Visual messages: Making sense with young children

Whether we know it or not, the environment teaches children how to read. The symbols, pictures, and print in our classrooms are a foundation for later reading. Children need useful and practical information communicated through visual messages.Sandra L. Gordon and Beth C. Anderson are Associate Professors in the Education Department at Moorhead State University in Minnesota.     

Development and Initial Validation of the Student Interest and Choice in STEM (SIC-STEM) Survey 2.0 Instrument for Assessment of the Social Cognitive Career Theory Constructs

Journal of Science Education and Technology - In response to a growing need for STEM professionals, this study reports the results of the initial validation of a refined survey instrument that...     

Challenges in planning transition to adulthood for young people who have special educational needs and disabilities: professional and managerial perspectives

This study reviewed perceived changes to planning and management of transitions to adulthood for young people with special educational needs and disabilities in three local authorities in England, following implementation of the Children and Families Act (2014). Wenger's ‘community of practice’ theoretical framework was used to examine how groups of professionals and managers working in education, health and social care in three areas, set about implementing selected radical changes required by the legislation. Telephone interviews with sixteen participants were transcribed and subjected to thematic analysis. Themes identified related to professional activity, planning and organisation, implications for young people and families and outcomes. There were indications of shifts in professional conceptualisations and reported practices as a result of the Act. Participants described enhanced cross‐service communication and co‐ordinated working practices, achieved though service restructuring, co‐location and changed lines of accountability. An increased emphasis on long‐term planning and involving young people in planning and decision‐making was evident with regard to defining outcomes, and living and working as an adult. The results are considered in relation to the extent that mandated change can influence attitudes and cultures within communities of practice, contributing to the contemporary theoretical debate to incorporate issues relating to power.     

Emergence of a new satellite RNA from cucumber mosaic virus isolate P1

The cucumber mosaic virus (CMV) isolate P1 caused very mild symptoms on many plant species After serial passages by mechanical inoculation over five years, CMV P1 caused severe symptoms on several tobacco cultivars and tomato. A specific band of approximately 0.3 kb in length was amplified by RT-PCR with primers synthesized based on reported CMV satellite RNA (satRNA) sequences. Sequence analysis showed there were two satRNAs (Sat-P1-1 and Sat-P1-2). Sat-P1-1 contained 335 nucleotides, and Sat-P1-2 contained 394 nucleotides. These two satRNAs shared 64% overall nucleotide sequence homology, and differences between the two satRNAs included mutations as well as deletions. Sat-P1-1 was identical to a satRNA (Z96099) reported in 1995 in CMV P1. Based on differences in the sequence and secondary structure between these two satRNAs, we conclude that Sat-P1-2 represents the emergence of a new satellite (necrotic satellite) from attenuated satRNA populations. The possible effect of the emergence of this new satRNA is discussed. Project supported by research grants from the Teaching and Research Award Program for Outstanding Teachers in Higher Education Institutes of the Ministry of Education of China and by the National Outstanding Youth Foundations of National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 30125032). PhD student in Zhejiang University, from Agrarian University of Havana, Cuba.     

Food Safety Training Needs of Child Care Providers

Millions of children are cared for in child care centers or family day care homes. The care environment can be a significant source of foodborne pathogens if proper food safety practices are not followed by caregivers. To decrease children's risk of foodborne illness, caregivers must know and apply safe food handling practices. To identify what care providers need to know about safe food handling, and how they want to learn, needs assessment research was conducted with a random sample of child care centers and family day care homes in Michigan (n=335). Research Findings. Results indicate that persons who care for young children in licensed centers or homes wanted to know more about the relationship between food and illness. Specifically, they wanted information about what causes food to become unsafe and how to prevent foodborne illness in the child care environment. Providers in both centers and homes preferred print materials (booklets, fact sheets, and newsletters) to videotapes, audiotapes, workshops, teleconferences, or an informational hotline. Implications for Practice. Developing and providing food safety booklets, newsletters, and/or fact sheets which include application-oriented and understand- able food safety information consistent with licensing regulations could reduce the risk of contracting foodborne illness of young children cared for in child care centers or day care homes.     

