2,160 research outputs found
Is there a Relationship between Parents' Screen Usage and Young Childrenâs Development?
There has been growing concern over the links between children's screen time use and cognitive development (Halton, 2020). However, researchers have generally overlooked the possible impact of parental screen time, which might decrease the opportunities of learning and social interactions for young children. To address this gap, we investigated the relationship between parental screen use and toddlersâ development. However, the start of this thesis coincided with the Covid-19 pandemic, and a few experimental tasks had to be adapted online. Thus, this thesis examined first whether online paradigms can provide valid data (word recognition, word learning and language assessment). Second, the main objective was to explore the relationship between parental screen use and young childrenâs language skills, and to revisit the link between parental screen time and childrenâs empathy.
Findings from Chapter 2 provide support for the reliability of online testing with children. These experiments point to promising avenues of investigation in early language studies, and to possibilities for reaching out to families around the world.
Findings from Chapter 3 revealed no impact of parental phone text on childrenâs learning in a lab situation. However, they suggest that parental responses to technoference and attitudes towards smartphones may moderate the relationship between parental screen use and childrenâs development. When examining effects in real life, a first exploratory study indicated an effect of parental screen time (in real life) on childrenâs language vocabulary when assessed via a parental questionnaire, at least for children aged 16 months and above. A second study was conducted with more objective measures of screen time and childrenâs vocabulary knowledge, and no association was found between parental screen time and childrenâs language when assessed via a standardised face-to-face language test.
Findings from Chapter 4 showed a negative association between childrenâs alone screen time and their cognitive empathy abilities. However, parental screen time was not related to childrenâs cognitive empathy.
The experiments and studies reported in this thesis fail to reveal a robust association between parental screen time and early language, at least in the population that we have studied here. Importantly, the findings suggest how parental screen use may be a moderator in childrenâs development and not a causal factor. They demonstrate the need to investigate more precisely why and how parents use electronic devices such as mobile phones during interactions with their children, might directly influence early language and emotional development
A Critical Review Of Post-Secondary Education Writing During A 21st Century Education Revolution
Educational materials are effective instruments which provide information and report new discoveries uncovered by researchers in specific areas of academia. Higher education, like other education institutions, rely on instructional materials to inform its practice of educating adult learners. In post-secondary education, developmental English programs are tasked with meeting the needs of dynamic populations, thus there is a continuous need for research in this area to support its changing landscape. However, the majority of scholarly thought in this area centers on K-12 reading and writing. This paucity presents a phenomenon to the post-secondary community. This research study uses a qualitative content analysis to examine peer-reviewed journals from 2003-2017, developmental online websites, and a government issued document directed toward reforming post-secondary developmental education programs. These highly relevant sources aid educators in discovering informational support to apply best practices for student success. Developmental education serves the purpose of addressing literacy gaps for students transitioning to college-level work. The findings here illuminate the dearth of material offered to developmental educators. This study suggests the field of literacy research is fragmented and highlights an apparent blind spot in scholarly literature with regard to English writing instruction. This poses a quandary for post-secondary literacy researchers in the 21st century and establishes the necessity for the literacy research community to commit future scholarship toward equipping college educators teaching writing instruction to underprepared adult learners
Out of sight, out of mind: accessibility for people with hidden disabilities in museums and heritage sites
As of 2020, an estimated 14.1 million residents of the United Kingdom reported a disability (DWP 2020). Within this population, approximately 6.1 million people have a hidden disability (Buhalis and Michopoulou 2011). These hidden disabilities range widely, from neurodiverse conditions like autism and dyslexia to long term chronic conditions such as fibromyalgia and arthritis. Due to the wide range of disabilities and their impact on a disabled personâs life, they have generally been underrepresented in accessibility studies.
This thesis uncovers the accessibility needs of people with hidden disabilities, specifically in museums and heritage sites where they have heretofore mostly been overlooked. I utilise semi-structured interviews and correspondence with people with hidden disabilities, as well as participant-led experiences through three case study sites in Northern England, to understand the barriers they face. Their experiences help me expose the importance of passive accessibility â accessibility measures built directly into an exhibition design, such as adequate lighting and personal interpretation boards.
Additionally, this thesis aims to understand the cultural forces that prevent or support accessibility-related improvements to such sites from taking place. By studying the cultural make-up of each case study organisation through ethnographic observations of the staff at these sites, institutional roadblocks to enacting accessibility-related adjustments are revealed. Specifically, the lack of communication at these sites presents a significant barrier to enacting accessibility suggestions from disabled visitors.
Tying together the themes of active/passive accessibility and lack of communication is the theme of gaps in disability awareness, by which I mean that heritage organisations do not wilfully create these barriers to inclusion, and yet they create them still because they simply do not realise these things. Filling these gaps opens up countless possibilities for improving accessibility not only for people with hidden disabilities but for all visitors and staff at museums and heritage sites
Social Cognitive Development and Mental Health in Adolescence
Adolescence, defined from the age of 10-24, is a key developmental period which is associated with protracted biological, psychological, and social changes. While these neurocognitive changes play an important role in the individualâs social, affective, and cognitive development, adolescence has also been described as a time of âstorm and stressâ, representing a time of increased vulnerability to mental health problems. This thesis described a series of experimental studies investigating the effects of cognitive training on adolescentsâ social cognitive development and mental health.
The first experimental chapter (Chapter 2) described a cross-sectional study investigating the effect of age and puberty on susceptibility to prosocial and antisocial influence in 520 adolescents aged 11-18 years. The next two experimental chapters examined the effect of social cognitive training programmes on adolescentsâ social cognitive development and mental health. Chapter 3 explored the changes in susceptibility to prosocial and antisocial influence following two 8-week social emotional training programmes in 465 adolescents aged 11-16 years. Chapter 4 described an experimental study examining the effectiveness of an affective control training paradigm (compared to a control training paradigm) in 242 adolescents aged 11-19 years. The study examined the training effect across two training groups, the extent to which training effect varied as a function of age, and how training effect associated with self-reported mental health problems, emotion regulation difficulties, and self-control ability.
Finally, Chapter 5 summarised the findings of the empirical studies and discussed how these findings inform the social cognitive development and mental health during adolescence
Current issues of the Russian language teaching XIV
Collection of papers âCurrent issues of the Russian language teaching XIVâ is devoted to issues of methodology of teaching Russian as a foreign language, to issues of linguistics and literary science and includes papers related to the use of online tools and resources in teaching Russian. This collection of papers is a result of the international scientific conference âCurrent issues of the Russian language teaching XIVâ, which was scheduled for 8â10 May 2020, but due to the pandemic COVID-19 took place remotely
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Sonic heritage: listening to the past
History is so often told through objects, images and photographs, but the potential of sounds to reveal place and space is often neglected. Our research project âSonic Palimpsestâ1 explores the potential of sound to evoke impressions and new understandings of the past, to embrace the sonic as a tool to understand what was, in a way that can complement and add to our predominant visual understandings. Our work includes the expansion of the Oral History archives held at Chatham Dockyard to include womenâs voices and experiences, and the creation of sonic works to engage the public with their heritage. Our research highlights the social and cultural value of oral history and field recordings in the transmission of knowledge to both researchers and the public. Together these recordings document how buildings and spaces within the dockyard were used and experienced by those who worked there. We can begin to understand the social and cultural roles of these buildings within the community, both past and present
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