The future is present in the past: A meta-analysis on the longitudinal associations of parent–adolescent relationships with peer and romantic relationships

Positive peer and romantic relationships are crucial for adolescents' positive adjustment and relationships with parents lay the foundation for these relationships. This longitudinal meta-analysis examined how parent–adolescent relationships continue into later peer and romantic relationships. Included longitudinal studies (k = 54 involving peer relationships, k = 38 involving romantic relationships) contained demographically diverse samples from predominantly Western cultural contexts. Multilevel meta-regressions indicated that supportive and negative parent–adolescent relationships were associated with supportive and negative future peer and romantic relationships. Meta-analytic structural equation modeling (k = 54) indicated that supportive parent–adolescent relationships unidirectionally predicted supportive and negative peer relationships, while negative parent–adolescent relationships were bidirectionally associated with supportive and negative peer relationships. Maintaining mutually supportive relationships with parents may help adolescents to develop positive social relationships.     

The interest of Bavarian primary school pupils in geographical topics and methods – selected results of an empirical survey

Interest is a central learning prerequisite for teaching. The article deals with a survey among 1600 primary school pupils in forms 2, 3 and 4 (ages 7–10) in the German federal state of Bavaria who were interviewed on their interest in geographical topics and working methods. They were given a questionnaire including 40 items to indicate their individual interest on a five-point Likert scale. The results show that the subscale ‘natural disaster' generates the highest interest, followed by ‘phenomena of geoscience' and ‘people and peoples'. The interest in all three subscales decreases with increasing age. Furthermore, several gender-specific differences occur. Among the working methods, experimenting, films and computers hold the first three places whilst again showing significant differences concerning age group as well as gender.     

The Development of Advanced Theory of Mind in Middle Childhood: A Longitudinal Study From Age 5 to 10 Years

This 5-year longitudinal study investigated advanced theory-of-mind (AToM) development in 161 German 5- to 10-year-olds (89 females, 72 males). Core aspects of AToM developed nonlinearly, with children reaching a milestone at the age of 7 years, around when they attained the conceptual insight that mental states can be recursive. In late elementary school, a multicomponent battery was used. Performance on many aspects of AToM was predicted by information-processing skills (intelligence and language at 6 years), but not by the age when children acquired the basic conceptual insight; only some naturalistic, social-interpretative tasks were correlated with children’s age at acquisition. This study documents significant developmental progressions in middle-childhood AToM and suggests that different mechanisms may underlie diverse aspects of social cognition.     

Primary Teachers’ Reflections on Inquiry- and Context-Based Science Education

Inquiry- and context-based teaching strategies have been proven to stimulate and motivate students’ interests in learning science. In this study, 12 teachers reflected on these strategies after using them in primary schools. The teachers participated in a continuous professional development (CPD) programme. During the programme, they were also introduced to a teaching model from a European project, where inquiry- and context-based education (IC-BaSE) strategies were fused. The research question related to teachers’ reflections on these teaching strategies, and whether they found the model to be useful in primary schools after testing it with their students. Data collection was performed during the CPD programme and consisted of audio-recorded group discussions, individual portfolios and field notes collected by researchers. Results showed that compared with using only one instructional strategy, teachers found the new teaching model to be a useful complement. However, their discussions also showed that they did not reflect on choices of strategies or purposes and aims relating to students’ understanding, or the content to be taught. Before the CPD programme, teachers discussed the use of inquiry mainly from the aspect that students enjoy practical work. After the programme, they identified additional reasons for using inquiry and discussed the importance of knowing why inquiry is performed. However, to develop teachers’ knowledge of instructional strategies as well as purposes for using certain strategies, there is need for further investigations among primary school teachers.     

The socialization of girls in the secondary schools of England and the two Germanies

The socialization of girls in secondary schools in England and the two Germanies points to the eventual role conflicts that face women in each of these countries. Girls theoretically have the same options as boys although in practice they may have less science or vocational education in England and West Germany. East German girls are made aware that they can expect to work while married and, like boys, they are asked to prepare for an occupation. Males predominate in decision-making roles in government, industry, and schools. This article is based on a research study conducted in the United Kingdom, the Federal Republic of Germany, and the German Democratic Republic 1972/73; presented at the World Congress of Comparative Education Societies 1974.

