The forms and functions of parental control and parental warmth across cultures: Evidence for commonality and Specificity

This concept paper introduces a special section on Parenting Across Cultures: Bridging Commonalities and Specificities in Parental Control and Warmth. In this article, we explore how parental control and warmth manifest and function across diverse cultural contexts, emphasizing both common patterns and culturally specific practices. We acknowledge that contemporary parenting theories and models, even when they were first conceived based on an Anglo White-centric perspective, are increasingly being re-interpreted to describe culture-specific parenting behaviors. To better examine the functions of parental control and warmth across cultures, we advocate for the use of a dimensional approach that will more adequately describe the unique and shared aspects of parenting behaviors. This special section is a collection of four empirical studies that focused on understudied cultures, including families from Indonesia, Singapore, Türkiye, and Chinese immigrants in the United States. The overarching aim is to provide a more nuanced understanding of how parental control and warmth may contribute to children’s development and adjustment. The findings underscore the importance of considering cultural norms and children’s perceptions in parenting research, with implications for theory advancement, practice, and policy design and implementation.Accepted versio

The development of gross motor skills in children: Insights from the Motor Assessment Test for Children

This study investigated the gross motor skills (GMS) of 424 children aged 2.5 to 6 years with the Motor Assessment Test for Children (MATCH). Results from multivariate analysis of variance revealed (a) positive age effects in stability, locomotion, and object manipulation; (b) higher stability scores for girls than for boys and higher object manipulation scores for boys than for girls; and (c) GMS differences even within 6-month age intervals for some motor tasks. The positive age effect indicates that GMS proficiency changes with physical development, whereas gender effects may stem from genetic and/or environmental factors. We recommend that educators be aware of pronounced early childhood motor development and implement varied approaches that cater to diverse developmental levels. To facilitate ongoing monitoring, annual motor assessments are advised. Educators should acknowledge gender-type play behaviors with a naturalistic approach while advocating inclusive play opportunities.abstrac

Considerations for crafting a curriculum for teenagers to guard against online falsehoods

Teenagers are among the heaviest users of social media and the internet, and this makes them largely susceptible to encountering and disseminating online fake news. This chapter suggests points for educators to consider when crafting a curriculum to equip teenagers with the skills to combat online falsehoods. Drawing upon research on defining, determining, and dealing with deliberate online falsehoods in Singapore, this chapter suggests lesson objectives, content, learning experiences, and assessments

Happy facial expressions and mouse pointing enhance EFL vocabulary learning from instructional videos

Given their easy accessibility and dual-channel model of content presentation, instructional videos have become a favoured tool for EFL vocabulary learning tool among many students. Teachers often use various nonverbal behaviours to elicit social reactions and guide learners' attention in instructional videos. The current study conducted three eye-tracking experiments to examine the circumstances under which a teacher's happy facial expressions are beneficial in instructional videos, with or without pointing gestures and mouse pointing. Experiments 1 and 2 demonstrated that the combination of happy facial expressions and pointing gestures attracted learners' attention to the teacher and hindered students' learning performance, regardless of the complexity of slides. Experiment 3 showed that in instructional videos with complex slides, using happy facial expressions along with mouse pointing can enhance students' learning performance. Teachers are advised to show happy facial expressions and avoid using pointing gestures when designing instructional videos.</p

SS3612 Human resource management in sport

Semester 1 Examination 2024-202

Predicting running-related injuries from functional, kinetic and kinematic data

The literature has identified inconsistent biomechanical risk factors for running-related injuries (RRIs) but lacks investigations on interactions between biomechanics and other risk factors. This prospective cohort study aimed to develop and compare prediction models of various levels of complexity to predict RRIs over 12 months in recreational runners. The 7-item Functional Movement Screen (FMS) test was administered at baseline for 83 participants. Running biomechanics were evaluated using clinically friendly tools, including wearable in-shoe force sensors to measure vertical ground reaction forces and 2D video-based kinematic analysis of lower extremities. The participants were subsequently monitored over a 12-month follow-up period to track whether they sustained RRIs. Differences between the injured (n = 26) and non-injured (n = 55) groups were examined using Mann-Whitney U test. Binary logistic regression was performed to identify significant indicators for RRIs, with 6 models developed involving different sets of variables. Neither simple (involving one variable) nor complex models (including multiple variables) was statistically significant (p-values ranged from 0.106 to 0.972). In conclusion, prediction models developed using variables obtained from accessible tools are unable to accurately predict future RRIs regardless of model complexity. Researchers and practitioners should avoid overreliance on simple measures for screening injury risks.RS 2/21 KP

