The effect of the Horsham Greenpower Goblin Challenge on children's attitudes towards science,engineering and technology

This research examines the effects of the Horsham Greenpower Goblin Challenge (HGGC), a hands-on science, engineering and technology (SET) project, on the attitudes of Year 5, primary-school children towards SET. The data collection centred on pre- and post-HGGC questionnaires using Likert scales and picture/word images of scientists and engineers. It was found that the HGGC did not significantly alter children's attitudes to SET and did not dispel previous negative images and attitudes. It was concluded that a greater understanding and acknowledgement of children's existing attitudes was required when designing initiatives aimed at dispelling negative and promoting positive images of SET.     

Supporting pre-service teachers to enhance the effectiveness of their classroom practice through engaging with the ‘voice’ of their pupils

The research reported here was focussed on accessing the perceptions of pre-service teachers regarding the critical factors which support highly effective learning in schools in the United Kingdom. Their perceptions were arranged into a taxonomy so that they can be used as a starting point for their reflections on the observations they make of teaching and learning in schools with the aim of enhancing the effectiveness of their own teaching. The choice of technique used to access the perceptions was driven by the desire to provide the pre-service teachers with a method that they could use themselves to engage with the ‘voice’ of their own pupils regarding the factors which support effective learning. The engagement of pupil voice has become increasingly significant in understanding effective pedagogy and in securing more personalised approaches to learning in United Kingdom school contexts.     

Towards inclusion: provision for diversity in the transition to school

Policies of inclusion challenge the construct of readiness and require schools to prepare for the diversity of children as they transition to school. However, there is limited empirical evidence concerning how this challenge is met. This paper presents two Australian studies that investigate inclusive practices in the transition to school. Study 1 examined the predictors of child outcomes across a sample of 1831 children in 39 schools. The results indicate that both quantity and quality of programme provision influenced outcomes and that programme effects were particularly potent for children with diverse abilities and backgrounds. Study 2 focuses on pedagogy in three of the schools to highlight how this provision can be achieved. Results show that provisions were reactive, that saliency of children's needs directed school practices and that professional knowledge impacted on measures of quality. Inclusive processes accounting for both child progress and broader family and teaching influences are necessary for improved transition to school.     

The roles of perceived teacher support, motivational climate, and psychological need satisfaction in students' physical education motivation

Research illustrates the positive roles of perceived competence, autonomy, and mastery climate and the negative role of performance climate in student motivation in physical education. Less research has examined perceptions of relationships within this setting (i.e., perceived teacher support and relatedness) and their role in student motivation. The purpose of this study was to test the mediating roles of perceived competence, autonomy, and relatedness in the relationship between social contextual factors and motivation in physical education students (N = 508). Results from structural equation modeling showed that perceived competence, autonomy, and relatedness partially mediated the relationship between perceived teacher support and self-determined motivation and that mastery climate related directly to self-determined motivation. The results highlight the importance of perceived teacher support, mastery climate, and relatedness to motivation in physical education.     

Developing a comprehensive model of risk and protective factors that can predict spelling at age seven: findings from a community sample of Victorian children

The paper reports on a study designed to develop a risk model that can best predict single-word spelling in seven-year-old children when they were aged 4 and 5. Test measures, personal characteristics and environmental influences were all considered as variables from a community sample of 971 children. Strong concurrent correlations were found between single-word spelling and single-word reading while expressive language and, to a lesser extent, receptive language were less strongly correlated. Predictors of single-word spelling at ages 4 and 5 were dominated by child-related factors such as letter knowledge, a history of speech impairment and expressive language along with maternal word reading ability. Based on the strength of the predictive factors identified at both age 4 and 5, our results provide initial support for using a targeted model for screening pre-schoolers at risk of not mastering spelling in a timely manner.     

The etiology of giftedness

Many theories of giftedness either explicitly or implicitly acknowledge the role of genetic influences; yet, empirical work has not been able to establish the impact that genes have specifically on gifted behavior. In contrast, a great deal of research has been targeted at understanding the etiology of individual differences in general and specific cognitive abilities across the entire range of ability and to a lesser extent, high cognitive ability. This paper attempts to outline what we know and what we don't know about the etiology of giftedness as operationally defined as high g. We review studies selected to represent a variety of approaches that each address a different question about genetics and giftedness. These studies include quantitative genetic research which estimate heritability, shared and nonshared family environment – at the high and low ends of intelligence – as well as the heritability of group differences for general cognitive ability and specific cognitive abilities. We discuss the molecular genetic methods and mechanisms contributing to cognitive ability and suggest how epigenetic factors may operate. Quantitative and molecular genetic studies that include endophenotypes representing intelligence at a level closer to the genotype, are also included. This last group of studies represent a relatively new area of work that builds on and extends the extensive groundwork established by classic quantitative genetic studies of behavior.     

Bandpass sorting of heterogeneous cells using a single surface acoustic wave transducer pair

Separation and sorting of biological entities (viruses, bacteria, and cells) is a critical step in any microfluidic lab-on-a-chip device. Acoustofluidics platforms have demonstrated their ability to use physical characteristics of cells to perform label-free separation. Bandpass-type sorting methods of medium-sized entities from a mixture have been presented using acoustic techniques; however, they require multiple transducers, lack support for various target populations, can be sensitive to flow variations, or have not been verified for continuous flow sorting of biological cells. To our knowledge, this paper presents the first acoustic bandpass method that overcomes all these limitations and presents an inherently reconfigurable technique with a single transducer pair for stable continuous flow sorting of blood cells. The sorting method is first demonstrated for polystyrene particles of sizes 6, 10, and 14.5 μm in diameter with measured purity and efficiency coefficients above 75 ± 6% and 85 ± 9%, respectively. The sorting strategy was further validated in the separation of red blood cells from white blood cells and 1 μm polystyrene particles with 78 ± 8% efficiency and 74 ± 6% purity, respectively, at a flow rate of at least 1 μl/min, enabling to process finger prick blood samples within minutes.