Understanding technology: the development of a concept

Children's perceptions about technology were measured using a Writing/Drawing Activity and a Picture Quiz, administered to approximately 300 grade three to six children in six primary schools in the English Midlands. The results indicate that although many children associate technology only with computers and modern appliances, overall there is a variety of ideas, with the more complex and coherent among older children. Subsequently interviews were carried out with 81 of the children to explore their reasons for choosing items which they said were something to do with technology. The children were able to respond in a thoughtful and consistent manner. Even when the children professed not to know what technology is, they often used an alternative but consistent explanation. A tentative model describing the development of children's ideas about technology is presented.     

Does Children's Academic Achievement Improve when Single Mothers Marry?

Promoting marriage, especially among low-income single mothers with children, is increasingly viewed as a promising public policy strategy for improving developmental outcomes for disadvantaged children. Previous research suggests, however, that children's academic achievement either does not improve or declines when single mothers marry. In this paper, we argue that previous research may understate the benefits of mothers' marriages to children from single-parent families because (1) the short-term and long-term developmental consequences of marriage are not adequately distinguished and (2) child and family contexts in which marriage is likely to confer developmental advantages are not differentiated from those that do not. Using multiple waves of data from the ECLS-K, we find that single mothers' marriages are associated with modest but statistically significant improvements in their children's academic achievement trajectories. However, only children from more advantaged single-parent families benefit from their mothers' marriage.     

Understanding public attitudes in Britain towards faith schools

This paper provides a detailed analysis of different aspects of public attitudes towards faith schools in Britain. It examines two questions relating to government policy on this issue and two questions that ask about the perceived outcomes of this type of school. After discussing existing public opinion on this issue it uses data from the British Social Attitudes Survey 2007 to analyse the bivariate relationships between attitudes towards faith schools and religious characteristics. It then assesses the relative impact of religious characteristics on public attitudes when estimating logistic regression models that simultaneously examine for the effects of other explanatory variables. These include demographic characteristics, socio‐economic status, party‐political affiliation and ideological beliefs. The main findings are that religious characteristics, especially attendance at religious services and perceived religiosity, have a strong impact in all four model estimations, while previous or current attendance at a private school by a household member and ideological beliefs also play a role.