Two-Year-Old Children's Sensitivity to a Parent's Knowledge State When Making Requests

These studies examined whether toddlers take their communicative partners' knowledge states into account when communicating with them. In Study 1 , 16 2-year-old children (mean age 2-7) had to ask a parent for help in retrieving a toy. On each trial, a child was first introduced to a new toy that was then placed in 1 of 2 containers on a high shelf. The parent either witnessed these events along with the child or did not because she or he had left the room or had covered her or his eyes and ears. As predicted, when asking for help in retrieving the toy, children significantly more often named the toy, named its location, and gestured to its location when a parent had not witnessed these events than when she or he had. In Study 2, 16 2-year-old children (mean age 2-3) had to ask a parent for help in retrieving a sticker dropped into 1 of 2 identical containers placed out of reach in the far corners of a table. The parent either witnessed, along with the child, which container the sticker was dropped into or did not because her or his eyes were closed. In their requests for help, young 2-year-old children gestured to the sticker's location significantly more often when the parent did not know its location than when she or he did. The implications of these findings for current characterizations of 2-year-old children's ability to assess the knowledge of others is discussed.     

Mentoring of Women Faculty: The Role of Organizational Politics and Culture

This article reports on a key finding of a phenomenological study on the mentoring experiences of women faculty. The study revealed the political climate of the organization as an essential attribute of this experience. Women faculty identified organizational culture and gender issues that affected the mentoring they received. This study suggests the need for human resource and organization development initiatives to facilitate the provision of academic mentoring for women faculty—individually, departmentally, and culturally—as a means to foster transformation and change in academic institutions.Sharon K. Gibson is an Assistant Professor of organization learning and development at the University of St. Thomas. She received her Ph.D. in adult education from the University of Minnesota. She holds an M.S.W. degree and graduate certificate in labor and industrial relations from the University of Michigan and a B.S. from Cornell University. Her research interests focus on developmental relationships including mentoring and coaching, strategic human resource and organization development, and adult learning.     

How do people read the passages during a reading comprehension test? The effect of reading purpose on text processing behavior

In this study, we investigate the effect of reading purpose on students’ processing behavior during a reading comprehension test. In a repeated measures design, sixty undergraduates answered multiple-choice (MC) reading comprehension questions in a condition with no overarching goal for reading and in an alternate condition where the same students were first provided with the goal of summarizing the text before answering MC questions. Results from eye tracking analysis showed that when students read and answered questions without an overarching goal, they spent much less time reading the passages before answering the questions, more time re-reading the texts while answering the questions, and more time on parts of the text that were not necessary to answer the questions. We conclude that providing examinees without an explicit goal for reading may inadvertently encourage a “search for the answer” reading process, rather than on building a coherent mental model of text content.     

Photoresists for microlithography

Photoresist technology, which is used for micro-patterning exploits changes in properties of polymeric materials, such as their solubility or volatility, upon photo-irradiation. This process has greatly benefitted from the knowledge base of organic chemistry and photo-induced organic transformations. The role of chemistry in the development of photoresists is described in this article.     

A predictive and follow-up study of abusive and neglectful families by case analysis

The aim of this study was to develop methods, categories, and criteria for investigating and evaluating parental functioning and potential and to relate the accuracy of such categories to prognosis. A case analysis, a predictive study, and a follow-up study of 17 abused and/or neglected children was conducted 5-6 years later. Categories were developed and cases analyzed for stress factors in childhood, youth, and early adult life and for factors related to social network, finances, work, accommodation, pregnancy, and marriage. The cases were also analyzed with regard to the following dimensions: immaturity, emotional problems, psychosis, mental retardation, alcohol and drugs. Seven areas of parental functioning were scored on a 4-point scale. The child's role and the effect of parents' unresolved problems upon the parent-child interaction were also studied. The findings of this study, limited though it is in scope, suggest that the prognosis for abusive and/or neglectful parents is poorer when they are scored high on immaturity than when they are scored high on emotional problems.     

Introduction to the special issue on genes, environment, and reading

This introduction to the special issue on Genes, Environment, and Reading presents an overview of the background for behavior- and molecular-genetic research on dyslexia and individual differences across the normal range. The general methods, questions addressed, and selected results are summarized for each of the papers in the order of their presentation in the special issue. Concluding comments reflect on the influence of environmental range on estimates of genetic and environmental influences, and the future of behavior- and molecular-genetic research on reading.     

Relating early childhood teachers’ working conditions and well-being to their turnover intentions

High turnover rates of early care and education teachers reduce the quality of education; unsatisfied teachers, suffering from stress or emotional exhaustion, are less equipped to promote children’s development and more likely to leave the classroom. We used data from a national survey of US early childhood educators (n?=?1129) to examine associations between teachers’ working conditions, well-being, and motivation with professional commitment and turnover intentions to move, leave, or remain. Multiple regression analyses revealed that more intrinsically motivated teachers were more likely to report intentions to move over leave, emotionally exhausted teachers were more likely to report intentions to leave, and lower teacher-reported working conditions predicted intentions to move or leave the field over staying. The results suggest that teachers’ well-being and perceived working conditions relate with their intentions to remain at their job or within the field and to their commitment to the profession.     

Child developmental impact of Pittsburgh’s Early Childhood Initiative (ECI) in high-risk communities: first-phase authentic evaluation research

The national debate surrounding the issue of school failure has renewed interest in the quality, efficacy, and outcomes of early childhood intervention programs that can promote early school success for children at developmental risk. Moreover, researchers and policymakers report the need to document developmentally-appropriate models for assessing and evaluating early childhood outcomes. We report on the first-phase results of Pittsburgh’s early childhood initiative (ECI). ECI is a privately-funded effort by a consortium composed of the business, corporate, foundation, and community sectors to implement high-quality early care and education options for children in high-risk neighborhoods. The overarching objective of ECI is to ensure early school success for high-risk children. Our Scaling Progress in Early Childhood Settings (SPECS) Evaluation Team implemented an authentic assessment and program evaluation strategy and an enhanced “constructed comparison group” statistical model to conduct longitudinal research on the child developmental impact of the ECI model. First-phase results on 155 high-risk children indicate that those who participated in high-quality ECI programs for the longest periods of time demonstrated patterns of progress that exceeded maturational expectations. Weekly collaborative consultation to teachers and caregivers by consultants about program quality using the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) standards as “best practice” benchmarks seemed to be associated with initial enhanced child outcomes and the particular impact of the ECI model.     

Saussurian linguistics revisited: Can it inform our interpretation of mathematical activity?

This paper examines the basic notions of Ferdinand de Saussure (1857–1913) who was a preeminent figure in the development of linguistics and the foundation of structuralism. It suggests that a key aspect of twentieth century thought has been the growing recognition that the study of language can offer a framework through which we can develop an understanding of our world. It thus proposes that language is fundamental to the process of learning mathematics on every level whether it be through classroom discussion, group exploration, teacher exposition or individual interaction with printed material. Ensuing from this the paper investigates possible mathematical perspectives upon Saussure's ideas and explores what contribution his work can offer to enhance and enrich the interpretive framework through which we observe mathematical activity in the classroom. It takes as an example a mathematical investigation carried out by a group of 12 year old girls and develops the analysis from a Saussurian stance. The paper concludes that language is the medium through which, and in which, mathematical ideas are formed and exchanged.