SIGI PLUS and project LEARN: A retrospective

Lila Norris, Laurence Shatkin, and Martin R. Katz are Senior Research Scientists, Guidance Research, Educational Testing Service, Princeton, New Jersey 08541.     

Do, Show, and Tell: Children's Event Memories Acquired through Direct Experience, Observation, and Stories

To investigate how source of event information influences children's event representations, 5- and 6-year-old children were exposed to a novel event through direct experience, observation, or a story. 2 of the 4 scenes comprising the event contained actions that were logically organized, and the remaining 2 scenes contained actions that were arbitrary in their organization. Children received either 1 or 3 exposures to the event. For children receiving multiple exposures, 2 scenes contained actions that varied across exposures. A few days following their last exposure, children were asked to verbally recall and reenact the event. Reports were generally more complete, organized, and accurate when the event was directly experienced compared to when it was observed or heard about through a story. However, the impact of information source interacted with interview (recall, reenactment) and number of event exposures. Furthermore, children's sensitivity to event structure was dependent on information source and exposure. These results highlight the importance of information source in the formation of children's event representations.     

When Infants Look to Their Parents: II. Twelve-Month-Olds'' Response to Conflicting Parental Emotional Signals.

12-months-olds were seen in a laboratory procedure in which they were given happy, fearful, and conflicting emotional signals by their mothers and fathers with reference to 5 unusual toy stimuli. Measures included: positive and negative affect, affect lability, and approach and proximity behavior toward the toy. Infants did not "select" a signal on the basis of a maternal or paternal primacy in emotional referencing, but responded to both signals and experienced conflict. They showed increased negative affect and decreased positive affect and toy exploration with conflicting signals compared with both happy and with fearful signals alone. Greater levels of lability were not found with conflicting signals. Marked differences among infants in capacity and style of coping with conflict were observed, as were a variety of specific conflict responses, such as agitated sucking, rocking, avoidance, extreme motor inhibition, aimless or disoriented behavior, and transient, unintegrated affect expressions.     

The relationship of intelligence,self‐concept and locus of control to school achievement for Aboriginal and non‐Aboriginal Children

This research examines variables related to the school achievement of Aboriginal and non‐Aboriginal students. Thirty‐five indigenous students and fifty‐eight non‐Aboriginals in Grade eight completed a Coopersmith Self‐Esteem Inventory and the Intellectual Responsibility Questionnaire. These scores, together with information on intellectual ability, school achievement on teacher‐made English and mathematics tests, sex, school and ethnic origin, were entered in a multiple regression equation. No difference between the two groups emerged on scores of self‐esteem and locus of control. However, the predictors of achievement for each group differed significantly. Intellectual ability was the best predictor of achievement for non‐Aboriginals, while locus of control was the most important predictor for the indigenous group. Results are discussed in relation to recent research and classroom implications.     

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.     

Further Reflections on an Evolutionary Theory of Socialization

In response to Maccoby's and Hinde's thoughtful commentaries, we highlight points of concurrence and disagreement. In particular, we note that mating and reproduction are affected by many factors beyond those to which our theory draws immediate attention; that the data linking socialization experiences and social structural conditions with pubertal timing are not restricted to either correlational studies or investigations of contemporaneous associations; that there may be more reason to question the theory's applicability to males than to females; that the question of whether male behave and develop the way we propose and Maccoby doubts is an empirically testable one; and that the data on relations between antecedent socialization conditions and pubertal timing and on variation in parental investment in the case of females run counter to Maccoby's doubts about the theory's applicability to females. Attention is drawn to the potential benefits of asking questions about proximal and ultimate causation simultaneously, and thus the need for child developmentalists to think both about the how and why of development.     

Childhood Experience, Interpersonal Development, and Reproductive Strategy: An Evolutionary Theory of Socialization

The concept of "reproductive strategy" drawn from the field of behavioral ecology is applied to the study of childhood experience and interpersonal development in order to develop an evolutionary theory of socialization. The theory is presented in terms of 2 divergent development pathways considered to promote reproductive success in the contexts in which they have arisen. One is characterized, in childhood, by a stressful rearing environment and the development of insecure attachments to parents and subsequent behavior problems; in adolescence by early pubertal development and precocious sexuality; and, in adulthood, by unstable pair bonds and limited investment in child rearing, whereas the other is characterized by the opposite. The relation between this theory and prevailing theories of socialization, specifically, attachment, social-learning, and discrete-emotions theory, is considered and research consistent with our evolutionary theory is reviewed. Finally, directions for future research are discussed.