Promoting Community in Early Childhood Programs: A Comparison of Two Programs

Every interaction within an early childhood program either promotes community or disrupts it. Therefore, excellent early childhood programs have in place a process that pulls the energies and abilities of all the members of the school community together so that everyone—children, educators, parents, and community members—develop well. In particular, healthy interactions between educators and families create the necessary conditions for the early childhood programs: (1) to impact the lifepaths of the families; and, in turn, (2) to engage the families in the work of improving the early childhood programs. In this article, research on the Jewish Early Childhood Education Initiative (JECEI) is presented. JECEI was selected for study because JECEI early childhood programs are characterized by healthy relationships, the capacity to successfully promote children’s learning and development, and the engagement of families in the work of school improvement.     

Building an understanding of heat transfer concepts in undergraduate chemical engineering courses

Understanding the distinctions among heat, energy and temperature can be difficult for students at all levels of instruction, including those in engineering. Misconceptions about heat transfer have been found to persist, even after students successfully complete relevant coursework. New instructional methods are needed to address these misconceptions. This pilot study examined whether researcher-developed and inquiry-based activities could increase conceptual understanding of heat transfer and alter common misconceptions. Twenty-two undergraduate chemical engineering students were assessed before and after instruction with inquiry-based activities using a ten-item concept inventory. Concept inventory questions were developed to assess students＇ performance on questions closely related to the inquiry-based activities and questions applying concepts in new contexts. Participants significantly improved their overall scores from pre-test to post-test. An examination of performance on individual items revealed significant improvement on half of those questions closely related to the instructional activities and half of those applying concepts in new but related contexts. Results are examined in light of the assessment and inquiry activities that were used, as well as the difficulty of the concepts. Educational implications and suggestions for future research are discussed.     

Frontal Electroencephalogram Asymmetry, Salivary Cortisol, and Internalizing Behavior Problems in Young Adults Who Were Born at Extremely Low Birth Weight

The authors examined internalizing behavior problems at middle childhood, adolescence, and young adulthood and brain-based measures of stress vulnerability in 154 right-handed, nonimpaired young adults ( M age = 23 years): 71 (30 males, 41 females) born at extremely low birth weight (ELBW; < 1,000 g) and 83 (35 males, 48 females) controls born at normal birth weight (NBW). Internalizing behavior problems increased from adolescence to young adulthood among ELBW individuals. ELBW adults exhibited greater relative right frontal electroencephalogram activity at rest and more concurrent internalizing behavior problems than NBW controls. Being born at ELBW may have subtle influences on brain–behavior relations even in survivors without major impairments and evidence of these influences may not emerge until young adulthood.     

Learner error,affectual stimulation,and conceptual change

Pupils' expectation‐related errors oppose the development of an appropriate scientific attitude towards empirical evidence and the learning of accepted science content, representing a hitherto neglected area of research in science education. In spite of these apparent drawbacks, a pedagogy is described that encourages pupils to allow their biases to improperly influence data collection and interpretation during practical work, in order to provoke emotional responses and subsequent engagement with the science. The usefulness of this approach is borne out quantitatively by findings from a series of three randomized experiments (n = 158) which show superior gains using this pedagogy that are still significant 2 and 3 years after the initial treatment. In addition, pupils who experienced more intense emotions during treatment demonstrated the most gains after 6 weeks. This research is one element of a large‐scale study of expectation‐related observation in school science whose findings impact generally on the proper consideration of empirical evidence and the learning of science content. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 47:151–173, 2010     

Faculty perceptions of academic freedom at a GCC university

Massive oil revenues are currently fueling a surge in the number of educational institutions in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, presenting leadership at all levels with many unprecedented questions. In particular, the growth and reform of higher education challenges the delicate balance between academic freedom and Arab cultural values. This paper describes faculty perceptions of academic freedom at a major GCC national university. Faculty members’ views and perceptions regarding academic freedom are presented based on interviews, questionnaire responses, and the authors’ own thoughts. Findings indicate that faculty members have complex and often contradictory understandings of academic freedom and related responsibilities and often engage in self-censorship. The authors discuss these findings by engaging in self-reflection regarding their own perspectives and personal experiences.     

Can Long John Silver Save the Humanities?

Given the serious decline in the number of undergraduates majoring in the humanities in general, and literature in particular, teachers of Children’s Literature have a unique opportunity to serve their discipline by tapping the power of classroom dialogue to introduce students to the practical reasoning central to humanistic study. This essay takes Long John Silver, from Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island (1883), as a model for generating lively discussion that begins with literary matters but leads, with help from the teacher, to fundamental questions about the role of the humanities in students’ education and in their lives. In the process, the essay traces a pedagogical strategy that moves from matters of plot and character, to issues of ethics and judgment, to larger questions regarding approximate knowledge and sound reasoning about the complexities of the human condition. This inquiry focuses specifically on the charming but villainous Silver and the possible explanations for his escape at the end of the novel. But the ambiguity and fascination of his character are also catalysts for wide-ranging classroom discussion of a kind that Children’s Literature routinely promotes and sustains. Such discussion can provide broad, balanced insight into the nature and variety of critical understanding. As such, Children’s Literature and the pedagogy it supports serves to identify and enliven the benefits of humanistic study at a crucial moment of academic history.     

Four Wives

我们每个人的生命中都会有四位"妻子",她们分别是精神、家庭和朋友、地位和财富、我们的身体。后三位均会在临死前离我们而去,而永恒陪伴我们的却是我们的精神。     

Stress and risk for depression in competitive athletes suffering from back pain – Do age and gender matter?†

Back pain (BP), a prominent problem for competitive athletes, is a primary reason for limitations in athletic performance and daily life restrictions. As studies on the relationship between psychological variables and BP in athletes are scarce, the aim of this study was to investigate stress and depression in competitive athletes with BP. In a cross-sectional design, data of 154 competitive athletes (51% female; M_age?=?18.81 years, SD_age?=?5.05 years) were collected, assessing Performance stress, Socio-emotional stress, Risk for depression and Psychological well-being and the two BP parameters BP Intensity and Disability. Two multiple linear regressions were conducted to predict (1) BP Intensity and (2) Disability from Performance stress, Socio-emotional stress, Risk for depression and Psychological well-being. Multiple linear regressions demonstrated that Performance stress (β?=?.21, p?=?.01) was the only significant predictor of BP Intensity (F_1,142?=?6.68, p?=?.01, R²?=?.05), whilst Risk for depression (β?=?.24, p?=?.01) was the only significant predictor of Disability (F_1,142?=?8.46, p?=?.01, R²?=?.06). Neither gender nor age explained a significant amount of variance in the models. Study results showed that, as in the general population, the variables stress and depression are related to BP in competitive athletes. In particular, BP intensity was found to be associated with stress and BP-related disability was associated with depression, whereas age and gender showed no association with the BP parameters. A longitudinal investigation is warranted to determine the direction of the observed relationships.