The literature of educational psychology and the literature used by writers in educational psychology

Using Psychological Abstracts as the source of the original sample (“first-level”), various characteristics of the literature of educational psychology are compared with the characteristics of a “second-level” literature (defined as the literature that the first level cites). In particular, the scatter (dispersion) of periodical articles over periodical titles is looked at for both levels. The journals most cited within the literature of educational psychology are identified.     

Dynamical Patterns in the Development of Clapping

The development of a complex rhythmical behavior—clapping—is modeled using a formal, explicit model of coupled oscillator dynamics. Even though this behavior manifests a good deal of nonstationarity and high variability within and across subjects, results indicate that these properties may be dynamically modeled quantitatively as well as qualitatively. Results suggest that clapping goes through a less stable period of relative coordination between 3 and 7 years before more stable absolute coordination is achieved. Nevertheless, in that the clapping behavior is affected in highly predictable ways by inertial loading of the limbs, the same underlying dynamic seems responsible for the coordination of both the younger and older children. Developmentally, the behavior of the coordination variable (relative phase) changes from a nonconstant magnitude in younger clappers to a constant magnitude in older clappers. These results suggest that development of proficiency in rhythmic motor skills displays developmental changes that can be understood well in dynamical terms.     

Rhymes and phonemes in the common unit task: replications and implications for beginning reading

Theorists and practitioners in the field of reading development are currently debating the importance of rhymes and phonemes in beginning reading. In a recent study, Duncan, Seymour and Hill (1997) provided evidence that explicit or meta- awareness of sound is closely linked to reading strategy. Meta-awareness was measured by asking beginning readers to identify the ‘common unit’ shared by two spoken words. Results showed that meta-awareness of phonemes emerged prior to meta-awareness of rhyme, and that reading strategy followed a similar small-to-large progression. This study reports on a replication of the ‘common unit’ task which includes modifications to the original procedure (randomisation of conditions, increased practice, removal of positional references from instructions). The results confirm the pattern observed in the original study. Beginning readers learning by a mixed method can identify shared phonemes but not shared rimes in the common unit task. The implications of this and similar replications are discussed.     

Taste-sickness associations in young rats over varying delays,stimulus, and test conditions

We showed, as had previous investigators, that young rats formed taste-sickness associations that were weaker than those of mature rats; associations were not formed over a delay greater than 45 min, and aversions did not survive a 60-min test session. The difficulty young rats had withholding consumption and their poor sensitivity to taste and sickness contributed to the weak aversions. Choice tests revealed aversions that had apparently extinguished during a no-choice test, and animals that were allowed to mature prior to the first test readily withheld consumption for 60 min. Furthermore, young rats formed an aversion over a delay of 2.5 h when the concentrations of saccharin and lithium chloride were increased. Aversions to the stronger saccharin did not extinguish over two one-bottle tests and were retained for 52 days.     

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.     

Self-regulatory climate: A positive attribute of public schools

This study contributes to the development of a positive framework for effective public schools in 2 ways. First, it advances the construct self-regulatory climate as consisting of 3 generative school norms—collective faculty trust in students, collective student trust in teachers, and student-perceived academic emphasis. The authors argue these norms signal a school climate supportive of student psychological needs. Second, they test the predictive validity of self-regulatory climate by empirically examining its relationship with school performance. Results of structural equation modeling support the theory that collective faculty trust in students, collective student trust in teachers, and student-perceived academic emphasis combine to form a self-regulatory climate that has positive consequences for urban school performance.     

Computer-Mediated Coping: Exploring the Quality of Supportive Communication in an Online Discussion Forum for Individuals Who Are Coping with Racial Discrimination

Coping with racial discrimination can be a complex and challenging endeavor, because individuals often feel powerless and stigmatized. Social support can help people cope more effectively with racial discrimination. This study examines the type and quality of supportive communication in an online forum for people who have experienced racial discrimination by examining messages’ person centeredness and facework. A total of 1,203 messages from an online support forum were coded for support type, person centeredness, and facework features. Despite the sheer volume of support, most messages were only moderately person centered, and most advice messages did not adequately attend to targets’ negative face. Our findings uncover some of the benefits and limitations of online social support, and we discuss implications for online forum moderators and participants.     

Predicting students' epistemological orientation from demographic,ability, and learning style variables

Although college students' epistemological orientation largely determines how they approach, interpret, and learn in higher educational contexts, little is known about the student characteristics which reliably predict the orientation. Thus, the aim of this study was to determine the relative potency of different student characteristics potentially salient to differentiating epistemological view. The student variables evaluated were demographic (major and sex), verbal ability, and learning style (four scales from the Inventory of Learning Processes). Results of correlational and multiple regression analyses reveal that only students verbal skill accounted for a significant percent of the variance in epistemological orientation. The results are discussed in terms of the meaning of the orientation, its relevance to practitioners, and implications for further investigation.