Prenatal Antecedents of Newborn Neurological Maturation

Fetal neurobehavioral development was modeled longitudinally using data collected at weekly intervals from 24 to 38 weeks gestation in a sample of 112 healthy pregnancies. Predictive associations between 3 measures of fetal neurobehavioral functioning and their developmental trajectories to neurological maturation in the first weeks after birth were examined. Prenatal measures included fetal heart rate (FHR) variability, fetal movement, and coupling between fetal motor activity and heart rate patterning; neonatal outcomes include a standard neurologic examination ( n  =   97) and brainstem auditory evoked potential (BAEP; n  =   47). Optimality in newborn motor activity and reflexes was predicted by fetal motor activity, FHR variability, and somatic–cardiac coupling predicted BAEP parameters. Maternal pregnancy-specific psychological stress was associated with accelerated neurologic maturation.     

The Absence of Knowledge in Australian Curriculum Reforms

This article draws on a study of Australian curriculum shifts between 1975 and 2005 to take up two themes of this special issue: the question about what conceptions of knowledge are now at work; and the consideration of global influences and national specificities in the reformulations of curriculum. It discusses two important approaches to curriculum in Australia in recent times, the 'Statements and Profiles' activity of the early 1990s, and the 'Essential Learnings' formulations of the past decade. The global tendencies we see at work in these two major approaches are, first, an increasing emphasis on externally managing and auditing student progress as a key driver of how curriculum policies are being constructed; and, secondly, a growing emphasis on approaching curriculum aims in terms of what students should be able to do rather than what they should know. We argue that in the contexts we discuss here, these approaches offered a way of marrying 1970s progressive views on child development and knowledge-as-process (views widely held by influential curriculum professionals in Australia) with late 20^th century technologies of micro-management and instrumental agendas favoured by politicians — but that many questions about knowledge were left off the agenda.     

Library residencies and internships as indicators of success: evidence from three programs

This paper discusses post-master's degree internships in three very different organizations; the University of Illinois at Chicago, the National Library of Medicine, and the Library of Congress. It discusses the internships using several questions. Do the programs serve as a recruitment strategy? Do the programs develop key competencies needed by the participant or organization? Do the programs develop leaders and managers? Is acceptance into a program an indicator of future career success? A survey was mailed to 520 persons who had completed internships in one of the three programs. There was a 49.8% response rate. Responses to fifty-four questions were tabulated and analyzed for each program and for the total group. The results confirm the value of internships to the career of participants.     

Decoding and sight-word naming: Are they independent components of word recognition skill?

Word recognition skill is the foundation of the reading process. Word recognition could be accomplished by two major strategies: phonological decoding and sight-word reading, the latter being a marker for proficient reading. There is, however, a controversy regarding the relationship between decoding and sight-word reading, whether the two are independent or the latter is built on the foundations of the former. A related controversy about instructional strategy could be whether to use whole-word method to improve word recognition skills, or to first build decoding skills and then introduce sight words. Five goals were set up to address these issues: (a) developing a criterion that can be used easily by classroom teachers to assess sight-word reading ability, (b) examining this relationship between decoding and sight-word reading, (c) identifying the mechanism that can explain the relationship, (d) examining factors that facilitate sight-word reading, and (e) discussing potential instructional implications of these findings. In order to accomplish these goals, naming time and word-naming accuracy of three groups of subjects (elementary school children, children identified as having reading disability, and college students) were studied by using a variety of verbal materials. The over-all conclusions are that the difference in naming time of letters and words can be used as a metric for assessing sight-word reading skill. Sight-word reading appears to be intimately related to decoding. Sight-word reading is accomplished by parallel processing of constituent letters of words and is influenced also by the semantic nature of words. It is conjectured that sight-word reading instruction is likely to be successful if decoding skills are firmly established first.     

Interpersonal Behavior,Laboratory Learning Environments,and Student Outcomes in Senior Biology Classes

The purpose of this study was to investigate associations between students' perceptions of their biology teachers' interpersonal behavior and their laboratory learning environments and their attitudinal, achievement, and performance outcomes. A sample of 489 students from 28 senior biology classes in eight schools in Tasmania, Australia completed the Questionnaire on Teacher Interaction (QTI) and the Science Laboratory Environment Inventory (SLEI). Responses to two attitude questionnaires, achievement on an external written examination, and performance in laboratory practical tests were used as student outcome measures. Statistical analyses supported the reliability and validity of the QTI and the SLEI when used with senior secondary biology students. We investigated associations between students' perceptions of teacher behavior and their laboratory learning environment with student outcomes, including the unique and common contributions of the QTI and SLEI to variance in student outcomes. Associations with students' perceptions of the learning environment were stronger for the attitudinal outcomes than for the cognitive or practical skills outcomes. Some commonality between the QTI and SLEI scales was found in their contributions to the variance in attitudinal outcomes, but not in their contributions to variance in cognitive and practical skill outcomes. © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 37: 26–43, 2000     

A paradox of sport management and physical activity interventions

Managers of sports programs, facilities, and organizations can have a role in promoting health through physical activity participation. From the perspective of a leisure scientist who has examined various dimensions of leisure-time physical activity, this paper aims to appraise the status of how sports as potential physical activity interventions have been examined, particularly in the sport management literature. Although the purpose of many sport management organizations is to encourage spectatorship, sports have always offered significant opportunities for children and adults to be more physically active. Sports are a motivator for physical activity because they are enjoyable to participants. Therefore, research done by academics in sports management could reflect more about how mass participation recreational sports can serve as interventions to promote healthy physical activity behavior for individuals and within communities.     

‘Technological me’: young children’s use of technology across their home and school contexts

Research into children’s learning with digital technologies is represented by a growing body of literature examining the relationship between home–school technological practices. A focus of this work is on the notion of a ‘digital-disconnect’ between home and school. This argument suggests that children are such native users of technologies they struggle to connect with commonly used technologies in school. This paper examines how the ‘digital-disconnect’ is experienced in children’s lives. Drawing on a data set investigating the digital experiences of 12 children aged 2–12 years, we consider the experiences of one family attending the same school. Three siblings aged 5–12 years recorded their home and school technology use for one week. The findings suggested some difference in use across both settings, but also similarities associated with information retrieval, rote learning and entertainment. We use Bulfin and North’s and Dyson’s ideas about the permeability of social boundaries to explain why technology use might be more similar than disconnected in each context. We consider the extent to which each setting influences the other as the basis for moving away from binary conceptualisations of the digital-disconnect informed by generational assumptions about children and technologies.