International Trends in Health Science Librarianship Part 19: The Balkan States (Bulgaria and Croatia)

This is the 19th in a series of articles exploring international trends in health science librarianship in the 21st century. The focus of the present issue is the Balkan Region (Bulgaria and Croatia). The next regular feature column will investigate two other Balkan states ‐ Serbia and Slovenia. JM     

Functions of adolescent drinking in Finland and the Soviet Union

The present study was conducted in Finland and the USSR (Estonia) with two birth cohorts (14 and 17 years old) and their parents. The subjects, 504 in Finland and 329 in Estonia, were drawn from urban and rural areas. 85% of the Estonian and 55% of the Finnish parents returned the questionnaire. The results supported the hypothesis that adolescent drinking is an age-related behaviour aimed at active coping efforts to adopt adult-like behaviour. In both countries abstinence decreased with age, and the use of alcohol was seen as behaviour which became acceptable at an older age than the age when the actual initiation occurred. However, the use of alcohol remained occasional through the ages of 17 to 18. Adolescents’ drinking correlated strongly with their conceptions of the accepted motives for drinking which, in turn, correlated with observations of the parents’ use of alcohol. In Estonia, boys with high self-esteem were most active in adopting customary adult drinking. In Finland, drinking was typical of boys who were active in the use of leisure time, whereas abstinence, was typical of passive users of leisure time. The Finnish adolescents did not make a distinction between moderate and heavy drinking as clearly as the Estonian ones. Traditional sex differences in the use of alcohol still existed in Estonia, but Finnish girls’ drinking did not differ from Finnish or Estonian boys’ drinking. The influences of parental modelling were strongest for Finnish girls. There were few indicators of reactive coping efforts for strains from the environment, but a conflicted home atmosphere was a risk factor of the early onset of alcohol drinking.     

Obstacles faced by deaf people in the criminal justice system

Deaf people, especially those who are not well educated, are at risk for serious injustices when they enter the criminal justice system. The present study describes these risks at all stages of the legal process, including arrest, trial, probation, prison, and parole. These dangers are greatest for those who are poorly educated, read at a fourth-grade level or lower, have poor communication skills (American Sign Language and English), and lack awareness of their legal rights. Primitive personality disorder (PPD) is the term mental health professionals use to describe this set of characteristics. The risks that the segment of the deaf population with PPD faces when its members run afoul of the law are described, a case history provided, and some relevant legal and interpreting issues are discussed. A case is made for applying the concept of linguistic incompetence to deaf individuals with PPD.     

Motivation and Engagement with Physics: a Comparative Study of Females in Single-Sex and Co-educational Classrooms

Research in Science Education - It has been argued that the establishment of single-sex classes for females can increase their motivation and participation in physics. This paper reports on...     

Learning Neuroscience with Technology: a Scaffolded,Active Learning Approach

Mobile applications (apps) for learning technical scientific content are becoming increasingly popular in educational settings. Neuroscience is often considered complex and challenging for most students to understand conceptually. iNeuron is a recently developed iOS app that teaches basic neuroscience in the context of a series of scaffolded challenges to create neural circuits and increase understanding of nervous system structure and function. In this study, four different ways to implement the app within a classroom setting were explored. The goal of the study was to determine the app’s effectiveness under conditions closely approximating real-world use and to evaluate whether collaborative play and student-driven navigational features contributed to its effectiveness. Students used the app either individually or in small groups and used a version with either a fixed or variable learning sequence. Student performance on a pre- and post-neuroscience content assessment was analyzed and compared between students who used the app and a control group receiving standard instruction, and logged app data were analyzed. Significantly, greater learning gains were found for all students who used the app compared to control. All four implementation modes were effective in producing student learning gains relative to controls, but did not differ in their effectiveness to one another. In addition, students demonstrated transfer of information learned in one context to another within the app. These results suggest that teacher-led neuroscience instruction can be effectively supported by a scaffolded, technology-based curriculum which can be implemented in multiple ways to enhance student learning.     

A new tool for practitioner-led evaluation of teacher professional development

Schools and education systems are being challenged to improve the evaluation of teacher professional development, yet there is a lack of practical tools for doing so. This article describes the development and validation of a new instrument to assess teachers’ perceptions of the impact of professional development. This instrument, designed to be time- and cost-effective, was theoretically grounded and, as evidenced by the results reported in this article, psychometrically sound. The instrument was completed twice (examining different types of professional development) by 393 teachers. The results for both data-sets demonstrated a strong factor structure with good internal consistency for all scales. Further data analysis indicated that the scales could effectively distinguish between the experiences of different groups of teachers. The finalised instrument, named the Impact of Teacher Professional Development Questionnaire, is presented in full, and the practical advantages and limitations of the instrument are discussed.     

Parental relationship and adolescents’ conceptions of their interaction with significant others

Three problems were investigated with a sample of 329 Estonian and 504 Finnish adolescents (aged 14 to 18 years) and their parents. In Estonia, the responses of parents were received from 85% of the families, and in Finland from 55%. The main findings for each problem were as follows: (1) The adolescent’s, especially girl’s, conceptions of the atmosphere of the parent-child interaction and satisfaction with significant others were more strongly related to the adolescent’s perceptions of a harmonious relationship between the parents than to the parent’s satisfaction with the relationship with the spouse. (2) From the point of view of the adolescent’s conception of the atmosphere of the parent-child interaction, joint activities with the parents, and satisfaction with significant others, a harmonious relationship between the parents was most favorable. Lack of the father might be less detrimental to the adolescent’s, especially girl’s, conceptions of these matters than a less harmonious relationship between the parents in intact families. (3) The findings were replicated in two countries which differed in many respects at the time of data collection in 1985–1986.     

Issues in the sexual molestation of deaf youth

An overview is provided of issues involved in sexual abuse in schools (as well as the general problem of child molestation in society), some characteristics of pedophiles and hebephiles, and data on how sexual molesters are dealt with by the criminal justice system. Specific information is provided on how sexual abuse becomes an issue in schools for children who are deaf, what can be done to prevent it, and symptoms to look for in identifying deaf children who are being victimized.