Cityscape and memoryscape: The Cold War and monuments of commemoration in Singapore

From the 1940s to the 1960s, Singapore’s cityscape was dotted with military bases which had accompanying deathscapes devoted to the war dead from both WWII and the Cold War. First there was the establish ment of the Kranji War Cemetery and Memorial to the military war dead of WWII. At the same time in Singapore there were other cemeteries that were created as memoryscapes to the fallen in the Cold War—the Pasir Panjang and Ulu Pandan military cemeteries. With the end of empire and the exiting of the British from their Singapore military bases in the 1970s, the newly independent city-state of Singapore started to contest the use of these spaces by military cemeteries

Hands-on consensus building: Leveraging deep learning models to unveil hand gestures in consensus-building discourses

From the lens of embodied cognition, hand gestures emerge as vital embodiments facilitating shared meaning-making among learners in collaborative learning. Despite this recognition, the specific role of hand employment in various consensus-building discourses remains elusive, and there is a lack of quantitative evidence of hand employment in authentic classrooms. This study delves into the nuanced application of embodied cognition through hands across distinct consensus-building scenarios—quick, integration-oriented, and conflict-oriented consensus-building discourses. Forty engineering students from a Singapore university collaborated in dyads to solve design problems in a face-to-face computer-supported collaborative learning environment. Their collaboration process was video recorded. A deep learning-based model was applied to quantify students’ hand movement. The different kinds of individual and collaborative hand gestures were analyzed. The results found a significantly larger quantity and more balanced quantity of hand gesture employment during conflict-oriented consensus-building discourse than other consensus-building discourses. Students most often applied depictive gestures and idea alternations to demonstrate their understanding and build on each other’s ideas. This study quantitatively explores how hand gestures contribute to consensus-building in collaborative learning, corroborating existing qualitative research. It suggests that incorporating hand gestures in classrooms may enhance students’ thought processes and foster shared understanding.Accepted versio

Maternal sensitivity in Singapore: Early educators’ beliefs and mothers’ reported versus observed behavior

To better understand perceptions and self-evaluations of sensitive caregiving in Singapore we examined observed (n=301) and self-reported (n=85) maternal behavior, as well as local early educators’ (n = 57) opinions concerning ideal maternal behavior, which we then used to create a local MBQS ideal criterion. The association between local educators’ MBQS sorting and the standard MBQS ideal criterion was r = 0.67, indicating alignment. Maternal observed and self-reported scores were not significantly associated (MBQS sensitivity criterion: r = −0.13, p = .317; Local criterion: r = −0.10, p = .441). Observed scores (Sensitivity: M = 0.21, Local criterion: M = 0.27) were lower than self-reported scores (Sensitivity: M = 0.62, t(63) = −8.05, p < .001; Local criterion: M = 0.59, t(57) = −7.77, p < .001). The findings reinforce those of past research concerning cross-cultural similarities and limitations in self-reports. Regarding interventional efforts, these point to the need to counter parental resistance to intervention as “unnecessary” with a better understanding of the limits of self-evaluation. Concerning interventional efficacy, the need for observational assessment of change is reinforced.Accepted versionCRCD 01/19 ARSSRTG 2/21 A

Using a funds of knowledge approach to support refugee children in Malaysia

Having been forcibly uprooted from their home countries, refugees represent one of the most distressed, marginalised, and fragmented people groups in the world today. And among them, children are the most in need of support. This paper reports a qualitative case-study that examined the lived experiences of three refugee children at a Malaysian refugee centre. The study adopts an asset-oriented approach known as Funds of Knowledge (FoK), which refers to the knowledge, skills, practices and experiences that contribute to an individual’s wellbeing and identity formation. Collected over an 11-month period, the data comprised interviews, in-class and out-of-school observations, and participant-produced and researcher-generated artefacts. The data were analysed using open and axial coding methods to probe into the refugees’ knowledge, skills, practices and experiences that could be linked to their FoK. Four main types of FoK centred on their literacy practices, family, religion and aspirations were identified. The paper illustrates these FoK and shows how they forge vital qualities of mind, spirit and character in the young refugees, and how they can support their learning and overall wellbeing. It concludes with a discussion of key considerations in implementing an FoK approach to support refugee children in Malaysia and beyond.Accepted versio