Behavioral and Electrophysiological Evidence for Gestational Age Effects in Healthy Preterm and Fullterm Infants Studied Two Weeks after Expected Due Date

We investigated the effects of gestational age at birth on behavioral and electrophysiological measures of 135 medically healthy infants, studied at 42 weeks postconception, and stratified into 3 groups--early-born preterms, 26-32 weeks (n = 55); middle-group preterms, 33-37 weeks (n = 43); and fullterms, 38-41 weeks (n = 37). Subjects were studied behaviorally with the Assessment of Preterm Infants' Behavior (APIB) and electrophysiologically with brain electrical activity mapping (BEAM). Fullterms showed significantly better behavioral function than both preterm groups. Less difference was found between the preterm groups. EEG spectral and photic evoked response were of significantly less amplitude for the preterms than the fullterms. Path analysis showed gestational age effects on behavioral (3 of 6) and electrophysiological (13 of 17) variables due to postnatal complications. We conclude that some differences attributable to gestational age at birth are explained by the cumulative effect of minor but unavoidable complications associated with premature birth. We speculate that remaining effects may result from developmentally inappropriate sensorimotor stimulation consequent to the premature experience of an extrauterine environment.     

Instructional design for advanced learners: Establishing connections between the theoretical frameworks of cognitive load and deliberate practice

Cognitive load theory (CLT) has been successful in identifying instructional formats that are more effective and efficient than conventional problem solving in the initial, novice phase of skill acquisition. However, recent findings regarding the “expertise reversal effect” have begun to stimulate cognitive load theorists to broaden their horizon to the question of how instructional design should be altered as a learner's knowledge increases. To answer this question, it is important to understand how expertise is acquired and what fosters its development. Expert performance research, and, in particular, the theoretical framework of deliberate practice have given us a better understanding of the principles and activities that are essential in order to excel in a domain. This article explores how these activities and principles can be used to design instructional formats based on CLT for higher levels of skills mastery. The value of these formats for e-learning environments in which learning tasks can be adaptively selected on the basis of online assessments of the learner's level of expertise is discussed. In their preparation of this article, the first and last authors were supported by an Internationalization grant from the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO, The Hague, project number 411-01-010).     

Social cohesion and integration: learning active citizenship

This article starts from a conceptual clarification of the notions social integration and social cohesion as a prerequisite for the reorientation of citizenship education. Turning away from uncritically reproduced assumptions represented in mainstream ‘deficiency discourse’, the article first focuses on sociological conditions for the rise of active citizenship and its role in the revitalization of the public sphere. Next a number of educational objectives are deduced from competencies needed and learning processes taking place in practices of active citizenship. Finally, the article argues for the adoption of a lifelong learning perspective, relating formal citizenship education to informal and non‐formal experiences of active citizenship.     

The relation of parenting style to adolescent school performance

This article develops and tests a reformation of Baumrind's typology of authoritarian, permissive, and authoritative parenting styles in the context of adolescent school performance. Using a large and diverse sample of San Francisco Bay Area high school students (N = 7,836), we found that both authoritarian and permissive parenting styles were negatively associated with grades, and authoritative parenting was positively associated with grades. Parenting styles generally showed the expected relation to grades across gender, age, parental education, ethnic, and family structure categories. Authoritarian parenting tended to have a stronger association with grades than did the other 2 parenting styles, except among Hispanic males. The full typology best predicted grades among white students. Pure authoritative families (high on authoritative but not high on the other 2 indices) had the highest mean grades, while inconsistent families that combine authoritarian parenting with other parenting styles had the lowest grades.     

Reviews

Sam Pickering teaches English at the University of Connecticut     

Inference Based on the Best-Fitting Model Can Contribute to the Replication Crisis: Assessing Model Selection Uncertainty Using a Bootstrap Approach

Inferences and conclusions drawn from model fitting analyses are commonly based on a single “best fitting” model. If model selection and inference are carried out using the same data model selection, uncertainty is ignored. We illustrate the Type I error inflation that can result from using the same data for model selection and inference, and we then propose a simple bootstrap-based approach to quantify model selection uncertainty in terms of model selection rates. A selection rate can be interpreted as an estimate of the replication probability of a fitted model. The benefits of bootstrapping model selection uncertainty are demonstrated in growth mixture analyses of data from the National Longitudinal Study of Youth, and a 2-group measurement invariance analysis of the Holzinger–Swineford data.     

An exploratory investigation of the effects of a cultural orientation programme on the psychological well-being of international university students

Culture shock has been identified as a psychological reaction to a change in cultural environment. The main symptoms of culture shock are reported to be psychological disturbance, a negative reaction to the new surroundings and a longing for a more familiar environment. Research has identified culture shock as a component in the difficulties that international students face when studying in another country. One way that institutions of higher education have responded to these difficulties is to provide initial cultural orientation. In the study reported here, a group of post-graduate students who had participated in a study skills and cultural orientation course at a British university were compared with a group who had not. Contrary to the research hypothesis, the group that took part in the orientation course were significantly more homesick and reported more psychological difficulties. The overall findings cast doubt on the received view of culture shock as it affects international students. They suggest that culture shock is exacerbated by personal and social factors and this has implications for the way that international students may be helped through the experience.