Identified spouse abuse as a risk factor for child abuse

CONTEXT: There are limited data on the extent to which spouse abuse in a family is a risk factor for child abuse. OBJECTIVE: To estimate the subsequent relative risk of child abuse in families with a report of spouse abuse compared with other families. DESIGN: Cohort study. SETTING: Analysis of a centralized US Army database PARTICIPANTS: Married couples with children with at least one spouse on active duty in the US Army during 1989-95. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: The US Army Family Advocacy Program's Central Database was used to identify child and spouse abuse. The exposure was an episode of identified spouse abuse and the main outcome was a substantiated episode of subsequent child abuse.RESULTS: During the study period of an estimated 2,019,949 person years, 14,270 incident child abuse cases were substantiated. Families with an incident case of spouse abuse identified during the study period were twice as likely to have a substantiated report of child abuse compaired with other military families, rate ratio, 2.0, (95% confidence interval [CI] 1.9-2.1). Young parental age had the highest rate ratio, 4.9 (95% CI 4.5-5.3) in the subgroup analysis controlling for rank. Identified spouse abuse was associated with physical abuse of a child, rate ratio 2.4 (95% CI 2.2-2.5), and with sexual abuse of a child, rate ratio 1.5 (95% CI 1.3-1.7). Identified spouse abuse was not associated with child neglect or maltreatment, rate ratio, 1.0 95% CI 0.9-1.1) CONCLUSION: An identified episode of spouse abuse in a family appears to be associated with an increased risk of subsequent child abuse and serves as an independent risk factor. Therefore. care providers should consider the potential risk to children when dealing with spouse abuse.     

Gestalt imagery: A critical factor in language comprehension

Gestalt imagery—the ability to create imaged wholes—is a critical factor in oral and written language comprehension. Despite good decoding, good vocabulary, and adequate background experiences, many individuals experience weak gestalt imagery, thus processing “parts” rather than “wholes,” from verbal stimuli, spoken or written. This contributes to a Language Comprehension Disorder that may be accompanied by a commonality of symptoms: weak reading comprehension, weak oral language comprehension, weak oral language expression, weak written language expression, difficulty following directions, and a weak sense of humor. Sequential stimulation using an inquiry technique develops gestalt imagery and results in significant improvement in reading comprehension.     

An Examination of the Outcomes of a Brief and Innovative Partnership: SJSU and Udacity

In an examination of a brief and innovative partnership, we compared outcomes for two disciplines, Elementary Statistics and General Psychology, across three formats: online as part of the San José State University-Udacity partnership (termed SJSU Plus), face-to-face (FTF), and online in a redesigned course offering. We also examine predictors of student performance in the SJSU Plus courses. The first offerings of the SJSU Plus courses showed poorer performance compared to their FTF and redesigned online equivalents. Redesigned online courses and FTF courses had similar pass rates. SJSU Plus course performance was significantly improved in the second offering of the Elementary Statistics course. More completed assignments in the SJSU Plus courses were associated with higher exam scores and final grades. We conclude that mode of delivery did not contribute significantly to variations in pass rates.     

Development of a competency model and tailored assessment method for high school science teachers utilizing a flipped learning approach

Many professional development programs aim to improve student outcomes by enhancing teacher competencies. Effective evaluation of these programs requires a clear delineation of the competencies to be gained. A competency model was developed to evaluate the impact of a teacher professional program that aimed to improve teachers’ ability to effectively implement technologically engaged modules in a flipped classroom setting. Competencies were identified via participatory evaluation techniques and assessments were aligned to the competencies. The competency of teachers in the knowledge, skills, and abilities needed for creation and delivery of effective flipped lessons can be tracked using a radar graph to guide tailored professional development.

     

Double Visions: Educational Technology in Standards and Assessments for Science and Mathematics

For educational technology integration in content disciplines to succeed, teachers and teacher educators need clear standards delineating why, how, where, and how much educational technology they should include in their teaching. This paper examines the visions offered by current science, mathematics, and educational technology standards for educational technology integration in K-12 schools. Since national assessments exert a profound influence on what teachers and students choose to teach and learn, the vision of educational technology use supported by national assessments is also examined. The National Council of Teachers of Mathematics Standards (NCTM, 2000. Principles and Standards for School Mathematics. Retrieved April 6, 2002 from http://standards.nctm.org), the National Science Education Standards (National Research Council (NRC) 1996. National Science Education Standards. Available at http://books.nap.edu/catalog/4962.html), and the National Educational Technology Standards (International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) 2000. National Educational Technology Standards for Students: Connecting Curriculum and Technology, ISTE, Eugene, Oregon) provide different visions of educational technology use in the classroom. In addition, the current technology use policies for national assessments in science and mathematics, in particular the college admission tests (ACT, SAT I and SAT II subject area tests), Advanced Placement (AP) course assessments, and the Praxis Series assessments indicate that while mathematics assessments often recommend or require the use of educational technology, few science assessments permit the use of educational technology by students. Recommendations are offered for science educators regarding teacher preparation for the technology-rich classrooms of the future.     

