Impact of North Carolina's Early Childhood Programs and Policies on Educational Outcomes in Elementary School

North Carolina's Smart Start and More at Four (MAF) early childhood programs were evaluated through the end of elementary school (age 11) by estimating the impact of state funding allocations to programs in each of 100 counties across 13 consecutive years on outcomes for all children in each county‐year group (n = 1,004,571; 49% female; 61% non‐Latinx White, 30% African American, 4% Latinx, 5% other). Student‐level regression models with county and year fixed effects indicated significant positive impacts of each program on reading and math test scores and reductions in special education and grade retention in each grade. Effect sizes grew or held steady across years. Positive effects held for both high‐ and low‐poverty families, suggesting spillover of effects to nonparticipating peers.     

Visual-temporal processing in reading-disabled and normal twins

Percent contrast thresholds for the detection of 1 or 8 cycle/degree sinusoidalgratings flickering in counter-phase at 1 or 10Hz were evaluated in 356 8–19 year old twinsand their school-age siblings. 107 of the twinshad a school history of reading disability.Subjects adjusted contrast levels to thresholdfrom above and below in a total of 32 trialsover about 12 minutes. Internal reliability foreach of the 4 stimulus conditions was 0.8, andeach stimulus condition was similarlycorrelated at 0.2–0.3 with several measuresof reading and phonological processing,suggesting modest relations with readingdeficits for both parvocellular (sustained) andmagnocellular (transient) visual processes. Thevariance in the word-reading measure that wasrelated to visual contrast thresholds waslargely shared with full-scale IQ, although IQand reading each also accounted for small(1%) but statistically significant amounts ofadditional independent variance in contrastthresholds. Word reading and nonword readingalso accounted for largely overlapping variancein contrast thresholds, but with a small (1%)amount of independent variance for nonwordreading. A behavioral-genetic analysis of themonozygotic and dizygotic twin correlationsindicated no significant genetic influence onindividual differences in contrast-thresholdlevels.     

Definitions of bullying: a comparison of terms used,and age and gender differences,in a fourteen-country international comparison

The study of school bullying has recently assumed an international dimension, but is faced with difficulties in finding terms in different languages to correspond to the English word bullying. To investigate the meanings given to various terms, a set of 25 stick-figure cartoons was devised, covering a range of social situations between peers. These cartoons were shown to samples of 8- and 14-year-old pupils (N = 1,245; n = 604 at 8 years, n = 641 at 14 years) in schools in 14 different countries, who judged whether various native terms cognate to bullying, applied to them. Terms from 10 Indo-European languages and three Asian languages were sampled. Multidimensional scaling showed that 8-year-olds primarily discriminated nonaggressive and aggressive cartoon situations; however, 14-year-olds discriminated fighting from physical bullying, and also discriminated verbal bullying and social exclusion. Gender differences were less appreciable than age differences. Based on the 14-year-old data, profiles of 67 words were then constructed across the five major cartoon clusters. The main types of terms used fell into six groups: bullying (of all kinds), verbal plus physical bullying, solely verbal bullying, social exclusion, solely physical aggression, and mainly physical aggression. The findings are discussed in relation to developmental trends in how children understand bullying, the inferences that can be made from cross-national studies, and the design of such studies.     

Reading,listening and feeling: audio feedback as a component of an inclusive learning culture at universities

Feedback on student performance is an important part of university assessment procedures. However, effective feedback is hampered by various obstacles. The growing heterogeneity of the student body increases these barriers, particularly with regard to the reception of feedback. One strategy to overcome these obstacles can be to communicate feedback in the form of audio files. The study presented here tested the possibilities of this procedure by giving students feedback, both as an audio file and in writing. The survey shows that some of the students find audio feedback particularly easy to assimilate, while others prefer written feedback. The aim of the study was to go beyond the level of simplistic evaluation (better–worse), and to be able to make more nuanced statements about the strengths and also the weaknesses of audio feedback. All the students stated that they felt the audio feedback was more personal and appreciative than the written feedback. It becomes clear that the different needs of students can best be catered for with a variety of forms of communication. Audio feedback cannot be considered a comprehensive solution to the different problems associated with feedback, but it can contribute to the development of an inclusive university.     

