Opportunity,community, and teen pregnancy in an Appalachian state

This study examines female adolescents' responses to opportunities, costs, and community in West Virginia. It is posited that adolescent women's responses to structurally determined contextual factors will be the most important determinant of the teen birth rate. It is posited that girls avoid becoming pregnant and work to stay in school as a wise investment in their future. The variation in males' participation in contributing to teen pregnancy is not considered due to data limitations. West Virginia is a state with low teen abortion rates and limited teen mobility out of state. Community is construed as having a positive sense of affiliation and value for adolescents. Community is measured by school size and a range of 7 measures of community social organization: percentage of urban population in the district, percentage Black, percentage neither Black nor White, level of educational attainment, percentage of college preparatory students, percentage of college students, and percentage of service employees. The 7 factors were reduced with principal component analysis to a measure of modernity. Findings indicate that the birth rate increased by 8% for every increase of 100 students in average school size. The modern variable, which indicates departures from traditional patterns of community organization, was positively, statistically significantly related to the teenage birth rate. The college degree variable was related to increased teen pregnancy as a departure from traditional norms and decreased teen pregnancy as a measure of opportunity. Findings contrast with traditional interpretations of teen pregnancy. Findings indicate that teen pregnancy reflects a lack of opportunity, a decline in traditional community patterns, and the replacement of traditional social relations by shifting labor market relations. Teen births are consequences of disadvantage and disruption as context-driven factors.     

Do students value feedback? Student perceptions of tutors’ written responses

The topic of feedback to students is an under‐researched area, and there has been little empirical research published which focuses on student perceptions. This study explores student perceptions of written feedback and examines whether feedback received demonstrated a student‐centred approach to learning. A multi‐method approach of qualitative and quantitative data collection and analysis was used to survey 44 students in the faculties of Business and Art & Design. Student responses show feedback is valued, but believed tutor comments could be more helpful. Survey results indicate that students may need advice on understanding and using feedback before they can engage with it. Content analysis of feedback samples and student responses uncovered four main themes of feedback considered unhelpful to improve learning: comments which were too general or vague, lacked guidance, focused on the negative, or were unrelated to assessment criteria. It is suggested that by focusing on messages conveyed by their writing, providing feedback set in the context of assessment criteria and learning outcomes, and by ensuring that it is timely, tutors could greatly improve the value of feedback.     

Experimental Alterations in Playroom Layout and their Effect on Staff and Child Behaviour

The influence of short‐term alterations in the visual and acoustic characteristics of a preschool playroom on the behaviour of children and staff was observed. Daily changes were made on a random schedule between four conditions; screens only, carpets only, screen and carpets and bare room without either screens or carpets. The aim was to see whether the alterations affected the time children and staff spent in a range of behaviours whose educational value could be assessed from previous studies. A scan method of observation was used. Both screens and carpeting were expected to increase educationally valuable behaviour by staff and children. Staff produced significantly more educational and social talk to children in the carpeted conditions. Staff and children spent more time in adult‐child social and educational groups in the carpets and screens condition. Screens discouraged some ‘medium involvement’ educational activities and encouraged ‘miscellaneous’ non‐educational activities. Though these differences were statistically significant, their absolute sizes were small. This appears to be due to the child‐centred orientation of preschool staff, who aimed to provide a stable environment with free choice of activities under all conditions.     

Proofs and refutations in the undergraduate mathematics classroom

In his 1976 book, Proofs and Refutations, Lakatos presents a collection of case studies to illustrate methods of mathematical discovery in the history of mathematics. In this paper, we reframe these methods in ways that we have found make them more amenable for use as a framework for research on learning and teaching mathematics. We present an episode from an undergraduate abstract algebra classroom to illustrate the guided reinvention of mathematics through processes that strongly parallel those described by Lakatos. Our analysis suggests that the constructs described by Lakatos can provide a useful framework for making sense of the mathematical activity in classrooms where students are actively engaged in the development of mathematical ideas and provide design heuristics for instructional approaches that support the learning of mathematics through the process of guided reinvention.     

