Mental Models of Text and Film: a multidimensional scaling analysis

Abstract Following a brief review of research using multidimensional scaling as a measure of literary perception, it is proposed that the technique provides one possible route to an illumination of Bransford & Johnson's (1973) idea that when people understand a text they create a model within which events described in the text might reasonably occur. Two hypotheses are proposed and tested. First, that models are constructed, in memory, of the inter‐relationships and cross‐relationships of character attributions made in accordance with those themes understood in reading a piece of work of novel length. Secondly, that similar models are constructed from viewing a feature length film. Orwell's (1945) Animal Farm, the book and the film (Halas & Bachelor, 1955), were selected as content because of their known distinctive structures. Results support both hypotheses. They also support the earlier work of Bisanz (Bisanz, La Porte, Vesonder & Voss, 1978) concerning the validity of multidimensional scaling for representing mental organisations of the thematic structure of short stories, extending their results to the reading and viewing, respectively, of a novel length book and film. Two related issues concerning the possible effects of medium of communication on modelling and the educational implications of modelling are discussed.     

New data and prior belief: The two faces of scientific reasoning

Kuhn (1989) has argued that at the heart of the ability to reason scientifically is the process of differentiating existing mental models (i.e. theory) from new data. In this regard she has proposed a developmental sequence in which, in the early stages, theory and data are fully integrated and are used interchangeably. Later, when theory and data are compatible, they tend to be moulded together as ‘the way things are’, but when they are incompatible conflict is avoided by the use of strategies which bring the two into line: these strategies often include selective attention to the data. Only at the upper levels of this developmental spectrum are theory and data conscientiously differentiated, with each being used to reflect on the other. This paper analyses the responses made by Year 11 students to problems which required them to evaluate a prediction based on some provided data. The problems were set in two contexts, one scientific and one social, and the predictions to be evaluated combined plausibility/implausibility and validity/invalidity. The response patterns were very similar to those described by Kuhn, and the implications of this for teachers, especially those attempting to use conflict based teaching approaches, are developed. Specializations: science teacher education, scientific problem solving, changing students’ alternative conceptions. Specializations: psychological theories applied to science education.     

Naturalistic Language Recordings Reveal “Hypervocal” Infants at High Familial Risk for Autism

Children's early language environments are related to later development. Little is known about this association in siblings of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), who often experience language delays or have ASD. Fifty‐nine 9‐month‐old infants at high or low familial risk for ASD contributed full‐day in‐home language recordings. High‐risk infants produced more vocalizations than low‐risk peers; conversational turns and adult words did not differ by group. Vocalization differences were driven by a subgroup of “hypervocal” infants. Despite more vocalizations overall, these infants engaged in less social babbling during a standardized clinic assessment, and they experienced fewer conversational turns relative to their rate of vocalizations. Two ways in which these individual and environmental differences may relate to subsequent development are discussed.     

Economic evaluation research in the context of Child Welfare policy: a structured literature review and recommendations

Objectives

With over 1 million children served by the US Child Welfare system at a cost of $20 billion annually, this study examines the economic evaluation literature on interventions to improve outcomes for children at risk for and currently involved with the system, identifies areas where additional research is needed, and discusses the use of decision-analytic modeling to advance Child Welfare policy and practice.

Methods

The review included 19 repositories of peer-reviewed and non-peer-reviewed “gray” literatures, including items in English published before November, 2009. Original research articles were included if they evaluated interventions based on costs and outcomes. Review articles were included to assess the relevance of these techniques over time and to highlight the increasing discussion of methods needed to undertake such research. Items were categorized by their focus on: interventions for the US Child Welfare system; primary prevention of entry into the system; and use of models to make long-term projections of costs and outcomes.

Results

Searches identified 2,640 articles, with 49 ultimately included (19 reviews and 30 original research articles). Between 1988 and 2009, reviews consistently advocated economic evaluation and increasingly provided methodological guidance. 21 of the original research articles focused on Child Welfare, while 9 focused on child mental health. Of the 21 Child Welfare articles, 81% (17) focused on the US system. 47% (8/17) focused exclusively on primary prevention, though 83% of the US system, peer-reviewed articles focused exclusively on prevention (5/6). 9 of the 17 articles included empirical follow-up (mean sample size: 264 individuals; mean follow-up: 3.8 years). 10 of the 17 articles used modeling to project longer-term outcomes, but 80% of the articles using modeling were not peer-reviewed. Although 60% of modeling studies included interventions for children in the system, all peer-reviewed modeling articles focused on prevention.

Conclusions

Methodological guidance for economic evaluations in Child Welfare is increasingly available. Such analyses are feasible given the availability of nationally representative data on children involved with Child Welfare and evidence-based interventions.

Practice implications

Policy analyses considering the long-term costs and effects of interventions to improve Child Welfare outcomes are scarce, feasible, and urgently needed.     

Correlations of Media Habits Across Time,Generations, and Media Modalities

This study investigates media uses and preferences across two generations and across television and video games. Path analyses using data from 335 families show that the number of hours of television viewed by the first generation (parents at age 30) positively predicts the amount of television use by their offspring in the second generation 18 years later, as well as their own amount of television viewing at that time. The analyses also show that the amount of video game playing among offspring is significantly related to their own as well as their parents' concurrent TV use. While there is no similar longitudinal correlation between a preference for violent television by parents at age 30 and that of their offspring 18 years later, parents' violent television preferences at age 48 are positively correlated with their offspring's concurrent preference for violent television content. Additionally, the violent television preferences of offspring are positively correlated with their own preferences for violent video games. These effects were found while controlling for SES, intellectual achievement, and offspring gender. These results suggest that the amount of time devoted to media use and preferences for violent media generalize across media modalities and are transmitted across generations.     

Vocational English

Social studies education suffers from a distorted rendering of purpose and mission. Rather than pragmatically employ the social sciences to furnish the material for inquiry into normative and moral issues, social studies classrooms too often focus on declarative, disconnected, atomized, and meaningless content. The National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS) has responded to this problem with suggestions for Powerful Social Studies Teaching and Learning (PSST&;L) to ensure meaningful, active, value-based, challenging, and integrative learning experiences. Yet, unless teachers consciously and deliberately coordinate learning experiences within the course and its units, the goals of PSST&;L may very well be neglected. In response to this problem, this article seeks to advance the idea of Powerful Social Studies Unit Design (PSSUD), which positions teachers to work as curricularists in order to negotiate the hazards of textbooks and standards and design macrocurricula in issued-centered, project-based, thematic, and reverse-chronological ways to ultimately reclaim the social studies and citizenship education from the tyranny of the social sciences.