Truth is in the eye of the beholder: Perception of the Müller-Lyer illusion in dogs

Visual illusions are objects that are made up of elements that are arranged in such a way as to result in erroneous perception of the objects’ physical properties. Visual illusions are used to study visual perception in humans and nonhuman animals, since they provide insight into the psychological and cognitive processes underlying the perceptual system. In a set of three experiments, we examined whether dogs were able to learn a relational discrimination and to perceive the Müller-Lyer illusion. In Experiment 1, dogs were trained to discriminate line lengths using a two-alternative forced choice procedure on a touchscreen. Upon learning the discrimination, dogs’ generalization to novel exemplars and the threshold of their abilities were tested. In the second experiment, dogs were presented with the Müller-Lyer illusion as test trials, alongside additional test trials that controlled for overall stimulus size. Dogs appeared to perceive the illusion; however, control trials revealed that they were using global size to solve the task. Experiment 3 presented modified stimuli that have been known to enhance perception of the illusion in other species. However, the dogs’ performance remained the same. These findings reveal evidence of relational learning in dogs. However, their failure to perceive the illusion emphasizes the importance of using a full array of control trials when examining these paradigms, and it suggests that visual acuity may play a crucial role in this perceptual phenomenon.     

Early Childhood Education in Societal Context: Teachers in Three Countries Speak About Early Childhood Education

Building on the cross-cultural patterns and systems research as well as social constructivism, in-depth interviews were conducted with key informant early childhood teachers in three regions with similar characteristics in Sweden, Russia, and in the United States. Inductive analyses revealed differences in responses among Swedish, Russian and American informants related to the macro-, meso-, and micro-levels of societal system. United States teacher informants had a great number of separate topic comments and distributed them more evenly across all levels than did Russian and Swedish teacher informants who had more emphasis at the meso level. United States and Russian teacher informants discussed the lack of societal support for young children and their families, while Swedish teacher informants seemed to almost take this support for ranted. United States teacher informants suggested that early childhood programs were important in developing support networks among parents, while Russian teacher informants often gave information to parents and Swedish teachers spoke about mutually sharing information. United States teacher informants desired both strict rules with strong academic content and extension of the child's initiations through play; they emphasized activities and materials. Swedish teachers discussed a child- centered approach to social learning and creativity and desired to be with children rather than do activities with them. Russian teacher informants emphasized the importance of obedience, aesthetic education, and preparation for school and the labor of the larger society. These study outcomes deepen understanding about the multidemensional relationships between early childhood programs and societal contexts in which they are embedded, and they suggest alternative approaches to working with young children and their families.     

Pretraining and discrimination reversal learning by rhesus monkeys

Groups of five to seven macaques were trained on repeated reversals of a visual (or spatial) discrimination habit after no pretraining, extended discrimination training, or repeated reversal training on spatial (or visual) cues. Neither sort of pretraining had a significant effect on reversal learning on the second cue. These results indicate that monkeys’ capacity to develop generalized “win-stay, lose-shift” hypotheses may have been exaggerated in previous experiments.     

The company of others: generating knowhow in later life

Abstract

This paper explores some important aspects of the generation of practical knowledge through later life. It is about the relationship between knowledge generation, agency and capability, developed informally through the life experiences in and through the Company of Others. It emphasises how the everyday processes of socialisation create invaluable opportunities to know how to navigate the diverse and complex changes thrown up in the journey through later life. It asks where and how knowhow is generated after workforce participation ceases and pays particular attention to ‘third places’, opportunities in the community that enable social connections beyond the first and second places, home and work, respectively. The empirical and theoretical data come from two main Australian sources amplified by new international research in cognate fields. The first is a study about Generating knowhow in later life. The second derives from insights from research for a book into the origins and nature of the now international Men’s Shed Movement.     

Increasing Teacher Mathematical Talk During Shared Book Reading in the Preschool Classroom: A Pilot Study

Research Findings: Shared book reading provides opportunities for adults to engage in literacy-related interactions with children in meaningful ways. Research has examined various dimensions of adult and child behavior during shared book-reading interactions with some focus on how book type affects the reading experience. Little research, however, has examined systematically the use of shared book reading in a mathematical context. Thus, the purpose of the study was twofold: (a) to examine the effect of book type on teacher use of mathematical talk during shared book reading in preschool classrooms and (b) to examine the effect of training teachers specifically to use mathematical talk during shared book reading. A multielement design with 2 female preschool teachers who taught in inclusion classrooms in an urban school district was used. Results generally indicated that the use of mathematical storybooks resulted in increased teacher mathematical talk compared to the use of nonmathematical storybooks. Training and instructional supports resulted in an increase in mathematical talk over that achieved by mathematical storybooks alone. Practice or Policy: Because shared book reading is a common practice in preschool classrooms, strategically choosing books to address mathematical skills can increase attention to mathematics throughout daily routines and provide a means of increasing teacher mathematical talk.