Fusing the boundaries between home and child care to support children's scientific learning

Parent involvement in early childhood education is highly valued by staff and families alike. However, limited research is available to guide professionals in how best to involve families in the early childhood programs developed for their children. This article reports on a study which investigated the impact of a science teaching and learning program on families of children attending an Australian Child Care Centre. Particular reference is made to the level of scientific support families gave to their children.     

The University of Alabama at Birmingham Center for Community OutReach Development Summer Science Institute Program: A 3-Yr Laboratory Research Experience for Inner-City Secondary-Level Students

This article describes and assesses the effectiveness of a 3-yr, laboratory-based summer science program to improve the academic performance of inner-city high school students. The program was designed to gradually introduce such students to increasingly more rigorous laboratory experiences in an attempt to interest them in and model what “real” science is like. The students are also exposed to scientific seminars and university tours as well as English and mathematics workshops designed to help them analyze their laboratory data and prepare for their closing ceremony presentations. Qualitative and quantitative analysis of student performance in these programs indicates that participants not only learn the vocabulary, facts, and concepts of science, but also develop a better appreciation of what it is like to be a “real” scientist. In addition, the college-bound 3-yr graduates of this program appear to be better prepared to successfully academically compete with graduates of other high schools; they also report learning useful job-related life skills. Finally, the critical conceptual components of this program are discussed so that science educators interested in using this model can modify it to fit the individual resources and strengths of their particular setting.     

Outplacement for underserved women workers

Conclusions The outplacement program ended with a short written evaluation of the value of the program to participants. Their comments indicated a high level of satisfaction; and all responded yes to the question, Overall, do you think the outplacement program has been beneficial to you? It appears that one of the main factors contributing to the program's success was having program goals that recognized the needs of hourly women workers. Before the outplacement program, they had no hope of obtaining better jobs than that of telephone operator. It was an exceptional women whose eyes were focused on moving up. The vast majority were resigned to take what they could get, clearly reducing their expectations and encouraging downward rather than upward movement. The true test will be to see what these participants do with their work lives in the future, but responses following the program indicate initially that they are now aiming much higher than the most basic level of employment.Suzanne C. Freeman is a Doctoral student and Marilyn Haring-Hidore is Associate Professor of Counselor Education at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. Address requests for reprints to Ms. Freeman.     

Word recognition: The interface of educational policies and scientific research

As a result of a tremendous amount of research in educational, cognitive and developmental psychology on the nature and acquisition of reading skills, practitioners have a goldmine of evidence upon which to design effective educational programs for beginning and problem readers. This evidence is highly consistent in terms of delineating different stages of reading that young children pass through, the types of skills that they are to acquire, and the sorts of difficulties that they are likely to encounter. The purpose of this paper is to broadly outline current knowledge of the beginning stages of reading acquisition for both normal and problem readers and to relate this knowledge to current language arts curricular practices in North America.     

The prevalence of child sexual abuse victimization in an adult sample of Texas residents

Attempts to identify characteristics of children who have been sexually abused have generally been based on cases reported to clinics, hospitals, law enforcement and social service agencies. In this study a questionnaire was mailed to a representative sample of the adult population in Texas. Child sexual abuse was defined as sexual interaction between a child and an adult or between two minors when the perpetrator is significantly older than the victim or is in a position of power over the victim. A return rate of 53% was obtained. The surveys returned varied from previous studies of the same population in that the respondents were slightly older, more often married and from a slightly higher socioeconomic level. They were, however, closely matched on the variables of sex, race and educational level. Childhood sexual victimization was reported by 7.4% of the respondents. Female victims comprised 82% of this group. The racial/ethnic distribution of victims paralleled that of the Texas census with 77% white, 5% black, and 16% Hispanic. Victimization rates were highest for Hispanic females followed by black and white females in that order. Hispanic and black males reported the lowest victimization rates. Based on these findings, it was estimated that 821,359 adult Texas residents were sexually abused as children. These results were compared with those of other studies along with their implications for policy-making.     

When Infants Look to Their Parents: I. Infants'' Social Referencing of Mothers Compared to Fathers

12-month-olds were seen with their mothers and fathers in a laboratory procedure designed to compare infants' solicitation of, emotional resonance to, and self-regulation on the basis of happy, fearful, and conflicting emotional signals from mothers versus fathers. Measures of positive and negative affect and affect lability; of look, approach, and proximity behavior; and of overall response pattern were obtained. Infants showed more positive and less negative affect and greater toy proximity with happy compared to fearful signals. Few differences emerged in infants' referencing response to mothers versus fathers. Infants looked more to mothers than fathers when no signals were given but did not differentiate between parents when only one was signaling or when both were signaling (conflict). In affective state and behavioral regulation, they were not differentially responsive to maternal versus paternal signals either when only one parent was signaling or when both were giving signals.     

Assessing student teachers: The promise of developmental portfolios

Abstract

This article describes the results of qualitative research using portfolios in a preservice teacher education program. Our study involved participant observation of 26 portfolio review sessions, and open‐ended interviews with 13 student teachers and 13 cooperating teachers. We sought to understand how portfolios might contribute to the assessment and professional development of prospective teachers. We discuss potential benefits and identify several important practical issues that others might consider when introducing portfolio assessment into their own preparation programs.