Do teachers’ conflicting testimonies influence children’s decisions about unconventional rules of counting?

This study addresses the influence of schoolteachers’ testimonies on children’s conceptions about unconventional correct counts or pseudoerrors. A total of 158 kindergarteners and second graders were individually interviewed: Fifty children participated in the baseline group (to determine their judgments about pseudoerrors without the presence of informants), and 108 children participated in the experimental group. There were two sessions—2 weeks apart—for the experimental group: in session 1, children faced the conflicting claims provided by three teachers vs. a dissident teacher about the correctness of different pseudoerrors made by the characters of a computer game. The participants had to decide which of the informants was right, providing a rationale for their choice. In session 2, children evaluated the same types of pseudoerrors but in absence of informants (similar to the baseline group procedure). We assessed the relative influence of the majority, and whether the presentation of teachers’ controversial judgments improved children’s understanding of counting. The findings revealed that children’s own ideas prevailed over the pressure of the majority: at both ages, children tended to endorse claims that considered pseudoerrors as incorrect counts, regardless of the source of information (majority or dissenter), and their tendency to reject pseudoerrors remained firm in session 2. Overall, results from the experimental and the baseline groups suggest that children’s adherence to the conventional rules of counting is strong and little susceptible to influence and revision. We discuss the educational implications of these findings as well as the limitations of the experimental paradigm used in this and other studies in the field of testimony.     

Is Caregiver Gender Important for Boys and Girls? Gender-Specific Child–Caregiver Interactions and Attachment Relationships

Outcomes of studies with exclusively or predominantly female caregivers suggest that boys in child care are involved with interactions, attachment relationships, and care of lower quality than girls. We investigated to what extent child gender (N = 38, 19 boys) and caregiver gender (N = 38, 19 males) is associated with child–caregiver interactions and attachment relationships. Children’s involvement and caregivers’ sensitive and stimulation behaviors were observed using systematic observations of semistructured play. Children’s secure attachment with caregivers was observed using the Attachment Q-Sort. Research Findings: Male and female caregivers showed similar sensitive behaviors toward boys and girls, and children had similar levels of secure attachment with male and female caregivers. Female caregivers had a tendency to stimulate boys more than girls, and this behavior was associated with a lower secure attachment in boys. Girls’ involvement with the caregiver was associated with male and female caregivers’ sensitive behavior and with male but not female caregivers’ stimulation. Conversely, boys’ involvement with the caregiver was elicited by sensitive but not stimulating behavior of male caregivers but not by female caregivers. Practice or Policy: Boys and girls can have equally positive interactions and attachment relationships with both male and female caregivers.     

Gender ratio and cognitive profiles in dyslexia: a cross-national study

The purpose of this study was to analyze possible gender-related differences in the prevalence of dyslexia. A cross-national comparison of Spain and Guatemala was conducted. Both countries speak the same language but have a different standard of living and educational level. A second purpose of this study was to analyze the cognitive profile of Guatemalan and Spanish males and females children with dyslexia. The log-linear analysis indicated that the number of dyslexics detected was different across the countries but there were no differences as a function of gender. Similarly, there were no significant or meaningful differences between dyslexic males and females in the cognitive processes involved in reading. Therefore, gender differences do not appear to be characteristic of developmental dyslexia.     

The quality of teaching staff: higher education institutions’ compliance with the European Standards and Guidelines for Quality Assurance—the case of Portugal

In recent years, initiatives for the improvement of teaching quality have been pursued both at European and national levels. Such is the case of the European Standards and Guidelines for Quality Assurance (ESG) and of legislation passed by several European countries, including Portugal, in response to European policy developments driven by the Lisbon Strategy and the Bologna Process. This paper is concerned with the institutional level implementation of European and national policies which target the quality of teaching staff. It reports on the findings of a study conducted in order to analyse if Portuguese higher education institutions are taking measures to improve and assure the quality of teaching staff in compliance particularly with the ESG. Findings suggest that this compliance is only partial. Although mechanisms exist for the selection, recruitment and appraisal of academics, other instruments and measures meant to continuously improve teaching staff quality, such as institutional support for skills development, pedagogic training, material infrastructure and motivation strategies, such as awards and recognition, are still incipient.     