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Zusammenfassung Die Sozialisierung der Schülerinnen in Sekundärschulen in England, der Bundesrepublik und der DDR lässt erkennen, inwieweit die Frauen in jedem dieser Länder einem Rollenkonflikt gegenüberstehen. Theoretisch haben zwar die Mädchen dieselben Wahlmöglichkeiten wie die Jungen, in der Praxis erhalten sie aber in England und Westdeutschland oft weniger naturwissenschaftlichen und beruflichen Unterricht. In der DDR werden die Schülerinnen darauf hingewiesen, dass sie auch nach der Heirat einen Beruf ausüben können und sich ebenso wie die Knaben darauf vorbereiten sollen. Die führenden Rollen in Regierung, Industrie und Schulen sind vorwiegend mit Männern besetzt. Dieser Artikel beruht auf einer Forschungsstudie, die 1972/73 in Grossbritannnien, der Bundesrepublik Deutschland und der Deutschen Demokratischen Republik durchgeführt und 1974 dem Weltkongress für Vergleichende Erziehungswissenschaft vorgelegt wurde.

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Résumé La socialisation des filles dans les écoles secondaires en Angleterre et dans les deux Allemagnes fait ressortir l'éventuel conflit de rôle que les femmes rencontrent dans chacun de ces pays. Les filles ont, en théorie, les mêmes choix que les garçons, bien qu'en pratique, il se peut qu'elles reçoivent moins d'éducation scientifique ou professionnelle en Angleterre et en Allemagne occidentale. Les filles d'Allemagne orientale, par contre, sont conscientes due fait qu'elles peuvent espérer travailler une fois mariées et, de même que les garçons, on leur demande de se préparer en vue d'un emploi. Les hommes prédominent dans les rôles où des décisions doivent être prises, au gouvernement, dans l'industrie, dans les écoles. Cet article se base sur une recherche faite en 1972/73 au Royaume Uni, dans la République fédérale d'Allemagne et dans la République démocratique allemande; il fut présenté en 1974 lors du Congrès mondial des Sociétés d'Education comparée.

     

Written language of deaf and hard-of-hearing students in public schools

We obtained data on the writing of 110 deaf or hard-of-hearing students attending public schools who completed the spontaneous writing portion of the Test of Written Language. The average written quotient for the sample was in the below-average range but within 1 standard deviation of the test mean. Forty-nine percent of the sample received written quotients within or above the average range. Mean scores for the three subtests of contextual conventions, contextual language, and story construction were within the low-average range; between 55% and 68% of students scored within the average or above-average range for the subtests. Predictors of writing quotients were eligibility for free lunch, grade, degree of hearing loss and gender; however, only 18% of the variance in total writing quotients was explained by these variables. The data indicate that attention needs to be paid to the writing ability and instruction of many public-school students regardless of degree of hearing loss.     

'Your View of Nature is Not Mine!': Learning about pluralism in the classroom

This paper describes a multidisciplinary action research project that aimed to develop a theoretical framework and four exemplary teaching modules for elementary and secondary school that promote a pluralistic view on nature. In a 2-year study, researchers from three disciplines (pedagogy, sociology and philosophy) collaborated with curriculum developers and textbook authors. This paper presents the theoretical framework that was developed during the project. The teaching modules are described, and one of the modules is delineated. Finally, the results are discussed.     

Temporal Contingency as an Independent Component of Parenting Behavior

Several theoretical conceptions emphasize the importance of prompt responses to infant's signals in providing them with early causal experiences. The present paper examines if a maternal tendency toward prompt responses can be identified by distributional analyses of maternal response latencies and if this response tendency can be shown for different communicative channels (in verbal/vocal, nonverbal, intermodal communication). In addition, the paper focuses on the relation between the temporal contingency of maternal behavior and measures of maternal interactional quality. Interactional sequences of 54 mother and 3-month-old infant dyads were analyzed using microanalytical assessment techniques and ratings of interactional quality. Distributional analyses of maternal expressions during face-to-face encounters revealed that promptness of responses toward infant signals with a short latency is a typical response tendency in maternal behavior. There are, however, individual differences between mothers, indicating that this response tendency is expressed in different communicative channels by individual mothers. This is shown by low correlations between the contingency indices of different communicative channels. The relation between contingency and rated indicators of interactional quality turned out to be rather small, indicating that maternal contingency may be conceptualized to contribute an independent factor to the quality of maternal interactional behavior.