Social Interactions in the Home and the Development of Young Children's Conceptions of the Personal

Observations and interviews of 20 middle-class 3- and 4-year-olds and their mothers were conducted to examine the emergence of the personal domain. Interviews with children showed that 3- and 4-year-olds make a conceptual distinction between personal, and moral or conventional issues. Interviews with mothers indicated that they viewed it as important for young children to have freedom of choice over personal issues to develop a sense of autonomy and individuality. Observations in the home revealed that mothers tended to give direct social messages to children about moral, conventional, and prudential events, and were more likely to give indirect social messages in the form of offered choices to children in response to personal issues. Mothers were more likely to negotiate with children over personal than other social events. These data revealed a pattern of social interactions concordant with event domain, which included a reciprocal system along the border between the personal and the conventional.     

Schooling effects on intelligence development: evidence based on national samples from urban and rural China

The current research investigated the variability of school effects on intelligence development in considering two economically and socially distinct groups of children. The data came from a nationally representative sample of primary school children from urban and rural areas of China. Two standardised reasoning tests were used to assess fluid intelligence. The between-grade regression discontinuity approach was applied to disentangle the schooling effect from the age effect. Results showed that the combined effects of schooling and age were 5.09 intelligence points per year, in which the schooling effect (4.37 points) was larger than the age effect (.72 points). The patterns of schooling and age effects were different in urban and rural subsamples. For the urban subsample, the schooling effect was smaller than the age effect for children from grade 1 to 3, but the schooling effect became larger than the age effect from grade 4 to 6. For the rural subsample, however, the schooling effect was always larger than the age effect. The effect of one year of schooling for rural children (5.59 points) was larger than that for urban children (3.15 points). These results suggest that schooling effects are closely related to the context where children are growing up.     

Flipping Quantitative Classes: A Triple Win

In the “flipped” class, students use online materials to learn what is traditionally learned by attending lectures, and class time is used for interactive group learning. A required quantitative business class was taught as a flipped classroom in an attempt to improve student satisfaction in the course and reduce the “transactional distance” (perceived barriers to engaging with the instructor, other students, technology, and course content) and increase satisfaction. Analysis indicated improvements to both transactional distance and student satisfaction in the flipped classroom. Multiple regression analysis quantified the extent of which each transactional distance was a predictor of student satisfaction. The improved satisfaction in the flipped classroom was predicted by the improvement in transactional distances between students, students and the instructor, and students and the instructional technology used in the class. The conclusions from this study suggest that the flipped classroom is a particularly good pedagogical strategy for quantitative classes. It allows the instructor to increase student satisfaction (a win for the students) in a course in which it is usually low without compromising academic standards (a win for the teachers). Finally, increased satisfaction leads to increased retention and hence increased revenues for the institution, which is a win for the administration.     

The differential impact of inclusion and inclusive practices on high,average, and low achieving general education students

The effect that inclusion and inclusionary school practices have on the achievement scores of low, average, and high academically achieving general education students was investigated. Achievement scores for 477 general education students from grades 1 through 5 were sampled over 3 years. During the 2 years that inclusion and inclusive practices were implemented, students either received academic instruction with students with disabilities or only with peers without disabilities. Inclusive school practices (curricular changes and supports) had a differential effect, as low achieving general education students appeared to benefit academically, while higher achieving students lost ground. General education students' reading scores were not significantly affected by the presence of students with disabilities, while in math, the effect was mixed. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Pediatric response to a large-scale child protection intervention

Objective

In a rural area of the US state of Texas, in April 2008, the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services (DFPS) responded to evidence of widespread child abuse in an isolated religious compound by removing 463 individuals into state custody. This mass child protection intervention is the largest such action that has ever occurred in the United States. The objective of this paper is to characterize the burdens placed on the area's community resources, healthcare providers, and legal system, the limitations encountered by the forensic and public health professionals, and how these might be minimized in future large-scale child protection interventions.

Methods

Drawing on publicly available information, this article describes the child abuse investigation, legal outcomes, experiences of pediatric healthcare providers directly affected by the mass removal, and the roles of regional child abuse pediatric specialists.

