Convincing Family Caregivers to Participate in Research: “Does that Count as Caregiving?”

This essay details lessons learned in the completion of a dissertation on family caregivers. The four central lessons address challenges with scheduling for caregivers, caregiver understanding of their own activities, the culturally situated nature of caregiving, and the importance of advocating for one's research. Each lesson includes context for how the lesson emerged from a significant problem in applied research and tactics for improvement in similar or related work.     

Cyber Worlds: New Playgrounds for Bullying

The experiences of 247 middle school children around cyberbullying were examined through in-class questionnaires. Their use of different media, their experiences with cyberbullying, and the relationships among school type, gender, and grade level were analyzed. Of the students in this sample 33% of female and 20% of male students reported being a cybervictim or a bully. Social networking sites and cell phones were the media most often used. Interesting results included a nonlinear relationship between Internet use and cyberbullying and the increase in cyberbullying throughout middle school. Also, students perceived that neither teachers nor parents were prepared to assist them with cyberbullying problems.     

How Parent Perceptions Relate to Elementary Children’s Portable Technology Use by Gender and Grade Level

This study examined how parents' reports of children’s technology use in the home varies by a child’s gender or grade level. Framed by technology adoption models, this mixed-method study gathered parent reports of their elementary child’s use of portable technology for entertainment and learning in the home, collected from 120 surveys and 13 individual interviews with survey respondents. Results across the four 2×2 ANOVAs yielded three significant main effects: gender and entertainment devices, gender and entertainment apps, grade level and learning apps. No significant effects were found among any of the interaction variables or within the ANOVA summary for learning devices. Interview data revealed girls are interested in reading with Kindle, whereas parents are reluctant to provide boys with portable technology because of their preference to play games. Strategies are provided for teachers, support specialists, and parents to improve how children use technology. Implications for app developers are suggested.     

Do physical maturity and birth date predict talent in male youth ice hockey players?

Abstract

The aim of this study was to examine the relationships among biological maturity, physical size, relative age (i.e. birth date), and selection into a male Canadian provincial age-banded ice hockey team. In 2003, 619 male ice hockey players aged 14 – 15 years attended Saskatchewan provincial team selection camps, 281 of whom participated in the present study. Data from 93 age-matched controls were obtained from the Saskatchewan Pediatric Bone Mineral Accrual Study (1991 – 1997). During the initial selection camps, birth dates, heights, sitting heights, and body masses were recorded. Age at peak height velocity, an indicator of biological maturity, was determined in the controls and predicted in the ice hockey players. Data were analysed using one-way analysis of variance, logistic regression, and a Kolmogorov-Smirnov test. The ice hockey players selected for the final team were taller, heavier, and more mature (P < 0.05) than both the unselected players and the age-matched controls. Furthermore, age at peak height velocity predicted (P < 0.05) being selected at the first and second selection camps. The birth dates of those players selected for the team were positively skewed, with the majority of those selected being born in the months January to June. In conclusion, team selectors appear to preferentially select early maturing male ice hockey players who have birth dates early in the selection year.     

A critical consideration of ‘mental health and wellbeing’ in education: Thinking about school aims in terms of wellbeing

This paper examines ideas about mental health, wellbeing and school education to illustrate important issues in the relationship between mental health and education. The Covid crisis has amplified the pre-existing mental health problems of children and young people in England and recognition of the opportunities in schools to address these. The paper gives an overview of child and adolescent mental health services and how they position the role of schools. It examines prominent concepts of mental health and their relationship to wellbeing, setting this in a discussion of ‘mentally healthy’ schools, mental health in special educational needs and whole-school approaches. This analysis shows how the relationship between mental health and wellbeing has not been adequately worked out, using this as the basis for arguing for the dual-factor mental health model which separates mental illness/disorder from wellbeing as two related dimensions. The paper then translates the dual-factor model into a two-dimensional framework that represents the distinctive but related aims of school education (wellbeing promotion) and mental health services (preventing, coping, helping mental health difficulties). This framework involves a complex conception of wellbeing, with schools playing an important role in promoting wellbeing (beyond emotional wellbeing), tiered models and establishing school-wide social emotional learning. It is about a whole-school curriculum approach that involves considering what is to be learned and how it is taught. It contributes to a more nuanced concept of wellbeing that has a place for meaningful learning and challenge.     

Should toddlers and preschoolers participate in organized sport? A scoping review of developmental outcomes associated with young children’s sport participation

ABSTRACT

Organized sport is offered at increasingly younger ages, with many programs geared towards preschoolers, toddlers, and infants. While sport is promoted as an amendable context for healthy development of school-age children, little is empirically known about potential benefits or risks associated with organized sport participation in early childhood. A scoping review of nine electronic databases identified English-language, peer-reviewed, original research articles which addressed psychological, emotional, social, cognitive, or intellectual developmental outcomes of organized sport involvement of children aged 2–5 years; included studies were appraised for quality. Findings offer preliminary evidence that early sport participation is related to primarily positive outcomes (e.g. enhanced social skills, pro-social behaviours, self-regulation), while negative and inconclusive outcomes were also identified. Results suggest limited existing research has primarily relied on parent or teacher proxy-report or assessment, and reinforces that little is known about toddler and preschooler organized sport participation as a distinct form of physical activity, despite pervasive availability of programming, and positive parental perceptions of early enrolment. Additional research with stronger methodological design and rigor is needed; recommendations to enhance the quality of future studies with young children are discussed.     

Evidence-Based Reviews: How Evidence-Based Practices are Systematically Identified

Evidence-based reviews are a type of systematic literature review used to identify evidence-based practices. When conducting an evidence-based review, researchers apply predetermined standards to identify evidence-based practices—practices that have been shown to reliably improve an outcome for a population of learners, according to evidence from a body of rigorous, experimental studies. In this article, we describe evidence-based reviews, provide an overview of one set of evidence standards used in special education, and describe important caveats and considerations related to evidence-based reviews. We conclude with two examples of evidence-based reviews in the field of learning disabilities. Our take-home message is that evidence-based reviews are a trustworthy approach for identifying generally effective instructional practices—but no practices, not even evidence-based practices, are effective for all learners.