Prevalence of socioemotional problems in deaf and hard of hearing children in Germany

The German version of the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) was used in a study to examine its usefulness in diagnosing socioemotional problems of deaf and hard of hearing children. The SDQ parent version was completed by 213 mothers and 213 fathers. The factor structure and reliability were tested, and the prevalence rate of socioemotional problems determined and compared to the German standardization sample. The statistical data were uniformly satisfactory; thus, the SDQ can serve as a valid yet economical screening procedure to identify endangered children at an early age, and to refer them to more exact diagnosis and subsequent advice and therapy. This is very important, as the prevalence of socioemotional problems in the sample of deaf and hard of hearing children was clearly greater for almost all scores, a result that is nearly identical with findings from many other recent studies.     

Early Math Trajectories: Low‐Income Children's Mathematics Knowledge From Ages 4 to 11

Early mathematics knowledge is a strong predictor of later academic achievement, but children from low‐income families enter school with weak mathematics knowledge. An early math trajectories model is proposed and evaluated within a longitudinal study of 517 low‐income American children from ages 4 to 11. This model includes a broad range of math topics, as well as potential pathways from preschool to middle grades mathematics achievement. In preschool, nonsymbolic quantity, counting, and patterning knowledge predicted fifth‐grade mathematics achievement. By the end of first grade, symbolic mapping, calculation, and patterning knowledge were the important predictors. Furthermore, the first‐grade predictors mediated the relation between preschool math knowledge and fifth‐grade mathematics achievement. Findings support the early math trajectories model among low‐income children.     

Curriculare Schwerpunkte Ud Entwicklungstrends Im Erziehungs- Und Gesellschaftswissenschaftlichen Studium Für Den Lehrerber Uf In Der Bundesr Epublik Deutschland

The authors describe an empirical study on the curricular contents of university lectures offered to teacher students in the Federal Republic of Germany. Since students as a rule do not have to take compulsory courses it seems to be of great interest which courses are offered to them and how much these courses are related to their profession as teachers. The purpose of the study is to ascertain what knowledge and competency students intending to become secondary school teachers can acquire by attending the courses available to them. In order to fulfil this purpose a system for the classification of lectures has been developed and applied to all lectures and other university courses, from summer 1965 to summer 1972, in educational science, philosophy, psychology, political science and sociology, at the universities of Berlin (Free University and Technical University), Göttingen, Hamburg, Heidelberg, Kiel, Köln and Tübingen. This period covers a range of 15 semesters (7 1/2 years), the maximum time for a teacher student. These universities are a sample of urban and country districts, and at the same time somewhat representative for the politically different governed “Länder” of the Federal Republic of Germany. A general result of the study is that the absolute number of university lectures increased rapidly during the observed time, with the exception of philosophy. The number of lectures on educational science often doubled, in the case of Berlin and Kiel it even tripled. Another important observation shows that the categories with the most entries differed from university to university. This was especially the case in philosophy, but this phenomenon occurred also quite clearly in the field of educational science. As far as trends could be observed, a slight tendency towards the decrease of the historical components of educational science has to be reported, but this tendency is not so significant as the others. Two main conclusions among others have to be drawn from the results of the study: First, the current university education for teacher students depends mainly on local and situational factors, e.g. it is the professor's decision on which topics he wants to lecture, second, the university education for teacher students can not be regarded to be adequate to the problems they have to face after leaving university. This means that the curricular norms and values of the university education will, at least in some cases, remain unsatisfactory for these students.     

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Value orientations and motivational interference in school-leisure conflict: The case of Vietnam

The experience of motivational interference during studying and leisure in a school-leisure conflict and its relationship to pupils' value orientations were investigated in a self-report study of Vietnamese pupils (N = 346, mean age = 15 years). The results were compared with a combined sample consisting of pupils from nine other countries (N = 2155). From a cross-cultural perspective, the mean values of the variables show that Vietnamese pupils differ with regard to their values and motivational interference from pupils in other countries. Within the Vietnamese sample, modern value orientation was positively related to decision for a studying activity in a school-leisure conflict and to experience of motivational interference during a leisure activity and negatively related to interference during studying. For post-modern value orientation, the relationships were mostly reversed. Despite differences between sample means, the consistency in the relationships between the variables across the samples indicates that the pattern of relationships can be generalized.     

Cognitive ability and personality variables as predictors of school grades and test scores in adolescents

The predictive power of cognitive ability and self-control strength for self-reported grades and an achievement test were studied. It was expected that the variables use of time structure, academic procrastination, and motivational interference during learning further aid in predicting students’ achievement because they are operative in situations of school-leisure conflict. A sample of 697 eighth-graders was tested twice within the interval of a single school year (about eight months). Cognitive ability and self-control explained substantial variance of grade changes. Procrastination displayed a further portion of the variance. Personality variables were better predictors of grades, while cognitive ability showed higher variance with the achievement test. Variables tapping aspects of self-control strength have been interpreted as key determinants of learning outcomes. The findings suggest that it might be useful to identify students who are at risk, allowing these students to train their ability to shield studying from leisure distractions.     

ELDERCARE IN THE 1990s: CHALLENGES AND SUPPORTS FOR EDUCATING FAMILIES

The purpose of this article is to summarize the recent literature on caregiving in order to identify viable ways to educate families to care for elderly relatives in the home environment. The demands and stresses currently associated with providing home care to older members are discussed, followed by an overview of support services that represent promising and workable approaches in enhancing families’ home‐caregiving capacities. With few exceptions, this paper is based on caregiving research published in the past five years.