Child abuse in religiously-affiliated institutions: long-term impact on men's mental health

OBJECTIVE: To describe the long-term impact of physical and sexual abuse of boys by someone in a trusting, non-familial relationship. This clinical study reports on the psychological functioning of men (N = 76) with substantiated claims against a residential religiously-affiliated institution for multiple and severe incidents of sexual, physical, and/or emotional abuse during childhood. The abuse was perpetrated by several adults in positions of authority and trust at the institution. METHODS: Each participant received a clinical interview and was administered psychological tests and a structured interview for DSM-IV diagnoses. The same clinician completed all of the assessments. RESULTS: DSM-IV criteria were met for current PTSD (42%), alcohol (21%), and mood-related disorders (25%). Over one-third of the sample suffered chronic sexual problems, and over one half had a history of criminal behavior. CONCLUSIONS: The clinical findings provide direction for assessing victims of historical abuse, and underscore the importance of awareness, prevention, and treatment needs for those who have been abused in institutional settings. Conclusions are limited due to participants' involvement in civil action, unknown pre-existing conditions, and the lack of a suitable comparison group.     

Tracing the Transition from Study to a Contemporary Creative Working Life: The Trajectories of Professional Musicians

The classical music academy is a site dominated by traditional meanings of creative practice and an image of the professional creative career as solo performer that is fully available to only a very few students after graduating. The purpose of the study reported in this paper is to explore career-young professional pianists’ talk about the transition from study within a music academy to working life. The focus is on the ways in which they characterize the nature and significance of this transition from very traditional practice and study, and how they (re)negotiate their identities as professional musicians and pianists in contemporary working life. Four classical pianists were interviewed in-depth about their musicianship, including their transition from study to working life. The qualitative analyses presented here suggest that, as they talked about their transitions and developing musicianship, the speakers constructed, re-constructed and oriented to notions of professional trajectories. Such trajectories are emergent, relational and contextually constituted (Sawyer 2003; MacDonald and Miell 2002; Moran and John-Steiner 2004). Rather than being fixed or dependent on communal expectations, they reflect creative freedom and independence, encompassing multiple influences. Crucially, the transition from study to working life is implicated in the process of assuming agency in respect of one’s own musicianship and career—a process that involves identity work, the (re)negotiation of pathways, narrations and trajectories.     

Exploring Grade 11 students' conceptual pathways of the particulate nature of matter in the context of multirepresentational instruction

This study investigated the conceptual pathways of 19 Grade 11 introductory chemistry students (age 16–17) as they participated in a multirepresentational instruction on the particulate nature of matter (PNM). This study was grounded in contemporary conceptual change theory, in particular, research on students' conceptual pathways that focuses on the interaction between students' existing conceptions and instruction, which might give rise to observing multiple paths. This mixed method study combined a quantitative research design with qualitative data collection and analysis methods. Data were collected through open‐ended questionnaires, interviews, and document analysis to portray the patterns of students' conceptual pathways of the PNM from pre to postinstruction to 3 months after the instruction. An interpretive analysis of the qualitative data revealed six different conceptual pathways varying between radical progress and no additional progress (stable) after the multirepresentational instruction and between stable (no change) and full decay over a 3‐month period following the instruction. The identified patterns of conceptual pathways provide information about the manner in which conceptual change occurred, as well as suggest potential implications for instructional practices. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 47: 1004–1035, 2010     

Academic optimism of individual teachers: Confirming a new construct

Teacher sense of academic optimism is individual teachers' beliefs that they can teach effectively, their students can learn, and parents will support them so the teacher can press hard for learning. This new construct is grounded in the social cognitive and self-efficacy theories, social capital theory, work on school culture and climate and research on learned optimism. At the school level, collective academic optimism has been related to academic performance (Hoy, Tarter, & Woolfolk Hoy, 2006b). The analyses tested and supported the validity and reliability of the construct at the individual level with elementary school teachers in a confirmatory factor analysis using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM).     

History of Science as an Instructional Context: Student Learning in Genetics and Nature of Science

This study (1) explores the effectiveness of the contextualized history of science on student learning of nature of science (NOS) and genetics content knowledge (GCK), especially interrelationships among various genetics concepts, in high school biology classrooms; (2) provides an exemplar for teachers on how to utilize history of science in genetics instruction; and (3) suggests a modified concept mapping assessment tool for both NOS and GCK. A quasi-experimental control group research design was utilized with pretests, posttests, and delayed posttests, combining qualitative data and quantitative data. The experimental group was taught with historical curricular lessons, while the control group was taught with non-historical curricular lessons. The results indicated that students in the experimental group developed better understanding in targeted aspects of NOS immediately after the intervention and retained their learning 2 months after the intervention. Both groups developed similar genetics knowledge in the posttest, and revealed a slight decay in their understanding in the delayed posttest.     

Restrictive and supportive parenting: Effects on children’s school affect and emotional responses

In this project upper primary school students were surveyed about their general liking for school, and reasons for going to school. Their parents were asked to respond on a questionnaire indicating their restrictiveness and also support for their child’s autonomy. Data were collected from 92 middle SES two-parent families and analysed using SmartPLS path modelling. It was found that children of mothers high on autonomy support enjoyed school more, and endorsed cognitive learning reasons for attending. Restrictive parenting (in either mothers or fathers) did not relate significantly to school affect, but was associated with elevated levels of negative emotional symptoms, notably loneliness and unhappiness.     

Evaluating the importance of common components in school-based websites: Frequency of appearance and stakeholders’ judged value

Conclusion Only eight of the 70 schools included in the study incorporated more that 50 percent of the recommended features (i.e., 10 out of 19) in their site. At this time, it is not evident why this occurred. It may be that webmasters are unaware of the features that are deemed most desirable. Or the decision for including specific web features may rely upon willingness on the part of the developer and/or the technology committee to set aside time and energy for keeping the website current. Simultaneously, composition of the school website is reliant upon the school having personnel with the technical expertise needed to make Web changes. This presence may not always be available, and if an outside source is needed for updates and changes, complexity could become a significant burden. Further research could reveal the reasons for inclusion or exclusion of valuable features. These data indicate a need for schools to examine websites in light of commonly agreed-to desirable features. Most schools do not currently supply a majority of the desirable features that are noted in the literature. Further, the results of the current study suggest that it is important for schools to be aware of the specific needs of specific audiences. Parents and students appear to disagree somewhat about the specific types of data that are useful in a website. It also appears that schools will need to determine and resolve organizational or other issues that apparently preclude the presentation of some timely information on their websites.     

Building the university/public school partnership: A workshop for mentor teachers

Abstract

Strong teacher education programs acknowledge the importance of a partnership between teacher education and public school faculties and the important role mentor teachers play in the education of student teachers. Studies suggest that mentor teachers trained in supervision are more effective than those who are not. This article describes the development, implementation, and evaluation of a workshop for mentor teachers that reflects the collaborative effort of university and public school faculties. The particular focus of this workshop was on giving feedback to student teachers. Evaluation data suggest that mentor teachers felt the workshop provided helpful information.     

Outthinking the Media: Lessons from a Tennis Master

This article challenges contemporary religious educators to take notice of some of the competitive aspects of media, not to scapegoat the technological changes of twenty-first-century life, but to address the concerns of a people who feel overwhelmed by media's game plan yet long to work for a more invigorated future of American religious education. Just like winning tennis superstars, religious educators can master the media environment by recognizing, analyzing, and capitalizing on various options of resistance and consent in every media moment.