Friendship similarities in internalizing problems in early childhood

A key factor identified in friendship formation and stability is similarity. Homophily of externalizing problems has been reported frequently, but less attention has been directed at homophily of internalizing problems. Whether young children who are friends resemble each other in their internalizing problems is thus largely unknown. In order to increase understanding of the social risk factors implicated in the etiology of internalizing problems, it is important to establish whether internalizing problems cluster in friendships. The present study examines homophily of internalizing problems while controlling for externalizing problems in a sample of children aged 4–8.     

Online multiplayer games for the social interactions of children with autism spectrum disorder: a resource for inclusive education

ABSTRACT

This article describes the support for social interactions received by three students with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) through their multimodal engagements with Minecraft®. The data were collected through at-screen observations and semi-structured interviews. Multimodal analysis of the data demonstrated that online multiplayer games supported social interactions through modes, such as speech, writing and gesture, and within physical and virtual spaces. The analysis revealed that online multiplayer games provided platforms for the students to use speech to engage in reciprocal conversations, to share information, to make requests, to give commands and to direct others. Additionally, screen-based written texts were used to attract the attention of others, send messages, communicate rules and maintain engagements with others within the students’ physical and virtual worlds. Furthermore, the findings showed that online multiplayer games supported the students’ uses, interpretations and mirroring of gestures for social interactions. The findings have implications for providing opportunities to support social interactions in multimodal ways that social spaces in face-to-face and offline contexts do not allow. The findings offer implications for targeting the students’ interests in online multiplayer games to support their capacity to initiate and sustain social interactions in inclusive educational settings.     

An Alternate Multiple-Choice Scoring Procedure in a Macroeconomics Course

In the standard scoring procedure for multiple‐choice exams, students must choose exactly one response as correct. Often students may be unable to identify the correct response, but can determine that some of the options are incorrect. This partial knowledge is not captured in the standard scoring format. The Coombs elimination procedure is an alternate scoring procedure designed to capture partial knowledge. This paper presents the results of a semester‐long experiment where both scoring procedures were compared on four exams in an undergraduate macroeconomics course. Statistical analysis suggests that the Coombs procedure is a viable alternative to the standard scoring procedure. Implications for classroom instruction and future research are also presented.     

Monte Carlo Based Null Distribution for an Alternative Goodness-of-Fit Test Statistic in IRT Models

Assessing the correspondence between model predictions and observed data is a recommended procedure for justifying the application of an IRT model. However, with shorter tests, current goodness-of-fit procedures that assume precise point estimates of ability, are inappropriate. The present paper describes a goodness-of-fit statistic that considers the imprecision with which ability is estimated and involves constructing item fit tables based on each examinee's posterior distribution of ability, given the likelihood of their response pattern and an assumed marginal ability distribution. However, the posterior expectations that are computed are dependent and the distribution of the goodness-of-fit statistic is unknown. The present paper also describes a Monte Carlo resampling procedure that can be used to assess the significance of the fit statistic and compares this method with a previously used method. The results indicate that the method described herein is an effective and reasonably simple procedure for assessing the validity of applying IRT models when ability estimates are imprecise.     

Providing Subscale Scores for Diagnostic Information: A Case Study When the Test is Essentially Unidimensional

Although reliability of subscale scores may be suspect, subscale scores are the most common type of diagnostic information included in student score reports. This research compared methods for augmenting the reliability of subscale scores for an 8th-grade mathematics assessment. Yen's Objective Performance Index, Wainer et al.'s augmented scores, and scores based on multidimensional item response theory (IRT) models were compared and found to improve the precision of the subscale scores. However, the augmented subscale scores were found to be more highly correlated and less variable than unaugmented scores. The meaningfulness of reporting such augmented scores as well as the implications for validity and test development are discussed.     

Predicting Children's Friendship Status from Their Dyadic Interaction in Structured Situations of Potential Conflict

Dyads of 8-year-old friends identified by sociometric friendship nominations were followed through the end of the school year to determine if they remained friends. These dyads as well as a control group of nonfriends were observed while participating in two structured tasks designed to simulate real life social situations of potential conflict. When negotiating the sharing of an object, friends made more proposals than nonfriends, spent more time negotiating, and compromised more in making their counterproposals. Compared with dyads in which the friendship did not continue through the end of the school year, dyads of continuing friends exhibited greater sensitivity in their negotiations. During a fast-paced, competitive game, friends engaged in more competitive behavior and followed the rules more closely than did nonfriends. However, behavior in this game was unrelated to the continuation of friendship.     

Transformations and self-discovery: mature-age women's reflections on returning to university study

Research has highlighted the challenges that women face as mature-age students in higher education. The challenges are particularly acute when a woman is the first in her family to go to university. Many women begin their journey as students with considerable self-doubt and lack of confidence. They may also face an ongoing struggle to find a way to combine their studies with other family responsibilities. This article presents the reflections of 18 women enrolled as mature-age students at an Australian university campus. Their triumphs, achievements and self-discoveries, as well as their struggles whilst undertaking their studies, are explored. In presenting the reflections of this group, the transformative nature of these experiences is highlighted, not only for the women themselves, but also potentially for their families, particularly their children. These narratives of achievement and transformation ultimately provide inspiration to other women contemplating such a step as well as insight for academic administrators and teaching staff regarding the significant personal change this decision can engender.     

Relationship between creativity and classroom behavior

A relationship between creativity and misbehavior in the classroom often has been presumed by educators, but actually has had little substantiation. The present study attempts to clarify the dynamics of that relationship by determining the extent to which creativity test scores predict identification of students by teachers and/or peers as misbehavers. Intercorrelations between creativity subtests and peer perception of creative behavior suggest that students high in elaboration and in originality are more likely to be described by peers as exhibiting creative behavior. Results generally failed to support that high creativity scores predict teacher identification of students as behavior problems. However, the sociometric variables of popularity and misbehavior were significantly correlated with high creativity scores. Implications for further study are discussed.     

Children's Activity Levels and Lesson Context during Third-Grade Physical Education

Abstract

Little is known about children's activity levels during physical education classes and how they relate to the national health objectives for the year 2000 (U.S. Public Health Service, 1991). We systematically observed students' physical activity and associated variables in 293 third-grade physical education lessons in 95 schools in 4 Child and Adolescent Trial for Cardio-vascular Health (CATCH) centers in California, Louisiana, Minnesota, and Texas. The influence of independent variables was assessed simultaneously by analysis of variance. Significant differences among study centers were evidenced for both physical activity and lesson context variables. Additionally, there were differences among variables for lesson location and teacher specialty, but not for teacher gender. Boys were more active than girls, but only during free play opportunities. The findings have widespread implications for educators responsible for developing and implementing health-related physical education programs, as well as for designing and conducting staff development.