The Influence of Student Development Level on Improving Counselor Student Empathy

This cross‐sectional study explored the influence of student development and year‐in‐program on the improvement of affective/trait‐based empathy and cognitive/skill‐based empathy. Two 2 × 2 analyses of variance between 1st‐ and 2nd‐year counseling students revealed mixed findings on the relationship between cognitive development and empathy levels. Results demonstrated clearly, however, that students' affective and cognitive empathy increased from their 1st to 2nd year in a counseling program.     

Emotion and cognition: an intricately bound developmental process

Regulatory aspects of development can best be understood by research that conceptualizes relations between cognition and emotion. The neural mechanisms associated with regulatory processes may be the same as those associated with higher order cognitive processes. Thus, from a developmental cognitive neuroscience perspective, emotion and cognition are dynamically linked and work together to process information and execute action. This article highlights the authors' recent efforts at integrating emotion regulation and cognitive processing during the first year of life by focusing on the methodological criteria outlined by Cole, Martin, and Dennis (this issue), and it discusses the idea that emotion and cognition are an intricately bound developmental process.     

Sibling Differences in Divorced Families

Sibling differences in family processes and individual adjustment were examined for 133 sibling pairs (10–18 years old) in divorced families. Although all siblings differed, siblings who lived apart after their parents' divorce differed more than siblings who lived together, contradicting past research that found negligible effects of shared environment on sibling similarities. The possibility that siblings might live apart because they were initially more different was considered. This hypothesis was not supported in the limited tests permitted by the data. Differences in family processes were associated with differences in adjustment for pairs who lived together as well as pairs who lived apart.     

The Only Thing We Have to Fear is… 120 Characters

Cell phones have been banned in 69% of today’s classrooms (CommonSense, 2010). Reasons for the banning of cell phones may seem obvious—kids will misuse them to cheat, use textese in place of Standard English, cyberbully, and sexting (Brady & Conn, 2006; Johnson, 2004; Obringer & Coffey, 2007). These fears have disregarded the fact that today’s cell phones are inexpensive, mobile computing devices with a number of applications (assessments, digital images, podcasting, and internet access) that could be beneficial in the classroom. The bonus to these applications found on cell phones is that the majority of teenagers already own one and are efficient in their use. The question is, should the fears of the misuse of cell phones and the technology they provide prevent teachers from tapping into the many opportunities and benefits that cell phone use in the classroom might provide? This paper explores the current research to refute the claim that cell phones are responsible for aberrant behaviors and to explore the potential instructional benefits of cell phones in the classroom.     

GENDER DIFFERENCES IN WRITTEN EXPRESSION CURRICULUM‐BASED MEASUREMENT IN THIRD‐ THROUGH EIGHTH‐GRADE STUDENTS

Many studies have found gender differences in certain areas of academic achievement, such as reading and math. Fewer studies have examined gender disparities in writing skills. The current study explored gender differences in written expression performance. Participants were 1,240 male and female students in third through eighth grade, representing five schools in a rural southeastern school district. Each student was administered an AIMSweb curriculum‐based measurement writing probe during the district's regularly scheduled fall, winter, and spring benchmarks. All measures were scored for total words written and correct writing sequences. Two‐way repeated measures analyses of variance were used to determine whether differences existed in the sample. A significant female advantage was found on both scoring indices at each grade level. These findings have strong instructional and theoretical implications for practicing school psychologists and other educators.     

Copyright and you

Educators and their attorneys must evaluate the merits of filing a federal lawsuit and the potential recovery available in litigation against the more expeditious and less costly arbitration procedure when domain name disputes are involved. Since complex intellectual property law pervades both proceedings, it is important to work with an experienced intellectual property attorney     

Chinese Malaysian Adolescents' Social‐Cognitive Reasoning Regarding Filial Piety Dilemmas

This study examined the social‐cognitive reasoning of 52 Chinese Malaysian preadolescents (9–12 years old; M = 11.02, SD = 0.94) and 68 adolescents (13–18 years old; M = 14.76, SD = 1.39) in resolving filial dilemmas within the personal and moral domain. Preadolescents deferred to parental authority, whereas adolescents endorsed filial obligation reasoning to justify compliance in the personal domain. Both appealed to filial obligation, pragmatic, or welfare and safety reasoning to justify compliance but fairness or rights reasoning to justify their noncompliance, for the moral issue. Distinctions between authoritarian and reciprocal filial piety reasoning were revealed. Findings demonstrated complex decision‐making and cognitive reasoning processes among Chinese Malaysian adolescents as they negotiate their filial obligations and autonomy development.     

Engaging Minds in the Common Core: Integrating Standards for Student Engagement

With the implementation of Common Core State Standards (CCSS) many teachers continue to search for ways to engage students in the learning process while meeting the rigorous demands of the standards. Researchers suggest that by providing opportunities for higher order thinking, student choice, and creative ways to showcase knowledge, students will find engagement and motivation in the classroom. Many teachers of adolescent students struggle with ways to integrate these approaches while meeting the standards. The purpose of this article is to provide examples of engaging literacy strategies that focus on the Common Core State Standards for middle and high school students.     

Doing right in business: can action learning develop moral sensitivity and promote ethical behaviour?

The question addressed in this paper is whether action learning as a management development technique can be more effective in promoting ethical decision-making than more traditional approaches. Recent examples of moral failures which have emerged in both corporate and public sector organisations in the UK during recent years have prompted a review of some of the literature about the teaching of business ethics in and by business schools. While the use of theoretical approaches to ethical analysis (such as consequentialist and deontological approaches), coupled with the discussion of scenarios or cases is a common way of structuring the teaching of business and organisational ethics, it may be limited as an approach insofar as it does not necessarily address the affective aspects of the learning process which contribute to the development of moral sensitivity and moral character. It is suggested that an action learning approach may help fill this gap, particularly if coupled with an Aristotelian focus on the development of moral character. Action learning as a technique seeks to replace instruction with facilitation, and to enable individual personal growth rather than the acquisition of knowledge. It emphasises practical action in the workplace and working with peers as part of an action learning set. The action learning method may be more suitable to fostering both technical/scientific wisdom (poeisis) and practical or prudential wisdom (phronesis) and could be adapted for use with both business students and practising managers.     

Correlates and Consequences of Spanking and Verbal Punishment for Low-Income White, African American, and Mexican American Toddlers

This study examined the prevalence, predictors, and outcomes of spanking and verbal punishment in 2,573 low-income White, African American, and Mexican American toddlers at ages 1, 2, and 3. Both spanking and verbal punishment varied by maternal race/ethnicity. Child fussiness at age 1 predicted spanking and verbal punishment at all 3 ages. Cross-lagged path analyses indicated that spanking (but not verbal punishment) at age 1 predicted child aggressive behavior problems at age 2 and lower Bayley mental development scores at age 3. Neither child aggressive behavior problems nor Bayley scores predicted later spanking or verbal punishment. In some instances, maternal race/ethnicity and/or emotional responsiveness moderated the effects of spanking and verbal punishment on child outcomes.