The Role of Gender-related Information and Self-Endorsement of Traits in Preadolescents' Inferences and Judgments

The major purpose of this study was to examine the effects of a target child's gender typicality on different aspects of preadolescents' inferences and judgments. The secondary purpose of the study was to investigate the relation between children's self-endorsement of traits and their inferences and judgments. Fifth and sixth graders were shown a video film, portraying a child playing either a gender-appropriate game with members of the same sex or a gender-inappropriate game with members of the other sex. In addition, subjects completed an adapted version of the BSRI and were categorized into sex-typed, androgynous, and undifferentiated subjects. Subjects made a number of different types of judgments and inferences about the target, including inferences about traits, popularity, choice of gift and name, and willingness to engage in activities with the target. All types of inferences and judgments were affected by the variations in the targets' gender-related behaviors, whereas self-endorsement of traits was not related to the inferences and judgments. The results suggest that the gender typicality of the target behavior is salient to preadolescents, regardless of their sex-role orientation.     

The humanities in English primary schools: struggling to survive

ABSTRACT

This article surveys the state of the humanities in English primary schools drawing on evidence from serving head teachers, current literature and policy documents. The findings suggest that whilst the humanities are highly valued in schools, there are serious challenges which threaten the ‘broad and balanced’ curriculum. It is suggested that a greater focus on spiritual, moral, social and cultural (SMSC) education and engagement with subject associations and alternative learning environments can help to rectify this imbalance. Such an approach recognises looming social, cultural and environmental threats, which have the potential to support children’s psychological health and well-being.     

Requisite participant characteristics for effective peer group mentoring

Effective mentorship, due to the developmental nature of the experience, hinges upon the people involved—specifically, the personal characteristics of the mentoring collaborators. In this paper, the author explored requisite participant characteristics for peer group mentoring. One dozen executive-level professional women shared their stories-of-experience as participants in peer mentoring groups. A thematic analysis was utilized to investigate the narrative data from these interviews. Findings suggest that these participant characteristics include (a) an intrinsic interest; (b) a learning disposition; (c) a commitment to the mentoring experience; (d) comfortability with vulnerability and having the courage to share struggles; and (e) an inherent desire to support others in their learning, growth, and development.     

Measuring Graph Comprehension,Critique, and Construction in Science

Interpreting and creating graphs plays a critical role in scientific practice. The K-12 Next Generation Science Standards call for students to use graphs for scientific modeling, reasoning, and communication. To measure progress on this dimension, we need valid and reliable measures of graph understanding in science. In this research, we designed items to measure graph comprehension, critique, and construction and developed scoring rubrics based on the knowledge integration (KI) framework. We administered the items to over 460 middle school students. We found that the items formed a coherent scale and had good reliability using both item response theory and classical test theory. The KI scoring rubric showed that most students had difficulty linking graphs features to science concepts, especially when asked to critique or construct graphs. In addition, students with limited access to computers as well as those who speak a language other than English at home have less integrated understanding than others. These findings point to the need to increase the integration of graphing into science instruction. The results suggest directions for further research leading to comprehensive assessments of graph understanding.     

Psychology,Teachers and the Early Years Psychologie

Psychology is one of the disciplines that provides education with a theoretical basis from which to inform the teaching and learning processes. This article examines square the areas of psychology to which early years teachers are typically introduced

square the implications of these psychological perspectives on classroom practice

square alternative psychological perspectives and their implications for practice in the early years.

The critical question addressed in this article is whether it is possible for early years teachers to achieve an understanding and appreciation of children's behaviour and development without also having insights into their own behaviour and family background? It is argued that teachers must recognise the importance of their own background as a key factor in how they look at children, teaching and events in the classroom; that how they were treated as children has a bearing on the way they too, relate to the children in their care; and that there will be echoes of their own up bringing in the way they face the tasks and challenges of teaching. It is particularly important that these issues are addressed by early years teachers given their potential influence on young children's social and emotional development.     

