African American female faculty at large research universities: Their need for information

African American female faculty at large research universities are given the same responsibilities as other faculty. They must teach, conduct research, engage in worthwhile service to the university community, and regularly disseminate the results of their work in scholarly publications. Rewards from the university are directly tied to the level of success that the faculty member experiences. The minority label is often a barrier to the African American female faculty member's search for full standing in the university's community of scholars. To overcome this barrier, African American women must find and use the best information available to help them. This includes finding a good mentor, mastering a variety of information sources, and building a strong personal and professional network.Melvin M. Bowie is an associate professor and graduate coordinator in the Department of Instructional Technology at the University of Georgia. She received her A.B. degree in history and French from Tougaloo College; an M.S. in library science from the University of Illinois; and, a Ph.D. in Curriculum and Instructional Media from Iowa State University. Her current research interests, including studies carried out for the National Reading Research Center, focus on collection development and resource-based teaching. Her teaching areas include technical services in school media centers, collection development, and administration of school media programs.     

The family check-up with high-risk indigent families: preventing problem behavior by increasing parents' positive behavior support in early childhood

Seven hundred thirty-one income-eligible families in 3 geographical regions who were enrolled in a national food supplement program were screened and randomized to a brief family intervention. At child ages 2 and 3, the intervention group caregivers were offered the Family Check-Up and linked parenting support services. Latent growth models on caregiver reports at child ages 2, 3, and 4 revealed decreased behavior problems when compared with the control group. Intervention effects occurred predominantly among families reporting high levels of problem behavior at child age 2. Families in the intervention condition improved on direct observation measures of caregivers' positive behavior support at child ages 2 and 3; improvements in positive behavior support mediated improvements in children's early problem behavior.     

Performance Versus Objective Testing and Gender: An Exploratory Study of an Advanced Placement History Examination

To explore a phenomenon of gender differences in Advanced Placement examinations, random samples of free-response test booklets were taken from the 1986 examination in U.S. History. These examinations were chosen because they consistently show significant gender differences in objective scores but no gender differences in free-response scores. A rescoring of the free responses was conducted that focused on their historical content. This rescoring was conducted by readers other than those who conducted the original scoring and involved tallies of specific historical points made, supporting evidence given, and factual errors. Ratings were also made of handwriting quality, neatness, and English composition quality of the free responses. Analyses conducted indicate that free-response tasks of the type examined may have inherent characteristics that reward English composition abilities, and that some females may compensate for inferior historical knowledge with superior English composition abilities.     

Sympathy for the Devil

Since Melvin Burgess published his first childrens book, The Cry of the Wolf (1989) he has had the reputation of being a powerful and challenging writer, discussing issues that many other writers have shunned. But it was with Junk (Smack in the US) in 1996 that he became a notorious media figure. This Carnegie winning novel showed teenagers not only taking drugs, but enjoying them, and sex, too! As a whole, though, this book also showed the dangers of hard drugs, and did anything but glamorise addiction. The book was also innovative in using multiple narrative voices, so that moral certainties are continually being challenged, shown to be but partial. Burgess continued this technique in Bloodtide (1999), which is undoubtedly his most powerful book yet (a second volume is on its way), updating the Icelandic Volsunga saga in a bleak, futuristic London. Lady: My Life as a Bitch (2001) and Doing it (2003) also brought much media attention, both dealing explicitly with teenage sex. These are the main books that Burgess talks about in his article. However, his range is far wider, and his other texts should not be forgotten: he has written several novels for younger readers, a picture book, The Birdman (2000) and an excellent novelisation of the film Billy Elliot (2001). His ability to write gripping, absorbing stories with memorable characters is always foremost, whatever other issues might be addressed.     

I'm Happy with My Mommy: Low-Income Preschoolers' Causal Attributions for Emotions

This study examined low-income African American and European American preschoolers' socioemotional causal attributions. Forty-seven Young (M = 48 months) and Old (M = 62 months) preschoolers were asked to justify a puppet's current emotion and to talk about their past emotional experiences. Responses were coded for Causal Theme and Clarity. Old preschoolers were twice as likely to attribute interpersonal themes, and Young preschoolers were 4 times more likely to generate causal themes that were uncodeable. In terms of clarity, children provided clearer responses for anger and fear than they did for happiness. Old preschoolers' explanations for emotions were clearer than young preschoolers' and young African Americans', who had the most difficulty explaining emotions. Results indicate that younger preschoolers, particularly young African Americans, may need help articulating emotions. Suggestions for how adults can scaffold preschoolers' emotional reasoning are discussed.     

!Kung Infancy: The Social Context of Object Exploration

The present study consists of new analyses of systematic observations of Kung infants made by Konner during the late 1960s and early 1970s. Our intent was to examine claims about the role of object sharing in development by describing how Kung infants develop interest in objects and how their caregivers act toward them when they are engaged in object-related acts. Results indicated that infants first displayed sustained interest in objects beginning at 4 months of age and that, beginning at about 8 months, they also began to engage in relational play and to give objects to others. Others tended to ignore infants during episodes of object manipulation and play, but moments of object offering were often socially embedded. These findings provide support for claims that there are universal changes in infants' involvement with objects and that their involvement is channeled in a culturally relevant manner by their caregivers.     

Self-punitive avoidance behavior in the mouse

Mice were trained to avoid shock by leaving a startbox and traversing a straight alley. During the first extinction phase (Phase I), two groups were given 30 regular extinction (RE) trials, while another two received punished extinction (PE) trials in the center of the alley. During the last 50 extinction trials (Phase II), conditions were reversed for one of the two groups receiving the same treatment in Phase I. This resulted in two nonshifted groups (RE-RE and PE-PE) and two shifted groups (RE-PE and PE-RE). PE treatment led to higher running speed in both phases and reversed an extinction trend. Furthermore, punishment-induced facilitation was greater for the group receiving PE following RE than for the group receiving PE immediately after avoidance training.

     

Socioeconomic Disparities in Language Input Are Associated With Children's Language-Related Brain Structure and Reading Skills

The mechanisms underlying socioeconomic disparities in children's reading skills are not well understood. This study examined associations among socioeconomic background, home linguistic input, brain structure, and reading skills in 5-to-9-year-old children (N = 94). Naturalistic home audio recordings and high-resolution, T1-weighted MRI scans were acquired. Children who experienced more adult–child conversational turns or adult words had greater left perisylvian cortical surface area. Language input mediated the association between parental education and left perisylvian cortical surface area. Language input was indirectly associated with children's reading skills via left perisylvian surface area. Left perisylvian surface area mediated the association between parental education and children's reading skills. Language experience may thus partially explain socioeconomic disparities in language-supporting brain structure and in turn reading skills.