Developing a measure to understand young children’s Internet cognition and cyber-safety awareness: a pilot test

Abstract

Advancements in technology have increased preschool children’s access to the Internet. Very little research has been conducted to identify pre-school-aged children’s understandings of the Internet and ramifications of being ‘online’. Without an understanding of children’s thinking about the Internet, it is difficult to provide age- and pedagogically appropriate cyber-safety education. This study developed and pilot-tested an interview schedule that focuses on the Internet thinking and cyber-safety awareness of Australian children aged 4–5 years. The schedule is informed by sociocultural theory, cyber-safety education research and approaches for researching with young children. The schedule shows potential to elicit children’s understandings of the Internet and cyber-safety awareness. Adjustments are required to allow more contextualised responses from children.     

Noddings’ “Critical Lessons” May be Particularly Critical at the Elementary Level

This article explores Nel Noddings’ conception of pedagogical neutrality and its meanings and implications for classroom conversations, particularly at the elementary grade levels. It examines the selection of issues for classroom discourse and the importance of teachers purposefully exposing students to arguments and data with which they may be less familiar, especially in more polarized settings. The piece also discusses the extent to which younger students can grapple with controversial issues, and the arguments for and against elementary teachers sharing their views with their students. The piece concludes with examples of, and guidelines for, facilitating effective discussions of controversial issues at the primary and intermediate elementary levels.     

Embracing the complexity of inclusive science classrooms: Professional development through collaboration

There are no panaceas and no shortcuts. Man is an amphibious being who lives simultaneously or successively in several universes: in the world of matter, the world of mind, the world of spirit; in the individual world and in the social world; in the homemade universe of his own artifacts, institutions, and imaginings, and in the given, the God-made universe of nature and grace. In the very nature of things none of the major problems confronting such a being can possibly be a simple problem. Those who seek simple solutions for complex problems may have the best of intentions; but unfortunately there is an original sin of the intellect in our habit of arbitrary oversimplification. Those who act without taking precautions against this vice of their intellectual nature doom themselves and their fellows to perpetual disappointment. (Aldous Huxley, 1953, p. 1.)     

Antecedents and Consequences of Coaching Behavior

Proponents of the learning organization acknowledge that leaders and managers must assume roles as coaches in organizations that aspire to become learning organizations. The concept of the manager as a coach is becoming increasingly popular as a way to facilitate learning and improve employee performance. Yet, despite the research that has been done on coaching, studies generally focus on characteristics of good coaches, requisite coaching skills, and employees' perceptions of the improvement in managers coaching skills following such training programs. This article describes some of the findings from a larger qualitative critical incident study. Specifically, the triggers for coaching and the outcomes of coaching interventions for the individual employee, manager, and organization are examined and reported here. This study identifies gaps and discrepancies, political, and developmental issues as the primary triggers for coaching. Additionally, this study suggests that managers' commitment to coaching has the potential to impact performance at the individual employee, manager, and organizational level.     

REGINA, die Informatik-Kooperation der Region Aachen

Ohne Zusammenfassung

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REGINA, die Informatik-Kooperation der Region Aachen

     

Semi‐automating the manual literature search for systematic reviews increases efficiency

Background: To minimise retrieval bias, manual literature searches are a key part of the search process of any systematic review. Considering the need to have accurate information, valid results of the manual literature search are essential to ensure scientific standards; likewise efficient approaches that minimise the amount of personnel time required to conduct a manual literature search are of great interest. Objective: The objective of this project was to determine the validity and efficiency of a new manual search method that utilises the scopus ? database. Methods: We used the traditional manual search approach as the gold standard to determine the validity and efficiency of the proposed scopus method. Outcome measures included completeness of article detection and personnel time involved. Using both methods independently, we compared the results based on accuracy of the results, validity and time spent conducting the search, efficiency. Results: Regarding accuracy, the scopus method identified the same studies as the traditional approach indicating its validity. In terms of efficiency, using scopus led to a time saving of 62.5% compared with the traditional approach (3 h versus 8 h). Conclusions: The scopus method can significantly improve the efficiency of manual searches and thus of systematic reviews.     

Examining the effects of news coverage linking undocumented immigrants with criminality: Policy and punitive implications

Although research suggests that there is no meaningful real-world connection between crime rates and undocumented immigrants, media coverage of this group almost exclusively portrays them as criminals. The present two-study investigation experimentally tests the effects of exposure to crime news depicting undocumented immigrant suspects on White viewers’ social judgments. To this end, assumptions from social identity theory were applied to research and theorizing on mediated intergroup threat and compound penalties for immigrant criminality. Results from Study 1 and Study 2 indicate that when White viewers are exposed to threatening crime news featuring undocumented immigrants, out-group bias emerges in the form of harsher sentencing. In Study 1, when exposed to highly threatening coverage, attitudes toward immigration and in-group identification partially mediated and moderated this relationship, respectively.     

Convergence Concerns in Local Television: Conflicting Views From the Newsroom

This nationwide survey studies the impact of convergence on reporters and producers in small and medium local television markets. The article examines the manner in which convergence-related responsibilities affect the daily routines of these news workers. It also assesses their perceptions of convergence and challenges they face, including concerns about the impact of convergence on the quality of their work. Authors compare these views to the opinions of news directors across the United States (gathered in previous research), finding significant differences between news workers' perspectives and those of their bosses.     

A comparison of two approaches for measuring interdisciplinary research output: The disciplinary diversity of authors vs the disciplinary diversity of the reference list

This study investigates the convergence of two bibliometric approaches to the measurement of interdisciplinary research: one based on analyzing disciplinary diversity in the reference list of publications, the other based on the disciplinary diversity of authors of publications. In particular we measure the variety, balance, disparity and integrated diversity index of, respectively, single-author, multi-author single-field, and multi-author multi-field publications. We find that, in general, the diversity of the reference list grows with the number of fields reflected in a paper’s authors’ list and, to a lesser extent, with the number of authors being equal the number of fields. Further, we find that when fields belonging to different disciplines are reflected in the authors’ list, the disparity in the reference list is higher than in the case of fields belonging to the same discipline. However, this general tendency varies across disciplines, and noticeable exceptions are found at individual paper level.