Infants' affective responses in the strange situation: effects of prematurity and of quality of attachment

20 full-term and 20 preterm infants and their mothers were videotaped in the Strange Situation, and the security of their attachment relationships was later determined. Each episode was subsequently divided into consecutive 15-sec intervals, during each of which ratings of facial expressions were performed. From these ratings several summary dimensions of affect were derived (e.g., affective peak and range during all episodes, latency and rise time for onset of distress during separation episodes, and recovery time during reunions). Term and preterm infants did not differ from one another in either the security of attachment or their affective expression and regulation. When groups were combined, patterns of affective expression were significantly different for infants classified as insecure-avoidant, insecure-ambivalent, and securely attached, as well as for group B1 + B2 infants compared to group B3 + B4 babies. The findings indicated that attachment-related affect may reflect an affect continuum that underlies certain mother- and stranger-directed behaviors in the Strange Situation, but that not all aspects of reunion behavior can be predicted by prior separation reactions.     

The Development of a Curriculum Toolkit with American Indian and Alaska Native Communities

This article explains the creation of the Growing and Learning with Young Native Children curriculum toolkit. The curriculum toolkit was designed to give American Indian and Alaska Native early childhood educators who work in a variety of settings the framework for developing a research-based, developmentally appropriate, tribally specific curriculum to use with Native children aged 0–3. The curriculum toolkit should assist Native people in preserving and maintaining their unique culture and language. Challenges specific to the implementation of an early childhood program in Indian Country have been explained. A brief historical overview of Indian education has been included. The contents of this article were developed under Grant #P116Z05-0056 from the US Department of Education. However, the contents do not necessarily represent the policy of the US Department of Education and the reader should not assume endorsement by the Federal Government.     

Identification of Pre-examination Errors in the Chemical Pathology Laboratory at the University Hospital of the West Indies

This study evaluated the types and frequencies of pre-examination errors recorded in the chemical pathology laboratory at the University Hospital of the West Indies, Jamaica. This was a retrospective analysis of errors recorded over a three year period. Data analysis was done on an average of 519,084 samples collected and tested per year. Samples included blood, urine, stool and other fluids. Pre-examination errors were identified and recorded following visual inspection of the samples and corresponding request forms by laboratory staff, then subsequently by the Senior Medical Technologist. Errors were generally classified as inappropriate sample (58 %), inappropriate form (23.4 %), inappropriate sample volume (9.3 %) and inappropriate sample tube (9.3 %). Over 90 % of recorded pre-examination errors were related to blood samples while urine samples accounted for 6.8 % error. Pre-examination errors were lower at this study location than elsewhere. Measures aimed at reducing instances of these errors are recommended for improved laboratory quality output.     

Want to Improve Undergraduate Thesis Writing? Engage Students and Their Faculty Readers in Scientific Peer Review

One of the best opportunities that undergraduates have to learn to write like a scientist is to write a thesis after participating in faculty-mentored undergraduate research. But developing writing skills doesn't happen automatically, and there are significant challenges associated with offering writing courses and with individualized mentoring. We present a hybrid model in which students have the structural support of a course plus the personalized benefits of working one-on-one with faculty. To optimize these one-on-one interactions, the course uses BioTAP, the Biology Thesis Assessment Protocol, to structure engagement in scientific peer review. By assessing theses written by students who took this course and comparable students who did not, we found that our approach not only improved student writing but also helped faculty members across the department--not only those teaching the course--to work more effectively and efficiently with student writers. Students who enrolled in this course were more likely to earn highest honors than students who only worked one-on-one with faculty. Further, students in the course scored significantly better on all higher-order writing and critical-thinking skills assessed.     

Interparental conflict as a quadratic predictor of children’s reactivity to interparental conflict and school adjustment: Steeling effects or risk saturation?

This study examined interparental conflict as a curvilinear predictor of children's reactivity to interparental conflict and, in turn, their school problems across three annual measurements. Participants included 243 preschool children (M_age = 4.60 years; 56% girls) and their parents from racially (e.g., 48% Black; 16% Latinx) diverse backgrounds. Interparental conflict was a significant quadratic predictor of children's emotional reactivity (β = .23) and behavioral dysregulation (β = .27) to conflict over a 1-year period. The robust association between interparental conflict and behavioral dysregulation weakened at high levels of interparental conflict. In contrast, interparental conflict more strongly predicted children's emotional reactivity as conflict exposure increased. Children's emotional reactivity, in turn, predicted their greater school problems 1 year later (β = .25).     

