Early Head Start Relationships: Association with Program Outcomes

Research Findings: Interpersonal relationships among staff caregivers, parents, and children have been recommended as essential aspects of early childhood intervention. This study explored the associations of these relationships with program outcomes for children and parents in 3 Early Head Start programs. A total of 71 children (8–35 months, M = 20), their parents, and 33 program caregivers participated. The results showed that caregiver–child relationships were moderately positive, secure, and interactive and improved in quality over 6 months, whereas caregiver–parent relationships were generally positive and temporally stable. Caregiver–child relationships were more positive for girls, younger children, and those in home-visiting programs. Caregiver–parent relationships were more positive when parents had higher education levels and when staff had more years of experience, had more positive work environments, or had attained a Child Development Associate credential or associate's level of education rather than a 4-year academic degree. Hierarchical linear modeling analysis suggested that the quality of the caregiver–parent relationship was a stronger predictor of both child and parent outcomes than was the quality of the caregiver–child relationship. There were also moderation effects: Stronger associations of caregiver–parent relationships with observed positive parenting were seen in parents with lower education levels and when program caregivers had higher levels of education. Practice or Policy: The results support the importance of caregiver–family relationships in early intervention programs and suggest that staff need to be prepared to build relationships with children and families in individualized ways. Limitations of this study and implications for program improvements and future research are discussed.     

Guyanese Mass Games: spectacles that “moulded” the nation in a North Korean way

ABSTRACT

This paper examines the Guyanese Mass Games, multi-media spectacles of visual and performing arts initiated by the leader of the Co-Operative Republic of Guyana and performed by Guyanese artists and youth aided by North Korean artists. North Korea and Guyana staged the games as the postcolonial and anti-imperialist expression of a newly established socialist regime in the global South in the context of the Cold War. Staged annually from 1980 to 1992 as part of the national day celebrations, they sparked debate, antagonism, and ethnic and political conflict in Guyana. The encounter of North Korean artists and Guyanese artists resulted in the new cultural tradition of the Guyanese Mass Games, which incorporated elements of Guyana's local culture into the form of the North Korean Mass Games. The paper expands the method of “inter-referencing” to incorporate a cross-continental dimension to analyze the cultural event of the Mass Games in North Korea and Guyana. The analysis in this paper is grounded in archival materials relating to the Guyanese Mass Games, such as sketch paintings, choreography books, photos, and newspaper articles, and examines how the representation of the people and land in the Mass Games captures the ambivalent character of decolonization and modernization projects in the socialist regime of Guyana.     

Inclusion in South Korea: The current situation and future directions

Inclusion has occupied the centre of attention in education in many countries for the past few decades, and it is the same in South Korea. Although most researchers and educators agree that inclusion is necessary for equal educational opportunities and social participation of students with disabilities, there are debates about the most effective and appropriate services for these students and how teachers should deliver these services. The purpose of this article is to introduce the educational system and the unique cultural situation in South Korea to the reader and to suggest future directions for successful inclusion. Inclusion can grow and be meaningful in South Korea if it is based on the thoughtful and sustained efforts of people who have the passion and compassion that inspires others to listen to different opinions. Finally, successful inclusion can come about when the government supports changes in the community and schools.     

Fast and reliable droplet transport on single-plate electrowetting on dielectrics using nonfloating switching method

In a droplet transport based on electrowetting on dielectrics, the parallel-plate configuration is more popular than the single-plate one because the droplet transport becomes increasingly difficult without cover plate. In spite of the improved transport performance, the parallel-plate configuration often limits the access to the peripheral components, requesting the removal of the cover plate, the single-plate configuration. We investigated the fundamental features of droplet transport for the single-plate configuration. We compared the performance of several switching methods with respect to maximum speed of successive transport without failure and suggested nonfloating switching method which is inherently free from the charge-residue problem and exerts greater force on a droplet than conventional switching methods. A simple theory is provided to understand the different results for the switching methods.     

Integrating Reform‐Oriented Math Instruction in Special Education Settings

This mixed‐methods study assessed the effects of Enhanced Anchored Instruction (EAI) on the math performance of adolescents with learning disabilities in math (MLD). A quasi‐experimental pretest–posttest control group design with switching replications was used to measure students' computation and problem‐solving skills on EAI compared to control conditions. Scores on the curriculum‐aligned and standardized measures showed improved problem‐solving skills but results were mixed for computation. To augment the numerical data, a qualitative inquiry captured day‐to‐day classroom activities. The findings showed that problem‐based curricula such as EAI have the potential for helping students with MLD develop deeper understandings of math concepts but that considerable effort is required to structure and teach these concepts in ways students with MLD understand.     

