Perceived masculinity,feminity and androgyny among primary school boys: Relationships with the adaptation level of these students and the attitudes of the teachers towards them

The literature suggests that in school setting, particularly in the primary grades, the boy well-adapted and being the object of a positive attitude from the teacher, is the one displaying expressive or femininetype behaviors. To verify the existence of this relationship, three instruments were administered to 38 teachers who evaluated 181 boys aged between six and seven years-old. The results indicate that boys perceived as being masculine are evaluated as being more aggressive than boys perceived as feminine, whereas boys perceived as being feminine obtain higher scores on the anxiety and prosocial scales. Boys classified as androgynous and feminine and evaluated as prosocial are the object of more positive attitudes from the teachers’ part whereas the opposite is true for masculine and externalizing boys. These results support, to a certain extent, the existence of a conflict between the masculine sexrole and the student role, at least such as defined by certain school settings.     

TEST ITEM ARRANGEMENT, TESTING TIME, AND PERFORMANCE

Two experiments were conducted to determine if a relationship exists between test item arrangements and student performance on power tests. The primary hypotheses were: item arrangements based upon item difficulty, similarity of content, or order of class presentation do not influence test score or required testing time. In the first experiment 122 subjects were randomly assigned to three item difficulty arrangements of 139 test items with a 0–100% difficulty range, and in the second experiment 156 subjects were randomly assigned to three item content arrangements of 103 items. Results of analyses of variance with test anxiety used as a classification factor supported the hypotheses.     

A treatment program for failure to thrive: A cost/effectiveness analysis

Failure to thrive (FTT) is a frequent cause for the admission of infants to the hospital. Such hospitalizations are often lengthy and expensive, and usually do not contribute to an understanding of the etiology of FTT. Generally, organic causes of FTT can be ruled out by a thorough history and physical examination. In this study two groups were examined: 17 infants who were admitted to foster medical placement homes (MPH), private homes with specially trained parents; and a comparison group of 18 infants who were treated in a more traditional way with diagnostic hospitalization. The groups were similar in all regards prior to admission. All infants were less than a year of age. Family disruption was a prominent feature in both groups, but socio-demographic analysis showed them to be similar in all areas studied. The comparison group gained an average of 276 grams in the hospital over 8.6 days. The MPH group gained 362 grams in the hospital over 8.7 days, with an additional 1270 grams in the medical placement home over 31.1 days. Five children were admitted to the medical placement home without hospitalization. After correcting for an expected weight gain of 15 grams per day (normal growth), the comparison group showed a catch-up growth of 16 gms/day, while the MPH group gained 29 gms/day in excess of expectation, almost twice the comparison group. A 100-gram weight gain cost +308 in the MPH program and +1,635 in the traditional approach. This five-fold difference was felt to be a significant deterrent to the continuing approach of admitting children to the hospital for for the workup of FTT.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)     

Prevalence of father-child rough-and-tumble play and physical aggression in preschool children

Three samples of francophone subjects from Quebec (Canada) are used to establish the prevalence of parent-child RTP according to different personal, social and family variables, and to verify if children who engage in more RTP with their father exhibit less physical aggression towards other children and are more competitive without resorting to aggression. Our results showed that 24 to 43% of fathers engaged in RTP with their children on a daily basis, and only 4 to 16% of fathers never do. Moreover, personal characteristics such as the age and sex of the participants seemed to have a greater influence on the frequency of parent-child RTP than variables related for example to work, socio-economic conditions, or the living environment. The hypothesis that children who engage in more RTP with their fathers display less physical aggression towards their peers is invalidated here. We have concluded that it is important that not only RTP frequency, but also and especially indicators of RTP quality be used. Future observational studies of father-child RTP are required in order to do so. Finally, certain preliminary results support the hypothesis that father-child RTP fosters the development of the competition skills in children without using aggression.     

Case study: use of problem-based learning to develop students' technical and professional skills

Problem-based learning (PBL) is a pedagogy that has attracted attention for many biomedical engineering curricula. The aim of the current study was to address the research question, ‘Does PBL enable students to develop desirable professional engineering skills?’ The desirable skills identified were communication, teamwork, problem solving and self-directed learning. Forty-seven students enrolled in a biomedical materials course participated in the case study. Students worked in teams to complete a series of problems throughout the semester. The results showed that students made significant improvements in their problem-solving skills, written communication and self-directed learning. Students also demonstrated an ability to work in teams and communicate orally. In conclusion, this case study provides empirical evidence of the efficacy of PBL on student learning. We discuss findings from our study and provide observations of student performance and perceptions that could be useful for faculty and researchers interested in PBL for biomedical engineering education.     

Why braille reading is important and how to study it / Por qué es importante la lectura en braille y cómo estudiarla

Despite its relevance in theoretical and practical terms, braille reading has received little attention from researchers. Awareness of the pros and cons of the different procedures used to examine braille reading is needed to facilitate the realization of systematic studies and to improve teaching methods in braille reading. This study provides a critical examination of braille reading methods and highlights key points for future studies on tactile reading.     

The response of higher education to older adults: A federal perspective

This article examines and describes the responses of higher education institutions in meeting the needs of older people. Specifically, the article describes the concern of the Federal Council on the Aging for increased educational offerings for older people at American universities and colleges. It provides an overview of the demographic factors creating a graying society, discusses the challenge that aging presents to higher education, and cites, with examples, steps to be taken by higher education institutions to directly or indirectly benefit older persons.