Simplest Shapes First! But Let's Use Cognitive Science to Reconceive and Specify What “Simple” Means

Children's informal and formal learning experiences with geometric shapes currently result in misconceptions that persist into adulthood. Here, we combine research from mathematics education as well as cognitive science pertaining to concepts, categories, and learning strategies to propose a more optimal progression that is better specified and justified than the current standards. To do so, we reframed what constitutes a “simple” shape from perceptual simplicity to simplicity of properties. Our Property-Based Shape Sequence uses property-based criteria of what makes shapes “simple” and progresses in a way that affords opportunities for learners to develop hierarchical conceptions of two-dimensional and three-dimensional shapes. Our goals are threefold: (1) recommend an optimal, mathematically-correct shape learning sequence, (2) correct misconceptions that adults and children harbor about shapes, and (3) encourage cross-disciplinary collaborations between mathematics education and psychology researchers to validate the proposed learning sequence.     

Responsible Conduct of Research Assessment of Doctor of Education Candidates,Graduate Faculty,and Curriculum Considerations

The study included an assessment of doctoral students, graduate faculty, and curriculum considerations to determine the degree of infusion of research integrity and responsible conduct of research (RCR) principles within a Doctor of Education program. Study results showed substantial increases in doctoral candidates’ knowledge levels of RCR, and faculty members serving as dissertation committee chairs reported greater understanding of RCR tenets than did non-dissertation chairs. The study also revealed a strong presence of research within the Ed. D. core curriculum.     

Practice Makes Practice: Learning to Teach in Teacher Education

In this article, we argue that teaching is and should be a central element to learning to teach, particularly as teacher education once again turns toward practice. From this perspective, we must elaborate how such a shift addresses the need to bridge the gap between knowledge for teaching and knowledge from teaching, between theory and practice, and among university courses and fieldwork. If the intent of such a shift is to fundamentally change the preparation of teachers, we argue that it requires teacher education programs to do more than increase the amount of time candidates spend in clinical field placements. It requires, we argue, that teacher educators engage in simultaneous innovation in three related, but distinct aspects of program design and implementation: organizational structures and policies, content and curriculum, and teacher education pedagogy. Without such dynamic engagement, the practice-turn will go the way of many past reforms in teacher education—it will be symbolic but not significant or meaningful.     

A factorial analysis of timed and untimed measures of mathematics and reading abilities in school aged twins

The present study examined the phenotypic and genetic relationship between fluency and non-fluency-based measures of reading and mathematics performance. Participants were drawn from the Western Reserve Reading and Math Project, an ongoing longitudinal twin project of same-sex MZ and DZ twins from Ohio. The present analyses are based on tester-administered measures available from 228 twin pairs (age M = 9.86 years). Measurement models suggested that four factors represent the data, namely Decoding, Fluency, Comprehension, and Math. Subsequent quantitative genetic analyses of these latent factors suggested that a single genetic factor accounted for the covariance among these four latent factors. However, there were also unique genetic effects on Fluency and Math, independent from the common genetic factor. Thus, although there is a significant genetic overlap among different reading and math skills, there may be independent genetic sources of variation related to measures of decoding fluency and mathematics.     

Mother and infant talk about mental states relates to desire language and emotion understanding

This study assessed the relation between mother mental state language and child desire language and emotion understanding in 15-24-month-olds. At both time points, mothers described pictures to their infants and mother talk was coded for mental and nonmental state language. Children were administered 2 emotion understanding tasks and their mental and nonmental state vocabulary levels were obtained via parental report. The results demonstrated that mother use of desire language with 15-month-old children uniquely predicted a child's later mental state language and emotion task performance, even after accounting for potentially confounding variables. In addition, mothers' tendency to refer to the child's over others' desires was the more consistent correlate of mental state language and emotion understanding.