The relationship among counselor experience level, empathic accuracy, and counseling outcome in the early phase of counseling

The current study examined a mediating effect of empathic accuracy on the relationship between counselor experience level and counseling outcome. Data were collected from 48 counselor?Cclient dyads in real-life counseling settings. Empathic accuracy and counseling outcome were assessed by using client perceptions of the first three audiotaped counseling sessions. Ickes?? standard empathic accuracy assessment procedure was used with modifications to assess empathic accuracy. The procedure to assess empathic evaluation included three steps: (a) clients recognize and write down their thoughts and feelings while listening to the audiotapes, (b) counselors infer their client??s thoughts and feelings, (c) The third raters rate the statements of counselors?? empathic accuracy. Correlational analysis revealed that counselor experience level, empathic accuracy, and counseling outcome were positively related to one another. A path analysis was used to test the model that counselor experience level affects counseling outcome through the effect of empathic accuracy. Both paths from counselor experience level to empathic accuracy and from empathic accuracy to counseling outcome were significant, along with a significant mediating effect of empathic accuracy. These results show enhancing empathic accuracy is critical for counseling outcome. Limitations of the current study and suggestions for future research were discussed.     

Third Culture Kids: Growing up with mobility and cross-cultural transitions

The study reported in this paper focuses on the narratives of six adult Third Culture Kids (TCKs) who lived in multiple countries during developmental years. It explores their childhood experiences with mobility and the impact that multiple shifts in location, culture, and language have had on their adult lives. The results indicate that they come to terms with their identities, which are closely connected to multiple cultures and countries. Participants reported a desire to maintain nomadic lives, which may have been impacted by the multilingual competence and nuanced cultural understanding they gained through mobile upbringings. They also commonly expressed a desire to build social relationships with other individuals with migrant backgrounds. The results demonstrate the necessity of supporting the growing community of TCKs in maximizing the potential benefits of cross-cultural experiences while helping them navigate the challenges of identity, transition, and relocation.     

Gender differences in information behavior concerning Wikipedia,an unorthodox information source?

This study examined gender differences in information behavior concerning Wikipedia. Data were collected using a Web survey in spring 2008. The study used a convenient sample that consisted of students who had taken an introductory undergraduate course at a large public university in the Midwestern United States. A total of 134 out of 409 students participated in the study. As information consumers, male students used Wikipedia more frequently than their female counterparts did. With respect to the purposes of Wikipedia use, male students used Wikipedia for entertainment or idle reading more than their female counterparts, while there were no gender differences regarding Wikipedia use for other purposes. Male students were more likely to discount the risks involved when using Wikipedia information compared to their female counterparts. Furthermore, male students had higher ratings than female students regarding most aspects of Wikipedia, including outcome expectations, perceptions about its information quality, belief in the Wikipedia project itself, emotional states while using Wikipedia, confidence in evaluating information quality, and further exploration. Finally, there was no gender difference regarding the number of years of Wikipedia use. However, male students reported having more positive experiences with the information quality of Wikipedia than their female counterparts. Overall, the findings of this study were consistent with those of previous studies concerning gender. Given the acknowledgment of the knowledge value of Wikipedia in recent literature, it seems that there are more advantages to using Wikipedia than there are disadvantages. The current study shows that male students seem to enjoy such benefits more than female students and may have more opportunities to develop their information literacy skills than female students by actively using Wikipedia. This suggests that educators need to encourage female students in particular to explore Wikipedia strategically as an initial information source so that they can develop their information literacy skills for unconventional sources.     

Fuzzy sliding mode control design of Markovian jump systems with time-varying delay

This paper studies the robust stochastic stabilization problem for a class of fuzzy Markovian jump systems with time-varying delay and external disturbances via sliding mode control scheme. Based on the equivalent-input-disturbance (EID) approach, an online disturbance estimator is implemented to reject the unknown disturbance effect on the considered system. Specifically, to obtain exact EID estimation Luenberger fuzzy state observer and a low-pass filter incorporated to the closed-loop system. Moreover, novel fuzzy EID-based sliding mode control law is constructed to ensure the stability of the closed-loop system with satisfactory disturbance rejection performance. By employing Lyapunov stability theory and some integral inequalities, a new set of delay-dependent robust stability conditions is derived in terms of linear matrix inequalities (LMIs). The resulting LMI is used to find the gains of the state-feedback controller and the state observer a for the resulting closed-loop system. At last, numerical simulations based on the single-link arm robot model are provided to illustrate the proposed design technique.