The Association of Objectively Determined Physical Activity Behavior Among Adolescent Female Friends

The purpose of this study was to examine the extent to which physical activity among adolescent female friends is interdependent. The participants were 318 adolescent girls with a mean age of 16.0 years (range: 15–18 years). Pedometry was used to assess physical activity over 4 days. The relationship between an individual girl and her first-nominated reciprocal friend's physical activity level was moderate (r = 0.45, 90% confidence interval = 0.31, 0.56), when the friendship was nonreciprocal it was trivial (r = -.06, 90% confidence interval = -.36. .25). Friends' physical activity levels explained between 27% and 32% of an individual's pedometer-determined physical activity level. Reciprocity of friendship is an important variable to consider when understanding the relationship between adolescent female friends' physical activity. When friendships are reciprocal, there is a stronger relationship between friends' physical activity.     

Scaffolding dynamics and the emergence of problematic learning trajectories

This study aims at examining problematic learning trajectories of students with emotional behavioral disorders (EBD) by means of a longitudinal and time serial (micro genetic) study of individual instruction sessions during arithmetic lessons. Micro genetic analysis techniques were applied on the variable “responsiveness” in the scaffolding dynamics, which was chosen as an indicator variable for the quality of the instruction. In a representative EBD student–teacher pair, an iterative process of stability and change of five dynamically related scaffolding variables and one arithmetic variable was demonstrated, which indicated the existence of three phases over a period of two school years. In the short term dynamics of scaffolding, an asymmetric engagement level of teacher and student was found, which was dominated by the teacher's initiatives. Overall, the data point to a suboptimal coupling in this student–teacher pair. An applied conclusion of our study is that educational recommendations should be aimed at transforming existing, self-sustaining transactional patterns between the teacher and the student in real-time instruction sessions during arithmetic lessons.     

Technology,learning and instruction: distributed cognition in the secondary English classroom

In this paper, we analyse interactions between secondary students and pre‐service teachers in an online environment in order to understand how their meaning‐making processes embody distributed cognition. We begin by providing a theoretical review of the ways in which literacy learning is distributed across learners, objects, tools, symbols, technologies and the environment in modern English language arts classrooms. This is followed by a case study where we identify how programme values, textual resources and cultural schema function as distributed tools. In traditional schools, with an emphasis on taking standardised tests, the learning environment is designed on the view that learning is a transaction that happens solely ‘inside the head’. Unfortunately, this pushes many students to the margins of classroom engagement and participation. By analysing students' and pre‐service teachers' online discourse, we argue that virtual spaces can facilitate critical dialogue and can act as catalysts for a distributed theory of mind.     

Which worked better for Mississippi State: standing orders or an approval plan?

When Mississippi State University Libraries established a university press approval plan, the Collection Development Department was asked to decide whether to cancel existing standing orders with seven university presses or block these presses from the approval plan. Books were received through both avenues for eight months so that cost, timeliness of delivery, and receipt of titles most appropriate for the Libraries’ needs could be compared. Findings showed a 4.72% cost savings with the approval plan, but 82% of the titles were received earlier through the standing orders. Of books received through the standing orders, 29% were not received through the approval plan, with more than half not matching departmental profiles. Return privileges with the approval plan meant unsuitable titles could be returned, a significant advantage not possible with the standing orders. As a result of the study, the libraries chose to cancel the standing orders and receive books selectively through a university press approval plan.     

Supporting the digitally able beginning teacher

This article reports on research which explored the experiences six digitally able beginning teachers during their first year in secondary schools. Using a complexity theoretical framework, the barriers and enablers that influenced the integration of digital technologies into teaching practice were examined. The findings indicate that context influences the ability of beginning teachers to apply their knowledge and experience of digital technologies to their teaching practice through: school policies and structures which encourage and allow access to digital technologies, encouraging beginning teachers to develop their sense of agency, and the support of a mentor with relevant pedagogical content expertise.     

Generalization of causal efficacy judgments after evaluative learning

In three experiments, we examined the effect of response-outcome relations on human ratings of causal efficacy and demonstrated that such efficacy ratings transfer to novel situations through derived stimulus relations. Causal efficacy ratings were higher, and probability of an outcome given a response was lower, for a differential reinforcement of high rate schedule than for either a differential reinforcement of low rate schedule (Experiment 1) or a variable interval schedule (Experiment 2). In Experiment 3, we employed schedules that were equated for outcome probability and noted that ratings of causal efficacy and the rate of response were higher on a variable ratio than on a variable interval schedule. For participants in all three experiments, causal efficacy ratings transferred to the stimulus present during each schedule and generalized to novel stimuli through derived relations. The results corroborate the view that schedules are a determinant of both response rates and causal efficacy ratings. In addition, the novel demonstration of a mechanism of generalization of these ratings via derived relations has clinical implications.     

Typography for children may be inappropriately designed

We present four studies indicating that the size and design of the typeface in textual material for children aged 7–9 may impair speed of reading and comprehension, and measurement of reading attainment. The first study compared the speed with which sample sentences were comprehended. The sentences were printed in Arial font with an x‐height of 4.2 or 5.0 mm. The sentences were verified 9% more quickly when presented in the larger typeface. The second study compared reading age on the Salford Sentence Reading Test when the typeface remained at the initial size (x‐height 3.3 mm) throughout the test, and when it decreased in size as usual. The average reading age measured with the larger font was 4 months older. The final studies compared the font Sassoon Primary with the font Verdana and showed that Verdana was read and searched more quickly.     

Stage, Sequence, and Sequels: Changing Conceptions of Morality, Post-Kohlberg

The years since Kohlberg's death have marked a pivotal stage in moral psychology. The field is addressing a number of critical questions and pursuing new themes and approaches as it continues to (re)define itself in the course of its own development. This paper presents a brief overview of some of these emerging themes within the context of the traditional cognitive–developmental approach to moral socialization. In particular, it highlights changing conceptions of the moral person and raises questions about the implications of these changes for the role of reason in contemporary moral psychology.