Children's Attitudes and Behavioural Intentions Towards Peers with Disabilities

This study used the theory of reasoned action to investigate determinants of primary school children's attitudes and behavioural intentions towards peers with physical disabilities. The influence of children's own attitudes toward working with peers with physical disabilities in regular classes and subjective norms provided by their teachers, principals, and parents were used to predict behavioural intentions to befriend and interact with classmates with physical disabilities. The participants were 143 fourth and fifth grade primary school students, their mothers, teachers, and school principals. The students completed an attitude questionnaire and a behavioural intention scale. Their parents, teachers, and principals completed a similar disability attitude questionnaire. The results supported the predictions made by the theory of reasoned action. Children's own attitudes towards the inclusion of peers with disabilities was the strongest predictor of behavioural intentions to interact with a classmate with a physical disability. The attitudes of teachers, principals, and parents were also significant predictors of intentions. However, only the attitudes of parents and school principals accounted for any more variance than children's attitudes alone. The implications of these findings are discussed in terms of developing whole class interventions to promote the social integration of children with physical disabilities.     

Relating quality of center-based child care to early cognitive and language development longitudinally

How quality of center-based child care relates to early cognitive and language development was examined longitudinally from 6 to 36 months of age in a sample of 89 African American children. Both structural and process measures of quality of child care were collected through observation of the infant classroom. Results indicated that higher quality child care was related to higher measures of cognitive development (Bayley Scales of Infant Development), language development (Sequenced Inventory of Communication Development), and communication skills (Communication and Symbolic Behavior Scales) across time, even after adjusting for selected child and family characteristics. In addition, classrooms that met professional recommendations regarding child:adult ratios tended to have children with better language skills. Classrooms that met recommendations regarding teacher education tended to have girls with better cognitive and receptive language skills. These findings, in conjunction with the growing child-care literature, provide further evidence that researchers and policymakers should strive to improve the quality of child care to enhance early development of such vulnerable children.     

午间的加尔各答

The sweat slowly trickles down the side of his face, collecting in a crease of his skin. He flicks his head, almost imperceptibly, jolting the bead to continue its journey towards his chin. Years of unrelenting sun have left their scorching impression on his skin. Deep lines etched     

Do Children See in Black and White? Children's and Adults' Categorizations of Multiracial Individuals

Categorizations of multiracial individuals provide insight into the development of racial concepts. Children's (4–13 years) and adults', both White (Study 1) and Black (Study 2; N = 387), categorizations of multiracial individuals were examined. White children (unlike Black children) more often categorized multiracial individuals as Black than as White in the absence of parentage information. White and Black adults (unlike children) more often categorized multiracial individuals as Black than as White, even when knowing the individuals' parentage. Children's rates of in‐group contact predicted their categorizations. These data suggest that a tendency to categorize multiracial individuals as Black relative to White emerges early in development and results from perceptual biases in White children but ideological motives in White and Black adults.     

RESEARCH SECTION: Curriculum integration and at‐risk students: a Canadian case study examining student learning and motivation

The combining of subject areas or disciplines, referred to in this article as curriculum integration, has been recognised as being linked to high levels of student motivation and learning. Sheryl MacMath of the University of Toronto, Jillian Roberts of the University of Victoria, and John Wallace and Xiaohong Chi of the University of Toronto discuss the findings of their case study (n = 23 students) based in a Canadian secondary school where an integrated unit on energy was taught to pupils identified as being ‘at risk’ of not completing high school. Teacher and student interviews, classroom observations and surveys were used in the case study to investigate student motivation and learning. Results from the study illustrate that students experienced higher levels of motivation and academic success compared to work on previous units. The authors explore how higher levels of student self‐efficacy were also recorded due to the repetition of content in different classrooms and across different contexts. The authors argue that further research in this area should examine more than student learning and motivation and highlights the need to focus specifically on opportunities for successful academic experiences where student efficacy is increased.     