Patterns of Subject Uptake and Examination Entry 1984–1997

In 1984, the APU science survey collected information on the courses followed by Year 11 pupils. In this paper, the APU survey will be compared with recent GCSE examination level data and will describe the impact of the National Curriculum on the sexes and on pupils of differing ability. In 1984, there were considerable differences in uptake by the sexes and by ability. In 1997, pupils were taking more examinations than were pupils in 1984. Also, girls were taking more GCSEs than boys in 1997. This could be the result of changes in the provision of subjects. The subjects favoured by males, such as science and technology, tend to have been merged with other subjects. The amount of physics studied by boys has decreased with the introduction of the GCSE (from a whole subject to half a subject). Subjects stereotypically preferred by girls such as modern languages, drama and English literature have increased. In this sense, it could be said that there has been a feminisation of the curriculum, but these changes would only account for some of the differential performance between the sexes.     

The development and application of affective assessment in an upper‐level cell biology course

This study exemplifies how faculty members can develop instruments to assess affective responses of students to the specific features of the courses they teach. Means for assessing three types of affective responses are demonstrated: (a) student attitudes towards courses with differing instructional objectives and methodologies, (b) student self‐efficacy (confidence) in completing tasks common to practicing experts, and (c) interests in subject‐specific topics and associated intellectual skills. The iterative processes used in refining the instruments and performing the statistical analyses of their effectiveness are detailed. An analysis of data obtained using these instruments is also included. Positive attitudes towards courses emphasizing analytical thinking increased significantly over the course of a 14‐week semester, as did the measures of self‐efficacy. Despite the rigorous analytical nature of the course experience, the initial strong interest in cell biology topics and higher order thinking skills remained unchanged. There were no significant differences based on gender in any of the affective measures. We discuss the apparent dichotomy, revealed in these assessments, between students' idealistic, academic attitudes towards the course's effectiveness and their opinions of its effects on them personally. We conclude by reporting how insights garnered both from these formal assessments and from anecdotal communications have prompted experimental modifications in the design and conduct of the course. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 44: 1057–1087, 2007     

What’s growing on here? Garden-based pedagogy in a concrete jungle

This study explores experiences of a learning garden project at an urban faculty of education. The project opens a space for the theoretical and practical consideration of garden-based pedagogies and their influence on university students, educators, and the community as a whole. The learning garden was created by a small group of initial teacher education and graduate students and faculty volunteers. The group came together through shared interests in growing the theoretical, curricular, and pedagogical work carried out at the institution, through the opening of a unique and organic context for teaching and learning. This paper follows a duoethnographic approach as it traces the garden’s growth, our experiences with and in the garden, and the effects of the garden over its first year. Through dialogue, anecdotes and interactions, we explore themes that have grown from the research and garden’s growth, creating multiple, often unexpected, dimensions of praxis. We also unearth the complexities and tensions of institutional relationships as the garden interrupted norms and opened up spaces for multiplicity, alterity and difference in pedagogy, allowing us to revisit, review and renew our work in our institution’s approach to environmental education.     

Predicting Graduation Rates at 4-year Broad Access Institutions Using a Bayesian Modeling Approach

This study models graduation rates at 4-year broad access institutions (BAIs). We examine the student body, structural-demographic, and financial characteristics that best predict 6-year graduation rates across two time periods (2008–2009 and 2014–2015). A Bayesian model averaging approach is utilized to account for uncertainty in variable selection in modeling graduation rates. Evidence suggests that graduation rates can be predicted by religious affiliation, proportion of students enrolled full-time, socioeconomic status of the student body, enrollment size and institutional revenue and expenditures. Findings also demonstrate that relatively fewer variables predict institutional graduation rates for Latina/o and African American students at 4-year BAIs. We conclude with implications for policy and key recommendations for research focused on 4-year BAIs.     

Into the Unknown: Examining Neural Representations of Parent–Adolescent Interactions

The parent–adolescent relationship is important for adolescents’ emotion regulation (ER), yet little is known regarding the neural patterns of dyadic ER that occur during parent–adolescent interactions. A novel measure that can be used to examine such patterns is cross-brain connectivity (CBC)—concurrent and time-lagged connectivity between two individuals’ brain regions. This study sought to provide evidence of CBC and explore associations between CBC, parenting, and adolescent internalizing symptoms. Thirty-five adolescents (mean age = 15 years, 69% female, 72% Non-Hispanic White, 17% Black, 11% Hispanic or Latino) and one biological parent (94% female) completed an fMRI hyperscanning conflict discussion task. Results revealed CBC between emotion-related brain regions. Exploratory analyses indicated CBC is associated with parenting and adolescent depressive symptoms.