Results

Because the compound's residents refused to cooperate with the investigation and the population of the compound was eight times higher than expected, law enforcement and child protection resources were insufficient to conduct standard child abuse investigations. Local medical and public health resources were also quickly overwhelmed. Consulting child abuse pediatricians were asked to recommend laboratory and radiologic studies that could assist in identifying signs of child abuse, but the lack of cooperation from patients and parents, inadequate medical histories, and limited physical examinations precluded full implementation of the recommendations.

Conclusions

Although most children in danger of abuse were removed from the high-risk environment for several months and some suspected abusers were found guilty in criminal trials, the overall success of the child protection intervention was reduced by the limitations imposed by insufficient resources and lack of cooperation from the compound's residents.

Practice implications

Recommendations for community and child abuse pediatricians who may become involved in future large child-protection interventions are presented.     

The structure of research methodology competency in higher education and the role of teaching teams and course temporal distance

The development of research methodology competency is a major aim of the psychology curriculum at universities. Usually, three courses concentrating on basic statistics, advanced statistics and experimental methods, respectively, serve the achievement of this aim. However, this traditional curriculum-based course structure gives rise to the question whether an integrative research methodology competency is actually achieved or whether independent course-specific sub-competencies are established instead. To find out whether the course structure is favourable for the development of research methodology competency, items representing the contents of the three courses were applied to a sample of university students. Content validity was assured by a close relationship of the items with course contents and course tests. The investigation revealed a three-dimensional first-order structure in combination with a common second-order dimension. Differences between teaching teams and course temporal distance showed to have no influence.     

Competences,Learning Theories and MOOCs: Recent Developments in Lifelong Learning

Our societies have come to be known as knowledge societies in which lifelong learning is becoming increasingly important. In this context, competences have become a much discussed topic. Many documents were published by international organisations (UNESCO, World Bank, European Commission) which enumerated 21^st century key competences. The field of learning theories has also experienced advances. Findings from neuroscience have promoted a new understanding of what really happens in the brain when we learn. At the same time, the fact that learning increasingly takes place in virtual communities led George Siemens (2004) to propose connectivism as a learning theory for the digital age. Similarly, Roberto Carneiro (2010) suggested a theory he called generativism which aims at describing collaborative learning with digital technologies and open educational resources. These theories might be better able to describe and explain lifelong learning than classical learning theories. In the field of digital technologies, Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) have recently received a great deal of attention. While Siemens suggested connectivist MOOCs (cMOOCs) as the ideal platform for connectivist learning, other forms of MOOCs were also developed. These MOOCs have spread at a breath-taking pace in the last few years, although it is far from clear to what extent they are based on principles from learning theories and really support learning. These developments will be presented and discussed with respect to their relevance for lifelong learning as an integral part of man's quest for meaning.     

Does Time Matter in Improving Mathematical Discussions? The Influence of Mathematical Autonomy

Facilitating students’ transition from less to more mathematically productive engagement in discussions is an important area of investigation. Research on mathematical whole-class discussions has consistently identified facilitating students' mathematical autonomy as a central component of this transition. Additionally, research commonly infers such transitions take time to manifest. The present study examined students' perceived mathematical autonomy and perceived engagement in mathematical discussions over a half year of school. Using hierarchical linear growth-curve modeling, the authors found that although it may take time for students to transition into more mathematically productive engagement in discussions, it may be the development of their mathematical autonomy, rather than mere exposure over time, that facilitates this transition.     

Biomechanical energetic analysis of technique during learning the longswing on the high bar

Biomechanical energetic analysis of technique can be performed to identify limits or constraints to performance outcome at the level of joint work, and to assess the mechanical efficiency of techniques. The aim of this study was to investigate the biomechanical energetic processes during learning the longswing on the high bar. Twelve male, novice participants took part in a training study. Kinematic and kinetics data were collected during swing attempts in eight weekly testing sessions. Inverse dynamics analysis was performed from known zero forces at the toes. Joint work, total energy, and bar energy were calculated. Biomechanical constraints to action, that is, limits to novice performance, were identified as “total work” and “shoulder work”. The most biomechanically efficient technique was associated with an onset of the hip functional phase and joint work that occurred between 10–45° before the bottom of the swing. The learning of gross motor skills is realised through the establishment of a set of techniques with task specific biomechanical constraints. Knowledge of the biomechanical constraints to action associated with more effective and efficient techniques will be useful for both assessing learning and establishing effective learning interventions.