Toddlers With Autism Spectrum Disorder

In typical development, gestures precede and predict language development. This study examines the developmental sequence of expressive communication and relations between specific gestural and language milestones in toddlers with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), who demonstrate marked difficulty with gesture production and language. Communication skills across five stages (gestures, word approximations, first words, gesture-word combinations, and two-word combinations) were assessed monthly by blind raters for toddlers with ASD participating in an randomized control trial of parent-mediated treatment (N = 42, 12–30 months). Findings revealed that toddlers acquired skills following a reliable (vs. idiosyncratic) sequence and the majority of toddlers combined gestures with words before combining words in speech, but in contrast to the pattern observed in typical development, a significant subset acquired pointing after first words.     

Impacts of an Early Childhood Mathematics and Science Intervention on Teaching Practices and Child Outcomes

abstract

This randomized controlled trial examined effects of the MyTeachingPartner-Math/Science intervention on the quality and quantity of teachers’ mathematics and science instruction, and children’s mathematics and science outcomes in 140 pre-kindergarten classrooms. Teachers participated in the intervention for two years with consecutive cohorts of children. Results from Year 1 are considered experimental, however due to high levels of attrition, results from Year 2 are considered quasi-experimental. Across both years, intervention teachers exhibited higher quality and quantity of instruction. In Year 1, there were no significant effects of the intervention on children’s outcomes. In Year 2, children in intervention classrooms made greater gains in teachers’ ratings of mathematics and science skills and performed better on a spring assessment of science skills. These results have implications for designing and evaluating professional development aimed at supporting children’s mathematics and science knowledge and skills.     

Do Stability of Care and Teacher–Child Interaction Quality Predict Child Outcomes in Early Head Start?

Research Findings: This study examined whether children’s outcomes at age 3 were predicted by their experiences in Early Head Start (EHS), focusing on 2 key features of infant and toddler care: (a) stability of care and (b) teacher–child interactions. This study further explored potential interaction effects between stability of care and teacher–child interactions in predicting child outcomes. Three main results were found from secondary analyses of the recently released EHS longitudinal data set the EHS Family and Child Experiences Study (Vogel & Boller, 2009–2012). First, children who had stability of care (no teacher change) were rated as having fewer behavior problems and higher social competence. Second, children were rated as demonstrating better orientation/engagement and emotional regulation when they were in EHS classrooms observed to have higher emotional and behavioral support. Third, teacher–child interactions that are emotionally and behaviorally supportive may mitigate the potential drawbacks of experiencing instability of care on early social-emotional development. Study implications are discussed. Practice or Policy: Both stability and quality teacher–child interactions are important in center-based infant and toddler care, and ensuring quality teacher–child interactions is particularly important for children who experience teacher changes during their infant and toddler years.     

Preservice teachers’ views of global citizenship and implications for global citizenship education

Global citizenship (GC) is becoming increasingly significant as a desirable graduate attribute in the context of increasing globalisation and cultural diversity. However, both the means and ends of GC education are influenced by a divergent range of conceptualizations. The aim of this research project was to investigate preservice teachers’ understandings of global citizenship, with a particular focus on cultural diversity. Pre-service teachers (PSTs) participated in interviews, and findings indicated that they were uncertain about the idea of global citizenship, sought harmony and a desire for sameness in culturally diverse relationships, and held ethnocentric, paternalistic and salvationist views about the ‘Other’. Drawing on these findings, we present a framework incorporating technicist, humanistic and postcritical conceptions as a tool for analysis of GCE approaches, their means and ends.     

‘Make money,get money’: how two autonomous schools have commercialised their services

ABSTRACT

Using the stories of two autonomous public schools in Australia, this paper demonstrates how commercialisation can simultaneously position schools as both consumer and for-profit producer. Drawing on Foucault's articulation of discourse as that which constitutes and makes available what is possible to be said, done and imagined, the paper illustrates how the current marketised articulation of education is allowing for new possibilities of commercialisation in schools. Together these stories demonstrate that there are creative ways that these schools have embraced their autonomy, while relying on market solutions to acquire the resources they deem necessary for their students and their communities. However, it also shows how these resources and the attainment for them are inextricably constituted by the market orientation of education more broadly and how this presents potential dangers for what schools may be and become as a result.