Playing with others: Head Start children's peer play and relations with kindergarten school competence

Time-sampled observations of Head Start preschoolers’ (N = 264; 51.5% boys; 76% Mexican American; M = 53.11 and SD = 6.15 months of age) peer play in the classroom were gathered during fall and spring semesters. One year later, kindergarten teachers rated these children's school competence. Latent growth models indicated that, on average, children's peer play was moderately frequent and increased over time during preschool. Children with higher initial levels or with higher slopes of peer play in Head Start had higher levels of kindergarten school competence. Results suggest that Head Start children's engagement with peers may foster development of skills that help their transition into formal schooling. These findings highlight the importance of peer play, and suggest that peer play in Head Start classrooms contributes to children's adaptation to the demands of formal schooling.     

Motivation and engagement in the ‘Asian Century’: a comparison of Chinese students in Australia,Hong Kong,and Mainland China

The present study investigated multidimensional motivation and engagement among Chinese middle school students in Australia (N?=?273), Hong Kong (N?=?528), and Mainland China (N?=?2106; randomly selected N?=?528). Findings showed that a multidimensional model of motivation and engagement fit very well for all three groups. Multi-group invariance tests showed that the number of factors, factor loadings, factor correlations and item uniquenesses were invariant across the three groups – as were inter-correlations with a set of cognate correlates (class participation, school enjoyment, positive intentions, academic buoyancy) – hence no differences of ‘kind’. However, differences of ‘degree’ were indicated through significant mean-level effects between groups, with self-reports favouring Australian Chinese students over Hong Kong and (to a lesser extent) Mainland Chinese students. We propose these findings shed important light on Chinese students’ academic motivation and engagement and also on socio-cultural perspectives on motivation and engagement because they assist understanding about effects attributable to context and effects attributable to ethnicity. Given this, the study is a timely contribution to current understanding of the Chinese learner in this, the ‘Asian Century’.     

Pedophilic sexual interests and psychopathy in child sexual abusers working with children

Research has identified stable and dynamic characteristics in child sexual abusers working with children (CSA-W) that may distinguish them from other child sexual abusers (CSA). However, in previous research CSA-W have usually been included in the group of extra-familial CSA (CSA-E). Two hundred and forty-eight forensic-sexological reports about CSA conducted by the Federal Evaluation Centre for Violent and Sexual Offenders in the Austrian Prison System were evaluated retrospectively. One hundred and nineteen intra-familial CSA (CSA-I), 66 CSA-E, and 38 CSA-W were compared with regard to static risk factors, indicators of psychopathy, and pedophilic sexual interests. CSA-E had the highest risk of recidivism as measured by the Static-99 total score, followed by CSA-W. Furthermore, CSA-E had more previous convictions than CSA-W. Both CSA-E and CSA-I had higher total scores on the Psychopathy Checklist-Revised than CSA-W. CSA-W had the highest prevalence of pedophilia diagnoses according to DSM-IV-TR criteria, as well as the highest rate of pedophilia with an orientation toward male children, and the highest frequency of male victims. CSA-W also had the highest total scores in the Screening Scale for Pedophilic Interests. CSA-W seem to constitute a group with particular risk factors and criminogenic needs, that is, they show more indicators of pedophilic sexual interests but less general antisociality and psychopathy, and would thus seem to be distinguishable from other CSA. Future research should focus in particular on evaluating differences in the grooming strategies used by CSA-W to commit and disclose child sexual abuse, as well as on the resources of this particular offender group.     

School decentralization as a process of differentiation,hierarchization and selection

The Austrian ‘school autonomy policy’, which allowed schools to develop specific ‘curricular profiles’, is taken as an example for discussing processes and effects of school decentralization policies. Data from school case studies (based on qualitative interviews and document analysis) are used to analyse and interpret the processes by which schools and teachers take up policy innovations and translate it into action and structures on school and classroom level. These policy changes and the resulting governance regimes are examined from a perspective on changing modes of ‘action coordination’ between actors on different levels of a school system and from an attention to processes of ‘re-contextualization’ in multi-level governance systems. The main result is that the Austrian decentralization policy – although not explicitly based on a market approach – boosted principles of competitive coordination between schools. In consequence, it resulted in processes of differentiation and hierarchization of schools and classes and offered new legitimatory and practical opportunities for student selection.     

Extinction of enhanced latent inhibition

Hungry rats were used in a classical conditioning procedure in which visual stimuli were paired with food. Conditions in which nonreinforced exposure to a nontarget stimulus was followed by exposure to a simultaneous compound nontarget/target stimulus (a blocking procedure) resulted in enhanced latent inhibition to the target relative to exposure to the nontarget, followed by exposure to the target stimulus alone. A third phase of nonreinforced exposure training, in which the target was exposed alone following the compound, reduced levels of latent inhibition relative to results obtained with the blocking procedure. Experiments also suggested that this was not the result of restoration of associability by the omission of an expected presentation of the nontarget stimulus in the final preexposure phase. These results suggest that enhanced latent inhibition is due to summation of a direct-target-no-event association and a second-order association of these elements via target-nontarget and nontarget-no-event association. Exposure to the target after compound exposure extinguished the target-nontarget association and reduced the sources of no-event learning for the target.     

