THE EFFECTS OF CURRICULUM ON PRESCHOOL CHILDREN'S PERCEPTIONS OF THE ELDERLY

Perceptions of the elderly were determined for 42 4‐ and 5‐year‐old children. The Social Attitude Scale of Ageist Prejudice (SASAP) was used to examine how these young children perceived elderly people after being exposed to a developmentally appropriate classroom curriculum that focused on the characteristics and positive aspects of the elderly. In a pretest‐posttest design, a decrease in prejudice score was found for children in the experimental group from pretest to posttest; an increase in prejudice score was determined for the control group. Results of this study also indicate that young children are more negative toward elderly persons’ abilities than toward their social characteristics and that level of grandparent visitation is unrelated to SASAP score.     

Predicting reading growth with event-related potentials: Thinking differently about indexing “Responsiveness”

The purpose of this study was to determine if event-related potential (ERP) data collected during three reading-related tasks (Letter Sound Matching, Nonword Rhyming, and Nonword Reading) could be used to predict short-term reading growth on a curriculum-based measure of word identification fluency over 19 weeks in a sample of 29 first-grade children. Results indicate that ERP responses to the Letter Sound Matching task were predictive of reading change and remained so after controlling for two previously validated behavioral predictors of reading, Rapid Letter Naming and Segmenting. ERP data for the other tasks were not correlated with reading change. The potential for cognitive neuroscience to enhance current methods of indexing responsiveness in a response-to-intervention (RTI) model is discussed.     

In practice: “Green on the screen”: Promoting sustainability through a campus film series

The authors describe the University of North Carolina Wilmington's Sustainability Film Series and the impact it has had on both the university and local communities.     

Accounting for unexpected test responses through examinees’ and their teachers’ explanations

Researchers have developed indices to identify persons whose test results ‘misfit’ and are considered statistically ‘aberrant’ or ‘unexpected’ and whose measures are consequently potentially invalid, drawing the test’s validity into question. This study draws on interviews of pupils and their teachers, using a sample of 31 10‐year‐olds who were flagged as most ‘aberrant’ in a standardised mathematics test. The children’s and their teachers’ explanations were analysed and attributed: (i) to item‐, person‐ (self/other) and classroom‐levels; and ii) according to causal dimensions. Children’s and teachers’ explanations were mostly in agreement in relation to unexpected negative results and they included references to previously well‐cited sources of construct‐irrelevant variance (e.g. ineffective test‐taking strategies, careless mistakes) as well as construct‐relevant variance (e.g. misconceptions, weaknesses in particular topics). Findings of this exploratory study are discussed from a test validity and attribution theory perspective: we conclude that this approach offers grounds for multi‐level explanations of person misfit and that this qualitative research approach to unexpected responses is worthy of more attention.     

Integrating best evidence into patient care: a process facilitated by a seamless integration with informatics tools

The Vanderbilt University paper discusses how the Eskind Biomedical Library at Vanderbilt University Medical Center transitioned from a simplistic approach that linked resources to the institutional electronic medical record system, StarPanel, to a value-added service that is designed to deliver highly relevant information. Clinical teams formulate complex patient-specific questions via an evidence-based medicine literature request basket linked to individual patient records. The paper transitions into discussing how the StarPanel approach acted as a springboard for two additional projects that use highly trained knowledge management librarians with informatics expertise to integrate evidence into both order sets and a patient portal, tlibrednaV@htlaeHyM.The Vanderbilt University Eskind Biomedical Library (EBL) has a long history of integrating evidence into clinical teams. More recently it has adapted this expertise into a more scalable approach that allows the integration of evidence into existing medical informatics tools. This paper discusses the institution''s experiences in integrating librarian-filtered evidence into informatics tools and processes, using several examples to illustrate how its knowledge management (KM) team has proactively embedded evidence provision services into the clinical care environment.     

Predictors of Mainland Chinese students’ well‐being

There has been substantial research in the United States, Europe, and Australia about factors influencing students’ well‐being. However, such research has been relatively rare in Mainland China. We administered four predictor scales (School Satisfaction, Self‐Concept, Relationships, and Resilience) and three outcome scales (Flourishing, Mental Health, and Children's Well‐Being) to 2,756 primary and middle school students in Mainland China. Confirmatory factor analysis indicated that the measured concepts were salient to the participants. Structural equation modeling using MPlus showed that Resilience was a strong predictor of all outcome measures, particularly for Mental Health and Positive Emotional State. Global Self‐Concept was the most notable predictor for Positive Outlook, whereas School Satisfaction was the strongest predictor of Flourishing. The results indicate potential areas for school‐based competency‐building initiatives to promote Mainland Chinese students’ well‐being.