Intergenerational transmission of adaptive functioning: a test of the interactionist model of SES and human development

The interactionist model (IM) of human development (R. D. Conger & M. B. Donellan, 2007) proposes that the association between socioeconomic status (SES) and human development involves a dynamic interplay that includes both social causation (SES influences human development) and social selection (individual characteristics affect SES). Using a multigenerational data set involving 271 families, the current study finds empirical support for the IM. Adolescent personality characteristics indicative of social competence, goal-setting, hard work, and emotional stability predicted later SES, parenting, and family characteristics that were related to the positive development of a third-generation child. Processes of both social selection and social causation appear to account for the association between SES and dimensions of human development indicative of healthy functioning across multiple generations.     

Secondary science students’ beliefs about class discussions: a case study comparing and contrasting academic tracks

The dialogue that occurs in science classrooms has been the subject of research for many decades. Most studies have focused on the actual discourse that occurs and the role of the teacher in guiding the discourse. This case study explored the neglected perspective of secondary science students and their beliefs about their role in class discussions. The study participants (N?=?45) were students in one of the three differentially tracked chemistry classes taught by the same teacher. Findings about the differences that exist among students from different academic tracks are reported. While it seems that epistemological beliefs focusing on content are common for the students in this study, the students' social framing in the different tracks is important to consider when teachers attempt to transition to more dialogic forms of discourse. Some key findings of this study are (a) students’ beliefs that science is a body of facts to be learned influenced the factors they deemed important for whole-class discussion, (b) students from the lower-level track who typically were associated with lower socioeconomic status were more likely to view their role as passive, and (c) students’ comfort level with the members of the class seemed to influence their decisions to participate in class discussions.     

Gender differences in preschool children’s recall of competitive and noncompetitive computer mathematics games

This study investigated whether competitive and noncompetitive educational mathematics computer games influence four‐ to seven‐year‐old boys’ and girls’ recall of game‐playing experience. A qualitative analysis was performed to investigate what preschool children may have learned through their selective recall of game‐playing experience. A difference emerged in six‐ to seven‐year‐old boys’ and girls’ recall after playing a competitive computer mathematics game, such that boys tended to first recall the consequence of ‘winning and losing’ whereas girls of the same age focused on ‘friendship among animated characters’ in the game. Thus, the qualitative results suggest the possibility that selective attention or selective recall might be partially influenced by gender schemas. Based on the recall sequences, educational noncompetitive computer mathematics games may lead to a better learning outcome for older boys.     

Feasibility of the MTAI as a Selection Instrument for Pre-Service Teacher Education — A Pilot Project

The Institute of Education is the only institution in Singapore that trains and prepares individuals for the task of teaching. In order to ensure that its products, the teachers, are of a respectable calibre, not only should the training programme be reviewed regularly, but also the method of selecting trainees.     

“Fixing” the “Facts”: flexible learning as policy invention

This article examines the contemporary move within the Australian university context towards flexible learning. Drawing on the notions of policy as text and discourse, it is suggested that policies seek to provide authoritative meanings for practices they promote — to fix the facts about which they speak. The article explores the emergence of discourses of flexible learning as effects of policy texts and changes within the social formation. These discourses resonate with those already operating within the social formation, and in this may have effects other than those immediately apparent. An initial analysis of Australian higher education policy texts indicates a contemporary diversification of the use of the metaphor of flexibility as a discursive strategy through which mechanisms of governance can be intensified.     

Temporal effects of leadership style on state communication anxiety in small task‐oriented groups

This investigation reports a typology of maintenance behaviors that were derived through inductive analyses of papers students wrote about their strategies for maintaining various relationships. Ten major strategies were inductively derived: positivity; openness; assurances; sharing tasks; social networks; joint activities; cards/letters/calls; avoidance; anti‐social; and humor. These strategies extend the previous research on relational maintenance strategies. More specifically, the latter five strategies and the subcategories of all the strategies are additions to Stafford and Canary's (1991)typology. In addition, analyses revealed the positivity, openness, assurances, sharing tasks, and cards/letters/calls differed in their frequency of use among lovers, relatives, friends and others.