Supporting child and family resilience in the face of political violence: Evidence from a home visit parenting program

Political violence affects more than 25% of children globally, yet little is known about how to support positive adaptation among conflict-affected children. Using a sample of 3797 Nicaraguan child-caregiver dyads (M_AgeTime1 = 1.5 years, M_AgeTime2 = 5.9 years; 51% male), this registered report used a novel quasi-experimental approach to examine how exposure to political violence relates to child and caregiver outcomes, and to test three policy-relevant moderators: participation in a large-scale home visit parenting program, household economic disruption, and media exposure. Results revealed positive associations between political violence and harsh discipline practices (0.33 SD), but there was no evidence that political violence affected children's behavior, caregiver depressive symptoms, or responsive parenting practices, and there was no evidence of moderation.     

Students' understandings of chemical bonds and the energetics of chemical reactions

The purpose of this study was to investigate Grade 12 students' understandings of the nature of chemical bonds and energetics elicited across five familiar chemical reactions following a course of instruction. Based on a chemist's analysis of the conceptual area, a list of relevant concepts involved was identified, and the range of five reactions was chosen. These then served as the framework for drawing up a semistructured interview protocol, which was administered to 48 students. The students' responses revealed a range of conceptions at variance with the chemist's view, some of which have not yet been reported in the literature. The implications of the research are that grasping chemistry concepts and principles from the students' perspective is full of pitfalls. There are numerous ways in which students can misconstruct concepts and principles. Teachers, curriculum developers, and textbook writers must be aware of the various ways in which material presented could be misconstrued and hence be a hindrance to student learning. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 35: 569–581, 1998.     

Korean 4‐ to 11‐year‐old student conceptions of heat and temperature

The aim of the present study is to shed light on the conceptions that young students have of heat and temperature, concepts that are both important in school science curricula and closely related to daily life. The subjects of the study were students from a rural district in South Korea and they ranged in age from 4 to 11 years. Interviews were conducted with each student on the basis of questions on temperature, thermal insulation, and heat equilibrium. After calculating the frequency and percentage of student responses and analyzing the rationale for their answers, it was found that younger students tended to view temperature as “size” or a “summation of numbers.” This tendency gradually diminished in older students. Most students had alternative conceptions of thermal insulation regardless of age; however, reasoning differed according to age. Younger students displayed a greater tendency to view insulation as a material property, whereas older students showed a greater tendency toward rational heat and temperature conceptions. Most students did not have clear concepts of heat equilibrium regardless of age, but possessed numerous alternative conceptions. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 44: 284–302, 2007     

The Magic of the Brush and the Power of Color: Integrating Theory into Practice of Painting in Early Childhood Settings

Painting in early childhood classrooms should have its own values and purposes enriching young children's aesthetic intelligence rather than being considered as mere supplements to other art activities. The three approaches to painting in early childhood settings – Bank Street, Reggio, and Waldorf – consider painting as the core of integrated curriculum and present a coherent relationship between theory and practice. Materials and instructional methods for painting within each approach appear to be unique and provide insights for early childhood teachers.     

Characterization and separation of Cryptosporidium and Giardia cells using on-chip dielectrophoresis

Dielectrophoresis (DEP) has been shown to have significant potential for the characterization of cells and could become an efficient tool for rapid identification and assessment of microorganisms. The present work is focused on the trapping, characterization, and separation of two species of Cryptosporidium (C. parvum and C. muris) and Giardia lambia (G. lambia) using a microfluidic experimental setup. Cryptosporidium oocysts, which are 2-4 μm in size and nearly spherical in shape, are used for the preliminary stage of prototype development and testing. G. lambia cysts are 8–12 μm in size. In order to facilitate effective trapping, simulations were performed to study the effects of buffer conductivity and applied voltage on the flow and cell transport inside the DEP chip. Microscopic experiments were performed using the fabricated device and the real part of Clausius—Mossotti factor of the cells was estimated from critical voltages for particle trapping at the electrodes under steady fluid flow. The dielectric properties of the cell compartments (cytoplasm and membrane) were calculated based on a single shell model of the cells. The separation of C. muris and G. lambia is achieved successfully at a frequency of 10 MHz and a voltage of 3 Vpp (peak to peak voltage).     

An investigation on the scientific thinking ability of fourth year university students

This paper reports on a study which examined the ability of a sample of fourth year university students to think scientifically when presented with a range of chemical phenomena. The main data collection instrument was the clinical interview. Each subject was interviewed in-depth for about one hour on a one-to-one basis. Each interview was taped, transcribed verbatim and then analysed. Five familiar chemical reactions ere used as foci for discussion in the interviews. For each reaction, each interviewee was asked, among other things, to make predictions about the overall energy change involved, and to make explanations as to why the change took place, i.e., the driving force for the change. The results show that the majority of the interviewees were using perceptually dominated thinking rather than conceptually dominated thinking; at the same time, they were unable to use science concepts consistently across the five reactions. It can thus be inferred that they were unable to think scientifically. Reasons for the lack of scientific thinking ability are explored and suggestions on alleviation of the problem are offered.     

Forthcoming Conference

This study investigates the various conceptions held by K‐8th Korean grade students regarding the ‘changes of state’ and the ‘conditions for changes of state’. The study used a sample of five kindergarteners, five secondgrade students, five fourth‐grade students, five sixth‐grade students, and five eighth‐grade students. The 25 students attend schools in a rural district of South Korea. Some activities that involved a change in the state of water, including condensation, solidification, and melting, were chosen from K‐8th grade science textbooks and attempted by the students. Subsequently, we conducted interviews with the students. While most kindergarteners and second‐grade students were able to perceive the phenomena involving changes of state, they were unable to express conceptions related to the changes of state and the conditions under which the state the changes. The upper‐grade students, on the other hand, had some conception of the invisible gas state. Most of these students held conceptions about the boiling water's change of state from liquid to gas, but few of them held conceptions about the changes of state involving condensation. Most students understood heat and temperature as conditions of the changes of state, but only applied the heat concept to situations involving rising temperatures. In situations involving cooling, students applied the temperature concept. The younger students understood the concept of heat without understanding the concept of temperature.     

Open-ended investigations: Performance and effects of pre-training

Students' performance and the effects of pre-training were studied for tasks rated high in ambiguity, in particular those where the solution to the tasks cannot be arrived at through predictable algorithms. A total of 277 thirteen-year-old students from two urban schools in Singapore were randomly assigned to two groups. One group was provided with instruction for dealing with such tasks in general before performing a series of tasks, while the other group performed the tasks without the instruction. How well the students coped with the ambiguities of the tasks with and without pretraining is reported in this paper.     

Do Singapore Science Students Possess Positive Attitudes Toward Science and Scientific Inquiry? – Implications of an Exploratory Study

There is a growing interest in attitude research in recent years since the development of positive attitudes toward science and scientific inquiry has been widely accepted as an important aim of science education. Review of the research on students' science-related attitudes shows that not many studies have been carried out in Singapore. Of the few studies related to this area, quite different variables have been examined in the search for substantial influences in students' science-related attitudes.