Teachers' Responses to Children's Eye Gaze

When asked questions, children often avert their gaze. Furthermore, the frequency of such gaze aversion (GA) is related to the difficulty of cognitive processing, suggesting that GA is a good indicator of children's thinking and comprehension. However, little is known about how teachers detect and interpret such gaze signals. In Study 1 teaching interactions were analysed to determine teachers' responses to different patterns of children's eye gaze. In Study 2 a different group of teachers completed a questionnaire assessing their awareness of GA in determining children's thinking, understanding, and interest. Results showed that teachers did not typically respond to children's GA in predicted ways and did not associate GA with children's thinking. However, when asked explicitly about GA cues they made predictions relating to question difficulty and children's thinking in line with empirical work. We conclude that while teachers have an implicit understanding of GA cues, they typically do not make full use of such cues during classroom teaching.     

Body dissatisfaction,drive for thinness,and self‐esteem in African American college females

Ninety‐five African American undergraduate females who were attending three predominately Caucasian universities were evaluated for body dissatisfaction and drive for thinness as well as on four dimensions of self‐concept (physical, social, academic, and personal competence). The participants were largely middle class, with 78% reporting parental education levels between high school to college graduation. Results indicated body dissatisfaction and drive for thinness at levels commensurate with Caucasian samples. A hierarchial multiple regression found a combination of physical self‐concept, drive for thinness, and personal competence to be highly predictive of body dissatisfaction in this sample. Using this model, an effective psychosocial prevention program that focused on reduction of risk factors (e.g., drive for thinness) and enhancement of protective factors (e.g., satisfaction with physical appearance and abilities, personal efficacy) would be advantageous. It is suggested that prevention programming with African American women occur within a cultural context that may provide further support. That is, it may be beneficial to facilitate a critical evaluation of current social mores, encourage personal value clarification, and enhance individual resilience within a context of cultural pride. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Early Histories of School‐Aged Children With Attention‐Deficit/ Hyperactivity Disorder

In a prospective study of developmental outcomes in relation to early‐life otitis media, behavioral, cognitive, and language measures were administered to a large, diverse sample of children at 2, 3, 4, 6, and 9–11 years of age (N = 741). At 9–11 years of age, 9% of the children were categorized as having attention‐deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) based on parent report. Compared to the non‐ADHD group, the ADHD group had higher (i.e., less favorable) scores on parent and teacher versions of the Child Behavior Checklist at all ages. Children in the ADHD group also had lower scores on cognitive and receptive language measures in preschool. The findings support the concept that ADHD is a cognitive as well as a behavioral disorder.     

The Archival Collection of the Polish Institute of Arts and Sciences of America

The author discusses the digitization of the archival collection of the Polish Institute of Arts and Sciences of America (PIASA), the long-term planning of this project, financial support, collaboration with Polish institutions, and several selected collections. Digitized archival documents are available on the PIASA website and are included in the database of the National Archives of Poland.     

The parallel paths of conservation of contemporary art and indigenous collections

This paper uses a range of case studies from contemporary art and indigenous collections to explore synergies between the disciplines and pose questions about contemporary perceptions of condition and durability. The idea that value is only connected to original material or specific perceptions of condition has been challenged repeatedly by the very makers and primary users of these collections. Nevertheless, old expectations in relation to collections may still affect conservation processes. The conservator is positioned at the center of these tensions, trying to understand, negotiate and mediate the interests and values of dynamic layers of significance associated with the object being treated. Attempting to homogenize or generalize these relationships would directly affect the complexity of the meanings of the artworks and run the risk of hollowing them.     

Positive psychology in the prevention of eating disorders

Traditionally the identification of, and treatment for, eating disorders has been based on developmental psychopathology theory and research, thereby emphasizing risk factors and the elimination of maladaptive behaviors. This article seeks to reconceptualize the prevention of, and protective factors for, eating disordered behavior from the positive psychology framework proposed by Seligman and Csikszentmihalyi. This philosophy posits that psychology should strive to identify characteristics relating to positive subjective experiences, constructive individual traits, and affirmative institutions for the purpose of emphasizing and enhancing these strengths. To this end, we present recent literature on promoting protective factors with respect to these variables in the prevention of eating disorders. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Psychol Schs 41: 111–117, 2004.     

Verbal Short‐Term Memory Underlies Typical Development of “Thought Organization” Measured as Speech Connectedness

Formal thought organization obtained from free speech, a key feature for psychiatric evaluations, has been poorly investigated during typical development. Computational tools such as speech graph connectedness (LSC) currently allow for an accurate quantification in naturalistic settings. LSC's typical development is better predicted by years of education than by age. Among beginning readers, the LSC of stories composed of short‐term memory predicted reading independently from IQ. Here we set out to test a longitudinal sample (6–8 years old, n = 45, followed for 2 years) to verify whether the LSC is predictive of various memory measures, and whether such relations can explain the correlation with reading. The LSC was specifically correlated with verbal short‐term memory performance. The results support the notion that the short‐term storage of verbal information is necessary to plan a story. Given the limited sample size, the relationship of this interaction with reading remains inconclusive.     

Developing prospective elementary teachers’ abilities to identify evidence of student mathematical achievement

This study investigated the effects of a classroom intervention on prospective elementary teachers’ ability to evaluate evidence of student achievement of mathematical learning goals. The intervention was informed by a framework for teacher education which aims to provide prospective teachers (PTs) with the skills needed to systematically learn from their own teaching practice. Prospective teachers (N = 160) participated in an intervention aimed at addressing their misconceptions about evidence of student learning. Results revealed that after the intervention, PTs were less likely to consider teacher behaviors to be evidence of student learning and more likely to discount student responses that were irrelevant to a specified learning goal. However, PTs were still likely to take procedural fluency as evidence of conceptual understanding and may have become overly skeptical of student understanding. Implications of the study suggest new ways of developing prospective teachers’ ability to systematically study and improve their teaching.