Can young infants add and subtract?

Three experiments (N = 68), using Wynn's procedure, tested 5-month-old infants' looking time reactions to correct and incorrect results of simple addition and subtraction transformations. The aim was to investigate both the robustness and the parameters of infants' arithmetic competence. Experiments 1 and 2 (N = 44) were replications of Wynn's first two experiments in which infants were shown addition (1 + 1 = 1 or 2) and subtraction (2 - 1 = 1 or 2) requiring imprecise calculation. Experiment 3 (N = 24) was a subtraction counterpart (3 - 1 = 1 or 2) to Wynn's third experiment requiring precise calculation of addition (1 + 1 = 2 or 3). Unlike Wynn, we found no systematic evidence of either imprecise or precise adding and subtracting in young infants. Our results, together with the mix of both positive and negative findings from other studies of infant arithmetic, suggest that infants' reactions to displays of adding and subtracting are variable and, therefore, that infants' numerical competencies are not robust. This conclusion is consistent with previous findings indicating that simple adding and subtracting develops gradually and continuously throughout infancy and early childhood.     

The roots and routes of environmental and sustainability education policy research – an introduction to a virtual special issue

This article introduces the themes of a virtual special issue (VSI) of Environmental Education Research (http://explore.tandfonline.com/content/ed/ceer-vsi) focused on policy research in environmental and sustainability education (ESE). The broad purpose behind preparing the VSI was to consider the challenges involved in linking particular concepts of environment and sustainability with key themes in educational policy, and how this remains a heavily contested practice. Examples drawn from two decades of studies published in the journal show how these might be illustrated, addressed, problematized and possibly transcended. The introduction traces how ESE researchers have dealt with key trends, complexities and issues in the policy-practice-research nexus both conceptually and empirically. It also illustrates how researchers within the field might reimagine and reinvigorate policy research on ESE, and how working with researchers from other fields who offer different perspectives, ideas and expertise might aid the cross-fertilisation of a complex terrain of ideas, policy and practice. In so doing, we hope the accompanying VSI inspires renewed interest into the (at times, fickle) relationship between ESE, and the dual worlds of possibility and tension that take place both within, and surrounding, their fields of policy and research.     

Peut-on apprendre la paix à l’école ? Une évaluation du cours « Éducation aux droits de l’homme et à la citoyenneté » (EDHC) en Côte d’Ivoire post-conflit

Can we learn peace at school? An evaluation of the “Human rights and Citizenship Education” (EDHC) course in post-conflict Ivory Coast – After the post-electoral crisis, the government of Ivory Coast introduced a course entitled “Human rights and citizenship education” (EDHC) to the lower secondary school curriculum to facilitate a societal transition to a culture of peace. This article, which examines the perceptions of course participants and their teachers, is based on a large-scale survey (n = 984), 25 focus groups and course observations carried out in Abidjan. An analysis of the course’s strengths and weaknesses from the point of view of the key players in the education system enables the authors to evaluate its effectiveness. They find that, despite the enthusiasm around this course, its lack of depth is preventing a change of mentality. In addition, the message of peace that the course strives to convey is compromised by school violence.     

A quantitative assessment of an outsourced agricultural extension service in the Umzimkhulu District of KwaZulu-Natal,South Africa

Purpose: This study evaluates the impact of an outsourced extension service delivered by Lima Rural Development Foundation (Lima) in the Umzimkhulu district of South Africa. The evaluation is conducted at both the household and program levels.

Design/methodology/approach: Household impacts were estimated using two-stage regression with instrumental variables to account for selection bias. Gains in household income were extrapolated to estimate the net incremental benefit of the program and its financial return at district level. These analyses were underpinned by a rigorous sampling design.

Findings: The results show that the outsourced extension service made a significant and substantial contribution to household crop income and net income. In addition, clients perceived a range of socio-economic benefits such as better diets, improved product quality, and job creation. Analysis of the financial cost and benefit of the extension service at district level suggests an annual net incremental benefit of R5 million (US$0.4 million), and a 95% probability that returns to the service exceeded 20% in 2012/2013.

Practical implications: These results suggest that there is good reason for donors to continue funding effective extension services to small farmers in areas of high agricultural potential.

Theoretical implications: This is an empirical study. It uses well-established methods to measure the impact but introduces a local economy multiplier to capture some of the indirect effects of agricultural extension.

Originality/value: This research is valuable as very few studies worldwide have evaluated the impact of agricultural extension services at both the farm and program levels.     

NATURAL DISASTERS THAT REVEAL CRACKS IN OUR SOCIAL FOUNDATION

The recent deaths of more than 13,000 French elderly in the European heat wave of 2003 revealed cracks in the social foundation of urban communities, here and abroad. The breakdown occurred in community services, neighborhood networks, and governmental agencies that were responsible for warning of impending dangers to at-risk elderly. This paper provides a profile of the at-risk elderly, the means to reach them, and a plan to match needs to resources.     

School attendance problems and youth psychopathology: structural cross-lagged regression models in three longitudinal data sets

This study tests a model of reciprocal influences between absenteeism and youth psychopathology using 3 longitudinal datasets (Ns = 20,745, 2,311, and 671). Participants in 1st through 12th grades were interviewed annually or biannually. Measures of psychopathology include self-, parent-, and teacher-report questionnaires. Structural cross-lagged regression models were tested. In a nationally representative data set (Add Health), middle school students with relatively greater absenteeism at Study Year 1 tended toward increased depression and conduct problems in Study Year 2, over and above the effects of autoregressive associations and demographic covariates. The opposite direction of effects was found for both middle and high school students. Analyses with 2 regionally representative data sets were also partially supportive. Longitudinal links were more evident in adolescence than in childhood.     

Every Viewer has a Price: On the Differentiation of TV Channels

The authors analyzed the implications of targeted advertising on the equilibrium level of channel profile differentiation (e.g., in terms of political positioning), in free-to-air broadcasting industries. When consumers have no preferences over program content (e.g., entertainment vs. news) standard Hotelling type results apply. Market forces minimize differentiation while the optimal degree is at an intermediate level. As preferences over program content get somewhat stronger, the difference between optimal and market outcomes is initially reduced. However, when preferences over program content get more pronounced, minimal differentiation suddenly becomes optimal while market forces lead to excessive differentiation. Hence, policies aimed at increasing diversity are beneficial only when viewers care little about differences in program content.