Caregiver’s Mind-Mindedness in Early Center-based Childcare

Recent studies suggest that mind-mindedness is an important element of caregiver–child interactions in family and childcare context. This study investigated caregivers’ mind-mindedness in a nationally representative Dutch sample and its relation with structural quality factors (i.e., group size, caregivers’ education and work experience, group type, and situation) and caregivers’ interactive skills. Participants were 99 caregivers recruited in 50 childcare centers. Mind-mindedness was assessed with observations during free-play and lunch situations in infant, preschool, and mixed-age groups (0–4-year-olds). Caregivers’ appropriate and nonattuned mind-related comments were coded as individual (over/toward one child) or group related (over or toward more than one child). Caregivers’ interactive skills were assessed using the Caregiver Interaction Profile (CIP) scales. Research Findings: Caregivers generally refer to children’s desires, thoughts, and emotions in about 10% of their verbal interactions, with a low incidence rate of nonattuned comments (< 1%). Mind-mindedness was found to be significantly associated with structural quality characteristics and caregivers’ interactive skills. Caregivers with greater interactive skills produced fewer individual and more group appropriate mind-minded comments in mixed-age groups. Practice or Policy: We discuss the relevance of mind-minded comments at individual and group level for the future study of mental-state talk in early childhood education and care.     

Early Evidence of Modular Templates Used to Draw Human Figures on Mural Paintings: The Etruscan Tomba degli Scudi in Tarquinia

ABSTRACT

During recent conservation work carried out on the Etruscan mural paintings in the Tomba degli Scudi, (Tarquinia, 4th C. BCE), the study of the execution techniques led to an amazing discovery: human figures were composed using templates of single body parts. In the Tomba degli Scudi, the perfect overlap of limbs, chests, and heads was confirmed after processing rectified photogrammetric images of the wall paintings with photo editing software. The study also highlighted that such templates were probably made of rigid material and each one had three different sizes, in order to represent the hierarchical organization of the painted characters. In the past, scholars have demonstrated that templates were used to realize a number of Etruscan wall paintings. However, they had reported that only whole figures were reproduced. The notion that such templates consisted of single anatomical parts purposely created to portray figures in different poses never occurs in their studies. In fact, the use of modular templates, also called patroni and antibola, is acknowledged only from the Middle Ages onwards both in western and eastern art. Earlier evidence had never been found. This article aims to predate the use of modular shapes by about ten centuries, thus changing our knowledge of technologies whose tradition spans from the Classical Antiquity to the Middle Ages. Consequently, a new approach to the study of transfer techniques of preparatory drawings in Etruscan wall paintings is established. Furthermore, this article shows that, as in the Middle Ages, the size of such templates was scaled up or down to create hierarchies among the painted characters.     

Mainstreaming Information Literacy Skills Into a Social Enterprise Environment

The need for the integration of information literacy (IL) into the world of social enterprise (organizations that apply market-based strategies to achieve a social purpose) is critical for like organizations providing workforce development services to disabled populations. The skill set associated with IL is vital to the success of this population to achieve economic self sufficiency. Disability Program Navigators trained in information sciences and placed into community-based One Stop Career Centers can serve as the gatekeepers for, and trainers on, the multiple resources available to support this goal. This article examines an exciting new program model that charts the course for expanding collaborative IL and social enterprise pilots nationwide.     

Parental child abuse potential and subsequent coping competence in disadvantaged preschool children: moderating effects of sex and ethnicity

This study evaluated the effects of abuse potential in parents on subsequent coping competence domains in their children, using a model empirically supported in a high-risk community sample by Moreland and Dumas (2007). Data from an ethnically diverse sample of 579 parents enrolled in the PACE (Parenting Our Children to Excellence) program was used to evaluate whether parental child abuse potential assessed at pre-intervention negatively contributed to child affective, achievement, and social coping competence in preschoolers one year later, and whether these associations were moderated by sex or ethnicity. Cross-sectional results indicated that parental child abuse potential was negatively related to child affective and achievement coping competence, after accounting for variance associated with child behavior problems. However, child abuse potential was not predictive of subsequent coping competence in any domain after controlling for previous levels of child coping competence. No moderating effects were found for sex and ethnicity, but results showed main effects of sex and ethnicity in cross-sectional analyses. Clinical implications and future directions are discussed.