Severe punishment of children by staff in Romanian placement centers for school-aged children: Effects of child and institutional characteristics

The objective of this study was to determine whether children's characteristics and/or institutional characteristics were predictors of severe punishments (including beatings) and/or frequency of punishments that children received from staff in Romanian institutions. The data was hierarchical with institutionalized children (N = 1391) nested within 44 institutions, and the measurement of punishments by the staff and frequency of punishments had a binary distribution. Thus, multilevel logistic regression models were used to examine the effects of individual and institutional level variables on reported punishments and to account for the clustering of the children within institutions. Two general patterns of results emerged. First, regarding individual level variables, it was found that: (1) amount of time spent by children in their current institutions had a significant effect on the probability of being punished by staff and the frequency of this punishment; (2) the probability of being punished was higher for boys than for girls; and (3) having no siblings in the institution increased the odds of being punished several times. Second, regarding institutional level variables: (4) being in placement centers for school-aged children with a traditional type of institutional organization increased the odds of severe punishment compared to a familial/mixed type. The results of the present study highlight the importance of understanding the consequences of institutionalization in a broader way, where children not only experienced early severe psychosocial deprivation as documented in other studies, but also high levels of severe punishments administered by institutional staff.     

Effect of graded competition on student opportunities for participation and success rates during a season of Sport Education

Background: A guiding principle of Sport Education is that all students get equal opportunity to play, which is expedited through the use of small-sided contests. One element included within the philosophy of Sport Education is that of ‘graded competition.’ In graded competition, leagues are arranged that match students of similar skill level against one another, and in some cases, even the game forms are different across the competition levels. To date, there are no studies that have examined the utility of graded competition as promoting either student engagement or learning. Purpose: The purpose of this study was to test the hypothesis that using graded competition would increase opportunities for game involvement and success rates of both higher and lower skill level students. Participants and setting: The participants in this study were 106 fourth-grade students (51 boys and 55 girls, aged 10–11) from two physical education classes within an elementary school in the southeastern United States. The content was an 18-lesson season of mini-handball taught following the principles of Sport Education. While the overall season format for both classes was the same, the composition of teams varied between the two. In the first class, all teams were heterogeneous with a mix of higher and lower skilled players. These students were able to divide into their sub-teams in any combination they wished. In the second class, two homogeneous leagues were formed; one consisting of teams with all higher skilled students and the other with teams of all lower skilled students. There was no inter-league play. Rather, there were two parallel competitions and two championships. Methods: Digital video records were made of 76 games played during the seasons. Each time a player (a) made contact with the ball (a pass, catch, or interception), (b) was the target of a pass but did not receive it (overthrow or interception), or (c) was involved with a shot on goal (as shooter or goalkeeper), that activity was recorded. A 2 (skill: high/low)?×?2 (sex)?×?3 (grouping: all low/all high/mixed) full factorial mixed analysis of variance was conducted on the following dependent variables: (a) percent success, (b) ball engagement rate, and (c) efficiency, with the game being the unit of analysis. Findings: The key finding from this study was that in terms of success rates, engagement rates and playing efficiency, lower skilled students seemed to be at a disadvantage when they participated alongside higher skilled classmates. While less severe, there were also decrements in higher skilled student success rates and efficiency in these mixed-skill conditions. By consequence, while higher skilled boys could thrive in either homogenous or mixed level competitions, many girls and all students with lower skill levels benefitted from playing against students of similar skill levels. Conclusions: The grouping of students in terms of skill level has implications for their in-game behaviors, for the extent to which they can develop improved game performance, and potentially for their motivation to persist during play.     

Northwestern Ontario Indian children and the WISC

100 Cree and Ojibwa children, ages 6–15, were administered the WISC. The mean Performance IQ (PIQ) was in the normal range at all ages; the verbal IQ (VIQ) was in the mentally deficient or dull-normal range. The PIQ-VIQ difference diminished with age. Familiarity with the English language increased VIQs but had little effect on PIQs. A significant correlation between IQs and school grades was found only for 9–10-year-olds. A comparison of Indian IQ norms with original WISC normative data is given.     

