Maternal Insightfulness and Resolution of the Diagnosis Are Associated With Secure Attachment in Preschoolers With Autism Spectrum Disorders

In the current study (a) maternal insightfulness into the experience of the child and (b) resolution with respect to the child's diagnosis and their associations with children's security of attachment were examined in a sample of 45 preschoolers (mean age = 49 months) with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). It was hypothesized that mothers who were insightful and resolved would be more likely to have securely attached children than mothers who were neither insightful nor resolved. The findings supported this hypothesis. The implications of insightfulness and resolution for child attachment in the context of ASD are discussed.     

Environmental literacy components and their promotion by institutions of higher education: an Israeli case study

The recognition of the key role and moral responsibility of higher education institutions (HEIs) in cultivating the environmental literacy (EL) of their students is growing globally. The current research examined the contribution of HEIs to their students’ EL by focusing on an Israeli college as a case-study. A survey was conducted among a representative sample of 1147 students from all departments in four phases of their academic studies. A moderate level of EL was found. The college’s green agenda attracted more pre-environmentally literate students, but its contribution to the development of students’ EL throughout the learning years was minor. Variation in pro-environmental behavior was better explained by students’ environmental values and attitudes than by their environmental knowledge. It seems that a combination of knowledge, values, and attitudes is needed in order to instill EL among students in HEIs. Commitment to environmental education must be translated into effective contents (what) and ways of teaching and learning (how) EL, which should be adapted to the varied populations of HEIs’ students in the various faculties and departments. Some recommendations are detailed.     

The role of contradiction and uncertainty in promoting the need to prove in Dynamic Geometry environments

In many geometrical problems, students can feel that the universalityof a conjectured attribute of a figure is validated by their action in adynamic geometry environment. In contrast, students generally do not feelthat deductive explanations strengthen their conviction that a geometricalfigure has a given attribute. In order to cope with students' convictionbased on empirical experience only and to create a need for deductiveexplanations, we developed a collection of innovative activities intended tocause surprise and uncertainty. In this paper we describe two activities, thatled students to contradictions between conjectures and findings. We analyzethe conjectures, working methods, and explanations given by the studentswhen faced with the contradictions that arose.     

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT OF SCIENCE TEACHERS AS A REFLECTION OF LARGE-SCALE ASSESSMENT

Professional development (PD) of teachers comprises a major challenge in many countries. The empirical relations between teaching–learning processes and student achievements occupy educators who construct teachers’ in-service training programs. Student achievements serve as a measure for testing improvements in learning. Many investigators view teachers’ content–didactic knowledge as influencing the quality of teaching and student achievements. Large-scale assessments (national and international evaluation frameworks) in the Israeli educational system offer teachers opportunities for improving their teaching–learning processes and student achievements. We developed a program for the PD of science teachers based on the curriculum and large-scale assessments. The model is long term and integrates theoretical and practical knowledge. The activities should be effective and cooperative and should use diverse teaching methods and integrate advanced technologies. This article presents considerations for the construction of the program, its goals, its performance, teachers’ reports on the components, and the contribution of the program’s components to their PD.     

The dialectics of assimilation and multiculturalism: the case of children of refugees and migrant workers in the Bialik-Rogozin School,Tel Aviv

This paper focuses on children of refugees and migrant workers from 48 countries who study together in one multicultural school in the city of Tel Aviv, Israel. The context of our study is the current ethos of globalisation and within it the phenomenon of vast migrations and creation of intercultural social realities. The aims of the study were to illustrate the principles, practices and dilemmas that form the very basis of the school culture, to let the special or ‘foreign’ voices of the children and the teaching staff be heard, and to identify the educational qualities that are responsible for the school’s success. In our research we employed both the method of qualitative case study and the philosophical interpretive discourse. On the basis of our observations, interviews and text analyses of the school’s educational manifesto, we suggested the following pedagogical virtues as the key factors responsible for the school’s extraordinary achievements: (1) a firm commitment to a humanist and multicultural stance; (2) a progressive and pragmatic dialectic approach regarding students’ empowerment, via social integration and academic success as well as via multicultural pedagogy; and (3) a dialectic pedagogical approach that stresses therapeutic-individualised teaching as well as challenging students to attain high academic standards.     

