Frontal Activation Asymmetry and Social Competence at Four Years of Age

The pattern of frontal activation as measured by the ongoing electroencephalogram (EEG) may be a marker for individual differences in infant and adult disposition to respond with either positive or negative affect. We studied 48 4-year-old children who were first observed in same-sex quartets during free-play sessions, while making speeches, and during a ticket-sorting task. Social and interactive behaviors were coded from these sessions. Each child was subsequently seen 2 weeks later when EEG was recorded while the child attended to a visual stimulus. The pattern of EEG activation computed from the session was significantly related to the child's behavior in the quartet session. Children who displayed social competence (high degree of social initiations and positive affect) exhibited greater relative left frontal activation, while children who displayed social withdrawal (isolated, onlooking, and unoccupied behavior) during the play session exhibited greater relative right frontal activation. Differences among children in frontal asymmetry were a function of power in the left frontal region. These EEG/behavior findings suggest that resting frontal asymmetry may be a marker for certain temperamental dispositions.     

Principal holistic judgments and high-stakes evaluations of teachers

Results from a sample of 1,013 Georgia principals who rated 12,617 teachers are used to compare holistic and analytic principal judgments with indicators of student growth central to the state’s teacher evaluation system. Holistic principal judgments were compared to mean student growth percentiles (MGPs) and analytic judgments from a formal observation protocol. The correlations of a holistic principal rating with teacher MGPs and observation protocol scores were 0.22 and 0.32. Teachers selected as most successful at increasing student achievement had a mean MGP that was a full SD higher than did teachers selected as least successful, and a mean observation protocol score that was 1.35 SDs higher. Holistic principal judgments appear to be much more strongly influenced by observations of teachers’ classroom practices than they were by evidence of growth in student achievement.     

Emotion Regulation, Parenting and Display of Social Reticence in Preschoolers

The study of social reticence in early childhood has focused primarily on those dispositional, intra-individual factors that might account for its demonstration among peers. Little is known, however, about the relations between social reticence and its association with the quality of parenting behaviors. Indeed, the independent and interactive “contributions” of dispositional and parenting factors to children's demonstration of socially reticent behavior have not received adequate attention. In this study, 188 preschool children and their mothers were observed during unstructured Free-play and a structured Lego-building teaching task. Additionally, the children were observed in quartets of same-sex, same-age unfamiliar peers. Results indicated that children's shy, socially reticent behavior was predicted by the extent to which mothers were over-solicitous during Free-play. In addition, preschooler's expressions of reticent behavior were predicted by the interactions between emotion dysregulation and the lack of maternal guidance and control during a teaching task. Emotionally dysregulated children whose mothers provided little control in this putatively stressful teaching task were more likely to be shy and reticent. This relation was non-significant for dysregulated children with mothers who provided high levels of guidance. The results suggest that early childhood educators offer reticent/shy children opportunities to explore their impersonal and social milieus and to warmly encourage such exploratory activities. Without such encouragement and opportunity building, reticent preschoolers may suffer from not having experienced sufficient exploration-to-play sequences thereby stifling the problem-solving competencies derived from such experiences.     

EXAMINING POTENTIAL BIAS IN SCREENING MEASURES FOR MIDDLE SCHOOL STUDENTS BY SPECIAL EDUCATION AND LOW SOCIOECONOMIC STATUS SUBGROUPS

To provide timely and effective supports for students reading below grade level, schools require methods for quickly and accurately identifying those students in need. One method for identifying those students is through universal screening. Assessments such as oral reading fluency (ORF) and Maze reading comprehension are commonly used as screening assessments in middle grades. The current study examined ORF and Maze for evidence of bias across two subgroups known to be at increased risk for failure in reading: (a) students with learning disabilities and (b) students from low‐income households. Data from 4,215 students in the sixth (n = 1,126), seventh (n = 1,361), and eighth grades (n = 1,728) were analyzed. Results indicate no significant differences in predictive validity for students from low‐income households compared to students from middle and upper income households. For students with learning disabilities only 8th grade scores showed any evidence of bias compared to students without diagnosed disabilities. Implications and recommendations for future research are discussed.     

Psychophysiological and behavioral evidence for varying forms and functions of nonsocial behavior in preschoolers

Four-year-old children showing low levels of social behavior in a laboratory play session with unfamiliar peers were classified as reticent (unoccupied or onlooking behaviors) or solitary-passive (solitary constructive or exploratory play). Compared with a group of more social children, the children in both low-social groups were rated high on maternal reports of shyness and displayed a pattern of right frontal EEG asymmetry. However, only the reticent group was elevated on measures indicative of a fearful temperament, both concurrently and retrospectively. A subset of children in the solitary-passive group showed increasing levels of reticent behavior over the course of the visit, suggesting that for some children solitary-passive behaviors provide a means for coping with feelings of unease.     

