The nature and correlates of Mexican-American adolescents' time with parents and peers

Drawing on cultural-ecological and person-environment fit perspectives, this study examined links among Mexican-American adolescents' time with peers and parents, parents' cultural orientations, and adolescents' psychosocial adjustment and cultural orientations. Participants were 492 Mexican-American adolescents (Ms=15.7 and 12.8 years for older siblings and younger siblings) and their parents in 246 families. Family members described their family relationships, cultural orientations, and psychosocial functioning in home interviews, and time-use data were collected during a series of nightly phone calls. Mexican-American adolescents spent the majority of their peer time with Mexican youth. Some support was found for the hypothesis that the mismatch between parents' cultural orientations and adolescents' peer involvement is linked to adolescents' psychosocial functioning.     

Classcraft: from gamification to ludicization of classroom management

In this article, we discuss the concept of gamification, based on a literature review and preliminary feedback from teachers using Classcraft, a role-playing game supported by a digital platform and a mobile application that were developed to answer high school teachers’ classroom management needs. Our results come from two experiments in France and Quebec and also from an online survey that was made available on the Classcraft platform. These results promote a model of gamification that consists of considering the experience of the students, rather than the game itself, and they confirm that a game is consubstantial to its player. Therefore, we argue for the use of the term “ludicization” to emphasize that transforming a situation into a game does not consist of using elements that have a game-like aspect, but rather of a non-essentialistic vision of play, generating a metaphor around the situation to build a reflexive space where the nature and meaning of interactions are modified.     

Modifying the Monte Carlo Quiz to Increase Student Motivation,Participation, and Content Retention

Fernald developed the Monte Carlo Quiz format to enhance retention, encourage students to prepare for class, read with intention, and organize information in psychology classes. This author modified the Monte Carlo Quiz, combined it with the Minute Paper, and applied it to various courses. Students write quiz questions as part of the Minute Paper and the instructor selects questions to include in the next day's quiz. Rolling a die determines if the quiz will be taken on a particular day. If yes, a second roll of the die determines the quiz question answered. There was improved performance on quizzes and tests while students favorably reported that this format increases their out-of-class preparation and content retention.     

Pragmatic Assessment in Autism Spectrum Disorders: A Comparison of a Standard Measure With Parent Report

The purpose of this study was to investigate the concurrent validity of subtests on the Comprehensive Assessment of Spoken Language (CASL) by comparing them with the assessment of communication and social skills on the Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales (Vineland). The participants were 35 children and adolescents with higher functioning autism spectrum disorders (ASD) who had received both the CASL and the Vineland. Results of the study suggest that the Pragmatic Judgment and Inferences subtests of the CASL appeared to document the difficulties that individuals with ASD had in adaptive use of language for communication.     

OBESITY AND REPORTS OF NO LEISURE TIME ACTIVITY AMONG OLDER AMERICANS: RESULTS FROM THE THIRD NATIONAL HEALTH AND NUTRITION EXAMINATION SURVEY

Physical inactivity is a cardiovascular risk factor that has a higher prevalence among overweight adults. The purpose of this study was to assess the prevalence of not participating in Leisure Time Physical Activity (LPTA) and the relationship to body weight class among older U.S. adults. A nationally representative cross-sectional survey with an in-person interview and medical examination was used. Between 1988 and 1994, 6569 adults 60 years of age or older responded to the household adult and family questionnaires as part of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey III. Mexican Americans and non-Hispanic blacks were oversampled to produce reliable estimates for these groups. Overall, 39% of older U.S. adults fall in the overweight range and 23.3% are obese. Obese older adults were more likely than their overweight and healthy weight counterparts to report participating in no LTPA The prevalence of adults reporting no leisure time physical activity (LPTA) is lowest among non-Hispanic whites compared to non-Hispanic blacks and Mexican-Americans in each body mass index category. Future interventions should address strategies to promote an increase in leisure time physical activity among older adults, especially among underserved populations, and help them to prevent weight gain.     

College students solving chemistry problems: A theoretical model of expertise

A model of expertise in chemistry problem solving was tested on undergraduate science majors enrolled in a chemistry course. The model was based on Anderson's Adaptive Control of Thought‐Rational (ACT‐R) theory. The model shows how conceptualization, self‐efficacy, and strategy interact and contribute to the successful solution of quantitative, well‐defined chemistry problems in the areas of stoichiometry, thermochemistry, and properties of solutions. A statistical path analysis and students' explanations supported the model and indicated that the students' problem conceptualization and chemistry self‐efficacy influenced their strategy use, which, in turn, strongly influenced their problem‐solving success. The implication of these findings for future research and developing students' expertise in chemistry problem solving is that a strategy is advantageous when it is built on a foundation of conceptual knowledge and chemistry self‐efficacy. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 46: 1070–1089, 2009     

Understanding pedagogical design capacity through teachers’ narratives

Teachers need to develop the ability to adapt curriculum materials. Two elementary teachers, Maggie and Catie, were asked to write narratives about their use of and changes to particular reform-oriented science lesson plans. Maggie drew on her knowledge of and experiences with students, as well as other knowledge, experiences, and resources, to make productive changes to account for her students’ prior knowledge and abilities. Catie based her curricular adaptations on her learning goals—but these were not aligned with the learning goals of the curriculum materials. The paper discusses implications for teacher education, professional development, and educative curriculum materials.     

Development of gender attitude traditionality across middle childhood and adolescence

The development of gender attitudes in 402 youth (201 firstborn and 201 secondborn siblings) in 201 European American families was examined using data collected on seven occasions across 9 years. Pooling across siblings and using multilevel modeling, we examined gender attitude development from ages 7 to 19. Consistent with an ecological perspective, the combined effects of individual (i.e., sex, age, birth order) and contextual (i.e., parents' gender attitudes, sibling sex) characteristics predicted patterns of change. Although most youth declined in traditionality, the attitudes of firstborn boys with brothers and traditional parents became more traditional over time. No one longitudinal pattern captured the development of gender attitudes; trajectories varied as a function of contextual and personal characteristics.