A mediation meta-analysis of the role of maternal responsivity in the association between socioeconomic risk and children’s language

This meta-analysis tested maternal responsivity as a mediator of the association between socioeconomic risk and children's preschool language abilities. The search included studies up to 2017 and meta-analytic structural equation modeling, allowed us to examine the magnitude of the indirect effect across 17 studies (k = 19). The meta-analysis included 6433 predominantly White, English speaking children (M_age = 36 months; 50% female) from Western, industrialized countries. All paths in the model were statistically significant, notably, the indirect effect was significant (b = −.052), showing that maternal responsivity may be a proximal intervening variable between socioeconomic risk and children's language development. Moderator analyses found that the indirect effect was stronger for sensitive parenting than warmth and when parenting was assessed in the family home.     

Teaching in the borderland: critical practices in foundations courses

Using first-person accounts of classroom experiences, five professors examine the intersection of social foundations and borderland theory and their efforts to move students through resistance to understanding and affirmation of sociocultural diversity. The authors present this paper in two parts, the first providing examples of using a borderland approach within the classroom and the second providing illustrations moving these borderland strategies beyond the classroom. In each case, authors show the interwoven nature of pedagogy, identity, knowledge, and experience as they work to connect theory and practice. All of the institutions represented have majority white populations, and many do not reflect the diversity of the communities in which they are situated. The need for borderland practices in social foundations courses is urgent in these areas. These pedagogical reflections, although not meant to be recipes for success, provide examples of practices that can serve to meet the growing demands from schools and communities for culturally competent, socially aware teacher–leaders, and reaffirm the critical importance of social foundations in teacher education.     

Minority Students and the Health Professions

Individuals from minority groups are underrepresented in medical school. . . . We must achieve a 12 percent representation of these individuals in the health professions . . . in order to equate the number of students from minority groups in medical school with the percentage of their distribution in the population at large. [Cooper, 1970]     

Unmasking: on violence, masculinity, and superheroes in science education

Through exploration of public mask/private face, the authors trouble violence and its role in science education through three media: schools, masculinity, and science acknowledging a violence of hate, but dwelling on a violence of caring. In schools, there is the poisonous ??for your own good?? pedagogy that becomes a ??for your own good?? curriculum or a coercive curriculum for science teaching and learning; however, the antithetical curriculum of I??m here entails violence??the shedding of the public mask and the exposing of the private face. Violence, likewise, becomes social and political capital for masculinity that is a pubic mask for private face. Lastly, science, in its self-identified cultural, political and educational form of a superhero, creates permanent harm most often as palatable violence in order to save and to redeem not the private face, but the public mask. The authors conclude that they do not know what violence to say one should not do, but they know the much of the violence has been and is being committed. All for which we can hope is not that we cease all violence or better yet not hate, but that we violently love.     

An Australian Version of the Neighborhood Environment Walkability Scale: Validity Evidence

This study examined validity evidence for the Australian version of the Neighborhood Environment Walkability Scale (NEWS-AU). A stratified two-stage cluster sampling design was used to recruit 2,650 adults from Adelaide (Australia). The sample was drawn from residential addresses within eight high-walkable and eight low-walkable suburbs matched for socio-economic status (SES). Neighborhood walkability was measured using Geographic Information Systems data on dwelling density, intersection density, net retail area, and land-use mix. Participants completed the NEWS-AU and reported weekly minutes of walking for transport and recreation (International Physical Activity Questionnaire [IPAQ]). Multilevel confirmatory factor analysis (MCFA) was used to define the individual- and Census Collection District (CCD)-level measurement model of the NEWS-AU. Seven individual-level and five CCD-level factors were identified. These measurement models were somewhat similar to those of the original Neighborhood Environment Walkability Scale (NEWS). Patterns of associations between the NEWS-AU factors/scales and the walking measures provided some validity evidence for the instrument.     

Relationship between a 14-Day Recall Measure of Leisure-Time Physical Activity and a Submaximal Test of Physical Work Capacity in a Population Sample of Australian Adults

Abstract

This paper reports on the validity of a 14-day recall measure of leisure time physical activity (LTPA) in a sample of Australian adults (N = 986). Submaximal cycle ergometry was used to assess physical work capacity per kilogram of body mass (pwc75/kg). The self-report energy expenditure estimates were used to categorize respondents as vigorously active, moderately active, and low active/sedentary. Multiple regression analyses showed that pwc75/kg increased significantly across energy expenditure categories for adults aged less than 40 years; that the vigorous and moderate activity categories had greater mean pwc75/kg values than the low/sedentary category for 40 to 59-year-olds; and, that there were no differences in pwc75/kg between activity categories for those aged 60 years or older.