Haciendo que hacer - cultivating a Mestiza worldview and academic achievement: Braiding cultural knowledge into educational research,policy, practice

In this article Francisca E Gonzalez shifts the focus from a deficit view of cultural knowledge to an imaginary of the formation of identities and integrity braided with the law, policy, and social formations. In this way, cultural practices cultivate a unique worldview with implications for K-12 educational excellence and academic achievement. Gonzalez situates her research within the national discourse on educational reform so as to direct educational researchers', policy makers', and educators' thinking of young Mexicanas as pensadoras who interrogate the social order, and who give meaning to learning, knowing, and power. She describes a study intended to explore the development of womanhood among young Mexicanas beginning with an explanation of a theoretical lens, a looking prism of critical race feminisms and Latina critical theory interpretive frameworks. Then she explains the study's multimethodological approach of trenzas y mestizaje, the braiding of theory, qualitative research strategies, and a sociopolitical consciousness. The article then details young Mexicana meanings of gendered cultural socialization, educacion, and success as cultural epistemologies and pedagogies, what the young Mexicanas called haciendo que hacer. Gonzalez explains this as the teaching and learning of sociocultural foundations and the cultivation of academic achievement. In closing, Francisca elaborates on how a braiding of different ways of knowing, teaching, and learning brings cultural knowledge to the fore of discourses on human rights, social justice, and educational equity including the formulation of holistic educational policies and practices.     

Trajectories from academic intrinsic motivation to need for cognition and educational attainment

This long-term longitudinal study addressed the theoretical underpinning of academic intrinsic motivation (AIM) from childhood through adolescence, to need for cognition (NFC) and educational attainment (EA) during adulthood. AIM was measured from 9 to 17 years old, NFC and EA at 29 years old, and IQ at 8 years old. Latent change and growth mixture modeling were utilized. These models complemented each other, revealing that initial motivational status significantly related to both outcomes. Growth mixture modeling elaborated the findings by identifying distinctive subgroups in initial status and developmental change. In contrast to children with initially higher AIM, those starting lower declined resulting in lower NFC and EA. IQ was controlled in these analyses. Findings enhance understanding of trajectories across two decades of development, indicating that students’ early motivation relates to adulthood NFC and EA. Implications for educational practices are discussed.     

肝片吸虫感染对山羊机体无机盐含量的影响

选择 9只 6 - 10月龄的健康雄性白山羊 ,经粪便检查和DotBLISA检测 ,确认无肝片吸虫感染 ,随机分成感染组 (n =5 )和对照组 (n =4 ) ,试验组每只一次口服接种 15 0个肝片吸虫囊蚴。每周定时从颈静脉采集感染前 0周和感染后 14周血液一次 ,分离血清 ,测定血清中的钾、钙、钠、镁、磷、氯等无机盐的含量 ,旨在研究感染肝片吸虫对山羊机体无机盐含量的影响。结果表明感染后山羊血清中的钾、钠、钙、镁、磷、氯的含量均成波动变化 ,说明肝片吸虫感染后机体无机盐含量发生了不同程度的变化 ,这与虫体感染后机体的代谢发生改变有关。     

The adjustment of goldfish to reduction in magnitude of reward in massed trials

For a group of goldfish trained in a runway under conditions of highly massed practice, reduction in magnitude of reward produced a gradual decline in performance to the level of a small-reward control group but no suggestion of negative successive contrast. These results are consistent with the suggestion that reward plays a somewhat different role in the learning of fish and rats. They also serve to extend the range of conditions under which the stimulus aftereffects of reward come to control the instrumental behavior of fish.     

Spanish and English Early Literacy Profiles of Preschool Latino English Language Learner Children

Research Findings: The purpose of this study was to examine within-group individual differences in the code-related and oral language abilities of an economically stressed Spanish-speaking English language learner (ELL) preschool sample and to evaluate the predictive relationship of these differences to later listening comprehension. Latent class analysis was used to identify similarities in both the latent and outcome variables to form classes of students with similar profiles on the measured variables. Our 1st finding confirmed the existence of 4 distinct psychometrically validated profiles: (a) Low English Language, Average Spanish Language, Mixed Spanish Code-Related (prevalence 19.4%); (b) Average English Language, Strengths in Spanish Language and Spanish Code-Related (24.2%); (c) Mixed English and Spanish Language, Low Spanish Code-Related (prevalence 34%); and (d) High English Language, Average Spanish Language, Mixed Spanish Code-Related (prevalence 22%). The resulting profiles demonstrated that English and Spanish code- and language-related domains of emergent literacy developed unevenly across the Spanish-speaking ELL preschoolers. Relative strengths and weaknesses in code- and language-related skills were also found to be meaningfully related to end-of-year listening comprehension—a precursor to reading comprehension. Finally, profiles yielded meaningful variability along sociodemographic variables. Practice or Policy: Implications, limitations, and directions for future research are discussed.     

The relationship of teachers' conceptions of mathematics and mathematics teaching to instructional practice

Case studies were conducted to investigate the conceptions of mathematics and mathematics teaching held by three junior high school teachers. Examination of the relationship between conceptions and practice showed that the teachers' beliefs, views, and preferences about mathematics and its teaching played a significant, albeit subtle, role in shaping their instructional behavior. Differences among the teachers in their conceptions and practices are explained followed by a discussion of properties of their conceptual systems.This paper is based on the author's doctoral dissertation which was directed by Professor Thomas J. Cooney of the University of Georgia and was partly supported by a grant from San Diego State University. I wish to express my appreciation to the teachers who participated in the study and their administrators.     

What predicts injury from physical punishment? A test of the typologies of violence hypothesis

OBJECTIVE: This study examined the power of child, perpetrator, and socio-economic characteristics to predict injury in cases of reported child physical abuse. The study was designed to assess the validity of the assumption that physically injurious incidents of child physical abuse are qualitatively different from those that do not result in injury, that their generative factors are distinctive, and that the quality of caregiving in these two types of incidents is different. METHOD: A weighted, nationally representative sample of 8,164 substantiated punishment abuse cases in Canada was used. Various models were constructed and evaluated through logistic regression. RESULTS: Of six potential predictors - child age, perpetrator sex, child functioning, parent functioning, economic stress, and social stress - none predicted injury to the child. CONCLUSIONS: The findings suggest that injurious and non-injurious physical abuse cannot be distinguished on the basis of the personal characteristics or circumstances of the child or perpetrator. PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS: A common criterion for child welfare intervention into cases of suspected physical abuse is injury or risk of injury. This criterion assumes that injurious and non-injurious assaults are qualitatively different phenomena, predicted by different risk factors. In the present study an attempt was made to differentiate between injurious and non-injurious cases of punitive physical abuse on the basis of characteristics of the child, perpetrator, family, and social context. None of these factors explained the likelihood of injury, suggesting that the prediction of injury as an intervention criterion may be questionable.