Child sexual abuse in Tanzania and Kenya

OBJECTIVE: Most research on child abuse in Tanzania and Kenya is unpublished in the international literature. The purpose of this paper is to examine the various commentaries and reports extant, toward an overview of the nature and frequency of child sexual abuse in Tanzania and Kenya. METHODS: Contacts were made with academics, government departments, NGOs, and UN agencies. This was followed by a field trip in the summer of 2001 where all available reports were examined and a wide range of interviews conducted. RESULTS: Little empirical data exist on child sexual abuse in Tanzania. It is widely perceived that it may be increasing as a result of AIDS sufferers' attempts to "cleanse" themselves. The breakdown of traditional childcare systems, foreign influences, poverty, and the lowly position of girls in society are also implicated. More research has been conducted in Kenya. It is clear that first coitus occurs at a young age for many Kenyan children and adolescents. Also, a degree of force, trickery, or material exchange is not uncommon in adolescent sexual relations. CONCLUSIONS: Child sexual abuse is under-researched in Tanzania and Kenya. Studies by UN agencies such as United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and the International Labour Organisation (ILO) have focused on the commercial sexual exploitation of children, to the neglect of more pervasive abuse in children's own communities by family, relatives, and neighbors. Nationwide surveys of the general population are required for an empirical understanding of this topic. Given the high incidence of AIDS/HIV in both countries, it is important to know if the epidemic is increasing the risk of rape or incest for children.     

What does research tell high school teachers about student motivation for test performance?

‘Motivation’ is a significant concept for teachers and students during programmes of learning which lead explicitly to high stakes assessments and examinations. This systematic literature review surveys current research evidence to find out how secondary school teachers use motivational strategies specifically in respect of student academic assessment and performance. Six research studies were identified describing the behaviours secondary school teachers engaged in to improve student performance in assessment. Taken together, the studies presented show the importance of teacher behaviours to students’ academic performance, with both positive and negative impacts. The review highlights a need for further research on teacher knowledge of the effects of teacher behaviour upon the motivation of students. The review recommends collaboration between teachers and students specific to the context of learning programmes that lead to high-stakes assessments, in order to provide a locally sensitive knowledge base for teachers’ practice.     

Gathering the views of children and young people with ASD: a systematic literature review

According to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, children have a right to have their views listened to, and studies have shown that doing so can improve their motivation and self‐esteem. Accordingly, this systematic literature review sought to investigate how the views of children with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD), who have difficulties with social communication, may be gathered. Searches of electronic databases yielded 20 studies which met the criteria for inclusion. Semi‐structured interviews (SSIs) were popular, but there is tentative evidence that these are better suited to older, or more academically able, participants. Some of the evidence suggests adaptations to make SSIs more accessible to young people with ASD. Initial evidence has also emerged regarding the suitability of focus groups and electronic diaries. More focused evaluation by researchers of the suitability of their chosen data‐gathering methods for participants with ASD would allow broader conclusions to be drawn.     

Teaching principles of inference with ANOVA

Analysis of variance (ANOVA) is a test of mean differences, but the reference to variances in the name is often overlooked. Classroom activities are presented to illustrate how ANOVA works with emphasis on how to think critically about inferential reasoning.     

A New Perspective on the Effects of Covariates in Mixture Models

In this simulation study, we explored the effect of introducing covariates to a growth mixture model when covariates were also generated by a mixture model. We varied the association between the latent classes underlying the growth trajectories and the covariates, the degree of separation between the latent classes underlying the covariates, the number of covariates included, and amount of missing data in the growth data. We found that adding covariates to the growth mixture model generally hurt class recovery except where the latent classes underlying the growth trajectories and the covariates were the same or very strongly associated, and there was a large degree of separation between the classes underlying the covariates. We found that when covariates were introduced, entropy might no longer be an accurate indicator of the distinctiveness of the growth trajectory classes.     

Defining'science-based targets'

The 2015 Paris Agreement to keep global warming well below 2℃above pre-industrial levels and aim towards limiting warming to 1.5℃marked a wa-tershed in planetar...     

Emerging Educational Institutional Decision-Making Matrix

The ＂emerging educational institutional decision-making matrix＂ is developed to allow educational institutions to adopt a rigorous and consistent methodology of determining which of the myriad of emerging educational technologies will be the most compelling for the institution, particularly ensuring that it is the educational or pedagogical but not the technological imperative that drives the technology integration agenda. The matrix is designed to be used after some initial research into an emerging technology. Once a technology is put through the matrix, a member of options are available： （1） shelving the technology; （2） putting the technology on hold and maintaining a watching brief until the technology matures in the market; and （3） researching the product further by conducting a trial or placing in testing sandpit. After further research, the technology can be tested as a pilot to determine how well or otherwise, the technology works within the institution. If an emerging technology has more than one product associated with it, a second and third step in the matrix has been developed, and the second step assigns a rating to each of the categories within the matrix. With many products containing similar features, a third step has been developed to compare products on a feature level.     

Signature pedagogies in support of teachers’ professional learning

Signature pedagogies [Shulman, L. 2005 Shulman, L. 2005. “Signature Pedagogies in the Professions.” Daedalus 134 (3): 52–59. doi: 10.1162/0011526054622015[Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]. “Signature pedagogies in the professions.” Daedalus 134 (3): 52–59.] are a focus of teacher educators seeking to improve teaching and teacher education. The purpose of this paper is to present a preliminary common language of signature pedagogies for teacher professional development (PD). In all, 24 papers from the study of physical education PD projects with clearly articulated pedagogical objectives and documentation on achieving those objectives were included in the analysis. In total 479 teachers and 48 facilitators across the US and Europe were interviewed and/or surveyed. Three discrete PD signature pedagogies holding potential to enhance teacher growth and learning within the context of PD were identified: critical dialogue (process of acquiring knowledge through communicative interactions), public sharing of work (testing out practices in classrooms and share ideas with larger audiences), and communities of learners (collective learning around a shared concern or a passion). It is our hope in providing the beginnings of a common vocabulary for pedagogies of teacher professional learning we have encouraged additional steps toward developing signature pedagogies for learning across different PD settings and content areas.     

Narrative transportability,leisure reading,and genre preference in children 9–13 years old

Leisure reading behavior is a key predictor of educational success. Transportability is a trait that determines how likely an individual is to become involved in a story, and past research has suggested that involvement may be related to leisure reading behavior. However, available measures of transportability have not been validated with children or related to leisure reading. To address this gap, children 9–13 years old (N = 136) completed a revised version of the Transportability Scale. A 13-item version of the scale was found to be unidimensional, reliable, and predictive of 6% of the variance in leisure reading (above and beyond sex, age, reading ability, and student performance). Transportability was also related to genre preference and several interesting sex differences emerged. The Transportability Scale provides researchers with a psychometrically sound measure of narrative involvement to advance research on leisure reading.