Stressed and Losing Sleep: Sleep Duration and Perceived Stress Among Affluent Adolescent Females

This study examined the relationship between stress and sleep duration for adolescent females from affluent backgrounds. Participants were 218 students attending two independent single-sex secondary schools. Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) regression models (cross-sectional and longitudinal) were run to examine the association between stress and sleep duration and to determine whether any associations lasted from the beginning to the end of the academic year. In the cross-sectional models, the relationship between perceived stress and sleep duration was reciprocal and negative. Findings from the longitudinal analyses suggested that perceived stress had lingering negative effects on sleep. Implications for future research and practice are discussed.     

Childbirth educators, doulas, nurses, and women respond to the six care practices for normal birth

This collection of commentaries by childbirth educators, doulas, a labor and delivery nurse, and a woman preparing for the birth of her second baby provide an overall response to all six of Lamaze International's care practice papers that promote normal birth: Labor Begins on Its Own; Freedom of Movement throughout Labor; Continuous Labor Support; No Routine Interventions; Non-Supine (e.g., Upright or Side-Lying) Positions for Birth; and No Separation of Mother and Baby with Unlimited Opportunity for Breastfeeding. Strategies for using the position papers to facilitate learning in childbirth classes and for helping expectant parents access and understand research are presented. The commentaries describe the value of the position papers as a catalyst for professional growth, a foundation for creating change, a way to encourage reflection among professionals and women planning for the births of their babies, and an inspiration for everyone who advocates normal birth.     

INTERPRETING THE EXPERIENCES OF CHRISTIANS,MUSLIMS, AND JEWS ENGAGED IN INTERRELIGIOUS DIALOGUE: A COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH STUDY

This article describes preliminary findings of a doctoral research project undertaken within the doctoral program in adult and continuing education at National-Louis University in Chicago. The project, inspired by the authors' own experiences of interreligious dialogue with each other as well as their encounter with the work of Boys and Lee (1996), investigates the experiences of particular Muslims, Christians, and Jews, who have engaged in interreligious dialogue for at least one year. The authors, a Muslim and a Jewish adult and religious educator, are two of the twenty participants in the study.     

Is Criminology Moving Toward a Paradigm Shift? Evidence from a Survey of the American Society of Criminology

Ideology impacts a number of values, beliefs, and norms across an array of domains. Relatively little research has been done in criminology exploring the relationship between ideology and theoretical orientation. This study represents not only a follow‐up of previous research exploring this relationship, but also introduces new variables exploring the extent to which biological correlates of crime are becoming more accepted in the academy. Results are gleaned from a survey given to members of the American Society of Criminology as of December 2007.     

Exploration of How Spanish and English Noneliciting Questions Affect the Novel Vocabulary Acquisition of Hispanic Dual Language Learners Enrolled in Head Start

Novel word learning in the context of shared storybook reading has been primarily investigated with monolingual children, while experiments with Hispanic dual language learners (DLLs) are less prevalent. This exploratory study investigated the extratextual stylistic behaviors of storybook reading that promote novel word learning in DLL preschoolers enrolled in Head Start. Using monolingual studies for methodological support, we examined vocabulary noneliciting questions and noneliciting labels as well as the impact of English and Spanish conditions. Results from our home language survey showed that Spanish was the only adult language spoken in most children’s homes. The present study’s findings revealed that Spanish vocabulary noneliciting questions promoted expressive novel word learning. Implications for adults working with Hispanic DLL children in Head Start and future avenues for research are discussed.     

What digital games and literacy have in common: a heuristic for understanding pupils' gaming literacy

This article argues that digital games and school‐based literacy practices have much more in common than is reported in the research literature. We describe the role digital game paratexts – ancillary print and multimodal texts about digital games – can play in connecting pupils’ gaming literacy practices to ‘traditional’ school‐based literacies still needed for academic success. By including the reading, writing and design of digital game paratexts in the literacy curriculum, teachers can actively and legitimately include digital games in their literacy instruction. To help teachers understand pupils’ gaming literacy practices in relation to other forms of literacy practices, we present a heuristic for understanding gaming (HUG) literacy. We argue our heuristic can be used for effective teacher professional development because it assists teachers in identifying the elements of gameplay that would be appropriate for the demands of the literacy curriculum. The heuristic traces gaming literacy across the quadrants of actions, designs, situations and systems to provide teachers and practitioners with a knowledge of gameplay and a metalanguage for talking about digital games. We argue this knowledge will assist them in capitalising on pupils’ existing gaming literacy by connecting their out‐of‐school gaming literacy practices to the literacy and English curriculum.     

The Scholarship of Teaching and Learning as collaborative working: a case study in shared practice and collective purpose

The Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) has yet to fully enter the mainstream of life in higher education. In this case study, we consider a specific network focused on the reform of engineering education. The network involves global collaboration within the discipline of Engineering and is based around curricular activity that affects entire departments or groups of staff. We suggest that SoTL should pay greater attention to collaboration that addresses substantive disciplinary purposes, further embodying these purposes through spaces, motivations and capacities for action in the disciplinary and departmental setting. We frame our argument around a theoretical model of collaborative working in higher education and go on to offer a synoptic overview of ways to articulate common purpose around teaching and learning at large. Our account highlights potential drivers for such collaborative activity in other settings. In this way, we offer a means for others to develop the collective commitments, structures and understanding needed to mainstream SoTL within specific disciplinary or departmental settings.