Effect of cadence selection on peak power and time of power production in elite BMX riders: A laboratory based study

ABSTRACT

The aims of this study were to analyse the optimal cadence for peak power production and time to peak power in bicycle motocross (BMX) riders. Six male elite BMX riders volunteered for the study. Each rider completed 3 maximal sprints at a cadence of 80, 100, 120 and 140 revs · min^?1 on a laboratory Schoberer Rad Messtechnik (SRM) cycle ergometer in isokinetic mode. The riders’ mean values for peak power and time of power production in all 3 tests were recorded. The BMX riders produced peak power (1105 ± 139 W) at 100 revs · min^?1 with lower peak power produced at 80 revs · min^?1 (1060 ± 69 W, (F(2,15) = 3.162; P = .266; η² = 0.960), 120 revs · min^?1 (1077 ± 141 W, (F(2,15) = 4.348; P = .203; η² = 0.970) and 140 revs · min^?1 (1046 ± 175 W, (F(2,15) = 12.350; P = 0.077; η² = 0.989). The shortest time to power production was attained at 120 revs · min^?1 in 2.5 ± 1.07 s. Whilst a cadence of 80 revs · min^?1 (3.5 ± 0.8 s, (F(2,15) = 2.667; P = .284; η² = 0.800) 100 revs · min^?1 (3.00 ± 1.13 s, (F(2,15) = 24.832; P = .039; η² = 0.974) and 140 revs · min^?1 (3.50 ± 0.88 s, (F(2,15) = 44.167; P = .006; η² = 0.967)) all recorded a longer time to peak power production. The results indicate that the optimal cadence for producing peak power output and reducing the time to peak power output are attained at comparatively low cadences for sprint cycling events. These findings could potentially inform strength and conditioning training to maximise dynamic force production and enable coaches to select optimal gear ratios.     

Ratings of severity of life events by ninth-grade students

Special education, basic, and honors students rated the severity of stress for each of the life events on the Source of Stress Inventory (Chandler, 1981). There was a significant positive relationship between the Chandler rankings and the rankings made by the 60 ninth-grade students. Special education students reported they had experienced more of the events than had honors students, and the special education students reported more intense stress for the experienced events. Life experiences considered more stressful by students when compared to the stress values assigned by the Chandler rankings (teachers and mental health workers) include poor grades in school, loss of job by parent, mother beginning to work, birth of brother or sister, increased arguments with brothers and sisters vision problem requiring glasses.     

Evidence‐Based Strategies for Reading Instruction of Older Students with Learning Disabilities

Over a quarter of 8th‐grade students and more than one‐third of 4th graders do not read well enough to understand important concepts and acquire new knowledge from grade‐level text. For students with learning disabilities, the numbers are more troubling. This article describes features of evidence‐based instruction for students who continue to struggle with reading in late elementary, middle, and high school. Recommendations are organized into 5 areas that are critical to the reading improvement of older struggling readers: (1) word study, (2) fluency, (3) vocabulary, (4) comprehension, and (5) motivation. Much of the content in this article reflects our efforts with the Special Education and Reading Strands at the National Center on Instruction, funded by the Office of Special Education Programs and the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education. Two reports, both available at http://www.centeroninstruction.org/ , have particular relevance—Interventions for Adolescent Struggling Readers: A Meta‐Analysis with Implications for Practice and Academic Literacy Instruction for Adolescents: A Guidance Document from the Center on Instruction.     

Structural validation of three German versions of behavioral and motivational scales in high-risk sports

The aim of the present research was to validate German language versions of three inventories in high-risk sports to facilitate future research in the significant population of German speaking high-risk sports participants. We translated the Sensation Seeking, Emotion Regulation and Agency Scale (SEAS), the Risk-Taking Inventory and the Accidents and Close Calls in Sport Inventory into German, then tested the hypothesized factor structures with 719 high-risk sport participants from the European Alps using Bayesian structural equation modelling (BSEM). The final models were all good fits to the data, had good internal consistency and displayed adequate discriminant validity. All inventories displayed the same factor structure as in the English inventories bar the G?SEAS After inventory in which a three-factor model fitted better than a two-factor model. Possible reasons for this difference include differences in the sample population, translation bias, or cross-cultural differences; however it seems likely that the nuanced approach of BSEM allowed this study to disentangle emotion regulation transfer from agency transfer after participating in high-risk sport where previous attempts using other methods have failed to. This will allow future research in high-risk sport to be conducted beyond English speaking populations and more significantly, facilitate the investigation of differences between the transfer effects of agency and emotion regulation.