Pre-adolescents’ representations of multiple attachment relationships: the role of perceived teacher interpersonal behaviour

Attachment theory proposes that early parent–child relationships provide the basis for all future close relationships of the individual, through childhood and adolescence into later life. The purpose of the present study was to examine the relationship between parental attachment, peer attachment and students’ perceptions of their teacher’s interpersonal behaviour, in order to shed light on the channels through which these constructs relate. In doing so, we examined three proposed theoretical schemes of pre-adolescents’ representations of multiple relationships. As a side-goal, the psychometric properties of the Greek translations of the Revised Inventory of Parental and Peer Attachment (IPPA-R) and the Questionnaire on Teacher Interaction (QTI-G) were investigated. Two independent samples comprising 270 and 306 pre-adolescents (grades 5–7), respectively participated in the study. Results supported a four-factor structure of the IPPA-R and an elliptical shape for the Interpersonal Teacher Circle measured by the QTI-G. The integrative scheme regarding pre-adolescents’ multiple adult relationships was supported by the data. Parental attachment relationships were found to be an important determinant of students’ perceptions of their teacher interpersonal behaviour, which in turn mediated the relationship between parental and peer attachment relationships. Results are discussed in terms of their theoretical and practical implications.     

Drawing pictures during learning from scientific text: testing the generative drawing effect and the prognostic drawing effect

Does using a learner-generated drawing strategy (i.e., drawing pictures during reading) foster students' engagement in generative learning during reading? In two experiments, 8th-grade students (Exp. 1: N = 48; Exp. 2: N = 164) read a scientific text explaining the biological process of influenza and then took two learning outcome tests. In Experiment 1, students who were asked to draw pictures during reading (learner-generated drawing group), scored higher than students who only read (control group) on a multiple-choice comprehension test (d = 0.85) and on a drawing test (d = 1.15). In Experiment 2, students in the learner-generated drawing group scored significantly higher than the control group on both a multiple-choice comprehension test (d = 0.52) and on a drawing test (d = 1.89), but students who received author-generated pictures in addition to drawing or author-generated pictures only did not. Additionally, the drawing-accuracy scores during reading correlated with comprehension test scores (r = .623, r = .470) and drawing scores (r = .620, r = .615) in each experiment, respectively. These results provide further evidence for the generative drawing effect and the prognostic drawing effect, thereby confirming the benefits of the learner-generated drawing strategy.     

Improving expressive writing skills of children rated for ADHD symptoms

The present study examines the expressive writing abilities of children described by their teachers as having Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) symptoms and of matched controls and the effects of two types of facilitation. A group of 35 ADHD children and matched controls are given the task of composing a letter either under standard instructions or with facilitation (a guide scheme), preceded by a brief training on how to use the facilitation. Results show that both groups drew benefit from the guide scheme. Despite the fact that differences between groups were maintained after the training for the case of spelling errors, the poorer performance of ADHD children vanished. It is concluded that ADHD children have poor expressive writing skills, but this can be improved through the help of a guide scheme preceded by brief training.     

Action‐research and Food and Nutrition Security: A school experience mediated by conceptual graphic representation tool

This study deals with the development of a graphic representation tool as a way to support educational planning in an elementary school in the rural area of Brasilia (Brazil’s capital), aiming at the implementation of an integrated action‐research project focusing on hunger and nutrition. The graphic tool made it possible to promote dialogical–reflexive interactions among school teachers as to the identification of competencies and skills in elementary education curriculum and generating apprenticeship themes, scientific concepts, and educational activities. It also constitutes a useful tool for the teaching staff to realize the interdependences among the many school subjects, and to understand their practices, thus leading to self‐evaluation with greater awareness for potential for transformation.     

Modeling information sources as integrals for effective and efficient source selection

In this paper, a new source selection algorithm for uncooperative distributed information retrieval environments is presented. The algorithm functions by modeling each information source as an integral, using the relevance score and the intra-collection position of its sampled documents in reference to a centralized sample index and selects the collections that cover the largest area in the rank-relevance space. Based on the above novel metric, the algorithm explicitly focuses on addressing the two goals of source selection; high-recall, which is important for source recommendation applications and high-precision which is important for distributed information retrieval, aiming to produce a high-precision final merged list.     

The Birth to School Study: evidence on the effectiveness of PEEP,an early intervention for children at risk of educational under‐achievement

This article presents the findings of the Birth to School Study (BTSS) a longitudinal evaluation of the Peers Early Education Partnership (PEEP); a family‐focused intervention aimed at promoting early literacy, numeracy and self‐esteem in a community at risk of educational underachievement. The main aim of the study was to investigate the effects of PEEP on the children and families from the community it served. Embedded within this aim were dual objectives: to determine if the intervention had an effect within the community as a whole, and simultaneously to determine whether it had an effect on the sub‐group of families who participated in the PEEP weekly sessions. Outcomes in favour of the intervention were found for parents and for children's progress in language and early literacy skills, both at community and sub‐group level. The study is located within a discussion of social exclusion, the potentially mediating influence of education and the accessibility of literacy skills to intervention and change.     

Basic values predict doping likelihood

ABSTRACT

Basic values, defined as trans-situational goals that vary in importance and act as guiding principles in life, have been linked with unethical cognitions, emotions and actions. Their roles in doping, a form of cheating in sport, have yet to established. College athletes reported doping likelihood in hypothetical scenario-based situations and completed measures of basic values, moral disengagement, and anticipated guilt. Correlation analysis showed that doping likelihood was positively associated with self-enhancement values but negatively associated with self-transcendence values and conservation values. Moral disengagement correlated positively with self-enhancement values and negatively with self-transcendence values, whereas guilt correlated positively conservation values and negatively with self-enhancement values and openness to change values. Regression analyses showed that self-enhancement values positively predicted doping likelihood directly, self-transcendence values negatively predicted doping likelihood indirectly via moral disengagement and guilt, and conservation values negatively predicted doping likelihood indirectly via guilt. In line with theory and evidence concerning the relationship between basic value systems and moral thought and action, we found that the values of athletes are directly (self-enhancement) and indirectly (self-transcendence, conservation) linked with likely use of banned performance enhancing substances, an expression of cheating in sport.     

The audiovisual action plan: a new audiovisual policy for Ireland

ABSTRACT

This article analyses the recent plan for the audiovisual industries introduced (after some delay) by the Irish Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht. The Audiovisual Action Plan (“the Plan”) sets out the Department’s approach to the audiovisual industries and is, it is contended, evidence of a marketization of culture consistent with a creative industries perspective. The analysis of the Plan in a wider policy context identifies key issues shaping audiovisual production in Ireland. Using a thematic analysis approach from Braun and Clark (2005, 2019) a number of themes are developed from analysis of the relevant policy documents, broadly conceived around the increasing instrumentalism of culture. Taking a political economy perspective allows for development of themes around the commodification of the nation-state through the provision of policies that actively encourage a certain type of audiovisual production. Building on Mosco’s work on political economy (Mosco, 2009) the concept of spatialization from Lefebvre (Lefebvre, 1991) is used to interrogate the production of and commodification of space through Specifically, this article interrogates the policy norms underpinning the Audiovisual Action Plan introduced by the Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht in Ireland in 2018 as part of Culture 2025, the national cultural policy framework. It identifies the key proposals which affect the audiovisual industries. It is concluded that the Plan (and other relevant policy documents) support a spatialized, commodified view of the audiovisual industries as primarily industrial in nature, paying scant attention to the consideration of such industries as cultural forces.