Personality and development in childhood: a person-centered approach

A person-centered approach to personality focusing on types of persons defined by profiles of traits is applied to childhood personality development. In 28 diverse samples of 3-, 4-, 5-, and 6-year-olds, three personality types, labeled resilient, overcontrolled, and undercontrolled, are identified. In two longitudinal samples, the undercontrolled type was related to intellectual decline over a period of six years. Both stability and change in childhood personality type were observed in longitudinal analyses. The number of risks characterizing a child's family predicted change in personality type over a two-year interval. Finally, personality type was found to be a moderator of the association of Head Start participation with cognitive development and behavior problems in childhood. The implications of personality type for understanding childhood development, particularly in children facing adversity, are considered.     

Teaching a structured approach to the design process for undergraduate engineering students by problem-based education

The paper describes our 2-year experience with the new problem-based design project, which has recently been introduced in the engineering design seminars for second-year engineering students at the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven. This guided self-study project is a tool to make the students familiar with the design process by presenting them with a framework of clearly defined and timed out phases in the design process. The students have to solve a small engineering design problem in a team. They are guided by a manual and by a strict time schedule. A tutor watches over the students' progress. At the end of the design project, the team writes a design report and presents it orally. A team mark is given by the tutors, considering three criteria: the way the team has completed the phases of the design process, the quality of the design report, and the presentation. The mark is individualized on the basis of the student's contribution to the teamwork. The appreciation of students and tutors for this problem-based learning activity was positive.     

Styles of Counselor Supervision as Perceived by Supervisors and Supervisees

The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the preferences of supervisors and supervisees for 4 styles of counselor supervision and the perceived frequency of use of the 4 styles during a 10‐week supervision experience. The styles are labeled directive teacher, supportive teacher, counselor, and consultant. Data collected using 90 doctoral student supervisors and 168 master's‐degree student supervisees showed significant correlations among the styles. Implications for the process of counselor supervision are offered.     

Children''s Expectations of the Outcomes of Social Strategies: Relations with Sociometric Status and Maternal Disciplinary Styles

To explore relations between maternal disciplinary styles, children's expectations of the outcomes of social strategies, and children's peer status, 144 mothers and their first- (N = 59) and fourth- (N = 85) grade children (ages = 70-86 months and 116-129 months, respectively) participated in home interviews prior to the beginning of the school year. Measures of children's sociometric status were obtained in classrooms after the school year began. Results indicated that children of mothers who were more power assertive in their disciplinary styles tended to be less accepted by peers and tended to expect successful outcomes for unfriendly-assertive methods for resolving peer conflict (e.g., threatening to hit another child). In addition, children who expected unfriendly-assertive strategies to lead to self-oriented gains were less accepted by peers. Moreover, maternal disciplinary styles and outcome expectations for unfriendly-assertive strategies were found to make separate and independent contribution to peer status.     

Towards creating an inclusive community of researchers: the first three years of the North American Association for Environmental Education research symposium

This article uses a series of interlinked, personal vignettes to discuss the first three years of the North American Association for Environmental Education research symposium, from the perspectives of the key organizers. Seven challenges in the field of environmental education research are identified in a recent historical context, and we illustrate how the symposium sought to address them. The challenges were, that: (i) environmental education research has been marginalized in some areas and not recognized in others; (ii) environmental education research and environmental education practice need to be brought closer together; (iii) environmental education research is still in early development of a professional perspective; (iv) environmental education research has to give a voice to early career scholars and graduate students; (v) environmental education research needs to enable discourse about both process and outcomes; (vi) environmental education researchers need social learning contexts to help develop professional identities and create more meaningful dialogue to address these challenges; and (vii) methodologies, theoretical frameworks and differences in beliefs in environmental education research need to be accommodated. The last challenge is seen as the most significant with which to continue to engage, in developing open, inclusive forums for researchers of environmental education.     

Exploring the Co‐Development of Reading Fluency and Reading Comprehension: A Twin Study

This study explores the co‐development of two related but separate reading skills, reading fluency and reading comprehension, across Grades 1–4. A bivariate biometric dual change score model was applied to longitudinal data collected from 1,784 twin pairs between the ages of 6 and 10 years. Grade 1 skills were influenced by highly overlapping genetic and environmental factors. Growth in both skills was influenced by highly overlapping shared environmental factors. Cross‐lagged parameters indicated bidirectional effects, with stronger effects from fluency to comprehension change than from comprehension to fluency change.