A Study of the Statistical Inference Criteria: Can We Agree on When to use Z Versus t?

Authors who write introductory business statistics texts do not agree on when to use a t distribution and when to use a Z distribution in both the construction of confidence intervals and the use of hypothesis testing. In a survey of textbooks written in the last 15 years, we found the decision rules to be contradictory and, at times, the explanations unclear. This paper is an attempt to clarify the decision rules and to recommend that one consistent rule be chosen to minimize confusion to students, instructors, and practitioners. Using the t distribution whenever σ is unknown, regardless of sample size, seems to provide the best solution both theoretically and practically.     

The influence of prices on graduate student persistence

The topic of how prices influence graduate student persistence has seldom been examined. Using the National Postsecondary Student Aid Study of 1987 to examine the influence of prices on within-year persistence by graduate students, this analysis indicates that graduate students, especially those enrolled in public institutions, are responsive to tuition charges in their persistence decisions. The major implication of this finding is that universities should examine the potential impact of price changes on graduate student persistence when they consider tuition increases each year.An earlier version of this paper was presented at the Eighth Annual NASSGP/NCHELP Research Network Conference, March 21, 1991, San Francisco, CA.     

The influence of student experience with word processors on the quality of essays written for a direct writing assessment

Although prior research has identified general procedural and qualitative differences between word-processed and pen and paper writing, little attention has been directed toward identifying how these differences relate to the prior word processing experiences of individual students. Additionally, few researchers have addressed the issue of fairness when discussing the use of word processors in writing assessment. This study investigates this relationship by comparing essays composed with pen and paper for a direct writing assessment to those composed with a word processor by students having different levels of experience with using word processors for writing.We observed differences between the two composition media similar to differences observed in previous studies of word-processed writing. That is, our results show that, overall, word-processed essays are neater and longer than were pen and paper essays. Word-processed essays also have a more formal tone and a weaker voice than their pen and paper counterparts. No composition medium differences were observed for the number of mechanical errors.In terms of how word processor experience interacts with writing quality, we found that word processors use neither improved nor worsen the quality of essays produced by students who have medium to high levels of experience using computers for writing. On the other hand, the word processor essays produced by students with a low level of experience writing with computers were scored, on a six-point scale, almost an entire point lower than those produced with pen and paper by these same students. Groups with high and medium levels of experience with word processors wrote slightly more words with a word processor than with pen and paper. On the other hand, the group with a low level of experience with using computers for writing wrote over 100 words fewer on word processors than with pen and paper. As for the number of simple sentences, groups with high and medium levels of comfort and experience with computers for writing wrote fewer simple sentences with a word processor than with pen and paper, while the group with a low level of comfort and experience with computers for writing wrote more simple sentences with word processors than with pen and paper. There were no group by media interactions for the number of mechanical errors.     

Establishing New Subcategories: The Role of Category Labels and Existing Knowledge

Previous research has revealed that novel nouns highlight category relations at superordinate and basic levels but, paradoxically, make subordinate classification more difficult for preschool children. In Experiment 1, we provide additional evidence that novel nouns put 3-year-old children at a disadvantage in subordinate classification. We suggest that this reflects young children's inclination to label and classify objects at the basic level. In Experiments 2 and 3, we identify 2 circumstances under which 3-year-old children alter their basic level expectation. In Experiment 2, we provide children with specific information to distinguish the relevant subclasses. In Experiment 3, we introduce the novel nouns in conjunction with the familiar basic level labels. Under each of these circumstances, novel nouns do not present an obstacle to subordinate classification. Children's linguistic biases (e.g., the noun-category bias) and their existing knowledge and vocabularies jointly influence early conceptual development.