Toddlers’ Self-Recognition and Progression From Goal- to Emotion-Based Helping: A Longitudinal Study

Research has typically used cross-sectional designs to draw conclusions on the development of helping. This study aimed to examine the development of instrumental and empathic helping behaviors as they emerge, and assess how self-recognition might moderate this progression. Seventy-two children (14- to 25-months at T1) were assessed over four monthly sessions. Participants’ individual response patterns showed instrumental helping to be a necessary precursor to empathic helping for 55.77%–67.92% of children who helped during the study. Self-recognition emerged before empathic but not instrumental helping, yet did not directly influence helping behavior.     

Are psychology students getting worse at math?: Trends in the math skills of psychology statistics students across 21 years

Statistics is an important subject in psychology and social science education. However, inadequate mathematical skills can pose a barrier to learning statistics. Some educators have suggested that students’ math skills are declining. The present research examined trends in the math skills of psychology undergraduates across 21 years. Students (n = 3735) who were enrolled in an introductory psychology statistics course from 1990 to 2011 completed a pencil-and-paper math skills test. Over the 21-year period, there was a 9% decline in math skills scores and a 28% increase in the number of attempts required to pass the test. Consistent with national trends, SAT Math scores also increased by 7%; however, the pencil-and-paper math skills test was nearly twice as predictive of course performance as was the SAT. Results suggest that important math abilities have declined. Implications for statistical education in the social sciences are discussed.     

Achievement of English as New Language Learners in Monitor Status: A Cross Sector Comparison from Denver

This study uses administrative data to measure the effect of attending a charter school in Denver, Colorado on the achievement of reclassified English as New Language (ENL) students during their monitor period in the mainstream classroom environment. We utilize school choice data from Denver’s Common Enrollment System (CES) to control for each school a family selected entering grade six, a typical time for a structural move, in order to better control of unobserved variable bias. Results indicate charter attendance increases achievement in mathematics and English on state testing. Charter school success in the CES environment provides insights for districts serving large numbers of ENL students.     

Literature and poetry

On native ground: memoirs and impressions. Jim Barnes, Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1997, 279 pages, $27.95 (hardcover). ISBN 0–8061–2898–4.

Caucasia. Danzy Senna, New York: Putnam Publishing Group, 1998, 353 pages, $24.95 (hardcover). ISBN 1–5732–2091–4.

Boyhood, Growing Up Male: A Multicultural Anthology (2nd ed.). Franklin Abbott (Ed.), Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1998, 279 pages, $15.95 (softcover). ISBN 0–2991–5754–7.

Readings in African Popular Culture. Karin Barber (Ed.), Bloomington, IN: International African Institute in association with Indiana University Press, 1997, 192 pages plus index, $18.95 (soft‐cover), $45.00 (clothcover). ISBN 0–2532–1140–9 (softcover); 0–2533–3294‐X (clothcover). For orders, phone 1–800–842–6796.     

Early childhood intervention: possibilities and prospects for professionals, families and children

In March 2005, Barry Carpenter, OBE, Chief Executive and Director of Research at Sunfield, an education and residential care centre for children with severe and complex learning needs, gave his inaugural professional lecture at University College Worcester. This article is based on that lecture. In it, Barry Carpenter reviews international trends in early childhood intervention and relates these to changing patterns of childhood disability, family needs, practitioner-led service development and Government policy initiatives. He describes a political climate in the UK which is ripe for the development of a nationally cohesive programme of early childhood intervention and proposes a number of key factors hat are crucial to the consolidation of the plethora of initiatives that have taken place in the UK in recent years. These include: early interventions that are delivered from the point of diagnosis; practice that is transdisciplinary; and high quality training for professionals. At the heart of this process, however, must be the voice of the family - guiding, informing, sharing, engaging. The key to successful early childhood intervention, Barry Carpenter argues, is responsivity - to society, to its families, but most of all to its children.     

Edging Towards the Twenty First Century: Oxford and the North Commission of Inquiry

The University of Oxford has established a Commission of Inquiry, chaired by its Vice-Chancellor, to define the University's role in the Twenty-First Century. The purpose of this article is to explore the context within which the Commission has emerged and to suggest that it needs to tackle three broad tasks: to define the central purposes of the University, to show how it should be organized to achieve those purposes, and to consider how its activities are to be financed. The article ennumerates the problems that the Commission must tackle while addressing these tasks, and makes suggestions as to its likely recommendations. It concludes by raising the possibility that Oxford's attempt to define its role may help to generate a much needed debate on the future shape of higher education in Britain.     

Relationship between achievement goal orientations and the perceived purposes of playing rugby union for professional and amateur players

The recent professionalization of rugby union makes it an excellent achievement context in which to examine the relationship between achievement goal orientations and the perceived purposes of sport as a function of competitive standard. During the 1996-97 season, 73 professional and 106 amateur rugby players in England completed a series of questionnaires assessing their achievement goal orientations, beliefs about the purposes of rugby and demographic information. The results of a canonical correlation analysis revealed a conceptually coherent relationship between achievement goal orientations and purposes of rugby. Specifically, a high ego/moderate task orientation was positively related to fitness, aggression and financial remuneration as significant purposes of rugby. Professional players scored higher on those purposes of rugby related to aggression, financial remuneration and fitness, but lower on sportspersonship than amateur players. Professional players also reported higher task and ego goal orientations than amateur players. The findings are discussed in terms of the differences in lifestyle and motivation of professional and amateur rugby union players.