Longitudinal Relations Among Language Skills,Anger Expression,and Regulatory Strategies in Early Childhood

Researchers have suggested that as children's language skill develops in early childhood, it comes to help children regulate their emotions (Cole, Armstrong, & Pemberton, 2010; Kopp, 1989), but the pathways by which this occurs have not been studied empirically. In a longitudinal study of 120 children from 18 to 48 months of age, associations among child language skill, observed anger expression, and regulatory strategies during a delay task were examined. Toddlers with better language skill, and whose language skill increased more over time, appeared less angry at 48 months and their anger declined more over time. Two regulatory strategies, support seeking and distraction, explained a portion of the variance in the association between language skill and anger expression after toddlerhood.     

School reform policy in England since 1988: relentless pursuit of the unattainable

There is growing concern that almost 20 years after the 1988 Education Act, top‐down, large‐scale reform has stalled. The policy mix of choice, competition, markets, regulation, accountability and leadership seems not to have closed the gap between advantaged and disadvantaged areas and individuals, while most variations in school performance can be explained in terms of intake differences. This paper reviews policy and progress since 1988 and assesses the extent to which central government has achieved its educational aims. Unacknowledged tensions and contradictions are identified in structures and practices that are supposed to constitute a reliable framework for sustainable improvement. The conclusion is drawn that since 1988 the national government apparatus has itself become an important obstacle to further progress. An independent review of policy‐making and implementation is recommended so that schools and colleges are enabled to contribute more effectively to improvements in the quality of education.     

Randomised controlled trial of incentives to improve attendance at adult literacy classes

Background: Incentives have been proposed as a method to improve attendance in adult literacy classes. In the UK, several areas have piloted the use of incentives to promote attendance at adult literacy classes. To date no rigorous evaluation of this policy has been undertaken. This paper describes (as far as we are aware) the only UK‐based randomised controlled trial to evaluate the use of financial incentives in order to promote attendance in classes for adult learners.

Methods: We used a cluster‐randomised design. Twenty‐nine adult literacy classes were randomised in two groups using minimisation. Intervention group learners received £5 (US$10) for each class attended. The main outcome was class attendance; the secondary outcome was literacy scores.

Results: After allocation, one class was found to be ineligible for the study. In the 28 remaining classes there was a statistically significant reduction of about 1.5 sessions (95% confidence interval (CI) 0.28, 2.79; p = 0.019) attended by the intervention group compared with control, after adjusting for cluster size and baseline scores. The difference in reading scores between the intervention and control group, conditioned on baseline scores, was ?2.38 (with controls scoring higher than the intervention group), but this difference was not statistically significant (95% CI ?7.40 to 2.57, p = 0.33).

Conclusion: Payments to attend adult literacy classes had an adverse effect on attendance. This trial needs urgent replication, ideally with a larger incentive, before this approach is widely used by policy makers.     

When a Culture Takes a Trip: Evidence of Heritage and Enculturation in Early Conceptions of Art

This study in social cognition has been focused on exploration of ways in which cultural contexts shape formation of knowledge about art in early childhood years. Focusing of the connotative rather than denotative meanings of the term art, this study was designed to examine how this concept functions in a variety of cultural contexts. The method of structured interviews was used to elicit answers of four- and five-year-old children in Canada, France, and Taiwan to questions regarding the nature of art and its salient characteristics. In particular, this study addressed questions about portability of culture and the effects of heritage and enculturation in the formation of social knowledge among individuals whose cultural identity is negotiated in the context of a ‘transplanted’ culture. Responses of francophone children in the Canadian province of Quebec were contrasted with those of their French counterparts, as well as their Canadian peers from European ancestry other than French living in the province of British Columbia. Similarly, responses of interviewees in Taiwan, ROC were compared to the reported beliefs about art of young Chinese-Canadians. The results of this study bring support to the theory of modified cultural pluralism that emphasizes the interplay between the original cultural beliefs and values and those prevalent in the societies that become new home for a transplanted culture. Implications of the study findings to art education are discussed. Research reported in this paper has been supported by a grant from the Social Studies and Humanities Research Council of Canada and the France-Canada Accord.     

科学博物馆与科学中心——发展历史及其根源①

本文以科学博物馆和科学中心的发展阶段为线索,综述了几个世纪以来科学传播的历史发展,阐述了科学实践如何嵌入到博物馆的展览实践之中并从中发展起来,以及关于科学在社会中的地位的观念变化如何在科学博物馆和科学中心得到反映,还展现了日益受到关注的科学传播如何在科学博物馆和科学中心层面体现出以公众需求为本。     

Les capacités humaines sont des constructions sociales. Essai sur la théorie de Vygotsky

In Vygotsky's theory, the differentiation between genetic psychology and psychology of education has no sense. This thesis is proven by the exposition of some basic psychological principles governing Vygotsky's approach to psychology. Mediation of the psychological processes is the central fact of Vygotsky's conception; socially elaborated systems of signs are the means of mediation; these allow a control of the processes of behavior. Internalization and sociogenesis, which derive directly from this conception, are two inseparable aspects of the same process of construction of the different psychological capacities; on a certain level of development, they lead to a quasi-social behavior of the subjet towards himself. The differenciation of functions is the main form of construction of new capacities: the analyses of the development of language is a good illustration of this principle. Through the analysis of Vygotsky's theory one can discover some important guide lines for research in psychology.     

Public accountability and the project-grant mechanism

The project-grant mechanism is a major determinant of research styles and the direction and degree of scientific progress. Insofar as such research increasingly serves as the source of technology, and thus of economic, social and political change, the mechanism also influences, if only indirectly, the societal condition. In its current form the mechanism permits the support of significant amounts of research to be determined on the basis of scientific merit. The result has been the substitution of scientific progress for the achievement of tangible technical ends as the measure of public accountability. Given the increased appearance of undesirable social consequences based, in part, on scientific accomplishments this substitution is now seriously questioned. It has given rise to several attempts to make academic research more responsive to public needs while attempting to preserve the essentials of academic freedom.