On the politics of performance in South African education: Autonomy, accountability and assessment

The South African obsession with performance-based pedagogies, as I have shown, has negative implications for resolving equity problems in educational reforms; it threatens to negate a political debate about ‘goals’ in favour of a technician’s debate about ‘ends’; and it fragments knowledge into meaningless tasks that assign value to external behaviours rather than the multiplicity of ways in which learning and valuing can be experienced (if not always expressed). The real danger to building a strong democratic culture through education is that what should be vibrant debates about ‘what’s worth knowing’ could be effectively silenced in a performance assessment system that only values, through a complex assessment system, that which is worth doing. Such an understanding of education is, unfortunately, entrenched in a global network of economic and technological processes that make such pursuits appear both normal and inevitable.     

Using continuous assessment to promote student engagement in a large class

The authors have developed a first-year fluids course for a class of around 230 aerospace, civil and mechanical engineering students. This paper aims to show how the teaching and assessment methodology was applied to the challenge of a large class. The lectures featured formal teaching interspersed with active learning elements. Smaller group (about 25–30 students) tutorial classes involved student practice. A 10-minute test occurred in each tutorial during weeks 3–11. Each test was based on the previous week's lecture material and the marks contributed towards 20% of the course mark. A condition for passing the course was that a student must pass at least six of the nine tests. The assessment promoted student involvement with the course – tutorial attendance was greater and more uniform than previously and exam performance improved significantly. Students recognised that the assessment system was useful in encouraging continuous learning over the semester and building confidence.     

Promoting minority success in the sciences: The minority opportunities in research programs at CSULA

Given the large continued investment by the federal government in programs that promote academic success and the pursuit of advanced degrees in the sciences among members groups traditionally underrepresented in the sciences, there is a strong need for research which provides rigorous investigations of these programs and their impact on the target population. The current study examines programs funded by the National Institutes of Health Minority Opportunities in Research (MORE) Division Office intended to address this underrepresentation at a minority serving comprehensive university. Academic outcomes, including college graduation and acceptance into graduate programs, among undergraduate program participants are compared against a propensity score matched comparison group. Results indicate that students supported by the MORE programs had higher GPAs at graduation, took less time to graduate, and were more likely to both graduate with a science degree and enter Master's and doctoral programs in the sciences. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 49: 199–217, 2012     

Parent–youth discordance about youth-witnessed violence: Associations with trauma symptoms and service use in an at-risk sample

ObjectiveStudies have consistently demonstrated a lack of agreement between youth and parent reports regarding youth-witnessed violence. However, little is known about whether disagreement is associated with poorer outcomes and less utilization of mental health services. The purpose of the current study was to examine disagreement among youth and parents about youth witnessed violence, and determine whether concordance predicted trauma symptoms and recognition of need and receipt of counseling services.MethodsConcordance about youth-witnessed violence was examined in 766 dyads from the Longitudinal Studies of Child Abuse and Neglect (LONGSCAN). Youth participants self-reported trauma symptoms, caregivers indicated youth need for and receipt of services. Both youth and parents provided information about youth-witnessed violence exposure in the last year.ResultsResults showed youth and caregivers differed significantly about youth-witnessed violence. Specifically, 42% of youth reported youth-witnessed violence, compared to only 15% of parents. For those parents who reported youth-witnessed violence, only 29% reported an identified need for services and only 17% reported the youth had received any mental health services. Concordance between parent–youth dyads was associated with greater identified need for services but was not associated with the use of counseling services or trauma symptoms.ConclusionsYouth who reported witnessing violence reported more frequent trauma symptoms regardless of concordance. Parents from dyads in which both informants reported youth-witnessed violence were more likely to endorse need for, but not receipt of counseling services. Given this association between youth-witnessed violence and mental health problems, more work is needed to identify barriers to concordance as well as service utilization.     

Sociocultural input facilitates children's developing understanding of extraordinary minds

Three- to 5-year-old (N = 61) religiously schooled preschoolers received theory-of-mind (ToM) tasks about the mental states of ordinary humans and agents with exceptional perceptual or mental capacities. Consistent with an anthropomorphism hypothesis, children beginning to appreciate limitations of human minds (e.g., ignorance) attributed those limits to God. Only 5-year-olds differentiated between humans' fallible minds and God's less fallible mind. Unlike secularly schooled children, religiously schooled 4-year-olds did appreciate another agent's less fallible mental abilities when instructed and reminded about those abilities. Among children who understood ordinary humans' mental fallibilities, knowledge of God predicted attributions of correct epistemic states to extraordinary agents. Results suggest that, at a certain point in ToM development, sociocultural input can facilitate an appreciation for extraordinary minds.