The Relations Between Early Working Memory Abilities and Later Developing Reading Skills: A Longitudinal Study From Kindergarten to Fifth Grade

This study investigated the relations of early working‐memory abilities (phonological and visual‐spatial short‐term memory [STM] and complex memory and episodic buffer memory) and later developing reading skills. Sixty Hebrew‐speaking children were followed from kindergarten through Grade 5. Working memory was tested in kindergarten and reading in Grades 1, 2, and 5. All memory measures, but phonological STM, correlated with reading up to Grade 5. Regression analyses (with intelligence quotient controlled) demonstrated that phonological complex memory predicted all reading skills in Grade 1, and accuracy in Grade 2. The rather understudied visual‐spatial memory predicted comprehension in Grades 2 (STM) and 5 (complex memory). The results point to an important role of the phonological complex memory in early assessment, and suggest a long‐lasting role of early visual‐spatial memory in predicting variance in reading. Whether this role of the visual‐spatial memory is unique to the Hebrew orthography because of its visual features requires, however, further investigation.     

Who will teach an integrated program for science and technology in Israeli junior high schools?: A case study

The teachers' role in the integration of science and technology studies within the recent educational reform in Israeli junior high schools was addressed within a case study. Eight science teachers and three technology teachers participated in in‐service training courses and received individual tutoring. Data were obtained through school visits, interviews with management, teachers, and tutors. Pupils' performance on a science‐technology project was assessed by an achievement test and a questionnaire. Science teachers preferred to extend their content knowledge and didactic skills in science. Technology teachers lacked basic scientific knowledge. A realistic aim is to expose the science teacher to the field of technology, and the technology teacher to the realm of science, to the extent that will enable him or her to cooperate with the teacher in the parallel domain, rather than train a teacher to teach both. © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 36: 239–253, 1999     

The longitudinal association of childhood school engagement with adult educational and occupational achievement: findings from an Australian national study

The research investigated the association between school engagement and adult education and occupation outcomes, within the context of a 1985 Australian longitudinal national cohort study of the factors affecting children's long‐term health and well‐being. School engagement may be more modifiable than other factors related to academic success, such as academic attainment, which is influenced by family background. A School Engagement Index was constructed using questionnaire items on school enjoyment and boredom. Related school engagement items included learner self‐concept, motivation to learn, sense of belonging, participation in school or extra‐mural activities, and enjoyment of physical activity. In 2004–2006, participants (aged 26 to 30 years) reported their highest level of education achieved and current occupation. Potential covariates included age, sex, markers of socio‐economic status in childhood, personality and school‐level variables (i.e., number of students, single sex versus co‐education; government, private or independent). Logistic regression was used to estimate the odds of achieving post‐compulsory school education and achieving higher status occupations. Findings revealed that each unit of school engagement was independently associated with a 10% higher odds (OR 1.10 95% CI 1.01,1.21) of achieving a post‐compulsory school education. Maternal education, self‐concept as a learner, motivation to learn, all also significantly predicted achieving post‐compulsory school education. School engagement was found to mediate the association between the personality characteristic of agreeableness and education outcomes. Higher school engagement was also independently associated with achieving higher status occupations 20 years later (OR 1.11 95% CI 1.03, 1.20). Importantly, this was independent of a host of background factors.     

Suicidal Behavior and Help Seeking Among Diverse College Students

Suicidal and help‐seeking behaviors of students of color remain a significant problem on college campuses. Self‐reported suicidal experiences and help‐seeking behavior of diverse students are examined on the basis of results from a national survey of college student mental health. The results suggest significant differences in the expression of suicidal thoughts and behavior across racial and ethnic groups and different experiences in their referral for, and utilization of, professional help.     

Disorganized Behavior in Adolescent–Parent Interaction: Relations to Attachment State of Mind,Partner Abuse,and Psychopathology

Disoriented, punitive, and caregiving/role‐confused attachment behaviors are associated with psychopathology in childhood, but have not been assessed in adolescence. A total of 120 low‐income late adolescents (aged 18–23 years) and parents were assessed in a conflict‐resolution paradigm. Their interactions were coded with the Goal‐Corrected Partnership in Adolescence Coding Scales. Confirmatory factor analysis demonstrated that the three disorganized constructs (punitive, caregiving, and disoriented interaction) were best represented as distinct factors and were separable from a fourth factor for collaboration. The four factors were then assessed in relation to measures of attachment disorganization, partner abuse, and psychopathology. Results indicate that forms of disorganized behavior first described in early childhood can also be reliably assessed in adolescence and are associated with maladaptive outcomes across multiple domains.     

