Like Father, Like Son: Young Children's Understanding of How and Why Offspring Resemble Their Parents

4 studies investigated the broad claim that preschoolers understand biological inheritance. In Study 1, 4–7-year-old children were told a story in which a boy was born to one man and adopted by another. The biological father was described as having one set of features (e.g., green eyes) and the adoptive father as having another (e.g., brown eyes). Subjects were asked which man the boy would resemble when he grew up. Preschoolers showed little understanding that selective chains of processes mediate resemblance to parents. It was not until age 7 that children substantially associated the boy with his biological father on physical features and his adoptive father on beliefs. That is, it was not until age 7 that children demonstrated that they understood birth as part of a process selectively mediating the acquisition of physical traits and learning or nurturance as mediating the acquisition of beliefs. In Study 2, subjects were asked whether, as a boy grew up, various of his features could change. Children generally shared our adult intuitions, indicating that their failure in Study 1 was not due to their having a different sense of what features can change. Studies 3 and 4 replicated Study 1, with stories involving mothers instead of fathers and with lessened task demands. Taken together, the results of the 4 studies refute the claim that preschoolers understand biological inheritance. The findings are discussed in terms of whether children understand biology as an autonomous cognitive domain.     

Charter schools: learning from the past, planning for the future

Charter schools have garnered strong support over the past decade, however, opponents question this choice option on many grounds, including their effectiveness, accountability, equity, and sustainability. This paper addresses these concerns by synthesizing what we know from the literature on charter schools, exposing areas where evidence is lacking, conflicting or ambiguous, and assessing the overall maturation of charter school reform. To help answer the question of sustainability, we draw in part on findings from our in-progress, long-term case study of a conversion charter school. This ethnographic data reveals the existence of serious challenges for researchers and policymakers, but also provides useful guidance for the future direction of the charter school movement.     

The Impact of Access on Perceptions and Attitudes Towards Computers: An International Study

This international and interdisciplinary study investigated and compared computer access, attitudes and perceptions towards computers, and preferred settings for computer learning among college freshmen in Australia, China, Ghana, Puerto Rico and the US. The authors discuss implications for computer training in teacher preparation and international business management education. This paper also presents conclusions regarding the development of technological competency within the framework of the computer culture and socio-political circumstances. L'impact de 1'accès sur les perceptions et attitudes envers les ordinateurs: une étude internationale. Cette étude internationale et interdisciplinaire a recherché et comparé les possibilités d'accès À l'ordinateur, les perceptions et attitudes envers les ordinateurs et les environnements préférés pour l'apprentissage par ordinateur parmi les étudiants de première année de collège en Australie, Chine, Ghana, Puerto Rico et USA. Les auteurs discutent les implications de la formation par ordinateur pour la préparation des enseignants et l'éducation dans le management du business international. Cet article présente aussi des conclusions concernant le développement des compétences en matière de technologie dans le cadre d'une culture de l'ordinateur et de circonstances socio-politiques. Die Möglichkeit des Informationszugangs und ihr Einfluss auf Wahrnehmung und Einstellung zu Computern: eine internationale Studie. Diese internationale und interdisziplinäre Studie untersucht and vergleicht die Zugangsmöglichkeiten zu Computern, sowie die Einstellung zu ihnen and Umgang mit ihnen and bevorzugte Plätze für Computer gestütztes Lernen bei College Studenten des Erstsemesters in Australien, China, Ghana, Puerto Rico und den USA. Die Autoren besprechen Implikationen für die Computerausbildang bei Lehrern und die Ausbildang im internationalen Business Management. Die Studie veröffentlicht Ergebnisse and Beschlüsse zur Erlangung technologischer Kompetenz im Rahmen der Computerkultur und der soziopolitischen Umstände.     

A Class-Wide Intervention for Improving Homework Performance

Homework completion has an important impact on the overall academic functioning of students. Consultation requests often center on identifying efficient interventions so that teachers may facilitate the homework process and enhance students' academic achievement. This investigation employed a randomized interdependent group contingency and randomized reinforcers to improve homework completion and accuracy of spelling performance in 21 elementary school students. An ABAB reversal design across all students was employed. Results showed this intervention to have a positive impact on both spelling homework completion and accuracy rates. Limitations, future research, and contributions are addressed.     

Exploring perceived support of postgraduate medical science research students

There is still much to learn about the support required by postgraduate research students, across academic disciplines, to facilitate successful completion of a research degree. The primary aim of this study was to explore postgraduate medical science research students’ perceptions of academic and mentoring support at different stages during their degree programme. A second aim was to explore the feasibility and acceptability of peer mentoring as a strategy to enhance student support in this population. A mixed method study design was used. Students first completed an online questionnaire, which was then supplemented with focus group discussion to explore emergent findings in greater depth. The main results indicated that the nature and quality of academic supervision support have a significant influence on research student training and development. ‘Functional’ and ‘relationship development’ concepts of supervisory styles were highlighted as important aspects to perceived support in this research population. The main facilitators to enhance academic support were effective communication, project planning and timely feedback. There was a high degree of acceptability for a peer mentoring programme as a complementary approach to enhance student support. Peer mentoring psychosocial functions such as friendship, counselling and career guidance were considered potentially beneficial to enhancing student support. Students also discussed peer coaching as central to their learning and research skill development. This work is a useful starting point to explore perceptions of research student support in the target population. Further work is required to develop strategies to enhance student support in academic practice.     

