Bridging the “Bayley-Binet GAP”

This study demonstrated that encountering children ages 18-23 months whose performance is not scorable by standard methods for either the Stanford Binet Intelligence Test or the Bayley Scales of Infant Development mental scale is a relatively frequent occurrence. However, the results of this study bring into question Sternlicht's (1965) suggestion that an 18-month basal level on the Stanford-Binet may be assumed, given success by a child on only one item at the two-year level. The study indicates that a child must succeed on at least two, or more conservatively, four items at the two-year level on the Stanford-Binet in order to assume an 18-month basal level.     

Adults with Learning Disabilities in the Workforce: Lessons for Secondary Transition Programs

Now almost 15 years after the implementation of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) data are emerging in the literature related to job entry and employment outcomes of adults with learning disabilities (LD). Although these data are derived from varying methodologies, they converge in three critical areas: Knowledge of the ADA, realities of workplace self‐disclosure, and the importance of self‐determination. This review presents findings in each of these areas. The messages obtained from adults with LD who experience the realities of the workplace can provide significant information for secondary programs that assist students with hidden disabilities preparing to transition to college or to employment.     

Evaluation, Research and Communities of Practice: Program Evaluation in Museums

Museums present different contexts for learning, particularly when compared with places such as schooos, universities and libraries. They have been described as free-choice learning environments visited by a broad range of people. Museums have the opportunity to shape identities—through access to objects, knowledge and information visitors see themselves and their culture reflected in ways that encourage new connections, meaning making and learning. However, across the world museums are finding themselves competing with other leisure and learning experiences in an increasingly global world. The long history of audience research in the cultural sector demonstrates the interest museums have had in their visitors over time. This paper outlines the development of audience research in museums, the context within which it operates, and describes the processes of audience research through a series of case studies drawn from the work of the Australian Museum Audience Research Centre. It is argued that the shift in museums from mission-led program development to balancing content and audience needs through a transaction approach requires a broader research-focused agenda. While traditional ways of conducting evaluations are necessary and useful, to remain viable audience research needs to be more strategic, working across the sector in new ways and utilising new methods. How programs impact on users and facilitate learning about a wide range of key issues that museums are concerned with is a leadership role that audience research can take across both the cultural sector and other free-choice learning contexts. To achieve this, a communities of practice approach is suggested as a potential framework for audience research in the contemporary museum.     

Role Fulfillment Mediates the Association Between Daily Family Assistance and Cortisol Awakening Response in Adolescents

Family assistance (helping the family) is associated with both positive and negative psychological and biological outcomes during adolescence. However, the association between family assistance and the hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal (HPA) axis remains unstudied. Thus, we assess how helping the family relates to adolescents’ diurnal cortisol, an index of HPA activity, and psychological outcomes. Three hundred and seventy ethnically diverse adolescents (ages 11–18) reported daily helping behaviors and psychological experiences for 14 days and provided four saliva samples per day for 4 days. Multilevel modeling revealed that cortisol awakening response was lower the day after adolescents helped their families more. This association was explained, in part, by perceived role fulfillment (feeling like a good son, daughter, and sibling). Results highlight a possible psychological and biological benefit of assisting the family during adolescence.     

Determining Intensity Levels of Selected Wii Fit Activities in College Aged Individuals

The purpose of this study was to determine the intensity of Nintendo Wii Fit games using indirect calorimetry. Twenty-five college students completed Wii Fit activity sessions at two difficulty levels within aerobics, strength, and yoga categories. Resting metabolic rate and exercise oxygen uptake were measured, and metabolic equivalents were calculated. Measured metabolic equivalents and calculated metabolic equivalents ranged from 2.30 ± .42 and 2.44 ± .38 for Yoga to 5.73 ± 1.36 and 6.04 ± 1.09 for aerobics, respectively. All selected Wii Fit activity intensities were significantly higher than resting, p < .001; aerobic and strength activities met the moderate intensity threshold (three metabolic equivalents, p < .001), while yoga activities did not (p < .005). Aerobic and yoga activities of medium difficulty were more intense than the corresponding easy-rated activities (p < .005). There were no statistical differences between measured and calculated metabolic equivalents. Wii Fit has potential as an effective tool for helping college-aged individuals increase their physical activity.     

Evaluation of the Psychometric Properties of the Parents’ Proxy MPAQ-C in Chinese Population

We examined psychometric properties of a Modified Physical Activity Questionnaire for Children (MPAQ-C). Thirty-two parents (Study 1), 40 students (6–9 years) and one of each student’s parents (Study 2), and 625 parents (Study 3) completed the MPAQ-C. The MPAQ-C (six items) measured children’s physical activity (PA) after school, and during evenings and weekends for 7 days. Test–retest reliability (Study 1) and convergent validity (Study 2) were measured. Factor validity of the MPAQ-C (Study 3) was examined using confirmatory factor analysis. A single-factor model of the MPAQ-C fit the data well (χ² (9) = 42.78, p < .001; comparative fit index[CFI] = .977; non-normed fit index [NNFI] = .962; root mean square error of approximation [RMSEA] = .079 [90% confidence interval {CI} = .057 to .11]), with good test–retest reliability, composite reliability (.80) and convergent validity. The factor loadings of MPAQ-C were invariant across fathers/mothers (Δχ² (6) = 3.44, p > .05). The MPAQ-C is a suitable parent proxy for measuring young Chinese children’s PA.     

Updating Relationships Between Communication Traits and Communication Competence

This study examined the degree to which six self-perceived communication traits are related to self-perceived communication competence (SPCC), both individually and collectively. The results indicate communication apprehension and shyness were strongly and inversely related to SPCC, whereas willingness to communicate was strongly and positively associated with SPCC. When examined collectively, several communication traits were found to predict SPCC.     

On domain expertise-based roles in collaborative information retrieval

Collaborative information retrieval involves retrieval settings in which a group of users collaborates to satisfy the same underlying need. One core issue of collaborative IR models involves either supporting collaboration with adapted tools or developing IR models for a multiple-user context and providing a ranked list of documents adapted for each collaborator. In this paper, we introduce the first document-ranking model supporting collaboration between two users characterized by roles relying on different domain expertise levels. Specifically, we propose a two-step ranking model: we first compute a document-relevance score, taking into consideration domain expertise-based roles. We introduce specificity and novelty factors into language-model smoothing, and then we assign, via an Expectation–Maximization algorithm, documents to the best-suited collaborator. Our experiments employ a simulation-based framework of collaborative information retrieval and show the significant effectiveness of our model at different search levels.     

Youth representations of environmental protest

A necessary condition for a functioning democracy is the participation of its citizens, including its youth. This is particularly true for political participation in environmental decisions, because these decisions can have intergenerational consequences. In this article we examine young people’s beliefs about one form of political participation—protest—in the context of communities affected by fracking and associated anti-fracking protest, and discuss the implications of these representations for education. Drawing on focus groups with 121 young people (aged 15–19) in five schools and colleges near sites which have experienced anti-fracking protest in England and Northern Ireland, we find young people well-informed about avenues for formal and non-formal political participation against a background of disillusionment with formal political processes and varying levels of support for protest. We find representations of protest as disruptive, divisive, extreme, less desirable than other forms of participation and ineffective in bringing about change but effective in awareness-raising. These representations are challenging, not least because the way protest is interpreted is critical to the way people think and act in the world. These representations of environmental protest must be challenged through formal education in order to safeguard the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and ensure that the spirit of Article 11 of the UK Human Rights Act is protected.