Children in residential care: How to evaluate behavioural change

This article reports the results of an observational longitudinal study carried out on four children who lived in a residential community because of their multiproblem families. The aim of this study was to apply the evaluative methodology proposed by Le Poultier (1990) in order to assess I) the processes of change in the children over time and II) the relations between educational practices and observed changes. The findings confirm I) the existence of processes of change in the children; II) the presence of correlations between the displayed behaviour of the children and adult practices. In addition, what emerges is the existence of a dimension (transgression versus co-operation and autonomy) underlying the educational project designed by the adults. The data refer to observations of the behaviour of each staff member on a weekly basis for a six-month period and, at the same time, to the self-observations of each adult regarding the behaviour adopted towards each child. The data were analysed using: I) correlational coefficients to check the relation between the children's behaviour and the social work; II) Correspondence Analysis to permit a simultaneous representation of the developmental changes observed in the four children with respect to social work.     

A Critical Review of Students’ and Teachers’ Understandings of Nature of Science

Science & Education - There is widespread agreement that an adequate understanding of the nature of science (NOS) is a critical component of scientific literacy and a major goal in science...     

Autism and multidisciplinary teamwork through the SCERTS Model

This research investigates multidisciplinary teamwork in an English special school located in the West Midlands region of the UK. The research was carried out by Paola Molteni, a PhD student at Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Milan, Karen Guldberg of the Autism Centre for Education and Research Director at the University of Birmingham School of Education, and Nick Logan, head of the Psychology and Therapists Department at Sunfield Children's Home, Clent. The school uses the innovative SCERTS (Social Communication, Emotional Regulation, Transactional Support) model. The methodology was a collaborative and participatory case study focused on the point of view of professionals and on understanding the teamwork process through analysis of three teams working together to implement SCERTS. Methods included focus groups, semi‐structured interviews, direct observations and questionnaires; the data were analysed using the Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis method. The research provides an example of good practice and enables practitioners to reflect on the issues involved in implementing a multidisciplinary process using the SCERTS approach. The findings show that the SCERTS Model can support the educational team in promoting and exchanging good daily practice and planning educational work together. The article draws out implications for further studies that aim to analyse teamwork in other settings and over a longer period.     

Familiarity and relatedness: Effects on social learning about foods by Norway rats and Mongolian gerbils

In recent experiments in which the social influences on feeding in Mongolian gerbils were investigated, observer gerbils acquired food preferences from conspecific demonstrators only if the demonstrators and observers were either related or familiar. Even then, the effects of demonstrator gerbils on observers’ food choices lasted less than 24 h. In similar experiments with Norway rats, the familiarity/relatedness of demonstrators and observers had little effect on social learning, and the demonstrators’ influence on observers’ food choices lasted many days. We examined the causes of these differences and found that, after observer gerbils interacted with either unfamiliar or familiar conspecific demonstrators that had been fed using procedures typically used to feed demonstrator rats, they showed long-lasting social learning about foods, whereas observer rats interacting with conspecific demonstrators that had been fed as demonstrator gerbils normally are fed showed effects of familiarity/relatedness to demonstrators on their social learning about foods. Procedural differences, rather than species differences, seem to be responsible for reported inconsistencies in social learning about foods by rats and gerbils.     

Does generating examples aid proof production?

Many mathematics education researchers have suggested that asking learners to generate examples of mathematical concepts is an effective way of learning about novel concepts. To date, however, this suggestion has limited empirical support. We asked undergraduate students to study a novel concept by either tackling example generation tasks or reading worked solutions to these tasks. Contrary to suggestions in the literature, we found no advantage for the example generation group on subsequent proof production tasks. From a second study, we found that undergraduate students overwhelmingly adopt a trial and error approach to example generation and suggest that different example generation strategies may result in different learning gains. We conclude by arguing that the teaching strategy of example generation is not yet understood well enough to be a viable pedagogical recommendation.     

The elixir (or burden) of youth? Exploring differences in innovation between start-ups and established firms

Despite the widely acknowledged role of start-ups in economic development, little is known about their innovative activities compared with those of established firms. Drawing on a sample of 12,209 UK firms, we differentiate between services and manufacturing firms and, using a matching estimator approach, demonstrate that start-ups differ significantly from established firms in their innovation activities. We find that in services, being a start-up increases the likelihood of product innovations. However, in manufacturing, we find no significant differences in the likelihood of product innovation between start-ups and established firms. When examining the returns to innovation, we find that start-ups have a significant advantage both in services and in manufacturing. We explore the implications of these results for theory and policy.     

Reading minds: the relation between children's mental state knowledge and their metaknowledge about reading

The relation between children's mental state knowledge and metaknowledge about reading was examined in 2 studies. In Study 1, 196 children (mean age = 9 years) were tested for verbal ability (VA), metaknowledge about reading, and mental state words in a story task. In Study 2, the results of Study 1 were extended by using a cross-lagged design and by investigating older children (N = 71, mean ages = 10 years at Time 1 and 11 years at Time 2) for mental state knowledge, metaknowledge about reading, and VA. Results showed a significant relation between early cognitive (but not emotion) mental state knowledge and later metaknowledge about reading, controlling for VA. Results suggest close links between different aspects of children's knowledge about the mind.     

Principal component analysis of colour measurements of patinas and coating systems for outdoor bronze monuments

Principal Component Analysis (PCA) was applied on colour measurements performed on outdoor bronze patinas and protective coating systems on bronze coupons in order to monitor natural weathering and cleaning effects. PCA chemometric technique is shown to be a powerful tool to analyse the large measurement data set which is needed to characterise these kinds of system. The results are compared with previous work where the CIELAB L*a*b space was used, in order to spot the advantages and disadvantages of both techniques and how they can complete each other in order to set up a workflow when dealing with large datasets of colour measurements. As previously stated, quicker colour variations in the early stage of natural weathering of bronze coupons are characterised, which is mainly due to lightness reduction. PCA analysis helps to visualise the different behaviour upon cleaning procedure of different monument patinas and colour difference reduction due to cleaning. It gives the advantage in a first screening phase to possibly highlight the presence of outliers, check the level of noise in the spectra, and select the variables which carry more information. Its integration in a workflow for colour measurement can help in speeding up the process of later analysing data with the well-established CIELAB system.