The Value of Reanalysis: TV Viewing and Attention Problems

Using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth ( N  =   1,159), this study reexamines the link between maternal reports of television viewing at ages 1 and 3 and attention problems at age 7. This work represents a reanalysis and extension of recent research suggesting young children's television viewing causes subsequent attention problems. The nonlinear specification reveals the association between television watching and attention problems exists—if at all—only at very high levels of viewing. Adding 2 covariates to the regression model eliminated even this modest effect. The earlier findings are not robust. This study also considers whether its own findings are sensitive to unobserved confounding using fixed-effects estimation. In general, it finds no meaningful relation between television viewing and attention problems.     

Faculty perceptions of academic freedom at a GCC university

Massive oil revenues are currently fueling a surge in the number of educational institutions in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, presenting leadership at all levels with many unprecedented questions. In particular, the growth and reform of higher education challenges the delicate balance between academic freedom and Arab cultural values. This paper describes faculty perceptions of academic freedom at a major GCC national university. Faculty members’ views and perceptions regarding academic freedom are presented based on interviews, questionnaire responses, and the authors’ own thoughts. Findings indicate that faculty members have complex and often contradictory understandings of academic freedom and related responsibilities and often engage in self-censorship. The authors discuss these findings by engaging in self-reflection regarding their own perspectives and personal experiences.     

A measure of emergent literacy for students with severe developmental disabilities

This study examined the underlying structure of the Nonverbal Literacy Assessment (NVLA), an instrument designed to measure emergent literacy for K–fourth‐grade students with severe developmental disabilities. The NVLA was conceptualized as having six constructs that reflected emergent literacy skills: (a) phonemic awareness, (b) phonics, (c) comprehension, (d) vocabulary, (e) listening comprehension, and (f) text awareness. Confirmatory factor analysis using data from 207 student administrations was used to examine the six‐factor model and two alternative models. Results suggested that all three models fit the data, but the high corrections coefficients among the constructs suggested that a one‐factor model of emergent literacy was the best‐fitting model. Implications and limitations are discussed. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Can Long John Silver Save the Humanities?

Given the serious decline in the number of undergraduates majoring in the humanities in general, and literature in particular, teachers of Children’s Literature have a unique opportunity to serve their discipline by tapping the power of classroom dialogue to introduce students to the practical reasoning central to humanistic study. This essay takes Long John Silver, from Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island (1883), as a model for generating lively discussion that begins with literary matters but leads, with help from the teacher, to fundamental questions about the role of the humanities in students’ education and in their lives. In the process, the essay traces a pedagogical strategy that moves from matters of plot and character, to issues of ethics and judgment, to larger questions regarding approximate knowledge and sound reasoning about the complexities of the human condition. This inquiry focuses specifically on the charming but villainous Silver and the possible explanations for his escape at the end of the novel. But the ambiguity and fascination of his character are also catalysts for wide-ranging classroom discussion of a kind that Children’s Literature routinely promotes and sustains. Such discussion can provide broad, balanced insight into the nature and variety of critical understanding. As such, Children’s Literature and the pedagogy it supports serves to identify and enliven the benefits of humanistic study at a crucial moment of academic history.     

The primary school’s invasion of the privacy of the child: unmasking the potential of some current practices

Privacy has been defined as “the protective buffer within which people can avoid another party’s taking something from them, keeping watch over them, or entering into their lives in a way that is both unwelcome and undesirable”. It is a premise of this paper that such a position needs to be taken very seriously in contemporary society, and particularly in the case of schools, as school personnel have the capacity to engage in practices which show great disregard for individual and family privacy. This is illustrated in the case of primary school education in the Republic of Ireland. Particular attention is paid to assessment, pedagogical and curricular practices that derive from patterns of systematic and mandatory disclosure that are confessional, performative and public.     

Critique in academic disciplines and active learning of academic content

This article argues for increased theoretical specificity in the active learning process. Whereas constructivist learning emphasizes construction of meaning, the process articulated here complements meaning construction with disciplinary critique. This process is an implication of how disciplinary communities generate new knowledge claims, which is comprised by an interaction of roles – authors construct claims and peers critique them. Because disciplinary critique drives and shapes generation of knowledge claims, specialized features of these claims both justify and define their meaning. Here science is offered as an example, in which critique drives measurement of key concepts, thereby anchoring their meaning in operational definitions. The account of active learning proposed sheds new light on both historical and contemporary characterizations of active learning in terms of taking a critical stance toward content, in which the learner questions and challenges content. Thus students, rather than teachers, should actively challenge their emerging understanding of content.     

Four Wives

我们每个人的生命中都会有四位"妻子",她们分别是精神、家庭和朋友、地位和财富、我们的身体。后三位均会在临死前离我们而去,而永恒陪伴我们的却是我们的精神。     

Ensuring technical competency for management of research-focused organizations

Does a national research-focused organization need a technically competent leader? This study provides preliminary answers to that question using a natural experiment underway at the Department of Energy (DOE): a leader with significant high-level management experience superior to that of his predecessors, but no relevant technical experience was appointed to run the vast scientific research operation. The following hypothesis is proposed: A major risk of allowing technically-unqualified leadership is that an amateur can be more easily manipulated by special interests against the best interests of the nation. The hypothesis is tested by technically analyzing three case studies on proposals from the Secretary of Energy. The results show 1) requests for budget cuts undermining DOE's mission, 2) requests for redundant studies wasting DOE resources, and 3) counter-productive recommendations derived from a misrepresentation of the studies' results, which indicate technical competence is important for DOE leadership. These preliminary results indicate technical competency is important for leaders running organizations that oversee research. Finally, a potential policy safe guard to the risks of extreme technical incompetence is provided, which can be applied to either independent- or politically-appointed bureaucrats.