Peer victimization and prosocial experiences and emotional well‐being of middle school students

This study investigated the relationships among different forms of peer victimization and prosocial experiences and early adolescent emotional well‐being. A total of 571 students in grades 6–8 were administered the Positive and Negative Affect Scale–Children, Multidimensional Students' Life Satisfaction Scale, and the Children's Self Experience Questionnaire–Self Report. Females reported more prosocial experiences; males reported more overt and relational victimization. Differential predictors were observed for the emotional well‐being variables of life satisfaction, positive affect, and negative affect in a series of hierarchical multiple regression equations. Overt victimization experiences added significant variance to all three well‐being equations. Relational victimization experiences added significant variance to the negative affect equation. After accounting for overt and relational experiences, prosocial experiences added significant variance to the life satisfaction and positive affect equations. The experience of prosocial peer interactions thus appears to serve as a protective factor with respect to the relationship between victimization and life satisfaction and positive affect for early adolescents. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Psychol Schs 44: 199–208, 2007.     

Early emotional and communication functioning predicting the academic trajectories of refugee children in Canada

Abstract

We examined how emotional and communication functioning at kindergarten predicted the academic trajectories of refugee children. Drawing from a population-based Canadian cohort, the study followed 629 refugee children from age 5 to 13 and (i) modeled kindergarten, Grade 4, and Grade 7 academic trajectories via group-based trajectory modeling and (ii) investigated to what extent teacher ratings of kindergarten emotional and communication functioning predicted academic trajectory group membership. Three groups were identified: ‘Average’ (n?=?438), ‘Declining’ (n?=?119), and ‘Low-But-Improving’ (n?=?72) groups. Logistic regression analyses revealed that, in comparison to the Average trajectory, lower emotional functioning at kindergarten was associated with an increased likelihood of a Declining academic trajectory, whereas lower communication functioning at kindergarten was associated with a greater likelihood of a Low-But-Improving trajectory (versus an Average trajectory). The findings indicate that refugee children are more likely to overcome early communication challenges versus emotional challenges to achieve academically, and this has important implications for early mental health support.     

Translating words into equations: a cognitive load theory approach

The conditions under which explicit instruction in checking, combined with worked examples, may be beneficial in learning how to translate sentences into algebraic equations was examined from the perspective of cognitive load theory. In two experiments it was shown that Grade 8 and 9 students were initially disadvantaged by the inclusion of a checking method. However, after a more substantial period of acquisition, students with a low level of mathematical knowledge performed significantly better after receiving checking instructions than those who did not receive checking instructions. In contrast, higher knowledge students were continually disadvantaged by the inclusion of a checking method. The positive effect of checking for lower knowledge students and the negative effect for higher knowledge students in this domain is a further example of the expertise reversal effect.     

Fifth graders' science inquiry abilities: A comparative study of students in hands‐on and textbook curricula

A large number of American elementary school students are now studying science using the hands‐on inquiry curricula developed in the 1990s: Insights; Full Option Science System (FOSS); and Science and Technology for Children (STC). A goal of these programs, echoed in the National Science Education Standards, is that children should gain “abilities to do scientific inquiry” and “understanding about scientific inquiry.” We have studied the degree to which students can do inquiries by using four hands‐on performance assessments, which required one or three class periods. To be fair, the assessments avoided content that is studied in depth in the hands‐on programs. For a sample of about 1000 fifth grade students, we compared the performance of students in hands‐on curricula with an equal number of students with textbook curricula. The students were from 41 classrooms in nine school districts. The results show little or no curricular effect. There was a strong dependence on students' cognitive ability, as measured with a standard multiple‐choice instrument. There was no significant difference between boys and girls. Also, there was no difference on a multiple‐choice test, which used items released from the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS). It is not completely clear whether the lack of difference on the performance assessments was a consequence of the assessments, the curricula, and/or the teaching. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 43: 467–484, 2006     

Distance education: A particular context for teaching and learning. Introduction to this special issue

This editorial introduction positions distance education in the larger context of educational research and theory construction. Next to a definition of key concepts, the authors elaborate three major issues that are dealt with in distance education research in relation to educational materials. The first issue centres on curriculum and values. The second topic concentrates on the creation of appropriate learning environments. The third issue focuses on the evaluation of effects of materials in use. In discussing the three issues the authors stress the particularities of the distance education context.