Cumulative and Differential Effects of Early Child Care and Middle Childhood Out-of-School Time on Adolescent Functioning

Effects associated with early child care and out-of-school time (OST) during middle childhood were examined in a large sample of U.S. adolescents (N = 958). Both higher quality early child care AND more epochs of organized activities (afterschool programs and extracurricular activities) during middle childhood were linked to higher academic achievement at age 15. Differential associations were found in the behavioral domain. Higher quality early child care was associated with fewer externalizing problems, whereas more hours of early child care was linked to greater impulsivity. More epochs of organized activities was associated with greater social confidence. Relations between early child care and adolescent outcomes were not mediated or moderated by OST arrangements in middle childhood, consistent with independent, additive relations of these nonfamilial settings.     

Use and Evaluation of Web-based Professional Development Services Across Participant Levels of Support

When participating in a large-scale, web-based professional development program, to what degree do teachers participate? How useful do they find the program? To what degree do they feel supported in their efforts? What are the associations between participation, evaluation of services, and the level of service teachers receive? MyTeachingPartner provides several levels of support to teachers, and each participant’s involvement in the project varies in terms of assigned level, frequency of logging in to the site, and the time she spends on it. This paper compared key data sources, including web navigation logs and teacher survey responses, to describe the relationship between teachers’ perceptions of support, their specific project interactions, and the level of service they receive. We explored ways that a large-scale professional development project such as MTP can benefit from identifying and nurturing those elements that best foster teacher perceptions of support.     

Kuhn's Paradigm and Example‐based Teaching of Newtonian Mechanics

Summaries

English

According to Kuhn, normal scientific work is developed not mainly from basic axioms, but by the development of the fundamental examples and demonstrations of the paradigm. For disciplines still at the research frontier, education can also only be example‐based rather than axiomatic, but for disciplines which have become classical, such as Newtonian mechanics, teaching should be performed using more formal methods. In practice this does not appear to be the case, and a number of simple problems in mechanics are cited where example‐based teaching commonly leads to misunderstanding. A recommendation is made for more direct teaching of the basic principles of mechanics.     

曹植与梵呗之进入中国

一从内典看梵呗进入中国的基本情况 引用《中国佛教术语词典》的定义,梵呗是＂宗教仪式中用来约束外在与平息内心的佛教唱颂;也用于对佛陀的赞美。＂梵呗的第一个要素＂梵＂,是＂梵览摩（Brahma）＂的音译,与印度术语语源相关;梵呗的第二个要素＂呗＂,     

Latin-tipped darts

Letters

Latin-tipped darts     

Significant predictors of test anxiety among students with and without learning disabilities

In the present study, the relationship between students with and without learning disabilities (LD) and different aspects of test anxiety was examined on a new multidimensional measure of test anxiety. A sample of 774 elementary and secondary school students--195 students with LD and 579 students not identified with LD--completed the Test Anxiety Inventory for Children and Adolescents (TAICA), a new multidimensional measure of test anxiety for elementary and secondary school students in Grades 4 through 12. Examination of the factor structure of the TAICA scores across LD status to determine whether accurate test score interpretation was possible revealed that the majority of the coefficient of congruence values between each pair of six corresponding factors of the TAICA (Cognitive Obstruction/ Inattention, Performance Enhancement/Facilitation Anxiety, Physiological Hyperarousal, Social Humiliation, Worry, and Lie) and the Total Test Anxiety factor were above .90, and the salient variable similarity index values were statistically significant, suggesting that the factor structure of the TAICA was similar across groups. The results of seven multiple regression analyses revealed that LD predicted higher Cognitive Obstruction/Inattention and Worry scores and lower Performance Enhancement/Facilitation Anxiety and Lie scores. Implications of the findings for school personnel who work with students with LD are discussed.