Stability of Core Language Skill from Early Childhood to Adolescence: A Latent Variable Approach

This four‐wave prospective longitudinal study evaluated stability of language in 324 children from early childhood to adolescence. Structural equation modeling supported loadings of multiple age‐appropriate multisource measures of child language on single‐factor core language skills at 20 months and 4, 10, and 14 years. Large stability coefficients (standardized indirect effect = .46) were obtained between language latent variables from early childhood to adolescence even when accounting for child nonverbal intelligence and social competence and maternal verbal intelligence, education, speech, and social desirability. Stability coefficients were similar for girls and boys. Stability of core language skill was stronger from 4 to 10 to 14 years than from 20 months to 4 years, so early intervention to improve lagging language is recommended.     

Teaching Lean Six Sigma within A Supply Chain Context: The Airplane Supply Chain Simulation

Lean six sigma is a management methodology that firms can employ to achieve substantial improvement in supply chain performance. However, few pedagogical exercises facilitate students’ use of a comprehensive set of lean six sigma principles within a supply chain context. We describe the Airplane Supply Chain Simulation that helps students understand how lean six sigma concepts may be leveraged to improve supply chain performance. The basis of this simulation is a four‐tier supply chain, consisting of suppliers (two tiers), a manufacturer, and a customer, that produces three models of paper airplanes to meet randomly distributed customer demand. In the first of three successive runs, a highly structured simulation is executed in which supply chain roles are well defined, material flows are convoluted, and a “push” production strategy is followed. The first simulation as the “current state” and, for the second and third simulation runs, challenge competing student teams to leverage lean six sigma concepts to develop a “future state” that enables the fulfillment of all customer orders at the lowest cost. Results based on statistical analyses of survey response data from 194 MBA students show that the Airplane Supply Chain Simulation is an effective participative, team‐based learning tool.     

Settling In: Facilitating the transition to an inclusive middle school for students with mild disabilities

The present qualitative study examined the experiences of nine students with mild disabilities during their first year in an inclusive middle school in a Midwestern state of the United States (US). Data were gathered through interviews with students, teachers, and parents; classroom observations; and document analysis. Following the data analysis, three themes were identified: how the demands of navigating a new environment increased students’ anxiety; how students satisfied their need for belonging; and how students’ perceptions of school influenced their attitude towards help. Suggestions for facilitating school transitions for early adolescents with mild disabilities are provided.     

Information recall of younger and older skilled athletes: The role of display complexity,attentional resources and visual exposure duration

This study was concerned with the interactive role of experience of athletic skill with other relevant environmental variables (display complexity, attentional resources, exposure time of stimuli) on perception (recall) of structured handball game situations. Nineteen experienced (older) and 19 less experienced (younger) handball players were assigned randomly either to ball‐bouncing (diverted attention) or to calm seated (focused attention) conditions. In each of the two conditions, the subjects were exposed to a total of 36 slides containing 2–3, 5–6 and 8–10 players. Eighteen slides were exposed for 0.5 s and 18 for 1.0 s. All the slides contained structured defence and offence situations. Recall scores were subjected to repeated‐measures ANOVA using attention condition and age as between‐subject factors and task complexity and exposure duration as within‐subject factors. The results showed that the recall of less experienced players deteriorated more than the recall of more experienced players following exposure to complex displays (≥ 8 players) while engaging in a secondary task (bouncing). The findings suggest that research paradigms should be applied in the field of sport which share both ecological validity and a potential to discover the cognitive substrates underlying experience and age in skilled motor performance.     

‘Second death’, or revival of the ‘third world’ in the context of neo‐liberal globalization

Abstract

This paper tries to analyze the historical change in the Third World in its emergent stage, in the authoritarian stage and in the current democratic stage and, thereafter, find a way to revive the Bandung spirit in the current globalization context. I define the Bandung spirit as one of a ‘non‐aligned self‐helped “organization against” the dominant powerful countries’; that is, spirit of ‘anti‐predominance’. This spirit has emerged on the base of such domestic orientation and realities as economic self‐reliance, nationally integrated political regime, convergence of the state and civil society around anti‐colonialism. However, according to intensification of the Cold War confrontation on the international level and its centrifugal influence, the early Third World changed to a ‘new’ authoritarian Third World. The Third World in this stage could be characterized by an exclusive authoritarian political regime, dependent‐developmentalist economic orientation and coercively repressed and mobilized, in the top‐down way, civil society. This authoritarian Third World began to be confronted with a strong struggle from the bottom for democratization. In order for democratization of the Third World to become its true revival in the context of globalization, the following tasks should be considered. First, the democratic Third World should be a great driving force for the institutionalization of the transnational public regulatory mechanism. Second, the democratic Third World countries try to go over a kind of ‘transformed’ dependent development strategy. Third, democratization should go along with recovery of political inclusiveness and openness of the state to civil society’s demands. Thereafter, I tried to construct globalist re‐interpretation of the Bandung, by way of conceptualizing the current globalization as imperial globalization, unlike the imperialist globalization which the historical Bandung wanted to confront. I argue that the Bandung spirit of collective self‐help organizations against the newly emerging dominant order should be revived in this worse imperial globalization context. In addition, I argue that a nationalist resistance is also one component of the multiple resistances in the current imperial globalization.