Dimensions of teachers’ attitudes toward instructional television

Summary Responses were obtained from 50 fourth and ninth grade teachers on a 55-item test of their attitudes toward television in the classroom after 33 of them had been involved and 17 not involved in television series which introduced new ways of teaching mathematics. Intercorrelations were computed, and factors were analyzed. The resulting factor structure indicated 10 unique factors of the attitudes expressed. No general factor was found. The ten factors were tentatively identified as follows: challenge-threat, economy, instructional side-benefits, partnership between TV and classroom teachers, responsiveness, parental influences, security of the classroom teacher, invidious comparison, experimental attitude, and in-service training. On the whole the teachers’ attitudes were highly favorable to instructional television, and consistently rejected the idea that the TV teacher represents a threat to the classroom teacher.     

Children's Television Experience in Two Cultures

Research concerning children and television has concentrated more on their behaviour following viewing than on their personal experiences of this medium and the subjects are commonly American children from a distinctive television milieu. This study investigated first‐person reports of children from two rather different television cultures—US and West German (FRG). It was hypothesised that Americans would be more pro‐television, and thereby more dependent on television, more accepting of programmed violence and more fantasy‐involved in programme content; while experiencing less parental control/influence than West Germans. A sample of 93 FRG and 87 US children aged 10‐12 responded to a television‐viewing questionnaire of 34 items. The American children were significantly more pro‐television than the West Germans, and this was reflected in higher dependency and lower parental control scores. Responses to television fantasy and violence proved ambiguous, and no significant programme character preference differences were found. A principal components analysis of the American scores supported the intuitive item groupings.     

Gender organization of schooling and television viewing among early adolescents: a test of two alternative hypotheses

In this analysis, single‐sex and mixed schools are compared in terms of pupils' television viewing habits, the latter factor being considered as an indicator of a pupil's sense of educational responsibilities. It was hypothesized that the presumably lower levels of television watching among girls attending single‐sex schools could be explained by school climate factors pertaining to adolescent subculture values and/or to the pedagogic approaches of a predominantly female staff. Use was made of data from 68 academic‐type secondary schools in Flanders (Belgium). Of these schools, 25 were mixed and 43 were single‐sex (21 girls', and 22 boys' schools). Respondents were third‐year pupils: 3370 girls and 3057 boys, aged 14 and 15 years. A multilevel analysis (HLM) was performed controlling for parental socio‐economic status, curriculum enrolment, school residency and school mean SES. The results mainly indicate that the differential effect of single‐sex and coeducational schools on girls' TV watching habits may be partially accounted for by factors associated with pedagogic approaches by the predominantly female staff in girls' schools, but not at all by norms related to the adolescent subculture.     

Adverse experiences in infancy and toddlerhood: Relations to adaptive behavior and academic status in middle childhood

Findings from the Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) study articulated the negative effects of childhood trauma on long-term well-being. The purpose of the current study is to examine the associations between ACEs experienced in infancy and toddlerhood and adaptive behavior and academic status in middle childhood. We used data collected from a sample of low-income families during the impacts study of Early Head Start (EHS). Data were collected by trained interviewers demonstrating at least 85% reliability with protocols. Data come from 1469 socio-demographically diverse mothers and children collected at or near ages 1, 2, 3, and 11. At ages 1, 2, and 3, an EHS-ACEs index was created based on interview and observation items. The EHS-ACEs indices were averaged to represent exposure across infancy and toddlerhood. At age 11, parents were asked about school outcomes and completed the Child Behavior Checklist. Across development, children were exposed to zero (19%), one (31%), two (27%), and three or more ACEs (23%). Logistic regression analyses, controlling for EHS program assignment, and parent, school, and child characteristics, showed ACEs were significantly associated with parental report of the child: having an individualized educational program since starting school and in the current school year, having been retained a grade in school, and problems with externalizing and internalizing behavior, as well as attention. Findings suggest that ACEs influence children’s behavioral and academic outcomes early in development.     

