Behavioral Regulatory Problems Are Associated With a Lower Attentional Bias to Fearful Faces During Infancy

To investigate the role of early regulatory problems (RP), such as problems in feeding, sleeping, and calming down during later development, the association between parent-reported RP at 3 months (no-RP, n = 110; RP, n = 66) and attention to emotional faces at 8 months was studied. Eight-month-old infants had a strong tendency to look at faces and to specifically fearful faces, and the individual variance in this tendency was assessed with eye tracking using a face-distractor paradigm. The early RPs were related to a lower attention bias to fearful faces compared to happy and neutral faces after controlling for temperamental negative affectivity. This suggests that early RPs are related to the processing of emotional information later during infancy.     

Multimethod assessment of self-regulated learning in college students: different methods for different components?

Instructional Science - Although self-regulated learning (SRL) is seen as highly relevant for successful college learning, college students oftentimes show a lack in SRL abilities. Therefore, it...     

How to Assess and Categorize Teachers’ Views of Science? Two Methodological Issues

Research in Science Education - This paper addresses two methodological issues related to the assessment of teachers’ views of science. The first concerns the distinction between the...     

The use of visuals in oral presentations

Rune Pettersson is manager of Technical Training for the Swedish R&D firmellemtel. In addition, he teaches at the University of Stockholm and at the Royal Institute of Technology, also in Stockholm.     

Adaptive progressive download based on the MPEG-4 file format

In this paper we describe how progressive download and adaptive streaming can be combined into a simple and efficient streaming framework. Based on the MPEG-4 file format (MP4) we use HTTP for transport and argue that these two components are sufficient for specifying an open streaming architecture. The client selects appropriate chunks from the MP4 file to be transferred based on (1) the header information (i.e. the “moov” box) in the first part of the file and (2) his observation of network throughput. The framework is completely client driven which allows for better server scalability and reduces signalling overhead. We discuss architecture and implementation issues such as complexity, interoperability and scalability and compare to 3GPP PSS Rel-6 adaptive streaming when appropriate. Measurements from a simple MP4/HTTP streaming client are presented showing that appropriate chunks are selected such that increased reliability is achieved.     

Educational optimism among parents: a pilot study

This study explored parents' (N = 351) educational optimism in terms of their trust in the possibilities of school to develop children’s intelligence. It was found that educational optimism could be depicted as a bipolar factor with optimism and pessimism on the opposing ends of the same dimension. Optimistic parents indicated more satisfaction with their children’s school and had a relatively positive assessment of their children’s academic success, which they explained in accord with their dynamic notion of intelligence, i.e. the child’s effort and help from the teacher. Parental notions of intelligence seem to serve as an important interpretative source for educational hopefulness.     

Dynamic and shared sense-making in large-scale curriculum reform in school districts

ABSTRACT

Shared sense-making is suggested to be key for curriculum reform. Shared sense-making entails constructing a collective understanding of the meaning for reform, its significance and its implications for schools, through dialogue and negotiation across the levels of the educational system. This study explored changes in hands-on strategies of shared sense-making, and ways of orchestrating curriculum reform work in the districts in Finland, following the introduction of new national curriculum policy. Longitudinal focus group interview data collected from curriculum coordinating groups during the reform work was utilised. The data were qualitatively content analysed. The two sets of shared sense-making strategies were identified in this study, including those strategies utilised by the groups in building their understanding of what the reform is all about, and those concerning the reform orchestration. The strategies employed evolved from simple to more complex, during the progression of curriculum work. Results also showed that the coordinating groups were well aware of their high autonomy and resulting responsibility in orchestrating the district-level curriculum work. However, the advance in shared sense-making strategies employed by the groups indicated that they were highly committed to constructing collective understanding about the reform, its significance and implications for schools through dialogue and negotiation with practitioners.