Infants’ experience with ‘near and clear’ educator talk: individual variation and its relationship to indicators of quality

This study investigated the quantity of audible and intelligible (‘near and clear’) educator talk directly experienced by under-two-year-old infants attending early childhood education and care (ECEC) programmes and examined whether the quantity of educator talk was related to characteristics of quality in their ECEC room. Participants were 57 infants attending separate infant rooms in and around the Sydney metropolitan area, Australia. Each infant was observed for 3?h, wearing a small, custom-designed digital language processor (DLP) which digitally recorded and generated measures of ‘near and clear’ adult talk, unclear talk and infant vocalisations. Structural quality indicators include educator qualification, group size and educator-infant ratios, and Interaction Quality was assessed using the ITERS-R Interaction and Listening and Talking subscales. Infants’ experience with ‘near and clear’ talk was predicted by Interaction Quality, the presence of a degree-qualified teacher and group size. ‘Near and clear’ talk was also significantly and positively related to the quantity of infant vocalisation and, negatively, to their level of exposure to unclear talk. Findings are discussed in terms of conceptualisations of quality in infant ECEC rooms, as well as the potentials and limitations of the ‘near and clear’ talk measure for use in future studies of language development in this context.     

Obstetrics and the family: Identification of mothers at risk for parenting failure,and methods of support

The nurturing of a child has been termed the “Irrational commitment” [1]—“the enduring, irrational commitment of one or more adults in care and joint activity with the child.” The paper examines ways of facilitating this kind of caring. It is not enough to utilise the extensive technology and skills now available in obstetrics and paediatrics if there is a failure to ensure that the parents are able to nurture and enjoy their new infant. Success can only be claimed if parents are assisted in establishing a mutually satisfying relationship with their infants, i.e. they make an irrational commitment to the nurturing of their children. Results from a study of early identification and prediction of major parenting difficulty within the maternity hospital [7] are given and some of the various methods of early intervention and support now being undertaken to assist in the establishment of good nurturing between mothers and infants are described.     

Science education reform: What's wrong with the paradigm?

From previous and current efforts at science education reform, the author teases out a certain culture of reform, a set of assumptions about educational change that are no longer (if they ever were) appropriate to another task, namely managing change. With reference to a group of programs in undergraduate science instruction that work, she finds the research model, the preference for innovation, the dependence on short-term outside funding, and above all, the seeking after some universal curriculum or set of pedagogies that will solve the problem for all time, to be naive in terms of the reality and the politics of change. She would substitute what Gerald Holton in A Nation at Risk, Revisited calls cumulative improvement, and ends with some suggestions as to how such a model could be applied to the organization of college-level instruction in science.This is a portion of Chapter 1 of the bookPrograms That Work; The Implementation Challenge. Reprinted with permission by Research Corporation, Copyright 1991, all rights reserved.     

What makes science hard? A Karplus lecture

Many able students are deterred from science because of the way science courses are packaged. To find out what makes science hard for otherwise intelligent students, the author employed nonscience faculty and graduate students as surrogate students in science. Their responses to the sequence of units, demonstrations, homework assignments, examinations, and the pace and structure of the courses constitute an internal criticism of science education that cannot be ignored.Sheila Tobias is the author ofOvercoming Math Anxiety (W. W. Norton, 1978),Succeed with Math (The College Board, 1987),They're Not Dumb, They're Different (Research Corporation, 1990),Revitalizing Undergraduate Science: Why Some Things Work and Most Don't (Research Corporation, 1992) andBreaking the Science Barrier (The College Board, 1992).     

Researching the Transition to High School for Adolescents with a Disability: Qualitative Action-Project Method as an Exemplar Approach

ABSTRACT

The transition from elementary to middle or high school is an important experience common to most adolescents in North America. However, very little research has been conducted to understand the experiences of students with a disability status and the stakeholders involved in the transition. Clearly, there is a need to generate information that views the transition as a process between students and stakeholders that takes place over time. This investigation illustrates the utility of the action-project method for studying the transition to middle or high school. Three cases involving Canadian adolescents with different disabilities (learning, sensory/motor and emotional/behavioural) and their parents, as key stakeholders, are presented.     

Changes in intellectual property statutes and policies at a public university: Revising the terms of professional labor

In this paper, we look at the way the state has helped shape the climate for the commercialization of science in a public university, and at how this has shaped the terms of professional labor for faculty. We examine patent policies of a public research university and of its Board of Regents, and the relevant state statutes from 1969–1989. Policies and statutes moved from an ideology that defined the public interest as best served by shielding public entities from involvement in the market, to one that saw the public interest as best served by public organizations' involvement in commercial activities. Claims to the ownership and rewards of intellectual property shifted dramatically in that time, from faculty owning their products and time to complete ownership by the institution. The contract between the university and faculty became increasingly formalized and specified. We believe that such developments augur significant changes in professional labor and in the relationship between the state and higher education. Such changes can best be understood from a post-structuralist perspective that moves beyond the structural dichotomies of public and private, state and higher education administrator and professional, and points to new forms of organization and of professional stratification and interest formation.Despite the changes in intellectual property policies at our university, one of the ongoing terms of our joint professional labor is that we share equally in the research and writing of our work products, which lack commercial relevance but not, perhaps, some value.     

The impact of attaining the Welsh Baccalaureate Advanced Diploma on academic performance in bioscience higher education

Since the introduction of the Welsh Baccalaureate Advanced Diploma Qualification (WBQ) in 2003, an increasing number of students are applying to higher education institutions (HEIs) with this qualification. The advanced-level WBQ is regarded as equivalent to one General Certificate of Education A-Level (GCE A-Level). This study assesses the impact of attaining the WBQ in addition to three GCE A-Levels on overall university degree performance in comparison to attaining four GCE A-Levels, in three cohorts of undergraduate students (Year 1?=?318, Year 2?=?280, Year 3?=?236) studying Biosciences from 2005 to 2011 at a UK HEI. Binary logistic regression was used to compare the academic attainment of students who had achieved four GCE A-Levels to those who had achieved three GCE A-Levels in addition to the WBQ. Comparisons were also made between students who had achieved three GCE A-Levels and those who had achieved three GCE A-Levels in addition to the WBQ. The results suggest that students who achieved the WBQ qualification in its current form, in addition to three GCE A-Levels, performed less well academically in undergraduate studies than those who achieved four GCE A-Levels. Furthermore, this effect was still present when the balance between coursework and examination was considered, and when students who had achieved the WBQ in addition to three GCE A-Levels were compared to students who had achieved three GCE A-Levels.     

Self‐awareness in Young Adults with Down Syndrome: II. Self‐understanding

This study explored the self‐understanding of 77 young people with Down syndrome aged from 17 to 24 years, with verbal mental ages ranging from less than 2 years 6 months to 12 years 4 months. The aim was to determine whether the self‐understanding of these young people followed a typical developmental pathway, whether they were making social comparisons to others, and if these comparisons were downward, upward or lateral. The data came from interviews with the young people and with their parents. Results confirmed the typical developmental progression in so far as relative comparisons to others were only made by those with significantly higher mental ages. These young people made more downward than upward comparisons, whereas parents largely referred to lateral comparisons. This again is similar to findings with people in general who tend to maintain their self‐esteem by making downward comparisons. Aspirations were age appropriate, albeit with relatively low levels of cognitive understanding. Reference groups predominantly consisted of families and other young people with intellectual disabilities.