Chapter 10 Self-Concept

Alpha-numeric fonts have hitherto been designed with an aesthetic end in view. Acceptability for student reading material is achieved through statistically derived evaluations. Our tests show that optical spatial frequency spectra and cross correlation of font symbols can be quantitatively measured in the laboratory and that they provide a sound basis for differentiation among symbols. This enables the reader to note subtle differences between type fonts or within a given font. The method also allows the optical spectrum to be altered, and a modified or new letter to be constructed or restructured with improved character recognition for reading.     

TRAINING FOR EXPERTISE VERSUS TRAINING FOR TRUST: ISSUES IN RURAL GERONTOLOGY

Traditional gerontological instruction uses an expertise‐based model. Such an approach can be counterproductive for gerontologists serving the elderly in rural areas. To meet the needs of both the rural elderly who need services and the professionals who wish to provide those services, educators in gerontology need to instruct students interested in a rural gerontology practice on the issues that face a professional who is entering a rural area: the diversity of rural areas; the influx of urbanites and what it means to locals; the slow acceptance of the need for human services in rural areas; and, most important, the fact that in rural areas, authority is based on trust, not on expertise. Rather than encouraging the development of expertise and professional authority, gerontological instruction for students interested in serving the rural elderly should emphasize the need for the professional to “stay low” in the client‐clinician relationship, learn the local language and culture, and accept the lack of separation between professional and personal roles in rural areas. These practices will help the professional who is new to the rural area gain the trust of the elderly residents.     

A longitudinal study of the practice fidelity of a site-based school reform

In this study, four years of formal observations of classroom teaching practice were employed to ascertain the practice fidelity of a site-based school reform in a secondary school setting. Those observations were then used as a criterion variable in an examination of differences in the perspectives of administrators, teachers and teaching peers about the reform’s implementation. The results showed sustained levels of practice fidelity and statistically significant differences in the ratings of administrators, teachers and peers although those differences reduced overall as the reform progressed. The perspective of administrators was the best predictor of classroom practice in the first three years of the reform although less so in the latter year when teacher and peer responses became better predictors. The implications of the findings are discussed as they relate to the practice fidelity and evaluation of site-based school reform.     

Validating and Optimizing the Effects of Model Progression in Simulation-Based Inquiry Learning

Model progression denotes the organization of the inquiry learning process in successive phases of increasing complexity. This study investigated the effectiveness of model progression in general, and explored the added value of either broadening or narrowing students?? possibilities to change model progression phases. Results showed that high-school students in the ??standard?? model progression condition (n?=?19), who could enter subsequent phases at will, outperformed students from a control condition (n?=?30) without model progression. The unrestricted condition (n?=?22) had the additional option of returning to previous phases, whereas the restricted condition (n?=?20) disallowed such downward progressions as well as upward progressions in case insufficient knowledge was acquired. Both variants were found to be more effective in terms of performance than the ??standard?? form of model progression. However, as performance in all three model progression conditions was still rather weak, additional support is needed for students to reach full understanding of the learning content.     

Selecting early-career researchers: the influence of discourses of internationalisation and excellence on formal and applied selection criteria in academia

This article examines how macro-discourses of internationalisation and excellence shape formal and applied selection criteria for early-career researcher positions at the meso-organisational and micro-individual levels, demonstrating how tensions between the various levels produce inequalities in staff evaluation. In this way, this article contributes to the literature on academic staff evaluation by showing that Selection Committee members do not operate in a vacuum, and that their actions are inextricably linked to the meso- and macro-context. This study draws on qualitative multi-level data that comprise institutional-level policies, recruitment and staff protocols, job postings and individual-level interviews and focus groups with Selection Committee members. Findings show that a majority of Selection Committee members consent to university policies and macro-discourses when evaluating early-career researchers, but a smaller group questions and resists these criteria. Furthermore, the analysis revealed four inequalities that emerge in the application of criteria and reflect on disciplinary differences between the Natural and Social Sciences. The article concludes that with only a few Committee members to critically question and resist formal selection criteria, they limit the pool of acceptable candidates to those who fit the narrow definition of the internationally mobile and excellent early-career researcher, which may exclude talented scholars.     

‘Should you turn this into a complete gender matter?’ Gender mainstreaming in medical education

The incorporation of a gender perspective in medical education aims toward better health, gender equity, and a better health care for both men and women. In this article, participants’ responses to a Dutch gender awareness‐raising project in medical education are discussed. Eighteen semi‐structured interviews were held with education directors and change agents. Resistance towards and obstacles for gender mainstreaming in medical education were implicit in four themes: (1) biomedical knowledge was perceived to be gender neutral, to which knowledge about women could be added to the body of knowledge either with or without framing them as gender issues; (2) the relevance of gender was unofficially denied by downplaying it, particularly in comparison with culture/ethnicity; (3) medical education’s social accountability was hardly mentioned and gender inequalities in health were framed as feminist political issues and not medical issues; and (4) we were urged to communicate carefully to increase acceptance and avoid overt resistance which situated gender inequalities outside the medical domain. Recommendations to change educational material were widely discussed; but specific features of gender were easily lost. This was especially true for power differences between men and women. Nevertheless, dominant systems of thought were challenged.     

Differential-maternal parenting behavior: estimating within- and between-family effects on children

This study examined the impact of differential-maternal parenting behavior, evaluated as a family-level experience, on children's emotional-behavioral problems. Data come from 3 child development studies: 2,128 four- to sixteen-year-olds (Ontario Child Health Study), 7,392 four- to eleven-year-olds (National Longitudinal Study of Children and Youth), and 1,992 three- to fourteen-year-olds (National Longitudinal Study of Youth). In 2 of 3 studies, there was consistent evidence that differential-maternal parenting behavior had an adverse impact on all siblings as a group, over and above parenting directed at individual siblings. The strength of association was sensitive to the type of maternal parenting behavior, dimension of child maladjustment, and respondent perspective (stronger for hostile/negative parenting, child externalizing problems, and mother assessments of child emotional-behavioral problems).     

令人疯狂的《哈利·波特》

Raising a young hero can be a tricky business-even without the use of magic.Many authors avoid fictional growing pains by either freezing their characters in time,a la Peter Pan or Alice,or shuffling them off stage when they get beyond that wide-eved precocious stage,as C.S. Lewis did with the four young Pevensies. (In fact,Lewis went so far as to punish Susan for growing up by denying her access to Narnia in "The Last Battle.")     

The responses of fatty acid-binding protein and creatine kinase to acute and chronic exercise in junior rowers

The responses of fatty acid-binding protein (FABP) and creatine kinase (CK) were compared in a group of junior rowers during 5 weeks of training. Acute exercise induced a larger increase in FABP (70-362%) than in CK (24-156%). When the chronic effect of exercise was studied, the baseline FABP levels were independent of previous training. However, the baseline CK level was dependent on the training that took place during 1 day before (F = 4.362, p < .01) and on the combined training on the previous 2 days (F = 4.606, p < .005). The present results suggest that FABP and CK could be used to monitor acute exercise and chronic exercise, respectively.