Developmental Pathways to Preference and Popularity in Middle Childhood

This study examined the associations between children's early life experiences with parents, ego resiliency and ego undercontrol, and peer group social status in a longitudinal, multimethod study from infancy to middle childhood. Participants were 129 children (52% boys) who were followed from 15 months of age to 9 years and their primary caregivers from the Nijmegen Longitudinal Study on Infant and Child Development. The measurements included observations of parent–child interaction, teacher ratings of ego resiliency and ego undercontrol, and peer‐reported social status. Quality of parental interactive behavior was associated with ego resiliency and ego undercontrol. Ego resiliency and ego undercontrol were uniquely related to preference and popularity. The findings provide insight into the developmental pathways leading to the two distinct types of social status.     

Attitudes of parents towards inclusive education: a review of the literature

The aim of this study is to review literature about parents’ attitudes towards inclusive education. Special attention is paid to parents’ attitudes and to the effect of these on the social participation of children with special needs in regular schools. A review of the literature resulted in 10 studies showing that the majority of parents hold positive attitudes. However, parents of children with special needs reported various concerns, including the availability of services in regular schools and individualised instruction. Several variables were found which relate to parents’ attitudes, such as social‐economic status, education level, experience with inclusion and type of disability. No studies examined the effects of parental attitudes on the social participation of children with special needs. The importance of positive parental attitudes is elaborated in the discussion.     

Success with academic English: reflections of deaf college students

The study identified social, educational, and demographic characteristics of deaf postsecondary students who demonstrated strong reading and writing skills. Questionnaire information, information from institutional databases, and in-depth personal interviews were used to identify factors and characteristics that positively influenced the attainment of strong academic literacy skills. Among the areas investigated were school experiences, reading and writing experiences, study habits and attitudes, communication preferences, personality traits, and home and family background. Results of the study generally support previous work conducted with talented hearing youth. Several primary themes emerged from the study: heavy parental involvement in early education and educational decisions, differing modes of communication but extensive family communication, early exposure to and intensive experiences with reading and writing, an enjoyment of reading, a relatively limited social life, high parental and secondary school expectations, the importance of television, and positive self-image.     

Factors affecting the motivation to learn among United Arab Emirates middle and high school students

This study was designed to examine the relative contributions of student and parents’ socio‐demographics, students’ beliefs about learning, parental support of children’s learning, peers’ attitudes towards learning, teacher–student interaction and curriculum content to students’ motivation to learn. The sample consisted of 275 school‐age children ranging from 12 to 16 years old. All measures were constructed for the purpose of this study. Hierarchical multiple regression was used to predict student motivation to learn. Results indicated that students’ beliefs about learning, teacher–student interaction and curriculum content contributed to the United Arab Emirates middle and high school students’ motivation to learn. Implications for research are discussed.     

The Perceptions and Experiences of Taiwanese Parents who have Children with an Intellectual Disability

Most research into family care‐giving has been undertaken in western, English‐speaking societies with little cognisance taken of possible differences across cultures. Home‐based interviews were conducted with 117 mothers and fathers in Taipei City, Taiwan and five main themes were identified using content analysis. Three themes expressed the impact of the child on family functioning, parental health, and levels of stress and two themes described parents’ coping strategies and sources of support. Although these themes broadly replicate findings from other cultures, certain features of Taiwanese–Chinese society appear to accentuate the impact on mothers especially of having a child with an intellectual disability. The implications for the provision of family‐centred services are discussed, especially in helping parents to recognise their strengths and coping capabilities, and to promote their influence in changing cultural attitudes.     

Creating,Producing and Evaluating Prosocial TV

Utilising the scientific literatures on race relations and television effects, a dramatic science fiction pilot programme was created. The programme, Star Crusaders, depicted an interracial team of young adults cooperating in an equal status relationship in pursuit of a common goal: the end of inter‐group hostilities on other planets. The production of the programme encountered a number of difficulties in articulating the theory‐based conceptualisation: a limited budget, the inability to cast characters in a true equal status relationship, and problems in obtaining full cooperation among writers, producers, and directors in articulating the concept as a videotape production. The evaluation of the programme considered the methodological complexities of communication effects research, and reports the results of three studies. The first study conducted a content analysis of the pro‐social and inter‐racial content of the programme. The second investigation examined the perceptions of 104 university undergraduates concerning programme content. The third study examined the effects of the programme in a field experiment utilising 948 elementary and junior high school students as subjects. Findings are discussed in terms of educational television's potential for positively impacting social attitudes and behaviours.     

