Ethical implications of assessment: Thoughts on pigs and process in an early childhood course

A graduate student in early childhood education discusses observations of his children during and after Hurricanes Rita and Katrina struck the Gulf Coast. He relates his use of responsive parenting and provides examples of his children's learning and play that emerged after the storms. He reflects upon how aspects of developmentally appropriate practice are applicable to parenting and how teachers may support reciprocal relationships with families.     

The effect of low-volume high-intensity interval training on cardiometabolic health and psychological responses in overweight/obese middle-aged men

ABSTRACT

High-intensity interval training (HIIT) has been proposed as a time-efficient exercise protocol to improve metabolic health, but direct comparisons with higher-volume moderate-intensity continuous training (MICT) under unsupervised settings are limited. This study compared low-volume HIIT and higher-volume MICT interventions on cardiometabolic and psychological responses in overweight/obese middle-aged men. Twenty-four participants (age: 48.1±5.2yr; BMI: 25.8±2.3kg·m^?2) were randomly assigned to undertake either HIIT (10 X 1-min bouts of running at 80–90% HR_max separated by 1-min active recovery) or MICT (50-min continuous jogging/brisk walking at 65–70% HR_max) for 3 sessions/week for 8 weeks (2-week supervised + 6-week unsupervised training). Both groups showed similar cardiovascular fitness (VO_2max) improvement (HIIT: 32.5±5.6 to 36.0±6.2; MICT: 34.3±6.0 to 38.2±5.1mL kg^?1 min^?1, p < 0.05) and %fat loss (HIIT: 24.5±3.4 to 23.2±3.5%; MICT: 23.0±4.3 to 21.5±4.1%, p< 0.05) over the 8-week intervention. Compared to baseline, MICT significantly decreased weight and waist circumference. No significant group differences were observed for blood pressure and cardiometabolic blood markers such as lipid profiles, fasting glucose and glycated haemoglobin. Both groups showed similar enjoyment levels and high unsupervised adherence rates (>90%). Our findings suggest that low-volume HIIT can elicit a similar improvement of cardiovascular fitness as traditional higher-volume MICT in overweight/obese middle-aged men.     

Locking the virtual filing cabinet: A researcher's guide to Internet data security

As the Internet has grown in popularity, the opportunity it provides for conducting research has also become too large for researchers to ignore. Thus many have flocked to put surveys, experiments, and other data collection measures online in an attempt to gather empirical evidence in a variety of fields. While some choose a commercial provider to host surveys or experiments, others require the additional flexibility that comes with creating and maintaining a custom server. Herein lies a crucial problem: Most researchers lack the skills necessary to design, implement, and manage a server end-to-end. To overcome this limitation, they often hire programmers and administrators, who while usually competent, are not ultimately accountable to granting agencies funding research or Institutional Review Boards overseeing the research. This puts the researcher in a position of accountability in data security, confidentiality, and privacy concerns. The goal of the present paper is to outline a typical server setup, and highlight issues pertaining to data security in language accessible to researcher. This paper also presents data collected and analyzed from an anonymous distributed survey asking researchers questions assessing their management of research data. Our findings from the responses confirmed the legitimacy of our concerns by demonstrating the evident need for stricter security measures in research settings. By reading this paper, we hope that researchers will be cognizant of the optimal security practices which can be equipped to avoid the extreme consequences of data security breaches and gain a deeper understanding of the software they use to collect research data.     

Probing the Neural Correlates of Anticipated Peer Evaluation in Adolescence

Neural correlates of social-cognition were assessed in 9- to- 17-year-olds ( N  = 34) using functional magnetic resonance imaging. Participants appraised how unfamiliar peers they had previously identified as being of high or low interest would evaluate them for an anticipated online chat session. Differential age- and sex-related activation patterns emerged in several regions previously implicated in affective processing. These included the ventral striatum, hippocampus, hypothalamus, and insula. In general, activation patterns shifted with age in older relative to younger females but showed no association with age in males. Relating these neural response patterns to changes in adolescent social-cognition enriches theories of adolescent social development through enhanced neurobiological understanding of social behavior.     

Parental physical and psychological aggression: Psychological symptoms in young adults

ObjectiveThe purpose of the present study was to evaluate the relationship between various levels of parent-child physical violence and psychological symptoms reported by college students, while controlling for demographic variables, severity and frequency of violence, and co-occurrence of parental psychological aggression.MethodParticipants included 298 college students ranging in age from 18 to 27 years. Participants completed a demographic information form, the Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI), and the Parent-Child Conflict Tactics Scale (CTSPC).ResultsResults of analysis of variance and multivariate analysis of variance indicated that individuals in the child physical abuse group obtained higher BSI scores compared to individuals in the corporal punishment and no violence groups. Few differences were observed between mild and severe corporal punishment groups. Multiple regression analyses indicated that when frequency of corporal punishment, child physical abuse, and psychological aggression, along with demographic variables, were considered simultaneously, psychological aggression was the most unique predictor of BSI scores.ConclusionsThe findings suggest that severe forms of physical violence were associated with long-term psychological symptoms. When demographic variables and the frequency of several parent aggression variables were considered simultaneously, however, psychological aggression was most predictive of psychological outcome. These findings suggest that messages communicated to a child via psychological aggression may be more important in contributing to psychological outcome than the actual occurrence of physical violence toward the child.Practice implicationsThe current study supports the premise that severe physical aggression experienced in childhood is associated with serious psychological consequences in adulthood. In contrast, individuals who experienced less severe forms of parent-child violence, such as corporal aggression, exhibited similar symptom levels to those reporting no parent-child violence. When severe physical aggression, corporal aggression, and psychological aggression were considered simultaneously, however, psychological aggression emerged as the most unique predictor of psychological outcome. Researchers and clinicians who work with adults reporting childhood histories of severe parent-child violence should be aware of the importance of parent-child psychological aggression in contributing to psychological outcome.     

Liberatory Public Education: A Framework for Centering Community and Democracy in Public Education

In this conceptual article, the authors argue that diversity is an invitation to educators, youth, families, and community members to work together—a goal accomplished only by centering the local community rather than the local school—to educate youth and create a more just society. Based upon liberatory and emancipatory education, liberatory public education, an intersectional conceptual framework, brings together recent and current justice-oriented scholarship focused on youth development, curriculum and pedagogy, schooling, and community liberation, making a parallel case for justice-oriented family engagement in public schooling. The authors conclude with implications for teacher education, education policy, and family engagement scholarship.     

Where we are headed—and why: A step-by-step guide to strategic planning in center-based child care

Having a vision for the future is an essential, yet elusive, part of day care management. For busy administrators, planning for the years ahead is often a low priority due to the day-to-day emergencies which take precedent. However, this can be accomplished in an effective manner through the process of strategic planning. Unlike long-term planning, completed by a few administrators in isolation and based on current trends, strategic planning allows all those involved in the child care center—board members, director, staff, volunteers, and parents—to participate in the process of constructing a future for the child care center based on current realities as well as their hopes and dreams. Once it is written, a guide is established which provides direction for future activities for the center. This article offers a step-by-step guide to the development of a strategic plan.