Designing Educational Video Games to Be Objects-to-Think-With

In this article we propose that educational game design should work to create games as objects-to-think-with—games that engage players in the exploration of and experimentation with personally interesting questions around domain-relevant representations. We argue that this design focuses on developing tools and interactions that the player can use for inquiry and productive thinking. As a step toward achieving this goal, we propose the constructible authentic representations design principle and illustrate this principle using a prototype game, Particles!, for exploring the particulate nature of matter. Observations of game play and interviews with 9 children ages 11–14 suggest that core game representations and mechanics provided players with a space for engaging in useful scientific practices and knowledge resources for reasoning about the important role molecular structure plays in material properties beyond the game. We explore how this design proposal extends and complements existing constructivist game design frameworks. Furthermore, we suggest that the framework of games as objects-to-think-with should push the educational game design community to consider the complexity and nuance of cognition and to embrace and champion the learner in game design.     

Using Movies to Illustrate Ethical Dilemmas in Undergraduate Criminal Justice Classes

Ethics education in criminal justice programs has increased in popularity, but instructors sometimes struggle to teach ethics in such a way that students retain what they have learned and apply ethical principles in the criminal justice field upon graduation. The current research highlights that there are several benefits of presenting ethical dilemmas to students through popular movies such as Mississippi Burning and Road to Perdition. Compared to the control group (Section A) that was taught in a traditional lecture format, students who were required to identify ethical dilemmas in movies (Section B) were more likely to understand the complexities of such situations, to rate unethical behavior properly, and to see how ethical principles could be applied to their everyday lives.     

Theory and legitimacy in professional education: a practitioner review of reflective processes within programmes for new academic staff

The authors review research literature on coherent theoretically based approaches to the use of reflective processes within programmes of initial professional education for new academic staff. Employing a novel methodology that incorporates practitioner perspectives, they establish a framework that highlights the role of personal and social factors, and also pedagogic and theoretical considerations, in shaping reflective processes. The included studies identified participants who had engaged in certain categories of reflection. Certain fundamental outcomes, however, such as changes in professional commitment, were never seen across an entire cohort. The article thus discusses the intended learning outcomes that programmes might legitimately seek to meet.

Dans cet article, nous examinons la littérature de recherche portant sur les approches théoriques cohérentes sur l’usage des processus réflexifs dans le cadre de programmes d’éducation professionnelle initiale pour le personnel académique novice. A l’aide d’une nouvelle méthodologie incorporant les perspectives du praticien, nous établissons un cadre qui met en lumière le rôle des facteurs sociaux et personnels, de même que les considérations théoriques et pédagogiques, mettant en forme les processus réflexifs. Les études visées par l’article ont permis d’identifier des participants s’étant engagés dans certaines catégories de réflexion. Des conséquences fondamentales, telles que le changement au niveau de l’engagement professionnel, n’ont cependant pas été observés pour l’ensemble de la cohorte. Nous discutons donc des objectifs d’apprentissage que les programmes pourraient, de façon légitime, chercher à atteindre.     

Affiliative and Aggressive Humor,Attachment Dimensions,and Interaction Goals

This study examined humor production in relation to attachment dimensions and interaction goals. Participants (N = 172) completed measures of attachment dimensions (anxiety, avoidance), humor production (affiliative humor, aggressive humor), and primary and secondary goals. Anxiety was negatively related to affiliative humor, whereas avoidance was positively related to aggressive humor. Affiliative humor was related to effectiveness and being playful in the interaction, as well as the secondary goals of arousal management and clarity. Aggressive humor was not related to any of the goals.     

A Review of: “Organizing Schools for Improvement: Lessons from Chicago. Anthony S. Bryk,Penny Bender Sebring,Elaine Allensworth,Stuart Luppescu,and John Q. Easton.”

This article summarizes the results of a study of state and local practices related to the implementation of Title I of the Improving America's Schools Act (IASA; 1994). In translating policy to practice, state and local practitioners articulated how they approached the provisions of IASA: the expectation that all children will meet challenging state standards, flexibility with accountability, targeting funds, family and community partnerships, and support system roles and infrastructure. This snapshot of reform in progress shows that multiple chains of events at the national and state levels influenced the implementation of the law and that more time and support are needed to produce the impact intended in the Title I reauthorization.