Selection into early education and care settings: Differences by developmental period

Early education and care programs (EEC) serve important functions in promoting children's school readiness skills and supporting parental employment. Yet knowledge remains limited concerning factors inhibiting or increasing families’ use of EEC programs for their young children and whether such factors function differently as children age. This study employed nationally representative data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Birth Cohort (ECLS-B) following 10,700 children from infancy through early childhood to assess predictors of home and center-based EEC and to delineate whether predictors differed by developmental period. Drawing on Meyers and Jordan's (2006) rich accommodations model of EEC selection, analyses found that factors associated with family needs and resources (parental employment, income, education, and family structure), cultural norms and preferences (race, ethnicity, and immigration status; geographic location; child characteristics; and parental priorities regarding EEC characteristics) and contextual opportunities and constraints (availability of care in the community) were all associated with selection into EEC settings. Many patterns were similar for infants, toddlers, and preschoolers, although race/ethnicity, employment, and availability were most strongly linked to EEC type during infancy, whereas parental priorities for features associated with higher-quality care programs predicted EEC most strongly for preschoolers. Results are discussed in terms of efforts to increase family choice and access to EEC programs.     

Patterns of Early‐Life Social and Environmental Exposures and Child Cognitive Development,Rhea Birth Cohort,Crete, Greece

Early‐life exposures are critical for later child cognitive development. McCarthy Scales of Children's Abilities (MSCA) were used to assess cognitive development of 700 preschoolers (M_age = 4.2 years), derived from the “Rhea” birth cohort, in Greece. Principal component analysis (PCA) was applied on prospectively collected exposure data. Six components were extracted; five of them were associated with child cognition. Higher parental social status, preschool attendance and less TV watching, nonsmoking during pregnancy and breastfeeding, and parental involvement in child life were protective factors of child cognition at 4 years. Increased child birth order was negatively associated with child cognition. Offspring's size at birth was not associated with any cognitive outcome. These findings reveal the importance of early‐life exposures to child cognitive development.     

Does Instructional TV Make the Grade?

Managers at Michigan State University's extensive ITV operation employ a wide range of evaluative procedures with special emphasis on term‐by‐term telephone interviews to assess student attitudes in television courses. The interview system is explained in some detail for readers interested in initiating relatively inexpensive research techniques. Recent data comparing students in television sections with students in face‐to‐face classroom sections show no significant differences in grades or attitudes toward mediated instruction. These data are applied in varied ways by producers, faculty and administrators to improve instructional television     

Infant Gaze Following During Parent–Infant Coviewing of Baby Videos

A total of 122 parent–infant dyads were observed as they watched a familiar or novel infant‐directed video in a laboratory setting. Infants were between 12–15 and 18–21 months old. Infants were more likely to look toward the TV immediately following their parents' look toward the TV. This apparent social influence on infant looking at television was not solely due to the common influence of the television program on looking behavior. Moreover, infant looks that were preceded by parent looks tended to be longer in length than those that were not preceded by parent looks, suggesting that infants assign greater value to media content attended to by their parents. Thus, parental patterns of attention to television may influence early viewing behavior.     

Children's Memory and Comprehension of Two Science Programmes

A total of 111 children, 55 aged 8 to 9 years and 56 aged 14 to 15 years of age, watched one of two single‐topic prime‐time science programmes. Recall and comprehension scores following the viewing of the programmes were assessed. In addition, a number of demographic factors including age, sex, linguistic fluency, prior television viewing and reading habits were investigated as possible predictors of learning from television. It was found that age was a significant factor in both recall and comprehension, but even more important was general knowledge. Sex and linguistic fluency was neither systematically nor frequently associated with good performance. Prior viewing habits concerning science programmes on television and reading behaviour were found to have particular effects but were not major predictors of performance. Knowledge growth (defined as differences in performance between pre‐ and post‐test performance on key, repeated, items specifically addressed by the viewed programme) was consistently observed. This major finding indicated clearly that children can learn prime‐time television science information.     

