Smoking hygiene: an educational intervention to reduce respiratory symptoms in breastfeeding infants exposed to tobacco

The American Academy of Pediatrics recently removed nicotine from the category of drugs contraindicated during breastfeeding. Little evidence demonstrates that infants exposed to nicotine through breastfeeding experience increased health risks beyond the airborne risks associated with passive smoking. The purpose of this longitudinal, five-week, quasi-experimental pilot study was to determine whether "smoking hygiene," an educational intervention, reduces the frequency of respiratory symptoms experienced by infants whose mothers both smoke and breastfeed. Twenty-nine mother-infant pairs entered the study with 28% dropping out. Of the 21 mother-infant pairs who completed the study, 66% of the nine infants in the control group experienced respiratory illness, compared to 42% of the 12 infants in the intervention group (x2 = .814; p > .05). Thus, the difference was statistically nonsignificant in this small sample, but the trend worsened the anticipated direction. The study demonstrates some of the difficulties of intervening with this group of mothers.     

The Coordination of Conflicting Social Goals: Differences between Rejected and Nonrejected Boys

In this study involving 58 fourth- and fifth-grade boys ranging in age from 9 to 12 years old, we examined whether aggressive, submissive, and "residual" rejected boys (i.e., rejected boys who are neither highly aggressive nor highly submissive) are less able than nonrejected boys to coordinate individual and relational goals in their social interaction strategies. Participants were read a series of short vignettes describing children in potentially conflictual interactions, and their ideas about handling these situations were coded according to the degree to which individual and relational goals were integrated. As predicted, aggressive rejected boys and "residual" rejected boys provided less integrated responses than nonrejected boys, and this was true regardless of whether automatic or reflective social reasoning processes were evoked. In contrast to our prediction, however, submissive rejected boys displayed no comparable goal coordination deficit. The implications of these findings for children's social competence are discussed.     

Should computing be taught in single‐sex environments? An analysis of the computing learning environment of upper secondary students

It has been well established in the literature that girls are turning their backs on computing courses at all levels of the education system. One reason given for this is that the computer learning environment is not conducive to girls, and it is often suggested that they would benefit from learning computing in a single‐sex environment. The purpose of this study was to identify whether there were differences in perception between boys and girls and the type of school they attended. The College and university classroom environment inventory (CUCEI) was used as an instrument to measure the computing learning environment of 265 Year 12 and 13 secondary schools students in Wellington, New Zealand. The results showed that there were statistically significant differences in perceptions between sex, and between different types of school, and it is suggested that there may be a place for single‐sex computing classrooms in mixed‐sex schools.     

The depiction of stuttering in contemporary juvenile fiction: Implications for clinical practice

We reviewed 29 contemporary juvenile fiction books featuring characters who stutter to assess the presentation of stuttering‐related content. Although plots varied widely, most characters displayed attributes or accomplishments that offset their communication impairment. Many characters improved social and/or communicative functioning during the stories, though rarely in conjunction with professionally administered intervention. Most books depicted listener responses to stuttering, including impatience, teasing, ridicule, and bullying. Some books contained incorrect or distorted information, which could convey the mistaken impression that stuttering is simply a symptom of emotional distress. Nonetheless, most portrayals of stuttering seemed sufficient for the books to be considered for use as an instructional tool in certain education and intervention activities. Potential applications of the books in these contexts are discussed. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Learning from failure: a meta-analysis of the empirical studies

The authors searched five scholarly databases for a decade of research publications examining learning from failure as an instructional strategy. Out of 187 publications, 62 were found to be relevant to the topic from which only 12 used experimental design to examine the issue and reported statistics appropriate for meta-analysis. The studies also represented only two of our search domains-productive failure and failure-driven memory. The small number of experimental studies on this topic is a telling indication of the state of experimental research in this area. However, they revealed a moderately positive result for the effect of learning from failure. An examination of moderating variables indicated that participants’ grade level, subject matter domain, and study’s duration, while not significant in explaining the differences across the examined studies, showed positive medium effect sizes. Instructional design implications of our findings and limitations of the study are discussed.     

Drawing Boundary Conditions for Learning by Drawing

Learning by drawing can be an effective strategy for supporting science text comprehension. However, drawing can also be cognitively demanding and time consuming, and students may not create quality drawings without sufficient guidance. Furthermore, evidence for drawing is often based on comparisons to weak control conditions, such as students who only read the text without provided illustrations. In this review, we synthesize past research to help draw boundary conditions for learning by drawing, focusing on the role of comparison conditions and drawing guidance. First, we analyze how drawing compares to each of four control conditions: reading only, text-focused strategies (e.g., summarizing), other model-focused strategies (e.g., imagining), or viewing instructor-provided illustrations. Next, we distinguish among four levels of drawing guidance: minimal guidance, drawing training, partially provided illustrations, and comparison to instructor-provided illustrations. Our findings indicate that when compared to only reading the text or using text-focused strategies, creating drawings is consistently more effective at fostering comprehension and transfer, regardless of the level of drawing guidance provided. However, when compared to other model-focused strategies or to viewing instructor-provided illustrations, effects of creating drawings are mixed and may depend on the level of drawing guidance provided, among other factors. We discuss the theoretical and practical considerations of our findings and suggest several directions for broadening research on drawing.     

Handicapped Children of Preschool‐ and School‐age in New Zealand: Special Educational Needs and Available Services

Very little research has been undertaken to date into the epidemiology of handicaps in New Zealand children of preschool and school age. Overseas prevalence estimates suggest that in this country only a small proportion of children within each category, apart from visual handicap, are receiving special educational provisions. While not necessarily an undesirable state of affairs, several studies conducted as part of Project MASE indicate that many handicapped children in regular classes whom teachers and parents believe require special educational services are not being referred for, and thus do not receive such provision. Possible reasons for non‐referral and strategies for locating such children during the preschool and school years are considered, and the need for greatly expanded research attention to the progress and adjustment of the majority of handicapped children who remain in regular classes is underlined.     

Social interaction of intellectually handicapped children in integrated and segregated preschools

The social participation during free play activities of intellectually handicapped children in regular preschools was compared with that of their non‐handicapped age‐mates in the same preschools, and with that of intellectually handicapped children in a special preschool. While both groups of intellectually handicapped children showed, significantly lower levels of social participation than the non‐handicapped children, the intellectually handicapped children attending the special preschool were significantly lower in terms of social participation than those attending the regular preschools. The results were discussed in terms of the probable advantages of regular preschools as social learning environments for intellectually handicapped children.     

Service-Learning Projects in an Undergraduate Gerontology Course: A Six-Stage Model and Application

Service-learning opportunities are prominent on many college campuses. The process of designing and implementing service-learning experiences, especially for students of gerontology, however, has rarely been addressed. The current article briefly reviews the background and utility of service-learning in gerontology courses, describes our service-learning project, outlines a general six-stage model for developing service-learning projects in gerontology courses, and describes our process of integrating the service-learning project into an introductory gerontology course. Finally, we demonstrate that in conjunction with the promotion of evaluative practices, service-learning in the gerontology classroom presents a promising practice for creating healthier communities.