Does branding impact student recruitment: a critical evaluation

This study focuses on segmentation feasibility within the private college/university market. There is considerable overlap for private and public college/university students with respect to their consideration criteria; however, previous research suggests that there are some criteria that appear to be differentially important based on the type of student and institution. Therefore, using factors considered by university students in a previous study, the current research sought to further explore the existence of segments within a private university. The findings suggested that three segments of students exist – one segment considers all university criteria as important, another places high importance on the financial aspects of attending a university, and another segment moderately evaluates all university criteria. Implications of the findings are discussed.     

A Comparison of High School Teachers’ Instructional Postures in Regular Classrooms and in Computing Environments

ABSTRACT

High school teachers' classroom behaviors were observed and compared with their behaviors in the computing environment to determine whether or not the computer might act as a catalyst to promote facilitative behavior in teachers. No significant difference was found in terms of increased facilitative behavior in computer classrooms. However, female teachers adopted more facilitative postures in the computing environment than did male teachers, and the teachers with the greatest number of years of experience in teaching with computers appeared to exhibit more directive postures in both the regular and computing setting than did teachers with fewer years of experience. Implications of this for teacher education are discussed.     

Footedness in world soccer: an analysis of France '98.

Most football players and coaches agree that players are capable of learning to use both feet with equal frequency and efficiency--that is, become 'two-footed'. There is also some consensus that two-footed play is associated with skill in individual players. If these assumptions are true, then the world's elite football players should be substantially less 'one-footed' than the rest of the population. To examine this issue, we quantified the pattern of foot use in a sample of 236 players from 16 teams in the 1998 World Cup (France '98). Our findings indicate that World Cup players are as right-footed as the general population (approximately 79%). The remaining players were largely left-footed and as biased towards the use of their preferred foot as their right-footed counterparts. Very few players used each foot with equal frequency. Remarkably, both left- and right-footed players were as skilled, on average, with their non-preferred foot as they were with their preferred foot, on the rare occasions when they used it. Therefore, it is unlikely that infrequent use of one foot compared to the other foot can be accounted for by skill differences between the feet. Players were most asymmetrical for set pieces; nevertheless, first touches, passes, dribbles and tackles were rarely performed with the non-preferred foot as well. Our results support a biological model of foot preference and performance, as well as demonstrating the usefulness of soccer for studies of lateral asymmetries.     

Optimizing Word Learning via Links to Perceptual and Motoric Experience

The aim of this review is to consider how current vocabulary training methods could be optimized by considering recent scientific insights in how the brain represents conceptual knowledge. We outline the findings from several methods of vocabulary training. In each case, we consider how taking an embodied cognition perspective could impact word learning. The evidence we review suggests that vocabulary training methods can be optimized by making a congruent link between the words to learn and one’s own perceptual and motoric experiences. In particular, we suggest that motoric information about the meaning of a word could be incorporated into more standard vocabulary training methods. Finally, we consider the impact an embodied cognitive perspective may have on other characteristics of word learning, such as individual differences in learning and variations in learning different types of words, for example words from different word classes and words in different contexts.     

Attitudes of Australian chiropractic students toward whole body donation: A cross‐sectional study

Cadavers play an important role in anatomy education. In Australia, bodies for anatomy education are acquired only through donations. To gain insight into educational dynamics in an anatomy laboratory as well as to facilitate body donation programs and thanksgiving ceremonies, it is important to understand students' attitudes toward body donation. In this cross‐sectional study, the attitudes of Macquarie University's first, second, and fifth year chiropractic students toward body donation were investigated. Macquarie University chiropractic students have a four semester long anatomy program, which includes cadaver‐based instruction on prosected specimens. A questionnaire was used to record respondents' demographics and attitudes toward body donation: personal, by a relative, and by a stranger. It was found that ethnicity and religion affect attitudes toward body donation, with Australian students being more willing to donate a stranger's body and atheists and agnostics being more willing to donate in general. Furthermore, willingness to donate one's own or a family member's body decreases as year of study increases, suggesting a possible negative impact of exposure to cadavers in the anatomy laboratory. This was only true, however, after controlling for age. Thus, the impact of viewing and handling prosected specimens, which is the norm in anatomy classes in Australia, may not be as strong as dissecting cadavers. It is suggested that anatomists and educators prepare students for cadaver‐based instruction as well as exhibit sensitivity to cultural differences in how students approach working with cadavers, when informing different communities about body donation programs and in devising thanksgiving ceremonies. Anat Sci Educ 7: 117–123. © 2013 American Association of Anatomists.