The Influence of Television News Depictions of the Images of War on Viewers

Results of an experiment about the influence of network television news coverage of combat in Iraq on viewers indicated that, compared with a control condition which featured news stories about combat operations in Iraq described by news anchors, news reports also featuring footage of combat operations increased viewer involvement levels about the war and reduced viewer support for continued military presence in Iraq. Television news footage of combat operations also reduced viewers' pride in U.S. military presence but did not affect other emotions. However, regardless of how news stories were packaged, women experienced greater emotional response to network news stories about combat operations than men. The results also shed light on the potential of inoculation to deflect such influence.     

Play centers that encourage literacy development

Teachers are always searching for fresh ideas that address children's growth needs. Ideas that provide learning opportunities which are developmentally appropriate are particularly welcomed. using play as a medium for facilitating literacy growth is one such opportunity. We know from current theory, research and practice that sociodramatic play contributes to children's learning. Its importance in the development of literacy skills has also been investigated and affirmed. See Christie, 1991; Dodge & Frost, 1986; Fisher, 1991; Isenberg & Jacob, 1985; Morrow, 1989, 1990; Morrow & Rand, 1991; Pellegrini, 1980; Rogers & Sawyers, 1988; Schickendanz, 1986; Woodard, 1984.     

We need more than just male bodies in classrooms: Recruiting and retaining culturally relevant Black male teachers in early childhood education

Nationwide, school districts struggle to recruit and retain Black males to the teaching profession. As a result, the presence of Black male teachers is lacking in public schools, which impacts the overall student outcomes for all children, particularly Black boys. Such recruitment and retention becomes even worse at the early childhood level, which explains the paucity of Black male teachers who are early childhood educators. To date, only 2% of teachers are Black males, of which most are middle and high school teachers. Furthermore, the clarion call for Black males to become teachers does not often prioritize Black male teachers who are culturally relevant. In this article, we focus on educational research regarding the lack of diversity of teachers and among males in K-12 to provide recommendations to the field of early childhood education, with specific attention to recruiting and retaining culturally relevant Black male teachers in early childhood education.     

Peer effects on high school aspirations: Evidence from a sample of close and not-so-close friends

In this paper we investigate how schoolmates influence high school dropout intentions in Catalonia, Spain. Our analysis uses self-reported friends to identify possible peers by assuming that peer influence flows in one direction in cases where one student identifies another as a friend, but the other does not reciprocate. We first estimate the effects of education aspirations of non-reciprocating friends on students’ own education aspirations, with and without conditioning on a large set of personality and cognitive characteristics. We then investigate the extent to which the estimated effects are associated with friends’ height, weight, BMI, gender and cognitive ability. The estimated impact of non-reciprocating peers’ dropout intentions is small and generally not statistically significant: a 10 percentage point increase in the fraction of non-reciprocating peers that intend to drop out increases students’ chances of dropping out by about .2 percentage points.     

Developing and sustaining provision for children with motor skills difficulties in schools: the role of educational psychologists

The current paper outlines a three-year action research project with 39 schools in one inner city local authority. A local need to improve provision for children with motor skills difficulties resulted in a team of educational psychologists (EPs) and specialist teachers developing the Manchester Motor Skills Intervention (MMSI), which is a flexible package of support for primary schools. Support provided ranged from staff training and resources aimed to improve universal provision through to motor skills groups for targeted children. A mixed method evaluation was undertaken which aimed to establish which aspects of the MMSI schools found most useful and whether the programme was sustainable. The evaluation involved interviews at the end of the two-year project and school provision audits one year after the project had ceased. Participants valued the contribution of the research team to the development of a targeted intervention programme and the provision of ongoing support, while evidence suggests that the whole-school element of the MMSI requires further development. Some barriers and facilitators to sustainability are identified and discussed.     

Timing of triggering in relation to the cardiac cycle in nonelite rifle shooters

This study investigated the timing of the trigger pull in relation to the cardiac cycle during air rifle shooting. Electrocardiogram) was recorded from 20 male nonelite rifle shooters in two separate testing sessions. The testing was conducted at an indoor shooting range using an optoelectronic shooting system. Each participant fired a shot in the standing position at a distance of 10 m from the target. The results showed that compared to random triggering, the shooters fired more often during the phase of 10-50% of the R wave-to-R wave (R-R) interval and less often during the phase of 50-90%. With regard to performance accuracy, the participants exhibited average or above average performance, when the shot occurred in the beginning (0-50%) and in the end (70-99%) of the R-R interval. The less optimal range for the triggering was located within the 50-70% phase of the R-R interval. The length of R-R interval (i.e., heart rate) did not affect the relation of shot placement within the cardiac cycle to the accuracy of shooting performance. The present results extend previous findings by showing that in air rile shooting the optimum firing time within the cardiac cycle may be located in the systolic phase. It is argued that the systole-diastole dichotomy is not a sufficiently accurate way to investigate the effects of shot placement in the cardiac cycle. Further research is needed to examine the extent to which the relationship between the timing of triggering within the cardiac cycle and shooting performance depends a shooter's skill level.     

Children's Participation in Evaluating the Role of New Information and Communication Technologies in Schools

The central thesis of the paper is that children should be accorded a greater role in the evaluation of the role of new information technologies in schools, that is, where possible they should be stakeholders who help shape the design, processes and interpretations of evaluation studies as well as informants who provide data for the study. Arguments for this position draw on children's special relationship with the new technologies as well as current movements in children's rights and the development of a new paradigm of childhood studies. The paper finishes with a discussion of some of the issues that might arise from involving children as stakeholders.