Do parents make a difference to children’s academic achievement? Differences between parents of higher and lower achieving students

Differences in family factors in determining academic achievement were investigated by testing 432 parents in nine independent, coeducational Melbourne schools. Schools were ranked and categorized into three groups (high, medium and low), based on student achievement (ENTER) scores in their final year of secondary school and school improvement indexes. Parents completed a questionnaire investigating their attitudes towards the school environment, their aspirations, expectations, encouragement and interest in their child’s education (adapted from scales constructed by Marjoribanks). They also responded to six open‐ended questions on their attitudes to achievement and to their (child’s) school. Multiple regression analyses revealed that parental expectations of their children’s educational level made the strongest unique prediction of high achievement followed by the length of time they had maintained their expectations. Limitations discussed include the disparity in meaning associated with the definition of school success and whether these results can be generalized to all students considering the biased sample (socio‐economic status).     

Pilot study evaluating the impact of dialogic reading and shared reading at transition to primary school: early literacy skills and parental attitudes

Previous studies have demonstrated the positive impact of shared reading (SR) and dialogic reading (DR) on young children's language and literacy development. This exploratory study compared the relative impact of parental DR and shared reading interventions on 4‐year‐old children's early literacy skills and parental attitudes to reading prior to and following school entry. Parents were trained using a self‐instruction training DVD. The children's rhyme awareness, word reading, concepts about print and writing vocabulary were assessed before and after 6 weeks over the summer period and again after one term in school. Four illustrative case studies are presented, which reveal the differential impact of the interventions on the families who participated. Findings indicated that DR had a positive impact on children's enjoyment of reading, concepts about print, parent–child reading behaviours and parental attitudes to joint storybook reading. The children who experienced shared‐book reading during the intervention also demonstrated improvements in word reading. There were no changes in rhyme awareness or writing vocabulary for either group. Changes in print concept awareness were not maintained at follow‐up, but improvements in writing vocabulary and word reading scores were noted. The reasons for this are discussed with reference to the formal literacy instruction the children received during their first academic term.     

Academic socialization,parental educational expectations,and academic self‐efficacy among Latino adolescents

This study examined the direct association between parental educational expectations and adolescents’ academic self‐efficacy, as well as the moderating influence of parental academic socialization messages. Participants were 148 Latino parent–adolescent dyads with the majority of Mexican origin (80.4%). Most of the parent participants were mothers (85.8%). Adolescents were 13 (46%) or 14 (54%) years of age, and 53% identified as female. Adolescents reported their academic self‐efficacy and perceptions of their parents’ educational expectations; parents reported on their academic socialization messages of shame/pressure and effort regarding academics. The results suggest that, after accounting for parents’ level of education and immigrant status, parental educational expectations were positively associated with adolescent academic self‐efficacy. This association was stronger among adolescents whose parents reported transmitting fewer messages of shame/pressure and academic effort. These results point to the importance of nuances in the content and type of academic socialization messages within Latino families.     

Young Children's Aspirations in Science: The unequivocal,the uncertain and the unthinkable

Students' lack of interest in studying science and in science-related careers is a concern in the UK and worldwide. Yet there is limited data, particularly longitudinal, on the sources and development of science-related aspirations. In response, the ASPIRES (Science Aspirations and Career Choice: Age 10–14) longitudinal study is investigating the development of students' educational and occupational aspirations over time. In the first phase of the project, a questionnaire exploring science-related aspirations and interests was completed by over 9,000 primary school students across England. This survey allowed us to explore possible associations between attitudes and aspirations, links which have not been investigated in previous attitudinal studies of this scope. Overall, students expressed positive attitudes to science, reported positive parental attitudes to science and held very positive images of scientists. Multilevel modelling analyses revealed that aspirations in science were most strongly related to parental attitudes to science, attitudes to school science and self-concept in science, and are also associated with students' gender, ethnicity and cultural capital. However, the images students held of scientists were not as closely related to aspirations. These factors are discussed in more detail within the paper, alongside a consideration of possible school-related effects.