The relationship between neonatal characteristics and three-month mother-infant interaction in high-risk infants

The behavior of 4 groups of infants--healthy term, healthy preterm, sick preterm, and sick full-term--was assessed in the neonatal period using the Neonatal Behavioral Assessment Scale (NBAS). At 3 months postterm, infants and their mothers were observed and videotaped in a free-play session. Both the NBAS and mother-infant interaction data were analyzed to assess the effects of maturity (term vs. preterm), illness (sick vs. healthy), and their interaction. Results revealed that illness of the infant affected both NBAS performance and maternal behavior during the interaction at 3 moths. Infants who were ill performed poorly on the NBAS orientation dimension; this dimension was found to be significantly associated with maternal and infant behaviors at 3 months. These data demonstrate an association between early infant characteristics and subsequent mother and child interactive behaviors. They also identify postnatal illness as an important influence on the development of the mother-infant dyad.     

From faith to good fellowship: Sunday school magazines in the late nineteenth century

Maureen Nimon has taught high school and college students and is currently teaching in Librarianship at the South Australian College of Advanced Education in Adelaide. She holds a doctorate from Flinders University.     

Engaging Experts: Science-Policy Interactions and the Introduction of Congestion Charging in Stockholm

This article analyzes the conditions for mobilizing the science base for development of public policy. It does so by focusing upon the science-policy interface, specifically the processes of direct interaction between scientists and scientifically trained experts, on the one hand, and agents of policymaking organizations, on the other. The article defines two dimensions – cognitive distance and expert autonomy – which are argued to influence knowledge exchange, in such a way as to shape the outcome. A case study on the implementation of congestion charges in Stockholm, Sweden, illustrates how the proposed framework pinpoints three central issues for understanding these processes: (1) Differentiating the roles of, e.g., a science-based consultancy firm and an academic environment in policy formation; (2) Examining the fit between the organizational form of the science-policy interface and the intended goals; and (3) Increasing our understanding of when policymaker agents themselves need to develop scientific competence in order to interact effectively with scientific experts.     

An Evaluation of an EDY Course in Behavioural Techniques for Classroom Assistants in a School for Children with Severe Learning Difficulties

This study is an evaluation of a behavioural skills training course (known as the Education of the Developmentally Young‐‐EDY) which was run for eight classroom assistants (all trained nursery nurses) at an ESN (S) school in Manchester. It arose out of a previous study (Farrell, 1982) which suggested that while teachers improved their practical skills following EDY training, classroom assistants did not. In this study the classroom assistants were filmed working with an individual child on four occasions; twice prior to their training, once immediately following it and once more ten weeks later. The video tapes were randomly arranged and shown to two independent and trained raters. The raters rated the classroom assistants on four aspects of behavioural teaching, all of which are integral parts of the EDY course. The results showed that taking all the teaching techniques together, the classroom assistants made significant gains following training but that these gains were only evident on two of the behavioural techniques when they were analysed separately. When comparing the findings of this work with other studies, the main conclusion is that, although classroom assistants do benefit from EDY training, their progress may not be so marked as that of classroom teachers.     

“Why do dogs pant?”: Characteristics of parental explanations about science predict children's knowledge

Using a new method for examining parental explanations in a laboratory setting, the prompted explanation task, this study examines how characteristics of parental explanations about biology relate to children's knowledge. Parents (N = 148; M_age = 38; 84% female, 16% male; 67% having completed college) of children ages 7–10 (M_age = 8.92; 47% female, 53% male; 58% White, 9.5% Black, 9.5% Asian) provided answers to eight how and why questions about biology. Parents used a number of different approaches to address the questions, including providing more mechanistic responses to how questions and more teleological responses to why questions. The characteristics of parental explanations—most notably, how frequently parents provided correct responses—predicted children's performance on measures of verbal intelligence and biological knowledge. Additional exploratory analyses and implications for children's learning are discussed.