The effects of experience grouping on achievement, satisfaction, and problem-solving discourse in professional technical training

When a course designed around cooperative, problem-centered instruction attracts learners with a wide range of experience in the topic, should learners be grouped heterogeneously or homogeneously in terms of their relative expertise? In this study, learners were randomly distributed between the two types of groups; learning gains, satisfaction, and problem-solving discourse were compared. Overall, no significant differences were found between heterogeneous and homogeneous groups. However, groups solving relatively ill-structured problems exchanged significantly more elaborated explanations than groups solving relatively well-structured problems.     

Executive functioning and preschoolers' understanding of false beliefs, false photographs, and false signs

Two studies were conducted to investigate the specificity of the relationship between preschoolers' emerging executive functioning skills and false belief understanding. Study 1 ( N =44) showed that 3- to 5-year-olds' performance on an executive functioning task that required selective suppression of actions predicted performance on false belief tasks, but not on false photograph tasks. Study 2 ( N =54) replicated the finding from Study 1 and showed that performance on the executive functioning task also predicted 3- to 5-year-olds' performance on false sign tasks. These findings show that executive functioning is required to reason only about representations that are intended to reflect a true state of affairs. Results are discussed with respect to theories of preschoolers' theory-of-mind development.     

Intentional Jealousy-Evoking Behavior in Romantic Relationships as a Function of Received Partner Affection and Love Styles

This study examined how (a) affection received from a partner and (b) love styles (i.e., eros, ludus, storge, pragma, mania, and agape) predicted the use of jealousy-evoking behaviors in romantic relationships. Participants were 197 undergraduate students currently involved in a committed romantic relationship, who completed a survey reporting on their partners' expressions of affection and their own perceived love styles and uses of jealousy evocation in their relationships. Results indicated that (a) after controlling for relationship length, the amount of affection received from a partner was inversely correlated with the use of jealousy-evoking behaviors, and (b) after controlling for relationship length and received affection, the ludus and mania love styles remained positive predictors of jealousy-evoking behavior. No other love styles were significant predictors.     

Attention problems,phonological short-term memory,and visuospatial short-term memory: Differential effects on near- and long-term scholastic achievement

The current study examined individual differences in children's phonological and visuospatial short-term memory as potential mediators of the relationship among attention problems and near- and long-term scholastic achievement. Nested structural equation models revealed that teacher-reported attention problems were associated negatively with composite scholastic achievement (reading, math, language), both initially and at 4-year follow-up in an ethnically diverse sample of children (N = 317). Much of this influence, however, was attenuated by phonological short-term memory's contribution to near-term achievement and visuospatial short-term memory's contribution to long-term achievement. Domain-specific reading and math models showed similar results with some exceptions. In all models, measured intelligence made no contribution to later achievement beyond its initial influence on early achievement. The results contribute to our understanding of the mechanisms associated with individual differences in children's scholastic achievement, and have potential implications for identifying early predictors of children at risk for academic failure, and developing remedial programs targeting phonological and visuospatial short-term memory deficits in children with attention problems.     

Teachers’ Willingness to Adopt Nature of Science Activities Following a Physical Science Professional Development

The major science education reform documents emphasize the need for K-12 students to have a robust understanding of nature of science (NOS), and inservice teachers consequently need to develop their NOS teaching repertoires. This study investigated the extent to which science teachers were willing to adopt new strategies and activities for teaching NOS in their classrooms. The participants were 36 elementary, middle, and high school teachers who were completing a year-long physical science professional development (PD) that included NOS instruction. Data sources consisted of surveys (teachers’ NOS views, teaching practices), collected work, and responses to post-PD follow-up questions. The professional development course was successful in that teachers incorporated many of these strategies and activities into their own practice. This study also endeavored to identify factors that facilitated the adoption of these new approaches to teaching NOS. While personal characteristics such as pre- or post-PD NOS understandings, NOS gains, and grade level taught were not related to the number of NOS activities incorporated, teachers from suburban and rural schools were significantly more likely to implement NOS activities.