Peer Acceptance and Social Adjustment in Preschool and Kindergarten

Research on the relation between social behavior and peer acceptance in preschool children and the long-term consequences of peer acceptance or rejection is reviewed. Preschool children who exhibit aggressive behavior tend to be rejected by peers at an early age and these first impressions have a lasting effect on peer acceptance, in spite of subsequent changes in the child's behavior. Social behaviors that are related to peer popularity vary by age and sex. Children who experience high levels of peer acceptance in preschool and who have friends entering kindergarten with them make a better adjustment to school. Recommendations for fostering social development in preschoolers are discussed.     

Algorithmics and programming in the school mathematics curriculum: support is waning - is there still a case to be made?

The contribution of programming in the learning of school mathematics has been demonstrated in numerous project and research settings. However, it would appear that this activity has failed to permeate the system on any large and systemic scale.I suggest here that one reason for the current situation is that the exciting developments have not themselves been a required component embedded in a major curriculum theme. Further, the position that the programming environments themselves, e.g., Logo microworlds, would become the school mathematics curriculum has clearly failed to gain the support of the educational system. However, discrete mathematics and algorithmics, a strand within discrete mathematics, provides a natural home for programming. This in turn supports the use of a programming language in mathematical contexts for which pupil designed algorithms can be used to explore concepts and relationships.     

��It depends on what science teacher you got��: urban science self-efficacy from teacher and student voices

In the United States today, urban schools serve the majority of high-poverty and high minority populations including large numbers of Hispanic students. While many Hispanic students perform below grade level in middle school science, the science teaching community as a whole is lacking elements of diversity as teachers struggle to meet the needs of all learners. Researchers have recognized that science teacher effectiveness, one consequence of self-efficacy among teachers, is associated with future science achievement and science-related careers of their students. This qualitative study explores how three science teachers’ effectiveness in the classroom impacts students’ science self-efficacy beliefs at one urban middle school. Hispanic students were the focus of this investigation due to demographics and history of underperformance within this district. Teachers’ perspectives, as well as outside observer evaluations of instructional strategies and classroom climates were triangulated to explore dynamics that influence students’ interests and motivation to learn science using a framework to link teachers’ sense of efficacy (focusing on student outcomes). Findings suggest the impact teacher effectiveness can have on student outcomes, including strengthened student science self-efficacy and increased science achievement. Building awareness and support in teachers’ sense of efficacy, as well as developing respectful and supportive relationships between educator/facilitator and pupil during the transition to middle school may construct permanence and accomplishment for all in science.     

Surviving the Doctoral Dissertation: A Solution‐Focused Approach

The authors discuss the application of solution‐focused counseling in support groups designed to help graduate students cope with the demands of writing a doctoral dissertation.     

Exploratory and Confirmatory Factor Analysis of the School Level Environment Questionnaire (SLEQ)

The purpose of the present study was to validate an existing school environment instrument, the School Level Environment Questionnaire (SLEQ). The SLEQ consists of 56 items, with seven items in each of eight scales. One thousand, one hundred and six (1106) teachers in 59 elementary schools in a southwestern USA public school district completed the instrument. An exploratory factor analysis was undertaken for a random sample of half of the completed surveys. Using principal axis factoring with oblique rotation, this analysis suggested that 13 items should be dropped and that the remaining 43 items could best be represented by seven rather than eight factors. A confirmatory factor analysis was run with the other half of the original sample using structural equation modeling. Examination of the fit indices indicated that the model came close to fitting the data, with goodness-of-fit (GOF) coefficients just below recommended levels. A second model was then run with two of the seven factors, with their associated items removed. That left five factors with 35 items. Model fit was improved. A third model was tried, using the same five factors with 35 items but with correlated residuals between some of the items within a factor. This model seemed to fit the data well, with GOF coefficients in recommended ranges. These results led to a refined, more parsimonious version of the SLEQ that was then used in a larger study. Future research is needed to see if this model would fit other samples in different elementary schools and in secondary schools both in the USA and in other countries. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

The Trauma Symptom Checklist for Young Children (TSCYC): reliability and association with abuse exposure in a multi-site study

