Genetic and environmental influences in adolescent peer socialization: evidence from two genetically sensitive designs

Harris argues that peer relationships are the chief determinants of personality development. Harris's thesis makes the behavioral genetic investigation of peer groups particularly timely. The present study examined genetic and environmental contribution to self-reported peer-group characteristics in two samples of adolescent siblings: 180 adoptive and nonadoptive sibling pairs from the Colorado Adoption Project, and 386 sibling pairs from the Nonshared Environment and Adolescent Development Study. Substantial genetic influence emerged for college orientation, with the remaining variance accounted for by nonshared environment. For delinquency, however, the majority of the variance was explained by nonshared environment. Although genetic influence was implicated for peer popularity in twin analyses, genetic factors were not important in explaining individual differences in nontwin siblings. These results suggest that although some dimensions of peers are somewhat mediated by genetic factors, nonshared environmental influence is substantial.     

Learning to Teach Offshore: Pre-Departure training for lecturers in transnational programs

The internationalisation of higher education in Australia over the past two decades has brought about dramatic changes in Australian universities. Growing numbers of international students have enrolled in Australian universities and the number of students studying offshore has also increased dramatically. While considerable material has been published on the ramifications of the increased numbers of onshore international students studying at Australian universities, there is relatively little published research on the specific challenges facing academics participating in offshore programs. The aim of this project was to examine the current pre-departure cross-cultural training taking place in the business faculties of three Australian universities in order to gain a better understanding of the adequacy of the support given to Australian academics teaching offshore. Twenty staff involved in offshore education were interviewed as part of this project, including academics with considerable offshore teaching experience, senior academic managers and cross-cultural trainers. While these institutions engage in little formal preparation for offshore teaching, a great deal of informal mentoring and briefing is taking place. We consider the implications of the new quality assurance framework for Australian universities, which requires that institutions be able to demonstrate the ways in which they ensure the quality of teaching and learning. Under this new system, universities are bound by the Australian Vice Chancellors' Committee's guidelines for the provision of education to international students. It appears that Australian universities will need to establish more formal mechanisms to ensure that offshore staff are adequately prepared for offshore teaching posts.     

The relationship between grit,self-control,and early grade reading: a trial measuring soft skills in rural Tanzania

Abstract

Soft skills such as grit, self-control, and self-confidence have been shown to predict outcomes in school and in life. As such, their valid and reliable measurement is of substantial interest in educational research and policy circles. However, the vast majority of this research originates in Western countries; relatively little is known regarding the measurement of soft skills in developing country contexts and whether similar types of instruments can provide evidence of these skills. This paper presents a novel means of assessing grit, self-control, and self-confidence in rural Tanzania: through the use of scenario-based self-report questionnaires. Survey instruments were administered in three regions in Tanzania to 961 Standard 2 pupils. We found that scenario-based items provided valid and, in most cases, reliable estimates of the three tested soft skills. When comparing self-reported soft skills and reading ability, we found that both grit and self-control were significant predictors of reading and mathematics performance. After controlling for sex, region, and age, grit was found to have a stronger association with reading performance than socioeconomic status.     

Measuring Quality: A Comparison of U.S. News Rankings and NSSE Benchmarks

College rankings and guidebooks have become big business. The prominent role played by rankings and guidebooks is problematic because the criteria used to evaluate institutions have little to do with the quality of education students receive. Designed as an alternative to college rankings, NSSE assesses student engagement in activities that contribute to learning and success during college. This study compared the NSSE scores for 14 AAU public research universities with their rankings by U.S. News and World Report.     

Rhetoric and reality: using ICT to enhance pupil learning—Harry Potter and the Warley Woods Mystery—Case study 2

How can we use ICT to enhance the quality of pupil learning? The case study below deliberately embedded ICT within the context of an existing scheme of work to develop 11–12 year olds’ understanding of the skills and processes of historical investigation. It also mapped onto the existing teaching styles of the teachers involved, and reflected their orientation—beliefs and values. The role for the ICT was to present the pupils with a problem that would intrigue, excite and motivate them. Accordingly, we asked them to act in role as assistants to Harry and Hermione in investigating the strange death of Sam Woodhouse in 1822. The pupils carried out the investigation using a hyperlinked set of clues. They had undertaken two identical kinds of investigation earlier in the year. One was a murder mystery, the other the disappearance of the Princes in the Tower in 1483. For both these mysteries the clues were on cards. Comparisons of the results of the ICT mystery with those of the earlier two investigations suggest that the hyperlink version was equally effective in terms of developing understanding, with some clear advantages in developing pupils’ overall understanding of the problem and ability to make links between disparate clues and pieces of information.     

Lifewide learning in the city: novel big data approaches to exploring learning with large-scale surveys,GPS, and social media

ABSTRACT

Despite UNESCO’s Learning Cities agenda, which argues for the mobilisation of resources to promote education across all sectors and environments, there is little evaluative research on Learning City engagement which is both naturalistic and empirically rigorous. The research on informal adult learning in urban contexts is particularly sparse. This paper provides a case study of informal learning and lifewide literacies amongst Glaswegian adults using three distinct approaches to data collection: a household survey capturing rich data on learning attitudes, behaviours, and literacies; GPS trails that track mobility around the city; and the capture of naturally occurring social media. The work operationalises Learning City indicators, and explores domains beyond education, some of which have not previously been considered in surveys of adult learning, for example, physical mobilities and transportation patterns. We use theoretical concepts of social identity and capital to situate inclusion within explanatory frameworks of marginalisation in less tangible domains of informal learning using multi-stranded data. A triangulated analysis of city-wide participation in lifewide learning reveals a demographic picture of groups marginalised from learning opportunities and practices. We conclude with a call for new approaches to exploring learning participation which offer novel methods to evidence informal learning and lifewide literacies.     

What's in a name? A comparison of methods for classifying predominant type of maltreatment

OBJECTIVE: The primary aim of the study was to identify a classification scheme, for determining the predominant type of maltreatment in a child's history that best predicts differences in developmental outcomes. METHOD: Three different predominant type classification schemes were examined in a sample of 519 children with a history of alleged maltreatment. Cases were classified into predominant maltreatment types according to three different schemes: Hierarchical regression analyses examined whether the HT, SFT, and EHT type classifications contributed to prediction of child behavior problems, trauma symptoms and adaptive functioning. RESULTS: After controlling for demographic factors, the HT definitions predicted four outcomes, while the SFT definitions predicted three, and the EHT classifications contributed to the prediction of five child outcomes. The co-occurrence of multiple types of maltreatment was robustly related to outcomes. However, the HT and SFT classifications predicted outcomes even after accounting for the co-occurrence of multiple maltreatment subtypes. CONCLUSION: A classification scheme that differentiates between type combinations and single maltreatment types may have the greatest predictive validity. Over and above knowing about co-occurrence of maltreatment sub-types, it is important to understand what type, or constellation of types, of maltreatment have been alleged in a child's history.     

Inference making ability and its relation to comprehension failure in young children

Young children's reading comprehension skill is associated with their ability to draw inferences (Oakhill 1982, 1984). An experiment was conducted to investigate the direction of this relation and to explore possible sources of inferential failure. Three groups of children participated: Same-age skilled and less skilled comprehenders, and a comprehension-age match group. The pattern of performance indicated that the ability to make inferences was not a by-product of good reading comprehension, rather that good inference skills are a plausible cause of good reading comprehension ability. Failure to make inferences could not be attributed to lack of relevant general knowledge. Instead, the pattern of errors indicated that differences in reading strategy were the most likely source of these group differences.