Personal Grooming and Outward Appearance in Early Muslim Societies

Past Muslim Societies have placed much importance on the outward appearance and personal grooming of both men and women based on the assumption that both physical attributes and clothing and adornment are benevolence God showers upon the believers. This is reflected in Medieval Muslim legal texts which provide much information regarding clothing, adornment and grooming. Along with shaping legal norms, those sources also contain discussion and response to a changing reality. This is a demonstration of the desirable and the existing alike and a reflection of a relationship of dependency and influence between reality and the written legal texts. The discussion of these sources shows that past Muslim societies, like many others, used the importance of the outward appearance as a means to determining social relationship in general and hierarchical gender-based relations specifically. For themselves men have decided that fostering their outward appearance and keeping the rules of hygiene are fulfilment of God's wishes, but women are ordered to do so for two different reasons integrating belief in God and a patriarchal world view: becoming attractive to men and fulfilling their sexual destiny as this is the patriarch wish. At the same time it is important to mention that both men and women attend to their outward appearance for additional reasons, such as the wish to show their socio-economic status and power.     

Age and Third-Person Perception in Response to Positive Product Advertisements

The research presented here examined the occurrence of the third-person perception (TPP) among children compared with older people. Unlike in previous research, the TPP was examined in response to positive product advertisements. These advertisements are considered negative only when people understand their persuasive intent and manipulative nature. In that context, there was no indication of the TPP in children, whereas adolescents and adults showed the usual effect. The research further documented the existence of an intuitive understanding of media influence on various age groups. For example, adults perceived themselves as less influenced by an adult-targeted ad than other adults but not less influenced than children and adolescents. The results are discussed in terms of self-serving bias, understanding of persuasion intent, and the intuitive understanding of media influence.     

Transforming Environmental Knowledge Into Behavior: The Mediating Role of Environmental Emotions

The present study was based on the premise that environmental knowledge can drive environmental behavior only if it arouses environmental emotions. Using a structural equations modeling approach, we tested the direct, as well as the indirect (mediated) effects of knowledge on behavior and assessed the mediating role of environmental emotions. We found that knowledge is an important but distal variable, whose significant effect is fully mediated by emotions. The high explanatory power and good fit indices of the model supported and validated the important role of emotions in the learning process.     

Reliability and Validity of a Hebrew Version of the Kogan's Attitudes Toward Old People Scale

The objective of this study was to evaluate the reliability and validity of the Hebrew version of Kogan's (1961 Kogan , N. ( 1961 ). Attitudes Toward Old People: The development of a scale and an examination of correlates . Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology , 62 ( 1 ), 44 – 54 . doi: 10.1037/h0048053 [Crossref], [PubMed], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) Attitudes Toward Old People scale. A self-administered questionnaire in Hebrew was given to a convenience sample of 300 people under the age of 65 who resided in three neighborhoods in Tel Aviv. The Hebrew version of the Attitudes toward Old People scale demonstrated good psychometric properties. Internal consistency of Cronbach's alpha was high (α = .89). Factor analysis showed five loading factors. The Israeli version of the scale was found to be a valid and reliable instrument for measuring the general population's attitudes toward older people. It can be a useful instrument for studies in Israel as well as for cross-national and comparative studies to assess the degree of ageism towards older people.     

Qualitative evaluation of mathematical activity and its relation to effective guidance

A model of qualities of mathematical activity was developed within a framework of learning goals. In this paper we describe a clinical application of the model, from which a hierarchy of effective guidance was established, permitting diagnostic evaluation and progressive development of mathematical activity.