OBJECTIVE: The Trauma Symptom Checklist for Young Children (TSCYC) is a 90-item caretaker-report measure of children's trauma- and abuse-related symptomatology. It contains two reporter validity scales and eight clinical scales [Post-traumatic Stress-Intrusion (PTS-I), Post-traumatic Stress-Avoidance (PTS-AV), Post-traumatic Stress-Arousal (PTS-AR), Post-traumatic Stress-Total (PTS-TOT), Sexual Concerns (SC), Dissociation (DIS), Anxiety (ANX), Depression (DEP), and Anger/Aggression (ANG)], as well as an item assessing hours per week of caretaker contact with the child. This paper introduces the TSCYC and describes its psychometric properties in a multisite validity study. METHOD: A total of 219 TSCYCs administered by six clinician/researchers across the United States were analyzed for scale reliability and association with several types of childhood maltreatment. RESULTS: The TSCYC clinical scales have good reliability and are associated with exposure to childhood sexual abuse, physical abuse, and witnessing domestic violence. The PTS-I, PTS-AV, PTS-AR, and PTS-TOT scales were most predictive, followed by SC in the case of sexual abuse and DIS in the case of physical abuse. There were a small number of age, sex, and race effects on TSCYC scores. CONCLUSIONS: The TSCYC appears to have reasonable psychometric characteristics, and correlates as expected with various types of trauma exposure. Subject to continued validation and the development of general population norms, its use as a clinical measure is supported.     

Academic attitudes toward new media: An exploratory multidisciplinary study

This article looks at the attitudes of UK academics toward new media, utilizing organizational and sociocultural understandings of fields of scholarly enquiry. It focuses on four traditionally distinct disciplines—art and design, computer science, health science, and politics and international relations—representative of the range of approaches in higher education. Agreement was found among respondents across disciplinary communities about what new media represent and how they support their work. Analysis of semantic differential charts identified two dimensions underlying attitudes—“flexibility” and “fitness for scholarly purposes.” Rather than being anchored by epistemological divisions, new media are assessed by practical viewpoints relating to the activity types they allow, and by traditional measures of reliability. In response to questions about other characteristics of their disciplines (such as reputation and audience diversity), distinctions are in evidence, although in some cases these are not traditional ones.     

The GlobalEd Project: Gender differences in a problem-based learning environment of international negotiations

The GlobalEd Project employs a technology richenvironment for high school students who wishto participate in a simulation of internationalrelations and negotiation. A simulationconsists of negotiations on a variety ofinternational policy issues conducted bystudents from 10–15 schools through anInternet-based interface. This study reportsthe findings of 234 high school participants'changes in academic and technologyself-efficacy skills, as well as knowledge,attitudes and behaviors related to academicpreparation and performance, the use ofeducational technology, and associated outcomesfrom participating in a simulation ofinternational relations. The results arediscussed in terms of the current literature onself-efficacy and gender differences incognitive process.     

Patchwork Quilt or Seamless Day? Parent, Teacher and Child Care Staff Views on Early Childhood Education Programs for Kindergarten-Age Children in Canada

In Canada, child care for kindergartners typically combines part-day school and child care. Exploratory research examined parents', teachers', and child care staff views on coordination between these programs. Community-based research surveyed these three groups. There was general agreement, and some key differences, among the groups in priorities for programs for kindergarten-age children. Social and language skills were generally considered most important; reading and writing least. Parents were particularly enthusiastic about a coordinated, school-based program. Teachers and child care staff were somewhat less enthusiastic about the model, with teachers' reactions the least positive. Teachers' views on the advisability of an integrated program were varied—some thought it would be of benefit to children, others disagreed. All three groups felt that a coordinated program would benefit by being school-based. Direct experience with integrated programs seemed to produce strong opinions about the value of program integration, with those teachers who had on-site child care programs giving the integrated programs the highest and the lowest ratings. Arguments are made for small-scale demonstration programs to expand provision of child care services using kindergarten as a foundation—and for rigorous evaluation of program impacts and outcomes.