Children and Fitness: A Public Health Perspective: A Response

Abstract

The speed-accuracy operating curve was investigated in a movement precuing two- or four-choice reaction time task. Four levels of response preferences were manipulated with subject instructions and postresponse information: (a) accuracy, (b) reaction time latency, (c) accuracy and reaction time latency, and (d) no preference. Eighty subjects completed 480 discrete keypressing responses with the index and middle fingers of both hands. The mixed design mean reaction time analysis indicated faster performances for the reaction time latency and the accuracy and reaction time latency groups than the no preference group. Additionally, the percent correct analysis revealed two significant interactions: (a) Trial Block x Precue x Response Preference, and (b) Delay x Precue x Hand Position. Overall, the present findings provide partial support for the speed-accuracy operating curve predictions. Caution is advised when drawing chronometric inferences based only on reaction time data or when response accuracies are extremely high.     

Head Start Parents' Beliefs about Their Children's Abilities, Task Values, and Performances on Different Activities

As part of larger intervention study designed to facilitate the transition of Head Start children into kindergarten and the early elementary grades, we assessed parents beliefs about former Head start children's abilities and values in several activity domains—academics, sports, and social skills—during the children's kindergarten ten year. Parents' expectations for their children's future also were examined. One hundred and twenty-four parents and 155 children participated; all children had attended Head Start, and the sample is ethnically and racially diverse. One group of children and parents received the additional services, and a second group did not. Parents, were quit optimistic about their children's prospects for the future. There were ethnic differences in parents were quit optimistic about their children's prospects for the future. There were ethnic differences in parents' beliefs about children's abilities and future prospects in different areas. Parents beliefs related both to children's attitudes toward school and to their performance on mathematical and reading achievement tests.     

Functional play: A tool for toddler learning

Doody, doody, dop, dop, boom, the toddler chants as she drops clothespins in a box and dumps them out again. Over and over the toddler dumps the pins and puts them back in the box only to dump them out again. Nearby, in the sand box, another toddler is aimlessly pushing a truck through the sand — back and forth, — back and forth, over and over again.Carol Seefeldt is a professor at the University of Maryland in College Park. Nita Barbour is chair of Early Childhood And Elementary Education at the University of Maryland in Baltimore County.     

HEALTHY,HAPPY, AND OLD: CHILDREN LEARN ABOUT THE ELDERLY

This study explored the effectiveness of a curriculum in fostering children's positive attitudes toward the elderly and their own aging. The curriculum was developed around three major goals: (1) increasing children's knowledge of the elderly; (2) enabling children to assess their own aging positively; and (3) decreasing negative stereotyping of the physical and behavioral characteristics of the elderly. A total of 108 children in kindergarten through the sixth grade received the curriculum; 107 children in the same grades served as the control and did not participate in the curriculum. The test. Children's Attitudes Toward the Elderly (CATE) (Jantz, Seefeldt, Galper, & Serock, 1976), was administered on a pre‐post paradigm. Multiple regression analyses were computed to assess the effects of the curriculum on posttest responses on the CATE. The results indicated that the curriculum was effective in fostering positive attitudes toward the elderly as measured by the total score, F (1,209) = 5.28, p <.05; in knowledge of older persons, F (1,209) = 5.41, p < .01; and in changing stereotyped thinking about the elderly. The curriculum, however, did not significantly change children's negative attitudes toward their own aging.     

Growing up-growing older the professional early childhood educator

It's hard! You feel as stale as the purple paint rotting in the easel. But you get ready for another day with children. You feel as tired as Gary had looked when he handed you the note from his mother explaining that he had vomited the whole night through, but was sure to “make” it through the day.     

Communicate with curriculum

“What did you do in school today?” asks the eager, interested parent. “We played,” responds the child. Parents have a right to know what their children are doing when in a day care center, nursery school, or kindergarten, and teachers have the responsibility to communicate what happens during the day children spend in a center.